armies nor any mighty man delivered by his own strength but salvation is from the Lord. And so are Disappointments also There we are assured that He from his habitation looketh down upon all that dwell on the earth He fashioneth the hearts of them he understandeth all their ways And though many are the devices that are in their hearts yet it is his counsel only that shall stand In a word it is God as the Apostle tells us that worketh all things and he worketh them all according to the counsel of his own will So that nothing comes by chance nothing is done in vain but all Events are in pursuance of a Design Nay not so much as the Event of casting a Lot which seems the most fortuitous contingent thing in the whole World is left at random For even in that Case the disposal of the Lot as Solomon tells us Prov. 16. 33. is from the Lord. All this is not only the Doctrine but in a great measure the very Language and Expression of those Holy Books And what can we desire more Or what words can we invent that shall declare more fully the thing we are speaking of None can that I know of except perhaps those of our Saviour with which I shall shut up this point Fear not saith he to his Disciples Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing yet not one of them falls to the ground without the will of your Father Nay I say unto you the very hairs of your head are all numbered O wonderful this what God Almighty number the very Hairs of our Heads Lord what is man that thou shouldst have such respect unto him and do that for him which even the nicest and most delicate of Men never yet did for themselves But thus art thou pleased to express thy particular regard to the Sons of Men. Thus art thou pleased to let us see that none of us are so inconsiderable but that we are within the Verge of thy Providence and Objects of thy Care And therefore much more are Cities and States and Kingdoms so wherein the Fortunes of so many Individuals are wrapt up O blessed be God for his Love to Mankind O for ever adored be his Name for thus humbling himself to take notice of us and our Affairs and likewise for giving us such abundant Assurance that He doth so Since therefore we have such mighty Evidence of all sorts that the Lord is King let the earth be glad yea let the multitude of the isles be glad thereof And we shall still see greater reason thus to be glad if we consider a little more particularly the Rules and Measures by which God administers the Affairs of his Kingdom Which are not as too often happens in Human Governments Arbitrary Will or Humour but perfect Wisdom and Iustice and Goodness Tho' it be true what the Psalmist saith That Whatsoever the Lord pleaseth that doth he in Heaven and in Earth and in the Sea and all deep places Yet it is as true that the Lord will never be pleased to do any thing either in Heaven or in Earth but what is suggested by Infinite Goodness and in such ways as are the Result of Infinite Wisdom For as the same Psalmist tells us He loveth righteousness and judgment the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. He is holy in all his ways and righteous in all his doings and his tender mercies are over all his works To say That God deals arbitrarily with any of his Creatures or that He dispenseth Good or Evil to them meerly because He will without any other Reason is in truth to disparage His Nature and gives us such a notion of Him as we have perhaps of some of the Great Monarchs of the World but whom we are far from esteeming the Best Men. No certainly if we Mankind find in our selves that the wiser and better we grow the less are we led by Humour and Will and the more do we shake off our Indifferency to Good and Evil and the more steadily do we cleave to the eternal Laws of Reason and Righteousness in all our Actions We may be sure that God who is Wisdom and Iustice and Goodness it self can never in any of his Actions or Dealings with his Creatures depart from these Principles The true Scheme of God Almighty's Government is plainly this His Infinite Mind clearly understood all the Possibilities of things long before they were in actual being He knew what things were possible to be and how they would act if they were put into being and what the Events of all their Actings would be His Infinite Goodness moved him to put into actual being every thing that he saw was Good to Be and to give them all those powers of Action that they have and withal to look after them so as that both they and all their Motions and Actions should at last be to the Praise and Glory of the same Goodness that first enclined him to create them His Infinite Wisdom contrived the Methods in which all this should be brought to pass and so laid the Scheme and Platform of things that nothing could happen in the whole Creation from the beginning of the World to the end thereof tho' it was in it self never so bad never so mischievous but what both might and should be so ordered as to be subservient to that end And lastly The Scheme of Things being thus laid His Infinite Power first produced All things and still upholds All things and from time to time in their several seasons actually brings to pass every thing according to the Determinations of his eternal Wisdom And tho' it doth it in ways secret to us yet it doth it certainly and surely and withal most easily and gently with the least violence to the establish'd Laws of Nature and without any force at all upon the Free Wills of Intelligent Beings This I say is the Account that both Reason and Scripture give us of God's Making and Governing the World Infinite Knowledge is the Foundation of All. Infinite Goodness is the Author and Mover of All. Infinite Wisdom is the Contriver and Director of All. And Infinite Power executes All. Admit now these Principles and see what will follow from them It will follow from hence in the first place that every Event that happens in the World is beautiful in its season as Solomon expresses it That is to say How unaccountable soever it may appear to us yet there is a good Reason to be given both why it happens at all and likewise why it happens at that time and with those circumstances that it doth It helps to adorn the Great Drama and Contrivance of God's Providence and ministers to excellent Ends tho' we poor Creatures do little apprehend how it makes for them As indeed it is impossible we should unless we had the whole Comprehension of Things in our Minds and saw the entire Scheme of God's
long ago rejected are the principal Seat of his Church and Kingdom and to which He vouchsafeth the Light of his Gospel and the Means of Salvation so true is God to all his Promises But now of all the Isles of the Gentiles if any one above the rest hath felt the benign and gracious Influences of the LORD 's being our King certainly Ours is that Island How wonderfully bountiful hath God been to us in a continued succession of Publick Blessings even from the first beginning of Time that we have had any Memorials of Events among us We had the Happiness to be early made a Province of the Roman Empire and by that means were trained up to Civility and Arts and Good Manners That made way for the greatest Blessing that Heaven could bestow upon us even the receiving Christianity And that Blessing we had with the most early being the first among the Nations that embraced it When through the just Judgment of God Barbarism and Ignorance overspread the face of Europe and by the occasion thereof Superstition and Idolatry made its way and all the Western Kingdoms gave up their Power to a Foreign Usurper even then this Island made the longest stand nay and was never so perfectly subdued but that Popery was here a different thing from what it was in the Southern Climates When the happy time came that God thought fit to set on foot the Reformation having first made way for it by the restoring of Learning such was His particular Care of us that this was one of the first Kingdoms that was brought over to it And we have this Advantage above all other Reformed Churches that as our Reformation was regularly made and by just Authority so it was made most agreeably to the Pattern of the Primitive Churches of Christ. And God be thanked according to the goodness of it such hath been its Success ever since for we have all-along from that time to this except the interruption of a few Years in the late Times served God in Peace and Happiness under the same Establishment And we trust we shall do so to the end of the World Many indeed have been the Oppositions and Disturbances that have been given us by our Adversaries both at home and abroad but as manifold likewise have been our Deliverances and that in a most wonderful manner I need not mention them for they are known to us all How many Secret Conspiracies against our Protestant Kings and Queens hath God Almighty's Mercy detected and defeated How many Open Attempts against our Laws and against our Religion hath He by strange Providences brought to nought More than once hath He by wonderful methods preserved us when we gave up our Church and our Liberties in a manner as lost and that in so easie and quiet a way that there was no concussion of the Nation followed thereupon Are not these Extraordinary Instances of God's Kindness to a People And ought not we who have receiv'd and do yet enjoy the Benefit and the Comfort of them to remember them with Thankfulness all the Days of our Life But some of us perhaps are not now in a Humour to think of these things our present Circumstances fill our Minds and Those are difficult enough Let our past Deliverances have been what they will yet we are sure we are now in a Hazardous Condition notwithstanding all the Prayers we have put up for better Successes That is too true And I pray God make us all sensible of it and especially make us sensible of the things that have caused it namely our Ingratitude for God's former Mercies our Lewdness and Debauchery the Spirit of Atheism and Prophaneness and Irreligion that still reigns among us as much as ever and above all our unaccountable dividing our selves into Parties and pursuing particular Piques and Quarrels not only to the neglect but to the plain ruine of our common Interests These are the things that have hinder'd our Successes and provoked God's Displeasure against us and till these things be amended I am afraid we shall never be a happy Nation But yet notwithstanding our high Provocations yet so gently hath God corrected us and even in his Iudgments so much hath He remembred Mercy that we have all reason to rejoyce at the Benignity and Kindness of His Dispensations towards us nay and to render Him our most hearty and solemn Thanks for the Mercies that He hath bestowed upon us even with respect to the Matters we complain of For God hath really so far heard our Prayers this Year that He hath given us the most important Successes tho' not the Successes we desir'd He hath kept the War at a distance from us and we have under the Happy Government of Her Majesty lived free from all Disturbance at home every man sitting under his own Vine and his own Fig-tree as the Prophet speaks enjoying his Religion and Rights in perfect Peace and with a bountiful Provision likewise from God's Hand of all the Things that were either needful or convenient And as for our Successes abroad tho' it is not proper for me to talk of those matters yet I believe thus much I may decently and truly say That tho' the King had not the Victory being over-power'd by Numbers yet he gained more Honour and sustained less Loss than those that boasted of the Victory And which is yet more God hath not only Preserved his Person amidst the infinite Hazards he was continually exposed to and Returned him safe to us but returned him likewise with such Reputation for his Courage and Vigilance and Conduct in the Difficulties he had to struggle with as hath gained him the highest Esteem among his Enemies and therefore ought much more to endear him to his own Subjects And now let all this be considered and then let any man say that really loves the Interest of his Country whether we have not reason to look upon these things as Great Blessings and as such to return our Solemn Thanks to God for them And then in the Second place as to our Future Successes let us all cheerfully depend upon God's Providence and trust in his Mercy for them This is all the Rejoycing that we can express as to Future things and this is that which the Apostle calls Rejoycing in Hope And surely great Reason have we thus to do when we consider who it is that orders our Affairs One whose Kindness we have no reason to doubt of having had so many Experiences of it even beyond our Hopes and Expectations And One likewise upon whose Power we may securely depend since His Arm is not shortened nor ever can be how much soever our Arm of Flesh may God Almighty is our King and He both certainly knows and will certainly do that which is best for us provided we take care to do that which becomes us Away therefore with all Fear and Distrust and Despondency it is an Argument of Infidelity and Irreligion as well as
whatever uneasie Circumstances he lyes under and to trust in God's Mercy for the removal of them and in the mean time to possess his own Soul in a cheerfuâ— dependance on God's Providence and a hearty Thankfulness for all the innumerable Blessings he hath receiv'd and doth daily receive from his Hands And therefore since the Lord is King let the earth be glad yea let the multitude of the isles be glad thereof Now That the Lord is really thus the King of the World there are all the Arguments to perswade us that can be desir'd It is the Voice of Reason It is the Voice of all Mankind It is the Voice of GOD himself both in His Works and in His Word Give me leave to give you a Specimen in all these ways of Arguing and but a Specimen because it would be rather the Work of a Book than of a Sermon to dilate upon these matters First I say Reason tells us it must be thus For admitting that the World did not make it self but was made by God it will follow that the same God that made it must still govern it For the same Ends and Designs and Motives whatever they were that induced God to make the World at first will oblige Him for ever to take care of it and look after it Unless we suppose God to contrive and act as uncertainly and unstedily and with the same inconstancy and levity of Mind that some of us Mortals here upon Earth do Secondly It is the Voice of all Mankind For otherwise how comes it to pass that among all Nations and in all Ages there has been some Religion or other practised I pray what is the meaning of worshipping God of putting up Prayers and Supplications to Him for the things we need of returning Thanks for the Benefits we have received of appointing Religious Rites and Methods for the expiation of Guilt or the averting of impendent Calamities all which things have been practised in all Nations from the beginning of the World to this day I say what is the meaning of all this unless it was hereby meant to be signified That there is a God which doth concern himself in the Affairs of Mankind and who doth dispense Good or Evil to them as they well or ill behave themselves towards him The Truth is To say that God doth not govern the World is to say that all Religion is a Cheat and that all Mankind except a few debauch'd Wits in the more polite Countries and a few Brutes in the very barbarous ones who are of no Religion at all have been and are a company of credulous Fools For this is certain whatever Argument either Iew or Turk or Pagan or Christian can suggest to himself for the convincing him that it is his Concernment or his Duty to worship God or to be of any Religion at all nay or to make any conscience of any Action he does I say all these Arguments do not only prove but suppose that God both knows and orders the Affairs of the World Thirdly It may likewise be as strongly proved from Effects from the tracks and footsteps of a Divine over-ruling Providence which are to be seen in the Events that happen in the World which is that I call the Voice of God in his Works These are indeed so many and so visible that whosoever hath either read History or hath made Observations must needs have taken notice of them If ever there were any extraordinary Deliverances vouchsafed to Kingdoms or Cities or particular Persons or ever any remarkable Iudgments inflicted upon any of these which so carried the Marks and Signatures of God's Hand in them that the one could not in reason but be attributed to the Care that he had that Religion or Innocence should not be oppressed and the other must in reason be interpreted as a Divine Vengeance that pursued the Guilty for their Crimes If ever there were any Prophecies that did punctually foretell a Particular Event that came not to pass till many Years after and such an Event as was perfectly contingent and depended upon the Wills of Men If ever there were any Notices given of Approaching Calamities by Voices from Heaven by strange Appearances in the Air and such other like Presages not naturally to be accounted for If ever there were any Apparitions any Witchcraft any effects of a Diabolical Power by which it may appear that there are a sort of Invisible Beings in the World which do bear ill will to Mankind but yet are so curbed that they cannot do all the Mischief they would If ever there were any Miracles wrought either by Moses and the Prophets or by Iesus Christ and his Apostles for the confirmation of the Iewish or the Christian Religion Lastly If ever any Good Man did ever receive any Blessing or avoid any Misfortune which he might rationally look upon as an Answer to the Fervent Prayers that he had put up to God or others had put up for him I say if any of these things that I have now named be true as all Histories give us a World of Instances of the truth of all of them and as for some of them I do not doubt but they fall within the compass of our own Observation and Experience I say if any of these things be true then have we a convincing Proof that there is a Power that doth interpose in the Affairs of the World superiour both to that of Nature and to that of Mankind and which moderates all things according as it seems good unto him But in truth we need not go to supernatural Events or to particular Providences for the Truth of this For in my Opinion the daily effects that every one of us sees and feels the very Subsistence of the World for so many Ages in that regular frame that it was at first and the fair Treatment and Encouragement how unequally soever things seem to be distributed which virtuous and religious men have always found in it and do yet find notwithstanding that far the greatest number of men are of another stamp I say these very things seem an Argument beyond exception That there is a God that presides over us and takes care of us But Fourthly and lastly God has yet given us a further Proof of this by his own many Authentick Declarations in the Holy Scriptures which we call his Word One of the main businesses of which is to assure us That He rules in the kingdoms of men and disposeth of all their Affairs There He is set forth as the Author of all Events both good and bad so that no evil happens in a City but the Lord doth it There He is represented as the searcher of all hearts the Judge of all mens Designs and Actions the Avenger of all Evil Practices and the Refuge of all Good Men. There we are told that He is the God of battels and that no King is saved by the multitude of his