Sol. Though the wisdom of providence hath ordered you a lower and poorer condition than others, yet (1.) Consider how many there be that are lower than you in the world : You have but little of the world, yet others have less. Read the description of those persons, Job xxx. 4, &c. (2.) If God had given you but a small portion of the world ; yet if you be godly, he hath promised never to forsake you, Heb. xiii. 5. (3.) Providence hath ordered that condition for you which is really best for your eternal good. If you had more of the world than you have, your heads and hearts might not be able to manage it to your advantage. A small boat must have but a narrow sail. You have not wanted hitherto the necessaries of hfe, and are commanded, " having food and rai- " ment (though none of the finest) to be therewith content. A " little that a righteous man hath, is better that the riches of " many wicked,'^ Psalm xxxvii. 16. better in the acquisition, sweeter in the fruitio7i^ and more comfortable in the account.
Well then, if providence hath so disposed of you all, that you can eat your own bread, and so advantageously directed some of you to employments that afford not only necessaries for yourselves and fa- milies, but an over-plus for works of mercy to others, and all this brought about for you in a way you did not project ; let God be owned and honoured in this providence. Will you not henceforth call him, " My father, the guide of my youth ?"" as it is Jer. iii. 4. Surely it was the Lord that guided you to settle, as you did in those days of your youth : You reap at this day and may to your last day, the fruits of those early providences in your youth.
Now see that you walk answerable to the obligations of provi- dence in this particular ; and see to it, in tlie fear of God, that you abuse not any of those things to his dishmwur which it hath
THE MYSTERY OF PROVIDENCE. S91
wrought for your comfort. To prevent which I will here drop a few needful cautions, and shut up this particular.
1 Caution. Be not slothful and idle in your vocations. It is said Augustus built an Apragapolis, a city void of business : but I am sure God never erected any city, town, or family to that end. The command to Adam, Gen. iii. 19. no doubt reaches all his pos- terity ; and gospel-commands back and second it upon Christians, Rom. xiii. 11. and 2 Thess. iv. 11. If you be negligent, you cannot be innocent. And yet,
2 Caution. Be not so intent upon your particular calhngs, as to make them interfere with your general calling. Beware you lose not your God in the croud and hurry of earthly business ; mind that solemn warning, 1 Tim. vi. 9- " But they that will be rich <' fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurt- " ful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition." The inhabitants of CEnock, a dry island near Athens, bestowed much labour to draw in a river, to water it and make it fruitful ; but when the sluices were opened, the w*aters flowed so abundantly that it overflowed the island, and drowned the inhabitants. The application is obvious. It was an excellent saying of Seneca, Re^ bus non me trado, scd commodo ; I do not give, but lend myself to business.
ii Caution. Remember always the success of your callings and earthly employments is by Divine blessings, not human diligence alone, Deut. viii. 18. " Thou shalt remember the Lord thy God ; for *' it is he that gave thee power to get wealth." The devil himself was so far orthodox as to acknowledge it, Job i. 10. " Hast not *' thou made an hed^e about him and his house, and about all that *' he hath on every side ? Thou hast blessed the work of his ** hands," &c. Recommend therefore your affairs to God by prayer, according to Psalm xxxvii. 4, 5. " Delight thyself also in " the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. " Commit thy way unto the Lord : trust also in him, and he shall " bring it to pass." And touch not with that, which you cannot recommend to God by prayer for a blessing.
4 Caution. Be well satisfied in that station and employment in which providence hath placed you, and do not so much as wish yourselves in another, 1 Cor. vii. 20. " Let every man abide in the " same calling wherein he was called." Providence is wiser than you, and you may be confident, hath suited all things better to your eternal good than you could do, had you been left to your own option.
The sia:th performance of Providence.
VI. Thus you see the care providence hath had over you in your
S92 DIVINE CONDUCT ; OR,
youth, in respect to that civil employment to which it guided you in thi^se days. We wil], in the next place, consider it as our guide^ and the oi'derer of our relations Jhr us. That providence hath a spe- cial hand in this matter, is evident both from scripture assertions, and the acknowledgments of holy men, who in that great concern- ment of their lives, have still owned and acknowledged the direct- ing hand of providence. Take an instance of both. The scrip- ture plainly asserts the dominion of providence over this aifair in Prov. xix. 14. " A prudent wife is from the Lord."" And Prov. xviii. 22. *' Whoso iindeth a wife findeth a good thing, and ob- .'' taineth favour of the Lord." So for children, see Psal. cxxvii. 8. " Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord ; and the fruit of '' the womb is his reward.'"*
And it hath ever been the practice of holy men to seek the Lord for direction and counsel when they have been upon the change of their condition. No doubt but Abraham's encourage- ment in that case was the fruit of prayer. Gen. xxiv. 7. His pi- ous servant also, who was employed in that affair, did both earnestly seek counsel of God, Gen. xxiv. 12. and thankfully acknowledge his gracious providence in guiding it, ver. 26, 27.
The same we may observe in children, the fruit of marriage, 1 Sam. i. 20. Luke i. 13, 14. Now the providence of God may be divers ways displayed for the engaging of our hearts in love to the God of our mercies.
(1.) There is very much of providence seen in appointing the parties each for other. In this, the Lord goes oftentimes beyond our thoughts and projections; yea, and oftentimes crosses men's desires and designs to their great advantage. Not what they fancy, but what his infinite Wisdom judges best and most beneficial for them, takes place. Hence it is that probabilities ai'e so often dash- ed ; and things remote, and utterly improbable, are brought about in very strange and unaccountable methods of providence.