" I Pfal. cxlvi. 3, 4, 5. Put not your Trust in Princes, nor in the His Breath goeth forth, He returneth to Happy is he who bath the God of Jacob I F ever any People had a juft Occafion given them to enter upon thofe Reflections which these words naturally prefent to us; and to confider, How little dependance is to be placed * upon the Beft or Greatest among the Children of so7) do. It has pleafed God, within these few days, to deprive us of a moft excellent Princefs; under whom, we had flatter'd our felves, that we fhould A 2 fhould have long enjoy'd, a more than ordinary Portion, of Happiness and Profperity. A Perfon ihe was, as by the Greatnefs of her Character qualified beyond moft Others to have become a National Bleffing; fo by the many incomparable Endowments, God had bestow'd upon her, in a fingular manner difpofed fo to be. And as this raifed our hopes into fome more than ordinary Expectations from her; fo that firmness of Conftitution which she enjoy'd, accompanied with a yet early and vigorous Youth, feem'd to promife us, that we fhould be many years blessed under the influence both of her Authority and of her Example. But alas! how fuddainly are all thefe Hopes cut off, and our Expectations brought to an End! And nothing left us but the fad Reflection, how grievously mistaken we were in our Opinion of our own Happiness; and how little truft is to be put in Any, but that God, who alone enjoys a Certainty of Being, and therefore can alone with fafety be depended upon In the words before us, there are these two things that naturally offer themselves to our Confideration : Eirft, That it is a vain thing to put our Truft in any Man, be his Rank or Condition never fo great; upon this double Account, (1) That (1) That his Power to help us, is very small : ver. 3. And, (2.) His Continuance short and uncertain, ver. 4. And therefore to Truft in fuch a perfon > must be to repose our Confidence in One, who oftentimes cannot help us; and, in a little while, will fail us. Secondly, That he who will place his Trust upon a fure foundation, must place it upon God; who alone is always able, and will always continue in a Condition, to help and defend us. And, First, That it is a very vain thing to put our Truft in any Man, be his Rank or Condition never fo Great; Because both his Power to help is very small, and his Continuance fhort and uncertain: And therefore to Truft in fuch a Perfon, must be to build our Hope upon one who oftentimes may not be Able to help us; and very probably, in a little while will fail us. This is a Confideration, both fo certain in its felf, and fo Obvious even to the meaneft Capacity; that did we not fee Men every day overlook it in their practice, one might think it hardly needful to offer any Arguments, either to Illustrate, or to Confirm the Truth of it. If If (1) We confider the Power,of the Greatest Perfons, to help us; Alas! How little is it at the Best And, for the moft part, How useless to us? In how many Cafes does it furpass their Power to do us any Good? And even in those in which it may feem the moft in their Power to affift us; yet Accidents may there fall out, to prevent us from being at all the better for it? how many It may be they are Unwilling to grant us what we defire of them. Perhaps they are difpofed to do Somewhat for us; but they will not be perfwaded to do fo Much as our needs require: And fo fpoil all the Advantage we hoped to have reaped from their Kindnefs to us, for want of making their Supply fuitable to our Occafions. It may be they are willing to do All that we defire of them, but not Presently: They put off the time; till at last, by their delays, their favour comes too late to us. Or laftly; It is poffible that in a little while they may Change their Minds, and with them, their Affections towards us. And fo where we thought to have found a Friend, we meet an Enemy: One who is difpofed rather to do us a mifchief, than to lend any Help or Affistance to us. So Impotent; fo Trifling; fo Uncertain, and Dif-ingenuous a Creature, is Man! And then, What a Vanity must it be for any one to place his Trust Trust upon the Intereft or Authority, the Love or Favour of fuch a One? Who in the chiefeft of our needs, cannot Help us at all: And in those, wherein he is able to relieve us, will be apt either altogether to fail us; Or elfe to mix fo much of Humane Frailty and Infirmity with his Favour, as fhall render it of very little Use and Value to us. Nor let any one think that there is any Order of Men exempted from the force of these Reflections.. Even the greatest Perfons lye open to them, no lefs than thofe of a lower degree. Their Power indeed is Greater, and they can do much more for us than other Men. But yet ftill it is far fhort of our Wants; And cannot answer one half of those Exigencies, in which we shall stand in need of fome one to Help and Affist us. Their Minds are Mutable no less than Other Mens: And they are by fo much the more likely to Change in their Affections towards us, by howmuch the more they are exposed to the Delusions of those about them; who are ftill envious of fuch as they take into their particular Favour; and will therefore be ftill endeavouring, by all imaginable ways, to bring us into Difgrace with them. Their Favours are, generally, the Longeft in Coming, and the Hardeft to be Obtain'd: Whilft the very; |