to knock their brains out, &c. The fevereft punishment which my children are ever threatened with is the rod, and that inftrument is feldom ufed; because, as before obferved, my children know the law of my house, and therefore readily conform to it.

Another thing I beg leave to observe, and that is, that parents should never difcover a partial regard to one child more than another; because there are feveral evils likely to arife out of this abfurd conduct in a parent, fuch as the following. In the firft place, it may be naturally expected that the favourite will become the object of envy and hatred to the other children; and it is ten to one but that the fondling will be indulged and humoured to a criminal degree-its mifcarriages and faults overlooked, or thought to be virtues; till at length it will, instead of being a comfort and a credit, become a crofs and a curfe to the family as it grows up, and be itself ruined; for it is grown up to a proverb, that fondlings are generally unfortunate.

Add to this, that this unreafonable partiality will tend to difcourage the other children, fo that they will be indifferent whether they pleafe or offend, and will not be emulous to excel, becaufe they will defpair of obtaining the affections and confidence of their parents, if they endeavour ever fo much after it; and thus inftead of peace, order, and harmony fubfifting, which are the comfort and credit of fociety, nothing but anarchy, mutual hatred, and confufion can be expected to prevail in fuch ill-fated and illgoverned families.

One thing more I beg leave to obferve, and that is, that parents, who, by the law of God and nature, are conftituted both preceptors and governors of their children, ought to teach by example as well as by precept. They ought to fet the example, therefore, of denying ungodlinefs and worldly lufts, and of living foberly, righteoufly, and godly; for where this is not the cafe, the beft inftructions, and the beft maxims and rules for the government of families will have no weight, but the end of all will furely be defeated. How justly might it be retorted on fuch unqualified inftrustors and governors, when they are pretending to be reformers, Phyfician, heal thyfelf! only fet us the example, and we will follow it!

And I intreat that it may be obferved, that both parents, i. e. both father and mother, fhould unite their exertions in the fame good work of inftruction and government, and never oppole each other therein. O parents! I befeech

you

you to confider the importance of the truft which is committed to you; confider the importance of the work itself, and the good or ill effects which a wife or unwife conduct may have upon your children, and on your children's children, and on thofe of future generations. Learn to defpife and abhor thofe opinions of weak or wicked men, which make light of family instruction, and family religion and government; confider them as fubverfive of all order and morality in fociety, and let the awful example of the righteous difpleasure of God againft Eli and his houfe ever be before your eyes: 1 Sam. iii. xiv. "I have told him, faith the Lord, that I will judge his houfe for ever, for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his fons made themselves vile, and he reftrained them not." And let the character which the Lord gave of Abraham animate you to your duty, and determine your conduct: Gen. xviii. 19. "I know him, that he will command his children, and his houfhold after him, and they fhall keep the way of the Lord," &c. Ampthill.

W. C.

DIVINE PROVIDENCE IN THE GRANT OF TEM

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PORAL SUPPORT.

AN, in his embodied ftate, ftands in need of that fupply from the earth which is adapted to his prefent circumftances In the heavenly world, the fpirits of just men made perfect need no fupport, nor will our bodies after they are raifed from the dead: We fhall then fubfift, like the angels of God, without any corporal refreshment whatever. But, while we are inhabitants of this lower world, we must have various and repeated application of fuck good things as are neceffary. These are not at our own command. We are dependent on the goodnefs and bounty of God for the leaft as well as for the greateft bleffings we enjoy.-"Thefe all look unto thee, and thou giveft them their food in due feafon." Let us then prefent our requefts in the words of cur Lord Jefus, " Give us this day our daily bread."

Perhaps, in certain cafes, our fears of even neceffary good things may run very high. In the late reports of the fcarcity of grain, the nation was very much alarmed, left we should eat our bread by measure, and fuffer a real scarcity. Thanks be to God! our fears proved groundless, for we have hitherto ħad a sufficiency. The price of provifion ftill continues

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to be very high; and there are not a few, even at present, who find it very difficult to obtain an honest subsistence. A change of circumstances may have reduced fome, who formerly lived in affluence, to a morfel of bread. Others are oppreffed with large families, whofe increafing demands painfully affect the feeling parents, left their children should afk for bread when it could not be honeftly obtained in that quantity which would be fufficient. All these confiderations, with many more which might be enumerated, are sufficient to urge an inquiry whether God will provide? The mind needs encouragement in such cases, and furely the Bible will prefent all the aid to our fpirits which we can defire. It is generally faid, that Chriftians are more ready to trust God with their fouls than their bodies; and whoever is in the habit of converfing freely with them, and of entering fully into their more private and particular concerns, will see much reafon to conclude that this is true even in the most extenfive sense. Now to obviate these fears, and to encourage the hopes of believers, of the lower class especially, where indeed the great bulk of such characters are to be found, let it be confidered,

That God is all-fufficient, and that his inclination to provide is adequate to his fulness. Among men there may be ability without inclination, or inclination without ability, which in either cafe is ineffectual; but with God they both happily concur. He commands the feas with all their tribes innumerable. The cattle upon a thousand hills are his property. The productions of the earth, with all its teeming and ceaseless bounties, are at his distribution. Does not the foil of the terreftrial globe bring forth every year fome thirty fold, fome fixty, and fome an hundred? Now all this he has to communicate, and really does do fo. The fulnefs of the feas or of the earth is not for themselves, any more than light and heat are for the benefit of the fun which is their fource. Nor can any man, who confiders the divine difpofition, at all doubt his readiness and inclination to beftow these bounties in the moft liberal way. "The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works." The reason why men are so contracted in the grant of their favours is, because what they poffefs is circumfcribed, and every little matter they beftow is a diminution of their property. But God's fulness is boundlefs. His grants, though they are of the most liberal kind, are no more to his allfufficiency, than a drop is to the ocean, or a spire of grafs to the produce of the whole earth.

VOL. V.

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God

God will certainly fupply our real wants; for he stands in fuch near and engaging relations to his creatures, and efpecially to his children, as encourage them fully to expect it. He is our fhepherd, who will always provide pafturage for his flock. Nor can it be fuppofed that he will leave the weakeft or the leaft to ftarve. Many duties enter into this office or relation; but that of supply is the foremost, as well as the most neceffary. It is faid of Chrift that he fhall feed his flock like a thepherd. The minifters of the Gofpel are, in a metaphorical view, fo called; because it is their duty, as true paftors, to feed the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood. God is the fhepherd of Ifrael. David lays hold of this character, and hence concludes he fhall not want. He fpeaks feelingly and experimentally. He had been a fhepherd himself, and followed the flocks big with young. He knew what he had felt: How folicitoufly he had been concerned to provide for his fheep in the wildernefs; and therefore might very fairly conclude that if God was his fhepherd, he thould not want. The sheep of the Lord all find pafture both for body and foul.

The Divine Being is as a householder, who takes care of all his family. He brings out of his inexhaustible treafuries things both new and old; new before the old is done. The whole creation is his house. It has indeed upper and lower apartments; but fuch is his great goodness, that he never neglects either. The ample ftores of his munificence are dealt out with unfparing generofity to every thing that has breath. God does not leave the fupply of his children, or domeftics, to any fteward, like the nobles or great men of the earth: No; he fees the feveral cafes of every individual with his own eyes, which run to and fro on the face of the whole earth; to fhew himself ftrong on behalf of them who fear him. No cafe, however obfcure, is ever overlooked. He condescends, fuch is his amazing regard to men, to attend every cry. Ifhmael's voice is heard by him, yea even the cry of the ravens. And will he neglect the cries of his children? How tender is that expreffion of Chrift after his refurrection," Children, have you any bread ?" He prevents their afking him. The wants of his late family were near to his heart, and his bowels move to do them good. As he fees their cafes, and hears their cries, fo he fupplies them with his own hands. The manner of beftowing a favour is fometimes as much as even the favour itself. When a fuperior condefcends to regard a person fo much below his notice, the kindness is doubled by fuch peculiar marks of esteem.

View the hiftory of the world at large, and of the church in particular, and let the divine kindness in every age and circumstance encourage your faith. What part of the habitable globe has ever been left to perifh? The whole creation has been caft on the Divine care for near fix thoufand years, and it has been conftantly and liberally fupported. He opens his hands, and fupplies every living thing. Sometimes indeed there has been a partial fcarcity, to correct men for their fin, and to fhew them that their dependence is upon God; but even in these cases one part of the earth has been fupplied from another. One providence answers another. The feven years of plenty came before the feven years of famine, to keep men alive in the general scarcity. In the wilderness, where there was no opportunity of fowing, or reaping, manna was fent from above. Rather than the prophet thould want, a raven brought him bread and flesh both morning and evening. When the four leprous men were neglected at the gates of Samaria during the fiege, the Lord difperfed the enemy, and amply supplied their needs. All this fhews the care of God over the lives of the most abject and neceffitous; and teaches us to caft all our care upon him who cares for us.

God can open all the various fources of fupply in such a manner as you cannot conceive. It is cafy with him to change the gloomy fcene, and reverse your prefent circumftances. Job is a merciful inftance. A fucceffion of troubles reduced him to the moft abject and complicated diftrefs. Poverty, disease, and neglect from his former friends, came upon him like an armed man. But the blackest days fometimes have the brightest evenings. The laft ftages of this good man's life were happier than the firft. If your troubles fhould continue, that God, who is ever kind, will lay your concerns on the hearts of your friends, and ftir them up relieve. At the time of the Bartholomew Act, when the faithful minifters of Jefus Chrift were constrained, for a good confcience, to relinquish all their fubfiftence; God eminently fupplied them, by raifing up friends from time to time, who cheerfully adminiftered to their neceffities. In the days of wicked Ahab, the perfecution fell chiefly on the Lord's prophets; but at that time there was a good Obadiah who fed them by fifties in a cave.

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Let me further urge the divine promises which are so great and precious, and which have given, on various occafions, fo much relief: "Verily thoufhalt be fed."-"The place of thy defence is the munition of rocks; thy bread fhall be given thee, and thy waters fhall be fure." My God fhall fupply

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