cannot be contained, as before, in agitating thoughts, but bursts out in briny tears: She lifts up her voice aloud, and weeps. Well, the God that saw her before, sees her still. The voice of the lad, who no doubt mingled his tears and complaints with his mother's, is heard; and Hagar's eyes are opened to see a fountain, at which she fills the bottle, gives him drink, and he revives again.

It may not be amiss to name a few more instances of providential care; as, Lot's rescue by Abraham, when he and all he had were taken captive and afterwards, his miraculous deliverance out of Sodom-Jacob's preservation from angry Laban, when pursued and overtaken by him; and his still more amazing deliverance from Esau's rooted revenge, which is converted into congratulations, tears, and embraces-The astonishing history of Joseph, through all its unparalleled scenes:-The deliverance of the children of Israel, when their bondage was grown insupportable, leading them through the Red Sea, while their pursuers perished in the waters, feeding them in the wilderness with manna from heaven, and keeping their clothes from waxing old. And how many times, in the book of Judges, even when his people had sinned against him, did he shew mercy to them in their extremity of misery!-The accounts of Naomi, Ruth, and Hannah, shew how the mercy of God takes place in all the circumstances of the afflicted. The memorable passage of the ark of God in the Philistines' land; Jonathan's victory over the Phi listines; the death of giant Goliah, who had defied the armies of Israel, by the hand of David, who afterwards has a beautiful chain of deliverances from a persecuting Saul, and in his old age from the rebellion of his unnatural son; the pro

poverty, that defends us, by depriving us of so many opportunities to destroy ourselves; but when we see the surprising expressions of paternal care that Heaven has replenished the oracles of truth with, we can do no less than account the poor the happy ones; for such is the mercy of God, that when a man is in misery, then he becomes the object of his mercy.

Now, to shew that the promises of God are not bare expressions of good-will, let his providential conduct be surveyed, as recorded in the word of truth, and that in a few instances.

Hagar, an Egyptian, Sarah's handmaid, flees from the face of her unfriendly mistress; flees, to whom she knows not, whither she cannot tell. She sits down by a well of water in the wilderness, no doubt overcome with sorrow. But then the angel of the Lord accosts her; tells her that the Lord had heard her affliction; speaks comfort to her, and makes her a promise; under a grateful sense of all which, she calls the name of the Lord, that thus prevented her with unexpected kindness, "Thou, God, seest me."-Again, the same Ha. gar is plunged into a new scene of distress. Her care and confusion are augmented, as she is not now alone in her perplexity, but has her son, her only son, with her, the object of her fondest affection, and the hope of her infirm old age. The bottle is spent, and the stripling, for thirst, the worst of all deaths, must die. Her melting bowels being unable to behold the agony of his last moments, she lays him down under a shrub, to screen him from the sultry heat, and goes away from him. Yet maternal care will not let her go too far away; so she sits down over against him, and fixes her eyes on the melancholy spot. And now her grief

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cannot be contained, as before, in agitating thoughts, but bursts out in briny tears: She lifts up her voice aloud, and weeps. Well, the God that saw her before, sees her still. The voice of the lad, who no doubt mingled his tears and complaints with his mother's, is heard; and Hagar's eyes are opened to see a fountain, at which she fills the bottle, gives him drink, and he revives again.

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It may not be amiss to name a few more instances of providential care; as, Lot's rescue by Abraham, when he and all he had were taken captive; and afterwards, his miraculous deliverance out of Sodom-Jacob's preservation from angry Laban, when pursued and overtaken by him; and his still more amazing deliverance from Esau's rooted revenge, which is converted into congratulations, tears, and embraces: The astonishing history of Joseph, through all its unparalleled scenes:-The deliverance of the children of Israel, when their bondage was grown insupportable, leading them through the Red Sea, while their pursuers perished in the waters, feeding them in the wilderness with manna from heaven, and keeping their clothes from waxing old. And how many times, in the book of Judges, even when his people had sinned against him, did he shew mercy to them in their extremity of misery!-The accounts of Naomi, Ruth, and Hannah, shew how the mercy of God takes place in all the circumstances of the afflicted. The memorable passage of the ark of God in the Philistines' land; Jonathan's victory over the Philistines; the death of giant Goliah, who had defied the armies of Israel, by the hand of David, who afterwards has a beautiful chain of deliverances from a persecuting Saul, and in his old age from the rebellion of his unnatural son; the pro

tection of the seven and thirty worthies, amidst the dangers they were exposed to; Elijah fed by ravens, creatures that live on carrion, and yet they bring bread and flesh to the man of God twice aday! the widow's barrel of meal, and cruse of oil, blessed so as not to waste by using; Elijah's forty days journey in the strength of one meal; small armies defeating great hosts; armies supplied with water in a miraculous way; the barren woman made to bear; the dead restored to life again; poison prevented from doing mischief, and food augmented; the three children preserved in the fire, and Daniel in the lion's den; all manner of diseases cured by Christ, and his servants, the prophets and apostles; the lepers cleansed, the blind made to see, the deaf to hear, the dumb to sing, and the lame to leap; the deliverance of the disciples on the lake; of Peter, when sinking, and afterwards when kept in prison, a destined sacrifice to cruelty and rage; Paul's escape when watched in Damascus, and when laid fast in the stocks with Silas, in the inner prison; when shipwrecked, and when the viper fastened on his hand :-These are some instances that the promises of God have been made out to his people in their adversities. And let those, on the one hand, who have no changes, and therefore fear not God, know, that they have neither part nor lot in these promises; but, on the other hand, let him know that suffers under the greatest load of afflictions, that he has a right to the greatest number of promises; and that whenever he loses another enjoyment, then he has a right to another promise, which makes up that loss with a redundancy of goodness.

Now, let us glance at a few of these many great

promises, that in all cases and conditions we may take comfort.

If we are troubled with sin in its uprisings in our hearts, and outbreakings in our life, to us then the promise speaks, "I will take away the hard and stony heart: I am he that blotteth out your iniquities as a cloud, and your sins as a thick cloud : he will subdue all our iniquities, and cast our sins into the depths of the sea, so that in the day when Israel's sins shall be sought for, they shall not be found: Sin shall not have dominion over you: I will heal their backslidings; I will love them freely."-Again, with respect to temptation, hear the promise, "He will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able to bear, but will with the temptation make a way to escape." Moreover, this promise is made by him who, being once tempted himself, knows how to succour them that are tempted. Also, if we fear lest we should fall into sin, or be overcome when we are buffeted, hear what he says: My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness: The just shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger: The righteous shall be like the palm-tree in Lebanon, always flourishing and bringing forth fruit, even in old age when others fade."-If suddenly attacked by the tongue of reproach, or accused at the bar of iniquity, he promises, that in that hour it shall be given how and what to speak, and there. fore we should take no anxious forethoughts in the

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With his saints in all their afflictions he is af flicted, and his gracious promises measure breadth and length to all the trouble and distress that can B