god's love seen in all his dispensations.
Ps. cvii. 43. Whoso is wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving -kindness of the Lord.
TO know God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent, is the highest privilege and perfection of man. This attainment, infinitely beyond all others, consti- tutes true wisdom. But to acquire this knowledge, it is necessary that we study well, not the book of Revelation only, but the records also of God's pro- vidential dealings with mankind. The Word and works of God mutually reflect light on each other ; and the more extensive and accurate our observation is of those things which occur from day to day, the
683.] god's love seen in all his dispensations. 247
more just will be our apprehension of God's nature and perfections. True indeed it is, that, as far as theory is concerned, we may learn every thing from the Scripture alone : for in the world and in the Church we can find only a repetition of those things which are recorded in the Sacred Volume : but a practical sense of God's love is greatly furthered by the constant exhibition of it which may be seen in his dealings with us ; so that we may well say with the Psalmist, " Whoso is wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving-kind- ness of the Lord." We propose to shew,
I. What those things are which are here presented to our notice — To enter fully into them, we should distinctly con- sider the different representations which are here given of God's merciful interposition in behalf of bewildered travellers, incarcerated prisoners, dying invalids, and mariners reduced to the lowest ebb of despondency. But instead of minutely prosecuting those different inquiries3, we will draw your atten- tion to the two principal points which pervade the whole ; namely,
1. The timely succour which he affords to the distressed —
[The instances mentioned in the psalm are only a few out of the numberless interpositions which God vouchsafes to men in distress : but whatever be the trouble from which we are delivered, it is of infinite importance that we see the hand of God both in the trouble itself and in the deliverance from it. There is neither good nor evil in a city, but it must be traced to God as its author. Whether men or devils be the agents, it matters not ; they can do nothing without a special licence from God himself: and hence, when men had plundered Job of all his possessions, and Satan had destroyed all his children, he equally ascribed the different events to God ; " The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away." Thus must we do : we
a If this subject were used as a Thanksgiving after a Storm, or after a Recovery from Sickness, the particular circumstances should here be noticed, with an especial reference to that part of the psalm that is proper to the occasion.