Justice of Providence and to agree very exactly with the actual Administration of Providence For it is manifest that all good men are not rewarded nor all wicked men punished in this world that a Righteous Cause is sometimes oppressed and that Oppression and Injustice is very often prosperous which must needs appear a great Difficulty to those who make no difference between the Justice of God and Men who think that the Justice of Providence is as much concerned to defend all mens Rights and Properties as the Justice of a Prince is This makes them quarrel against Providence when they are hardly and unjustly used by men and so blinds their minds that they see not the true Reasons why God afflicts them and neither reverence his Judgments nor make a wise use of them The Reasons of this seem very plain the only Question is How it agrees with that account which the Scripture gives us of God's Justice and Righteousness For the Righteousness of God is represented in Scripture by loving Righteousness and favouring a Righteous Cause Thus 11. Psalm 7. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness and his countenance doth behold the upright And the Psalmist very often encourages himself to expect the Divine Favour and Protection from his own Innocence and Integrity and the Righteousness of his Cause 35. Psal. 19. Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause Stir up thy self and awake to my judgment even to my cause my God and my Lord. Iudge me O God according to thy righteousness and let them not rejoice over me Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at my hurt Let them be cloathed with shame and dishonour that magnify themselves against me Let them shout for joy and be glad that favour my righteous cause yea let them say continually Let the Lord be magnified which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant 23 24 26 27. v. The Lord shall judge the people Iudge me O Lord according to my righteousness and according to mine integrity that is in me Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end but establish the just for the righteous Lord trieth the heart and reins God judgeth the righteous and God is angry with the wicked every day If he turn not he will whet his sword he hath bent his bow and made it ready And concludes I will praise the Lord according to his righteousness and will sing praises to the name of the Lord most high 7. Psal. 8 c. Where the Righteousness of the Lord for which the Psalmist praises him is his Judging and Defending a Righteous Cause Thus in 9. Psalm 8 9 10. He shall judge the world in righteousness he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness The Lord also will be a refuge to the oppressed a refuge in time of trouble And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee for thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek thee It were easy to multiply Texts to this purpose where God is expresly declared to be an irreconcilable Enemy to all Injustice and Violence the Protector of the Widow the Fatherless and Oppressed and of all just and righteons men But those conclude a great deal too much who would prove from such Texts as these That no Righteous Man nor Righteous Cause shall ever be oppressed That good men shall always be prosperous and the wicked always miserable for it is evident that this was not the state of the world when these Psalms were penned and therefore this could not possibly be the meaning of them How many Complaints does the Psalmist make against his Enemies those who were wrongfully his Enemies 69. Psalm 4. That his Enemies were lively and strong and they that hated him wrongfully were multiplied 38. Psalm 19. How passionately does he pray for Protection against his Enemies How long wilt thou forget me O Lord for ever how long wilt thou hide thy face from me how long shall I take counsel in my soul having sorrow in my heart daily how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me 13. Psalm 1 2. The 37th Psalm is a plain proof that wicked men were very prosperous in those days tho they are threatned with final destruction And to the same purpose the 73d Psalm gives us a large description of the Prosperity and Pride of bad men many of whom spend their lives and end their days prosperously I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked For there are no bands in their death but their strength is firm They are not in trouble as other men neither are they plagued as other men Behold these are the ungodly who prosper in the world they encrease in riches The Prosperity of bad men and the Miseries and Afflictions of the good were in those days a great Difficulty in Providence and were so to the Psalmist himself and therefore it is certain that whatever he says of the Righteousness of God and his care of Righteous men and his abhorrence of all Wickedness and Injustice cannot signify That God will always defend men in their just Rights that he will always prosper a Righteous Cause and Righteous Men for this was against plain matter of fact and we cannot suppose the Psalmist so inconsistent with himself as in the same breath to compalin that wicked men were prosperous and good men afflicted and to affirm That the Just and Righteous Judge of the World would always punish Unjust Oppressors and protect the Innocent Nay indeed the very nature of the thing proves the contrary for there can be no Unjust Oppressors if no body can be oppressed in their just Rights and therefore it is certain the Divine Providence does at least for a time suffer some men to be very prosperous in their Oppressions and does not always defend a just and innocent Cause for if he did there could be no innocent oppressed man to be relieved nor any Oppressor to be punished And if it be consistent with the Justice and Righteousness of Providence to permit such things for some time we must conclude that it is at the discretion of Providence how long good men shall be oppressed and the Oppressor go unpunished The plain account then of this matter as it is represented in Scripture is this 1. That as God is infinitely Just and Righteous himself so he loves Justice and Righteousness among men he loves Righteousness and Righteous Men and hates all Injustice Violence and Injuries for the Righteous Lord must love Righteousness and hate Iniquity and therefore though the Divine Justice is Superior to all Human Rights and his Authority Absolute and Sovereign to dispose of all his Creatures and of all they have as his own Wisdom directs yet men cannot invade each other's Rights without Injustice and when Rights and Properties are setled by Human Laws it is
and in annexing such rewards and punishments to the observation or to the breach of these Laws as may reasonably invite him to obedience and deter him from sin and as this degenerate state requires in laying such external restraints on him and affording him such internal assistances of Grace as the Divine Wisdom sees proportioned to the weakness and corruption of Human Nature and when this is done it becomes God to leave him to his own choice and to reward or punish him as he deserves for a forced Vertue deserves no Reward and a necessity of sinning will reasonably excuse from Punishment The nature of a reasonable Creature of Vertue and Vice of Rewards and Punishments represent it as very becoming the Wisdom and Justice of God to leave every man to the freedom of his own choice to do good or evil to deserve Rewards or Punishments as far as he himself is only concerned in it But when we consider man in Society the case is altered for when the good or evil of their actions extend beyond themselves to do good or hurt to other men the Providence of God becomes concerned either to hinder or to permit and order it as may best serve the Wise Ends of Government as those other men who are like to be the better or the worse for it have deserved well or ill of God Tho God has made man a free Agent yet we must not think that he has made such a Creature as he himself can't govern No man doubts but that God can when he pleases by an Irresistible Power turn mens hearts and chain up their Passions and alter their Counsels the only Question is When it is fit for God to do this And no man can question the fitness of it when the good Government of the world requires it God makes no man good or bad vertuous or vicious by a perpetual and irresistible force for this contradicts the nature of Vertue and Vice which requires a Freedom and Liberty of Choice but God may by a secret and irresistible influence upon mens minds even force them to do that good which they have no inclination to do and restrain them from doing that evil which otherwise they would have done which does not make them Good men but makes them the Instruments of Providence in doing good to men and God who is the Soveraign Lord of all Creatures may when he sees fit press those men if I may so speak to his Service who would not do good upon choice This shows the difference between the Government of Grace and Providence the first has relation to Vertue and Vice to make men good to change their Natures and sinful Inclinations into habits of Vertue and therefore admits of no greater force than what is consistent with the freedom of Choice and the nature of Virtue and Vice but the Government of Providence respects the external Happiness or Misery Rewards or Punishments of Men or Nations and to this purpose God may use what Instruments he pleases and exercise such Authority over Nature or Men as is necessary to accomplish his own Wise Counsels of Mercy or Judgment And it was necessary to premise this distinction because the confounding these two has occasioned great difficulties and mistakes both in the Doctrine of Grace and Providence Let us then now more particularly consider How God governs Mankind so as to make them the Instruments and Ministers of his Providence in the world The Methods of the Divine Wisdom are Infinite and Unsearchable and we must not expectfully to comprehend all the Secrets and Mysteries of God's Government but something we may know of this enough to teach us to reverence God and to trust in him and to vindicate his Providence from the Cavils of Ignorance and Infidelity which is as much as is useful for us to know And I shall reduce what I have to say to Two General Heads 1. The Government of mens Minds of their Wills their Passions and Counsels 2. The Government of their Actions 1. God's Government of the Minds of Men their Wills and Passions and Counsels for these are the great Springs of Action and as free a Principle as the Mind of man is it is not ungovernable it may be governed and that without an Omnipotent Power against its own Byas and without changing its inclinations and what may be done certainly God can do and when it is necessary to the Ends of Providence we may conclude he will do it Let a man be never so much bent upon any Project yet hope or fear some present great advantage or great inconvenience the powerful intercession of Friends a sudden change of circumstances the improbability of success the irreparable mischief of a defeat and a thousand other considerations will divert him from it and how easie is it for God to imprint such thoughts upon mens minds with an irresistible Vigor and Brightness that it shall be no more in their power to do what they had a mind to than to resist all the Charms of Riches and Honours than to leap into the Fire and to chuse Misery and Ruin That thus it is the Scripture assures us 21. Prov. 1. The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of waters he turneth it whither soever he will And if the King's heart be in the hand of the Lord we cannot doubt but he hath all other mens hearts in his hand also and can turn and change them as he pleases Thus the Wise man tells us A man's heart deviseth his ways but the Lord directeth his steps 16. Prov. 9. Men consult and advise what to do but after all God steers and directs them which way he pleases for tho there are many devices in a man's heart nevertheless the counsel of the Lord that shall stand 19. Prov. 21. Which made the Wise man conclude Mans goings are of the Lord how then shall a man understand his own ways 20. Prov. 24. That is God has such an Absolute Government of the hearts and actions of men when his Providence is concerned in the Event that no man can certainly know what he himself shall chuse and do for God can in an instant alter his mind and make him steer a very different course from what he intended as the Prophet Ieremiah assures us I know that the way of man is not in himself it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps 10. Jer 23. And Solomon tells us something more strange than this The preparation of the heart in man and the answer of the tongue is of the Lord. 16. Prov. 1. or as the Hebrew seems to signifie the preparation of the heart is from man a man premeditates and resolves what he will say but notwithstanding that the answer of the tongue is of the Lord. When he comes to speak he shall say nothing but what God pleases Which sayings must not be expounded to an universal sense that it is always thus but that
thus it is whenever God sees fit to interpose which he does as often as he has any wise end to serve by it Thus we are told That when a mans ways please the Lord he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him 16. Prov. 7. And it is a very remarkable Promise God makes to the Children of Israel that when all their Males should come Three times every Year to Worship God at Ierusalem by which means their Country was left without defence exposed to the Rapine of their Enemies who dwelt round about them That no man should desire their land when they go up to appear before the Lord. 34. Exod. 24. We have many Examples of this in Scripture and some of those many ways whereby God does it When Abraham sojourned in Gerar he said of Sarah his Wife that she was his Sister and Abimelech the King of Gerar sent and took her but God reproved Abimelech in a dream and tells him that he had withheld him from Sinning and not suffered him to touch her 20. Genes 1. c. Thus when Iacob fled from Laban with his Wives and Children and Laban pursued him God appeared to Laban in a dream and Commanded him that he should not speak to Iacob either good or hurt 31. Genes 24. Such appearances were very common in that Age though they seem very extraordinary to us but God does the same thing still by strong and lively impressions upon our minds by suggesting and fixing such thoughts in us as excite or calm our Passions as encourage us to bold and great Attempts or check us in our career by frightful Imaginations and unaccountable Fears and Terrors or by such other Arguments as are apt to change our Purposes and Counsels Sometimes God does this by a Concurrence of External Causes which at other times would not have been effectual but shall certainly have their Effect when God inforces the impression Thus God in a moment turned the Heart of Esau when he came out in great Rage against his Brother Iacob It was an old Hatred he had conceived against him for the loss of his Birthright and of his Blessing and he had for many years confirmed himself in a resolution to cut him off the first opportunity he had to do it And could it be expected that the Present which Iacob sent him which he could have taken if he had pleased without receiving it as a Gift and that the Submission of Iacob when he was in his Power should all on a sudden make him forget all that was past and the very Business he came for and turn his bloody Designs into the kindest Embraces No! this was God's work the effect of that Blessing which the Angel gave to Iacob after a whole Nights wrestling with him in Peniel 32. and 33. Genes and when God pleases the weakest means shall change the most sullen and obstinate Resolutions Of the same nature with this is the Story of David and Abigail Nabal had highly provoked David by the churlish Answer which he sent him and David was resolved to take a very severe revenge on Nabal and his House but God sent Abigail to pacifie him who by her presence and dutiful and submissive Behaviour and wise Counsels diverted him from those bloody resolutions he had taken as David himself acknowledges Blessed be the Lord God of Israel which sent thee this day to meet me and blessed be thy advice and blessed be thou who hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood and from avenging my self with my own hand 1 Sam. 25. 32 33. Saul pursued David in the Wilderness to take away his Life and God delivered him Twice into David's hands and the kindness David shewed him in not killing him when he was in his Power did at last turn the Heart of Saul that he pursued him no more 1 Sam. 26. 27. ch Thus God confounded the good Counsel of Ahitophel by the advice of Hushai which Absolom chose to follow and the Text tells us this was from God who had purposed to defeat the good counsel of Ahitophel to the intent that he might bring evil upon Absolom 2 Sam. 17. 14. Such an absolute Empire has God over the minds of men that he can turn them as he pleases can lead them into new thoughts and counsels with as great ease as the waters of a river may be drawn into a new Channel prepared for them 2dly When God does not think fit to change and alter mens Wills and Passions he can govern their Actions and serve the ends of his Providence by them When God suffers them to pursue their own Counsels and to do what they themselves like best he does that by their hands which they little expected or intended The same Action may serve very different Ends and therefore God and Men may have very different intentions in it and what is ill done by men and for a very ill End may be ordered by God for Wise and Good purposes Nay the ill Ends which men Designed may be Disappointed and the good which God intended by it have its Effect And this is as Absolute a Government over mens Actions as the ends of Providence require when whatever men do if they intend one thing and God another the counsel of God shall stand and what they intended shall have no effect any farther than as it is subservient to the Divine Counsels as to give some plain examples of it Ioseph's Brethren being offended at his Dreams and at the peculiar kindness which their Father Iacob shewed him resolved to get rid of him but God intended to send him into Egypt to advance him to Pharaoh's Throne and to transplant Iacob and his Family thither and therefore God would not suffer them to slay him as they at first intended but he suffered them to sell him to the Ishmaelites who carried him into Egppt which disappointed what they aimed at in it never to see or hear more of him but accomplished the Decrees and Counsels of God Another Example we have in the King of Assyria who came against Ierusalem with a powerful Army with an intention to destroy it but God intended no more than to Correct them for their Sins this God suffered him to do but he could do no more O Assyrian the rod of mine anger and the staff in their hand is mine indignation I will send him against a hypocritical nation and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge to take the spoil and to take the prey and to tread them down like the mire in the street Thus far God gave him Commission that is thus far God intended to suffer his Rage and Pride to proceed but this was the least of his intention Howbeit he thinketh not so but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few but in this God disappointed him Wherefore it shall come to pass that when the Lord hath performed his whole work
than to command every thing that is Holy and to forbid all kinds and degrees of Wickedness and to encourage the practice of Vertue and to discourage all Wicked practices as much as the Wisdom of Government and the freedom of human Actions will allow That God does all this wherein the Holiness of Government consists I know no man that denies As wicked as Mankind is it is not for want of holy and just and good Laws The law of the Lord is an undefiled law converting the soul the testimony of the Lord is sure and giveth wisdom unto the simple the statutes of the Lord are right and rejoyce the heart the commandment of the Lord is pure and giveth light unto the eyes The fear of the Lord is clean and endureth for ever the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether 19. Psal. 7 8 9. The great complaint is That the Laws of God are too Holy for the Corrupt state of this World and most men think to excuse their Wickedness by the degeneracy of human Nature and the too great Purity and Perfection of the Divine Laws which they have no Ability to perform Now the Holiness of God's Laws are an undeniable Argument of the Holiness of his Providence and Government whether we consider these Laws as a copy of his Nature or a declaration of his Will much more if we consider them both as his Nature and his Will as all Moral Laws which have an eternal and necessary Goodness in them are for the Divine Nature and Will must be the rule and measure of his Providence and Government unless he Govern the World contrary to his own Nature and Will Nay Laws themselves are not only the Rule of Obdience to Subjects but of Government to the Prince and it is universally acknowledged to be as great a miscarriage in a Prince not to Govern by his own Laws as it is in Subjects not to obey them Princes may be guilty of such miscarriages but God can't and therefore the Laws he gives to us are the Rules of his own Providence and then the Holiness of his Laws prove that his Government and Providence must be very Holy And indeed we have very visible and sensible proofs of this in that care he takes to encourage the Practice of Vertue and to discourage Wickedness This he has done by those great Promises which he has made to the Observation of his Laws and by those terrible Threatnings which he has denounc'd against the breach of them both in this World and in the World to come But this is not what I mean for men can despise both Promises and Threatnings if they do not see the Execution of them and the Promises and Threatnings of the other World which are much the most considerable are out of sight and do not so much affect Bad men and that which is most proper for us to consider here is how the external Administrations of Providence encourage Vertue and discourage Wickedness and Vice Now those who believe that all the Miseries that are in the World are the effects or rewards of Sin as all men must do who believe the Scripture nay as all men must do who believe that a Just and Good God governs the World must confess that the Divine Providence has done abundantly enough to discourage Wickedness For it is visible enough how many Miserie 's there are in the World So many and so great as are commonly thought a reproach to Providence but if they be the just recompence of Sin they are only an Argument of the Justice and Holiness of Providence If we believe the Scripture Mortality and Death and consequently all those Infirmities and Decays of Nature all those Pains and Sicknesses and Diseases which are not the effect of our own Sins or which we do not inherit from our more immediate Parents as an entail of their Sins are owing to the Sin of Adam which brought Death upon himself and all his Posterity and such a curse upon the earth as has entail'd Labour and Sorrow on us As for many other Miseries and Calamities of life they are visibly owing to our own or to other mens Sins Such as Want and Poverty Infamy and Reproach Seditions and Tumults violent Changes and Revolutions of Government and all the Miseries and Desolations of War Take a survey in your thoughts of all the several sorts of Miseries which are in the World and tell me what place they could find here by what possible means they could enter into the World were Sin banished out of it What Miseries could disturb Human life were all men Just and Honest and Charitable did they love one another as themselves Perfect Vertue is not only an innocent and harmless but a very beneficial thing it does no hurt but all the good it can both to it self and others and when there is nothing to hurt us neither within nor without we can suffer no hurt And is not this a sufficient proof of the Holiness of Providence that God has so ordered the nature of things and the circumstances of our life in this World that if men will be Wicked they shall be Miserable Can any thing in this World more discourage men from Sin or make them more zealous to reform themselves and the rest of Mankind than so many daily and sensible proofs that there is no expectation of a secure state of rest and happiness while either they themselves or other men with whom they must of necessity converse or have something to do are Wicked For you must remember that I am not now a vindicating the Justice but the Holiness of Providence and therefore it is no Objection against what I have now said That many times vertuous and innocent men suffer very greatly by the Violence and Injustice of the wicked Tho this may be an Objection against the Justice of Providence which I have already accounted for yet it is no Objection against the Holiness of Providence but a great justification of it for the more effectual care God has taken to give all mankind an abhorrence of all Wickedness both in themselves and others the more undeniable proof it is of the Holiness of God's Government and this is more effectually done by the evils which we suffer from other mens wickedness than from our own Men who are very favourable to their own Vices when they feel the Pleasures and Advantages of them learn to hate to condemn to punish them by feeling what they suffer from other mens sins When they lose their own Estates by Injustice and Violence or their Good Names by Reproaches and Defamations or are injur'd in the Chastity of their Wives and Daughters by other mens Lusts this gives them a truer sense of the evil of Injustice Defamation and Lust and makes them condemn these Vices in themselves how well soever they love them This is the foundation of Human Government which keeps Mankind in order and lays great Restraints upon
to conclude that it is only our ignorance of the Eastern Language and Phrase which makes them obscure and difficult to us than to expound them to such a sense as contradicts all the rest of the Bible But I do not intend this for an Answer or as some will call it an Evasion but shall consider these Texts particularly And the first place relates to God's hardening Pharaoh's heart that he should not let the People of Israel go notwithstanding all the signs and wonders which Moses wrought in Egypt 4. Exod. 21. Where God expresly tells Moses that he would harden Pharaoh's heart and in the Story it self it is several times expressed that God did harden Pharaoh's heart and he who hardens the heart seems to be the efficient Cause of all those Sins which such a hard heart commits Now rightly to understand this which has given so much trouble to Divines there are many things to be considered Hardness of heart is a Metaphorical expression and signifies such a firmness and obstinacy of temper or resolution as will yield to no motives or perswasions that will no more receive any impressions than a hard and impenetrable Rock And therefore to harden the heart is to give it such a stiffness and obstinacy as will not yield But then there are several ways of hardening mens hearts and some of them very Innocent and Holy as well as Just and before we charge the Divine Providence upon this account we must know in what way God hardens immediately to infuse into mens hearts an unrelenting hardness and obstinacy in a sinful course is inconsistent with the Holiness of Providence and would in the most proper sense make God the Author of Sin but though God says he would harden Pharaoh he does not say that he would infuse hardness into Pharaoh's heart For we may observe That men who have first hardened themselves take the most innocent occasions to grow harder nay are hardened by such usage as would either break or soften other men And those who treat them in such a manner as their wicked hearts abuse to harden themselves may be said to harden them as in common speech we charge those with undoing and hardening their Children and Servants who have spoiled them by too much indulgence or by too great severity and this is the account that Origen gives of it And indeed when men are said to harden themselves as Pharaoh is often said to harden his own heart and yet God is said to harden them there can be no other account given of it but this that men take occasion from what God does take occasion where no occasion was given to harden themselves as St. Paul observes the Iews did from God's patience and long-suffering 2. Rom 4 5. Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance i.e. should lead thee to repentance not harden thee in Sin though it have another effect through thy own wickedness But after thy hardness and impenitent heart growest more hard and impenitent by God's forbearance and treasurest up unto thy self wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God And thus God hardened Pharaoh or thus Pharaoh took occasion to harden himself from those Judgments which ought to have softened him and God foreseeing that this would be the effect of it says I will harden Pharaoh's heart not I will infuse hardness into him but I will do such things as I certainly know his hard and wicked heart will improve into new occasions and new degrees of hardness For it is no reason either for God or men to forbear doing what Wisdom and Justice and Goodness direct to be done because hardened Sinners will harden themselves the more by it And that this is the truth of the case appears from the whole Story That which hardened Pharaoh and made him so resolved not to part with Israel was the great advantage he made of their Service and Bondage which made him impatient to think of sending away a people which were so useful to him To conquer this obstinate humour God sends Moses to deliver Israel with a mighty arm and out-stretched hand Moses wrought such mighty Wonders and inflicted such miraculous and terrible Judgments on Egypt as any one would have thought the most proper means not to have hardened but to have broken and subdued the most hardened hearts but this had a contrary effect upon a hardened Pharaoh and it is visible what it was that hardened him Some of these Signs and Wonders were imitated by the Magicians as turning their Rods into Serpents and Water into Blood and bringing Frogs upon the Land and upon this he hardened his heart though the Plague of Frogs was so grievous that it made him somewhat relent and promise to let the People go and Sacrifice unto the Lord if the Frogs might be removed but then God's goodness in removing this Plague hardened him as it is expresly observed That when Pharaoh saw there was respite he hardened his heart 8. Exod. 15. And thus it was in the succeeding Judgments while any judgment was upon him he yielded and promised fair to let the people go that had any one of those Judgments continued on him till he had parted with Israel he had certainly sent them away long before but when he saw one Judgment removed after another he thought there would be an end of them at last and it were better to endure a while than to part with Israel and thus God hardened his heart and he hardened his own heart till the Death of all the First-born put him and his Servants and all the People into such a terrible fright that they were glad to get rid of Israel to save their own Lives And to compleat all God still hardened Pharaoh's heart to pursue after Israel that he might overthrow him and all his Host in the Red Sea And for that end God led the people about through the way of the wilderness of the red sea that Pharaoh might say They are intangled in the land the wilderness hath shut them in and it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people and they said Why have we done this that we have let Israel go from serving us 14. Exod. 2 3 4 5. The report of their flying and the apprehension of their being intangled in the Wilderness made Pharaoh and his Servants quickly forget what they had suffered in Egypt and think of nothing but the loss of the Service of Israel which hardened them to a new pursuit and was ordered by God to that end that he might be honoured upon Pharaoh and upon all his Host. This is the account the Scripture gives us of God's hardening Pharaoh's heart which contains nothing that unbecomes a Wise and a Holy Being For though it can
never become a Holy God to infuse hardness into mens hearts yet when men have hardened themselves and will abuse all the Wise methods of Providence to harden themselves and are now ripe for destruction it very much becomes a Just and Righteous God to exercise them with such Providences as he knows will still harden them till they make themselves such infamous examples of Wickedness as may deserve a more glorious and exemplary Vengeance Which is another thing to be considered in the case of Pharaoh and very necessary to the full understanding this difficult case of God's hardening mens hearts God had peremptorily decreed not only to deliver Israel but to punish Egypt both King and People for the cruel oppression of Israel And therefore he might without any more solemnity have destroyed Pharaoh his People and Land and have carried Israel out of Egypt with a mighty hand But when they had deserved to be Punished and Destroyed and God had resolved to Punish them the manner of their Punishment was at the free disposal of the Divine Wisdom and therefore he chose to Punish them in such a way as might make the Glory and Power of the God of Israel known to the World And this is the very account which God himself gives why he took such a course with Pharaoh as he foresaw would harden and confirm him in his resolutions of not parting with Israel when he could have forced him at the expence of fewer Miracles to have sent them away if he had so pleased I will harden Pharaoh's heart and multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you that I may lay my hand upon Egypt and bring forth mine armies and my people the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by great judgments And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I stretch forth my hand upon Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them 7. Exod. 3 4 5. The same thing he tells Pharaoh I will at this time send all my plagues upon thy heart and upon thy servants and upon thy people that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth For now I will stretch out my hand that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence and thou shalt be cut off from the earth And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up have all this time preserved thee and not cut thee off for to shew in thee my power and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth 9. Exod. 14 15 16. And this reason God gives why he hardened Pharaoh's heart to pursue Israel I will be honoured upon Pharaoh and upon all his host that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord 14. Exod. 4. This is diligently to be observed to vindicate the Holiness and Justice of Providence For though God infuses no hardness into mens hearts yet if he exercise them with such Providences as he foresees will harden them and does this with an intention and design to harden them this signifies his Will to harden them and such a moral Efficiency in using hardening Providences as will as certainly harden them as if he had infused hardness into them And this makes little difference whether God hardens men by external Providences or by an internal Operation on their minds when he intends such Providences to harden them and knows that they will effectually do it Now I readily grant that tho God infused no hardness into Pharaoh's heart nor did any thing which unbecomes a holy God to do yet he did intend to harden him and did intend to harden him on purpose to multiply his Judgments on Egypt and to destroy him and all his Host in the Red Sea for this is so plainly expressed that we cannot deny it Nay I readily grant that the Providence of God would be justly chargeable with mens Sins did he without any respect to the merit and desert of the Persons by such insensible methods betray them into sin with an intention to harden them For what man is there of such a firm and constant vertue as to be able to resist all Temptations which a long series of Providences chosen and directed for that purpose by a Divine Wisdom could bring him into But yet when men have sinned themselves into such a hardened state as to deserve to be destroyed and when God is so far provoked by their Sins as to resolve to destroy them it becomes the Wisdom and the Justice of God without any impeachment of his Holiness to harden men by external Events and Appearances not in Sin which can never become a Holy God but in such ruinous Courses as their own wicked hearts betray them to and as will bring inevitable ruin on them And this is the true resolution on this Case 1. That God never hardens any men till they have deserved and he is resolved to destroy them 2. That then he does not harden them in Sin but in such Ruinous Counsels as their own Sins betray them to 3. That all this is done not by the natural or moral efficacy but by their own wicked abuse of the Divine Providence 4. To compleat all When God has thus determined to destroy any Person or People he many times inflicts on them a penal blindness and infatuation not to see the things which concern their peace These four Particulars contain a full and easy account of this perplext Doctrine of God's hardening mens hearts and therefore I shall speak distinctly but briefly to them 1. That God never hardens men till they have deserved and he is resolved to destroy them This must be laid as the foundation of all for by what means soever God hardens men how innocent soever they may appear if he intends to harden them not because they deserve and he has determined to destroy them but only that they may deserve to be destroyed and that he may with some fair appearance of Justice destroy them it would be impossible to satisfy equal and impartial Judges of the Justice and Holiness of Providence But if men have hardened themselves in Sin beyond all the ordinary methods of recovery and have so provoked a good and merciful God that he gives them over to ruin and destruction then by what means soever they are hardened which are not directly sinful there can be no just reason to question either the Justice or Goodness or Holiness of God upon this account For when men have sinned to that degree as to deserve immediate destruction and to provoke God to pass a final Sentence on them God may either immediately destroy them or keep them in that hardened state like condemned Malefactors reserved in Chains for a more publick and solemn Execution And this is all that is meant by God's hardening men and this all mankind must allow to be just and holy This was the case of Pharaoh and the Egyptians who
him by the Prophet Nathan I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house and I will take thy wives before thine eyes and give them unto thy neighbour and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun For thou didst it secretly but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun 2 Sam. 12. 11 12. which we know Absalom accordingly did by the Advice of Ahitophel 16. chap. 20 c. Now that God did inflict this punishment upon David is plain from the Text but that he either instigated Ahitophel to give this Counsel or Absolom to take it is not said And if God could inflict this punishment on David without having any hand in the sin it is no reflection on the Holiness of Providence All that God expresly says he would do in the case was to put David's Wives into Absalom's power I will take thy wives before thine eyes and give them unto thy neighbour and then foretells what the effect of this would be and what he intended to permit for his punishment He shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun There was no evil in so ordering the matter that when David fled he should leave his Wives behind him which put them into Absalom's power and then God foresaw what Counsel Ahitophel would give and how ready Absalom would be to take it unless he hindered it which he decreed not to do in punishment of David's Adultary And thus to order the permission for such an end though it has nothing of the guilt of the sin yet entitles God to the event considered as a punishment upon which account God may be said to do this before all Israel and before the sun Thus when Shimei cursed David as he fled from Ierusalem David takes notice of God's hand in it and would no suffer Abishai to cut him off Let him Curse because the Lord hath said unto him curse David 2 Sam. 16. 10. But evey one sees that this must be a figurative expression for it is not true in the literal sense God never commanded Shimei to curse David nor did David believe in a literal sense that he did for then he would not have imputed the guilt of it to him Whereas we know though he had sworn to Shimei at his return when he came to meet him that he would not put him to death yet he left it in his dying Charge to Solomon not to hold him guiltless 1 Kings 2. 8 9. But when David said The Lord hath bidden him curse all that he meant by it or could mean by it is no more but this That the sad Calamity which the Providence of God had brought on him by the Rebellion of his Son Absalom had given free scope to Shimei's old and inveterate hatred of him and as effectually let loose his reviling Tongue as if God had in express words commanded him to curse David And therefore he patiently submits to this as part of his punishment and a very inconsiderable part when compared with the Rebellion of his Son Absalom which gave this confidence to Shimei to curse his King Behold my son which came forth of my bowels seeketh my life how much more now may this Benjamite do it 10. v. This is no more than what David elsewhere complains of That God had made him the song of the Drunkards For Bad men will take all the advantages which the Providence of God gives them to reproach and scorn and persecute the Good there needs no other command for this but a fair opportunity to do it Some object God's giving power to Satan first over the Goods and then over the Body of Iob excepting his life And God's permitting a lying Spirit to enter into Ahab's Prophets to persuade him to go up to Ramoth-Gilead But wherein the Objection lies I cannot tell for I suppose they will not say That God by permitting the Devil to hurt and to deceive made him a malicious and lying Spirit Those are very unreasonable Objectors who will not allow God to make use of the Ministry of wicked Spirits to wise and good ends without charging him with their sins too But God himself tell us That when a Prophet is deceived he hath deceived him now how is it reconcilable with the Holiness of his Nature or Providence to deceive 14. Ezek. 9. And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing I the Lord have deceived that prophet and I will stretch out my hand upon him and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel Now to this it is commonly answered That God permits a Lying Spirit to possess such Prophets as he did in the Case of Ahab for he only speaks here of the Prophets of Baal such Prophets as he would cut off for their Lying Prophesies and how does it unbecome God to give up the Worshippers of Evil Spirits their Priests and Prophets to be inspired and deceived by them No true Worshipper of God was under any temptation to be deceived by them because they were not the Prophets of God and God had always his own Prophets among them to warn them against such lying Prophesies Nay it was the fault of these Prophets that they were deceived themselves for they did know that they did not receive their Prophesies from the Lord but from the Heathen Idols or that they were their own Inventions and when they chose to worship strange gods and to consult their Oracles or to divine out of their own hearts they chose to be deceived and therefore God threatens They shall bear the punishment of their iniquity the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him 10. v. We have a large account of these Prophets and severe Judgments denounced against them 13. Ezek. who are said to prophesy out of their own hearts and to follow their own spirits when they had seen nothing to see a vain vision and speak a lying divination and sometimes to attribute it to God too they say The Lord saith it albeit I have not spoken Now this Character the Prophet Ezekiel gives of these Lying Prophets inclines me to a very different sense of these words which seems plain and easy Not that God deceived them to prophesy Lies but that God deceived them in the event They deceived themselves into vain visions either by giving themselves over to Idolatry which betrayed them to the delusions of wicked Spirits or by heating their Imaginations into Enthusiastick Frensies and prophesying their own Hopes and Politick Guesses which is called prophesying out of their own hearts and following their own spirits and then God deceived all their Hopes and Expectations by bringing those evils on them which they with great assurance and confidence said should never come And the words plainly favour this sense God does not say If a prophet be deceived to speak a thing I the Lord have deceived him But if a
will not see To deceive those with signs and lying wonders and all deceivableness of unrighteousness who do not love the trath but have pleasure in unrighteousness who endeavour to deceive themselves and desire to be deceived For this is all that is meant by sending them strong delusions to believe a lie that God suffers the Man of sin to erect his Kingdom after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders When men are in love with their Sins and therefore do not love the Truth because it discovers and reproves their Sins they are out of the protection of Gods Grace and are delivered up to the Cheats and Impostures of Crafty Men or of Wicked Spirits This is the rule and method of God's Grace he forces truth on no man but those who love the truth shall find it Those who cry after knowledge aud lift up their voice for understanding who seek her as silver and search for her as for hid treasures they shall understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God 2. Prov. 2 3 4 5. But if men wilfully shut their own eyes against the light God suffers the God of this world to blind them as St. Paul teaches 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. But if our gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which belive not lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them Which should make us all afraid of prejudice and the love of this world which bar up the mind against truth and by degrees betray us to a judicial blindness There are some other Texts which do indeed attribute the supreme Disposal of all Human Actions to God but without charging his Providence with mens sins 16. Prov. 9. A mans heart deviseth his ways but the Lord directeth his steps 19. 21. There are many devices in a mans heart nevertheless the counsel of the Lord that shall stand 20. 24. Mans goings are of the Lord how then can a man understand his own ways The meaning of which is that men advise and deliberate and choose freely what they intend to do but when they come to action they can do nothing they can bring nothing to pass but what God will God can change their Counsels or can disappoint them when they are ripe for action or can make what they do serve quite another end than what they intended Now this only proves what I have already observed That the Issues and Events of all things are in God's hands as they must be if he governs the World Men may choose what they please but they shall do only what God sees fit and what he orders for wise ends God does not act immediately but makes use of Natural causes or of the Ministries of men both good and bad men Men choose and act freely and pursue their own Designs and Imaginations and therefore the moral Good or Evil of the action is their own and God does as freely with unsearchable Wisdom over-rule all Events which are therefore God's doing as well as mens being directed by him to serve the wise ends of Providence in rewarding or punishing Men or Nations as they deserve Thus I have as briefly as I could examined most of those Texts which have been thought to attribute to God some kind of Causality and Efficiency in the Sins of Men and I hope have made it appear that there is no such thing intended in them And for the conclusion of this Argument concerning the Holiness of Providence I shall only add some few Practical Inferences by way of Application 1. Not to attribute our own or other Mens sins to God Let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any man But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed 1. James 13 14. This is absolutely necessary to be observed for without it there is an end of all Religion If God can influence mens Minds to wicked Purposes and Counsels it is impossible he should hate Wickedness or be so Holy as many Holy men are who would no more incline or tempt other men to sin than they would sin themselves And who will hate sin or think that God will love him ever the less for being a Sinner who believes this If God want the Sins of Men to accomplish his own Counsels they must either be very unholy Counsels which cannot be accomplished without the Sins of Men or he must be a weak or unskilful Being which is down-right Blasphemy for a wise and powerful Being can do whatever is Wise and Holy without the Sins of Men. It is excellent Wisdom indeed when men do and will Sin for God to accomplish his own wise and gracious Counsels by their Sins but to incline or tempt or over-rule or determine men to sin on purpose to serve himself by their Sins this would be a just Impeachment both of his Holiness his Wisdom and his Power and a God who is neither Holy Wise nor Powerful would be no very fit Object of Religious worship To say that God decrees the Sins of men for his own Glory to magnifie his Mercy and Justice in saving some few and in condemning the greatest part of Mankind to eternal Miseries is so sensless a Representation both of the Glory of the Mercy and of the Justice of God as destroys the very Notion of all For if Man be a meer Machine who moves as he is moved how can he deserve either Well or Ill Necessity destroys the very Notion of Vertue or Vice both which suppose a free Choise and Election and if ther be no Vertue nor Vice there can be no Rewards nor Punishments and then there is no place neither for Justice nor Mercy and then God can neither glorify his Mercy nor his Justice in forgiving Sins or in punishing the Sinner How can any man who believes that he is over-ruled by God to do all the Evil he does ever be a true Penitent or heartily beg God's Pardon or reverence his Judgments or endeavour to do better All Religion is founded in this Persuasion That God hates every thing that is wicked for if there be no Essential difference between Good and Evil there is no pretence for Religion and if God makes none there is none and if he can be the Author of what is Evil as well as of what is Good he makes no difference between them 2dly The Holiness of Providence teacheth us never to do any Evil to serve Providence under pretext of doing some great Good by it which we think may be acceptable to God God never needs the Sins of men and can never approve them whatever good ends they are intended to serve God indeed does many times bring Good out of Evil but he allows no Man to do evil that
though the Troubles and Calamities which we often meet with in this World do not prove Life to be a contemptible State or worse than not being yet they do prove Life to be a very Imperfect State that the mere Sensible Pleasures and Advantages of Life together with these great allays are but vanity and vexation of spirit Wise men see that there can be no compleat Happiness in this World and that it is vain to expect it for how can this World make us happy which though it has its Pleasures has its Troubles and Cares and Disappointments too is an insecure and mutable State exposed to Chance and Accident to the Lusts and Passions of men is always chequered with Prosperous and Adverse Events has always a mixture of Good and Evil and many times the Evil is the prevailing Ingredient And therefore though the natural love of Life and the many Sweets and Comforts of it reconcile very miserable people to living yet a wise man sees no reason to be fond of this State much less to dream of perfect and lasting Happiness in it 2dly The many Troubles we are exposed to plainly prove That there is no Happiness to be had in this World but in the practice of Vertue It was a vain brag of the Stoicks That Vertue alone could make a man happy that their Wise-man could be perfectly happy in Phalaris's Bull for Vertue is not Meat and Drink and Clothes can't cure Bodily Pain and Sickness nor satisfy the Appetites and Desires of the Body and while a Wise man lives in a mortal Body he must feel the wants and pains of it and to be in want and pain is not happiness But yet thus much is certainly true That nothing can make a man happy in this World without the practise of Vertue and that when we must encounter with the Troubles and Difficulties of Life nothing can give us any degree of Ease and Satisfaction but the practice of Vertue We may meet with such Troubles as will sowre all our other Enjoyments and make them unable to bear up our spirits which sink under their own weight under the disorders of their own Passions Are tormented with Fears with Disappointments with Envy with Rage and when they cannot bear themselves can bear nothing else nor relish their wonted Pleasures But you have already heard that Vertue has its proper Pleasures in the greatest Difficulties inspires us with prudent Counsels to disintangle our selves animates us with courage and bravery to resist the Evil or to bear it sweetens our Labours with the satisfaction of great and generous Actions for the Publick Good keeps our own Passions under government and triumphs over an adverse Fortune by raising the mind above it By such helps as these a Good man may enjoy some competent measure of Ease and Satisfaction in the worst Condition but when such Troubles surprise a mind unarmed and unfortified with Vertue unable to resist and unable to bear we may then with great truth and reason apply this Text to him I praised the dead who are already dead more than the living who are yet alive Were the state of this World always easy and prosperous there would be little need of Passive Vertues though Vertue in general is always necessary to make men happy but all men must be sensible how necessary Passive and Suffering Vertues are for an inconstant troublesome and suffering state which is always in some degree the state of this World and that will convince those who will consider it how necessary the practice of Vertue is to make men happy 3dly Though the Troubles of this Life are no reason why a Good man should hasten his escape out of this World before his time yet they are a very good reason to make him contented to leave this World whenever God calls him out of it For though Vertue will sweeten Labours and Difficulties yet no man would chuse always to live in a state of War Ease and rest is very pleasant and refreshing after labour Though a Prince be glorious in the Field covered with dust and sweat and sprinkled with the Bloud of his Enemies yet the Triumphs of a secure and quiet Throne are greater and more desirable And this makes the Grave too in some degree acceptable after the toils and labours of Vertue that there the weary are at rest especially since this Rest is not a state of insensibility for all the Labours and Difficulties of a Vertuous Life are infinitely to be preferred before the ease and rest of knowing and feeling and being sensible of nothing which is the rest of a Stone and of things without life not the rest of a Man But they rest from their labours and their works follow them they rest in a peaceful and secure enjoyment of Endless Happiness they rest from all the Labours of Vertue and enjoy its Rewards This is a sufficient justification of Providence with respect to the present Evils and Calamities of Life for it is what exactly becomes the Goodness of Providence in this World such a mixt State of Good and Evil as may wean us from the tempting Vanities of this Life and convince us that there is no perfect Happiness to be found here which is necessary to raise our hearts above this World and to set our Affections upon things above which is an Eternal State of perfect Ease and Rest And since Religion and Vertue is necessary to our Future Happiness nothing can be better for us than such a state of things as shall make Vertue necessary to our present Happiness and since we must leave this World and Death is the King of Terrors whatever reconciles us to Death and makes it easy may be reckoned one of the greatest pleasures and securities of Human Life Secondly In answer to this Objection against the Goodness of Providence from those many Evils and Calamities that are in the World we must consider That most of the Evils of Human Life are owing to mens own wickedness and folly and it is very unreasonable to make those Evils an Objection against Providence which men wilfully bring upon themselves Thus the Wise-man long since stated this Question The foolishness of man perverteth his ways and his heart fretteth against the Lord 19. Prov. 3. Men make themselves miserable and then reproach the Divine Providence with their Miseries And therefore I shall briefly shew you that Mankind undo themselves and that the Evils which men bring upon themselves are no reasonable Objection against the Goodness of Providence 1. The first is a very proper Subject for a Satyr against the Folly and Wickedness of Mankind but needs no proof If we take a survey of the many Miseries of Human Life and resolve them into their immediate and natural Causes we shall find that most men take great care to leave very little for God to do in the punishment of Wickedness in this World There are but two visible Causes of all the Miseries that
there was a Power and therefore a God above them all whom all Mankind ought to fear and worship This convinc'd Nebuchadnezzar of the Power of the God of Israel when he had delivered Shadrach Meshach and Abed-nego from the fiery Furnace he made a Decree That every people nation and langage which spake amiss against the God of Shadrach Meshach and Abed-nego shall be cut in pieces and their houses shall be made a dunghill because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort Thus when God had delivered Daniel from the Lion's Den Darius made a Decree That in every dominion of his kingdom men should tremble and fear before the God of Daniel For he is the living God and stedfast for ever and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed and his dominion shall be even unto the end He delivereth and rescueth and worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth who hath delivered Daniel from ihe power of the lions Both these Kings were convinced by these great and wonderful Works that the God of Israel was the Supream God but Nebuchadnezzar's Decree only forbids men to blaspheme God Darius seems to command all People to worship him for to tremble and fear before him signifies a religious veneration but neither of them appointed any solemn Worship to be paid him much less did they forbid the Worship of any other Gods But a little consideration would have carried them farther for those mighty Works which proved a Power superior to all Gods proved a Sovereign Providence too that this Supream God had not so committed the Government of the world to any Ministers or inferior Deities but that he reserved the supream disposal of all things in his own hands as Nebuchadnezzar was convinced that His dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom is from generation to generation and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing and he doth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him What dost thou This cut off all reasonable Pretences of paying Divine Worship to their Country-goods for if there be a Superior Power and Providence over them at most they could be only Ministers of the Divine Will and therefore could have no title to Divine Honours no more than Ministers of State have to the Royal Dignity And it was very reasonable to conclude this when they saw that this Supream God would not suffer Israel whom he had chosen for his peculiar People to worship any other God besides himself This was not unknown to the Egyptians but was more manifest in After-ages when God so severely punished them for their Idolatry and was made evident to Nebuchadnezzar and Darius when God delivered Shadrach Meshach and Abednego out of the fiery Furnace who refused to worship the Golden Image which he had set up and delivered Daniel from the power of the Lions when he was cast into the Lions Den for praying to his God This shews the strange power of Prejudice and Custom but yet we must confess that this was wisely designed by God for the cure of Polytheism and Idolatry Having thus vindicated and explained the Wisdom of Providence both with respect to the removal of Israel out of the Land of Canaan into Egypt and the hard bondage they suffered there and their deliverance out of Egypt with a mighty hand and out-stretched arm with Signs and Wonders and Miracles let us now follow them into the Wilderness God having chose Israel for his peculiar People and delivered them out of Egypt before he shewed them openly to the world under such a peculiar Character it was necessary first to form their Manners to take care that they should own him for their God and behave themselves as it became so glorious a Relation this could not be done in Egypt where they were oppressed by hard bondage and therefore God first leads them into the Wilderness remote from the conversation of all other People and upon all accounts a fit place both to instruct and try them I do not intend as I said before to inquire into the Mystical Reasons of those various Providences with which God exercised them in the Wilderness to which our Saviour and his Apostles so often refer and which they apply to the Gospel-state but shall only consider the Wisdom of Providence as to the external and visible conduct of that People to make them fit to be owned before all the World for his peculiar People They had lived two hundred years in Egypt and were tinctur'd with the Idolatries and had learnt the corrupt Manners of that People and had all that meanness and stupidity and perverseness of humour that a state of Servitude and Bondage is apt to create of which we have too many visible Instances in their behaviour towards Moses All this was to be corrected before their entrance into Canaan which will give us the reasons of some very wonderful Providences The first remarkable thing to this purpose to be observed is God's delivering the Law to them with all the most formidable Solemnities in an audible Voice from Mount Sinai Which Moses tells them was such a thing as was never known before since the day that God created man upon the earth Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire as thou hast heard and live And the use Moses makes of it is very natural to confirm them in the Belief and Worship of the One Supream God Vnto thee it was shewed that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God there is none else besides him Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice that he might instruct thee and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire Know therefore this day and consider it in thine heart that the Lord is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath there is none else For what can convince men that there is One Supream God if such a terrible Appearance as that on Mount Sinai and the Law delivered in an audible Voice from Heaven will not convince them Numa pretended to receive his Laws from the Goddess Aegeria as some other Lawgivers pretended to do the like but no man knew any thing of it but themselves but here a whole Nation heard God speak to them and saw such an Awful Appearance upon the Mount as made Moses himself fear and tremble I desire any man to tell me how God who is a Pure Invisible Mind could possibly give a more visible Demonstration of his Presence and Power I desire the Wittiest and most Philosophical Atheists only for Experiment sake to suppose the Truth of that Relation which Moses gives us of this matter and that they themselves had been present at Mount Sinai had seen the Smoke and Fire
and not only restored Peace to the Christian Church but made Christianity the Religion of the Empire And if the Wisdom of Providence consists in giving us wise Instructions I am sure this furnishes us with many When things are reduced to that extremity as to be past Human relief it makes it visible to all the world that it is God's doing Where there is Force against Force and Counsels against Counsels though Providence determines the Event Human Power and Counsels very often monopolize the Glory and leave God out but when God does that which men are so far from being able to do that they can't think it possible to be done this awakens a sense of an Invisible Power and makes the Divine Glory and Providence known to the world When God exposes his own Church and People to such a suffering state and threatens them with Final Ruin it is a severe Summons to repentance and warns them not to trust in vain words crying The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord for God will purge his own House and no External Relation or Priviledges shall secure us from Vengeance if we walk not worthy of that holy vocation wherewith we are called But such Deliverances as these give us great reason never to despair they teach us That no case is desperate when God will save and therefore the less expectation we at any time have of Human Succors the more earnestly ought we to implore the Divine Protection and learn to live upon Faith and Trust in God When Good men are reduced to such Extremities it makes them more fervent and importunate in their Prayers more serious in their Repentance more sensible how much they stand in need of God and such surprizing and unexpected Deliverances inflame their Devotions make their Praises and Thanksgivings more hearty and sincere which gives great glory to God and betters their own minds 5thly The sudden Revolutions of the world and the various and unexpected Changes of mens Fortunes which is thought one great Calamity of Human Life is intended by God to instruct us in some necessary and excellent parts of Wisdom Some Crafty Politicians like Mariners steer their course as the Wind blows and change as it changes They have no other Rule for their Actions but to guess as well as they can where their advantage or safety lies but Providence very often disappoints them in this by such hasty changes and short turns as make them giddy and this teaches us to act by Rule not by a politick foresight of Events our Rule can never deceive us what is just and right and true is always safe but our Politicks may for things may not go as we expect The various changes of mens Fortunes teach us to treat all men with great humanity not to be insolent when we are prosperous nor to despise our Inferiors for we know not what they nor we may be before we die Civility and modesty of conversation is always safe but pride and insolence may create us Enemies who may in time how mean soever they are at present be able to return our insolence The Divine Providence so orders Human Affairs as to teach us most of the wisest Rules of Human Life both for our Religious and Civil Conversation and this I take to be a manifest proof of the Wisdom of Providence 6thly The Wisdom of Providence is often seen in the wise mixture and temperament of Mercy and Judgment when he corrects but not destroys humbles but does not cast down when he makes us sensible of his displeasure and gives us just reason to fear but without despair when as the Psalmist speaks He lifts up and casts down keeps us under the discipline of hopes and fears and tries our Faith and Patience and Submission and both threatens and invites us to repentance by the interchangeable Scenes of prosperous and adverse Events Thus the Psalmist tells us it is with good men The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his way though he fall he shall not utterly be cast down for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand 37. Psal. 23 24. Thus 94. Psal 14 15. For the Lord will not cast off his people neither will he forsake his inheritance but judgment shall return unto righteousness and all the upright in heart shall follow it And he proves this by his own Experience Vnless the Lord had been my help my soul had almost dwelt in silence When I said my feet slippeth thy mercy O Lord held me up 17 18 Verses An Example of this ye have 27. Isaiah Hath he smitten them that is Israel as he smote those that smote him He smote Israel but not as he smote the Enemies of Israel Or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him In measure when it shooteth forth wilt thou debate with it He stayeth his rough wind in the day of his east wind This is to sing to God of Mercy and of Judgment to learn righteousness by the things which we suffer but still to trust in his help CHAP. IX Concerning those Duties which we owe to Providence I Have now finished what I intended with relation to the Nature and Justification of Providence and all that remains is to explain and enforce those Duties which we owe to Providence Natural Religion is founded on the belief of a God and a Providence for if there be no God there is no Object of our Worship if there be no Providence there is no Reason for our Worship But a God that made the world and takes care of all the Creatures that are in it deserves the Praises and Adorations of all A God who neither made the world nor governs it is nothing to us we have no relation to him he has nothing to do with us nor we with him but a God in whom we live and move and have our being is the Supream Object of our love and fear and reverence and hope and trust and of all those religious and devout Affections which are due to our Maker and Soveraign Lord. This is so plain that it is enough to name it but the nature and extent of those Duties which we owe to Providence deserves a more particular consideration As to instance in some of the chief 1. To take notice of the Hand of God in every thing that befalls us to attribute all the Evils we suffer and all the good things we enjoy to his Soveraign Will and Appointment This is the foundation of all the other Duties which we owe to Providence and the general neglect of this makes us defective in all the rest Now if the Divine Providence has the absolute government of all Events you must confess it your duty to take notice of Providence and to acknowledge God in every thing for this is only applying the general Doctrine of Providence to particular Events without which particular application the general belief of a
fears and aversions submit to the Divine Will for the more what we suffer is against our own will the greater is our submission to the Will of God Submission to God does not consist in courage and fortitude of mind to bear Sufferings which men may have without any sense of God and which the profoundest Reverence for God will not always teach us but he submits who receives the Bitter Cup and drinks it though with a Trembling heart and hand This ought to be observed for the comfort of those who have a very Devout sense of God and Reverence for his Judgments but betray great weakness of Mind and disorders of Passions under their Sufferings who are very impatient of Pain and have such soft and tender Passions that every Affliction galls them and when they reflect upon these Disorders this creates new and greater Troubles to them for they conclude that all this is want of a due Submission to the Will of God But Religion was never intended to extinguish the Sense and Affections of Nature to reconcile us to Pain or to make all things indifferent to us and while there is any thing that we love it will be grievous to part with it and while there is any thing that we fear it will be grievous to suffer it Religion will rectify our Opinions of things and cure our fondnesses and set bounds to our Passions but when all these flattering or frightful disguises are removed which magnified the Good or Evil that is in things yet Good and Evil they are and will excite in us either troublesome or delightful Passions and this will exercise our Submission to God to part with what we love and to suffer what we fear and were not this the case there were no use of Submission To explain this in a few words let us consider how that man must suffer who suffers with Submission to God and that is the Submission which we owe to Providence Now a man who suffers with Submission must not reproach and censure the Divine Providence but think and speak honourably of God how hardly soever he deals with him he may complain of what he suffers both to God and men but he must not complain of God This was Iob's Behaviour Naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away and blessed be the name of the Lord in all this Iob sinned not nor charged God foolishly I Job 21 22. And the Prophet David was an Example of the like Submission I was dumb I opened not my mouth because thou didst it 39. Psalm 9. He submitted silently and patiently as to God's hand opened not his mouth against God though he complains of the Wickedness of men and of the severity of his Sufferings Deliver me from all my transgressions make me not the reproach of the foolish remove thy stroke away from me I am consumed by the blow of thine hand 8 10. To reproach and revile Providence to fret against God or as Iob's Wife advised him to curse God to be weary of his Government and impatient to think that we cannot resist and cast off so uneasy a yoke this is directly contrary to Submission Such men suffer God's Will because they cannot help it but they would Rebel if they could those who are so outragious against what God does and so impatiently angry with God for doing it only want power to stay his hand and to pull him from his Throne Submission to God is the Submission of our Wills to the Will of God Now though no man can absolutely chuse sufferings for suffering is a natural Evil and therefore not the object of a free choice yet men may chuse suffering against the natural byass and inclination of their own wills in Subjection to the will of God Of this our Saviour is a great Example who express'd a great aversion against suffering Prayed earnestly Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me nevertheless not my will but thy will be done Our own wills will draw back and recoil at suffering For no affliction is for the present joyous but grievous but yet a will that is subject to God will deny it self and chuse that God's will should take place And this is our Submission to the Will of God in suffering yet how uneasie soever it be to us we are so far from complaining against God that we would not have it otherwise when God sees fit it should be so that though we do not and cannot chuse sufferings yet we chuse that the Will of God should be done though it be to suffer Another act of Submission to God is when we wait patiently on God till he think fit to deliver us when notwithstanding all we suffer our hope and trust and dependance is still on God To submit to God is to submit in Faith and Hope to submit as to the Corrections and Discipline of a Father for it is impossible for any man to submit without Hope as impossible as it is to be contented with final Ruin When we cast off our Hope in God there is an end of our Submission then we shall come to that desperate conclusion Behold this evil is of the Lord why should I wait on the Lord any longer 2 Kings 6. 33. But never was there a greater expression of Submission than that of Iob Though he slay me yet will I trust in him he also shall be my salvation for a hypocrite shall not come before him 13. Job 15 16. This the Psalmist has fully express'd 27. Psalm 13 14. I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of living Wait on the Lord be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart wait I say on the Lord. To Hope in the Mercy and Goodness of God even when he strikes to wait Patiently till he will be Gracious to make our complaints to him and to expect our Deliverance and Salvation only from him this is to Submit to the Will of God to make his Will our Will to attend all the motions of his Providence as patiently and diligently as a Servant does the commands of his Lord as it is elegantly represented 123. Psalm 1 2. Vnto thee lift I up mine eyes O thou that dwellest in the heavens Behold as the eyes of servants look upon the hand of their masters and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God until that he have mercy upon us This is that Submission which we owe to Providence under all the Evils and Calamities of Life and if we would make this Submission easy and chearful we must possess our Souls with a firm perswasion of the Wisdom and Goodness of God We must not look upon him a meer Soveraign and Arbitrary Lord for to submit to meer Arbitrary Will and Power is and will be very grievous
we owe to Providence 345 A particular Acknowledgment of Providence in all Events Ibid. Submission to the Providential Will of God 347 Concerning Submission to God under Afflictions and Sufferings 348 Submission to the Will of God with respect to our several states and conditions of life 354 Concerning Hope and Trust in the Divine Providence 366 Concerning the Duties of Prayer and Thanksgiving 378 A DISCOURSE OF THE Divine Providence The INTRODUCTION MY Chief Design in this following Treatise is So to Explain the Nature of Providence as to reconcile men to the Belief of it and to possess them with a Religious Awe and Reverence of the Supreme and Absolute Lord of the World For it is very evident That the Mistakes about the Nature of Providence are the principal Objections against it which tempt some men to deny a Providence or so weaken the sense of it in others that they are very little the better for believing it That a Divine Providence does Govern the World I have proved largely enough for my present Design in the Discourse concerning a Future Iudgment which I refer my Reader to But that this Work might not seem to want a Foundation I have not wholly omitted the Proof of a Providence but have at least said enough to convince those of a Providence who believe That there is a God which must be supposed in a Discourse of Providence The Whole is divided into Nine Chapters I. The necessary Connection between the Belief of a God and of a Providence II. The General Notion of Providence and particularly concerning a Preserving Providence III. Concerning God's Governing Providence IV. The Soveraignty of Providence V. The Justice of Providence VI. The Holiness of Providence VII The Goodness of Providence VIII The Wisdom of Providence IX The Duties we owe to Providence The Explication of these Things will not only answer many Difficulties in Providence but will give us a clearer Notion of the Divine Attributes and of some of the principal Duties of Religion CHAP. I. The necessary Connection between the Belief of a God and of a Providence INstead of other Arguments to prove a Providence I shall at present insist only on this That the Belief of a God infers a Providence That if we believe there is a God who Made the World we must believe that the same God who Made the World does Govern it too 1. For first It is as absurd and unreasonable to think That the World is Governed by Chance as to think That it was Made by Chance for Chance can no more Govern than it can Make the World One principal Act of Providence is to uphold all things in being to preserve their Natures Powers Operations to make this lower World again every Year by new Productions For Nature seems to decay and dye and revive again in almost as wonderful a manner and as unintelligible to us as it was first made Now tho it is very absurd to say That Chance which acts by no Rule nor with any Counsel or Design can make a World which has all the Marks and Characters of an admirable Wisdom in its Contrivance yet it seems more absurd to say That Chance can preserve that it can uphold the things it has made that it can repair the decays of Nature nay restore it when it seems lost That it can not only do the same thing twice but repeat it infinitely in new productions That Chance can give Laws to Nature and impose a Necessity on it to act regularly and uniformly that is That Chance should put an end to Chance and introduce Necessity and Fate Were there not a Wise and Powerful Providence it is Ten thousand times more likely that Chance should unmake and dissolve the World than that it should at first make it for a World that came together by Chance and has nothing to keep it together but the Chance that made it which is as uncertain and mutable as Chance is will quickly unmake it self Should the Sun but change his place come nearer this Earth or remove farther from it there were an end of this lower World and if it were placed there by Chance it is wonderful that in so many Ages some new unlucky Chance has not removed it And therefore the Psalmist attributes not only the Creation but the Preservation of all things to God Praise him sun and moon praise him ye stars of light Praise him all ye heavens and ye waters that are above the heavens Let them praise the name of the Lord for he spake the word and they were made he commanded and they were created He hath made them fast for ever he hath given them a law which shall not be broken 148. Psal. 3 4 5 6. 2dly The same Wisdom and Power which Made the World must Govern it too It is only a Creating Power that can preserve That which owes its very Being to Power must depend upon the Power that made it for it can have no principle of Self-subsistence independent on its Cause It is only Creating Wisdom that perfectly understands the Natures of all things that sees all the springs of Motion that can correct the Errors of Nature that can suspend or direct the Influences of Natural Causes that can govern Hearts change mens Purposes inspire Wisdom and Counsel restrain or let loose their Passions It is only an Infinite Mind that can take care of all the World that can allot every Creature its portion that can adjust the Interests of States and Kingdoms that can bring Good out of Evil and Order out of Confusion In a word the Government of the world requires such Wisdom and such Power as no Being has but he who made it and therefore if the World be governed it must be governed by the Maker of it 3dly If there be any such Being as we call God a Pure Infinite Eternal Mind it is a Demonstration That he must Govern the world Those who deny a Providence will not allow that God sees or takes notice of what is done here below The Epicureans tho in Civility and Compliment to the Superstition of mankind rather than from a real belief and sense of a Deity they did own a God nay a great many Gods such as they were yet never allowed their Gods to know any thing of our affairs which would have disturbed their profound Ease and Rest the sole Happiness of the Lazy Unactive Epicurean Deities and this secured them from the fear of their Gods who lived at a great distance from them and knew nothing concerning them And in the same manner this is represented in Scripture That wicked men would not believe that God saw or heard or took any notice of what they did 64. Psalm 5. They encourage themselves in an evil matter they commune of laying snares secretly they say Who shall see them 10. Psalm 11. He hath said in his heart God hath forgotten he hideth his face he will never see it
94. Psalm 7 8 9 10. Yet they say The Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Iacob regard it Vnderstand ye brutish among the people and ye fools when will ye be wise He that planted the ear shall he not hear And he that formed the eye shall he not see He that chastiseth the heathen shall not he correct And he that teacheth man knowledg shall not he know The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man that they are vanity So that these men took it for granted That if God did see and hear and know what was done in the world he would reward men accordingly And therefore the Providence of God is described in Scripture by his seeing and observing the Actions of men 31. Job 4. Doth not he see my ways and count all my steps 33. Psal. 18 19. Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him upon them that hope in his mercy that is to protect them and to do good to them as it follows to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine And therefore when good men pray for help and succour they only beg God to see and take notice of their condition 1. Lam. 11. See O Lord and consider for I am become vile 64. Isa. 9. Behold see we beseech thee we are all thy people Thus in Hezekiah 's Prayer Incline thine ear O Lord and hear open thine eyes O Lord and see and hear all the words of Senacherib which hath sent to reproach the living God And therefore God's seeing is made an argument that he will reward or punish 10. Psalm 14. Thou hast seen it for thou beholdest mischief and spite to requite it with thy hand And indeed it is not to be imagined that a holy and just God who sees and observes all the good and evil that is done in the world should not reward the good and punish the wicked for there is no other Holy and Just Being in the world that has authority to reward and punish but would certainly do it And if the Proof of a Divine Providence be resolved into God's knowing what is done in the world the Dispute will be soon ended for those who believe that there is a God and that he is an Infinite Omnipresent Mind cannot doubt whether he sees and knows all things As the Psalmist elegantly expresses it 139. Psalm 1. 13. O Lord thou hast searched me and known me Thou knowest my down-sitting and my uprising thou understandest my thought afar off Thou compassest my path and my lying down and art acquainted with all my ways For there is not a word in my tongue but lo O Lord thou knowest it altogether Thou hast beset me hehind and before and laid thine hand upon me Such knowledge is too wonderful for me it is too high I cannot attain unto it Whither shall I go from thy Spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence If I ascend up into heaven thou art there if I make my bed in hell behold thou art there If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me If I say surely the darkness shall cover me even the night shall be light about me yea the darkness hideth not from thee but the night shineth as the day the darkness and the light are both alike to thee for thou hast possessed my reins thou hast covered me in my mother's womb How is it possible that an Omnipresent Mind should be ignorant of any thing or that the Maker of the World should not be present with all his Creature or that being present and seeing all their Actions he should be an idle and unconcerned Spectator 4thly For I think in the next place it is past all dispute that he who made the World cannot be unconcerned for his Creatures He hath implanted in most Creatures a natural care of their Offspring and it is made an argument of want of understanding in the Ostrich That she leaveth her Eggs in the Earth and warmeth them in the dust and forgetteth that the foot may crush them or that the wild Best may break them She is hardened against her young ones as if they were not hers Her labour is in vain without fear because God hath deprived her of wisdom neither hath he imparted to her understanding 39. Job 15 16 17. And can we think then that an infinitely wise Being should be as unconcerned for the World as the Ostrich is for her Eggs It is certain the Maker of the World is no sluggish unactive Being for to make a World is a Work of infinite Wisdom and Counsel of Divine Art and Power and not only to give being to that which was not is it self an act of excellent Goodness but there are so many legible Characters of a Divine Bounty and Goodness stamped upon all the Works of Nature that we must conclude the World was made by an infinitely good Being and it is impossible that a wise and good Being who is a pure Act and perfect Life can cast off the care of his Creatures Besides the Laws of God and Men natural Affection will not suffer men to forget their Children and though God has no Superior his own Nature is a Law to himself This is sufficient to shew how necessarily the belief of a God infers a Providence and therefore no Philosophers excepting Epicurus and his Sect who acknowledged a Deity ever denied a Providence and Tully tells us that he retained the name of a God but destroyed his Being The Stoick in Tully concludes a Providence from the acknowledgment of a God And therefore tells us that Providence signifies the Providence of God And those Philosophers made no scruple of calling God Providence and Fate and the Power of an Eternal and Perpetual Law For indeed Mankind had no other notion of a God than that he is an Excellent and Perfect Being who made and who governs the World This is the notion which the Philosophers who acknowledg'd a Deity defended against Epicurus and other Atheists this is the notion of a God which Atheists oppose the God whom they fear an Eternal Lord who observes and takes notice of every thing and thinks himself concerned in all the Affairs of the World And therefore the Dispute Whether there be a God or no principally resolves it self into this Whether this World and all things in it is made and governed by Wisdom and Counsel or by Chance and a blind material Necessity and Fate which proves that the very notion of God includes a Providence or else either to prove or to overthrow the Doctrine of Providence would neither prove nor overthrow the Being of a God This I am sure is very plain That the same Arguments which prove the Being of a God prove a Providence If the beauty variery usefulness and wise contrivance of the