Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it. Their bows, also, shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children." How awful does Providence appear here! Even when savage idolaters violate every dictate of humanity, they are the executors of the judgments of the Almighty. While their conduct is most horridly guilty, in the Divine sovereignty it fulfils God's will. Who can fathom this depth? In Spain acts of barbarity that disgrace humanity are constantly occurring, yet men in general see nothing of the hand of the Lord in this. The just and holy God is pouring out his vengeance, and in the reciprocal cruelties of these children of blood, God is avenging the cause of his martyrs. In God's dealings with Assyria and Babylon we ought to find a key to his Providence in his dealings with the western nations of Europe. Does not Jehovah govern the world? Is there evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it? Statesmen and philosophers in their blindness may overlook the hand of God when it is outstretched over their heads, but his own children may see it as clearly as David did the sword of the destroying angel over Jerusalem.

DESTRUCTION OF TYRE.-Isaiah xxiii. 11.

In the destruction of the cities and nations denounced by prophecy, we are not merely to view

the fulfilment of prediction, but we are to consider that the thing predicted is to be effected by the Lord, so that the destruction is the Lord's work. "He stretched out his hand over the sea, he shook the kingdoms: The Lord hath given a commandment against the merchant city, to destroy the strongholds thereof." God does the thing: man does it. In doing the work of the Lord, man acts freely; and is justly accountable for doing what is directly appointed for him to do. Philosophy cannot plumb this ocean by its line; philosophy, therefore, denies what it cannot comprehend. But does she show wisdom in this? No; she manifests her folly. The amount of her unbelief is this-" There is nothing in the ways of the Almighty but what I am able to comprehend." Can there be a purer specimen of Atheism and madness?

In the accomplishment of the threatenings against the nations, we are also to consider that God usually works in the way of Providence. He works effectually, but in such a manner that his hand is not generally seen. The wisdom of this world sees nothing but the agency of man. Here is the great wisdom of God; he manifests himself in his works of Providence; yet, as in the works of creation, he is not seen.

FAMINE IN JUDAH.-Jeremiah xiv.

For the existence of plenty as of famine, the wisdom of this world looks no higher than to what are

called second causes. farther concerned in these matters than as the author of certain general laws. He has set the machine a-going, and it continues to work by its own construction, without any regulation of a superintending hand. Climate, soil, cultivation, need, it is confessed, favourable seasons, but any divine direction of weather is supposed to be unnecessary. Timely rain, or the want of it, is a matter below the attention of the Ruler of the world. The blight and the mildew, the wet and the caterpillar, are enemies with which the farmer is to struggle; but they are never considered as armies of devastation sent into the fields by a righteous Providence. The history of the Old Testament gives us a key to Providence in the production of famine or of plenty. God regulates the supplies of the children of men as exactly as if each individual of the human race had his rations assigned him by the angels of heaven every rising sun. "The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the dearth. Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish ; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up. And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads. Because the ground is chapt, for there was no rain in the earth, the ploughmen were ashamed, they covered their heads. Yea, the hind also calved in the field, and forsook

God, it is considered, is no

it, because there was no grass. And the wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass. O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name's sake for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee."-Jer. xiv. 1-7. As in creation and in Providence, so in redemption, God hides himself in the midst of a blaze of light. In all his works he reveals himself, yet the enmity of the human heart will not allow men to see him. And what is most strange, the savage sees a divine hand in the works of Providence; it is unseen and denied by philosophical wisdom. The illiterate peasant hears God in his voice of thunder and storms, and acknowledges divine wrath in pestilence, sword, and famine. But the philosopher perceives nothing in all these but the course of nature.

The wisdom of man makes itself ignorant of

what the very beasts seem to feel.

FIELD OF HANAMEEL PROVIDENTIALLY OFFERED FOR

SALE. Jeremiah xxxii. 7.

The captivity and expatriation of Judah was at hand. But their return is as necessary as their expulsion. God, then, designs to confirm this truth; and his Providence provides the means. A field purchased by the prophet will be both a figure and an evidence of this. At this moment his uncle Hanameel comes to the prophet and offers his field for sale. What made it necessary for this man at this

Why does ne come

time to sell his inheritance? at the very time that the occasion demanded? God sent him. But how did he send him? By his Providence, and not by express command. Every thing occurred with the exactness of the movement of a watch; yet Hanameel was doing his own business according to his own volitions and sentiments.

LIFE OF JEREMIAH PROVIDENTIALLY SAVED BY
EBED-MELECH.-Jeremiah xxxviii.

Jeremiah must soon have perished in the mire of the pit. God could have delivered him by the hands of hosts of angels, or he could have delivered him without man. Even in his situation, he could have preserved him for years, without injury or pain. But God usually works by means; and his Providence always provides the means that are necessary. When Jeremiah was cast into the pit, Providence directed that Ebed-melech applied to the king, and succeeded in the deliverance of the servant of God. How did it happen that in so profligate a time such a man as Ebed-melech was about the person of the king? How did it happen that so good a man had such interest with such an enemy of God? Consider, also, how seasonably the fact comes to the ears of Ebed-melech. It might not have reached him till the man of God had died. Providence! Providence! Verily there is a God who ruleth in the earth.