gent in observing and acting upon them, with a firm dependence on the great Being by whom they are enacted.

But, in the second place," they who "sow do not always reap," and this great law of God seems to suffer many interruptions. Yet the Lawgiver himself is steady and immoveable, and when the eye of man has once been elevated to Him, how is it that his faith should for a moment fail? It is in this high strain that our Saviour continues his argument :"Therefore take no thought, saying, "what shall we eat? or what shall we "drink? or wherewithal shall we be "clothed? (for after all these things do "the Gentiles seek,) for your heavenly "Father knoweth that ye have need of "all these things." It is thus that he endeavours to point out to the individuals of the human race, the highest relation in which they stand; to shew

them, that it is not merely the concerns of a lower world to which their thoughts should bend, but that they ought to look up to that Heavenly Father who knoweth their necessities, and that, when they have once discovered this lofty relationship, all their anxieties and distrust ought for ever to be at an end. If the laws of this lower world are not invariable,-if "the race is not always to the swift, nor "the battle to the strong, nor bread to "the wise, nor riches to men of under

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standing," the design is evidently that we should raise our contemplation to higher laws, and endeavour to discover that part of the administration of God in which there is "no variableness nor sha

"dow of turning." "Seek ye first," he concludes," the kingdom of God and "his righteousness, and all these things "shall be added unto you." To the man whose thoughts are elevated to this

contemplation, and who believes that there is a higher kingdom, in which they who have sown the seeds of virtuous obedience, will infallibly reap the harvest of immortality; all doubts concerning the watchful Providence of God are for ever removed; and, while he is going on in the animating course of duty, he feels that the hand of the Almighty is leading him forward, and that, amidst the conflict of mortal disappointments and trials, the shield of heaven is ever held over him, to save him from the violence of their shock.

It is thus that we are farther instructed not to regard the most grievous afflictions which can befall us, as any proofs of the want of providential care on the part of our heavenly Father. How often, on the contrary, does not experience inform us, that to these we must ascribe our greatest im

provements in religious hope and virtue, and that, when it arises calm and collected from the stroke of adverse fortune, the soul of man assumes its noblest character, and attains the firmest belief of that high destiny which awaits it.

But I will not at present enter farther into these reflections. The result to which they lead is, in the highest degree, consoling and animating. They lead us to feel the utmost security in the course of virtuous occupation; they animate all our labours of duty, by representing them as performed under the care, and with the assistance, of heaven; they give to the good man constant cheerfulness, while he knows that, in his progress through the world, he is ever leaning upon God; and, at those times when his soul is afflicted, they yet inspire the happiest resignation, when he knows that it is a Father who chastises him. To

such impressions, then, my brethren, let your minds be ever accustomed; seek for them in the hour of prayer; let your souls be temples in which the presence of God may dwell; and throw away all those earthly and careful thoughts which obscure to your view the brightness of the Deity.

In a few days another duty will summon us. We are called, amidst the dangers and the distresses of our country, to advance to the footstool of Omnipotence, and to implore its protection and its guidance. To this great service, the noblest in which a Christian nation can be employed, let us advance with hearts duly prepared and enlightened, sensible of that Almighty arm which alone can save, and confident in the wisdom of

that hand which alone can direct us.