no other to look up to. What promises are upon record for your consolation. Having already laid them before you, I will only refer to a few of them. What sweet language is that in Psalm xxxiv. 1-10, and Psalm xxxvii.. Turn to your Bible, and read those comforting portions of Holy Scripture. Then how cheering to the believer is the prophet's assurance, "He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given; his water shall be sure."-Isaiah xxxiii. 16. Can any thing be more encouraging than the apostle's application to the individual believer, of the promise made to Joshua? So that we may boldly say, we Christians, yes, every one of us individually, The Lord is my helper. Be content with such things as ye have, then, for he hath said, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." The force of this passage in the original, exceeds the power of translation: it contains five negative particles within the compass of these few words, so that literally rendered it would be, "No, I will not leave thee; no, no, I will not forsake thee." It is one of the most emphatical and beautiful examples of the force of a negative declaration, in all the scripture. God seems to start back with dread and abhorrence at the thought of forsaking his people. Trust him. Not that I mean to insinuate that you are authorised to expect miraculous supplies. Your garments will not be rendered undecaying like those of the Israelites in the wilderness, nor your pro

visions inexhaustible, like those of the widow before us; but the God of providence can find you means and instruments of assistance, as effectual as if the laws of nature were suspended in your behalf. All hearts are in his hands; all events are at his disposal; all contingencies are in his knowledge and under his direction. What is wanting on your part is FAITH. Only believe, and perhaps you are really shut up to this; you can scarcely do any thing else.

Not that I mean to discourage effort. On this subject I have dwelt in a former part of the volume: you must, in proper season and manner, exert yourself in your own support, and that of your children; but what I mean is, that when after every disposition, and fixed determination, and collected energy, to do this, you do not see through what channel, and to what object, your efforts are to be directed; you are to believe that God will, in ways unknown and unthought of by you, afford you his assistance. This is your faith. In ten thousand times, ten thousand instances, as we have already remarked, he has helped poor dependent widows as effectually without a miracle, as he did the woman of Zarephath by one. The barrel of meal, and cruse of oil has been replenished as truly, though not as mysteriously, as in the case before us. And why is this case recorded, but to encourage you to trust in God. It was a miracle it is true, and like other miracles had the high design of confirming the revelation of God by his prophet; but it was a miracle of supply

to one in want, intended visibly to typify and illustrate God's ordinary providence in supplying the wants of his people, and to encourage through all ages, the exercise of pious confidence in him. Read it with this view of it; and when the last supply is exhausted, from time to time, read it again and again, to raise the hope of a future communication from him, who heareth the young ravens when they cry. You do not know when or how it will come, but believe that it will come. O what a God-honouring grace is faith! and as this honours Him, so ne delighteth to honour it. All things are possible, and all things are promised, to him that believeth. As no miracle could be wrought, in the time when these wondrous operations were common, without faith in the subject of it; so now, in cases of providential interposition, no manifestation of God's power and grace is to be looked for, but in answer to faith. I would not encourage enthusiasm, but I be.ieve that God saith to his dependent and destitute people, "Be it unto you according to your faith." Do not, then, look only to see the barrel of meal gradually sinking lower and lower, but look up unto God who can replenish it, and with much in the former to generate doubt and fear, feel also that there is as much in the latter to encourage faith and hope.

But there is another lesson to be learnt by the conduct of the widow of Sarepta, and that is, not to let you own grief and comparative destitution, steel

your hearts against the wants of others, and close your hands to their necessities. She shared with Elijah the last meal she was preparing for herself and her son. Grief is apt to make us selfish, and limited circumstances to produce an indisposedness to communicate. Take heed against such a state of mind as this. Exhaust not all your tears upon yourself. There are many as destitute as you are, perhaps some far more so. You are prepared by experience to sympathise with them, and will find in sympathy a relief for your own sorrows. Nothing tends more to relieve that overwhelming sense of wretchedness, with which the heart of the sufferer is sometimes oppressed, than a generous pity for a fellow weeper.

CHAPTER III.

THE WIDOW OF ONE OF THE SONS OF THE PROPHETS.

Addressed to the Widows of Ministers left in destitute circumstances.

Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil. Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels ; borrow not a few. And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full. So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out. And it came to pass, when