meaning of it from what Noah had often told them and this must needs convince them of the terrible Justice and Vengeance of God And the gradual increase of the Flood gave them some time to repent in and to beg God's pardon and I 'm sure this makes a glorious representation both of the Goodness and Wisdom of God in the most terrible Judgment that ever was executed upon the world if we had sufficient reason to believe as there want not some fair appearances of it that God intended the Deluge as well to convince and save all that could be brought to repentance in the Old World as to reform the New Thus since God had determined to destroy that wicked Generation of men and to preserve only Noah and his three Sons to destroy the Earth by a Deluge and to shut up Noah in the Ark was as great or a greater mercy to Noah than his preservation was Let us suppose that instead of drowning the world God had at once destroyed all Mankind by Plague or Thunder from Heaven or some other sudden stroke excepting Noah and his Sons who should be Eye-witnesses of this Terrible Execution and live to see the Earth covered with dead Bodies and none left to bury them and their Cities lie waste and desolate without Inhabitants who can conceive what the horror of such a sight would have been who would have been contented to live in such a world to converse only with the Images of Death and with noisome Carkasses But God in great mercy shut up Noah in the Ark that he should not see the Terror and Consternation of Sinners when the Flood came and he washed away all their dead Bodies into the Caverns of the Earth with all the marks and signs of their Old Habitations that when Noah came out of the Ark he saw nothing but a new and a beautiful World nothing to disturb his imagination no marks or remains of that Terrible Vengeance This indeed destroyed all other living Creatures as well as Sinners excepting those that were in the Ark with Noah but this I suppose is no great objection against Providence that the Creatures which were made for man's use were destroyed with man since God preserved some of each Kind for a new increase and yet the Wisdom of God was very visible in this for had the World been full of Beasts when there were but four men in it the whole Earth would quickly have been possessed by Wild and Savage Creatures which would have made it a very unsafe habitation for men To conclude this Argument the sum of it in short is this When the wickedness of Mankind was grown universal and incurable it became the Wisdom of God to put an end to that Corrupt State and to propagate a new Race of men from a Righteous Stock and to take the most effectual course to possess them with a lasting belief of his Being and Providence and with a religious awe of his Justice and Power To this end he destroyed the Old World with a Deluge of Water and preserved Noah and his Sons in the Ark which had all the advantages imaginable to deter men from sin which brought a Deluge upon the Old World and to encourage the practise of true Piety and Vertue which preserved Noah from the Common Ruin We see in this Example that numbers are no defence against the Divine Justice and therefore no security to Sinners when all flesh had corrupted his ways God destroyed them all nay we see that the more wickedness prevails in the world the nearer it is to destruction that the great multitude of Sinners is so far from being a reasonable temptation and encouragement to sin that it is a fair warning to considering men to separate and distinguish themselves from a wicked world by an exemplary Vertue that God may distinguish them also when he comes to Judgment which an universal corruption of manners shews to be very near and it is a dangerous thing to sin with a multitude when the multitude of Sinners will hasten Vengeance Here we see that though Sinners may be very secure they are never safe as our Saviour observes it was in the days of Noah they were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriages until the day that Noah went into the Ark and knew not until the flood came and took them all away 24. Matth. 37 38 39. God may delay punishment a great while and seem to take no notice of what is done below till Sinners begin to think that he is such a one as themselves but their Judgment all this while neither slumbers nor sleeps there may be the greatest Calm and the serenest days before the most terrible Earthquakes and the longer God has kept silence the more reason have we to expect a severe and surprizing Vengeance which makes the Psalmist's Advice in such Cases very seasonable Now consider this ye that forget God lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver And who would be afraid or be ashamed of Noah's singularity to be good alone and to be the single Example of Piety and Vertue that remembers that he alone with his three Sons were saved from the Deluge and he that would be a Noah in the Ark must be a Noah in a wicked World But this is sufficient to justify the Wisdom of Providence as to Noah's Flood which put an end to the Old World and now let us take a view of the New Notwithstanding that late terrible Example of God's Power and Justice in the destruction of the Old World that new Generation of men began to grow very corrupt as God foresaw they would but resolved to try some new methods and not to drown the world any more When Noah had offered a Burnt-offering to the Lord of every clean beast and of every clean fowl after his coming out of the Ark The Lord smelled a sweet savour and the Lord said in his heart I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth Neither will I again smite any more every living thing as I have done 8. Gen. 20 21. The first Exploit we hear of them was their building the Tower of Babel which Story is so briefly related by Moses that we cannot give a perfect account of the Reasons and Circumstances of it The most probable Account seems to be this that Nimrod the Son of Cush and Grandson of Ham in which Line True Religion and Piety first decayed affecting an Universal Empire to prevent the dispersion of the People persuaded them to build a magnificent Seat for his Empire which should be a center of Union for them at what distance soever they should be forced to remove That the whole Earth should be but one Kingdom and Babel the Royal Palace Had this Design succeeded the whole world would have been but one People and the Universal Monarchy in the Line of
this is enough in answer to an Objection which no considering man would seriously make The more considerable Objection relates to the many Evils and Miseries that are in the World and the only Objection which if it were true could have any weight in it is That the Miseries of this Life are so many so great and so universal that they overballance the Pleasures and Comforts of it that a wise man would rather chuse not to be than to live in this World And though the generality of Mankind are of another mind and therefore need no answer to this yet they think they have the Scripture on their side For the Wise-man 4. Eccl. 2 3. tells us Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive Yea better is he than both they who hath not yet been who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun This at first view looks like a very sharp Satyr upon Human Life that it is better to die than to live and that not to live at all is better than either And were this universally true it were a vain thing to think of vindicating the Goodness of Providence in the government of this World which has nothing good or desirable in it That this is not the meaning of the words we may certainly conclude from those many Promises which are made to Good men in this Life and God would not promise Good men what is worth nothing But the Explication of this Text will contribute very much to the understanding this whole matter and therefore I shall 1. Shew you That this is not universally true nor intended to be so understood by the Wise-man That it is better to die or not to be than it is to live 2. Shew you in what sense the Wise-man meant this viz. with respect to the many Miseries and Calamities which some Ages of the World and which some men in all Ages are exposed to And how this also is to be understood 1. That this is not universally true That it is better to die or not to be born than it is to live This I confess was taught by some of the Ancient Philosophers and Poets in too general terms That the first best thing is not to be born and the next to die quickly but no body believed them for most men felt it otherwise That light is sweet and it is a pleasant thing for the eyes to behold the sun 11. Eccl. 7. There is a sense indeed wherein this may be true If we acknowledge that this Life in its greatest glory and perfection is the most imperfect state that a Reasonable Soul can live in as most certainly it is then those Philosophers who did believe that the Souls of men lived and acted before they were born into this World and were thrust into these Bodies in punishment for what they had done amiss in a former state had reason to say That the best thing is not to be born for upon this Supposition it is best for them to continue in that State of Happiness and not to come into this World and if when they die they return to their Original State of Happiness the next best thing for them is to die quickly and it is most probable that this was their secret meaning in it For if we only consider the Advantages and Disadvantages of Life in ordinary Cases Life is very desirable so desirable that it makes Death the King of Terrors It would be a great Reproach to the Wisdom and Goodness of Providence were this Life so contemptible or so calamitous a State that it were more desirable not to be than to live in this World but no man yet ever made Life an objection against Providence though we know they do the Miseries and Calamities of Life Men may make themselves miserable without any reproach to Providence and most of the Miseries that are in the World are owing to mens own fault or folly but had God made Life it self so contemptible or miserable a state as to be worse than not being this had been an unanswerable Objection I 'm sure we are very ungrateful to Almighty God if we do not acknowledge that bountiful provision which he has made for the Happiness of Mankind in this World For what is wanting on God's part to make Man as happy as he can be here We want no Sense which is useful to Life we want no Objects to gratify those Senses and which is very considerable the most useful and necessary and delightful Objects are most common and such as Mankind pretty equally share in There is not such a mighty difference as some men imagine between the Poor and the Rich In pomp and shew and opinion there is a great deal but little as to the true Pleasures and Satisfactions of Life They enjoy the same Earth and Air and Heavens hunger and thirst makes the Poor man's Meat and Drink as pleasant and refreshing as all the Varieties which cover a Rich man's Table and the Labour of a Poor man is more healthful and many times more pleasant too than the Ease and Softness of the Rich to be sure much more easy than the Cares and Solicitudes the Pride and Ambition Discontents and Envyings and Emulations which commonly attend an Exalted Fortune These indeed at best are but mean Pleasures the Pleasures of Sense which are the lowest Pleasures a Reasonable Soul is capable of but yet they are so entertaining that the generality of Mankind think it worth living to enjoy them nay most men know little of any other Pleasures but these and as philosophically as some may despise the Body and all it's Pleasures in words there are but a very few who can live above the Body and all its Pleasures while they live in it But how mean soever these Pleasures be it is certain they make Mankind notwithstanding all the common allays they meet with not only patient of living but desirous to live And yet there are more Noble and Divine Pleasures which men may enjoy in this World such as gratify the nobler Faculties of the Soul the Pleasures of Wisdom and Knowledg of Vertue and Religion to know and worship God to contemplate the Art and Beauty and Perfection of his Works and to do good to men These indeed are Pleasures that do not make us very fond of this Body nor of this World for they do not arise from the Body nor are they confined to this World We have reason to hope that when we get loose from these Bodies our Intellectual Faculties will be vastly improved that we shall know God after another manner than we now do and discover new and brighter Glories which are concealed from Mortal Eyes but yet the Pleasures of Knowledge and Wisdom and Religion in this World are very great and ravishing and therefore we either do or may enjoy at present such Pleasures as make Life very desirable Were there no other
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
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
two distinct and different Acts of Power to Make and to Preserve For how can any man know this who neither knows how God creates nor how he preserves Thus much is certain That to Create is to give being to that which was not before to Preserve is to continue that in being which was made before and when any thing is once created it can never be new created till it fall into nothing again for to create is to make out of nothing not to make a thing which already is but by what Acts of Power either of these is done we cannot tell nor are we concerned to know for what way soever this is done we equally depend on God we live and subsist in him But there is one thing fit to be observed That this Act of Preservation which consists in upholding all things in being is fixt by a perpetual and unchangeable Decree That though God will dissolve this present frame of things and it may be cast the World into a new Mould yet nothing that is made neither Matter nor Spirit shall be annihilated or reduced into nothing again This I think we may safely conclude from the Promises and Threatnings of Eternal Rewards and Punishments which supposes that both Good and Bad men shall live for ever the one to be happy the other to be miserable to Eternity and then we may reasonably conclude That the World whatever Changes it may suffer will continue as long the Inhabitants of it do This is the first Act of what we call Preserving Providence to uphold all things in being in distinction as I observed before from those several Acts of Preservation which concern a Governing Providence A Second Act of Preserving Providence is what the Schools call God's Co-operation and Concourse with Creatures in all their Actions that we not only live and have our being but that we move in God that whatever we do we do by a natural Power received from God and this is as certain as that we have our being in him for if we live we must move in him But then whether God's Co operation and Concourse be a different Act from his preserving the natural Vertues and Powers of Action is a nicer and more intricate Speculation and neither the thing nor the reason of it is easy to be conceived Natural Powers are Internal Principles of Action when a Creature acts from an inward Principle of Nature but if these Natural Powers while they are preserved in their full force and vigour by God can do nothing themselves without a new extrinsick determining motion from God then they seem to be no Natural Powers for they cannot act by Nature if this be true the Fire don't burn by nature for though God preserves its nature it cannot burn without some new co-operating Power which is not in its nature A man don't reason and judge chuse and refuse by Nature for though God preserve his Natural Powers and Faculties of Understanding and Will yet he can neither understand nor will unless he be moved acted determined by God This seems to make the whole World a meer Apparition and empty Scene which has nothing real Whatever we see done in the World is not done by Creatures who seem to do it for they are only acted like Machines not from the Internal Principles and Powers of Nature but from External Motion But God does every thing himself by an immediate Power even all the Contradictions and Contrarieties we see in the World This is a very great difficulty which I will not undertake to determine one way or other but thus much I think we may safely say That if we will attribute any thing to Creatures if we will allow that they ever act from a Principle of Nature we must confess that God co-operates only to the natural Power of Action that is That he only enables them to act according to their Natures without changing influencing determining their Natures otherwise than these Natural Powers would naturally act For this is all that is necessary to Action when God has created the Natural Powers and this is all the co-operation that can belong to God as the Maker and Preserver of all things Whatever is more than this as I acknowledge there is a great deal more that God does it belongs to a Governing not to a Preserving Providence God does a great deal more than merely co-operate with our Natural Powers to perform Natural Actions but this he does as a Governour not merely as a Preserver The not distinguishing of which has occasioned great mistakes in the Doctrine of Providence as to show this briefly God has endowed all Creatures with such Natural Powers and Vertues as may answer the End for which they were made He has made the Sun to shine to enlighten and refresh the World the Fire to burn the Earth to bring forth all sorts of Herbs and Grass and Corn and Fruit the Vapours to ascend out of the Earth to purge and fan the Air with Winds and to fall down again in fruitful Showers every Herb and Flower and Tree has its peculiar Seeds to propagate its Kind as all living Creatures have Now as it had been to little purpose for God to have made a World without upholding it in being for Creatures can no more preserve than they can make themselves so it had been to as little purpose to have endowed all Creatures with such Vertues and Powers as belong to their several Natures without such a natural Co-operation whatever that be as shall enable their Natural Powers to act and to attain the ends of their Natures and therefore God established this Natural Concourse and Co-operation to actuate all the Powers of Nature by a perpetual Law which is that Blessing God bestowed upon all Creatures at the time of the Creation For though this Blessing to Encrease and Multiply and to replenish the Sea and Air and Earth which preserves and invigorates the Powers of Nature be expressed only of living Creatures the Fish and Fowls and Beasts and Men yet it equally belongs to the whole Creation as will be easily granted and makes Nature regular and constant in all its Motions and Productions But there are other Acts belong to God's Government even of the Material World as I shall shew you more hereafter As to direct the Vertues and Influences of Nature or to suspend and restrain them To make the Earth fruitful or barren the Air wholsome or Pestilential to withhold the Dews and Showers of Heaven or to give the former and latter Rain in its Season to cause it to Rain upon one City and not upon another and so to temper the Influences of Nature as to punish the Wickedness or to reward the Obedience of Mankind these are Acts of Government and of a quite different kind from actuating the Powers of Nature to attain their Ends and to do what they were made for Thus to consider the Rational World God has endowed Man
and to arbitrate the Differences of Princes and the Fate of Men and Kingdoms And if God govern men by Nature he must govern Nature too for necessary Causes cannot be fitted to the government of free Agents without the direction and management of a Divine Providence which guides exerts or suspends the Influences of Nature with as great freedom as men act Men do not always deserve well or ill and if the kind or malign Influences of Nature must be tempered to mens deserts to punish them when they do ill and to reward them when they do well Natural Causes which of themselves act necessarily without Wisdom or Counsel must be guided by a Wise Hand Thus reason tells us it must be if God govern the world and God challenges to himself this Absolute and Sovereign Empire over Nature God has bestowed different Vertues and Powers on Natural Causes and in ordinary cases makes use of the Powers of Nature and neither acts without them nor against the Laws of Nature which makes some unthinking men resolve all into Nature without a God or a Providence because excepting the case of Miracles which they are not willing to believe they see every thing else done by the Powers of Nature and if it were not so God had made a World and made Nature to no purpose to do every thing himself by an immediate Power without making use of the Powers of Nature But the ordinary government of Nature does not signifie to act without it or to over-rule its Powers but to steer and guide its motions to serve the Wise Ends of his Providence in the government of Mankind For as God does not usually act without Nature nor against its Laws so neither does Nature act by steady and uniform motions without the direction of God But while every thing in the material world acts necessarily and exerts its Natural Powers God can temper suspend direct its Influences without reversing the Laws of Nature As for instance Fire and Water Wind and Rain Thunder and Lightning have their Natutral Vertues and Powers and Natural Causes and God produces such effects as they are made to produce by their Natural Powers he warms us with Fire invigorates the earth by the benign Influences of the Sun and Moon and other Stars and Planets refreshes and moistens it with Springs and Fountains and Rain from Heaven fans the Air with Winds and purges it with Thunders and Lightnings and the like but then when and where the Rains shall fall and the Winds shall blow in what measure and proportion times and seasons Natural Causes shall give or withhold their Influences this God keeps in his own Power and can govern without altering the standing Laws of Nature and this is his government of Natural Causes in order to reward or punish men as they shall deserve Thus God reasons with Iob concerning his Power and Providence 38. Job 31 32 c. Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades or loose the bands of Orion canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons knowest thou the ordinances of heaven or canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds that abundance of waters may cover thee canst thou send lightnings that they may go and say unto thee here we are This is above Human Power but belongs to the Government and Providence of God Fire and hail snow and vapour and stormy winds fulfil his word 148. Psal. 8. Sometimes God restrains the influences of Nature shuts up heaven that it shall not rain 2 Chr. 7. 13. At other times he calls to the clouds that abundance of water may cover the earth He gives the former and the latter rain in its season and preserveth to us the appointed weeks of harvest 5. Jer. 24 as he promised to Israel 11 Deut 14 15. I will give you the rain of your land in his due season the first rain and the latter rain that thou mayst gather in thy corn and thy wine and thy oyl and I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle that thou mayst eat and be full He prescribes in what proportions it shall rain 2. Joel 23 24. Be glad ye children of Sion and rejoyce in the Lord your God for he hath given you the former rain moderately and he will cause to come down for you the former rain and the latter rain in the first month Nay God appoints on what place it shall rain 34. Ezek. 26. And I will make thee and the places round about my hill a blessing and I will cause the shower to come down in his season there shall be showers of blessing 4. Amos 7 8. And also I have withholden the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest and I caused it to rain upon one city and caused it not to rain upon another city One piece was rained upon and the piece whereupon it rained not withered So two or three cities wandered to one city to drink water but they were not satisfied It is impossible to give any tolerable account of such Texts as these without confessing That God keeps the Direction and Government of all Natural Causes in his own hands for particular Effects and all the Changes of Nature can never be attributed to God unless the Divine Wisdom and Counsel determines Natural Causes to the producing such particular Effects Great part of the Happiness or Miseries of this Life is owing to the good or bad Influences of Natural Causes that if God take care of Mankind he must govern Nature and when he promises Health and Plenty or threatens Pestilence and Famine how can he make good either if he have not reserved to himself a Soveraign Power over Nature The sum is this That all Natural Causes are under the immediate and absolute Government of Providence that God keeps the Springs of Nature in his own hand and turns them as he pleases For meer Matter though it be endowed with all Natural Vertues and Powers which necessarily produce their Natural Effects yet it having no wisdom and counsel of its own cannot serve the Ends of a Free Agent without being guided by a Wise Hand and we see in a thousand Instances what an Empire Human Art has over Nature not by changing the nature of things which Human Art can never do but by such a skilful application of Causes as will produce such Effects as unguided and if I may so speak untaught Nature could never have produced and if God have subjected material Nature to Human Art surely he has not exempted it from his own Guidance and Power This shews how necessary it is that God by an immediate Providence should govern Nature for Natural Causes are excellent Instruments but to make them useful they must be directed by a Skilful Hand and those various Changes which are in Nature especially in this Sublunary World which we are
if the whole world consists of particulars it must be taken care of in the care of particulars for if all particulars perish as they may do if no care be taken to preserve them the whole must perish And there is the same reason for the Government of Mankind for the whole is governed in the Government of the parts and Mankind can't be well governed without the Wise Government of every particular Man I 'm sure that the Objections against a Particular Providence are very foolish Some think it too much trouble to God to take care of every particular as if it were more trouble to him to take care of them than it was to make them or as if God had made more creatures than he could take care of as if an Infinite Mind and Omnipotent Power were as much disturbed and tired with various and perpetual Cares as we are Others think it below the Greatness and Majesty of God to take cognizance of every mean and contemptible creature or of every private man as if it were more below God to take care of such creatures than it is to make them as if numbers made creatures considerable to God that tho one man is below God's care yet a Kingdom is worthy of his care and notice when the whole world to God is but as the drop of the bucket and the small dust of the balance Now it is certain there can be no particular Providence without God's Government of all Events for if any good or evil happens to any man without God's Order and Appointment that is not Providence whatever other name you will give it So that if God does take a particular care of all his creatures this is a demonstration that he has the Absolute Government of all Events for without it he cannot take Care of them and if God have the Government of all Events as the Scripture assures us he has this confirms us in the belief of a particular Providence for if all the Good or Evil that happens to every particular man is appointed by God that is proof enough that God takes Care of every particular Man God's Government of all particular Events and his Care of all Individuals include each other in their very Natures The Care of particular Creatures consists in the Government of all particular Events and the Government of all Events is the Exercise of a particular Providence as our Saviour represents it 10. Matth. 29 30 31. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father But the very hairs of your head are all numbred Fear ye not therefore ye are of more value than many sparrows Where God's particular Providence over all his Creatures is expressed by his particular care of all Events which extends even to the Life of a Sparrow and to the Hairs of our Heads Thus much is certain That without this belief That God takes a particular Care of all his Creatures in the Government of all Events that can happen to them there is no reason or pretence for most of the particular Duties of Religious Worship For most of the Acts of Worship consider God not merely as an Universal Cause could we form any Notion of a general Providence without any Care of particular Creatures or particular Events but as our particular Patron Protector and Preserver To fear God and to stand in awe of his Justice to trust and depend on him in all Conditions to submit patiently to his will under all Afflictions to pray to him for the supply of our Wants for the relief of our Sufferings for Protection and Defence to love and praise him for the Blessings we enjoy for peace and plenty and health for friends and benefactors and all prosperous Successes I say these are not the Acts of Reasonable men unless we believe that God has the Supreme Disposal of all Events and takes a particular Care of us For if any Good or Evil can befal us without God's particular Order and Appointment we have no reason to trust in God who does not always take Care of us we have no reason to bear our Sufferings patiently at God's hand and in Submission to his Will for we know not whether our Sufferings be God's Will or not we have no reason to love and praise God for every Blessing and Deliverance we receive because we know not whether it came from God and it is to no purpose to pray to God for particular Blessings if he does not concern himself in particular Events But if we believe that God takes a particular Care of us all and that no Good or Evil happens to us but as he pleases all these Acts or Religious Worship are both Reasonable Necessary and Just. But of this more hereafter CHAP. IV. Concerning the Sovereignty of Providence HAving in the former Chapter shewn That the Government of the Divine Providence consists in Over-ruling and Disposing all Events For the better understanding of this and to prevent a great many ignorant Objections against it besides what I have already said it will be necessary more particularly to explain the Nature and Essential Characters and Properties of God's Governing Providence And I shall begin with 1. The Sovereignty of Providence For God being the Sovereign Lord of the World must Govern with a Sovereign Will For a Sovereign Lord is a Sovereign and Absolute Governor For which reason the Scripture so often resolves all things into the sole will and pleasure of God and in many cases will allow us to seek for no other Cause He doth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth Whatever the Lord pleased that did he in heaven and in earth in the seas and all deep places That the Will of God is Sovereign and Absolute and Unaccountable needs no other proof but that his Power is Absolute and his Wisdom Unsearchable for Absolute Power makes an Absolute Will He who has Power to do whatever he will can do whatever he will and that is the definition of a Severeign and Absolute Will And thus the Scripture resolves the Sovereignty of God into Power That none can stay his hand or say unto him what dost thou He is wise in heart and mighty in strength who hath hardened himself against him and hath prospered And indeed a Power which is Supreme and Absolute which can do all things and which has no greater Power above it none equal to it has a right to Sovereignty For Absolute Power must be the Maker of all things and that must give an Absolute Right to all things and that gives a Right to Absolute Government if there be any such thing as a Natural Right to Government for if God have a Natural Right to Govern his Creatures he must have a Right to Absolute Government because the Right he has in his Creatures is Absolute and Uncontroulable No Creature has
of particular Creatures but of the good of the whole And this in some Cases may make the greatest and most terrible Acts of Severity such as are enough to afright and astonish the World Acts of the greatest Goodness and Mercy too which will vindicate the Goodness of Providence when God seems to be most severe and to have forgot all Goodness and Compassion As to explain this in some particular Cases The good government of the World requires the defence and protection of Mankind from violent and unjust Oppressions and the most exemplary Vengeance executed upon such private or publick Oppressors is a great Act of Goodness and a great deliverance to the Oppressed 136. Psalm the Psalmist exhorts us To give thanks to the Lord for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever And among other Expressions of the Divine Goodness and Mercy he mentions the Plagues of Egypt and the Deliverance of Israel by the overthrow of Pharaoh in the Red-Sea To him that smote Egypt in their first-born for his mercy endureth for ever And brought out Israel from among them for his mercy endureth for ever With a strong hand and with a stretched-out arm for his mercy endureth for ever To him which divided the Red-sea into parts for his mercy c. and made Israel to pass through the midst of it but over-threw Pharaoh and his host in the Red-sea for his mercy c. To him who smote great kings and slew famous kings Sihon king of the Amorites and Og the king of Bashan and gave their land for an heritage even for an heritage to Israel his servant for his mercy endureth for ever This ought to be well considered before we object the Evils and Calamities which befall Bad men against the Goodness of Providence For there are few Bad men who suffer any Remarkable Vengeance but that their Sufferings are a great kindness and deliverance to others and it may be to the Publick in breaking their Power or taking them out of the World And in all such Cases the Psalmist has taught us a very proper Hymn I will sing of mercy and judgment unto thee O Lord will I sing 101. Psal. 1. Thus the good government of the World requires some great and lasting Examples of God's Justice and Vengeance against Sin And as terrible as such Examples are they are a great publick Good to the World Some few such Examples as these will serve to warn an Age nay many succeeding Ages and Generations of men which prevents the more frequent Executions of Vengeance and justifies the Patience and Long-suffering of God to Sinners If such Examples in any measure reform the World as God intends they should it makes this World a much happier place for the better men are the less hurt and the more good they will do and the less evil there is committed in the World the less Mankind will suffer and the greater Blessings God will bestow on them And though there be a great deal of Wickedness committed in the World after such Terrible Warnings as these God may exercise great Patience and Forbearance towards Sinners without the least blemish to his Holiness or Justice For such Frightful Executions convince the World of God's Justice and when God has publickly vindicated the Honour of his Justice he may try gentler Methods and glorify his Mercy and Patience towards Sinners And thus God punishes that he may spare is sometimes very terrible in his Judgments to prevent the necessity of striking often that Sinners may have sufficient warning and that he may be good to Sinners without encouraging them in sin Thus the destruction of the Old World by a Deluge of Water when they were past being reformed is a warning to all Sinners as long as this World lasts and is a publick and standing Confutation of Atheism of such Scoffers as say where is the promise of his coming for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation The constant and regular course of Nature without any Supernatural Changes and Revolutions tempts men to think that there is no God in the World who changes Times and Seasons but this St. Peter tells us is visibly confuted by the destruction of the Old World for this they are willingly ignorant of that by the word of God the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished And this is reason enough to fear and expect what God has threatned That this present World shall be burnt by fire But the heavens and the earth which are now by the same word are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men 2 Peter 3. 5 6 7. Such Destructions as these can be attributed to no Natural Causes but the same Word which made the World destroyed the Old World by Water and will destroy this by Fire which makes it a visible Demonstration of the Power and Justice of God The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by Fire from Heaven is not only a general Warning to Sinners but an Example of a Divine Vengeance against all Uncleanness and Unnatural Lusts. As St. Iude tells us Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh are set forth for an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire v. 7. Thus the Destruction of Ierusalem by the Romans which was attended with the most terrible Circumstances that we ever meet with in Story is a lasting Confutation of Infidelity and a glorious Testimony to Christ and his Religion So that most of the terrible Examples of God's Vengeance how terrible soever they were to those who suffered are Acts of great Goodness to the World and therefore belong to the Goodness of Government by some severe Executions to protect and defend the Innocent and reclaim other Offenders without the necessity of terrifying the World in every Age with such repeated Severities Nay we may observe farther That when the World is grown very corrupt and degenerate and such Sinners if they be suffered to continue in it will certainly propagate their Atheism Infidelity and Lewdness to all Posterity it is great Goodness to all succeeding Generations to cleanse the World of its impure Inhabitants by some great Destruction by Sword or Plague or Famine to lessen the number of Sinners and to possess those who escape with a greater awe and reverence of God's Judgments Nay to observe but one thing more Many times these terrible Shakings and Convulsions of the World are intended by God to open some new and more glorious Scene of Providence Thus it was in the Four Empires which preyed upon each other and were at last swallowed up by the Roman Powers though they made great Destructions in the World yet they carried Learning and Civility into
cover the Mountain had heard the Thunder and the Trumpet and at last a Voice delivering the Law with an unimitable Terror and Majesty what would they then have thought of this Or what farther evidence would they have desired that it was God who spoke to them This could be no Dream nor melancholy Apparition or disturbed Fancy for they had timely notice of it three days before and were commanded to sanctify themselves to meet their God and if a whole Nation had been imposed on after such fair Warning it had been as great a Prodigy and Miracle as the Appearance on Mount Sinai and would have argued some Divine and Supernatural Infatuation and that would have proved a God This then was as visible a Demonstration as could be given of the Presence and Power and Majesty of God who rejected all other gods from any share in his Worship and declares himself to be the Maker of Heaven and Earth for I 'm sure the Wit of man cannot invent a more effectual Conviction than this Let us then consider the Wisdom of Providence in this both with respect to the Israelites and to the rest of Mankind He that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him And therefore when God intended to restore his own Worship again in the world and to make Israel a Pattern and Example of it to the rest of Mankind it was necessary to give them as visible and ocular a demonstration of the Power and Glory of God as it was possible for Creatures to have When the whole World was over-run with Idolatry and the Israelites themselves so strongly inclined to it nothing less than such an Appearance from Mount Sinai was likely to establish the Faith and Worship of the One Supreme God and we see that this it self could very hardly do it for immediately after they had heard God speak to them while Moses was in the Mount they made them a Golden Calf and worshipped it and as soon as they mingled with any other people they joined in their Idolatrous Worship a sad Example of which we have in their worship of Baal Peor 25. Numb But this was the highest evidence God could then give them of his Power and Glory and it did in time prevail and in them all Mankind who know their Story have a visible demonstration of One Supreme God But not to insist on every Particular which would be endless it may seem strange that when God brought Israel out of Egypt to give them Possession of the Promised Land he should make them wander in the Wilderness forty years till all that generation of men which came out of Egypt were dead excepting Ioshua and Caleb The Apostle to the Hebrews gives us the general Account of this matter 3. Heb. 7. to the end which resolves it into their Idolatry and Infidelity Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness when your fathers tempted me proved me and saw my works forty years Wherefore I was grieved with that generation and said They do alway err in their heart and they have not known my ways so I sware in my wrath They shall not enter into my rest Which he makes an admonition to Christians Take heed brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God that is in forsaking the True God and declining to Idolatry as the Israelites in the Wilderness did And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest but to them that believed not So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief The plain state of the Case is this That Generation of men which came out of Egypt and remembred the Customs and Practices of that People were so strangely addicted to Idolatry that all the Signs and Wonders they saw in Egypt in the Red-Sea and in the Wilderness could not perfectly cure them but whenever they had opportunity they joined themselves to the Heathen gods ate of their Sacrifices and bowed themselves before them that had these men gone into Canaan which was then a Land of Idolaters they would certainly have worshipped their gods instead of destroying them and have mingled themselves with the People of the Land and have learnt their Manners for they who so often tempted God and disobeyed Moses while they were in the Wilderness in expectation of the Promised Land what would they have done had they been once possessed of it So that to have given that Generation of men Possession of Canaan would not have answered God's orginal Design in chusing Israel for his peculiar People for in all likelihood they would have proved a Nation of Idolaters like the other Nations round about them And therefore God deferred the final Accomplishment of his Promise till that Generation was all dead and a new Generation sprung up which knew not Egypt nor had conversed with Idolatrous Nations but had seen the Wonders of God in the Wilderness and had learnt his Statutes and Judgments and were sufficiently warned by the Example of their Fathers whose Carcasses fell in the Wilderness to fear and reverence the Lord Iehovah and to make him their Trust. This is the very Account the Scripture gives of it and thus accordingly it proved for that new Generation of men were never charged with Idolatry but we are expresly told That Israel served the Lord all the days of Ioshua and all the days of the Elders that overlived Ioshua and which had known all the works of the Lord that he had done for Israel 24. Josh. 31. All this we see was designed by God with admirable Wisdom to make his own Glory and Power known and to publish his Choice of Israel for his peculiar People and to prepare them for himself and to establish his Name and Worship among them And now God had made them fit Inhabitants of the Land of Promise without any longer delay he gives them the actual Possession of it and therefore let us now follow them into the Land of Canaan The History of the Wars of Canaan is sufficiently known which presents us with new Wonders and Miracles not inferior to those which God wrought in Egypt and in the Red Sea for God so visibly fought the Battels of Israel that they and all the world might know that it was he that gave them possession of that good Land and drove out those wicked Inhabitants before them which declared his Glory and made his Power known And what I have already discoursed concerning the Wonders and Miracles in Egypt is equally applicable to this and I need add no more Let us then consider Israel in possession of the Land of Promise And there are but two things more I shall observe in the Iewish History till the coming of our Saviour 1. Their frequent
he shall deliver them from the ungodly and shall save them because they put their trust in him The whole 91 st Psalm is so plain and full a proof of this that I need name no more To trust in God is called dwelling in the secret place of the most high or under the defence and protection of the most high that is such a man puts himself under God's protection and he that does so shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty that is he shall defend thee under his wings and thou shalt be safe under his feathers his faithfulness and truth shall be thy shield and buckler And the Psalmist particularly reckons up most of the evils which are incident to human life and promises security against them all Because thou hast made the Lord which is my refuge even the most high thy habitation there shall no evil befall thee neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling This Psalm indeed is a Prophecy of our Saviour and in the height and latitude of the expressions is applicable only to him but yet it gives a general security to all who trust in God of Protection from all evil This no man can promise himself who does not trust in God for how is Providence concerned for them who expect nothing from it Nay this is a reason why such men should be disappointed and fall into misery to convince them that God does govern the world and that no human Strength or Policy can save them But Trust in God makes us the Subjects and the Care of Providence for if God does govern the world none so much deserve his Protection as those who commit themselves to his Care A Good Man will not deceive or forsake those who depend on him much less will a Good God Thirdly Another Duty we own to Providence is Prayer to ask of God all those Blessings and Mercies which we need The universal practice of all Nations who owned a God and that Natural Impulse all men find to seek to God in their distress shews what the sense of Nature is but yet some of the Ancient Philosophers were much puzzled how to reconcile Prayer with their Notions of Necessity and Fate and indeed were Providence nothing else but a Necessary Chain of Causes or Fixt and Immutable Decrees there would be no great Encouragement to Pray to God who upon this supposition cannot help us no more than he can alter Destiny and Fate but if God governs the world with as great Liberty and Freedom as a wise and good man governs his Family or a Prince governs his Kingdoms there is as much reason to pray to God as to offer up our Petitions to our Parents or to our Prince for if we must receive all from God what imaginable reason is there that we should not ask every thing of him But it will be necessary to discourse this matter more particularly for we live in an Age wherein men are very apt to reason themselves out of all Religion and to form such Notions of God and his Providence as make it needless nay absurd to worship him The Apostle tells us That he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him 11. Heb. 6. No man can be a devout Worshipper of God who does not believe that there is a God to worship and that this God does take care of mankind and that he has a peculiar Favour for those who worship him that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him For if God neither take any care of us or take no more care of those who worship him than of those who do not there is no just reason can be given why any man should worship him But the Apostle in this supposes That to believe there is a God and that he governs the world and that we shall be the better for worshipping is a reasonable Foundation for Religious Worship and therefore such Notions of God and his Providence as allow no peculiar Rewards and Benefits to Worshippers are certainly False how Philosophical soever they may appear and Impious too because they shut all Religious Worship out of the world And yet some men can by no means understand for what reason they should pray to God they comply with the Superstitious Customs of the Countrey to avoid Scandal and Publick Censure but think they might as well let it alone as for any advantage they hope for by their Prayers And I am very much of their mind that they had as good not be present at Prayers as not to pray for no man can pray to any advantage who despises Prayer It will therefore be highly necessary plainly to state this matter and to shew you That the belief of the Divine Providence lays the strongest Obligation on us to pray to God The Scripture-Proofs of this are so plain that they cannot be avoided and so well known that I need not at large repeat them There is no Duty we are more frequently commanded none we are more earnestly exhorted to than to pray to God we have the Examples of all good men for it and of Christ himself who spent whole nights in Prayer and we have the encouragement of as express Promises as any in Scripture That if we pray to God he will hear and answer us which is all the Encouragement we can desire for our Prayers As the Psalmist speaks O thou that hearest prayers unto thee shall all flesh come 65. Psal. 2. To thee they shall pray because thou hearest Prayers For thou Lord art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy to all them that call upon thee In the day of my trouble will I call upon thee for thou wilt answer me 86. Psal. 5 7. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him to all that call upon him in truth He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him he also will hear their cry and will save them 145. Psal. 18 19. But nothing can be more express than our Saviour's Promise Ask and it shall be given unto you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you For every one that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened 7. Matt. 7 8. And what great things are attributed in Scripture to the Power of Prayer St. Iames assures us That the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much and proves it from the Example of Elias who was a man subject to like passions as we are and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months and he prayed again and the heavens gave rain and the earth brought forth fruit 5. James 17 18. And all those Wonders which the Apostle to the Hebrews attributes to Faith belong to this Prayer of Faith 11. Heb. 32 33 34. For this