vidence towards thee, and wilt but allow thyself time to reflect upon them; what a life of pleasure mayest thou live! I will not here tell thee what I have met with in this path, lest it should seem to savor of too much vanity. There are some delights and enjoyments in the Christian life, which are, and must he, kept private. But try it thyself, taste and see, and thou wilt need no other inducement; thine own experience will be the most powerful oratory to persuade thee to the study and search of Providence.

Histories are usually read with delight. When once the fancy is caught, a man knows not how to disengage himself from them. I am greatly mistaken, however, if the history of our own lives, if it were well drawn up and distinctly perused, would not be the pleasantest history that ever we read. The ensuing treatise is an essay to that purpose, in which thou wilt find some remarks on Providence in its passage through the several stages of our lives. But, reader, thou only art able to compile the history of Providence for thyself, because the memorials that furnish it, are only in thine own hands. However here thou mayest find a pattern, and general rules to direct thee in that great and difficult work which is the very end and design of this manual.

INTRODUCTION.

PSAL. lvii. 2

I will cry unto God most high, unto God that performeth all things for me.

THE greatness of God is a glorious and unsearchable mystery. "The Lord most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth," Psal. lxvii. 2. The condescension of the most high God to men is also a profound mystery. "Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect

unto the lowly," Psal. cxxxviii. 6. But when both these meet together, as they do in this scripture, they make up a matchless mystery. Here we find the most high God performing all things for a poor distressed crea

ture.

Three things are remarkable in the former part of the psalm-the extreme danger of the psalmist-his earnest address to God in that extremity--the arguments he pleads with God in that address.

His extreme danger is expressed both in the title and in the body of the psalm. The title tells us, that this psalm was composed by him when he hid himself from Saul in the cave. This cave was in the wilderness of Engedi, among the broken rocks where the wild goats inhabited, an obscure and desolate hole; yet even thither the envy of Saul pursued him, 1 Sam. xxiv. 1, 2. And now he who had been so long hunted as a partridge upon the mountains, seems to be inclosed in the net; for the place was begirt with his enemies. Having in this place no out-let another way, and Saul himself entering into the mouth of this cave, in the sides and creeks whereof he and his men lay hid, and saw him; judge to how great an extremity and to what a desperate state things were now brought. Well might he say, as it is in verse 4, "My soul is among lions, and I lie even among them that are set on fire." What hope now remained? What but immediate destruction could be expected?

Yet this danger frightens him not out of his faith and duty; but betwixt the jaws of death he prays, and earnestly addresses himself to God for mercy, ver. 5, "Be merciful to me, O God! be merciful to me!" The repetition denotes both the extremity of the danger, and the ardency of the supplicant. Mercy! mercy! Nothing but mercy, and that exerting itself in an extraordinary way, can now save him from ruin.

The arguments he pleads for obtaining mercy in this distress, are these-he pleads his reliance upon God as an argument to move his mercy; "Be merciful to me, O God; be merciful unto me! for my soul trusteth in thee; yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these sad calamities be overpast," ver. 1. And then Div. No. XIX.

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he pleads former experiences of his help in past distresses, as an argument encouraging hope under the present strait; "I will cry unto God most high, unto God that performeth all things for me."

In which words observe the duty resolved upon; "I will cry unto God." Crying unto God, is an expression that denotes not only prayer, but intense and fervent prayer; and then observe the encouragements to this resolution; and these are taken from the sovereignty of God, and from the experience he had of his providence.

He encourages himself from the sovereignty of God; "I will cry unto God most high." Upon this he acts his faith in the extremity of danger. Saul is high, but God is the Most High; and, without his permission, he is assured Saul cannot touch him. He had none to help; and if he had, he knew God must first help the helpers, or they cannot help him. He had no means of defence or escape before him, but the Most High is not limited to means.

me."

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The experience of his providence hitherto also encourages him; "Unto God that performeth all things for The word which we translate "performeth" comes from a root, that signifies both to perfect, and to desist or cease; for when a business is performed and perfected, the agent then ceases and desists from working. To such a happy issue the Lord had brought all his doubtful and difficult matters before; and this gives the psalmist encouragement, that he will still be gracious, and perfect that which concerneth him now, as he speaks in Psal. cxxxviii. 8, "The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. ".

If we bring our thoughts a little closer to this scripture, it will give us a fair and lovely prospect of Providence in its universal, effectual, beneficial, encouraging influence upon the affairs and concerns of the saints.

The expression imports the universal interest and influence of Providence in and upon all the concerns and mterests of the saints. It has not only its hand in this or that, but in all that concerns them. It has its eyes

upon every thing that relates to them throughout their lives, from first to last. Not only the great and more important, but the most minute and ordinary affairs of our lives are transacted and managed by it. It touches all things that touch us, whether more nearly or remotely.

It displays the efficacy of providential influences. Providence not only undertakes, but "performeth" and perfects what concerns us. It goes through with its designs, and accomplishes what it begins. No difficulty so clogs it, no cross accident so falls in its way, but it carries its design through it. Its motions are irresistible and uncontrolable.

And all its products and issues are exceeding beneficial to the saints. "It performeth all things for them :" It is true we often prejudge its works, and unjustly censure its designs; and under many of our straits and troubles, we say, " All these things are against us," but Providence neither does nor can do any thing that is really against the true interest and good of the saints; for what are the works of Providence, but the execution of God's decree, and the fulfilling of his word? And there can be no more in Providence than there is in them. Now there is nothing but good to the saints in God's purposes and promises; and therefore whatever Providence does in their concerns, it must be, as the text speaks, the performance of all things for them.

And if so, how cheering, supporting, and encouraging, must the consideration of these things be, in a day of distress and trouble! With what life and hope will it inspire our hearts and prayers, when great pressures lie upon us!

Doctrine. The amount of all you have in this doctrinal conclusion-that it is the duty of the saints, especially in times of straits, to reflect upon the performances of Providence for them in all the states and through all the stages of their lives.

The church, in all the works of mercy, owns the hand of God; "Lord thou hast wrought all our works in, or for, us," Isa. xxvi. 12. And it has been the pious and constant practice of the saints in all generations, to preserve

the memory of the more remarkable providences that have befallen them in their times as a precious treasure. "If thou be a Christian indeed," says Baxter, "I know thou hast, if not in thy book, yet certainly in thy heart, a great many precious favors upon record. The very remembrance and rehearsal of them is sweet. How much more sweet was the actual enjoyment!" Thus Moses, by divine direction, wrote a memorial of the victory obtained over Amalek, as the fruit and return of prayer, and built there an altar with this inscription, "JEHOVAH-NISSI, The Lord my banner," Exod. xvii. 14, 15. For this end you find psalms indited, to bring to remembrance, Psal. Ixx. the title; parents giving suitable names to their children, that every time they looked upon them, they might refresh the memory of God's mercies, 1 Sam. i. 20; the very places where eminent providences have appeared, new named, with no other design than to perpetuate the memorial of those sweet providences which so refreshed them there; hence Bethel took its name, Gen. xxviii. 19, and that well of water where Hagar was seasonably refreshed by the angel in her distress. Yea, the saints have given, and God has assumed to himself, new titles on this very account. Abraham's JEHOVAH-JIREH, and Gideon's JEHOVAHSHALLUM were ascribed to him for this reason. And sometimes you find the Lord styles himself, “The God that brought Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees;" then "The Lord God that brought them out of Egypt;" then "The Lord that gathered them out of the north country;" still reminding them of the gracious providences which in all those places he had wrought for them.

Now there is a two-fold reflection on the providential works of God. One is entire and full, in the whole complex and perfect frame thereof. This blessed sight is reserved for the perfect state. It is in that mount of God, where we shall see both the wilderness and Canaan, the glorious kingdom into which we are come, and the way through which we were led to it. There the saints shall have a ravishing view of that beautiful frame; and every part shall be distinctly discerned, as it had its particular use, and as it was connected with the other parts, and how effectually and orderly they all wrought to bring