are Christ's;" that is, the use, benefit, and service of all the creatures are for you, as your need shall require. Are the most likely and powerful means employed for their ruin frustrated? Who can but see the scriptures fulfilled in, and expounded by such providences? Isa. xlv. 15, 17; viii: 7,510; 2 Kings xviii. 17. See you at any time Providence diverting the course of good men from falling into evil, or wicked men from committing evil: how loudly do such providences proclaim the truth and certainty of the scriptures, which tell us, that "the way of man is not in himself, neither is it in him that walketh to direct his steps;" that "a man's heart deviseth his way; but the Lord directeth his steps." Do you see adequate retributions made to those who injure or befriend the people of God? When you see all the kindness and love they have shown the saints, returned with an overplus into their bosoms, how is it possible but that you must see the accomplishment of this scripture The liberal soul deviseth liberal things, and by liberal things he shall stand." And when you see the evils men have done, or intended to do to the Lord's people, recoiling upon themselves, he is perfectly blind who sees not the harmony such providences bear with these scriptures, Psal. cxl. 11, 12; vii. 14, 16; ix. 16.5)

O what exact proportions do providences and scriptures hold! It has been well observed, that as God has stretched out the firmament over the natural, so he has stretched out his word over the rational world; and as the creaturess on earth are influenced by those heavenly bodies, so are all creatures in the world influenced by the word, and infallibly fulfil it even when they design to cross it.

7. If these things are contingent, how is it that they fall out in such remarkable junctures of time, which makes them so very striking to all that consider them?

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We find a multitude of providences so timed to a minute, that had they fallen out ever so little sooner or later, they had signified but little. Certainly it cannot be casualty, but counsel, that so exactly seizes the opportunity.om or el ciat

How remarkable to this purpose were the tidings brought to Saul, that the Philistines had invaded the land, just

as he was ready to grasp the prey, Sam. xxiii. 27. The angel calls to Abraham, and shows him another sacrifice, just when his hand was giving the fatal stroke to Isaac, Gen. xxii. 10, 11. A well of water is discovered to Hagar just when she had left the child, as not able to see his death, Gen. xxix. 16, 19. Rabshakeh meets with a blasting providence, hears a rumor that frustrated his Paphi design, just when ready to give the shock against Jerusa lem, Isa. xxxvii. 7, 8. So when Haman's plot against the Jews was ripe, and all things ready for execution, "on not the king sleep," Esther vi. I. at night could If these things fell out casually, how is it they observed felld not time

8. Were these things casual and contingent, how can it be that they should fall out so immediately upon the prayers of the saints, and agreeably to them; so that, in many providences, they are able to discern a very clear answer to their prayers, and are sure they have the tions they asked of him?

And now who can be dissatisfied in this point that wisely consider these things? Must we not conclude, that "the eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him." His providences proclaim him to be a God hearing prayer.

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HAVING proved, that the concerns of the saints in this world are certainly conducted by the wisdom and care of a special Providence, my next work is to show you, in what affairs and concerns of theirs the Providence of God doth more especially appear; or what are the most remarkable operations of Providence for them in this world.

I. Let us consider how well Providence has performed the first work that ever it did for us in our formation. And there are two things admirable in this peformance of Providence for us-first, the rare structure and excellent composition of the body. "I am wonderfully made;" the vulgate renders it, "painted as with a needle," richly embroidered with nerves and veins. O the curious workmanship that there is in that one part, the eye! How has it forced some to acknowledge a God on the examination of it!

Providence, when, it went about this work, had its model or pattern before it, according to which it moulded every part; "In thy book were all my members written." Hast thou a fulness of members? It is because God wrote them all in his book, and limned out thy body, according to that exact model which he drew of thee in his own gracious purpose, before thou hadst a being. Had an eye, an ear, a hand, a foot, been wanting in the platform, thou hadst now been sadly sensible of the defect. If thou hast low thoughts of this mercy, ask the blind, the deaf, the lame, and the dumb, the value and worth of those mercies, and they will tell thee. There is a world of cost bestowed upon thy very body. Thou mightest have been cast into another mould, and created a worm or a toad. Luther tells us of two cardinals, riding in great pomp to the council of Constance, and by the way they heard a man in the fields bitterly weeping and wailing when they came to him, they found him intently viewing a toad; and, asking him why he wept so bitterly, he told them that his heart was melted with this consideration, that

God had not made him such a loathsome and deformed creature." Whereupon one of them cried out, The unlearned will rise and take heaven, and we, with all our learning, shall be cast into hell. Galen gave Epicurus a hundred years time to imagine a more commodious situation, configuration, or composition of any one member of a human body. And if all the angels had studied to this day, they could not have cast the body of man into a more curious mould.

And yet all this is but the enamelling of the case, or the polishing of the casket wherein the jewel lies. Providence hath not only built the house, but, secondly, brought the inhabitant, the soul, into the possession of it; a glorious piece, that bears the very image of God upon it. How noble are its faculties and affections. How quick, various, and indefatigable are its motions! How compre hensive is its capacity! It is a companion for angels, nay, capable of espousals to Christ and eternal communion with God. It is the wonder of earth, and the envy of hell.

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Suppose now that Providence had so permitted and ordered it, that thy soul had entered into thy body with one or two of its faculties wounded and defective; suppose its understanding had been unsound, what a miserable life hadst thou lived in this world, capable neither of service nor comfort! And, truly, when I have considered those works of Providence, in bringing into the world, in all countries and ages, some such spectacles of pity, some deprived of the use of reason and differing from beasts in little more than shape and figure, and others, though sound in their understandings, yet deformed or defective in their bodies, monstrous, mishapen, and loathsome; I can resolve the design of this Providence into nothing but a demonstration of the sovereign power of God; except these pitiable objects be designed as foils, to set off the beauty of other rare and exquisite pieces, and intended to stand before your eyes, as monitors of God's mercy to you, that your hearts, as often as you beheld them, may be melted into thankfulness for so distinguishing a favor to you.

Look then, but not proudly, on thy outside and inside.

See and admire what Providence has done for thee, and how well it has performed the first service that ever it did. for thee in this world. vrod

II. The second great performance of Providence for the people of God, respects the place and time in which it ordered their nativity to fall.

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And this is no small concernment to every one of us, but of vast consequence either to our good or evil, though it is but little minded by most men. I am persuaded, that the thoughts of few Christians penetrate deeply, enough into this Providence; they pass too slightly and superficially over an abyss of much mercy, rich and manifold mercy, wrapt up in this gracious performance of Pro

vidence for them.

Ah, friends, can you think it an indifferent thing, into what part of the world the womb of nature had cast you out? Is there no difference, on what spot of the creation, or what age of the world, your lot had fallen? It may be, you have not seriously bethought yourselves about this matter. And because this point is so seldom touched on, I will enter a little more, particularly and distinctly into it, and endeavour to warm your affections with a representation, of the many and rich benefits you owe to this one performance of Providence for you. And we will consider it under a double respect or relation, as it respects your present comfort in this world, and as it relates to your eternal happiness in the world to come.

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This performance of Providence for you very much concerns your present comfort in this world. All the rooms in this great house are not alike pleasant and commodious for the inhabitants of it. You read of" the dark places of the earth which are full of the habitations of cruelty;" and many such dismal places are found in the habitable earth. What a vast tract of the world lies as a waste wilderness! How poor, miserable, and unprovided with earthly comforts and accommodation, are many millions of the inhabitants of this world! What mercies do you enjoy, in respect of the amenity, fertility, and civilization of the place of your habitation! What is it but a garden enclosed out of a wilderness? I may, without partiality or vanity, say, God has pro