A DISCOURSE Concerning the Divine Providence By WILLIAM SHERLOCK D. D. Dean of St. Paul's Master of the Temple and Chaplain in Ordinary to Their Majesties IMPRIMATUR Maii 9. 1693. Carolus Alston R. P. D. Hen. Episc. Lond. Ã Sacris LONDON Printed for William Rogers at the Sun over-against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet street MDCXCIV TO THE QUEEN's Most Excellent Majesty May it please Your Majesty TO Accept this Treatise which did the Composition answer the Subject would recommend it self to the Perusal of Princes who are the peculiar Care and the great Ministers of Providence For it is this Good Providence which is the Security of the Royal Throne and the most perfect Patern of a Just and Equal Government without Contempt of the meanest or Partiality to the greatest That Experience YOUR MAJESTY has had of a Kind and Watchful Providence and that constant dependence the most Potent Monarchs have on the Divine Protection especially in the great Shakings and Convulsions of the World I hope may excuse this Dedication as neither improper nor unseasonable And may the same Good Providence which has advanced YOUR MAJESTIES to the Throne and so signally preserved the King from the greatest Dangers still preserve Your Sacred Persons establish Your Throne and deliver You from all Your Enemies Which is the hearty and daily Prayer of YOUR MAJESTIES Most Humble most Obedient and most Dutiful Subject and Servant WILLIAM SHERLOCK The CONTENTS THE Introduction Page 1 Chap. 1. THE necessary Connexion between the belief of a God and of a Providence 3 The World can be no more governed than made by chance Ibid. An Infinite and Eternal Mind which sees and knows all things must govern the Word 5 He who made the World cannot be unconcerned for his Creatures 7 No Philosophers except the Epicureans who acknowledged a Deity denied a Providence 8 The same Arguments which prove the Being of a God prove a Providence 9 The strength of Atheism consists in contradicting the Vniversal Reason of Mankind 11 Chap. 2. THE general Notion of Providence and particularly concerning a preserving Providence 16 The Nature of Preservation as distinguisht from a governing Providence Ibid. The first Act of Preservation in upholding and preserving the Being and Natures of all things 17 The second Act of Preservation God's Co-operation and Concourse with Creatures in all their Actions 21 Some difficulties of Providence answered as God's Concourse with Creatures in sinful Actions 25 Concerning the Eternity of Punishments 28 Some Practical Inferences 31 Chap. 3. COncerning God's Governing Providence 33 God's Government of Causes and of Events 34 God's Government of Natural Causes and wherein it consists Ib. God's Government of Accidental Causes or what we call Chance and Accident 39 God's Government of Moral Causes or Free Agents 47 The difference between God's Government of Men considered as reasonable Creatures and as Instruments of Providence 48 Concerning God's Government of mens Minds their Wills and Passions Page 51 Concerning God's Government of mens Actions 54 God's Government of Good and Bad men more particularly considered 57 God's Government of Events 59 What is meant by Events in this Question 60 Wherein God's Government of Events consists 61 Concerning Gods Permission Ibid The difference between God's Government of all Events and Necessity and Fate 66 That the Exercise of a particular Providence consists in the Government of all Events 68 Chap. 4. COncerning the Sovereignty of Providence 73 Concerning God's Absolute Power 75 That true Absolute Power can do no wrong explained at large Ib. The Vnsearchable Wisdom of Providence 85 Infinite Wisdom can do no wrong 88 That the Wisdom of Providence must be as unaccountable as the Wisdom of the Creation 91 That the wise Government of the Word requires secret and hidden Methods of Providence 97 That we are ignorant of a great many things without the knowledg of which it is impossible to understand the reasons of Providence 110 In what cases the Vnsearchable Wisdom of God is a reasonable Answer to the Difficulties of Providence 123 Chap. 5. THe Iustice and Righteousness of Providence 137 That the Iustice of Providence does not consist in hindring all Acts of Injustice and Violence 138 God may do that very justly which men cannot do without great Injustie 139 What the Nature and Exercise of God's Iustice requires 141 What Acts of Iustice the present Government of this World requires Page 147 The Account the Scripture gives us of God's Iustice and Righteousness 150 Chap. 6. THE Holiness of Providence 161 What the Holiness of Government requires Ib. What the Holiness of God's Providence does not require of him 168 God is not the Cause and Author of Sin 175 The Divine Prescience does not destroy the Liberty of Human Actions 178 God decrees no mens sins 181 Some Texts of Scripture considered which seem to make God the Author of sin 183 Concerning God's hardning Pharaoh's heart Ib. Some other Texts considered which seem to charge God with the sins of men 200 Chap. 7. THE Goodness of Providence 214 Mistakes concerning the Nature of God's Goodness 216 The difference between Absolute Goodness and Iustice and the Goodness and Iustice of Discipline 220 That God exercises all Acts of Goodness which a state of Trial and Discipline will admit 221 Another Mistake concerning the Nature of Good and Evil and what Good and Evil is in a state of Discipline 226 Another Mistake about the Nature of Government and what Goodness is required in the Government of the World 233 Two Objections against the Goodness of Providence answered 1. From the many Miseries which are in the world 238 A second Objection is God's partial and unequal Care of his creatures 265 Chap. 8. THE Wisdom of Providence 269 The Wisdom of Providence considered in some great Events recorded in Scripture 270 The Destruction of the World by Noah's Flood Page 271 Concerning the Confusion of Languages and the Dispersion of Mankind over all the earth 285 God's chusing Abraham and his Posterity for his peculiar People 289 Concerning the removal of Jacob and his Family into Egypt 299 The Oppression of Israel in Egypt 300 The Miracles wrought by Moses in Egypt 302 God's delivering the Law from Mount Sinai 309 All that came out of Egypt excepting Joshua and Caleb died in the Wilderness 311 The frequent Relapses of Israel into Idolatry 313 Concerning the Captivities and Dispersions of Israel especially their Captivity in Babylon 319 In what sense Christ came in the Fulness of Time 326 The Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans 328 The Wisdom of Providence in some more common and ordinary Events 331 That God rewards or punishes men in their Posterity 332 God's punishing sin with sin 339 God's disappointing both our Hopes and Fears 340 God's deferring the deliverance of good men and the punishment of the wicked to the utmost extremity 341 Concerning sudden Changes and Revolutions 343 The wise mixture of Mercy and Iudgment 344 Chap. 9. THE Duties
not to have made an Immortal Creature who could sin and be miserable for ever I shall conclude this whole Argument with some few Inferences 1. If Creatures must be preserved as well as made by God then the present continuance and preservation of all things is a visible Argument of the Being of God Some men will not believe that God made the world because they did not see him make it but they see a world preserved when there is no one thing in the world more able to preserve than to make it self and who then is it that preserves this world and all things in it This must be a work of Reason and Wisdom as well as Power and the only reasonable Creature in this visible world is Man and Man cannot preserve himself and knows that he can preserve nothing else and therefore the Preservation of all things must be owing to some Invisible Cause whom we call GOD. 2. If we live and move and have our being in God we are entirely his and owe all homage and obedience to him for he did not only make us but we have our constant dependance on him we live and subsist in him Had he only made us at first that had given him a title to us for ever but could we have lived without him when he had made us tho it had not been a less fault yet it had been less foolish and absurd to have lived without any notice or regard of him as some ungrateful persons deal by their Friends and Patrons when they have set them up in the world and enabled them to live by themselves but to forget that God in whom we live who preserves and upholds us in being every moment is to affront a present Benefactor if we value being and tho we cannot tempt God by this to let us fall into nothing yet we shall make it just for him to punish us to preserve us in being to feel the weight of his Wrath and Vengeance which is infinitely worse for happy had it been for such a man that he had never been born 3. For if he not only made but upholds and preserves us in being he must be our Sovereign Lord and Governor for no other has any original and absolute interest in us we are in his hands and none can take us out of them nor touch us but by his order To give being and to preserve it is the foundation of all other acts of Government no other Being has a Right to govern no other Power can govern He alone can give Laws can reward or punish can govern Nature can direct over-rule controul all other Powers for all things are in his hands and therefore he commands them all 4. And this may convince us how irresistible the Divine Power is for all the power of Creatures is derived from him and depends on him as Light does on the Sun and therefore they can have no power against him and what distraction then is it to provoke that Almighty God whom we cannot resist Humble thy self Sinner before thy Maker thy Preserver and thy Judge obey his Will to whose Power thou must submit let him be thy Fear and thy Dread thy only Fear for thou needest fear none else all Power is his none can resist him none can act without him he sets bounds to the Raging of the Sea to the Fury of Princes to the Madness of the People Thou art safe in his hands safe in obedience to his Will but thou canst never escape him never flie from him never defend thy self against him for thou livest in him 5. This also proves that God must see and know all our actions for we live and move in him He is always present with us privy to our most secret thoughts and counsels observes all our wandrings sees us in all our retirements There is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity can hide themselves This the Scripture in express words teaches and the reason of the thing speaks it for if we cannot think nor move nor subsist without God he must be always intimately present with us which should possess us with a constant Awe and Reverence of his Pure and All seeing Eye CHAP. III. Concerning God's Governing Providence NEXT to Preservation as that signifies God's upholding all things in being and preserving and actuating their Natural Powers we must consider God's Government of the world for God is the Supreme and Sovereign Lord of the world who doth whatsoever pleaseth him both in heaven and in earth and therefore the Absolute Government of all things must be in his hands or else something might be done which he would not have done This all men grant in general words who own a Providence but when they come to particulars there are so many excepted cases which they will hardly allow God to have any thing to do in that they seem to mean little more by God's Government than a general Inspection of Human Affairs his looking on to see the World govern it self for three parts of four of all that is done in the world they resolve into bare Permission as distinguish'd from an Ordering and Disposing Providence and then it can signifie no more than that God does not hinder it and if this be all God governs the world in such cases no more than men do The only difference is that God can hinder when he don 't but men don't hinder because they can't but still merely not to hinder does not signifie to govern But rightly to understand this matter the best way is to consider how the Scripture represents it and because there are great variety of acts in the government of the world of a very different consideration I shall distinctly enquire into God's government of Causes and his government of Events 1. God's government of Causes and we must consider three sorts of Causes and what the Scripture attributes to God with respect to each 1. Natural Causes 2dly Accidental Causes or what we call Chance and Accident and Fortune 3dly Moral Causes and free Agents or the government of mankind 1. Natural Causes or God's Government of the Natural World of the Heavens and Earth and Seas and Air and all things in them which move and act by a Necessity of Nature not by Choice Now the Scripture does not only attribute to God all the Vertues and Powers of Nature which belongs to Creation and to a Preserving Providence but the direction and government of all their Natural Influences to do what God has a mind should be done God does in some measure govern the Moral by the Natural World he rewards or punishes men by a wholsome or pestilential air by fruitful or barren seasons he hinders or promotes their designs by winds and weather by a forward or a backward Spring and makes Nature give Laws to men and set bounds to their Passions and Intriegues to overthrow the most powerful Fleets and Armies to defeat the wisest Counsels
most acquainted with without any certain and periodical returns prove that it is not all Mechanism for Mechanical Motions are fixt and certain and either always the same or regular or uniform in their Changes It is of great use to us to understand this which teaches us what we may expect from God and what we must attribute to him in the government of Nature We must not expect in ordinary Cases that God should reverse the Laws of Nature for us that if we leap into the fire it shall not burn us or into the water it shall not drown us and by the same reason the Providence of God is not concerned to preserve us when we destroy our selves by Intemperance and Lust for God does not work Miracles to deliver men from the evil Effects of their own Wickedness and Folly But all the kind Influences of Heaven which supply our wants and fill our hearts with food and gladness are owing to that good Providence which commands Nature to yield her encrease and those disorders of Nature which afflict the world with Famines and Pestilence and Earthquakes are the effects of God's Anger and Displeasure and are ordered by him for the punishment of a wicked world We must all believe this or confess that we mock God when we bless him for a healthful Air and fruitful Seasons or deprecate his Anger when we see the visible Tokens of his Vengeance in the disorders of Nature For did not God immediately interpose in the government of Nature there would be no reason to beg his Favour or to deprecate his Anger upon these Accounts 2dly Let us consider God's Government of Accidental Causes or what we call Chance and Accident which has a large Empire over human Affairs not that Chance and Accident can do any thing properly speaking for whatever is done has some proper and Natural Causes which does it but what we call Accidental Causes is rather such an Accidental Concurrence of different Causes as produces unexpected and undesigned Effects as when one Man by Accident loses a purse of Gold and another Man walking in the Fields without any such expectation by as great an Accident finds it And how much of the Good or Evil that happens to us in this World is owing to such Undesigned Surprizing Accidental Events every man must know who has made any Observations on his own or other mens Lives and Fortunes The Wise Man observed this long since 9. Eccl. 11. I returned and saw under the Sun that the race is not to the swift nor the battel to the strong neither yet bread to the wise nor yet riches to men of understanding nor yet favour to men of skill but time and chance happeneth to them all Some unusual and casual Events change the fortunes of men and disappoint the most proper and natural means of Success What should conquer in a Race but Swiftness or win the Battel but strength What should supply mens wants and increase Riches but Wisdom and Understanding in Human affairs What more likely way to gain the Favour of Princes and People than a dextrous and skilful Application and Address And yet the Preacher observed in his days and the observation holds good still that it is not always thus Time and chance some favourable Junctures and unseen Accidents are more Powerfull than all Human Strength or Art or Skill Now what an ill state were Mankind in did not a Wise and Merciful Hand Govern what we call Chance and Fortune How can God Govern the World or Dispose of mens Lives and Fortunes without Governing Chance all unseen unknown and surprizing Events which disappoint the Counsels of the Wise and in a moment unavoidably change the whole scene of Human Affairs Upon what little unexpected things do the Fortunes of Men of Families of whole Kingdoms turn And unless these little unexpected things are Governed by God some of the greatest Changes in the World are exempted from his Care and Providence This is reason enough to believe That if God Governs the World he Governs Chance and Fortune that the most unexpected Events how Casual soever they appear to us are foreseen and ordered by God Such Events as these are the properest Objects of God's Care and Government because they are very great instruments of Providence many times the greatest things are done by them and they are the most visible demonstration of a Superiour Wisdom and Power which Governs the World By these means God disappoints the Wisdom of the Wise and defeats the Power of the Mighty Frustrateth the tokens of the liars and maketh diviners mad turneth wise men backward and maketh their knowledge foolish 44. Isai. 25. Did Strength and Wisdom always prevail as in a great measure they would were it not for such unseen disappointments Mankind would take less notice of Providence and would have less reason to do it since they would be the more absolute Masters of their own Fortunes a powerful combination of Sinners managed by some crafty Politicians would govern the World But the uncertain turnings and changes of Fortune keep Mankind in awe make the most prosperous and powerful Sinners fear an unseen Vengeance and give security to Good men against unseen Evils which cannot befall them without the order and appointment of God That there are a great many accidental and casual Events which happen to us all and which are of great consequence to the Happiness or Miseries of our Lives all men see and feel that we cannot defend our selves from such unseen Events which we know nothing of till we feel them is as manifest as that there are such Events and what so properly belongs to the Divine Care as that which we our selves can take no care of The Heathens made Fortune a Goddess and attributed the government of all things to Her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whereby they only signified the government of Providence in all casual and fortuitous Events and if Providence governs any thing it must govern Chance which governs almost all things else and which none but God can govern As far as Human Prudence and Foresight reaches God expects we should take care of our selves and if we will not he suffers us to reap the fruits of our own Folly but when we cannot take care of our selves we have reason to expect and hope that God will take care of us in other Cases Human Prudence and Industry must concur with the Divine Providence in Matters of Chance and Accident Providence must act alone and do all it self for we know nothing of it so that all the Arguments for Providence do most strongly conclude for God's government of all Casual Events And the Scripture does as expresly attribute all such Events to God as any other Acts of Providence and Government In the Law of Moses when a man killed his Neighbour by accident God is said to deliver him into his hands 21. Exod. 12 13. He that smiteth a man so that he die shall
and he spoke the Language of Human Nature in it That the invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made 1. Rom. 20. For if that which is made must have a Cause if there be no visible Cause there must be an invisible Maker And therefore this World which has no visible must have an invisible Cause And as it is natural to the Reason of Mankind to conclude the Cause from the Effect so is it to learn the Nature of the Cause from the Nature of the Effect for whatever is in the Effect must be either specifically or virtually in the Cause for whatever is in the Effect which is not in the Cause that has no Cause for nothing can be a cause of that which it is not it self And therefore whatever has life and understanding must be made by a living and understanding Cause whatever has art and skill and wise contrivance in its frame as every Worm and Fly has must have a wise designing Cause for its Maker And then it is certain that this whole World was not made by chance or the fortuitous concourse of Atoms but by an infinitely wise Mind This way of reasoning is easy and natural to our minds all men understand it all men feel it Atheists themselves allow of this kind of proof in all other cases excepting the proof of a God or a Providence and therefore it is no absurd foolish way of reasoning for then it must not be allowed of in any case and they have no reason to reject it in this case but that they are resolved not to believe a God and a Providence And yet this way of reasoning from Effects to Causes must be good in all Cases or in none For the Principle is universal That nothing can be made without a Cause and if any thing can be made made without a Cause this Principle is false and can prove nothing And I challenge the wisest and subtilest Atheist of them all to prove from any Principle of Reason that the most beautiful and regular House that ever he saw which he did not see built for that is a proof from Sense not from Reason was built by men and is a work of Art and that it did not either grow out of the Earth nor was made by the accidental meeting of the several Materials which without knowledge art or design fell into a regular and uniform Building Had these men never seen a House built I would desire to know how they would prove that it is a work of Art built by a skilful Workman and not made by chance and by what medium soever they will prove this I will undertake to prove that God made the World though we did not see him make it But the present Enquiry is only this Whether this be Human Reason the natural Reason of Human Minds If it be then men who will be contented to reason like men must acknowledge and assent to this Argument from Effects to Causes which unavoidably proves a God and a Providence and this is all I desire to be granted That those who will follow the Notices and Principles of Human Reason must believe that God made and governs the World for I know not how to reason beyond Human Reason those who do may please themselves with it Those who have found out a Reason which contradicts the natural Principles of Reason must reason by themselves for Mankind cannot reason with them But let us consider how Atheists reason when they have laid aside this Principle of Reason from Effects to Causes They tell us That a most Artificial World may be made without Art or any wise Maker by blind Chance without any designing Efficient Cause That Life and Sense and Reason may result from dead stupid sensless Atoms Well! we hear this and bear it as patiently as we can but how do they prove this why they say it may be and they can go no farther But how do they know this may be Have they any such notion in their minds have they any natural sensation that answers these words does Nature teach them that any thing can be without a Cause adequate to the Effect that any thing can be wisely made without a wise Cause that one contrary can produce the other that sensless stupid Matter can produce Life Sensation and Understanding Can they then tell me what it is that can't be I desire to know by what Rule they judge what may be and what can't be And if they can find any can't be more absurd and contradictious than their may be I will renounce Sense and Reason for ever If nothing can be without a Cause according to the Reason of Mankind this can't be and therefore all that their may be 's can signify is this That if the Reason of Mankind deceive us such things may be as the most unquestionable Principles of Reason tells us can't be And this is the glorious triumph of Atheistical Reason it can get no farther than a may be and such a may be as is absolutely impossible if the Reason of Mankind be true Set aside the relation between Causes and Effects and all the Arguments from Causes to Effects and from Effects to Causes and there is an end of all Knowledge and set aside all those first Principles and Maxims of Reason which all men assent to at the first Proposal the truth of which they see and feel and there is an end of all Reason For there can be no reasoning without the acknowledgment of some first Principles which the mind has a clear distinct and vigorous perception of And if men will distrust their own minds in such things as they have an easy natural perception of and prefer some Arbitrary Notions which seem absurd Contradictions and impossible to the rest of Mankind and which they can have no Idea of beyond the sound of words they may be Atheists if they please at the expence of their Reason and Understanding that is they may be Atheists if they will not judge and reason like Men But if we are as certain of the Being of a God and of a Providence as we are that nothing can be without a Cause we have all the certainty that Human Nature is capable of CHAP. II. The general Notion of Providence and particularly concerning a Preserving Providence HAving proved as largely as my present Design required That the same God who made the World is the Supream Lord and Governour of it I proceed to consider the Nature of Providence The general Notion of Providence is God's care of all the Creatures he has made which must consist in preserving and upholding their Beings and Natures and in such Acts of Government as the good Order of the World and the Happiness of Mankind require which divides Providence into Preservation and Government which must be carefully distinguished in order to answer some great Difficulties in Providence I
exalted with the King's Favour and that Queen Esther had admitted none to the Banquet with the King but himself but still Mordecai who refused to bow before him was a great Grievance and by the advice of his Friends he built a Gallows Fifty Cubits high and resolved that night to beg of the King That Mordecai might be hanged on it and had he come in time his Petition had been certainly granted but it so happened that that very night the King could not sleep and he called for the Book of the Records of the Chronicles and there they found written That Mordecai had discovered the Treason of two of the King's Chamberlains against him and finding upon enquiry that he had never been rewarded for it he resolved to do him Honour and made Haman who was at the door to beg that Mordecai might be hanged his Minister in doing him Honour This prepared the King to grant Queen Esther's Request and hanged Haman upon the Gallows he had built for Mordecai and preserved the Iews from that Destruction he had designed against them And thus it is almost in all the Remarkable Passages of Providence there is so much appearance of Chance and Accident which has the greatest stroke in some wonderful Events as may satisfie considering men That the world is governed by a Divine Wisdom and Counsel and an Invisible Power and that the immediate and visible Causes have always the least hand in it For can we think otherwise when we see as many visible marks of Wisdom and Goodness and Justice in what we call Chance as in any other acts of Providence Nay when the Wisdom of Providence is principally seen in the government of Fortuitous Events When we see a World wisely made tho we did not see it made yet we conclude That it was not made by Chance but by a Wise Being and by the same reason when we see Accidental Events nay a long incoherent Series of Accidents concur to the producing the most admirable effects we ought to conclude That there is a Wise Invisible Hand which governs Chance which of it self can do nothing wisely When the Lives and Fortunes of Men the Fate of Kingdoms and Empires the Successes of War the Changes of Government are so often determined and brought about by the most visible Accidents when Chance defeats the Wisest Counsels and the Greatest Power when Good men are rewarded and the Church of God preserved by appearing Chances when Bad men are punished by Chance and the very Chance whereby they are punished carries the marks of their sins upon it for which they are punished I say can any man in such cases think that all this is mere Chance when how accidental soever the Means are or appear to be whereby such things are done there is no appearance at all of Chance in the Event but the Changes and Revolutions the Rewards and Punishments of Chance are all as wisely done as if there had been nothing of Chance and Accident in it This is the great security of our lives amidst all the uncertainties of Fortune That Chance it self can't hurt us without a Divine Commission This is a sure foundation of Faith and Hope and Trust in God how calamitous and desperate soever our external condition seems to be that God never wants means to help that he has a thousand unseen ways a whole Army of Accidents and unexpected Events at command to disappoint such designs which no visible Art or Power can disappoint and to save those whom no visible Power can save This is an undeniable Reason for a perpetual Awe and Reverence of God and an entire submission to him and a devout acknowledgment of him in all our ways That we have no Security but in his Providence and Protection for whatever provision we can make against foreseen and foreknown evils we can never provide against Chance that is wholly in God's hands and no human Wit or Strength can withstand it which may abate the Pride and self-confidence of men and teach the Rich and Great and Mighty a Religious Veneration of God who can with so much ease pull down the mighty from their seat and advance those of low degree 3dly The next thing to be explained is God's government of Moral Causes or Free Agents that is the government of men considered as the Instruments of Providence which God makes use of for the accomplishment of his own Wise Counsels Most of the good or evil which happens to us in this world is done by Men if God rewards or if he punishes us usually Men are his Ministers in both to execute his Vengeance or to dispence his Blessings and therefore God must have as Absolute a Government over Mankind of all their Thoughts and Passions and Counsels and Actions as he has of the Powers and Influences of Natural Causes or else he cannot reward and punish when and as he pleases If men could hurt those whom God would bless and reward or could do good to those whom God would punish both good and bad men might be happy or miserable in this world whether God would or not our Fortunes would depend upon the Numbers and Power of our Friends or Enemies upon the good or bad humours and inclinations of those among whom we live and Providence could not help us Now this is the great Difficulty How God can exercise such an Absolute Government over Mankind who are Free Agents without destroying the Liberty and Freedom of their Choice which would destroy the nature of Vertue and Vice of Rewards and Punishments The necessity of allowing this if we will acknowledge a Providence and the plain Testimonies and Examples of this Absolute and Uncontroulable Government which we find in Scripture have made some men deny the Liberty of Human Actions and represent Mankind to be as mere Machines as a Watch or Clock which move as they are moved And then they know not how to bring Religion and the Moral Differences of Good and Evil and the Natural Justice of Rewards and Punishments into their Scheme for nothing of all this can be reconciled with Absolute Necessity and Fate Others to avoid these Difficulties are afraid of attributing too much to Providence or have such confused and perplex'd Notions about it that there are few cases wherein they can securely depend on God But I think this Difficulty will be easily removed if we distinguish between God's government of Men as Reasonable Creatures and Free Agents and his government of them as the Instruments of Providence the first considers them in their own private and natural Capacity the second in relation to the rest of Mankind which makes a great difference in the Reason and in the Acts of Government Man considered in his own nature is a reasonable Creature and free Agent and therefore the proper government of Man consists in giving him Laws that he may know the difference between good and evil what he ought to chuse and what to refuse
Protection what little reason we have to be afraid of men whatever their Power how furious soever their Passions are how vain it is to trust in men and to depend on their favour for they can neither do good nor hurt but as they are directed by God and therefore he alone must be the Supreme Object of our Fear and Trust If God be for us who can be against us If we make him our Enemy who can save us out of his hands So that we have but one thing to take care of and we are safe Let us make God our Friend and he will raise us up Friends and Patrons and Protectors will deliver us out of the hands of our Enemies or make our Enemies to be at peace with us Secondly Having thus explained God's government of Causes let us now consider his government of Events And I think it will be easily granted me That if all those Causes by which all Events are brought to pass are governed by God God must also have the Absolute Government of all Events in his own hands But yet the government of Causes and of Events are of a very different consideration and to represent this as plainly and familiarly as I can I shall 1. shew you What I mean by Events when I attribute the government of all Events to God 2. Wherein God's government of Events consists 3. The Difference between God's Absolute government of all Events and Necessity and Fate 4. That the Exercise of a particular Providence consists in the government of all Events 1. What I mean by Events Now every thing that is done may in a large sense be called an Event and is in some degree or other under the government of Providence as all the actions of men are but when I speak of God's government of Events I mean only such Events as are in Scripture called God's doings as being ordered and appointed by him that is to say all the good or evil which happens to private men or to Kingdoms and Nations in this world Every thing that is done is not God's doing for there is a great deal of evil every day committed which God does not order and appoint to be done but has expresly forbid the doing of it but there is no good or evil which happens to any man or to any Society of men but what God orders and appoints for them and this is God's government of all Events This is the proper exercise of Providence to allot all men their Fortunes and Conditions in the world to dispense Rewards and Punishments to take care that no man shall receive either good or evil but from the Hand and by the Appointment of God this is the Subject of all the Disputes about the Justice and Goodness and Wisdom of Providence and all the Objections against Providence necessarily suppose that thus it is or thus it ought to be if God governs the world For unless Providence be concerned to take care that no men be happy or miserable but as they deserve which cannot be without the Absolute Government of all Events the prosperity of bad men and the sufferings of the good the many miseries that are in the world and the uncertain changes and turnings of Fortune can be no Objection against Providence And indeed were not this the case Providence would be so insignificant a Name that it would not be worth the while to dispute for or against it for a Providence which neither can do us good nor hurt or which cannot always and in all cases do it is worth nothing or worth no more than it can do good or hurt And therefore all the good or evil which does or can befal Men or Kingdoms is in Scripture attributed to Providence and promised or threatned by God as men shall deserve either such as Length of Days or a sudden and untimely Death Health or Sickness Honour or Disgrace Riches or Poverty Plenty or Famine War or Peace the changing Times and Seasons the removing Kings and setting up Kings and with respect to all such Events as these whatever the immediate Causes of them be God is said to do whatsoever pleaseth him 2dly But we shall better understand this by enquiring into the Nature of God's Government Now God's Government of Events consists in ordering and appointing whatever good or evil shall befal men for according to the Scripture we must attribute such a Government to God as makes all these Events his Will and Doing and nothing can be his Will and Doing but what he Wills and Orders Some men think it enough to say That God permits every thing that is done but will by no means allow that God Wills and Orders and Appoints it which they are afraid will charge the Divine Providence with all the evil that is done in the world and truly so it would did God order and appoint the evil to be done but tho God orders and appoints what evils every man shall suffer he orders and appoints no man to do the evil he only permits some men to do mischief and appoints who shall suffer by it which is the short Resolution of this Case To attribute the evils which some men suffer from other mens sins merely to Gods Permission is to destroy the Government of Providence for bare Permission is not Government and those evils which God permits but does not order cannot be called his will and doing and if this be the case of all the evils we suffer from other mens sins most of the evils which men suffer befal them without God's Will and Appointment and yet to attribute all the evil which men do to God's Order and Appointment is to destroy the Holiness of Providence and therefore we must necessarily distinguish between the evils men do and the evils they suffer the first God Permits and Directs the second he Orders and Appoints How God governs men hearts and actions I have already explained and this is the place to consider God's Permission of Evil for Permission relates to actions Mens own wicked hearts conceive and form wicked designs and they execute them by God's Permission but no man suffers by them but by God's Appointment God's Care of his creatures requires that no man should suffer any thing but what God orders for him and if such sufferings be just and righteous how wicked soever the Causes be it is no reproach to Providence to order and appoint them Suppose a man have forfeited his Life or Estate or Reputation to Providence or tho he have made no Criminal Forfeiture of it yet God sees fit for other Wise Reasons to remove him out of the world or to reduce him to Poverty and Contempt is it any fault in Providence to deliver such a man into the hands of Murderers Oppressors Slanderers who are very forward to execute such Decrees when Providence takes off the restraint and sets them at liberty to follow their own lusts And when there are so many that deserve
if the whole world consists of particulars it must be taken care of in the care of particulars for if all particulars perish as they may do if no care be taken to preserve them the whole must perish And there is the same reason for the Government of Mankind for the whole is governed in the Government of the parts and Mankind can't be well governed without the Wise Government of every particular Man I 'm sure that the Objections against a Particular Providence are very foolish Some think it too much trouble to God to take care of every particular as if it were more trouble to him to take care of them than it was to make them or as if God had made more creatures than he could take care of as if an Infinite Mind and Omnipotent Power were as much disturbed and tired with various and perpetual Cares as we are Others think it below the Greatness and Majesty of God to take cognizance of every mean and contemptible creature or of every private man as if it were more below God to take care of such creatures than it is to make them as if numbers made creatures considerable to God that tho one man is below God's care yet a Kingdom is worthy of his care and notice when the whole world to God is but as the drop of the bucket and the small dust of the balance Now it is certain there can be no particular Providence without God's Government of all Events for if any good or evil happens to any man without God's Order and Appointment that is not Providence whatever other name you will give it So that if God does take a particular care of all his creatures this is a demonstration that he has the Absolute Government of all Events for without it he cannot take Care of them and if God have the Government of all Events as the Scripture assures us he has this confirms us in the belief of a particular Providence for if all the Good or Evil that happens to every particular man is appointed by God that is proof enough that God takes Care of every particular Man God's Government of all particular Events and his Care of all Individuals include each other in their very Natures The Care of particular Creatures consists in the Government of all particular Events and the Government of all Events is the Exercise of a particular Providence as our Saviour represents it 10. Matth. 29 30 31. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father But the very hairs of your head are all numbred Fear ye not therefore ye are of more value than many sparrows Where God's particular Providence over all his Creatures is expressed by his particular care of all Events which extends even to the Life of a Sparrow and to the Hairs of our Heads Thus much is certain That without this belief That God takes a particular Care of all his Creatures in the Government of all Events that can happen to them there is no reason or pretence for most of the particular Duties of Religious Worship For most of the Acts of Worship consider God not merely as an Universal Cause could we form any Notion of a general Providence without any Care of particular Creatures or particular Events but as our particular Patron Protector and Preserver To fear God and to stand in awe of his Justice to trust and depend on him in all Conditions to submit patiently to his will under all Afflictions to pray to him for the supply of our Wants for the relief of our Sufferings for Protection and Defence to love and praise him for the Blessings we enjoy for peace and plenty and health for friends and benefactors and all prosperous Successes I say these are not the Acts of Reasonable men unless we believe that God has the Supreme Disposal of all Events and takes a particular Care of us For if any Good or Evil can befal us without God's particular Order and Appointment we have no reason to trust in God who does not always take Care of us we have no reason to bear our Sufferings patiently at God's hand and in Submission to his Will for we know not whether our Sufferings be God's Will or not we have no reason to love and praise God for every Blessing and Deliverance we receive because we know not whether it came from God and it is to no purpose to pray to God for particular Blessings if he does not concern himself in particular Events But if we believe that God takes a particular Care of us all and that no Good or Evil happens to us but as he pleases all these Acts or Religious Worship are both Reasonable Necessary and Just. But of this more hereafter CHAP. IV. Concerning the Sovereignty of Providence HAving in the former Chapter shewn That the Government of the Divine Providence consists in Over-ruling and Disposing all Events For the better understanding of this and to prevent a great many ignorant Objections against it besides what I have already said it will be necessary more particularly to explain the Nature and Essential Characters and Properties of God's Governing Providence And I shall begin with 1. The Sovereignty of Providence For God being the Sovereign Lord of the World must Govern with a Sovereign Will For a Sovereign Lord is a Sovereign and Absolute Governor For which reason the Scripture so often resolves all things into the sole will and pleasure of God and in many cases will allow us to seek for no other Cause He doth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth Whatever the Lord pleased that did he in heaven and in earth in the seas and all deep places That the Will of God is Sovereign and Absolute and Unaccountable needs no other proof but that his Power is Absolute and his Wisdom Unsearchable for Absolute Power makes an Absolute Will He who has Power to do whatever he will can do whatever he will and that is the definition of a Severeign and Absolute Will And thus the Scripture resolves the Sovereignty of God into Power That none can stay his hand or say unto him what dost thou He is wise in heart and mighty in strength who hath hardened himself against him and hath prospered And indeed a Power which is Supreme and Absolute which can do all things and which has no greater Power above it none equal to it has a right to Sovereignty For Absolute Power must be the Maker of all things and that must give an Absolute Right to all things and that gives a Right to Absolute Government if there be any such thing as a Natural Right to Government for if God have a Natural Right to Govern his Creatures he must have a Right to Absolute Government because the Right he has in his Creatures is Absolute and Uncontroulable No Creature has
Justice of Providence and to agree very exactly with the actual Administration of Providence For it is manifest that all good men are not rewarded nor all wicked men punished in this world that a Righteous Cause is sometimes oppressed and that Oppression and Injustice is very often prosperous which must needs appear a great Difficulty to those who make no difference between the Justice of God and Men who think that the Justice of Providence is as much concerned to defend all mens Rights and Properties as the Justice of a Prince is This makes them quarrel against Providence when they are hardly and unjustly used by men and so blinds their minds that they see not the true Reasons why God afflicts them and neither reverence his Judgments nor make a wise use of them The Reasons of this seem very plain the only Question is How it agrees with that account which the Scripture gives us of God's Justice and Righteousness For the Righteousness of God is represented in Scripture by loving Righteousness and favouring a Righteous Cause Thus 11. Psalm 7. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness and his countenance doth behold the upright And the Psalmist very often encourages himself to expect the Divine Favour and Protection from his own Innocence and Integrity and the Righteousness of his Cause 35. Psal. 19. Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause Stir up thy self and awake to my judgment even to my cause my God and my Lord. Iudge me O God according to thy righteousness and let them not rejoice over me Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at my hurt Let them be cloathed with shame and dishonour that magnify themselves against me Let them shout for joy and be glad that favour my righteous cause yea let them say continually Let the Lord be magnified which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant 23 24 26 27. v. The Lord shall judge the people Iudge me O Lord according to my righteousness and according to mine integrity that is in me Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end but establish the just for the righteous Lord trieth the heart and reins God judgeth the righteous and God is angry with the wicked every day If he turn not he will whet his sword he hath bent his bow and made it ready And concludes I will praise the Lord according to his righteousness and will sing praises to the name of the Lord most high 7. Psal. 8 c. Where the Righteousness of the Lord for which the Psalmist praises him is his Judging and Defending a Righteous Cause Thus in 9. Psalm 8 9 10. He shall judge the world in righteousness he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness The Lord also will be a refuge to the oppressed a refuge in time of trouble And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee for thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek thee It were easy to multiply Texts to this purpose where God is expresly declared to be an irreconcilable Enemy to all Injustice and Violence the Protector of the Widow the Fatherless and Oppressed and of all just and righteons men But those conclude a great deal too much who would prove from such Texts as these That no Righteous Man nor Righteous Cause shall ever be oppressed That good men shall always be prosperous and the wicked always miserable for it is evident that this was not the state of the world when these Psalms were penned and therefore this could not possibly be the meaning of them How many Complaints does the Psalmist make against his Enemies those who were wrongfully his Enemies 69. Psalm 4. That his Enemies were lively and strong and they that hated him wrongfully were multiplied 38. Psalm 19. How passionately does he pray for Protection against his Enemies How long wilt thou forget me O Lord for ever how long wilt thou hide thy face from me how long shall I take counsel in my soul having sorrow in my heart daily how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me 13. Psalm 1 2. The 37th Psalm is a plain proof that wicked men were very prosperous in those days tho they are threatned with final destruction And to the same purpose the 73d Psalm gives us a large description of the Prosperity and Pride of bad men many of whom spend their lives and end their days prosperously I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked For there are no bands in their death but their strength is firm They are not in trouble as other men neither are they plagued as other men Behold these are the ungodly who prosper in the world they encrease in riches The Prosperity of bad men and the Miseries and Afflictions of the good were in those days a great Difficulty in Providence and were so to the Psalmist himself and therefore it is certain that whatever he says of the Righteousness of God and his care of Righteous men and his abhorrence of all Wickedness and Injustice cannot signify That God will always defend men in their just Rights that he will always prosper a Righteous Cause and Righteous Men for this was against plain matter of fact and we cannot suppose the Psalmist so inconsistent with himself as in the same breath to compalin that wicked men were prosperous and good men afflicted and to affirm That the Just and Righteous Judge of the World would always punish Unjust Oppressors and protect the Innocent Nay indeed the very nature of the thing proves the contrary for there can be no Unjust Oppressors if no body can be oppressed in their just Rights and therefore it is certain the Divine Providence does at least for a time suffer some men to be very prosperous in their Oppressions and does not always defend a just and innocent Cause for if he did there could be no innocent oppressed man to be relieved nor any Oppressor to be punished And if it be consistent with the Justice and Righteousness of Providence to permit such things for some time we must conclude that it is at the discretion of Providence how long good men shall be oppressed and the Oppressor go unpunished The plain account then of this matter as it is represented in Scripture is this 1. That as God is infinitely Just and Righteous himself so he loves Justice and Righteousness among men he loves Righteousness and Righteous Men and hates all Injustice Violence and Injuries for the Righteous Lord must love Righteousness and hate Iniquity and therefore though the Divine Justice is Superior to all Human Rights and his Authority Absolute and Sovereign to dispose of all his Creatures and of all they have as his own Wisdom directs yet men cannot invade each other's Rights without Injustice and when Rights and Properties are setled by Human Laws it is
mens Lusts for did not all Mankind suffer by one another's sins I doubt neither good nor bad men would be so zealously concerned to punish and suppress Vice and therefore the Divine Providence could not have taken a more effectual course to discourage Wickedness than to make all Mankind sensible of the evil of sin by making them all at one time or other feel the evil of sin in what they suffer by their own or other mens sins For were all men convinced and it is strange that their own sense and feeling will not convince them that all the evils and miseries of life are owing to sin and that it is impossible to be happy without reforming themselves and others as far as they can what more powerful Argument could Providence offer to us to reform the world There are another sort of Calamities and very terrible ones too which those who believe a Providence can attribute to nothing else but the just Judgment and Vengeance of God upon a wicked world Such as Plague and Pestilence and Famine Deluges and Earthquakes which destroy Cities and Countries and more ordinary Accidents when they act in such an extraordinary manner as if they were directed and guided by an unseen hand A great many such Instances are recorded in Scripture and expresly ascribed to the Judgment of God God has threatned such Judgments in Scripture and therefore when we see them executed we must conclude That they are inflicted by God as the just Punishment of Sin Nay those very evils and miseries which we suffer by other mens sins are in Scripture attributed to God who has the Supreme Disposal of all Events For as I observed before it is not sufficient proof that these Judgments are not ordered by God that we can find some immediate Causes for them that some of them are owing to Natural Causes others to Men others to some surprizing and unusual or it may be usual Accidents for whoever believes a Divine Providence does not therefore believe that God does every thing immediately by his own Power without the Ministry of any Second Causes either Natural or Free Agents or what we call Accidents but he is only obliged to believe That God governs all Second Causes to produce such Effects as he sees fit That all Nature moves at God's Command That fire and hail snow and vapours wind and storm fulfil his word 148. Psal. 8. v. That both good and bad men are under his Government and the Ministers of his Providence and that what seems perfect Chance to us is directed by his Wisdom and Counsel and then whatever evils we suffer and whatever the immediate Causes of them be we must ascribe them all to God especially when the same kind of Judgments which had the same kind of immediate Causes are attributed to God in Scripture it is reason enough for us whenever such Judgments befal us to ascribe them to the Providence of God But I need not dispute here Whether all those Evils and Calamities which befal sinners are ordered and appointed by God for till they can prove à priori by direct and positive Arguments That there is no God nor a Providence which none of our Modern Atheists pretend to do while they dispute only by way of Objection they must prove that things are not so ordered as they ought to have been ordered did God govern the world and if we can prove that they are their Objection is answered Now with respect to my present Argument to vindicate the Holiness of Providence it is plain beyond all contradiction that things are so ordered for the discouragement of Wickedness and the encouragement of Vertue as if they had been so ordered on purpose by the greatest Wisdom and the most perfect Holiness and therefore we have reason to believe that they were so ordered by a Wise and a Holy Providence As far then as to command and encourage all Holiness and Vertue and to forbid and discourage all Wickedness and Vice is a Proof of the Holiness of Providence I hope I have sufficiently cleared this Point and I must desire you to observe That these are direct and positive Proofs such as every man may understand and cannot avoid the evidence of and therefore are not to be shaken by every Difficulty objected against them For our knowledg is so imperfect that there is nothing almost which we so certainly know but is liable to such Objections as we cannot easily and satisfactorily answer but one plain positive Proof is a better Reason to believe any thing than a hundred Objections against it are not to believe it because since it is confessed on all hands that our knowledg is very imperfect it is no reason to disbelieve what we do know and what we are as certain of as we can be of any thing because there are some things relating to the same subject which we do not know and therefore unless the Objection be as positive and evident as the proof is and I am sure there are no such Objections against the Holiness of Providence we may very reasonably acknowledge that there are some difficulties which we do not understand and yet may very reasonably believe on as we did 2dly Let us now consider What the Holiness of God's Providence and Government does not require of him And I shall name but one thing which some men make a great Objection against Providence viz. That there is so much Sin and Wickedness daily committed in the World Now if the being of Sin in the World or if the Wickedness of men were irreconcilable with the Holiness of Providence this were an unanswerable Objection against it for it cannot be denied but that Mankind are very wicked But what consequence is there in this that God can't be Holy nor his Providence Holy because Men are wicked We may as well prove that there is no God because there is a Devil Such conceits as these tempted some ancient Hereticks to assert Two Principles a Good and a Bad God because they thought that if there were but one God and he very good there could be no such thing as evil in the World But would any man think this a good Argument against the Holiness of a Prince and his Government that he has many Wicked Subjects and how then do the Sins of men come to be an Argument against the Holiness of Providence To state this in a few words When we speak of God's permitting Sin we either mean the internal or the external Acts of Sin 1. The internal Act of sin which is nothing else but the choice of the Will When men chuse that which is wicked and fully resolve and purpose as they have opportunity to do it This is the sin this makes us guilty before God who knows our hearts though Human Laws can take no cognizance of it as our Saviour tells us He that looketh upon a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his