8. Observe the providences of God to yourselves, in the womb and from the womb : Ps. cxsxis. 12, ' How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, 0 God ! how great is the sum of them ! ' Gen. xxxii. 10, ' With my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands.' Broad rivers come from a small fountain : Job viii. 7, ' Though thy beginnings were small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase.'
9. The great aim of providence is God's glory and the salvation of the elect. God's glory : Eom. xi. 36, 'For of him, and through him, and to him are all things, to whom be glory for ever, Amen ; ' Ps. cxix. 91, ' They continue this day according to thine ordinance, for all are thy servants.' The salvation of the elect : Eom. viii. 28, ' All things shall work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to his purpose.' The world would soon shatter to pieces, but that God had some elect to gather out of it.
lY. When you have meditated, and taken some view of providence, treat with your own hearts about the use and comfort of it ; either about the providences of God in general, or to yourselves in particular.
1. About the providences of God in general. Consider of the care which God hath over all creatures. Urge the providences of God against your fears. Is it fear of man's policy ? Oh ! consider divine providence is above human prudence : Job v. 13, ' He taketh the wise in their own craftiness, and the counsel of the froward is carried head- long.' Suppose they be able to contrive mischief, yet God can hinder the execution of it, that they cannot find their hands for their enter- prise. Or do you fear the cunning of Satan ? Consider providence is chiefly exercised for this end, to defeat the power of Satan. There is a providence over the swine, much more over the flock of Christ ; and as TertuUian saith, He that has told the bristles of swine hath much more numbered the hau's of the saints. Urge your hearts with the provi- dence of God to encourage your trust in God for outward provision. When you are humbled with straits, and pinched for maintenance of your families, consider there is a providence. The world is God's great common, and he doth not overstock his own common. All things wait upon God ; how do the beasts live but upon providence ? Ps. civ. 27,
348 SERMONS UPON GENESIS XXIV. 63.
' These all wait upon thee, that thou inayest give them their meat in due season.' Who is it that feeds the ravens ? Ps. cxlvii. 9, ' He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry ; ' and Ps. cxlv. 16, ' Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.' Compare it witli ver. 19, ' He shall fulfil the desire of them that fear him ; he also will hear their cry, and will save them.' Urge your hearts herewith to patience under miseries. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without a providence, therefore certainly your crosses fall under the wise dispensation of God : Ps. xxxix. 6, ' Surely every man walketh in a vain show ; surely they are disquieted in vain.' Again, urge your hearts to thankfulness for mercies; look upon the first cause, and acknowledge the providence of God in all that you enjoy.
2. Consider the providences of God to yourselves in particular, for thou art a little world. Consider how the providence of God watched over thee in the womb ; when he took thee out from thence, how he provided two bottles to sustain thee ; how he hath borne thee up from the womb hitherto ; especially how he took care of thee when thou hast been in distress. Oh ! it is sweet when we can say, as David, Ps. xxxiv. 6, ' This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.' I have been in these and these distresses, yet the Lord hath heard and delivered me. Especially if he hath blessed thee from small beginnings, and increased thy substance, urge thy heart to trust in him for the future : 1 Peter v. 7, ' Casting all thy care upon him, for he careth for thee.'
Fifthly, The next object of meditation is the excellency and happi- ness of our estate in heaven. (See this subject treated on in a sermon on Titus ii. 13, ' Looking for that blessed hope.')
SERMONS
ON
SEYEEAL TEXTS OF SCRIPTURE.
PART II.
THE EPISTLE DEDICATOET.
To THE Lady Bawdon.
Madam, — It needs no apology that I have prefixed your ladyship's name to this part of the late Keverend Dr Thomas Manton's works, since the memory of the author is so precious with you, by whom you and your children were baptized into the christian faith, under whose ministry you were brought up in the knowledge of the mysteries of the gospel, and whose works published both before and since his death, have been so highly valued by you. But your ladyship has a more especial title to these sermons, because a great part of them being committed to my care to publish, the preparing them for the press was performed in a great measure under your ladyship's roof, when the providence of God called me there in my attendance on your honoured mother, the Lady "Wharton, in the last scene of her life.