to neglect them. God has endued them with salutary properties on purpose that we might avail ourselves of them, otherwise that part of his creation were vain. But to impute our recovery to the medicine, and to carry our views no further, is to rob God of his honour, and is saying in effect, that he has parted with the keys of life and death, and by giving to a drug the power to heal us, has placed our lives out of his own reach. He that thinks thus, may as well fall upon his knees at once, and return thanks to the medicine that cured him, for it was certainly more immediately instrumental to his recovery, than either the apothecary or the doctor."

It is one of the characteristics of the true christian that he recognises the universal agency of God in the affairs of men. Every thing that occurs only serves to reflect or proclaim God. God is all and in all. While others live without God in the world, and God is not in all their thoughts, the christian sees him in his word; sees him in his house; sees him in his works; sees him in all occurrences and events. He sees him in the garden and in the field; sees him in the rose and in the corn; sees him in the sun and in the glowworm. "The day is thine," says he, "the night also is thine." Thou hast made summer and winter. Thou makest

the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice. Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it. Thou makest it soft with showers. Thou blessest the springing thereof. Thou crownest the year with thy goodness, and thy paths drop fatness."

If light attend the course I run,
"Tis he provides those rays;

And 'tis his hand that hides my sun,
If darkness veil my days.

"O," says one, when any evil befals him, "it was that unlucky accident; it was that unfaithful friend; it was that malicious foe; it was that careless servant ;' " but when the news of an awful judgment reached Eli, he said, "It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good." When Job heard that the Sabeans, and the Chaldeans, and the elements, had robbed him of his substance, his servants, and his children, he said, "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away." The death of Christ was the hour and power of darkness. It was Judas who betrayed him; it was Peter that denied him; it was Pilate that condemned him; it was the Jews and the Romans that crucified him-but he saw none of them he only eyed God-"The cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink of it ?" And so David in the loss of his relatives

and friends, does not say, my loss is owing to that unskilful physician; or that fatal delay; or that improper medicine;-he only thinks and speaks of God: "Lover and friend hast Thou put far from me, and my acquaintance into darkness."

CHAPTER III.

THE WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE.

Then look, ye who wish your gazing eyes to feed
With sight of what is fair, look on the frame
Of this wide universe, and therein read
The endless kinds of creatures which by name'
Thou canst not count, much less their nature's aim,
All which are made with wondrous wise respect,
And all with admirable beauty decked.

And tell me then, what hast thou ever seen
That to their beauty may compared be?

SPENSER.

The arrangements of God in his providence display the greatest wisdom. By wisdom is to be understood the choice of good ends, and the selection of the best means for the accomplishment of them. The wisdom of God consists in having the knowledge to discern what is best, and having the disposition to employ the most effectual means to accomplish his plans.

God in his infinite wisdom presides at the helm of affairs, and directs the several movements of the universe, to accomplish the purposes he has formed, and the proposed. There can be no superintendance and control.

ends he has

defect in His No error or

mistake can be made. No want of judgment as to things present, or want of foresight as to things to come. For the only wise God has all things past, present, and future in his all-comprehending view.

The wisdom of God's providential arrangements has been more or less noticed in every age, and has been dwelt upon with admiration by various writers. In the following cursory sketches, it forms no part of our plan, to enter into minute particulars illustrative of the wisdom of Providence, for to do so would fill a volume. Our design simply is, to select some leading facts of a general nature, and to condense and abridge some of the more popular illustrations of providential wisdom,-those facts which are the most open to the observation of every one.

We observe then, that wisdom is displayed in the ARRANGEMENT OF THE HEAVENS.

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handywork." The planetary system-that portion of the heavens with which we are best acquainted, displays both