In ruin and confusion hurled,
He, unconcerned, would hear the mighty crack,
And stand secure amidst a falling world.
ANON.

Man, considered in himself, is a very helpless and a very wretched
being. He is subject every moment to the greatest calamities and
misfortunes. He is beset with dangers on all sides, and may become
unhappy by numberless casualties which he could not foresee, nor
have prevented had he foreseen them.

It is our comfort, while we are obnoxious to so many accidents, that
we are under the care of One who directs contingencies, and has in
His hands the management of everything that is capable of annoying
or offending us; who knows the assistance we stand in need of, and
is always ready to bestow it on those who ask it of Him.

The natural homage which such a creature bears to so infinitely wise
and good a Being is a firm reliance on Him for the blessings and
conveniences of life, and an habitual trust in Him for deliverance
out of all such dangers and difficulties as may befall us.

The man who always lives in this disposition of mind has not the
same dark and melancholy views of human nature as he who considers
himself abstractedly from this relation to the Supreme Being. At
the same time that he reflects upon his own weakness and
imperfection he comforts himself with the contemplation of those
Divine attributes which are employed for his safety and his welfare.
He finds his want of foresight made up by the Omniscience of Him who
is his support. He is not sensible of his own want of strengths