that is to say The Insuffitiency of all other helps for either securing us from or supporting us under Afflictions Now these may be considered in a twofold respect 1. Barely as Natural Means and which may lawfully be made use of as we have occasion 2. Or as they may be unlawfull and which cannot therefore be ventured upon without sin And accordingly in treating of them I shall endeavour to evince 1. The Weakness and Incompetency of the former and 2. The Evil and Danger of the latter SECT I. I. THE Weakness and Incompetency of all Natural means * Sunt infida quedam refugia ad quae cum quis aufugerit magis infirmatur quà m confirmatur D. August in Psal 45. v. 1. which how promising soever will never stand us in stead without the Divine concurrence but perhaps may fail us when we have most need of their Assistance They may seem very proper and advantageous but if God with-hold his Blessing they must needs prove ineffectual and so all our greatest Expectations from them must become abortive * Is 44.24 25. He stretcheth forth the heavens alone and spreadeth abroad the earth by himself he frustrateth the tokens of liars and maketh diviners mad turneth the wise-men backward and maketh their knowledge foolish †Psal 33.10 bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought and maketh the devices of the people to be of none effect It is upon him alone that all our best Endeavours and most usefull Projects depend intirely for success and though whilst they are employed only as Instruments of his Providence in order to our welfare there is just reason to hope for a good Conclusion of them yet if they come once to be separated from or set in opposition to the Determinations of Providence the case is quite altered and no marvel if they then meet with a cross event All-sufficiency is to be found in none but the Almighty Creator the best of other Beings being liable to manifold defects and imperfections and depending wholly upon him for both their Subsistence and their Power of Operation and therefore to rely upon any thing else than him for safety is but to trust in the staff of a broken reed whereon if a man lean it will go into his hand and pierce it All our Abilities or whatsoever Advantages for helping our selves are but the Gift of God and act in subordination to his Will and so far only as he is pleased to give them leave He observes and governs them all and it is but with him to countermand their Proceeding and it is presently at an end ‖ 1 Chron. 29.11 12. His is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is his his is the Kingdom and he is exalted as head above all Both riches and honour come of him and he reigneth over all and in his hand is power and might in his hand it is to make great and to give strength unto all Wherefore since the Stream can in no case rise above the Fountain and in this case falls infinitely below it it is very apparent that all inferiour helps are not to be regarded any farther than the Divine Providence may be expected to promote their Efficacy and that it is therefore an instance of intolerable weakness for any to look no higher than these for safety which are not more likely to answer our Designs when rightly improved and with a due reverence to and dependance upon the first mover and cause of all things than they are sure to deceive such as place all their Trust in them And thus much Experience also testifies shewing beyond all contradiction that it is not Mens own foresight or labour or outward advantages of whatever kind that brings their purposes to effect but the Blessing and Goodness of Almighty God For hence it comes to pass * Eccles 9.11 that the race is not always to the swift nor the battel to the strong neither yet bread to the wise nor yet riches to men of understanding nor favour to men of skill but time and chance happeneth to them all God reserves to himself a power to interpose and cross and alter the wonted course of things whereby to awaken persons to a consideration of himself and dependance upon him and therefore orders matters so that though they usually happen according to the probability of second Causes sometimes they are observed to fall out quite otherwise So that when Men have done all they can and with the fairest and reasonablest expectation of success they many times fail of their End they know not how There is a secret uncontroulable Providence that takes occasion to present extraordinary opportunities and offers advantages on the one hand or lays impediments in the way on the other which no humane Wisdom could foresee or provide against And this gives success to very unlikely Means defeating the swift and the strong and the wise and the politick and them that are best versed in Men and Business baulking them of their Hopes and frustrating their Designs Whereas if any Humane Means were of force enough to answer Men's Desires without the help of a superiour Power it could not be that they should so frequently miscarry when in all appearance they are the best disposed that can be And this therefore is a plain proof of the vanity and folly of trusting to these without having constant recourse to Almighty God for his Blessing upon them and resting upon him to give them the desired success Thus much in general But that the Insufficiency of all Natural Means of Safety may be made yet more apparent it will not be amiss to descend to a more particular consideration of them And I take it they may be all reduced to these four Heads I. Wealth II. Power III. A Man 's own Abilities and Industry his Strength Courage Skill and Ingenuity and Diligence in the use of all these IV. The kind Assistances of Friends I. The first is Wealth Which as the Wiseman speaks * Prov. 16.11 is the rich man's strong city and as an high wall in his own conceit It is that which he reckons will answer all things will supply all his needs will uphold and assist him in all Difficulties will give him the advantage over those that set themselves against him will create him Friends in time of danger and distress will secure him from fear of want and will be to him instead of all other helps Yet this as much dependance as there is upon it will be found to be very defective if it be observed that 1. It is but a partial help as the rest also are and †Non domus fundus non aeris acervus auri Aegroto Domini deduxit corpore febres Non animo curas Horat. Epist 2. l. 1. Nec calidae citius decedunt corpore febres Textilibus si in
them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house and Isa 49.6 to be salvation unto the end of the earth He was in the time of the Roman Empire Dan. 2.44 to have a Church or spiritual Kingdom set up that should never be destroyed but should break in pieces and consume that is should prevail over all the other Kingdoms and should stand for ever And there was to be Dan. 7.14 given him Dominion and Glory and a Kingdom that all people nations and languages should serve him even an everlasting Dominion that should not pass away and his Kingdom that which should not be destroyed The plain meaning of which Declarations and divers others to the same purpose which I shall not stand to recite was that by his appearance in the World at the time appointed of the Father he should break down the partition-wall betwixt Jews and Gentiles and settle one spiritual Kingdom consisting of both which should be of very large extent and should continue as long as the Sun and Moon endure Which Prediction our blessed Lord also himself repeats to let his Enemies the Jews see how vain all their attempts for the suppression of his Doctrine would be inasmuch as though they should proceed to vent their utmost malice against him by lifting him upon the Cross they would certainly find this to prove contrary to their expectation a means of gaining him Proselytes amongst all sorts of people S. Joh. 12.32 If I be lifted up from the Earth saith our Saviour I will draw all Men unto me Hereby declaring that his cruel and barbarous Death would be sufficient to prevail upon all that would be perswaded to attend to it and would undoubtedly engage a very great part of Mankind to become his Disciples He would be ready to receive them all Gentiles as well as Jews and one remarkable effect of his Sufferings was to be this That great numbers of both should flock to him and embrace his Religion and hope for Salvation only through his Mediation This might seem a strange paradox to those who fansied that our Saviour's death must necessarily put an end to all his pretences But it was no more than God the Father had pre-determined should be and therefore had so frequently presignified than our Saviour himself here promised and than was afterwards made good to the Conversion or Confusion of all who had set themselves against him For immediately upon his Ascension into Heaven and the Descent of the Holy Ghost his Apostles ◠Mar. 16 20. went forth and preached every-where the Lord working with them and confirming their words with signs following Whence it came to pass that his Doctrine was much sooner made known in the several parts of the World than could have been imagined and prodigious numbers were quickly brought over to it S. Peter converted no fewer than Act. 2.41 three thousand Souls at one Sermon in Jerusalem And presently after Com. in Act. Apost 3.1 Dr. Lightfoot thinks on the same day which he conjectures too might most probably be the same Harm Act. 3 4. great day of Pentecost wherein they were thus miraculously inspired or some other day of the same feast the number of Proselytes were reckoned to be Act. 4.4 five thousand And when the Word had been preached a-while in this and other Jewish Cities and met not with a due reception from this obdurate Nation the Apostles thought it time to Act. 13.46 turn themselves to the Gentiles Accordingly they took their several courses as might seem best to answer the great End of their Ambassage both to preach the Word and minister about holy things and to ordain others to the same Office And it pleased God to give them that success that by their Ministry the Word of God grew and prevailed against all the opposition and all the most inveterate malice and most exquisite cruelties of its Enemies Insomuch that both the Scriptures and other Writers inform us of divers Churches they had planted in their life-time to some of which S. Paul directed his Epistles and S. Peter his first to some others of them and others again are mentioned in S. John's Revelation And near about the time of this Apostle's death Pliny Propraetor of Bithynia wrote to the Emperor Trajan acquainting him that his Orders against the Christians could not be pursued L 10. Ep. 97. without bringing many of every age rank and sex into danger forasmuch as the infection as he expresses it had reached not only the greater Cities but their lesser Towns and Country-Villages To which I should also have added the testimony of Tiberianus President of Palaestine Usserii Append Ignat. professing all his severities unable to overcome the Galileans that is the Christians but that I think the singularly learned Mr. Dodwell Dissert de pauc Martyr par 23 24. has said enough to prove his Letter spurious However Justin Martyr who flourished as Eccl. Hist l. 2. c. 13. Eusebius testifies and the beginning of his own second Apology evinces 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not long after the Apostles affirms that no sufferings could affright the Christians of his time from the profession they had taken upon them but the more they were persecuted the more they encreased and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ep. ad Diognet as they that rose up against them multiplied so did those on the other hand that were brought over to them And Clement of Alexandria who lived about sixty years after him declares that in his days 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Strom. l. 6. p. 667. the Doctrine of our Master was not confined to Judea as Philosophy was to Greece but spread it self over the face of the Earth both Greeks and Barbarians in each City and Village and Nation sometimes whole Houses together and at other times single persons only being converted by it and not a few of the Philosophers themselves So his Contemporary Tertullian professes that Pars penè major civitatis cujusque in silentio modestia agimus Ad Scap. the greatest part of almost every City were Christians and that their Enemies grew jealous of them and made Obsessam vociferantur civitatem in agris in castellis in infulis Christianos c. Apol. c. 1. complaint that their City was beset with them and that in the Countries in the Castles in the Isles were Christians and that it grieved them to see how every sex age condition and dignity was inclined to this Name And again Vestra omnia implevimus c. Apol c. 37. We saith he have filled all places amongst you your Cities Isles Castles Burroughs Councils Tents Tribes Decuries the Palace the Senate the Forum and we leave you only your Temples free from us And after these Origen for the next Century and Arnobius and Lactantius for the former part of the following teach that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orig. Philocal c. 1. all about both Greeks and Barbarians in great multitudes forsaking the Precepts of their Fathers and
the forementioned Paraphrast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the King the Messiah say both Jonathan's and the Jerusalem Targum but then this implies according to all common construction that at his coming or at least not long after it they might reasonably expect to be reduced to this desolate condition Nor were they only to lose their Government and be subjected to a foreign Power but to be cast out of their own Land and scattered over the several parts of the Earth They had been threatned upon their rebellion against Almighty God of which they could not possibly give a greater instance than in crucifying his only-begotten and well-beloved Son they had been threatned I say to Deut. 28.25 be removed into all the Kingdoms of the Earth to be Ver. 64. scattered among all people from the one end of the Earth even unto the other and S. Luk. 21.24 to be led away captive into all nations They were Hos 9.15 to be driven out of God's house to be no longer owned by him as his People his Segullah his chosen and beloved Nation for he would Ibid. love them no more he would not always continue that peculiar favour to them which they had so long enjoyed but had most grosly abused He had decreed to Ver. 17. cast them away because they did not hearken unto him that they should be wanderers among the nations The summ is that the Jewish Church and Polity were but temporary and were therefore to have an end when the measure of their iniquities should be filled up That obdurate People were then to remain no longer in their own Land but to have their Worship as well as their City and Temple abolished and were to become thenceforward a sort of vagabonds in the Earth having no Nation or Government of their own nor being permitted to live in any one Country but dispersed by parcels over the several Kingdoms and other Territories of the Earth And whether this remarkable Prophecy has been since as remarkably fulfilled is no manner of Question For as for the ten Tribes it seems generally believed that they never returned into Palaestine after their Captivity by 1 Chron. 5.26 2 King 15.19 Pul the King of Assyria and 2 King 15.29 Tiglath-Pileser his Successour and 2 King 17.6 Shalmaneser after him Spes Israelis Sect. 16 c. Manasseh Ben Israel thinks he has sufficiently proved it and Naphtali l. 1. c. 1. Calvert owns it to be the received opinion of both Jews and Christians at least as to the greatest part of them Though withall he reckons himself L. 2. c. 1 c. to have confuted it by the divers Arguments he brings against it Whether of these is in the right I shall not now stand to enquire but only shall observe that if the former then what if this Prediction related to the ten Tribes was undoubtedly executed upon them long before our Saviour's Incarnation and not for his Death but for their Idolatries and all their other Crimes whereby they had provoked God to cast them off if the latter they were then united to and included in the Kingdom of Judah and so must be supposed to have ever since undergone the same fate with the two Tribes And Josephus De bello Jud. l. 6. c. 45. alibi tells us what miserable slaughter was made of these at the sacking of Jerusalem what vast numbers of them were destroyed and others carried into captivity by the Romans And under the Emperor Adrian D. Chrysost adv Jud. l. 2. Euseb Eccl. hist l. 4. c. 2. other Writers inform us that their calamities encreased upon them when being engaged in an insurrection against him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. an incredible multitude of them were put to death and their Leader Barchochab being taken and made to suffer for his rebellion the remainder of them were forbid to come near Jerusalem and Sulpic. Sever. sacr hist l. 2. a Guard set to keep them off if they should attempt it And Dispersi palabundi coeli soli sui extorres vagantur per orbem sine nomine sine Deo Rege quibus nec advenarum jure terram patriam saltem vestigio salutare conceditur Tert. Apol. c. 21. Tertullian and Dispersi palabundi vagantur soli coeli sui profugi per hospitia aliena jactantur D. Cypr. de Idololat S. Cyprian testifie for their times that they were dispersed and wandred about banished from their native air and soil and seeking entertainment amongst other nations being without a Name and without God for their King and not permitted to set a foot upon their own land a privilege that no strangers are denied And under Constantine the Great Adv. Judaeos l. 2. their Ears were cut off and a mark impressed upon their Body betokening their Rebellion and so they were carried about as a spectacle for the terrour of others that might have been inclinable to the like attempts as S. Chrysostome relates in the place before referred to and Annal. Eccl. To. 3.315.9 Baronius from him who places it in the 315th year of our Saviour And the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adv. Jud. l. 1. p. 318. S. Chrysostome affirms concerning them and wonders at the Providence of God so ordering it that whilst all the World where they might not offer Sacrifice was open to them and they had liberty to betake themselves to the several parts of it Jerusalem the only place appointed pointed for this sort of Worship was inaccessible to them And it is visible to this day that they still remain as he speaks of them in another place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. D. Chrysost in Ps 8. To. 1. p. 577. Vagabonds and fugitives and wanderers travellers both by Sea and Land without any fix'd and certain habitations deprived of their Freedom Country and Priesthood and all that they were wont to value themselves upon scattered amonost barbarous and innumerable people hated of all Men abominated and apt to be hardly dealth with by all What Nation is there under Heaven that bears not testimony to this truth where is it that some of them are not to be met with and yet what place is there that has any considerable number of them They have no-where any Prince or Governour of their own but live under some other Power no-where any settled Polity distinct from that of the Country where they sojourn no Priesthood no convenience of offering up any Sacrifice as heretofore during their abode in Canaan no-where the freedom of their own Laws are no-where beloved or much regarded And yet they remain Jews still distinguished from all other people and as zealous as ever for their own Law and as profess'd Enemies as ever to that most holy Religion the contempt whereof has cost them so dear for many Generations God in his just judgment upon them having so ordered it that they continue a perpetual Monument of his heavy Displeasure against them and a sure Evidence of
Necessities and the Difficulties wherein they have been set This must needs be acknowledged to God's Glory and the shame of our selves his unworthy Creatures who have made no better use of all his most gracious Dispensations towards us 1. For if we look upon our selves as a National Church and seriously lay to heart our singular happiness in this respect what People under Heaven can compare with us in it We have a Religion purified from the Innovations and delivered from the Encroachments of Popery on the one hand and yet withall preserved from those Enthusiastick Principles on the other which have infected so many other parts of the Reformation We are allowed the free use of the holy Scriptures and in a Language that we all understand and have them recommended to our study and expounded to us and their Instructions pressed upon us by the best and most important Arguments for the orderly government of our Lives We have the truly Orthodox Faith professed amongst us that * S. Jud. 3. Faith which was once delivered to the Saints without the Superstructure of other Articles unknown to all the purest Ages of Christianity are Members of a Church that faithfully teaches our Duty to God to the King as his Minister and Representative to all other our regular and lawful Superiors whether Civil or Ecclesiastical and to each other in whatever capacity and moreover have the ancient †Meminisse autem Diaconi debent quoniam Apostolos id est Episcopos Praepositos Dominus elegit D. Cypr. Epist 3. Ad omnes Praepositos qui Apostolis vicariâ ordinatione succedunt Epist 66. alibi Apostolical form of Episcopal Government preserved amongst us and have an admirably pious and well-composed Liturgy and only such innocent Ceremonies as are very becoming the service of God and may tend rather to heighten than any way obstruct our Devotions In short it is our happiness to have been taught to reverence Antiquity as the best Expositor of the Word and Will of God and to depart no farther from any modern Churches than they appear to have departed from the truly Ancient and Catholick Church And as we retain the same Form of Ecclesiastical Government that the Primitive Church had and the same Principles upon which they retained it so have we also our Worship ordered suitably to the Worship of the first and best Christians And yet this is not all for as we have been blessed with a Prudent and Orthodox Reformation we have likewise been preserved from the Attempts of those who have sought either violently to overturn or secretly to undermine it We have had our Adversaries on either hand endeavouring to supplant us by various Artifices as might suit best with their Circumstances and might seem most for their Interest but blessed be God they have not had their Ends upon us Our gracious Lord hath often frustrated their Counsels and brought their subtilest Devices to nought and hath from time to time as we hope he will now again put a period to our Destractions 2. If we look upon our selves as Members of a lately flourishing Kingdom we have great reason to be thankful also upon this account We have been very ready to complain of our Abundance as a burden such plenty of worldly Blessings has been vouchsafed us And what Plots and Contrivances have been on foot for our overthrow have generally proved abortive and for the most part have fallen upon the Authors own Heads It is true we were suffered not very long since to prevail against our selves till we had made an unhappy interruption of our Peace and Settlement for divers years together Yet behold the Goodness of our God he then heard at length the cry of his distressed Servants and restored quiet to our Land together with all those outward Comforts that usually attend it And since this we may remember that not many years agoe scarce any part of Europe enjoyed so long and advantageous a Peace as we did there being very few of our Neighbours who were not embroyled in an expensive War whilst we sate securely to use the Prophet's Expression * Mich. 4.4 under our own Vines and under our Fig-trees We grew wealthy and proud by these Advantages and if it please God now to humble us under his afflicting Hand this is no more than our abuse of his former Mercies has too justly deserved And when by his Chastisements he shall have fitted us for his more favourable Dispensations it is to be hoped he will be graciously pleased to let us partake of them again as heretofore 3. Or if again we look upon our selves in our private personal Capacity who amongst us can recount the abundant Goodness of God to him every day We have in this respect likewise been honoured with store of such Blessings and such Deliverances as may well fill our Hearts with Gratitude and our Mouths with Songs of Praise to the God of our Salvation †Quoniam pravitas fragilitas insufficientia nostra ineffabilis est multaque nimis ex parte nostri summa requiritur gratitudo Dionys Carthus de vitâ spiritali Art 12. We are nothing we have nothing we can do nothing nor be secure of any thing without his good Providence taking care of us and to him therefore we are heartily to ascribe the Honour and Glory for all the Blessings we receive and for all the Misfortunes and Evils we escape And yet oh our gracious our compassionate God how boundless is thy Loving-kindness to us upon each of these accounts Our Lives and Limbs our Memory and Understanding our Health and Strength our Food and Raiment and all the common Mercies we receive we are too too apt to undervalue because of our so constant enjoyment of them yet these are Blessings that they who want or are about to lose them know how to esteem at a great rate And how plentifully I had almost said how incessantly are these continued to us If we have now and then a restless Night have we not many very many good ones for it If we have lost one Child or other dear Relation how many more have we yet remaining If we have been deprived of any other outward Enjoyment or Advantage are not divers others continued to us or else succeed in the room of what is lost Or if we have one Limb distorted or in pain or perished are not all our other parts preserved in health and good order Or if our Condition be yet harder if we have lost an only Child or have lost our best Friends upon whom possibly we had great dependance or have lost our whole Estate or Employment or whatsoever we are wont to value most or have our whole Body disordered with Pains or Sickness how hard soever our Lot may be in any one or more of these Particulars are we not safe as to the rest Why then should any amongst us suffer his Wants or Disappointments in one kind to
nor the best of Friends but only in Almighty God He is a sufficient Help in all Cases a ready Support in all Distress and whosoever stedfastly casts his Care upon him need be afraid of nothing because he knows nothing shall befall him but for his good But they that depend upon inferiour helps leave themselves expos'd to every blast of Fortune and when they meet with a shock have nothing they can rely upon for a Redress The whole World and all the parts of it are at God's command and when Men have taken the utmost care that is possible to shelter themselves by other means his Quiver is stock'd with variety of Arrows against which there is no manner of Defence He can plague us by those of our own rank suffering wicked Men to execute their Malice upon us as a just punishment though not so design'd by them for all our Transgressions of his Divine Laws Or he can send a Legion of inanimate Creatures upon the same Errand which accordingly fail not to come at his Command * Psal 148.8 Fire and hail snow and vapours and stormy Winds fulfill his Word And so do the worst of Diseases whensoever he thinks fit to let them loose upon a disobedient and gainsaying People And against these no preparation can be made because sometimes they come too powerfull to be checked by all the Art or Care of Man and because when less violent they come yet for the most part without observation or foresight †Dr. Jackson's 1st Serm. on Jer. 26.19 And one of them as a very learned Author speaks can execute another's Office or Charge or every one accomplish that Work which the Armies of Men might intend but could not have executed That scarcity of Bread or other Calamity as he proceeds which sometime suddenly ariseth in some Limb or Corner of a Kingdom by want of Trade or by shutting up too great a multitude of Ships for a long time in one Harbour whilst the Enemy or Pirates annoy the Coasts how easily might it be much encreased if he that keeps the Winds as in a Treasure-house should shut up a greater multitude of Ships for a long time in the same Harbour by a contrary Wind albeit their Enemies in the mean while became their Friends albeit they were provided of an invincible Navy at an hours warning Or in case they did know whence the Wind cometh and whither it is going or could so covenant that it should blow when and where they listed yet if the Lord of Hosts be so pleased he can bring a greater Dearth and Scarcity upon the most fertile Provinces of the Land than either the Enemy or contrary Winds can occasion either by withdrawing the sweet Influence of the Heavens or by corrupting the Seed lately sown or Corn ready to be reaped with abundant moisture Or admit any People or Nation by Miracle or Divine Dispensation might have authority not over the Winds only but over the Clouds the Rain and Dew or such a power of shutting and opening Heaven as Husbandmen have of letting in Brooks upon their Meadows and taking them off again at their pleasures so as they might have Seed-time and Harvest as seasonable their Fields as fruitfull the Sea as open as their Hearts could desire yet the very freedom of Commerce and Traffick may bring in a greater Inconvenience which no Plenty can hold out than the Enemy than unseasonable Wind and Weather could threaten Want of Trade and want of Victuals are Plagues or Punishments sent by God but the Plague of Pestilence which is ost-times the Companion of Peace and Plenty the usual effect of free Trading or Traffick is more terrible than either of the former wants And thus may every part of the Reasonless Host accomplish what the other had omitted and this in spight of all the Contrivances of the most cultivated Wit of Man to the contrary In these and multitudes of other Cases of more common and ordinary Occurrence it is as impossible for Mankind to protect us as it is to pull the Stars from Heaven or dry up the Waters of the Sea The serious Meditation whereof must inevitably leave us in a very disconsolate condition were it not that we have a good and a gracious God to whom we may apply our selves for Relief in all our Streights and may be safe in his good Providence when we can be so no ways else * Is 2.22 Cease ye therefore from Man the Wisest the Stoutest the Richest the Carefullest and the most Powerfull among the Sons of Men for wherein is he to be accounted of They that trust in God have an impregnable a present and an everlasting Defence to which whosoever sleeeth in his Distress is sure to find Shelter But †Ps 144.4 Man is like to vanity his days are a shadow that passeth away and he is therefore a very improper Instrument to be rested upon for Safety and Happiness either by himself or any else And so are all his uncertain transitory Possessions and outward imperfect Assistances which can never answer his Expectations but by God's Blessing nor any longer than seems good to his Divine Majesty All their Power and Efficacy they receive from him and the way therefore to enjoy them to the best advantage is not to trust to them in neglect of his gracious Protection but to cast our Care upon him humbly intreating that he will mercifully condescend to take care of us * Jer. 9.23 24. Let not then the wise man glory in his wisdom neither let the mighty man glory in his might let not the rich man glory in his riches but let him that glorieth glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth the Lord who exerciseth lovingkindness judgment and righteousness in the earth that he considers that there is an infinitely wise and good God who orders all things according to the pleasure of his own Will and that he hath learned to hope in him for a Blessing upon all his most valuable Enjoyments and his most courageous wisest and most laborious Undertakings Since Scripture Reason and Experience testify that the best of Men are nothing without him common Prudence were we not obliged to it in duty would teach any considering Person to apply to him in all cases as the best the only Security from fear of Evil and the readiest the only effectual Succour in time of need So much concerning the Insufficiency of all Natural Means considered barely as such which when they may be lawfully made use of are of no avail in order to our welfare except as God is pleased to bless them to us SECT II. BUT these Means may be considered also as unlawfull which they too often happen to be and which cannot therefore be ventured upon without sin And here my business will be to shew II. The great Evil and Danger of them and that howsoever the Success which such indirect Attempts frequently meet with in the World