Laftly, is your health declining, your body

worn down with age or fickness?—It is well. You are haftening apace to your great home, where fickness, and diftrefs fhall be no more.. Listen to the great apoftle, declaring his defire to depart, and be with Chrift, if it were God's bleffed will; and endeavour to raise your defires to the fame elevated degree. You are haftening to a father's houfe, where, if you have been an obedient fon, you shall furely receive a joyful welcome.

SINCE then, it may be faid, we have fuch excellent means of comfort in all our diftreffes, one fhould think, that nobody need be miserable. Whence is it, notwithstanding all these comforts, that might refresh our fouls, whence is it, that we see men, every where, wretched, and repining-fretted at each little accident of life-difcontented-perhaps caft down, and for

lorn?

Whence is it, do you afk? I'll tell you, my friends. It is because we try every method of ob ́taining comfort, but the true one. The comforts of religion are promised to you, if you chufe to accept them but you must remember, they are promised to you only on a fuppofition, that you are really religious. If you are luke-warm in

your

your profeffion-and depend rather on the com forts of the world, you furely fo far give up the comforts of religion. If you refuse the medicine, you cannot expect the cure. If you have trusted in the world for your happiness; why, you must go to the world for your comfort alfo. In the multitude of forrows that are in your heart, there you must apply for relief. When the calamities of life bear hard upon you-when fick. ness, or the infirmities of age, overtake you, you must try what confolations the world can give what comforts it has in ftore for its devoted fervants. To the confolations of the gofpel you have little claim.-What?-Can you expect the pleasures of fin, and the comforts of religion?-Can you receive, at the same time, think you, the wages of Mammon, and the wages of Jefus Chrift? Ah! Ah! my friends, you will find yourselves miferably mistaken;cruelly disappointed. The world is a poor.comforter in affliction-a wretched paymafter to those who truft it.

If then you defire to receive folid comfort in

affliction, the way is plain before you: you must

look for it only in religion. You must obey the

gofpel. You must receive through faith, Christ's law into your heart. You must leave off your

fins.

fins. You must believe truly in God through Christ. You must refign yourself with humility into his hands; and leaving the world out of the queftion, you must fix your thoughts on the promises of the gospel. Act thus, and then you may hope for the comforts of religion in your affictions. Then you fhall feel it more than the empty boast of religion, that in the multitude of forrows, which you have in your heart, the mercies of God will indeed refresh your foul.

SERMON XV.

MATTHEW, X. 30.

THE VERY HAIRS OF YOUR HEAD ARE ALL

NUMBERED.

IN the chapter from whence this verse is taken, our bleffed Saviour inftructs his apoftles, before he fends them to preach the gospel. He enumerates the many difficulties, they fhould meet with from bad men, and from the perverseness of the world in general. But he affures them for their comfort, that none of these events were properly in the hands of men; but were under the direc tion of Providence ;-of that Providence, whofe care extended to the smallest events of the creation. The very hairs of their heads, he tells them, are all numbered.

As the providence of God no doubt, acts at all times in the fame uniform manner, the inftruction of the text belongs to us, as much as to those, to whom it was originally given; I fhall therefore in the following difcourfe, endeavour to explain to you, first, what we understand by the providence of God; and fecondly I fhall fhew you what effect this doctrine fhould have upon

us,

WHEN We speak of the providence of God, we do not inquire into his being. That is taken. for granted. Neither is God's creating the world the fubject of our enquiry; but only his government of it; which is what we strictly mean by his providence.

Now the belief of God's providence, or government of the world, engages us in greater difficulties, than the belief merely of his creating it; and it muft needs be fo. That God created the world, every one, who hath eyes to fee, must be convinced.-But to believe he governs it, requires the ufe of our reafon as well as of our fight, We must reafon from what we know to what we do not know: for it is evident, that the acuteft human reason cannot understand the whole mode of God's moral government.

When