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our mercies, they are very many: and we often lofe both the relish of them, and the benefit of them, by not obferving them. Those who are delivered from fickness, or the fear of it, in themfelves, or their relations, ought to be fenfible of the goodness of God, who maketh them to lye down and rife up in fafety.-If any had reafon to fear confinement from ordinances, or from ufefulness, they should say, with the Pfalmift, Pfal. exviii. 16,-19. The right hand of the Lord is exalted; the right hand of the Lord doth valiantly. I fhall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord; the Lord hath chastened me "fore; but he hath not given me over unto death. • Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go • into them, and I will praife the Lord.'-If any were oppreffed with calumny and reproach, and God hath hidden them from the ftrife of tongues, hath pleaded their caufe, or brought forth their 'judgment as • the light, and their righteousness as the noon-day.' The Pfalmift says, Pfal. cxviii. 10,-14. ‘All nati⚫ons compaffed me about; but in the name of the • Lord will I destroy them. They compaffed me about, yea, they compaffed me about; but, in the name of the Lord, I will destroy them. They compassed me about like bees; they are quenched * as the fire of thorns; for, in the name of the Lord,

I will destroy them. Thou haft thrust fore at me, that I might fall; but the Lord helped me: the • Lord is my ftrength and fong, and is become my falva• tion.'-If any are delivered from the fear of want, and a reasonable profpect given them of competent

and fuitable provifion for themfelves and families; if they can remember the time, whether lately or at a greater distance, when they feemed to be threatened with poverty and dependance, and all the fhame, diftrefs, and temptation that attends that enfnaring ftate; if, I fay, they can remember this, and fee how God, by a gracious providence, has led them by the hand; has given them food to eat and rai. ment to put on, and even honoured them with the ability and the heart to ftretch out their hands to the poor and needy, the fatherlefs and the widow; furely he hath dealt bountifully with them. They ought to fay with the Pfalmift, Pfal. xxiii. 5. • Thou ' prepareft a table before me in the prefence of mine ⚫ enemies: thou anointeft my head with oil, my cup

runneth over.'-If any have been burdened with a fenfe of guilt, the arrows of the Lord within them, and the poifon thereof drinking up their fouls, and God hath revealed himself to them, as pardoning iniquity, tranfgreffion, and fin; if they have been enabled to lay hold, with clearnefs and confidence, of the great atonement, they have furely tafted of his love: Or, if a fpirit of bondage and flavifh fear has given a forbidding afpect to the paths of piety; or hath brought a gloom and darkness upon the paths of providence, and it hath pleafed God to fpeak peace to their fouls, by the Spirit of confola tion, they will fay with the Pfalmift, Pfal. ciii. 1.

Blefs the Lord, O my foul, and all that is within • me, blefs his holy name.'Or, finally, if any hath complained of a dead, slothful, secure frame, refting too eafily in the form, and minding little of the pow

er of godlinefs, and it hath pleased God to touch their hearts and lips with a live-coal from off his altar; to command their attention by his word; to excite their affections in his worship, and to give a new Atrain of watchfulness and tenderness to the whole of their converfation; they have furely the greatest reafon to fay, Return unto thy reft, O my foul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee.

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2. The Lord hath dealt bountifully with you, if you can obferve a particular mark and signature of his providence in your mercies. It is one thing to receive the bounty of providence, and another to difcern and confefs the hand that bestows it. Even with regard to the bleffings that are, in a great meafure, common to every thing that lives, it is a matter of the highest moment, and of great influence in religion, to have a deep and serious conviction from whom they flow, to be fenfible of the abfolute and constant dependance of every creature upon God: It places us immediately in our Maker's prefence; for, as the apostle Paul fays, Acts xvii. 27.

He ⚫ is not far from every one of us. For in him we • live, and move, and have our being.'

But though this is not to be neglected, I have fomething farther in view, viz. When we can ob ferve the particular fteps of providence, as well as the gracious intention of it, as the fruit of fpecial and distinguishing love. The footsteps of providence are to be seen often in the means,-in the season, and in the nature of the mercy. 1ft, When the means by which any mercy is brought about are extraor dinary, and far beyond the reach of human wisdom,

it ferves to fhew that God himself hath been their help. Sometimes the children of God are left to prove the weakness of all created help, and to be urged in a manner to the brink of defpair, that their deliverance may be the more fignal, and may the more evidently point out the very finger of God. What a mercy is it, when the enemies of good mea wait for their halting, and hope to overcome them, and yet they are remarkably delivered, and out of weakness are made ftrong? See how the Pfalmist prays, Pfal. lxxxvi. 16. 17. 'O turn unto me, and ⚫ and have mercy upon me. Give thy strength unto thy fervant, and fave the fon of thine handmaid. Shew me a token for good, that they which hate ⚫ me may fee it, and be ashamed; because thou, Lord ⚫ haft holpen me, and comforted me.'

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2dly, Sometimes the providence of God is feen in the season of the mercy. It is bestowed when it is moft needed, or when it may be of greatest use: When the faith of his people is beginning to fail, it frequently meets with unexpected and eminent fup port. Pfal. lxxiii. 2. But as for me, my feet were almost gone: my steps had well nigh-flipt. v. ro. • Therefore his people return hither: and waters of * a full cup are wrung out to them. Pfal xciv. 16; 17, 18, 19. Who will rife up for me against the e vil doers? or who will stand up for me against the ♦ workers of iniquity? Unless the Lord had been my help, my foul had almost dwelt in filence. When • faid, my foot flippeth; thy mercy, O Lord, held me up. In the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my foul.' When they

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have duties of importance before them, they have fometimes fuch fupplies of grace and strength given them, as to carry them through with comfort and with credit. Sometimes, to prepare them for trials which may be before them, they have uncommon measures of confolation from above; and fometimes under or after trials, for their fupport and comfort, they meet with all in the Creator, and much more than they loft in the creature. And I hope, my brethren, many have caufe to adore the wifdom, as well as the grace of God in publick ordinances, that directs his ministers, as well as his Spirit, to fuch in structions as may be most suitable, both to the wants and the defires of his faints. How excellent is found instruction, at any rate! But what a new beauty and excellency does it acquire, in the eyes of that perfon, to whose inward complaints it is directly fuited? We may say of it as Solomon fays, Prov. xv. 23. A man · hath joy by the anfwer of his mouth; and a word ⚫fpoken in due feason, how good is it? - XXV. 11. ¶ A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pic • tures of filver. Ifa. 1. 4. The Lord God hath 'given me the tongue of the learned, that I should "know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary.!

3dly, Once more: The fignature of providence is fometimes feen in the nature of the mercy, when it is exactly fuited to the ftate and character of the perfon concerned. Our temper, station, duties, have in them a very great diverfity; and there is frequent ly an opportunity to obferve how God difpenfes his gifts with wifdom and propriety. If he gives to the

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