DISC. mammon." He who is fo intent even on " I. the means of fubfiftence, as to lose all the fatisfaction of it, has but little faith. He is, in effect, an unbeliever. On the other hand, to rely so much upon Providence, as to do nothing at all, is to tempt God. But to labour without placing our truft and confidence in our labour, expecting all from the bleffing of God; this is to obey him, to work with his Providence, to fet the fprings of it a going, and to imitate Christ and the faints by a fedate care, and an industrious confidence. He whofe mind, through the influence of religion upon it, is calm and refigned, will always exert his diligence to the beft advantage. Fretfulness and impatience not only do not affift, but they hinder. A perfon in this ftate has not the use of his powers and faculties, which he otherwise would have; befides that the Holy Spirit of God flies from fuch a temper, delighting to dwell in a meek, quiet, and contented heart. But perhaps you have not things as you could wish to have them, through fome fault, or mifmanagement of your own; and I. and it is this which troubles you. You have DISC. made some false step. Nothing more probable. We all make many. The famous Marshal Turenne, who was a good man, as well as a great general, used to say, he was not more obliged to any of his friends, than to one who had given him, at his first fetting out in life, the following piece of advice: " When you have made a falfe step, spend not a moment in vexing yourself, " and moaning over it; but confider how it may best be repaired, and instantly set "about it.” Christ, in his divine difcourfe, lays down several reasons, why men should not disquiet a "The mountainous nature of this country (the Pays "de Vaud) fubjects it to frequent torrents, which, when violent, sweep away vines, foil, and walls, in one common "destruction. The inhabitants behold the havoc with a steady concern, and, without giving way to the clamorous rage of the French, or finking into the gloomy despair "of the English, think only of the most effectual means of repairing the lofs.—As soon as the storm has abated, they begin, with admirable patience and perfeverance, to re"build the walls, to carry fresh earth on hurdles to the top "of the mountain, and to spread a new foil wherever the "old has been washed away." MOORE's View of Society and Manners in France, Swifferland, &c. I. 313. 66 66 them DISC. themselves about the wants of life, or conI. cerning the future; but, having done their part, fhould repofe themfelves, in full confidence, on the goodnefs of God. The first reason is the experience of greater benefits already received. "Is not the life "more than meat, and the body than rai"ment ?" You are uneafy, left you should want proper food to fupport life, and proper raiment to clothe the body. Life and the body are certainly greater gifts than food and raiment. Who gave you them? God gave them; and gave them of his own will, before you could be in a capacity to ask them. Will not he, who gave the greater, give the lefs? Will not he, who gave life and the body, take care they shall be supported and what you could clothed? Will he, who gave the I. the bleffings, of various kinds, that have DISC. distinguished the several parts of it; the difficulties you have furmounted, the dangers you have escaped, and the favourable circumstances and connections into which you have been led. Why fhould you apprehend, that he, who has been with you all your life long, fhould now be with you no longer? Recollect the promise, "I will never leave "thee, nor forfake thee." Above all things, forget not that greatest and most stupendous of mercies, that beft and unspeakable gift of God, and the unanfwerable argument formed upon the confideration of it by the Apostle; "He who fpared not his own Son, " but gave him up for us all, how shall he "not with him alfo freely give us all things?”—Reflect on this, and "be not faithlefs, but believing." The second reason alledged by Christ, is the example of the leffer animals, which the Providence of God feeds, without their own labour. "Behold the fowls of the "air; for they fow not, neither do they " reap, DISC. 1. reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye "not much better than they ?" The little innocent inhabitants of the air, which are continually flying around us, were not created only for the ufe of the body of man. They serve higher and nobler ends. They often read lectures, to which the greatest philofopher might attend, and be the better for them, if he would confider and apply them aright. When therefore you behold one of these chorifters of heaven finging upon a naked bush, amidst the darkness and defolation of winter, might you not address it in fome fuch manner as the following?" Sweet bird, how cheer fully doft thou fit and fing; and yet "knoweft not where thou art, nor where "thou shalt make thy next meal, and at 66 night must shroud thyfelf in this fame "bush for a lodging, while the winds fhall "howl through it, and thy feathers shall "be wet with the rain, or covered with "the fnow! How ought I to blush, who " fee |