88 THE OLIVE LEAF. CHAP. 



not, O Jacob my servant : for I am with thee ; for I will 

 make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven 

 thee : but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct 

 thee in measure" When the foundations of the earth 

 were laid, we know that God arranged all things, both 

 according to proportion and to place that He " mea- 

 sured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meted 

 out the heavens with a span, and comprehended the 

 dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the moun- 

 tains in scales, and the hills in a balance." We know 

 with equal certainty that His covenant of grace is a 

 similar system of exquisite adaptations and compensa- 

 tions that it is ordered in all things and sure. And if 

 the mathematician can demonstrate that the leaves of a 

 plant are arranged around its stem so as to give them 

 the fairest possible freedom of access to air and light, 

 and the planets placed at such distances from the sun 

 as to give them the fairest possible chance of revolving 

 around him undisturbed by their neighbours, surely the 

 Christian can prove from his own experience and 

 observation that God " performeth the thing that is 

 appointed," and adapts His special dealings to the 

 circumstances and necessities of His people. He who 

 telleth the number of the stars and calleth them all by 

 their names, has assured us that in His book all our 

 members were written, which in continuance were 

 fashioned, when as yet there were none of them ; 

 and that since we were born He numbereth our 

 steps, that the number of our months is with Him, 

 that our times are in His hand, that even the very 



