heart. Make the mind eafy, and the temper becomes pleafant. Moft people are in good humour when they have nothing to displease them. When we fee a perfon therefore continually peevish, and finding fault with every thing he fees, and every perfon he meets, in general we may take it for granted, the caufe of his ill-humour with other people, is, his being firft out of humour with himfelf. Now there is nothing which tends more to make a man in humour with himself, than to be divefted of all his anxiety, and to be affured, that his affairs are in good hands. If you trust to yourself for the management of your affairs, and they go wrong, you are diftreffed; but if you have religion enough to be fully perfuaded, that, however they turn out, they must be right, because God governs all things; you are always happy in yourself, and in a difpofition to make others happy likewise,

But the advantages of cafting our care upon God, arifing from making our minds eafier, and our tempers pleafanter, are chiefly worldly advantages: great fpiritual advantages alfo arife from it. It is not only a matter of prudence to caft our care upon God God orders it; and it becomes a duty. It is in fact, a dutiful fubmiffion to the government

of

of God; and he who does not live in the practice of this duty, fo'far takes God's government into his own hands. Befides, where are 'the chriftian duties of patience, refignation, and truft in God? Thefe virtues are totally loft. They can never be practifed by him who does not caft his cares upon God.

Having thus drawn our meditations on this fubject to a conclufion, let us pause a moment before we fhut them in, and juft fee in one view, a ftate of the cafe.

God hath ordered us to caft our care upon him. -In the firft place, what are we ? What mortal dare fay, he can foresee, or command the most trivial event? Conjecture is his utmost. What therefore can our own care do for us?

Then again, who is it that orders us to caft our care upon him?-That almighty Being, who created the world who formed the earth-who poured the ocean around it and spread over it the starry heavens-who maketh fummer, and winter-feed-time, and harvest-and preferveth this vaft universe in all its variety, and regularity.This almighty Being condefcends to take us, and all our affairs under his care. And fhall we hefi.

tate ?

tate? Shall we confider a moment whether we are in better hands under his gracious management, or in our own?-Let us then fall down before this great God-let us humbly entreat his pardon for every rebellious, felf-exalting thought-let us gratefully thank him for his condefcending goodnefs-and with humble fubmiflion caft all our care upon him, knowing from abundant teftimony that he careth for us.

SERMON

THE

cies.

HE beautiful pfalm from which this paffage is taken, is a thanksgiving to God for his mer

These mercies are recounted in different parts of it; and at the end of each part you will find the verfe I have juft read to you, introduced as a kind of chorus. It is repeated four times in the courfe of the pfalm.

But tho many of the mercies of God are here mentioned, yet it is fuppofed by learned men, that the general intention of the pfalm was a thanksgiving to God, on the deliverance of the Jews from captivity. Some indeed fuppofe, that under the

idea of thanking God for a deliverance from a temporal captivity, it conveys, in the spirit of prophecy, a thanksgiving for that greater deliverance from fin, which was promifed in Chrift.

There is at leaft fo much the appearance of truth in this interpretation, that I fhall confider the text as affording ground enough for the following doc trine-that altho we ought to praise God for all his mercies; yet his fpiritual mercies deferve our higheft gratitude. This therefore fhall be the fubject of my prefent difcourfe; in which I fhall first explain to you the doctrine; and fecondly, apply it.

It hath pleafed almighty God to place mankind in various ftations of life; and for wife reafons, no doubt. In part, these reasons are evident. The great bufinefs of the world could not proceed without this variety. There must be perfons to fill the lower, as well as the higher ftations in life while fuperfluity on one fide, and poverty on the other, are the great means of extending benevojence, humanity, temperance, gratitude, patience, and refignation,

Now they, who are in lower ftations, are very art to confider thofe in higher, as under the peculiar bleffing