Sermons preached

1. What will the Use of Means and second Causes do without God? When we have prepared best, and consulted best, the Intentions we travail with may miscarry, for the Event is wholly in God's hands. Prov. 16. 1. The Preparations of the Heart are from Man, but the Answer of the Tongue is from the Lord. Man propoundeth, intendeth, purposeth; but the Success cometh from God.

2. When we have done our Duty, and used such good Means as God affordeth; then we may quietly refer the Success to God, in whose Hands are all the Ways of the Children of Men, and upon whose good Pleasure the Issues of all things depend, Prov. 16. 13.

IV. The wisest and best of Men must not expect always to be happy, but must prepare themselves for sinister Chances; ⟨p. 266⟩for the Words are brought in upon this occasion, of rejoicing in our Comforts. In an uncertain World we must always reserve a Liberty of full and free Submission to God's Providence, if the Event should not answer Expectation. For the Race is not always to the Swift, nor the Battle to the Strong. We must not be too confident of future worldly Events; for in these things, God, by whose Providence all things are governed, would leave us to uncertainty. Alas! many times we mistake and miss of fit Opportunities, and then the best Preparations and Sufficiencies will be lost. My Times are in thy Hand, saith David. Psal. 31. 15