him they are brought forth into the world; by him they are furnished with provision suitable for them: These all wait upon thee (saith the Psalmist): that thou mayst give them their meat in due season. That thou givest them, they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. But here, to excite us to thankfulness, he makes choice of an instance wherein we oursélves are more nearly concerned; and exhorteth to praise the Lord for his wonderful works to the children of men. If the goodness of God to the holy angels be above our reach, and his bounty to the inferior creatures be below our notice; yet sure we must be infinitely dull if we do not observe his dealings with ourselves and those of our kind. As our interest maketh us more sensible of this, so gratitude doth oblige us to a more particular acknowledgement of it.

Thus you have the meaning and importance of the

text.

I know not how we can better employ the rest of the time, than by suggesting to your meditations particular instances of this goodness, and of his wonderful works to the children of men.

Let us then reflect on the works both of creation and providence. Let us consider in what a goodly and wellfurnished world he hath placed us, how he hath stretched out the heavens as a curtain over our heads, and therein hath set a tabernacle for the sun; which, as an universal lamp, enlighteneth all the inhabitants of the earth. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, his circuit to the ends thereof; and there is nothing hid from his heat. In the morning he ariseth and maketh the darkness flee before him, and discovereth all the beauty and lustre of things. And truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun. is it less useful and advantageous for directing our ways, and ordering our several employments: Man goeth forth to his work, and to his labour until the evening. He maketh darkness, and it is night. The curtains are drawn and all things hushed into silence, that man may enjoy the more quiet repose: and yet, to lessen the horror of darkness, and lighten such as are obliged to travel

Nor

in the night, while the sun is enlightening another part of the world, we have the moon and stars to supply his room. O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. To him that by wisdom made the heavens; for his, &c. The moon and stars to rule by night; for his, &c.

Again, how wonderfully hath he furnished this lower world for our maintenance and accommodation! The heaven, even the heaven of heavens are the Lord's: but the earth hath he given to the children of men. He hath made us to have dominion over all the works of his hands; he hath put all things under our feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field: the fowl of the air, the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. By the art and industry of man the swiftest fowls are caught; the fiercest creatures are tamed; the strongest beasts are overcome, and all made serviceable unto him. The horse helpeth our journey both with speed and ease, the oxen labour the ground for us; sheep afford us meat and clothes: from the bowels of the earth we dig fuels, metals, and stones; which are still the more plentiful, as they are useful and advantageous to us. Those stones which serve for building, are almost everywhere ready at hand; whereas rubies and diamonds, and other such glistering trifles, are found but in a few places of the world, and gotten with a great deal of toil. And to what hardship should all sort of artificers be put, if iron were as scanty as gold? The surface of the earth yieldeth grass for the cattle, and herb for the service of man; and wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and bread which strengtheneth his heart. These it affordeth unto us from time to time; and, while we are spending the productions of one year, God is providing for us against another. There is no small variety of seasons and influences, which concur for the production of that corn, which we murmur so much for when we want, and value so little when it doth abound. The winter-cold must temper and prepare the earth: the gentle spring must cherish and foment the seed; vapours must be raised, and condensed into clouds, and then

squeezed out and sifted into little drops, to water and refresh the ground; and then the summer heat must ripen and digest the corn before it be fit to be cut down. Thou visitest the earth (saith the Psalmist,) and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God which is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it. Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly: thou settlest the furrows thereof: thou makest it soft with showers; thou blesseth the springing thereof. Thou crownest the year with thy goodness, and all thy paths drop fatness. They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness: and the little hills rejoice on every side. The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing.

O Lord how wonderful are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. So is the great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great fishes. There go the ships, those great engines of traffic and commerce, whereby every country is easily furnished with the productions of another. And indeed it is a wonderful and astonishing contrivance of nature, that men should be easily transported to the remotest places in such floating houses, and carried (so to speak) upon the wings of the wind; that they should be able to find out their way in the widest ocean and darkest night, by the direction of a trembling needle, and the unaccountable influence of a sorry stone. They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters: these see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths, their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits end. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad, because they are quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven. Oh that men, &c.

But now we are fallen unawares from the works of creation to those of providence. Indeed it is hard to keep to any exact method in a subject so copious, where one thing doth obtrude itself upon us before we have done with another. Let us call back our thoughts to a more orderly consideration of that bountiful providence which followeth us from time to time. We are infinitely indebted to the divine goodness before we see the light of the world. He poureth us out as milk, and crudleth us like cheese. He clothes us with skin and flesh, and fenceth us with bones and sinews. He granteth us life and favour, and his visitation preserveth our spirit. This is so entirely the work of God, that the parents do not so much as understand how it is performed; for who knoweth the way of the spirit, (how it cometh to enlighten a piece of matter,) or how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child? I will praise thee, (saith the Psalmist,) for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance yet being unperfect, and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there were none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! &c. Nine months ordinarily pass in the forming of this curious and wonderful piece, before it be exposed to the view of the world; and then the prisoner is released from that narrow confinement, and the mother and the child are delivered together. The mother forgetteth her anguish and pangs, for joy that a man child is born into the world. The poor infant is naked and weak, ready to expire for hunger and cold, unable to do any thing for itself but weep and cry: but he that brought it into the world, hath already provided for its sustentation in it. The mother's breasts are filled with a wholesome and delicious liquor, which faileth not from time to time, but is invisibly

supplied, like the widow of Sarepta's oil, till the child become capable of stronger food.

But it was not enough that mothers should be enabled to sustain their infants, unless they had been also powerfully inclined unto it; and, therefore, God hath implanted those bowels of kindness and compassion, which prompts them to the most tender and affectionate care, and makes them as ready to help their children's necessities as their own: which, though it do hardly deserve the name of a virtue, being common to them with the brutes, for even the seamonsters draw out the breasts, and give suck to their young; yet certainly it is an effect of the divine wisdom, that infants may not want those succours which would never have been so effectually secured to them by a law. Meanwhile, the poor infant is so weak, and so unable to endure the least violence, and withal exposed to so innumerable dangers, that the mother's solicitude and care would be to little purpose, if it were not preserved by a higher and invisible power, which watcheth for its safety when the mother and nurse are fast asleep, and keeps it from being overlaid.

As we grow in years, our necessities multiply, and dangers increase rather than diminish; and we are still more and more obliged to God for the supply of the one, and our preservation from the other. We think perhaps we have now set up for ourselves, and can provide what is necessary by our own industry, and keep ourselves out of harm's way. But there cannot be a more foolish and unreasonable thought. There needeth but a little consideration to undeceive us. All that we project and do for ourselves, dependeth on the integrity of our faculties, and the soundness of our reason; which is a happiness we can never secure unto ourselves. I choose this instance the rather, because it is a mercy invaluable in itself, and I fear very seldom considered by us. O what an unspeakable blessing it is, that we are preserved in our right wits; that we are not roaring in some bedlam, or running furiously up and down the