Prerogative Acts and signifies to us That we must seek no farther for the Reasons of such things than the Sovereign Will of God as a Sovereign Prince while he keeps within the Legal Exercise of his Prerogative needs give no other account of it but that it is his Will and Pleasure But there are some men who will not be so civil to God as they are to a Sovereign Prince to take his sole Will and good Pleasure for a satisfactory reason of any thing but quarrel about these Prerogative Acts and ask a great many foolish Questions and make a great many impertinent Objections even against the exercise of a Free and Sovereign Goodness Now in truth this is to deny God the Rights of a Sovereign to demand a Reason of him beyond his own Will for the Acts of pure Sovereignty but yet I will grant these men That tho in all such Cases we must ask no other reason but the mere Will of God yet God never does any thing for mere Will and Pleasure in the sense that some men do but has always wise and hidden Reasons which we cannot comprehend And tho they will not allow the unsearchable Wisdom of God a just satisfaction to other Objections yet methinks where they ought to demand no other reason but the Will of God it should abundantly satisfy them to know That tho this Will of God is Sovereign and Unaccountable it is always guided by Infinite and Infallible Wisdom That you may the better understand this I shall give you some Instances of it in the Prerogative Acts of Goodness and Justice Goodness indeed is essential to the Notion of a God but yet there are some Sovereign Acts of Goodness which no creature could challenge from God which God might not have done and yet have been very good and why God exercises such Free and Prerogative Acts of Goodness must be resolved wholly into the good Pleasure of his own Will This is the account the Scripture gives us of that Mysterious Goodness in the Redemption of the World by our Lord Jesus Christ which is therefore every where in Scripture called Grace and Free Grace and the Love of God and the Will of God as Christ tells us That he came not to do his own will but the will of him that sent him And the whole Oeconomy of our Redemption is called the purpose of him who worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will And thus is every part of our Redemption as our New-Birth Of his own will he hath begotten us The Gifts of the Holy Ghost were bestowed upon the Apostles according to his own will God worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure All which signifies no more but this That these are such Prerogative Acts of Goodness as we must seek for no other reason of but the Sovereign Will and good Pleasure of God Now in such Sovereign Acts of Goodness as these the time and manner and other circumstances and the rules and methods of administration are all perfectly free and voluntary where God has not bound up himself by Covenant and Promise and therefore we must satisfy our selves that God has very wise Reasons for what he does but must not critically examine whether every thing be done in the best manner that we can think on which would put an end to a great many foolish Enquiries with which men perplex themselves and disparage the Mysteries of our Salvation As Why God sent Christ into the world for the Salvation of Mankind Whether there was no other possible way to save sinners or whether this were absolutely the best Why God sent Christ so late into the world in the last days when it grew near its end and so many Generations of men had perished in ignorance and wickedness before his Appearance Why so great a part of the world to this day have never heard of Christ And a great many other such like Questions as these To all which it is sufficient to reply That our Redemption by Christ is an act of Sovereign Grace and therefore we must enquire no farther than the Will of God Had God never sent Christ into the world nor preached the Gospel to any one Nation we should have had no reason to complain for he did not owe such a Saviour to sinners and therefore we have less reason to complain of the time of his coming into the world and that his Gospel is not universally received by mankind Sovereign Grace is free and unaccountable and we need not doubt but that such stupendious Goodness is administred by as unsearchable Wisdom and it is reasonable for us to acquiesce in the belief of God's unerring Wisdom especially in such cases where we have no right to enquire beyond his Will When we receive all from God without his owing us any thing it is a good answer St. Paul gives Who hath first given unto him and it shall be recompensed to him again for of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory for ever Amen Thus the Divine Justice requires that God should punish obstinate and incorrigible sinners but then he executes Justice with a Free and Sovereign Authority that is he is not confined to time and place and manner of punishing sinners as the Inferior Ministers of Justice are but when men have made themselves vessels of wrath fitted for destruction then God may punish sooner or later publickly or privately and in what manner he pleases without giving any other reason for it but his own Will God has more reasons of punishing Sinners in this world than merely to take Vengeance of their sins and therefore he punishes them in such a manner as may best serve the ends of his Providence as may most advance his own Name and Glory and do most good in the world Thus God tells Pharaoh For this cause have I raised thee up that is either advanced thee to the Throne or preserved thy Life thus long in the midst of all the Plagues I have brought upon thy Land for to shew in thee my power and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth that is to take such a remarkable Vengeance on thee as may make all the earth confess my Glory Would men but allow God the Authority of a Sovereign who can Spare and Reprieve nay Pardon in this world without the imputation of Injustice it would answer all the Cavilling Objections against Providence which relate to the Punishments of bad men God might then be allowed to execute speedy Vengeance upon some sinners and to delay the Punishment of others and to suffer them to be prosperous for a great while without giving any other reason for it than his own Will and Pleasure God hath always wise Reasons for these things tho we do not always know them but if the Sovereignty of God will justify all this without any other
this World that they never care to think of another and that Afflictions and Adversity has many times a quite contrary effect to make men serious and considerate to possess them with an awe and reverence of God to correct and reform Bad men and to exercise the Graces and Vertues of the Good both the Reason of things and the Experience of Mankind may satisfy us That this is what God designs in those Afflictions and Sufferings he brings on Mankind the Scripture every where assures us and the natural conclusion from hence is That Afflictions are not evil nor any Objection against the Goodness of Providence If they prove evil to us it is our own fault for God designs them for good As the Apostle expresly tells us That all things work together for good to them that love God And whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth if ye endure chastening God dealeth with you as with sons for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not but if ye be without chastisement whereof all are partakers then are ye bastards and not sons 21. Hebr. 6 7 8. This then must be our great care to rectify our Notions of Good and Evil to withdraw our minds from Sense and not to call every thing good that is pleasant nor every thing evil that is afflicting this distinction the Heathen Poet long since observed and gives it as a Reason and a very wise and good Reason it is why we should entirely give up our selves to God and leave him to chuse our Condition for us Nam pro jucundis aptissima quaeque dabunt Dii That though God will not always give us those things which are most pleasant he will give us what is most profitable for us And if we judge of Good and Evil not by Sense nor by external Appearances but by that spiritual good they do or are intended to do us in making us Good men here and happy hereafter men may if they so please as reasonably quarrel with the great Ease and Prosperity which so many enjoy as with the Afflictions which others suffer for Prosperity does oftner corrupt mens Manners and betray them to Sin and Folly than Afflictions do Good men themselves can hardly bear a prosperous State nor resist the Temptations and Flatteries of Ease and Pleasure whereas Afflictions many times reform Bad men and make Good men better as the Psalmist himself owns It is good for me that I have been afflicted for before I was afflicted I went astray but since I have learned to keep thy laws And if both Prosperity and Adversity may be either for our good or hurt and when they are so we cannot always tell we must leave this to God and commit our selves to his Care and Discipline who knows us better than we know our selves and knows what is best for us But this may seem to start a new and more difficult Objection That if we must not judge of Good and Evil by external and sensible Events we can have no sensible Proofs of the Goodness or Justice of Providence As we cannot object the external Evils and Calamities that are in the World against the Goodness of Providence so neither can we prove the Goodness of Providence from those external and sensible Blessings which God bestows upon Mankind So that Religion gains nothing by this it silences indeed the Objections against Providence but it also destroys the Proofs of a Good and Just Providence The Answer to this Objection will give us a truer notion and understanding of the Goodness of Providence For though we cannot know love or hatred merely by external Events yet this does not destroy the natural good or evil of things nor the Justice or Goodness of Providence in doing good or in sending his Plagues and Judgments on the World Natural Good and Evil are the Instruments and Methods of Discipline Good men are encouraged and rewarded in this World by some external and natural Blessings and Bad men are restrained and governed by some natural Evils and the Goodness and Justice of God in doing good and in punishing make these external Blessings and Punishments the Methods of Discipline which could have no efficacy in them either to encourage Good men or to reform the Wicked but as they are the visible significations of God's Favour or displeasure and therefore such external Blessings and Punishments are evident Proofs of the Goodness and Justice of Providence or else they could not be the Methods of Discipline nor have any moral efficacy upon Mankind But yet when these Acts of Goodness or Justice are made the Methods of Discipline and not intended as the proper Rewards or Punishments of Vertue or Vice they are not always confined to Good or Bad men and therefore are not certain and visible Marks of God's Love or Hatred It is an Act of Goodness in God to do good to the Evil and to the Good To the Good it is a mark of his Favour and an incitement to a more perfect Vertue to the Evil an expression of his Patience and an invitation to Repentance but when he is good both to the Evil and to the Good the mere external Event can make no difference The external Good may be the same and God is good to both and intends good to both but yet has not equal favour to both It is an Act of Justice in God to punish and to correct Sin and both Good and Bad men many times feel the same Severities to correct and chastise the Follies and to quicken and inflame the Devotions of Good men and to over-awe and terrify Bad men with the sense of God's Anger and the fears of Vengeance This is to be just and to be good to both as great Goodness and Justice as it is to reform Bad men and to make Good men better tho the external Events of Providence in such Cases make little distinction between them We see in all these Instances manifest Proofs both of the Justice and Goodness of God though Prosperity is not always a Blessing nor Afflictions always evil They are always indeed in themselves Natural Goods and Evils and therefore are the proper Exercise of a Natural Goodness and Justice but with respect to Moral Ends to that influence they have upon the direction and government of our Lives what is naturally good may prove a great evil to us and what is naturally evil may do us the greatest good and then we must confess That the Goodness of Providence must not be measured merely by the natural good or evil of external Events but by such a mixture and temperament of good and evil as is best fitted to govern men in this World and to make them happy in the next 3dly There is another Mistake about the Nature of Government and what Goodness is required in the Government of the World Now the Universal Lord and Sovereign of the World must not only take care
them in their own Land or carry them captive into strange Countries This destroy'd all their Rights and Properties at once and yet I suppose no man will say that the Philistins or Moabites or Aramites had any right to invade Canaan and to bring Israel under their Yoke and Nebuchadnezzar had no better right than they when he destroyed the Temple and City of Ierusalem and carried the Iews captive to Babylon but God was very just and righteous in this though he did not defend them in their just Rights because they had deserved such punishments And thus throughout the Book of Psalms the protection of the Divine Providence is promised only to good and righteous men to those who love God who fear and reverence and worship and put their trust in him that if men be not thus qualified whatever their Cause is they have no right to the Protection of Providence And this is the Justice of Providence not to secure Human Rights but to protect and defend good men and to punish the wicked 3dly We may observe also in Scripture That notwithstanding the Justice of Providence and God's love to Righteousness and to righteous Men he still by a Sovereign Authority reserves to himself a liberty to correct and chastise good men and to exercise their Graces and Vertues and to serve the ends of his own Glory by their Sufferings We must distinguish between Acts of Discipline and Justice which have very different ends and measures as the Correction of a Child differs from the Execution of a Malefactor For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth He corrects us for our profit that we may be partakers of his holiness 7. Heb. 7 8 9. Very good men may fall into such great sins as may deserve a severe correction not only to give them a greater abhorrence of their sins and make them more watchful for the future but to be an Example to others and in such cases Repentance it self though it will obtain their pardon will not excuse them from Temporal Punishments as we see in the Example of David when he had been guilty of Adultery and Murther upon his repentance God declared his pardon by the Prophet Nathan but would not remit his punishment which was not so much an act of Justice and Vengeance as of necessary Discipline And these are generally the many Afflictions of the Righteous out of which the Psalmist tells us God will at last deliver them whereas the Punishments of the Wicked when God after a long patience awakes to judgment are usually for their final ruin and destruction Thus good men may have many secret failings and miscarriages known to none but God and themselves which may deserve severe corrections which sometimes are made an argument against the Justice of Providence when the correction is visible but the causes for which they are corrected unknown Other good men suffer for the trial of their faith which is more precious than of gold which perisheth and are trained up by great severities to heroical degrees of Vertue All this is very reconcilable with God's love of Righteousness and righteous Men for it is the effect of this Love And thus good Men for a time may visibly suffer as much as the wicked which occasions such Complaints that all things fall alike to all but such Corrections as these are not properly Acts of Justice but of Discipline not so much for the punishment of Good men as to make them better not the effects of Anger but of Love 4thly We may observe in Scripture also That God exercises a Sovereign Authority in exercising his Judgments upon Wicked men He does not always punish them as soon as they deserve punishment but sometimes waits patiently for their return sometimes uses them as the Instruments of his Justice to punish other Bad men or to correct the Miscarriages and to exercise the Graces and Vertues of Good men and when he has finished what he had to do by them reserves them for a more publick and glorious Execution to be the Triumphs of his just Vengeance and standing Examples to the World which we know was the case of Pharaoh and the King of Assyria of Antiochus and some great Persecutors of the Christian Faith Thus have I shewn you wherein the Justice of Providence consists both from the nature of the Divine Justice and the Ends of God's Government in this World and from the Account the Scripture gives us of it which will enable us to answer all the Objections against the Justice of Providence I shall observe but one thing more That it is evident from this Discourse that we must not judge of the goodness of any Cause by external and visible Success much less make the oppression of a just Cause any argument against the Justice of Providence For Justice does not oblige God always to favour a just Cause when those who have a just Cause deserve to be punished God may justly punish Bad men by unjust Oppressors for he is the Sovereign Lord of the World and can dispose of his Creatures as his own Absolute Authority and Unsearchable Wisdom shall direct CHAP. VI. The Holiness of Providence THE next Enquiry is concerning the Holiness of Providence For God is a Holy Being as Holiness is opposed to all Impurity and Wickedness and such as God's Nature is such his Government must be and therefore the Psalmist 145. Psalm 17. assures us That the Lord is not only righteous in all his ways which signifies the Justice of Providence which I have already discoursed of but he is holy in all his works as he tells us more at large 5. Psal. 4 5 6 For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness neither shall evil dwell with thee The foolish shall not stand in thy sight thou hatest all workers of iniquity thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man And yet there want not Objections and such as some men think inexplicable difficulties against the Holiness of Providence And therefore my design at present is to set this in as clear a light as I can and to that end I shall enquire 1. What the Holiness of God requires of him in the Government of the world 2. What it does not require of him And 3. What is Inconsistent and Irreconcilable with the Holiness of Providence And if God Governs the World as his Essential Holiness requires that he should Govern it if what men ignorantly Object against Providence be no just impeachment of his Holiness and if nothing be justly chargeable on Providence which is inconsistent and irreconcilable with the Holiness of the Divine Nature I suppose I need then add no more to vindicate the Holiness of Providence 1. Now as for the first the case seems very plain That the Holiness of a Governour in the Government of Reasonable Creatures and Free Agents can require no more of him
reform Sinners by the various methods of Grace and Providence and this changes both the very Notion and Exercise of God's Goodness and Justice in this world for we must expect no more of either than what a state of Trial and Discipline will allow The not considering this distinction between Absolute Goodness and Justice and the goodness and justice of Discipline has been the occasion of all those Objections which have been made both against the Goodness and Justice of Providence We must confess that the World is not so happy as Perfect and Absolute and Unconfined Goodness could make it nor are all Sinners so miserable as Strict and Absolute Justice could make them but this signifies no more than that Heaven and Hell are not in this world as no man ever pretended they were and yet Strict and Rigorous Justice and Perfect and Absolute Goodness where-ever they are exercised must make Hell and Heaven But this Life is a Middle-state between both and as men behave themselves here so they shall have their Portions either in Heaven or Hell and therefore the Goodness and Justice of God in this world is of a different nature from that Goodness or Justice which is exercised in Heaven or Hell proportioned to the state of Discipline and Trial in this Life Goodness indeed has the predominant government and Justice is only the Minister of Goodness in this World as it must be in a state of Discipline when Corrections as well as Favours are intended for good To put Man into a state of Probation and Trial to recover that Immortality he had lost was an Act of great Goodness and whatever severe Methods are used to reform Sinners is as great an expression of Goodness as it is to force and to compel them to be happy as it is to cut off a Hand or a Leg to preserve Life And if we will but allow this World to be a state of Trial and Discipline for another World and wisely consider not what pure simple and absolute Goodness but what the goodness of Discipline requires it will give us an easy answer to all the Objections against the Goodness of Providence 1. As first The Goodness of God in a state of Discipline will not admit of a compleat and perfect Happiness in this World for that is no state of Discipline Good men themselves were they as happy in this World as they could wish would not be very fond of another World nor learn those mortifying and self-denying Vertues which are necessary to prepare them for a Spiritual Life And Bad men would grow more in love with this World and sin on without check and controul The Miseries and Afflictions of this Life wean Good men from this World and lay great restraints upon Bad men which justifies both the Wisdom and Goodness of God in those many Miseries which Mankind suffer 2. But yet the goodness of God in a state of Discipline requires That this World should be so tolerable a place as to make Life desirable his own glory is concerned in this for no man would believe that the World was made or is governed by a good God were there no visible and sensible Testimonies of a kind and good Providence But though God cursed the Earth for the Sin of man yet he has not defaced the Characters of his own Wisdom and Goodness but still the invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead 1. Rom. 20. and in the most Degenerate state of Mankind God left not himself without a witness giving them rain from heaven and fruitful seasons filling their hearts with food and gladness What dreadful Apprehensions would this give Mankind of God were this World nothing else but a Scene of Trouble and Misery What encouragement would this be to Sinners to repent and reform What hopes could they reasonably conceive of Pardon and Forgiveness had they no experience of God's goodness and patience towards Sinners What place would there be for the exercise of Moral or Christian Vertues of Faith and Hope and Trust in God of Self-denial and a Contempt of this World were not this World a very tolerably happy place though a changeable Scene A state of Discipline must neither be a state of perfect Happiness nor Misery but an interchangeable Scene of very agreeable Pleasures and tolerable Evils sufficient to exercise the Vertues and to correct the Vices of Mankind And this I take the State of this Life to be so happy that few men are so miserable as to be weary of it and yet so intermixt with Troubles as to exercise the Vertues of Good men and to correct the wicked And this is what becomes the Goodness of God to do for us in a state of Discipline 3. The Goodness of God seems to require That in such a mixt and changeable Scene there should be some remarkable difference made between the Good and the Bad for the design of Providence in a state of trial is to encourage Vertue and to deter men from Sin and therefore there ought to be such a visible difference made as may be sufficient if men will wisely consider things to encourage good men and to restrain the wicked I do not mean that all Good men should be Happy and Prosperous and all Bad men Miserable as to their external Fortune for a state of Discipline will not allow this All good men cannot bear a prosperous Fortune and some bad men may grow better by it or may be fit instruments of Providence and such a visible distinction between all good and bad men belongs to the Day of Judgment not to a state of trial and therefore we see this is not done and bad men who have the least reason to complain of it make it an objection against Providence But though Providence many times seems to make little difference between good and bad men as to external Events yet God very often takes care to expound his Providences which makes a very visible difference between them Natural Conscience is one of God's Interpreters of Providence which terrifies bad men with a sense of Guilt when they suffer and threatens them with a more terrible Vengeance but supports good men under their Sufferings with better hopes that bad men suffer like Malefactors with Rage and Fear and Despair good men with Patience and Submission and joyful Expectations of a reward All the promises of Scripture are made to Good men and all the threatnings of it denounced against Bad men and this expounds Providence for this assures good men that all the good they receive is the Effect of God's care and goodness to them and that the Evils they suffer are either his fatherly Correction or the trial and exercise of their Vertues but that the Prosperity of Bad men is only the effect of God's Patience or to make them Instruments of his Providence and that
good of Nature and therefore whatever is the Happiness or any part of the Happiness of Man is the good of Nature the good of the End is that which is good to make men happy and the more effectual it is to promote our Happiness the greater Good it is tho it may be a great Natural Evil and whatever will hinder or destroy our Happiness is a great Evil though it may be a great Natural Good In all such Cases things are good or evil with respect to their End or to their Natural or Moral Consequences When we are in health that is good Food which is pleasant and wholsome and will preserve health but the same Diet may be very hurtful and fatal when we are sick Indulgence or Severity to Children is either good or evil in proportion to their Tempers and Inclinations as it is apt either to corrupt their Manners or to train them up to Piety and Vertue And therefore when we speak of Discipline and Government which is the true notion of God's Providence in this World we must not consider so much what is naturally good and evil as what the state of those is who are the Subjects of Discipline and what is good for them in such a State for how many Natural Evils soever there are in the World the Evils of Afflictions and Judgments of Plague and Famine and Sword if such Severities be good for Mankind it is as great an argument of the Goodness of Providence to inflict them as it is for a Parent or a Prince to reclaim and reform his Children or his Subjects by great Severities And an easy and prosperous State when the Wickedness of Mankind require severe Restraints is no more an Act of Kindness and Goodness than the fond Indulgence of Parents is to disobedient Children So that this takes away the very foundation of this Objection against the Goodness of Providence The principal Objection is That there are a great many Evils and Miseries in the World we grant it but then we say That God is very good in it and that these Natural Evils tho they are grievous are not Evils to us because they are and are intended for our good We can neither prove nor disprove the Goodness of Providence merely by external Events especially with respect to particular men For Prosperity is not always good for us nor is Affliction always for our hurt God may make some men prosperous in his Anger and chastise others in great love and goodness and this I take to be the meaning of the Wise-man 9. Eccl. 1 2. No man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them For all things come alike to all there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked to the good and to the clean and to the unclean to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not as is the good so is the sinner and he that sweareth as he that feareth an oath Which does not signify that the Divine Providence makes no difference between Good and Bad men for God does love Good men and hate the Wicked and his Providence makes a great difference between them though this difference is not always visible in external Events For when the same Event happens to both whether it be a Natural Good or Evil it may be an Act of Favour to Good men and of Judgment to the Wicked For external Prosperity and Adversity in a State of Discipline may either be good or evil and may be good for one when at the same time it is evil to another and therefore the Providence of God may make a difference when the external Event makes none The Wise-man confesses This is an evil among all things that are done under the Sun that there is one event unto all Bad men who look no farther than external Events make a very bad use of it and conclude that God makes no difference when they see none made And thus the heart of the sons of men is full of evil and madness is in their heart while they live and after that they go to the dead 3. v. But those who consider wisely see no reason from external Events from such a promiscuous distribution of good and evil either to deny a Providence or the Goodness and Justice of Providence since good and evil in this State are not in the things themselves but in the End for which they are intended and which they serve It is of great consequence rightly to understand this matter to give us a firm persuasion of the Goodness of God even when he corrects and punishes and to cure our discontent at the Prosperity of the Wicked and therefore I shall briefly represent to you the State of Mankind in this World and what is good in such a State Man has sinned and Man must die but God has in infinite goodness to Mankind sent his own Son into the World to save Sinners who by death hath destroyed him who had the power of Death that is the Devil and hath brought Life and Immortality to light by the Gospel This removes the Scene of Happiness from this World to the next and makes this present Life only a State of Probation for Eternity If we obey the Laws of our Saviour and imitate his Example he has promised to raise us again when our dead Bodies are putrified in the Grave into Immortal Life but has threatned all the Miseries of an Eternal Death against Incorrigible Sinners so that the greatest good that God or Man can do for us in this World is by all the wise methods of Discipline and Government to prepare us for the Happiness of the next and to preserve us from those Eternal Miseries which will be the portion of Sinners Tho there are thousands of foolish Sinners who never consider this yet all Mankind agree that that is best for us in this World which will make us eternally happy in the next and that is a very great Evil which will betray us to Eternal Miseries There are a great many Infidels who believe neither a Heaven nor a Hell but yet these very Infidels are not so void of common Sense as to deny supposing there were a Heaven and a Hell that to be the best Condition for us in this World whatever it be upon other accounts which will carry us to Heaven and keep us out of Hell Now if this be the Case there cannot be so great Evils in this World but what may be good for us and therefore may be an expression of God's Goodness to us For if Pain and Sickness Poverty and Disgrace wean us from this World subdue our Lusts make us Good men and qualify us for Eternal Rewards though they are great Afflictions yet they are very good as the way though a rough and difficult way to Happiness That prosperity does oftentimes corrupt mens Lives and Manners make them proud and sensual regardless of God and of Religion and so fond of
c. destroy the Ease and Security of Life and the Freedom and Pleasure of Conversation without which all the other Pleasures of Life are very tastless And here I cannot but bewail the Folly and Distraction of Mankind who are fond of Life and impatiently thirst after Happiness but will not suffer either themselves or others to live and to be happy Who bite and devour each other and by their ungoverned Passions raise such Hurricanes in the World that there is no Ease or Rest or Happiness to be found but in a Grave or in a Charnel-house Where the wicked cease from troubling and where the weary be at rest where the prisoners rest together they hear not the voice of the oppressor the small and great are there and the servant is free from his master 3. Job 17 18 19. Did men consider what it is to live and to be happy it would convince them that there is nothing in this World worth purchasing with Eternal Discontents Envyings Emulations Jealousies Fears with doing all the Mischiefs and Injuries we can and with suffering all the Injuries which others can do nay indeed it is wonderful to me that mens own sense and feeling if they will not be at the pains to reason the matter does not convince them of this To live is not merely to be but to be happy and to be happy does not signify merely to have but to enjoy and to enjoy requires an easy serene undisturbed mind which can relish what it has and extract its true pleasure and satisfaction The security of Life the easiness and freedom of Conversation when we fear no Spies upon our Words and Actions no Malicious Eye no Slandering Tongue when our Lives are spent in the exchange of good Offices in the Endearments and Caresses of Friendship or at least in mutual Civilities and Respects this is to live and to be happy A very little of what is external will make such a state as this happy which all the Power and all the Riches of the World cannot do when to get or keep it divides the Hearts and the Interests of men ferments their Passions destroys Friendships and all mutual Trust and Confidence cantons and crumbles Human Societies into Parties and Factions and animates them with a bitter Zeal and Rage to reproach and vilify supplant and undermine each other if this be to be happy or the way to Happiness in this World it is time to seek for Happiness out of it 2dly And yet this is no reason for a wise and good man to despise or abhor life much less to force his passage out of this World There is no difficulty in persuading the generality of Mankind to live notwithstanding all the Troubles and Calamities they meet with The love of life is natural and strong and reconciles men to great Miseries before they desire that death should ease them Self-murther is so unnatural a Sin that it is now-a-days thought reason enough to prove any man distracted we have too many sad Examples what a disturbed Imagination will do if that must pass for Natural Distraction but we seldom or never hear that mere external Sufferings how severe soever tempt men to kill themselves The Stoicks themselves whose Principle it was to break their Prison when they found themselves uneasy very rarely put it into practise Nature was too strong for their Philosophy and though their Philosophy allowed them to die when they pleased Nature taught them to live as long as they could and we see that they seldom thought themselves miserable enough to die There is no danger then of frightning men out of this World by the Troubles and Calamities of it that I need not concern my self with such fears but yet without contradicting Solomon to vindicate the Providence of God and to support and encourage Good men I shall briefly shew you That it is very desirable for a Good man to live on and that a Wise and Good man may live very happily notwithstanding all the Troubles and Difficulties which he may and sometimes must encounter in this World For Difficulties are a glorious Scene of Vertue and such a Vertue as can conquer Difficulties has its Rewards its Pleasures and Satisfactions even in this Life It is very necessary that good men should live in very bad times not only to reprieve a wicked World that God may not utterly destroy it as he once did in the days of Noah when all Flesh had corrupted its ways but also to season Human Conversation to give check to Wickedness and to revive the practice of Vertue by some great and bright Examples and to redress those Violences and Injuries which are done under the Sun at least to struggle and contend with a Corrupt Age which will put some stop to the growing Evil and scatter such Seeds of Vertue as will spring up in time It is an Argument of God's care of the World that Antidotes grow in the neighbourhood of Poisons that the most Degenerate Ages have some excellent men who seem to be made on purpose for such a time to stem the torrent and to give some ease to the Miseries of Mankind And would it become such men when the World so much needs them to get out of it if they could to chuse the quiet and silent Retirements of Woods and Deserts or of the Grave to avoid the trouble of serving God or doing good to Men Great Minds cannot do this Vertue is made for Difficulties and grows stronger and brighter for such Trials it lays a mighty obligation on Mankind to serve the Publick good with labour and danger to purchase the Ease and Liberty and Security of their Countrey at the price of their own Ease and the utmost hazard of their Lives and Fortunes to oppose a hardened and laborious and unwearied Vertue against Zeal and Faction and not like Issachar to crouch between two Burthens and cry rest is good And it is a mighty pleasure to a Vertuous mind to feel its own strength to contend with Difficulties as far as Vertue and Prudence directs with an unbroken mind it is always pleasant to do good but yet it has the sweeter relish the dearer we pay for it This is a Pleasure above all the Ease and Luxury of the World it not only sweetens all the Troubles of Life but turns them into Triumphs to endeavour to bear up a sinking World though he should at last be crush'd in the Ruins of it will make the very Ruins he sinks under an Illustrious Monument of his Vertue To do all that a Wise and Good man ought to do without regard to his own Ease to save a Sinking Church and State will make him fall with pleasure and perpetuate his Memory with Honour for in spight of Envy and Detraction Vertue will always be honourable in the Grave But I cannot enlarge on these things and therefore shall give you the result of all I have said in two or three Observations 1. That
though the Troubles and Calamities which we often meet with in this World do not prove Life to be a contemptible State or worse than not being yet they do prove Life to be a very Imperfect State that the mere Sensible Pleasures and Advantages of Life together with these great allays are but vanity and vexation of spirit Wise men see that there can be no compleat Happiness in this World and that it is vain to expect it for how can this World make us happy which though it has its Pleasures has its Troubles and Cares and Disappointments too is an insecure and mutable State exposed to Chance and Accident to the Lusts and Passions of men is always chequered with Prosperous and Adverse Events has always a mixture of Good and Evil and many times the Evil is the prevailing Ingredient And therefore though the natural love of Life and the many Sweets and Comforts of it reconcile very miserable people to living yet a wise man sees no reason to be fond of this State much less to dream of perfect and lasting Happiness in it 2dly The many Troubles we are exposed to plainly prove That there is no Happiness to be had in this World but in the practice of Vertue It was a vain brag of the Stoicks That Vertue alone could make a man happy that their Wise-man could be perfectly happy in Phalaris's Bull for Vertue is not Meat and Drink and Clothes can't cure Bodily Pain and Sickness nor satisfy the Appetites and Desires of the Body and while a Wise man lives in a mortal Body he must feel the wants and pains of it and to be in want and pain is not happiness But yet thus much is certainly true That nothing can make a man happy in this World without the practise of Vertue and that when we must encounter with the Troubles and Difficulties of Life nothing can give us any degree of Ease and Satisfaction but the practice of Vertue We may meet with such Troubles as will sowre all our other Enjoyments and make them unable to bear up our spirits which sink under their own weight under the disorders of their own Passions Are tormented with Fears with Disappointments with Envy with Rage and when they cannot bear themselves can bear nothing else nor relish their wonted Pleasures But you have already heard that Vertue has its proper Pleasures in the greatest Difficulties inspires us with prudent Counsels to disintangle our selves animates us with courage and bravery to resist the Evil or to bear it sweetens our Labours with the satisfaction of great and generous Actions for the Publick Good keeps our own Passions under government and triumphs over an adverse Fortune by raising the mind above it By such helps as these a Good man may enjoy some competent measure of Ease and Satisfaction in the worst Condition but when such Troubles surprise a mind unarmed and unfortified with Vertue unable to resist and unable to bear we may then with great truth and reason apply this Text to him I praised the dead who are already dead more than the living who are yet alive Were the state of this World always easy and prosperous there would be little need of Passive Vertues though Vertue in general is always necessary to make men happy but all men must be sensible how necessary Passive and Suffering Vertues are for an inconstant troublesome and suffering state which is always in some degree the state of this World and that will convince those who will consider it how necessary the practice of Vertue is to make men happy 3dly Though the Troubles of this Life are no reason why a Good man should hasten his escape out of this World before his time yet they are a very good reason to make him contented to leave this World whenever God calls him out of it For though Vertue will sweeten Labours and Difficulties yet no man would chuse always to live in a state of War Ease and rest is very pleasant and refreshing after labour Though a Prince be glorious in the Field covered with dust and sweat and sprinkled with the Bloud of his Enemies yet the Triumphs of a secure and quiet Throne are greater and more desirable And this makes the Grave too in some degree acceptable after the toils and labours of Vertue that there the weary are at rest especially since this Rest is not a state of insensibility for all the Labours and Difficulties of a Vertuous Life are infinitely to be preferred before the ease and rest of knowing and feeling and being sensible of nothing which is the rest of a Stone and of things without life not the rest of a Man But they rest from their labours and their works follow them they rest in a peaceful and secure enjoyment of Endless Happiness they rest from all the Labours of Vertue and enjoy its Rewards This is a sufficient justification of Providence with respect to the present Evils and Calamities of Life for it is what exactly becomes the Goodness of Providence in this World such a mixt State of Good and Evil as may wean us from the tempting Vanities of this Life and convince us that there is no perfect Happiness to be found here which is necessary to raise our hearts above this World and to set our Affections upon things above which is an Eternal State of perfect Ease and Rest And since Religion and Vertue is necessary to our Future Happiness nothing can be better for us than such a state of things as shall make Vertue necessary to our present Happiness and since we must leave this World and Death is the King of Terrors whatever reconciles us to Death and makes it easy may be reckoned one of the greatest pleasures and securities of Human Life Secondly In answer to this Objection against the Goodness of Providence from those many Evils and Calamities that are in the World we must consider That most of the Evils of Human Life are owing to mens own wickedness and folly and it is very unreasonable to make those Evils an Objection against Providence which men wilfully bring upon themselves Thus the Wise-man long since stated this Question The foolishness of man perverteth his ways and his heart fretteth against the Lord 19. Prov. 3. Men make themselves miserable and then reproach the Divine Providence with their Miseries And therefore I shall briefly shew you that Mankind undo themselves and that the Evils which men bring upon themselves are no reasonable Objection against the Goodness of Providence 1. The first is a very proper Subject for a Satyr against the Folly and Wickedness of Mankind but needs no proof If we take a survey of the many Miseries of Human Life and resolve them into their immediate and natural Causes we shall find that most men take great care to leave very little for God to do in the punishment of Wickedness in this World There are but two visible Causes of all the Miseries that
this kind Father to keep such a watchful eye over them and to take such prudent and effectual care as not to suffer them utterly to undo themselves to make their condition hopeless and desperate but only to let them feel the smart of their own folly to bring them to more sober thoughts not to perish under it till there is no hope left of reclaiming them What could a kind Father do more for Prodigals unless you would have him maintain them in their luxury and lewdness which a wise and good Father can't do He brought none of these miseries upon them and it is kindness to let them smart under them to prevent their undoing as long as he can he turns the miseries they bring upon themselves only into a state of discipline he suffers them to injure one another to make them all sensible of their folly and those who are past recovery he makes Examples of greater Severities to reform the rest If this would be thought a kind merciful and wise Conduct in earthly Parents apply it to the Providence of God and you have an answer to most of the miseries of Human Life 3dly In answer to this Objection against the Goodness of Providence from the many evils and miseries that are in the World we may consider further That as most of these evils are owing to our own or to other mens sins so it is we our selves who give the sting to them all As many external Calamities as there are in the World and as the present state of this World requires there should be in it God has made abundant provision for the support of good men under them It is not always in our power to avoid many of the Sufferings and Calamities of life but it is our own fault if we sink under them Natural Courage and strength of mind the powers of Reason and a wise consideration of the nature of things the belief of a Good Providence which takes care of us and orders all things for our good and the certain hopes of immortal life will support good men under their sufferings and make them light and easy And if God enable us to bear our sufferings and to enjoy our selves under them to possess our Souls in patience and to rejoyce in hope though we may suffer we are not miserable and Sufferings without misery are no formidable Objections against Providence this is like the Bush that was on fire but was not burnt a signal token of the Divine Presence and Favour and that can be no objection against the Goodness of Providence What is merely external may afflict a good man but cannot make him miserable for no man is miserable whose mind is easy and chearful full of great hopes and supported with Divine Joys But the disorders of our Passions make us miserable and make us sink under external Sufferings An immoderate love of this World Pride Ambition Covetousness Anger Hatred Revenge make every Condition uneasy and any great Sufferings intolerable It is this that makes Poverty and Disgrace the loss of Estate and Honours the Frowns of Princes and the Clamours of the People such unsufferable Evils which a wise and good man cannot only bear but modestly despise It is this that terrifies us with the least approach of danger and distracts us with fear and care and solicitude and with all the imaginary evils and frightful appearances which a scared fancy can raise in the dark Especially when guilt makes men afraid and look upon every misfortune disappointment affliction as a token of the Divine Vengeance and a terrible presage of the endless miseries of the next life External Evils and Calamities as far as they are good can be no objection against the Goodness of Providence and they are good as far as the Providence of God is concerned in them for they are permitted and ordered by God for wise and good ends and if they do not prove good to us it is our own fault who will not be made better by them Whatever men suffer if their sufferings do not make them miserable this is no just reproach to Providence for God may be very good to his Creatures whatever they suffer while they can suffer and be happy not perfectly and compleatly happy which admits of no sufferings but such a degree of self-enjoyment as reconciles external Sufferings with inward peace contentment patience hope which is the happiness of a suffering state and a much greater happiness than the most prosperous Fortune without it and if we be not thus happy under all our Sufferings it is our own fault Thus the Wise-man tells us That it is not so much external Sufferings which is all that can be charged upon the Divine Providence which makes men miserable but the inward guilt and disorders of their own minds 18. Prov. 14. The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity but a wounded spirit who can bear And if all that God inflicts on us may be born our misery is owing to our selves But I have so particularly discoursed this upon another occasion that I shall enlarge no farther on it 2dly Another Objection against the Goodness of Providence is God's partial and unequal care of his Creatures and I confess Partiality is a very great Objection both against Justice and an Universal Goodness and such the Goodness of Providence must be The foundation of the Objection is this That there are very different ranks and conditions of men in the World Rich and Poor High and Low Princes and Subjects and a great many degrees of Power and Honour and Riches and Poverty and we cannot say that God deals equally by all these men whose Fortunes are so very unequal But there is no great difficulty in answering this For 1. The Goodness of Providence consists in consulting the general good and happiness of Mankind and of particular men in subordination to the good of the whole and this fully answers the Objection For though there are too many who are not well satisfied with their own Station and never will be unless they could be uppermost yet I dare appeal to any man of common sense whether it be not most for the good of Mankind that there should be very different Ranks and Orders of men in the World There is not any one thing more necessary to the happiness of the World than good Government and yet there could be no Government in an equality and there is nothing makes such an inequality like an unequal Fortune Were all men equally rich and great there would be neither Subjects nor Servants for no man will chuse to be a Subject or a Servant who has an equal title to be a Lord and Master And then no man could be rich and great which are only comparative terms and which is worse than that no man could be safe And if an inequality in mens Fortunes be as necessary as Government that is a sufficient justification of Providence for Humane Societies
and raised an expectation even among the Romans of some great Prince who was to rise in the East as Tacitus observes And though the knowledge of the God of Israel did not reform Nations yet we have reason to believe that it made a great many private Converts who secretly forsook the Idolatries of their Countries and Worshipped the only True God It is reasonable to think it should do so and we must confess it was wisely designed by God for that purpose and some few examples of this kind which we know may satisfie us that there were many more On the Famous Day of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost descended on the Apostles in a Visible appearance of cloven tongues like as of fire there were at Ierusalem great Numbers not only of Iews but of Proselytes out of every Nation Parthians and Medes and Elamites and the dwellers in Mesopotamia and in Iudaea and Cappadocia in Pontus and Asia Phrygia and Pamphilia in Egypt and in the parts of Lybia about Cyrene and strangers of Rome Iews and Proselytes Cretes and Arabians 2. Acts 9 10 11. Whether these were Circumcised or Uncircumcised Proselites is not said but Proselites they were out of all these Nations who came up at the Feast to Worship at Ierusalem from whence we learn that the dispersion of the Iews into all Nations made great Numbers of Proselites who either undertook the observation of the Mosaical Law by Circumcision and became Iews or at least renounced all the Heathen Idolatries and worshipped no other God but the God of Israel The number of these last seems to have been much greater than that of Circumcised Proselites and if we believe some Learned men there is frequent mention made of them in Scripture under the names of worshipping Greeks and devout men and those which feared God When Saint Paul preached at Thessalonica there consorted with Paul and Silas of the devout Greeks a great multitude 17. Acts 24. The very name of Greeks proves them to be Gentiles not Iews who are always distinguished from each other and that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 devout or worshipping Greeks proves that they were the Worshippers of the God of Israel for that Title is never given in Scripture to Idolaters and their frequenting the Iewish Synagogue sufficiently proves it for no Gentiles resorted thither but those who worshipped the God of Israel Of this number was Lydia 16. Acts 14. and Cornelius the Roman Centurion who was not only a devout man and one who feared God himself but all his Family were so too 10. Acts 2. and the Eunuch 8. Acts 27. and almost in every place where St. Paul preached the Gospel we find great numbers of these worshipping Gentiles at Thessalonica and Philippi as you have seen at Corinth 18. Acts 4. at Antioch of Pisidia 13. Acts 43. and we have reason to conclude that thus it was in other places which shews what a great effect the dispersion of the Iews into all these Countries had in making Proselites some to the Iewish Religion but many more to the Worship of the God of Israel which prepared them to receive the Gospel when is was preached to them For they were the Worshippers of the True God and were instructed in the Law and the Prophets as appears from their frequenting the Iewish Synagogues and therefore were in expectation of the Messias and were capable of understanding the Scripture Proofs of the Christian Faith It is certain the first Gentile Converts were of this sort of men who more readily embraced the Faith than the Iews themselves for they had all the preparations for Christianity which the Iews had but none of their Prejudices neither a fondness for their Ceremonial Worship nor for the Temporal Kingdom of the Messias And therefore a very Learned man expounds that Text 13. Acts 48. As many as were ordained to eternal life believed of these devout and worshipping Gentiles that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ready disposed and prepared to receive the Doctrine of Eternal Life by Christ Jesus And thus we are come to the days of Christ whose appearance in the world was the last and most effectual means God used for the recovery of Mankind to consider the Divine Wisdom in the Redemption of the world by Jesus Christ relates to the wisdom of the Christian Religion not of Providence and therefore does not concern my present Argument but if we take a brief review of what I have said we may the better understand in what sense Christ is said to come in the fulness of time for he came as soon as the world was prepared to receive him For I would desire any man who complains that the coming of Christ was too long delayed to tell me in what sooner period it had been proper for him to appear In every Age as I have already shewn God took the wisest methods that the Condition of Mankind would at that time allow to reform the world and if Christ appeared at such a time as the Divine Wisdom saw most fit and proper for his appearance he appeared as soon as he could if we will allow God to dispense his Grace and Favours wisely That he did so no man can doubt who believes the Wisdom and Goodness of God But my business at present is to give you a fair representation of all those wise Advances God made to this last compleating and stupendious Act of Grace and Love God had promised our first Parents immediately upon the Fall That the seed of the woman should break the serpent's head and by vertue of this Promise all truly good men were saved by Christ from the beginning of the world But the more to recommend the Love of God in the Incarnation and Death of our Saviour it seems very congruous to the Divine Wisdom that all other Methods should be first tried for the reforming of Mankind before the coming of Christ and that he should come in such a time when the world was best prepared to receive Him and as little as we understand of the unsearchable Counsels of God it may satisfy us that upon both these accounts Christ appeared in the fulness of time When all flesh had corrupted his ways and there was but one Righteous Family left the only probable means of restoring Piety and Vertue to the world was to destroy all that Wicked Generation of Men and to preserve that Righteous Family to new-people the world When that New Generation began to corrupt themselves God separated them from each other by confounding their Languages and formed them into distinct Societies and Kingdoms which was the most effectual way to stop the Infection and to force on them the practise of many Moral and Civil Vertues When notwithstanding this they all declined to Idolatry God chose Abraham and his Posterity to be his peculiar People to preserve the Faith and Worship of the One Supream God in the world he gave them his Laws committed to
and not only restored Peace to the Christian Church but made Christianity the Religion of the Empire And if the Wisdom of Providence consists in giving us wise Instructions I am sure this furnishes us with many When things are reduced to that extremity as to be past Human relief it makes it visible to all the world that it is God's doing Where there is Force against Force and Counsels against Counsels though Providence determines the Event Human Power and Counsels very often monopolize the Glory and leave God out but when God does that which men are so far from being able to do that they can't think it possible to be done this awakens a sense of an Invisible Power and makes the Divine Glory and Providence known to the world When God exposes his own Church and People to such a suffering state and threatens them with Final Ruin it is a severe Summons to repentance and warns them not to trust in vain words crying The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord for God will purge his own House and no External Relation or Priviledges shall secure us from Vengeance if we walk not worthy of that holy vocation wherewith we are called But such Deliverances as these give us great reason never to despair they teach us That no case is desperate when God will save and therefore the less expectation we at any time have of Human Succors the more earnestly ought we to implore the Divine Protection and learn to live upon Faith and Trust in God When Good men are reduced to such Extremities it makes them more fervent and importunate in their Prayers more serious in their Repentance more sensible how much they stand in need of God and such surprizing and unexpected Deliverances inflame their Devotions make their Praises and Thanksgivings more hearty and sincere which gives great glory to God and betters their own minds 5thly The sudden Revolutions of the world and the various and unexpected Changes of mens Fortunes which is thought one great Calamity of Human Life is intended by God to instruct us in some necessary and excellent parts of Wisdom Some Crafty Politicians like Mariners steer their course as the Wind blows and change as it changes They have no other Rule for their Actions but to guess as well as they can where their advantage or safety lies but Providence very often disappoints them in this by such hasty changes and short turns as make them giddy and this teaches us to act by Rule not by a politick foresight of Events our Rule can never deceive us what is just and right and true is always safe but our Politicks may for things may not go as we expect The various changes of mens Fortunes teach us to treat all men with great humanity not to be insolent when we are prosperous nor to despise our Inferiors for we know not what they nor we may be before we die Civility and modesty of conversation is always safe but pride and insolence may create us Enemies who may in time how mean soever they are at present be able to return our insolence The Divine Providence so orders Human Affairs as to teach us most of the wisest Rules of Human Life both for our Religious and Civil Conversation and this I take to be a manifest proof of the Wisdom of Providence 6thly The Wisdom of Providence is often seen in the wise mixture and temperament of Mercy and Judgment when he corrects but not destroys humbles but does not cast down when he makes us sensible of his displeasure and gives us just reason to fear but without despair when as the Psalmist speaks He lifts up and casts down keeps us under the discipline of hopes and fears and tries our Faith and Patience and Submission and both threatens and invites us to repentance by the interchangeable Scenes of prosperous and adverse Events Thus the Psalmist tells us it is with good men The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his way though he fall he shall not utterly be cast down for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand 37. Psal. 23 24. Thus 94. Psal 14 15. For the Lord will not cast off his people neither will he forsake his inheritance but judgment shall return unto righteousness and all the upright in heart shall follow it And he proves this by his own Experience Vnless the Lord had been my help my soul had almost dwelt in silence When I said my feet slippeth thy mercy O Lord held me up 17 18 Verses An Example of this ye have 27. Isaiah Hath he smitten them that is Israel as he smote those that smote him He smote Israel but not as he smote the Enemies of Israel Or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him In measure when it shooteth forth wilt thou debate with it He stayeth his rough wind in the day of his east wind This is to sing to God of Mercy and of Judgment to learn righteousness by the things which we suffer but still to trust in his help CHAP. IX Concerning those Duties which we owe to Providence I Have now finished what I intended with relation to the Nature and Justification of Providence and all that remains is to explain and enforce those Duties which we owe to Providence Natural Religion is founded on the belief of a God and a Providence for if there be no God there is no Object of our Worship if there be no Providence there is no Reason for our Worship But a God that made the world and takes care of all the Creatures that are in it deserves the Praises and Adorations of all A God who neither made the world nor governs it is nothing to us we have no relation to him he has nothing to do with us nor we with him but a God in whom we live and move and have our being is the Supream Object of our love and fear and reverence and hope and trust and of all those religious and devout Affections which are due to our Maker and Soveraign Lord. This is so plain that it is enough to name it but the nature and extent of those Duties which we owe to Providence deserves a more particular consideration As to instance in some of the chief 1. To take notice of the Hand of God in every thing that befalls us to attribute all the Evils we suffer and all the good things we enjoy to his Soveraign Will and Appointment This is the foundation of all the other Duties which we owe to Providence and the general neglect of this makes us defective in all the rest Now if the Divine Providence has the absolute government of all Events you must confess it your duty to take notice of Providence and to acknowledge God in every thing for this is only applying the general Doctrine of Providence to particular Events without which particular application the general belief of a
Employment or Profession be shall serve Kings This is impossible in the nature of the thing and therefore cannot be the meaning of these Promises And yet such kind of Promises as these signify a great deal for the encouragement of Wisdom and Industry and Vertue not that every wise and prudent and diligent man shall be rich and honourable but that every man shall find the rewards of Religion and Vertue proportioned to his capacities and state of life and that this is God's way of promoting men when he advances them in favour and good-will to them and therefore this is the only way wherein we must expect the blessing and protection of God But then there are some Promises which are equally made to all good men and they are a sure foundation of our hope and trust if we be truly good men in all conditions As that God will never leave them nor forsake them 13. Hebr. 5. That he will always take care of them as a Father takes care of his Children That tho he may not think fit to advance them in the world yet he will provide Food and Raiment for them as our Saviour proves by many Arguments 6. Matth. 25 34. Take no thought for your life what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink nor yet for your bodies what ye shall put on is not the life more than meat and the body than raiment and will not that God who has given us our Lives and our Bodies give us what is absolutely necessary for their support Behold the fowls of the air they sow not neither do they reap nor gather into barns yet your heavenly father feedeth them are ye not much better than they Therefore take no thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewith shall we be cloathed for after all these things do the Gentiles seek for your heavenly father knoweth ye have need of all these things But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you This is an absolute Promise and gives absolute security to good men that if they take care to serve God God will take care to feed and cloath them either by blessing their ordinary prudence and industry or when that fails by extraordinary Providences by providing for them without their care or labour as he feeds the Fowls of the Air who neither sow nor reap And to name but one Promise more which is our security in all conditions St. Paul assures us That all things work together for good to them that love God 8. Rom. 28. which is such a general security as is a foundation for an universal hope in God That though we cannot know in every particular case what God will do for us yet we certainly know that he will order all things for our good Thus far we have the Promises of God to trust to That God will always take care of us and in particular that he will provide Food and Raiment for us which is all that he has absolutely promised to good men and is all that our Saviour allows us absolutely to pray for Give us this day our daily bread And this good men whose faith does not fail but against all discouragements trust securely in God's provision may ordinarily expect from God even in an afflicted and persecuted state where Famine it self is not the persecution for I dare not extend this so far as to say that no good man shall ever die of want for some extraordinary Cases are always excepted out of the most general and absolute Promises relating to this life and reserved to the government of the Divine Wisdom But good men may have Food and Raiment and yet be exposed to many inconveniences and sufferings and therefore for our farther security we are assured That all things shall work together for good to them that love God 2. And this brings me to consider what it is to trust in God in particular cases when we have no particular promises what God will do for us in such cases but only a general assurance of God's care of us and of the Wisdom Justice and Goodness of his Providence We must particularly trust in God for our daily Provisions for our preservation from any present evils which threaten us for the success of our undertakings in all the particular Actions and Concernments of our lives but what can such a particular trust mean or what foundation is there for it when we have no particular promises that God will protect or succeed us in such particular cases and notwithstanding God's care of us and the Justice and Goodness of his Providence he may not answer our expectations in such cases but may order things quite otherwise than we desire Now this I confess were an unanswerable difficulty did a particular trust in God signify a firm belief and persuasion that God will do that particular thing which I rely and depend on him for for no man can have any reason to believe this or in this sense to trust in God without an express Promise or some private Revelation Now it is certain there are no such particular Promises which we can with any reason apply to our selves contained in Scripture and private Enthusiasms are a dangerous pretence the dreams of Self-love and the Visions of an heated Imagination I grant that under the Law there were such particular Promises and particular Revelations made to good men which were a sure foundation for a particular faith and trust in God as to some particular Events especially as to the Events of War which were commonly undertaken by God's express Command managed by his Direction with a certain promise of success as is evident in the Wars of Moses and Ioshua and the Iudges and in After-ages God did the same thing either by his Oracle of Vrim and Thummim or by his Prophets But there is no such thing among us now and therefore such a faith and trust in God we cannot have nor does God expect it from us we have nothing to depend on as to the certainty of Events but must trust to that assurance we have of God's care of us and of the Wisdom and Goodness of his Providence and therefore must consider what trust and dependence that is which we owe to Providence Now to trust Providence is not to trust in God that he will do that particular thing for us which we desire but to trust our selves and all our concernments with God to do for us in every particular case which we recommend to his care what he sees best and fittest for us in such cases The difference between these two is very plain and I think every one will confess that such a general trust and affiance in God is a much more excellent vertue and does much more honour to the Divine Nature than merely to trust his Promise which secures us of the Event To rely on God for the performance of
or Sorrow Anger or Repentance Pity and Compassion because those sensible Commotions which accompany these Passions in men are not incident to the Divine Nature But if the Scripture be a good Rule both of believing and speaking we may very honourably say that of God which God says of himself and believe that all these Affections are in God in such a perfect and excellent manner as becomes an Infinite and Eternal Mind Some men think that the Scripture's attributing Love and Joy and Delight Hatred Sorrow and Compassion to God is no better reason to ascribe such affections to him than it is to say that God has bodily Eyes and Ears and Feet and Hands because the Scripture attributes them also to God But there is a wide difference between these two for the Scripture has taken sufficient care to inform us that God is an infinite and unbodied Spirit without Shape or Figure and that is reason to believe that these are only allusive and metaphorical Expressions which represent the Powers by the Instruments of the Action seeing by Eyes and hearing by Ears but these affections which are attributed to God are not Instruments but Powers and are as essential to a Mind as Wisdom and Knowledge A pure Mind must have pure and intellectual Affections which move with greater strength and certainty though without the disturbance of humane Passions It is impossible to conceive a Mind without Wisdom and Knowledge or to conceive Wisdom and Knowledge without an intellectual Approbation and Abhorrence for perfect Wisdom must approve and disapprove and the several ways of approving or disapproving constitute the several Passions and Affections of the Soul and therefore these must be as perfect in God as Wisdom is though as void of sensible passions as a pure Spirit is Now if God have such Affections as these which may be moved in a manner suitable to the Divine Perfections then Prayer may move him and prevail with him to shew Mercy and Kindness Thus the Scripture represents it and without such a representation as this there can be no reason nor foundation for Prayer Not to shew you this in particular how God has been moved by the Intercessions of Good men to change his Counsels and to spare those whom he had threatned to destroy of which we have a famous Example in the Intercession of Moses for Israel when they had made the Golden Calf and worshipped it 32 Exod. 9 10 c. Of which the Psalmist tells us He said he would destroy them had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach to turn away his wrath lest he should destroy them 106. Psal. 23. I say not to insist on such Examples now I shall only observe that most of our Saviour's Arguments and Parables whereby he encourageth our Faith in Prayer are resolved into this principle That God is moved by our Prayers in some Analogy and Proportion as men are that whatever effect of our Prayers we may reasonably expect from Wise and Kind and Good men that we may more certainly expect from God Our Saviour promises 7. Matth. 7 8 9 10. 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 This is as full a promise as can be made and yet for their greater security he proves to their own sense and feeling that it needs must be so We know and feel what the natural Kindness and Tenderness of Earthly Parents is for their Children how ready they are to answer all their reasonable requests especially when it is for the supply of their necessary wants and thus he assures us it is with God and much more because there is no comparison between the Kindness and Tenderness of Earthly Parents and the Goodness of God What man is there of you whom if his son ask bread will he give him a stone Or if he ask fish will he give him a serpent If you then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him Thus our Saviour represents the power of importunity by the parable of a man who came to his Friends to borrow some Bread of him when he was a bed which was so unseasonable a time as made it troublesome and uneasy but tho meer Friendship could not prevail with him to do it importunity did 11. Luke 5. c. and by the parable of the importunate Widow and the unjust Judge who tho he had no regard to Justice yet was conquered by her importunity to avenge her of her Enemy And shall not God avenge his own elect which cry day and night unto him tho he bear long with them 18. Luke 2. c. If importunity will prevail where neither Friendship nor the love of Justice will prevail how much more will it prevail with a Good and Merciful and Righteous God Indeed most of our Saviour's Parables proceed upon that likeness and resemblance which is between Human Passions and the Affections of the Divine Nature that we may certainly expect that from God which we can reasonably expect from Wise and Good men in the like cases what either Friendship or a love of Virtue or Natural Affections or Interest and Relation and Private Concernment will do that God will do for us as is evident in the Parables of the Lost Sheep and Lost Groat and Prodigal Son which could have no foundation were not God in some analogy moved as men are It is certain our Saviour intended we should understand it so when he makes it the reason of our Faith and Hope in Prayer And if it be thus we see the reason and necessity of Prayer and know how to pray to God so as to prevail to pray to God as we would in the like cases ask of men with the same Importunity Ardour Vehemence Sorrow and Contrition Trust and Dependence for what will prevail with men will much more prevail with God And indeed there are very wise reasons why God should make Prayer the necessary Condition of our Receiving as that his Power and Providence may be universally owned and acknowledged by Mankind That we may live in a constant dependence on him and be sensible that all we receive is his gift to lay restraints upon mens ungoverned Lusts and Appetites that they may never expect success without Prayer and therefore may never dare attempt any thing for which they dare not pray These are wise Reasons why God should not give unless we ask and therefore if we believe that God governs the World it is our Interest as well as our Duty to pray to him for we have no Title to his Protection without it Let us then in all Conditions make our humble and hearty Prayers and Supplications to God and recommend our Selves and