he will suffer none to come upon you which he will not enable you to bear, none which he will not sanctify to your eternal good^.
3. To trust him without carefulness —
[It is foolish as well as impious to distrust God, or to mur- mur at any of his dispensations. In whose hands could the disposal of all events be placed so much to our advantage, as in his, who possesses infinite wisdom to devise what is best, and infinite power to effect it ? Would we be made the sport of chance or fortune ? or would we have pur present and ever^ lasting concerns left wholly to our own management ? If we are not fit to regulate our temporal affairs till we attain the age of manhood, how much less can we ever be competent to take the reins of God's govertnnent into our own hands, and to order the affairs of his kingdom. But our times will be in God's handa, whether we acquiesce in it or not. Let us therefore contentedly leave ourselves to his all-wise disposal, assm'cd, that " he doeth all things well," and will make " all things to work together for good to them that love him."}
» 1 Cor. X. 13.
Ps. xxxi. 19, 20. Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that foar thee; ivhich thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee, before the sons of men ! Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man : thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.
THE salvation of the Gospel is a present salva- tion : the '* godliness which it inspires, is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life which now is, as well as that which is to come." It is needless to say that the trials of life are great ; and that men in every situation of life need the supports and consolations of religion to carry them through the difficulties which they have to encounter. But of the extent to which these supports and consola- tions are administered to God's chosen people, very little idea can be formed by those who have never experienced a communication of them to their souls.
David
351.T god's goodness to his believing people. 89
David was highly favoured in this respect. He lived in a state of near and habitual fellowship with God ; spreading before him all his wants, and re- ceiving from him such supplies of grace and peace as his daily necessities required. Hence with devout rapture he expresses his admiration of God's good- ness to his believing people.
This is the subject which we propose for our pre- sent meditation ; and which, in correspondence with the words of our text, we shall consider,
I. In a general view — •
The terms by which the Lord's people are charac- terized sufficiently distinguish them from all others, since none but they do truly " fear God," or un- feignedly " put their trust in him." They are the true Israel ; in reference to whom it is said, " God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart V
In speaking of his goodness to them, we shall notice,
1. That which is ** laid up for them** — [In the time of David the great truths of the Gospel were but indistinctly known ; the fuller manifestation of them being reserved for the Apostolic age : as St. Paul, quoting a remarkable passage from the prophet Isaiah, says; " Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the thing8 which God hath prepared for them that love him ;" and then adds, " But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit''.** To the Jewish Church therefore these things are only " laid up," as it were, in types and prophecies : and though made known in the Gospel, they are still but imperfectly viewed by the Christian world ; and may be considered as " laid up" for the Church at this time, no less than in former ages : for it is only by slow degrees that any one attains to the knowledge of them ; and whatever attainments any one may have made, he sees only " as in a glass darkly," and knows only in part ; there being in it a length and breadth and depth and height utterly beyond the power of any finite intelligence to explore*^. The " riches" that are stored up for us in Christ even in this world are altoge- ther " unsearchable '^ :" what then must the glories be which are " reserved in heaven for us !" The more we contemplate the