you, if you go on smoothly in the way in which you are, and meet with no croffes.

(4.) Laftly, Confider, all your troubles under which you complain, are pulled down upon your heads by your own fins. You turn God's mercies into fin, and then fret against God, because he turns your fins into forrow. Your ways and doings procure these things to you. Lay your hand therefore upon your mouth, and fay, "Why doth a living man complain, a man for the "punishment of his fin," Lam. iii. 39. But I must turn to the Lord's people, who have least pretences of all men to be diffatiffied with any of God's providences, and yet are but too frequently found in that temper. And to them I fhall offer the following confiderations.

(2.) Confider your fpiritual mercies and privileges with which the Lord Jefus bath invefted you, and repine at your lot of providence if you can. One of these mercies alone, hath enough in it to fweeten all your troubles in this world. When the apostle considered them, his heart was overwhelmed with aftonishment; fo that he could not forbear, in the midst of all his outward troubles, to cry out, "Bleffed be the God and Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift, "who hath abounded to us in all spiritual bleffings," &c. Eph. i. 3. Oh, who that fees fuch an inheritance fettled upon him in Christ, can ever open his mouth more to repine at his lot of providence!

(2.) Confider your fins, and that will make you contented with your lot. Yea, confider two things in fin. (1.) What it deferves from God, and, (2.) What it requires to mortify and purge it in you. It deferves from God eternal ruin; the merit of hell is in the leaft vain thought every fin forfeits all the mercies you have, and if fo, rather wonder your mercies are fo many, than that you have no more. Befides, you cannot doubt, but your corruptions require all the croffes, wants, and troubles that are upon you, and, it may be, a great deal more to mortify and fubdue them. Do not you find, after all the rods that have been upon you, a proud heart ftill, a vain and earthly heart ftill? O how many bitter potions are but neceffary to purge out this tough, malignant humour!

(3.) Confider how near you are to the change of your condition. Have but a little patience, and all will be as well with you as your hearts can defire. It is no finall comfort to the faints, that this world is the worst place that ever they fhall be in: things will be better every day with them. If the traveller have spent all his money, yet it doth not much trouble him if he know himself within a few miles of his own home. If there be no candles in the house, we do not much matter it, if we are fure it is almost break of day; for then there will be no ufe for them. This is your cafe, «Your

"falvation is nearer than when you believed," Rom. xiii. 12. I have done with the directive part of this difcourfe; but before I pafs to the fifth head, I judge it neceffary to leave a few cautions to prevent the abufe of providence, and your miscarriages in your behaviour towards it. And

First Caution.

that you you,

have

If providence delay the performance of any mercy to long waited and prayed for; yet fee that you defpond not, nor grow weary of waiting upon God for that reafon. It pleafes the Lord oftentimes to try and exercife his people this way, and make them cry, "How long, Lord, how long?" Pfal. xiii. 1, 2.

These delays, both upon fpiritual and temporal accounts, are frequent; and when they befal us, we are too apt to interpret them as denials, and fall into a finful defpondency of mind, though there be no caufe at all for it, Pfal. xxxi. 12. Lam. iii. 8, 44. It is not always that the returns of prayer are difpatched to us in the fame hour they are asked of God; yet fometimes it falls out fo, Ifa. lxv. 24. Dan. ix. 23. But though the Lord means to perform to us the mercies we defire, yet he will ordinarily exercife our patience to wait for them; and that for these reasons,

(1.) Because our time is not the proper season for us to receive our mercies in. Now the feafon of mercy is a very great circumftance that adds much to the value of it. God judges not as we do, we are all in hafte, and will have it now, Numb. xxii. 13. "But he is a God of judgment, and bleffed are they that wait for "him," Ifa. xxx. 18.

(2.) Afflictive providences have not accomplished that defign upon our hearts they were fent for, when we are fo earnest and impatient for a change of them; and till then, the rod muft not be taken off, Ifa. x. 12.

(3.) The more prayers and fearchings of heart come between our wants and fupplies, our afflictions and reliefs, the sweeter are our reliefs and fupplies thereby made to us. Ifa. xxv. 9. "This " is our God; we have waited for him, and he will fave us: this "is the Lord, we have waited for him, we will rejoice and be "glad in his falvation." This recompenfes the delay, and pays us for all the expences of our patience.

But though there be fuch weighty reafons for the ftop and delay of refreshing, comfortable providences; yet we cannot bear it, our hands hang down, and we faint: Pfal. Ixix. 3. "I am weary "of my crying, my throat is dry, mine eyes fail while I wait for "my God." For, alas! we judge by fenfe and appearance, and confider not that God's heart may be towards us, whilst the hand of his providence feems to be against us. If things continue at

one rate with us, we think our prayers are loft, and our hopes perifhed from the Lord; much more when things grow worfe and worfe, and our darknefs and trouble increase, as ufually they do juft before the break of day and change of our condition, then we conclude, God is angry with our prayers: See Gideon's reply, Judges vi. 13. This even ftaggered a Mofes' faith, Exod. v. 22, 23. O what ground lefs jealoufies and fufpicions of God are found at fuch times in the hearts of his own children! Job ix. 16, 17. Pfal. lxxvii. 7, 8, 9.

But this is our great evil, and to prevent it in future trials I will offer a few proper confiderations in the cafe.

1. The delay of your mercies is really for your advantage. You read, Ifa. xxx. 18. "The Lord waits that he may be gracious." What is that? Why, it is nothing else but the time of his preparation of mercies for you, and your hearts for mercy, that fo ye may have it with the greatest advantage of comfort. The foolish child would pluck the apple whilft it is green, but when it is ripe, it drops of its own accord, and is more pleasant and wholefome.

2. It is a greater mercy to have an heart willing to refer all to God, and be at his difpofe, than to enjoy presently the mercy we are moft eager and impatient for; in that God pleases you, in this you pleafe God. A mercy may be given you as the fruit of common providence, but fuch a temper of heart is the fruit of special grace fo much as the glorifying of God is better than the content and pleasure of the creature, fo much is such a frame better than fuch a fruition.

3. Expected mercies are never nearer, than when the hearts and hopes of God's people are loweft. Thus in their deliverance out of Egypt and Babylon, Ezek. xxxvii. 11.-fo we have found it in our own perfonal concerns: "At evening-time it shall be light," Zech. xiv. 7. when we look for increafing darkness, light arifes.

4. Our unfitnefs for mercies is the reafon why they are delayed fo long. We put the blocks in the way of mercy, and then repine that they make no more hafte to us: Ifa. lix. 1, 2. "The Lord's "hand is not fhortened, but our iniquities have feparated betwixt ❝ him and us."

5. Confider, the mercies you wait for are the fruits of pure grace; you deferve them not, nor can claim them upon any title of defert, and therefore have reafon to wait for them in a patient and thankful frame.

6. Confider how many millions of men, as good as you by nature, are cut off from all hope and expectation of mercy for ever, and there remains to them nothing but a fearful expectation of wrath. This might have been your cafe, and therefore be not of an impatient fpirit under the expectations of mercy.

Second Caution.

Pry not too curiously into the fecrets of providence, nor suffer your fballow reafon arrogantly to judge and cenfure its defigns.

There are hard texts in the works, as well as in the word of God. It becomes us modeftly and humbly to reverence*, but not to dogmatize too boldly and pofitively upon them: a man may eafily get a strain by over-reaching. When I thought to know this, (faith Afaph) it was too wonderful for me. I thought to know this, there was the arrogant attempt of reason, there he pryed into the arcana of providence; but it was too wonderful for me, it was labor inutilis, as Calvin expounds it. He pryed fo far into that puzzling mystery of the afflictions of the righteous, and profperity of the wicked, till it begat envy towards them, and defpondency in himself, Pfal. lxxiii. 3, 13. And this was all he got by fummoning providence to the bar of reafon. Holy Job was guilty of this evil, and was ingenuously afhamed of it, Job xlii. 3.

I know there is nothing in the word, or in the works of God. that is repugnant to found reafon; but there are fome things in both, which are oppofite to carnal reason, as well as above right reason and therefore our reafon never thews itself more unreasonable, than in fummoning thofe things to its bar, which tranfcends its fphere and capacity. Manifold are the mifchicfs which enfue upon this practice.

1. By this we are drawn into an unworthy fufpicion and diftruft of the faithfulnefs of God in the promifes. Sarah laughed at the tidings of the fon of promife, because reafon contradicted and told her it was naturally impoffible, Gen. xviii. 13, 14.

2. Hence come defpondency of mind, and faintnefs of heart under afflictive providences; reafon can difcern no good fruits in them, nor deliverance from them, and fo our hands hang down in a finful difcouragement, faying, all these things are against us, 1 Sam. xxvii. 1.

3. Hence flow temptations to deliver ourfelves by indirect and sinful mediums, Ifa. xxx. 15, 16. when our own reafon fills us with a diftruft of providence it naturally prompts us to finful fhifts, and there leaves us entangled in the fnares of our own making.

Beware, therefore, you lean not too much to your own rea

Here the fcripture has fet bounds to our curiofity, which no man can, or ought to tranfgrefs; neither is it for man to call God to account (or judge of God). Hence it is that God's judgments are called avixnasa, unfearchable, that the human mind may not weary and toil itfelf in vain, and not without the greatest danger, in fearching out God. Cameron's Prakeit. p. 112.

fon and understanding; nothing is more plaufible, nothing more dangerous. In other matters it is appointed the arbiter and judge, we make it so here, and therefore we are fo diffident and distrustful, notwithstanding the fulleft fecurity of the promises whilft our reafon ftands by unfatisfied.

The Fifth Head.

Having given directions for the due management of this great and important duty, what remains, but that we now set our hearts to it, and make it the conftant work of every day throughout our lives? O what peace, what pleasure, what ftability, what holy courage and confidence would result from fuch an obfervation of providence has hath been directed to! But alas! we may fay, with reference to the voices of Divine Providence, as it is in Job xxxiii. 14. "God fpeaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not." Many a time providence hath spoken inftruction in duty, conviction for iniquity, encouragement under defpondency, but we regard it not. How greatly are we all wanting to our duty and comfort by this neglect it would be but needful, therefore, to fpread before you the loveliness and excellency of walking with God in a due and daily obfervation of his providences, that our fouls may be fully engaged to it.

First Motive.

And firft, let me offer this as a moving argument to all gracious fouls, That by this means you maintain fweet and fenfible communion with God from day to day. And what is there defirable in this world in comparison therewith! "Thou, Lord, haft made "me glad through thy works; I will triumph in the works of "thy hands," Pfal. xcii. 4. Your hearts may be as fweetly and fenfibly refreshed by the works of God's hands, as by the words of his mouth. Pfal. civ. per totum, is fpent in the confideration of the works of providence, which fo filled the Pfalmift's heart, that, by way of ejaculation, he expreffes the effect of it, ver. 34. "My me"ditation of him fhall be fweet."

Communion with God, properly and ftrictly taken, confifts in two things, viz. God's manifeftation of himself to the foul, and the foul's anfwerable returns to God. This is that zona, fellowfiip, we have here with God. Now God manifefts himself to his people by providences, as well as ordinances; neither is there any grace in a fanétified foul, hid from the gracious influences of his providential manifeflations. Sometimes the Lord manifefts his difpleafure and anger againft the fins of his people, in correcting and rebuking providences; his rods have a chiding voice, Mic. vi. 9. "Hear the « rod, and who hath appointed it." This difcovery of God's an