CONSOLATION RESTORED. 639 ness light before them, and crooked things straight. Tsai. xlii. 16. IIe sends provision by the mouth of a raven, morning and night, to feed the prophet; he multiplies and encreases the cruise of oil into a river, and the barrel of meal doth not waste : he finds out ways for unexpected supplies. They that live upon providence shall know the ways of the Lord ; but they who will not live but upon their own stores, have no taste, no knowledge of these sort of blessings; this loving kindness of the Lord. Psal. cvii. and the last verse. II. By consolations and supports, derived to us from the word of God, under our huge troubles and threaten- ing distresses. Sometimes a promise suited to our case ; these are springs of divine comfort, hidden cordials for a fainting christian ; though the men of the world feel nothing in them reviving. Isaiah xliii. 2. I am thy God when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt, neither shall.-the flame kindle upon thee. Sometimes a precept, a solemn reproof, silences all our fears. " Fear not," saith the Lord, " I am with thee." Sometimes the representations of the ancient dealings of God with his people, Psa. lxxvii. 11, 12. &c. I will remember the works of the Lord; surely I will remem- ber thy wonders of old, I will meditate also of all thy works, and, talk of thy doings, Psa. xxii. 4, 5. Our fathers trusted in thee, and thou didst deliver them : they cried unto thee, and were delivered : they trusted in thee, and were not confounded. Art not thou he who hast delivered Abraham, and Jacob, and Joseph, and the Israelites; who hast saved David from his hourly perils, and brought him to the 'kingdom. . . III. By calling to mind the mercies and deliverances that we ourselves have received from the hands of God in the hours of distress. Psa. lxxi. 5. Thou hast been my trust from my youth, I am as a wonder unto many; but thou art niy refuge. Ver. 20. Thou which hast shewn me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and bring me up from the depths of the earth. 2 Cor. i 9. 10.. Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver us in whom we trust that he will yet de-
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