xviii. 31, 32. fpeaks in the following terms: Caft away from you all your tranfgreffions whereby ye have tranfgreffed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O houfe of Ifrael? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, faith the Lord 'God; wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.' In confequence of this,

4. In the last place, trust in God will make us ready to acknowledge, that when we fail in duty, when we forget or break our refolutions, the fault is certainly in ourselves. It is impoffible to excufe or justify ourselves in any degree, without laying the blame, in the fame proportion, upon God, and calling in queftion his faithfulness and truth. But whatever our treacherous hearts may finfully fuggeft, we are not straitened in God, but straitened in our own bowels. We find him pleading his own caufe, in this respect, in many paffages of Scripture, Ifa. lix. 1. Behold, the Lord's hand is not fhortened, that it cannot fave; neither his ear heavy, that he cannot 'hear; but your fins have feparated between. you and your God, and your iniquities have hid his face from you, that he will not hear'. Upon the whole, truft in thefe promifes is no other than an humble and diligent application to duty, under a deep fense of weakness, and dependence on promifed ftrength, accompanied with a firm perfuafion, that' in the name of the Lord we fhall tread down our enemies,' and

go

go on from ftrength to strength, 'till we appear 'before God in Zion.'

3. Another clafs of promifes are thofe that are fufpended, not only on the fame conditions with the two former, but upon fome other circumstances in themselves uncertain, or to us unfeen. These are temporal mercies, or rather temporal profperity, deliverance from prefent distress, and abundance or affluence of outward enjoyments. Perhaps we may also add fpiritual confolation, and fenfible joy in God. I find no temporal promife precifely fixed to the fervant of God but this: Bread fhall be given him, and his water fhall be fure;' and it is certainly his duty, in the most straitening circumstances, to maintain a confident dependence on the power and wisdom of Providence for neceffary fupply. I do not condemn those who, when reduced to extremity, have actually pleaded this divine promife, and against hope, have believed in hope; and I am perfuaded inftances have not been wanting of relief, furnished in a manner next to miraculous. But as to every other degree of temporal profperity, God hath reserved it in his own hand to give or withhold it at his pleafure; that is, as he fees it will be most for his glory, and the benefit of his people. It is lawful then, my brethren, for you to endeavour to procure, by honest industry, the increase of your substance, to look well to the state of your flocks, and your herds, and to ak by prayer the blef

fing of God upon your labours. It is lawful, and it is your duty by regularity and care, to preferve life and health, as well as to afk of the Father of your fpirits, recovery from fickness, or deliverance from any other kind of diftrefs. But you are not warranted to believe that these petitions shall be granted in hand, or in your own time and meafure, even though you afk them in fincerity with the prayer of faith. There may be reafons for witholding them, and yet you may be accepted in your prayers. your prayers. An infinitely wife God knows beft what is for your good, and he only hath a right to determine in what part of his own fervice; where and how long he fhall employ you. Truft in God, therefore, in this refpect, implies a careful attention to the tenorof the promises with regard to temporal mercies, and not to look for, or even, if poffible, defire what he hath not promised to bestow.

If I am not mistaken, we fhall find it of moment, upon this fubject, to obferve, both what he hath not and what he hath certainly promifed. He has no where promifed that his own people fhall be the richeft or the greatest on earth; but he hath certainly promised to blefs their provifion, and affured them, that a little that a juft: man hath fhall be better than the riches of many wicked. He has not promised that they fhall be free from fuffering; but he hath cer tainly promised to support them by his own prefence under their diftrefs. Ifa. xliii. 2. When • thou.

* thou paffeft through the waters, I will be with. thee; and through the rivers, they fhall not ' overflow thee; when thou walkeft through the

fire, thou fhalt not be burnt; neither fhall the 'flame kindle upon thee." The truth is, he hath promifed that all things fhall work together for 'their good'. In one word, they have indeed all mercies promifed, only they themselves are not in a condition, at prefent, to judge what they may ufe with fafety, and what not. As the heir of an opulent eftate, though he is proprietor of all, yet is laid under restraint while in infancy and nonage, because he would foon ruin himself if it were committed to his own management; fo the believer, though an heir of God, and joint heir with Chrift, yet till he is meet for the inheritance, he must be at his Maker's and Redeemer's difpofal. Take in, therefore, only this limitation, and then fee his extenfive charter. 1 Cor. iii. 21. For all things are yours; whe'ther Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things prefent, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Chrift's; and 'Chrift is God's.' What then is the duty of a child to God? It is to breathe after more and more fubmiffion to the divine will, and to annex this refervation to every petition of a temporal nature, 'nevertheless, not my will but thine be done.' And, oh my brethren, how happy the perfon who hath feen the weakness of human judgment; who waits the intimation of God's will, before he

will fuffer his defires to faften with eagernefs on any earthly comfort, and who endeavours to keep himself free from perplexity, by an humble and fubmiffive reliance on the all-fufficiency of God!

I observed, in entering on this part of the subject, that fpiritual confolation, or fenfible joy in God, is to be confidered as a promise of the fame clafs, which muft, therefore, be afked with fubmiffion, and is difpenfed according to the good pleasure of a gracious but fovereign God. I am fenfible, as has been formerly obferved with another view, that fome degree of comfort neceffarily follows from a believer's relation to God; ⚫ but many pious perfons feem to defire and to expect fenfible comfort in a higher measure than God fees it meet to give them, or than is proper for them in the present ftate. It is with fpiritual profperity as with temporal, every one cannot bear it. Therefore, it is our duty still to be fenfible that we have much more comfort and peace than we deferve, and as we defire and strive for greater degrees of it, to accompany thefe defires with much humility and refignation to the will of God.

I proceed now to the last thing proposed, which was to make a practical application of this subject for your inftruction and direction.

1. From what has been faid, you may see what judgment you ought to form of inward fuggeftions, and ftrong or particular impreffions upon your minds. There are fome extremely prone to

interpret