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hath appointed; being fully afsured, that all events, of whatever kind, are ordered by his reconciled Father in Chrift Jefus, and fhall infallibly work together for his fpiritual improvement in this state of discipline, and iffue in his complete and everlasting felicity.

2dly, To caft our care upon God, is to make his will the guide and measure of ours. We may defire, we may ask, what appears to us good in its own nature, and conducive either to our comfort or usefulness in a prefent world; we may lawfully wish to be delivered from trouble, to enjoy health of body, compofure and cheerfulness of mind, the pleasures of virtuous friendship, and a competent portion of the good things of this life: but ftill we must defire and ask these bleffings with due fubmiffion to the will of God, leaving it entirely to his unerring wifdom to give or to with-hold them, as feemeth good unto himself. We have a lovely example of this temper in the behaviour of David upon a very trying occafion. When the unexpected rebellion of his unnatural fon Abfalom, which threatened him with

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the immediate lofs, not of his crown only, but also of his life, obliged him to leave Jerufalem in hafte; we are told, that among the few that accompanied him in his flight toward the wilderness, was Zadock the Prieft, and with him all the Levites, bearing the ark of the covenant of God. In this time of great diftrefs, when his fituation was fo affecting, that, as we read, 2 Sam. "all the country wept with a loud “ voice," while they beheld him paffing over the brook Kidron, the facred hiftorian informs us, verse 25, 26. that the king addreffed Zadock in the following words: "Carry back the ark of God into the city: "if I fhall find favour in the eyes of the "Lord, he will bring me again, and how

XV. 23.

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me both it and his habitation. "thus fay, I have no delight in thee be"hold, here am I, let him do to me as "feemeth good unto him."-What shall be the iffue of this formidable confpiracy I know not; but I caft my care, my all, upon my God: in the mean time, let the ark of the covenant be carried back to its place. The prefence of the God of Ifrael is not con

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fined to this fymbol of his grace; and that I trust fhall encompass me whitherfoever I go, to fupport and cheer me in this melancholy flight. Whether or not I fhall be reftored to my house and throne, I cannot at prefent foresee; but this I know, that in either cafe it fhall be well with me. If I return to Jerufalem, I fhall again behold this ark, and enjoy the Lord my God in his or dinances; but if my God hath no further fervice for me on this earth, I fhall go to that place where there is no occafion for external means of correfpondence and intercourse: Behold, here I lie at the disposal of my Father and my King, equally prepared to live or to die; to reign once more in the earthly Jerufalem, or to take up my eternal refidence in the Jerufalem that is above.— This unlimited refignation to the will of God, makes an effential part of the duty which my text recommends.-It further implies,

3dly, That we renounce all confidence in the creature, and place our trust in God alone.- We are required, you fee, to caft ALL our care upon him; not a part, but the

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whole. For thus it is written, Jer. xvii. 5,-8. "Curfed be the man that trusteth in man, "and maketh flesh his arm, and whofe "heart departeth from the Lord. For he "fhall be like the heath in the defart, and "fhall not fee when good cometh, and fhall "inhabit the parched places in the wilder"nefs, in a falt land and not inhabited." Whereas," Bleffed is the man that trufteth "in the Lord, and whofe hope the Lord is. "For he fhall be as a tree planted by the 66 waters, and that fpreadeth out her roots

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by the river, and fhall not fee when heat "cometh, but her leaf fhall be green, and "fhall not be careful in the

year of "drought, neither fhall ceafe from yielding "fruit." A divided truft between God and the creature, is as foolish and unfafe, as to set one foot upon a rock, and the other upon the quickfand. We muft, as I formerly obferved, be diligent in the use of means; for thus the commandment runs, "Truft in the Lord, and do good:" but at the fame time we must look beyond, and above all means, to God himself for fuccefs; faying, as David did, " My foul, wait thou VOL. II. C c

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“falvation; he is my defence; I fhall not "be moved. In God is my falvation and

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my glory; the rock of my strength, and my refuge is on God.". Once more,

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4th place, To caft all our care upon God, implies a full and unfufpecting dependence upon his wifdom and goodness; fuch a dependence as quiets the mind, difpofing it to wait patiently upon God, and to accept with thankfulness whatsoever he is pleafed to appoint. The Chriftian who hath learned this important leffon, not only brings his cares to the throne of grace, but there alfo he leaves them, and, like Hannah, returns with his countenance no more fad. Having by prayer and fupplication, with thanksgiving, made his requests known "to God," his mind is at reft, "he is care"ful for nothing:" he hath put all his interefts into the beft hands: he hath committed them to One, who is too wife to beftow what is hurtful, and too kind to withhold what is good. In confequence where

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