a Deut. xxix. 5. b Deut. viii. 4. c Neh. ix. 20.
exemplified in the labours of bees ; from which we may form a just idea of all that is passing in the world. Thousands of persons are employed, daily and hourly, to supply our wants. Little do we think of this. Were we placed for any length of time in a country uninhabited except by ourselves and our own domestic circle, we should soon feel how deeply we are indebted to God for innumerable comforts, which, through his good providence, we enjoy; and which, through a stimulus imparted by him, other persons are engaged in procuring for us. What their motives may be, is no concern of ours : it is sufficient for us to know, that, as God directed and overruled the ambition of Sennacherib to correct and chasten his people Israel d, so he directs and overrules the selfish dispositions of mankind to administer to the wants of each other, and to pro- vide for the comfort of the whole world. And the poorest person amongst us has thousands of persons at this very time engaged for him, to provide him with the comforts and con- veniences of life.]
2. In relation to the concerns of our souls —
[Has not God preserved to us, also, his word and ordi- nances; dispensed, too, by the same ministry for forty years e? and may we not say, too, that God has, during the whole of that period, " sent his good Spirit to instruct you?" Yes; God has borne testimony to the word of his grace, and caused it to " come to you not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance f." I would not wil- lingly speak of any thing relating to myself: that is the last subject that should ever be brought before you: but, having fulfilled the term that Moses and Aaron did before me ; and being able to call to witness, that, during the whole of that time, I have lived for you, and laboured for you, and " de- clared unto you faithfully the whole counsel of God ; " I cannot but remind you of God's dealings with you. in that particular, and make my appeal to you in the words of my text, " These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; ye have lacked nothings."]
Whatever be the value of these mercies, it will be greatly heightened by considering,
d Isai. x. 5 — 7-
e In the year 1822, the Author had ministered at Trinity Church the precise time that Moses and Aaron had to Israel.
* 1 Thess. i. 5.
e The example of St. Paul, in his address to the Elders of Ephesus (Acts xx. 17 — 27, 31.) must be the Author's apology for the fore- going observations ; which, after forty years of labour in the same church, may well be allowed.
187.]