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wisdom is necessary to the possession of comfort. This view, therefore, of the procedure of God is presented to us under a variety of aspects in Scripture; and is presented for the purpose of being contemplated with joy and gratitude. The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof. Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.-Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down. The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works."

Nor is it less necessary that we should have a humble hope of being interested in the favour of God. This hope is well founded only when it rests on the mercy of God revealed and offered through a Mediator. From this is derived a powerful motive to a cheerful acquiescence in the dispensations of God, however trying they may be. We are assured by the most incontrovertible proofs, that our sufferings are not inflicted arbitrarily, but justly and mercifully, for the purpose of promoting the divine glory and our eternal good. Nor can we ever doubt this, while we believe that a gift of unspeakable excellency and value has already been conferred,—of far greater intrinsic value than the happiness of immortality; that, consequently, God does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men; and that all the ills we endure

form a necessary part of that discipline by which He is preparing his children for a nobler state of being. Though these ills cannot be shunned, they are all under the control, and arise by the appointment of our heavenly Father. Coming from Him, and allotted to us by his wisdom and mercy, shall we murmur under them? "What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?"

With this view of the dispensations of God towards us,-of the equity and goodness by which they are all directed, we shall be disposed to feel cheerful and contented under them, whatever be their immediate complexion. However dark and inexplicable, we know that they are made to subserve the real and ultimate happiness of them that love God;—and that the period will come, when even we ourselves shall see that they have been mercifully as well as wisely ordered.

Our feelings of acquiescence will be strengthened by the conviction of our personal unworthiness. If we are sinners, if we have violated the law of our Maker, what claim have we to his goodness? If we are not sinners, resignation is so far from being a duty, that we ought to feel indignant at the injustice which is done us in the afflictions which we are required to endure. If we are not sinners, we have not deserved these sufferings; and if we have not deserved them, there is injustice in their infliction.

But who can deny his having violated the commandments of God? With the conviction that he has done so, must not every man confess, whatever be the nature or number of his trials, that his sufferings are

less than his iniquities deserve? In marking the number and variety of his mercies, has he not ample ground for grateful admiration at the goodness of God? Will not his feelings correspond to those of the patriarch, when he said, "I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant." In the language recorded in another part of the sacred volume, will he not express his thankfulness to the bountiful giver of all good?" Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies."

II. Contentmemt is recommended by a consideration of the causes from which its opposite, discontent, proceeds. These are such as no good man would wish to indulge, and the ascendency of which is incompatible with a virtuous state of mind. They are, ingratitude, envy, folly, selfishness, and presumption.

Discontent springs from ingratitude to God our constant Benefactor. We overlook the being, the powers, the numerous susceptibilities of enjoyment which he has bestowed upon us; the guardianship which he continually exercises in regard to us; and because one thing is withheld, to which we, perhaps, attach an undue value, or because a gift of which we had long the use is resumed, we repine at his dealings as though they were unjust. Or perhaps the object of desire is still more fervently wished for, that it is

seen in the possession of another, and conceived to contribute to his happiness. In this case our murmurings against Providence are increased by envying the success or prosperity of our neighbour.

Do we not by this conduct charge God foolishly? Does it not imply that we are wiser than He;-that if we had had the distribution of the gifts of providence, they should have been more advantageously disposed of than by the present arrangement? How selfish, how criminal, how presumptuous, is the state of mind from which such conduct originates! We, the creatures, the servants of the Lord God Almighty, arraign the procedure of our supreme moral governor and judge, and find fault with the station, the service, the reward, which he assigns to us. Has he not an unquestionable right to dispose of us and of ours just as it pleaseth him? Is it not lawful for Him to do what he will with his own? "Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him: He that reproveth God let him answer it."

Ought it not to lead us to subdue every feeling of discontent, and to resist the operation of those evil passions from which it originates, to reflect on the unhappiness which necessarily accompanies it. Does not experience tell us, that the possession of the object of our wishes, in no case secures to us the happiness which we had anticipated? If that on which we have now set our inclinations is attainable, our exertions are far more likely to be effective in attaining it without discontent than with it. This disturbs the mind, and incapacitates it for the full and prudential exercise of its energies.

In a word, how odious must discontent appear, and how truly base must we ourselves acknowledge the ingratitude, the envy, the selfishness, the presumption to be, from which it proceeds, when we compare our own lot with that of thousands around us. They also are the servants of God, and have equal claims to his bounty that we have. Yet how many are the blessings which we enjoy that have not been communicated to them. Is it property that we are solicitous to obtain? How many persons are there in the same rank of life poorer than we? Is it promotion we long to obtain? Has not Providence done already for us more in this way than for many who entered the world with equal prospects? Is it honour, is it office, are they connexions we are in search of? Let us look abroad on the world, and feel ashamed that we should murmur for the want of what many persons more deserving than we are destitute of, and which, did we possess them, would contribute little to our happiness.

III. Contentment is recommended to us by the consideration of the immediate advantages which it brings the possessor. It is the source of continual peace and serenity of mind; it produces a cheerful acquiescence in the dispensations of providence, whatever they may be; and because it moderates the desires to attainable good, it preserves us from much vexation and disappointment. A contented person is, therefore, eminently happy ;-happy in enjoying the undeserved gifts of his Heavenly Father;-and happy in fulfilling the duties of that station, and of those relations, which God has assigned to him.

Nor is he less a source of happiness to all who are

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