often hath God, with his singular providence, exempted thee from evil, removed occasions of offending, broken the snare that the enemy had laid for thy perdition, hath frustrated his expectation, and would not permit that his counsels and machinations should prevail against thee? How often hath he done to us as he did to St. Peter in the gospel; [1]"Ecce Satayias expelwit xos, lit criharet sicut triticum: Ego autem rogavi pro te ut nan deficiat fides tua:" "Behold Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not." And who can know these secret benetits but God alone? benefits which are palpable, are easy to be seen, but those which are private, consisting in the working of good, or preventing of ill, the mind of man cannot perfectly comprehend. Wherefore, it is meet and convenient to reason, that we should render immortal thanks to God, for all these benefits, and confess ingenuously, that we have received more than we are able to restore, and that our obligations towards him are so great, that with any goods of ours we shall never live to requite them, when we cannot so much as number or comprehend them in our understanding.
- ↑ Luke xxii 31
