of particular Creatures but of the good of the whole And this in some Cases may make the greatest and most terrible Acts of Severity such as are enough to afright and astonish the World Acts of the greatest Goodness and Mercy too which will vindicate the Goodness of Providence when God seems to be most severe and to have forgot all Goodness and Compassion As to explain this in some particular Cases The good government of the World requires the defence and protection of Mankind from violent and unjust Oppressions and the most exemplary Vengeance executed upon such private or publick Oppressors is a great Act of Goodness and a great deliverance to the Oppressed 136. Psalm the Psalmist exhorts us To give thanks to the Lord for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever And among other Expressions of the Divine Goodness and Mercy he mentions the Plagues of Egypt and the Deliverance of Israel by the overthrow of Pharaoh in the Red-Sea To him that smote Egypt in their first-born for his mercy endureth for ever And brought out Israel from among them for his mercy endureth for ever With a strong hand and with a stretched-out arm for his mercy endureth for ever To him which divided the Red-sea into parts for his mercy c. and made Israel to pass through the midst of it but over-threw Pharaoh and his host in the Red-sea for his mercy c. To him who smote great kings and slew famous kings Sihon king of the Amorites and Og the king of Bashan and gave their land for an heritage even for an heritage to Israel his servant for his mercy endureth for ever This ought to be well considered before we object the Evils and Calamities which befall Bad men against the Goodness of Providence For there are few Bad men who suffer any Remarkable Vengeance but that their Sufferings are a great kindness and deliverance to others and it may be to the Publick in breaking their Power or taking them out of the World And in all such Cases the Psalmist has taught us a very proper Hymn I will sing of mercy and judgment unto thee O Lord will I sing 101. Psal. 1. Thus the good government of the World requires some great and lasting Examples of God's Justice and Vengeance against Sin And as terrible as such Examples are they are a great publick Good to the World Some few such Examples as these will serve to warn an Age nay many succeeding Ages and Generations of men which prevents the more frequent Executions of Vengeance and justifies the Patience and Long-suffering of God to Sinners If such Examples in any measure reform the World as God intends they should it makes this World a much happier place for the better men are the less hurt and the more good they will do and the less evil there is committed in the World the less Mankind will suffer and the greater Blessings God will bestow on them And though there be a great deal of Wickedness committed in the World after such Terrible Warnings as these God may exercise great Patience and Forbearance towards Sinners without the least blemish to his Holiness or Justice For such Frightful Executions convince the World of God's Justice and when God has publickly vindicated the Honour of his Justice he may try gentler Methods and glorify his Mercy and Patience towards Sinners And thus God punishes that he may spare is sometimes very terrible in his Judgments to prevent the necessity of striking often that Sinners may have sufficient warning and that he may be good to Sinners without encouraging them in sin Thus the destruction of the Old World by a Deluge of Water when they were past being reformed is a warning to all Sinners as long as this World lasts and is a publick and standing Confutation of Atheism of such Scoffers as say where is the promise of his coming for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation The constant and regular course of Nature without any Supernatural Changes and Revolutions tempts men to think that there is no God in the World who changes Times and Seasons but this St. Peter tells us is visibly confuted by the destruction of the Old World for this they are willingly ignorant of that by the word of God the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished And this is reason enough to fear and expect what God has threatned That this present World shall be burnt by fire But the heavens and the earth which are now by the same word are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men 2 Peter 3. 5 6 7. Such Destructions as these can be attributed to no Natural Causes but the same Word which made the World destroyed the Old World by Water and will destroy this by Fire which makes it a visible Demonstration of the Power and Justice of God The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by Fire from Heaven is not only a general Warning to Sinners but an Example of a Divine Vengeance against all Uncleanness and Unnatural Lusts. As St. Iude tells us Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh are set forth for an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire v. 7. Thus the Destruction of Ierusalem by the Romans which was attended with the most terrible Circumstances that we ever meet with in Story is a lasting Confutation of Infidelity and a glorious Testimony to Christ and his Religion So that most of the terrible Examples of God's Vengeance how terrible soever they were to those who suffered are Acts of great Goodness to the World and therefore belong to the Goodness of Government by some severe Executions to protect and defend the Innocent and reclaim other Offenders without the necessity of terrifying the World in every Age with such repeated Severities Nay we may observe farther That when the World is grown very corrupt and degenerate and such Sinners if they be suffered to continue in it will certainly propagate their Atheism Infidelity and Lewdness to all Posterity it is great Goodness to all succeeding Generations to cleanse the World of its impure Inhabitants by some great Destruction by Sword or Plague or Famine to lessen the number of Sinners and to possess those who escape with a greater awe and reverence of God's Judgments Nay to observe but one thing more Many times these terrible Shakings and Convulsions of the World are intended by God to open some new and more glorious Scene of Providence Thus it was in the Four Empires which preyed upon each other and were at last swallowed up by the Roman Powers though they made great Destructions in the World yet they carried Learning and Civility into
mankind now is would destroy the good Government of the world and most of the Pleasures and Conveniences of Life and yet without this the Providence of God is not so uniform towards men as it is towards beasts and those who fare worse than others of the same nature with them will still complain If then Providence must not deal alike by all men do they mean by the Uniformity and Stability of Providence That mens Fortunes whatever they are shall always be the same That the Rich and Prosperous shall always be Rich and Prosperous and the Poor always Poor and Beggars and Slaves Unless these Objectors be all Rich and Happy I doubt they will never agree to this for the Poor and Miserable must needs think it hard usage to be always poor without room for better hopes But such a Stability of Providence as this would destroy the Wise and Just Government of the World for how should God restrain and punish Wickedness and reward and encourage Vertue if the Rich must always be Rich and the Poor always Poor Nay how can the Providence of God do this without making men Vertuous and Vicious too by Necessity and Fate When Wantonness and Prodigality Idleness and Folly will spend or lose an Estate and Frugality Prudence and Diligence will get one And when all men in this world must not be equal does it not more become the Wisdom and Justice of Providence that mens own Vertues and Vices shall in a great measure make the distinction and carve out their own Fortunes for them So that when men complain of the Uncertainty and Instability of Fortune as they call it they complain of they know not what and were it put to their own choice what to have in the room of it they would not know how to mend the matter The wise government of free Agents who so often change themselves requires very frequent sudden surprizing Turns of Providence the reasons of which must of necessity be as invisible to us as the thoughts of mens hearts and their most secret intrigues and counsels till we can make men all move alike as regularly and uniformly as the Heavenly Bodies do it is an absurd and unreasonable complaint That Providence does not act regularly and that the Events of Providence are not always the same Another great Complaint against Providence is That good men are not always rewarded nor bad men punished according to their deserts That many bad men are prosperous in this world and some good men great sufferers That 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 9. Eccl. 2. This makes the Events of Providence very sudden mysterious and unaccountable that no man knows what course to take to make his life easy and prosperous for whether he be good or wicked he may be happy or miserable as it happens As for the Objection it self I shall consider it more hereafter but at present I will only ask these Objectors Whether to remove these Difficulties and Uncertainties of Providence and that they may the better understand the Reasons of all Events they do in good earnest desire That God would reduce this matter to a Certainty by punishing all bad men and rewarding all good men in this world according to their deserts If they do I must tell them as Christ told the two Brethren who desired that they might sit one on his Right hand and the other on his Left in his Kingdom Ye ask ye know not what They ask the most dangerous thing that could possibly befal mankind and what they ask would be Ten thousand times a greater Objection against Providence than what they complain of Should every Sinner be punished in this world according to his deserts what man is there so just and innocent as to escape the Divine Vengeance If thou Lord shouldest mark iniquity O Lord who shall stand 130. Psal. 3. Were every Sinner punished as he deserves I doubt there would be no good man left to be rewarded for where is the man that doth good and sinneth not What room does this leave for Patience and Forbearance for the Repentance of Sinners for God's Pardoning-Grace and Mercy and what a Terrible Providence is this How contrary to all the Notions we have of God and his kind and gracious Government of his Creatures I grant God may exercise great Patience and Long-suffering towards sinners he may forgive the sins of true Penitents and yet punish sinners and reward good men even in this world these things are very reconcilable in God's Government of the world for thus he does govern the world but they are very irreconcilable with such a Providence and Government as these men desire which requires a present and visible Punishment of every sin as soon as committed and as present and visible a Reward of every good action for unless these Punishments and Rewards are present all the time they are delayed bad men may be prosperous and good men afflicted which is their very Objection against Providence which can never be removed but by speedy and visible Executions which leave no place for the Patience and Forgiveness of God or for the Repentance of Sinners And is it not much more desirable for ever to be ignorant of the Reasons of Providence than to have such Proofs and Demonstrations of Providence as this Let me desire these unthinking Cavillers at Providence to review their Objection over again and consider what is the meaning of every word in it and how upon second thoughts they like it themselves That they may have a plain and certain Reason of God's Judgments they desire that no man may suffer any external Calamity but only for sin and that every sinner may be punish'd in this world according to his deserts and then they will believe That there is a Providence that governs the world tho it is better for the world that they should continue Infidels than be thus convinced Well then who in the first place are these sinners whom they would have punished Do they mean every one who does a wicked action or every impenitent and incorrigible sinner If every one who at any time does any wicked action must be punished for it then it is plain that no man can escape then there is no place for Repentance or Forgiveness but a speedy Vengeance must pursue the sinner and God knows we are all sinners and must all be punished and if this removes one Objection against Providence I 'm sure it will very much encrease another from the many evils and miseries that are in the world which will be many more and much greater if every sin must receive its just punishment If they mean only That impenitent and incorrigible sinners
what the condition of such men is in the other world who lived in invincible ignorance of the True God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ in this This we confess we do not know but believe so well of God that we are verily perswaded could we see what their state is in the other world we should see no reason to quarrel with the Justice or Goodness of God upon their account And have we any reason then to quarrel with God only because we know not how he deals with the ignorant Heathens in the next world If we knew how God dealt with these men and knew that he dealt hardly by them as far as we could judge this would be a difficulty but what Difficulty is there in knowing nothing of the matter For if we know nothing of it we ought to say and judg nothing of it neither Men must be very much inclined to quarrel with God who will raise Objections from what they confess they know nothing of and yet I cannot guess how they should know any thing of the state of ignorant Heathens in the next world since the Scripture says nothing of it and yet this can be known only by Revelation for we cannot look into the other world The plain truth of the case is this Some men without any Authority of Scripture confidently affirm That ignorant Heathens shall suffer the same Condemnation which Christ has threatned aginst wilful Infidels and wicked Christians and then it may well be thought a great Difficulty That God should as severely punish men for not knowing Christ when he was never preached to them and they had no other possible way of knowing him as he will punish those who have had the Gospel of Christ preached to them but refused to believe in him or have professed the Faith of Christ but lived very wickedly This I confess is a great Difficulty but it is a Difficulty of their own making and I should think it much more safe for our selves and much more honourable for God to confess our Ignorance of such matters as we have no possible way to know and to refer all such unknown Cases to the Wisdom Justice and Goodness of God than to pretend to know what we cannot know and from thence to raise such Objections as we cannot answer Whatever Difficulties immediately relate to the state of the other world we must be contented should remain Difficulties till we go thither for we know so little in particular about the other world that it is impossible we should be able either to satisfy our selves or others in such matters but these are not properly Difficulties in Providence for they do not so much concern the government of this world as of the next Thus I have at large shewn not only That the Absolute Power of God makes him Unaccountable as the Sovereign Lord of the World but That his Infinite Wisdom is above the comprehension of our Narrow Understandings he is not bound to give any account of all the Wise Designs of his Providence and we are not capable of receiving it This indeed is so plain at the first hearing to all men who believe God to be Infinitely Wise and are sensible of their own Ignorance that I should have been ashamed to have insisted so long on it did not all men know who know any thing of this Dispute That most of the Objections against Providence are owing wholly to this cause That men will not allow God to do what they cannot understand And the best way I could take to teach these men more Modesty in censuring Providence was to shew them particularly That if God govern the world wisely there are a thousand things which they must of necessity be ignorant of and then it can be no Objection against the Wisdom Justice and Goodness of God in governing the world that they cannot in many cases give a satisfactory account of the Particular Reasons of Providence Fifthly Let us now enquire in what cases this is a reasonable Answer to all the Difficulties of Providence That God giveth no account of his matters That the judgments of God are unsearchable and his ways past finding out And there is great reason for this Enquiry that no man may presume to attribute any thing to God which can never be reconciled with the common Notions of Good and Evil Just and Unjust upon this pretence That the Ways and Judgments of God are unsearchable and unaccountable and that we ought not to demand a reason of them That there are such men in the world is sufficiently known to those who understand any thing of some modern Controversies in Religion I need instance at present only in the Doctrine of Eternal and Absolute Election and Reprobation on which a great many other such like unaccountable Doctrines depend That God created the far greatest part of mankind on purpose to make them eternally miserable or at least as others state it That he Order'd and Decreed or which is the same thing effectually Permitted the Sin and Fall of Adam that he might glorify his Mercy in chusing some few out of the corrupted Mass of Mankind to be Vessels of Glory and to glorify his Justice in the Eternal Punishment of all others even of Reprobated Infants as involved in the Guilt of Adam's sin Now thus far I confess they are in the right that these are very unaccountable Doctrines for to make creatures on purpose to make them miserable is contrary to all the Notions we have of Just and Good But tho we readily confess That the Ways and Judgments of God are unsearchable yet men must not think upon this pretence to attribute what they please to God how absurd unreasonable unjust soever it be and then shelter themselves against all Objections by resolving all into the Unaccountable Will and Pleasure of God for God has no such Unaccountable Will as this is to do such things as manifestly contradict all the Notions which mankind have of good and evil We find in Scripture That God abhors all such Imputations as these as infinitely injurious to him and appeals to the common Notions of what is Just and Equal to justify the general Rules of his Providence The whole 18th Chapter of Ezekiel is a plain proof of this where God complains of that Proverb as reflecting upon the Justice and Equity of his Providence The fathers have eaten sowre grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge That is that the Children are punished for the sins of their Fathers How unreasonable an Imputation this is God proves from that Equal Right which he hath in Parents and Children which will not admit of such Partiality Behold all souls are mine as the soul of the father so also the soul of the son is mine the soul that sinneth it shall dye And declares this to be the general Rule of his Providence That a good man who does what is just and right shall surely live That if
will not see To deceive those with signs and lying wonders and all deceivableness of unrighteousness who do not love the trath but have pleasure in unrighteousness who endeavour to deceive themselves and desire to be deceived For this is all that is meant by sending them strong delusions to believe a lie that God suffers the Man of sin to erect his Kingdom after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders When men are in love with their Sins and therefore do not love the Truth because it discovers and reproves their Sins they are out of the protection of Gods Grace and are delivered up to the Cheats and Impostures of Crafty Men or of Wicked Spirits This is the rule and method of God's Grace he forces truth on no man but those who love the truth shall find it Those who cry after knowledge aud lift up their voice for understanding who seek her as silver and search for her as for hid treasures they shall understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God 2. Prov. 2 3 4 5. But if men wilfully shut their own eyes against the light God suffers the God of this world to blind them as St. Paul teaches 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. But if our gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which belive not lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them Which should make us all afraid of prejudice and the love of this world which bar up the mind against truth and by degrees betray us to a judicial blindness There are some other Texts which do indeed attribute the supreme Disposal of all Human Actions to God but without charging his Providence with mens sins 16. Prov. 9. A mans heart deviseth his ways but the Lord directeth his steps 19. 21. There are many devices in a mans heart nevertheless the counsel of the Lord that shall stand 20. 24. Mans goings are of the Lord how then can a man understand his own ways The meaning of which is that men advise and deliberate and choose freely what they intend to do but when they come to action they can do nothing they can bring nothing to pass but what God will God can change their Counsels or can disappoint them when they are ripe for action or can make what they do serve quite another end than what they intended Now this only proves what I have already observed That the Issues and Events of all things are in God's hands as they must be if he governs the World Men may choose what they please but they shall do only what God sees fit and what he orders for wise ends God does not act immediately but makes use of Natural causes or of the Ministries of men both good and bad men Men choose and act freely and pursue their own Designs and Imaginations and therefore the moral Good or Evil of the action is their own and God does as freely with unsearchable Wisdom over-rule all Events which are therefore God's doing as well as mens being directed by him to serve the wise ends of Providence in rewarding or punishing Men or Nations as they deserve Thus I have as briefly as I could examined most of those Texts which have been thought to attribute to God some kind of Causality and Efficiency in the Sins of Men and I hope have made it appear that there is no such thing intended in them And for the conclusion of this Argument concerning the Holiness of Providence I shall only add some few Practical Inferences by way of Application 1. Not to attribute our own or other Mens sins to God Let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any man But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed 1. James 13 14. This is absolutely necessary to be observed for without it there is an end of all Religion If God can influence mens Minds to wicked Purposes and Counsels it is impossible he should hate Wickedness or be so Holy as many Holy men are who would no more incline or tempt other men to sin than they would sin themselves And who will hate sin or think that God will love him ever the less for being a Sinner who believes this If God want the Sins of Men to accomplish his own Counsels they must either be very unholy Counsels which cannot be accomplished without the Sins of Men or he must be a weak or unskilful Being which is down-right Blasphemy for a wise and powerful Being can do whatever is Wise and Holy without the Sins of Men. It is excellent Wisdom indeed when men do and will Sin for God to accomplish his own wise and gracious Counsels by their Sins but to incline or tempt or over-rule or determine men to sin on purpose to serve himself by their Sins this would be a just Impeachment both of his Holiness his Wisdom and his Power and a God who is neither Holy Wise nor Powerful would be no very fit Object of Religious worship To say that God decrees the Sins of men for his own Glory to magnifie his Mercy and Justice in saving some few and in condemning the greatest part of Mankind to eternal Miseries is so sensless a Representation both of the Glory of the Mercy and of the Justice of God as destroys the very Notion of all For if Man be a meer Machine who moves as he is moved how can he deserve either Well or Ill Necessity destroys the very Notion of Vertue or Vice both which suppose a free Choise and Election and if ther be no Vertue nor Vice there can be no Rewards nor Punishments and then there is no place neither for Justice nor Mercy and then God can neither glorify his Mercy nor his Justice in forgiving Sins or in punishing the Sinner How can any man who believes that he is over-ruled by God to do all the Evil he does ever be a true Penitent or heartily beg God's Pardon or reverence his Judgments or endeavour to do better All Religion is founded in this Persuasion That God hates every thing that is wicked for if there be no Essential difference between Good and Evil there is no pretence for Religion and if God makes none there is none and if he can be the Author of what is Evil as well as of what is Good he makes no difference between them 2dly The Holiness of Providence teacheth us never to do any Evil to serve Providence under pretext of doing some great Good by it which we think may be acceptable to God God never needs the Sins of men and can never approve them whatever good ends they are intended to serve God indeed does many times bring Good out of Evil but he allows no Man to do evil that
than the Creation of a New World would be But had God destroyed the whole Race of men and created a new Man to inhabit the New World this would have argued some defect in the first Creation for there can be no pretence for destroying Man to make him again but a design to make him better to correct that in a second trial which Experience had discovered to be faulty in the first But though the wisdom of Government will admit of various Trials and Experiments the Wisdom of Creation wont The Government of free Agents must be accommodated to their Natures and Dispositions not only to what God made them but to what they make themselves and therefore the Methods of Government must change as men change themselves but the Natures of all things are made only by God and if there be any fault in them it is chargeable upon the Divine Wisdom and to make Man and destroy him and make him again would argue a great fault somewhere 2dly I observed also before That to make the destruction of the Old World of any use to propagate Religion and Piety in the New it was necessary that some Inhabitants of the Old World should survive the Deluge to be Witnesses of that Terrible Destruction Had no man survived though God should have created man a-new that new Generation of men could have known nothing of the Deluge but by Revelation whereas God intended a sensible proof of his Power and Providence which Mankind wanted Besides that Revelation which we may suppose God made to Adam of the Creation of the World and his own sense that he himself was but just then made and was the first and the only man upon Earth there are such visible Marks of a Divine Wisdom and Power in the frame of the World as one would think should be sufficient to convince men that the World was made and is preserved and governed by God and yet because no man saw the World made neither Reason nor Revelation can persuade some men that God made the World And is it reasonable then to think that when there are no remaining signs of a Deluge left the belief of a Deluge should for any long time have prevailed in the world without any living Witnesses who saw the Deluge though we should suppose God to have revealed it to new-created man No man could see the Creation of the world because the world must be made before man was made to live in it but though no man saw the world made there were some who saw the destruction which the Deluge made which was as visible a proof of the Divine Power and a much greater proof of a Just and Righteous Providence No man who believes that God destroyed the Old World with a Deluge of Water can doubt whether God made the world and governs it and for this the New World had the testimony of Eye-witnesses which is as sensible a proof of a God and a Providence as we can possibly have 3dly The preservation of Noah and his Sons in the Ark was an evident proof that this Deluge was sent by God God fore-warned Noah of it an hundred years before it came and commanded him to prepare an Ark and gave him directions how to make it Thus much is certain That Noah did know of it before-hand and prepared an Ark which remained as a visible Testimony of the Flood to future Generations Now there being no Natural Causes of the Flood there could be no Natural Prognosticks of it Our Saviour himself observes That there were not the least Symptoms of any such thing till Noah entred into the Ark and therefore Noah had no other way of knowing this but by Revelation and it was so incredible a thing in it self that the rest of Mankind would not believe him though he warned them of it and they saw that he believed it himself by his preparing an Ark for his own safety And if we believe the Account that Moses gives of it that some of all sorts of Living Creatures both the Beasts of the Field and the Fowls of the Air were preserved with Noah in the Ark as we must believe if we believe the Universal Deluge unless we will say that God new-made all Living Creatures after the Flood what account can be given of this that some of all sorts in such numbers as God had appointed and had prepared reception for should come of their own accord to Noah when he was ready to enter into the Ark had they not been led thither by a Divine Hand 4thly The preservation of Noah and his Sons in the Ark did not only prove that the Deluge was sent by God but was a plain Evidence for what reason God sent such a Terrible Judgment viz. To put an end to that wicked Generation of men and to new-people the world with a Righteous Seed This Reason God gave to Noah and the nature of the thing speaks it For when all the wicked Inhabitants of the world were destroyed and not one escaped the Deluge but only that one Righteous Family which had escaped the Corruptions of the Age too and that preserved by the peculiar Order and Direction of God this is a visible Judgment upon all the wicked of the Earth and makes a visible distinction between Good and Bad men When such Evils and Calamities befall the world as may be resolved into Natural or Moral Causes as Plagues and Famines and Wars Fires and Earthquakes and it may be Good and Bad men share pretty equally in the publick Misfortunes Atheists and Infidels will not allow these Evils to be inflicted by God much less to be the punishment of Sin when they make no visible distinction between the good and the bad but the Universal Deluge was both a Supernatural and a distinguishing Judgment none but God could thus destroy the Earth and none but the wicked were destroyed and therefore this is an undiable demonstration of the Justice and Righteousness of God that he hates wickedness and will punish wicked men There are some other Marks of Excellent Wisdom in the Universal Deluge which I shall only name because tho they are worth observing yet they are of less moment as to my present Design As the Deluge was to be a lasting proof of a Just Providence to the New World and as you have heard was upon all accounts admirably fitted to that purpose so we may reasonably suppose that when it came it convinced that wicked Generation of men and brought them to repentance which it gave them some time for and though it could not save them in this world who knows but that a sudden repentance upon such a sudden conviction might obtain mercy for them in the next Noah was a Preacher of Righteousness he had often reproved them for their sins and threatned them with a Deluge but they would not believe him though they saw him preparing the Ark but when they saw the Flood come they knew then the
Providence will and can have no effect upon us The Psalmist complains of those wicked men who regard not the works of the Lord nor the operation of his hands 28. Psal. 5. And a great many such there are who have a general notion and belief of a Providence but take no notice of what God does or take no notice of God in what is done Most men are too apt to attribute all Events to the immediate and visible Causes and though at other times they will own a God and a Providence yet as to particular Events take as little notice of God as if he had nothing to do in it Such a belief of Providence as this is of no use at all in Religion it neither gives glory to God nor has any influence upon the government of our lives But if we will own Providence to the true ends and purposes of Religion we must not content our selves with a general belief of God's governing the world but whatever our state and condition be or whatever extraordinary good or evil happens to us we must receive all as from the Hand of God If we are poor we must own this to be God's will and appointment that we should be poor if we be rich we must consider that it is God's Blessing which maketh rich if we lose our Estates by Injustice and Oppression we must acknowledge as Iob did The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away And whatever Evils and Miseries befall us we must say with good old Eli It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good Or with David I was dumb and opened not my mouth because it is thy doings Without believing God's government of all Events we deny a particular Providence and unless at the very time when any good or evil befals us we see and acknowledge God's hand in it we can have no present affecting sense of his Providence All such Acts of Providence are lost as far as our taking no notice of them can lose them God loses the glory of his Goodness Mercy Patience or Justice and we lose those Divine Comforts and Supports or those Spiritual Instructions and Admonitions which a due sense and acknowledgment of Providence would have furnished us with And therefore let us accustom our selves in all Events in the first place to take notice of God and his Providence which will teach us how to behave our selves in all Circumstances and how to make the best and wisest use of whatever happens and it was necessary to premise this for it is in vain to teach men their duty to Providence till they have learnt to attribute all particular Events to the Providence of God and to live under a constant sense and regard of it 2dly When we have thus affected our minds with a just sense of the Divine Providence in every thing that befalls us we must in the next place take care to compose our Souls to a quiet and humble submission to the Sovereign Will and Pleasure of God in all things All men confess that it is our duty to submit to the Will of God and if all the Events of Providence are God's doings and what God does is his Will as the Scripture assures us it is and Reason tells us it must be unless God does any thing against his own Will then we must submit to the Providential Will of God in all Events as well as to the Commanding Will of God in obeying his Laws The Soveraign Authority and Dominion of God requires this of us for we are his and he may dispose of our Condition and Fortune in the world as he pleases The Absolute Power of God makes it both prudent and necessary For who hath hardened himself against him and prospered that is against his Providential Will for that whole Dispute is about Providence And the Wisdom and Goodness of God makes it both reasonable and our interest to submit to him for all his Providences how severe soever they may appear are ordered for the good of those who do submit to him So that it is our duty to submit because he is our Soveraign Lord whether we will submit or no we must suffer his Will because we cannot resist his Power and there is no danger in submitting to God for he will consult our present and future Happiness and do better for us than we could chuse for our selves This is plain enough but that which I principally intend is to consider the nature and various acts of that Submission which we owe to Providence or to the Providential Will of God and I shall distinctly inquire what submission we owe to Providence under all the Evils Afflictions and Calamities of life and in those several states conditions and relations of life which the Providence of God placeth us in 1. What submission we owe to Providence under all the Sufferings and Afflictions which we meet with in this world I do not mention a happy and prosperous Fortune for it requires no great submission to be prosperous this is what all men desire and chuse but to submit is to make our own Wills and Desires and Fears and Aversions and natural Passions and Affections stoop and yield to the Will of God which there is no occasion for but in a suffering and afflicted state Now when we suffer such things as are very grievous to flesh and blood submission to the Will of God does not require that we should not feel our Sufferings that we should not be afflicted with them that we should not complain of them for to submit to God is not to put off the sense and passions of human Nature it does not alter the nature of things nor our opinions about them Afflictions are afflictions still and will be felt and though we must bear them in submission to God yet we must bear them as Afflictions can be born and as human Nature can bear them with pain and grief and reluctancy with sighs and groans and complaints with vehement and importunate desires and Prayers to God and man to help and deliver us We have frequent examples of this in Scripture The Psalms of David as they abound with all dutifull Expressions of Reverence and Submission to the Will of God so they are very full of complaints and of the most passionate sense of Sufferings represented so as to be felt in such a strain of moving Eloquence as not Art but Afflicted Nature teaches But we have one Example above all others and that is the Example of our Saviour Christ who suffered with Fear and Reluctancy and with earnest Prayers to his Father If it be possible let this cup pass from me The truth is the greater our fears and sorrows and aversions are the greater is our submission to God it may be thought a great weakness of Nature to be so much afraid of our Sufferings but it argues the greater strength of Faith and is a more glorious Victory over self to make our very
fears and aversions submit to the Divine Will for the more what we suffer is against our own will the greater is our submission to the Will of God Submission to God does not consist in courage and fortitude of mind to bear Sufferings which men may have without any sense of God and which the profoundest Reverence for God will not always teach us but he submits who receives the Bitter Cup and drinks it though with a Trembling heart and hand This ought to be observed for the comfort of those who have a very Devout sense of God and Reverence for his Judgments but betray great weakness of Mind and disorders of Passions under their Sufferings who are very impatient of Pain and have such soft and tender Passions that every Affliction galls them and when they reflect upon these Disorders this creates new and greater Troubles to them for they conclude that all this is want of a due Submission to the Will of God But Religion was never intended to extinguish the Sense and Affections of Nature to reconcile us to Pain or to make all things indifferent to us and while there is any thing that we love it will be grievous to part with it and while there is any thing that we fear it will be grievous to suffer it Religion will rectify our Opinions of things and cure our fondnesses and set bounds to our Passions but when all these flattering or frightful disguises are removed which magnified the Good or Evil that is in things yet Good and Evil they are and will excite in us either troublesome or delightful Passions and this will exercise our Submission to God to part with what we love and to suffer what we fear and were not this the case there were no use of Submission To explain this in a few words let us consider how that man must suffer who suffers with Submission to God and that is the Submission which we owe to Providence Now a man who suffers with Submission must not reproach and censure the Divine Providence but think and speak honourably of God how hardly soever he deals with him he may complain of what he suffers both to God and men but he must not complain of God This was Iob's Behaviour Naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away and blessed be the name of the Lord in all this Iob sinned not nor charged God foolishly I Job 21 22. And the Prophet David was an Example of the like Submission I was dumb I opened not my mouth because thou didst it 39. Psalm 9. He submitted silently and patiently as to God's hand opened not his mouth against God though he complains of the Wickedness of men and of the severity of his Sufferings Deliver me from all my transgressions make me not the reproach of the foolish remove thy stroke away from me I am consumed by the blow of thine hand 8 10. To reproach and revile Providence to fret against God or as Iob's Wife advised him to curse God to be weary of his Government and impatient to think that we cannot resist and cast off so uneasy a yoke this is directly contrary to Submission Such men suffer God's Will because they cannot help it but they would Rebel if they could those who are so outragious against what God does and so impatiently angry with God for doing it only want power to stay his hand and to pull him from his Throne Submission to God is the Submission of our Wills to the Will of God Now though no man can absolutely chuse sufferings for suffering is a natural Evil and therefore not the object of a free choice yet men may chuse suffering against the natural byass and inclination of their own wills in Subjection to the will of God Of this our Saviour is a great Example who express'd a great aversion against suffering Prayed earnestly Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me nevertheless not my will but thy will be done Our own wills will draw back and recoil at suffering For no affliction is for the present joyous but grievous but yet a will that is subject to God will deny it self and chuse that God's will should take place And this is our Submission to the Will of God in suffering yet how uneasie soever it be to us we are so far from complaining against God that we would not have it otherwise when God sees fit it should be so that though we do not and cannot chuse sufferings yet we chuse that the Will of God should be done though it be to suffer Another act of Submission to God is when we wait patiently on God till he think fit to deliver us when notwithstanding all we suffer our hope and trust and dependance is still on God To submit to God is to submit in Faith and Hope to submit as to the Corrections and Discipline of a Father for it is impossible for any man to submit without Hope as impossible as it is to be contented with final Ruin When we cast off our Hope in God there is an end of our Submission then we shall come to that desperate conclusion Behold this evil is of the Lord why should I wait on the Lord any longer 2 Kings 6. 33. But never was there a greater expression of Submission than that of Iob Though he slay me yet will I trust in him he also shall be my salvation for a hypocrite shall not come before him 13. Job 15 16. This the Psalmist has fully express'd 27. Psalm 13 14. I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of living Wait on the Lord be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart wait I say on the Lord. To Hope in the Mercy and Goodness of God even when he strikes to wait Patiently till he will be Gracious to make our complaints to him and to expect our Deliverance and Salvation only from him this is to Submit to the Will of God to make his Will our Will to attend all the motions of his Providence as patiently and diligently as a Servant does the commands of his Lord as it is elegantly represented 123. Psalm 1 2. Vnto thee lift I up mine eyes O thou that dwellest in the heavens Behold as the eyes of servants look upon the hand of their masters and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God until that he have mercy upon us This is that Submission which we owe to Providence under all the Evils and Calamities of Life and if we would make this Submission easy and chearful we must possess our Souls with a firm perswasion of the Wisdom and Goodness of God We must not look upon him a meer Soveraign and Arbitrary Lord for to submit to meer Arbitrary Will and Power is and will be very grievous