,1 SERMON VIII. DILIGENCE in feeking WISD OM always fuccefsful. PROVERBS VIII. 17. Thofe that feek me early, fh. all find me; SE R M. H E father of lights, from whom every V1II. good and perfea gift cometh down, be- --v-- ffoweth his mercies very freely on mankind; but his gifts are not all equal, nor do they equally require previous difpofitions and the ufe of preparatory means on our part. Our beings, with all the powers and capacities which belong to them, are derived from the divine bounty ; and to them it can never be fuppofed that any merit, or any agency of ours, could have in the leaft contributed. We fee that the enjoyments of life, not only thofe which are abfolutely neceffary to its pre - fervation, but thofe which render it comfort- able, are difpenfed by the indifcriminating hand of providence, and often in as large a meafure to the unthankful and evil, as to the food
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