''

❝ving man complain, a man for the pu "nifhment of his fins ?"—" It is the Lord, "let him do what feemeth him good ;" and, "Good is the will of the Lord."

4thly, Did we attend to this truth, we fhould not dare to employ any means that are unlawful for improving our circumstances, or acquiring the good things that belong to a prefent world: and even in using the means that are lawful, we fhould conftantly look up to God for fuccefs, and implore his bleffing upon our honeft endeavours; remembering, on the one hand, "that the getting of treafures by lying lips, is a vanity toffed to and fro of them that feek "death; and, on the other hand, that the bleffing of the Lord maketh rich, and he

ર

❝ addeth no forrow with it." Which leads

5thly, The importance of enjoying the bleffing of God, with all the gifts which his Bounty beftows upon us. From this alone. arifeth their value, and nothing else can impart to them that sweetness which renders the poffeffion of them truly defirable. Happiness cannot be extracted from the crea

tures

tures themselves: they are all broken cifterns that can hold no water: "The eye is "not fatisfied with feeing, neither is the ear "filled with hearing."-" He that loveth fil

ver, fhall not be fatisfied with filver; nor "he that loveth abundance with increase.” Solomon records it as one of the evils he had feen under the fun, namely, "riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt." And he fuppofeth it a very poffible cafe, that amidst the greatest abundance of earthly things, a man may all his days eat in "darkness, and have much forrow and "wrath with his fickness."

that threatening, Mal. ii. 2.

"not

How awful is

"If

ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart. "to give glory unto my name, faith the "Lord of hofts, I will even fend a curfe

66

upon you, and I will curfe your blef

fings?" And when this threatening is executed upon any, then "their table be

comes a fnare to them; and that which "fhould have been for their welfare, becomes a trap," infomuch that their profperity proves both the occafion and inftrument of their deftruction: "Whereas the "Lord

U 2

"Lord bleffeth the habitation of the juft:" in confequence whereof," the little that a "righteous man hath, is better than the "riches of many wicked." It is a fignificant faying of David, Pfal. xxxvii. 22. “Such be bleffed of the Lord fhall inherit the "earth." They hold their portion of it by a different tenure than other men; they poffefs it as the children of him who is Lord of all: and their Father, while he feeds them with food convenient for them, gives them at once the proper enjoyment, and the fanctified ufe of it. This is the peculiar privilege of believers in Christ Jefus; for " as many as receive, him, to "them gives he power to become the fons "of God, even to them that believe in his CC name. And as the Apostle Paul reafons, "If children, then are they alfo heirs, heirs "of God, and joint heirs with Christ Jefus :" fo that, in the most common bounties of providence, they can tafte the sweetness of fpecial love, and may lawfully confider every benefit conferred upon them, as a token of their Father's affection, and a pledge of that fulness of joy that awaits

them

How much then

them in a future ftate. doth it concern us, even as we regard our prefent comfort, " to give all diligence to "make our calling and election fure," that on every gift, whether small or great, reading the precious name of him who bestows it, we may have the true relish of the provifion afforded us in the courfe of our journey through this ftrange country, till we arrive at our Father's house above, where we fhall obtain poffeffion of that glorious inheritance of the faints, which is incorruptible, and undefiled, and fadeth

not away.

These are a few of the practical lessons, which, with eafe and certainty, may be deduced from the doctrine of my text.

Permit me now to apply the fubject to the particular occafion of our meeting toge ther at this time.

Hitherto 'I have been speaking of the bleffings we poffefs as gifts freely bestowed. But there is another important light in which we ought likewife to view them. They are talents committed to us for special ends

TJ 3

ends and purposes; and it is both expected and required that we be diligent and faithful in improving them, as it becomes those who must one day give an account of their stewardship.-There is an essential difference between God's giving to us, and our giving to our fellow-men. We renounce our intereft in what we give to another it ceafeth to be ours, and becomes the property of the perfon upon whom we bestow it. But God giveth nothing away after this manner. His giving to his creatures doth not make the benefit conferred a whit the lefs his own than it originally was. God is the entire and abfolute proprietor of all things: they are his, because he made them; and what is ftyled property among men, muft neceffarily be derived, limited, and dependent. This dominion is fo effential to God, that he cannot diveft himself of it. Earthly rulers may refign part of the jurifdiction that belongs to them. Thus Saul proclaimed, that whofoever fhould fight Goliah the Philiftine, and kill him," he and his houfe fhould be

"made