god's continued mercies to us.
Deut. ii. 7. These forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee: thou hast lacked nothing.
WHOEVER would enter fully into the doctrine of a divine providence, should study the history of the Israelites in the wilderness. We at this day are ready to imagine, that, however God may superintend the affairs of the universe sufficiently to keep them in order, and to subserve his own purposes, he yet leaves minuter matters to a kind of chance ; and that to ex- pect his interposition in our own behalf, especially in things of daily occurrence, would be the height of presumption. In a word, we draw lines of distinction between a general and a particular providence; and feel ourselves at liberty to acknowledge the one, whilst we deny the other. But in the Scriptures there will not, I apprehend, be found any ground for such a distinction. We cannot conceive any thing of less moment than a sparrow falling to the ground, or an hair of our head perishing; yet these things are ex- pressly declared to be within the bounds of God's peculiar care. The truth is, that God is the same as ever he was; and that his attention to the affairs of men is still the same : the only difference is, that for special ends he made his interpositions visible in former days ; whereas, now he would have us to " walk by faith, and not by sight." Of his people in the wilderness, he was the visible Leader, Protector, Nourisher : and so constant had been his attention to their every want, that, at the close of their pilgrimage, Moses could appeal to the whole nation, " These forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee: thou hast lacked nothing."
That we may see that his care has not been ex- clusively confined to them, I will shew,
I. What mercies have been vouchsafed to us during the whole period of our sojourning in this wilder- ness— Surprising, indeed, was his attention to his ancient
187.1 god's continued mercies to us. 213
people. They were in a wilderness where there was literally nothing for their sustenance. Neither bread nor water could be found there: but of both did God afford them a daily and miraculous supply; causing bread to descend from heaven for them, and the waters of the rock to follow them. But from whence should they obtain raiment? None could be fabri- cated ; none be found. But God superseded the need of any fresh supply, by causing that " their clothes, for the whole space of forty years, should never decay ;" and that, notwithstanding all their travelling, " their shoe should never wax old upon their foota." Nor would he suffer their strength to fail : for, " as their raiment waxed not old upon them, so neither did their foot swell for forty years b." With these corporeal blessings, God imparted to them no less richly for their souls. He gave them his word; he continued to them his ministers; " he sent to them, also, his Holy Spirit to instruct them c."
Now in all this we may see what God, in his mercy, has done for us also, during the whole of our sojourn- ing in this wilderness:
1. In relation to temporal concerns —
[ Us, also, has God supplied with all the necessaries of life : but because, in providing these things, the agency of man is required, we overlook His hand; whereas, in fact, he is as much the author and giver of these blessings to us, as he was of the mercies vouchsafed to Israel. "What can we do to se- cure fruitful seasons ? Who amongst us could make so much as a blade of grass to grow ? Who could prevent the fruits of the earth from being devoured by locusts and caterpillars, or from being destroyed by blasting and mildew? Who has kept from our borders the desolating scourge of war ? Who has preserved us from the more terrific calamities of civil war? To whom are we indebted, that we have not been reduced to the lowest ebb of misery by some destructive conflagration ? Men, it is true, are actively employed in providing for them- selves : but what are men ? they are nothing but agents, (un- conscious agents, I had almost said,) accomplishing the will of another: for, whilst they are universally seeking their own personal advantage, they are, in reality, God's instruments, employed by him for the benefit of the world. We see this