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you would do, if you believed that "He is able" [and WILLING] to save them to the uttermost, that come unto him," by Christ, Heb vii. 25. Nay, when thou art at the lowest, yet pray with as great hope, as if thou hadst the best props to lean upon, for the Lord is able to raise thee up again.

:

Believers, in their best estate, should be prepared for change. The Lord often does bring them down when they least expect it, so that the caution, "Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall," (1 Cor. x. 12) is most necessary. And if he hath stood, let him give God all the glory. Jerusalem, the city of the Lord, was so strong, there were such probabilities of safety, that no one would have thought an enemy could have entered into the gates thereof; yet the almighty power of the Lord brought it down, so that our Saviour's prediction, relative to the temple, was verified to the letter "There shall not be left here one stone upon another," Matt. xxiv. 2. Therefore, let the case be what it will, suppose a nation be never so strong, yet God can bring it down; and let it be never so weak or low, yet the Lord is able to raise it up. The same is true of every individual also, and, therefore, believe this almighty power of God, and apply it, whatever thy case be. Consider that thou hast to do with an almighty God! Follow the patience of Christ, who said in his extremity, "Lord, if thou wilt, let this cup pass from me; yet not my will, but thine be done :" and if He do not remove that you fear, yet he can give you that which is better; he can give you patience to endure, and in the end joy and peace. Submit then yourself to God's will, as Christ did, and remember, that in such a case, your business is not with the power but the will of God: give the Lord the glory of his power in every case, if it

be but his will. Is it meet God's will should yield to thine, or thine to his? Then bring thine heart down, and be content that it should be so. Consider it is God's will, and therefore it must be best for thee; honor him so far as to prefer his will before thine own. Again I say, it being His will, be assured, that if you belong to him, it shall be best for thee: Christ was no loser when he yielded to his Father's will, for he "was heard in that he feared," Heb. v. 7; though the Lord's will passed on him, and he drank up the cup of his Father's wrath to the very dregs. So must you yield to His will whatever it is; be content with what is done, and believe thou shalt be no loser by it in the end, but thou shalt have what thou desirest, though not in the manner that thou wouldest have it done. In every affliction we suffer on earth, cease not to think upon God, and remember his mercy and truth. And be the accomplishment of His words ever so unlikely, never stagger at his promise through unbelief: "Is there anything too hard for the Lord?" Jer. xxxii. 27.

CIII. What various hind'rances we meet

In coming to a mercy-seat!

Yet who, that knows the worth of pray'r,
But wishes to be often there?

Pray'r makes the darken'd cloud withdraw,

Pray'r climbs the ladder Jacob saw,

Gives exercise to faith and love,

Brings ev'ry blessing from above.

Restraining pray'r, we cease to fight;
Pray'r makes the christian's armour bright;

And Satan trembles when he sees

The weakest saint upon his knees.

While Moses stood with arms spread wide,
Success was found on Israel's side;
But when thro' weariness they fail'd,
That moment Amalek prevail'd.

Have you no words? ah, think again,
Words flow apace, when you complain,
And fill your fellow-creature's ear
With the sad tale of all your care.

Were half the breath, thus vainly spent,

To heav'n in supplication sent,

Your cheerful song would oft❜ner be,

66 Hear what the Lord has done for me!"

CIV. A stedfast faith in the Divine providence and promises, will compose the soul to a quiet submission to God's pleasure in the sharpest troubles. All things are under the intimate inspection-the wise conduct-the powerful influence of His providence. This is one of those prime, universal, rich truths, from whence so many practical consequences are derived. By virtue of it we may infallibly conclude, that all things that come to pass, are disposed in the best season, and best manner, for the best ends. If we understood the immediate reasons of every particular decree, we could not be more infallibly assured of the wisdom and goodness-the rectitude and equity of God's dispensations, than by this universal principle, that is applicable to all events, that "what God appoints is best." That we may feel the blessed influence of it more effectually, let us consider, that Divine providence extends to the whole creation; it is infinite, and overruling all things. Thus it is said in scripture, "He rideth upon the heavens" to signify his absolute power in ordering all the motions of the most high, vast, and glorious part of the visible universe. "He

telleth the number of the stars-he calleth them all by their names." The stars are the brightest and most active parts of the vast region above us, and are called the host of heaven, with respect to their number and order; and though they seem innumerable to our senses, yet the multitude is exactly known to God, and yields ready and entire obedience to his pleasure. From whence the Psalmist infers, "Great is the Lord, and of great power, his understanding is infinite," Psalm cxlvii. 5. There is nothing in the lower world exempted from the empire and activity of God's providence. He is immoveable, and moves all-invisible, and yet appears in all. The most casual things are not without His guidance. "A man drew a bow at a venture" (1 Kings xxii. 34) without express aim, but God directed the arrow through the joints of Ahab's armour, that penetrated to the springs of life. The minutest and least things are ordered by Him. It is not an hyperbolical expression of our Saviour, but an absolute truth, that "the very hairs of our head are all numbered," and not one falls to the ground without His permission, Matt. x. 30. The voluntary and most indetermined causes of things are under His conduct. The hearts of men, even of kings, that are most absolute and unconfined, are in the hand of the Lord; he turns them according to his pleasure, as the streams of water are, by several trenches, conveyed to refresh a garden, by the skilful husbandman. Sin, the most disorderly thing in the world, is not only within the compass of His permission, but is limited and disposed by his providence; and such is his goodness, that he would not permit it if his power could not overrule that evil for a good,—that preponderates the evil. And all afflictive evils, by His own declaration, are the effects of his just and powerful pro

vidence: "Is there evil in the city, and the Lord hath not done it?" His providence is comprehensive and complete; no unforeseen accidents in the freest and most contingent things, no involuntary obstruction in the most necessary things, can break the entireness, or discompose the order of his providence: "The Lord is in heaven, he doth whatsoever he pleaseth in heaven, and in earth, in the sea, and in all deep places." How exactly and easily does He manage and overrule all things! The whole world is His house, and all the successive generations of men his family; some are his sons, by voluntary subjection; others his slaves, and, by just constraint, fulfil his pleasure. It was the saying of a wise king, instructed by experience, that the art of governing was like the laborious travail of a weaver, that requires the attention of the mind, and the activity of the body; the eyes, hands, and feet are all in exercise; and how often is the contexture of human counsels, though woven with the greatest care, yet unexpectedly broken? So many cross accidents interpose; so many emergencies, beyond all prevention, start up to frustrate the hopes and designs of the most potent rulers of this world.*

But God disposes all things with more facility than one of us can move a grain of sand: the government of the world has a less proportion to his infinite wisdom and uncontrollable power, than a grain of sand has to the

* An admirable writer of the present day, observes :-" Was there no command given to the winds and the waves, when, in the days of Elizabeth, the Spanish Armada strewed with its wreck the shores it had invaded? Or to the cold of the north, when a Russian winter, of extraordinary severity, cut off at a stroke the army of the invader, and sent back the scourge of Europe humbled and alone?"-Rev. Francis Goode's Sermons.