and Particular as relating to the Actions and Course of every individual Person Moreover the Notion of Providence is Two-fold the first is natural by which God provides all things necessary for the Life and Sustenance of Man The second is Moral which may more properly be called Previding being no other than the secret End propos'd by God for his concurrence with Man in all his Actions which be they never so Irregular Unjust or Vicious from the Evil Ends propos'd by Men are by the Divine Power and Wisdom made to be the Instruments of Good beyond the Intention of second Causes Prophane Story is not so apt to illustrate this Point as Sacred Writ for Instance The End propos'd by Jacob's Sons in selling Joseph was Revenge God concurs with them in this Action but upon other Ends designing to make this unjust Act of theirs to become an Instrument for their Preservation as appears from the wonderful Accidents throughout the whole Course of that History which Passage also was a Type of what befell our Lord and Saviour who was villainously sold betray'd and barbarously put to death by the Jews to all which God concurs making this wicked Act of theirs to be the sole Means for saving those Murderers and all the World besides by that Atonement which was made for their Sins by the Precious Blood of his only Son This Method is most Consonant to the Nature of God it being impossible there should be any greater Demonstration of his Divine Power and Goodness than to be able to convert Poison into a Cordial and to procure safety out of that which would naturally be our ruin But that we may the better understand the Cause and Reasonableness of God's Operations with Men I must leave my ordinary Road a little and take up with the obscure Traces and Niceties of Metaphysicks by premising some few Propositions which like the Postulata or Axioms in the Mathematicks must be taken for granted for the present to avoid the long Digressions and Perplexities which would follow upon a particular Proof of each of them And 1. God from all Eternity foresees all future Actions of Men his Omniscience being a Noble Attribute and Branch of his Divine Nature 2. This Fore-knowledge of God tho' it imply a certainty of the Action does not lay a necessity upon the Agent no more than my fore-knowledge of the Sun 's rising to morrow Morning is a necessary Cause of the Course and Rising of that Glorious Creature 3. That God's influence upon the Actions of Men is either Physical or Moral Physical for as much as he by his Power is the Preserver of every Creature in its Being and Operations and this Power extends it self to all the Actions of Men whether Natural or Spontaneous 2. Moral by proposing Rewards and Punishments as Motives to excite or to disswade from Action adding sometimes his Positive and Revealed Commands together with his assisting Grace by the impulse of his Holy Spirit but this is a Point which more properly concerns Divinity 4. That God has given Man a freedom of Will viz. a Power to choose or dislike upon the apprehensions he has of Objects for Man otherwise would be nothing but a meer Machine all whose Motions whether Regular or Irregular Good or Evil would be nothing but the contrivance and direction of its Maker and would be reputed all for the Acts of Man because God is pleas'd to produce them in his Presence which is all one as to say that the Feracity of the Garden is an Act of the Water-pots because the Water does run through it by which the Gardner does revive his Flowers 5. That the apprehension which Man has of Objects upon which he forms his Acts of choice or dislike being many times clouded by Ignorance or misguided by Irregular Passions is that which betrays him to the commission of Evil. 6. The Perpetration of which Evil is no further forth the Act of God than that Man in his Existence and consequently in his Operations must depend upon the Conserving Power of his Creator so that God can no more be said to be the Cause of Sin than the Sea whose Nature 't is extinguish Fire can be said to be the Cause of the burning and ruin of some Cities for as much as it supports and carries up the Ships from whence came the Bombs and Fire-works which did the mischief From whence it follows also that the commission of Sin is a Moral Action terminated in something forbidden which may be understood either of the Internal Act of the Will proposing a bad Object or a bad End or else of the External Action or Execution which whether it contain any thing positive in its Nature is with great nicety disputed some distinguishing betwixt the materiality of the Action and the formality or obliquity which is nothing but the regard which the Action has to an unlawful Object The former they make to be Positive the other a mere Privative though this latter seem'd a little difficult For Instance this or that particular Act of murder whether intended or executed does receive its Individuality and Being from the Object on which 't is terminated so that this particular Act or Action it self is nothing else but the very Termination on such an undue Object and in which consists they say the very formality and obliquity of Sin In the last Place this propensity in Actions whether Good or Evil whatsoever it be is not of the Nature of a Creature since even by divine Power it cannot subsist of it self it being impossible there should be such a thing as a Thought without something which thinks and something which is thought upon or an Action without an Agent and an Object It is therefore of the Nature of a Relation which can be said only to have an improper and denominative Reality for as much as the Terms related are real Things From these Points thus premised some Rational answer may be given to such Difficulties as shall occur in our further Consideration of Divine Providence over Human Actions Resuming therefore the distribution which I made in the beginning of this Chapter we are first to consider God's Providence in Relation to greater Bodies or Civil Communities or as it extends it self to the Establishment and Revolutions of Kingdoms To prove this we need no more but to reflect upon the Nature and Attributes of God who as it hath been already demonstrated is Omnipotent and gives Life and Power to every Creature in all its Motions and Tendencies As for Epicurus his Reasonings they are foolish when he endeavours to shew that it is beneath the Grandure of a Deity to concern it self in the Transactions of Men and that the Multiplicity and Contrariety of Occurrences would be an interruption to that Tranquility which is so essential to that happy state where there is nothing but quiet and serenity These Notions of Epicurus so soft and gentle so smooth and inchanting would suit
Ceres and Proserpina soon felt the smart of his Sacrilegious Villainy for immediately the Plague brake into his Camp of which there dyed 50000 He himself being put to a most shameful flight return'd inglorious into his Country and execrated by all who when he had frequented the Temples in the vilest Apparel and acknowledg'd Heavens Justice in punishing his own Impieties concluded his wretched Life by a voluntary Famine I confess we do not every where meet with Instances of this Nature but yet we may observe in the Course of Providence some unexpected Issues by which the meanest Instruments and upon the greatest disadvantages are carried on by they know not what kind of Impetus to the compassing of great Designs whilst others upon the greatest assistance of present Means and the encouragement of past Success are dampt in the Execution and in the very heat of things find a qualm Such Accidents or seeming Irregularities are by most ascrib'd to Fortune to they know not what confluence of lucky Circumstances when yet they seem to be the greatest Proofs of a superlative Energy and Wisdom to be able to produce such strange Effects out of so obscure and small Beginnings like what we observe in the Mathematicks where the Wisdom of the first Inventor is seen from hence that from a few ordinary and common Principles and obvious to the meanest Capacities are rais'd such mighty Theorems as ravish the most Masculine Understandings in the Contemplation of them And as in these so also in the progress of Providential Dispensations though they seem abstruse at first yet after we have dwelt a little on them we see the reliance of such Consequences upon their Antecedents in the Connexion which runs through the whole Choire of Causes It is not usual with God in his Providential Regimen to unhinge Secondary and Natural Causes each from other No he does from all Eternity foresee Events and must therefore penetrate the most retired Thoughts and preside over the most retir'd and deepest Consultations which though they be of Evil Consequence to us as being executed by wicked Instruments yet to him who sits above they are design'd as Chastisements for past and Terrours for future Provocations and are the Effects therefore not only of his Justice but of his Mercy also For our fuller understanding this Point there is one difficulty which seems to obstruct our progress in this Argument and 't is this If Alterations and Revolutions of Government be manag'd by the disposition of divine Providence then is it not a Sin to comply with God in such his Purposes Nay rather we are oblig'd thereto since 't is the Duty of every Man to endeavour the accomplishment of that by which God designs his own Glory This Notion has been the Pillar of Rebellion the Divine Palladium or rather the Trojan Horse from whence came the Conflagration and Ruine almost of this Kingdom In the solution whereof I shall observe Three Degrees of Divine Providence The First is that by which God as the Creator and Preserver of the Universe concurs indifferently to the Actions of his Creatures The Second is that by which he does so dispose of Accidents and in a Natural way as to make them useful to the Purposes of Men which yet could never have been foreseen by any human Sagacity What is more uncertain than the Weather yet what Success has follow'd in point of War when the Enemy upon the Inconveniencies of Rain has found the Progress of his Fortune bounded by the Inundations of a River or by the Diseases caus'd by too immoderate wet in the continuance of a Siege The Third and Last Degree of Providence is that when by some Supernatural and Miraculous way a displeasure is declar'd from Heaven against the Proceedings of Men now to apply these Cases to our present Purpose As for the Last Men without controversie are not concern'd herein such Effects being suppos'd to proceed in a way Supernatural and from the immediate Hand of God or if their Concurrence were requir'd they might act their Parts securely no doubt it being impossible for God to work a Miracle for the compassing of a sinful Action But this cannot concern the Objection because we see no Kingdoms now destroy'd by Miracles Nor is the First Case of moment because God does no more than what the Exigencies of Finite Creatures require of him as their Creator that is his ordinary Concurrence with them so far as they depend upon him in all their Actions whether Good or Evil and therefore the Rebel has no better a Plea for the Success he meets with than the Murderer since God affords his ordinary and general Concurrence indifferently to both The stress then of such Pretences must lie upon the Second Method viz. When by an immediate Contribution of Natural Causes God shews himself more favourable to one side than the other but this can be no good Argument unless I knew that there were an immediate and special Influence of God therein concern'd Secondly admitting this were known yet unless we knew the Mind of God and so propose the same End we can have no assurance that what we do is Just since the same Action according to the several Ends propos'd becomes qualified with different Formalities of Good and Evil. But to shew the Absurdity of those who maintain God's Secret Will in opposition to his Reveal'd and according to our Modern Language own God as King i. e. fight against him in one Capacity to preserve him in another I shall observe first That Politick Power in General is immediately from God as being founded upon the Law of Nature For whether Men will or no they must be Govern'd some way since to the Conservation of human Race 't is necessary that men should be secure from the violence of Oppressors but no man can be secure but by flying to some Body who is Superiour to him who offers Violence and Superiour he must be either by strength of Arms or by Authority Should private Questions and Quarrels be decided by Strength the World would quickly fall to Pieces it remains therefore that Recourse must be had to one who is Supream in point of Authority and Command In the next Place 't is indisputable that this or that kind of Government in Specie whether Monarchy Aristocracy or the like is not De jure Naturae and from God immediately but by the consent of the People intervening For by the Law of Nature no Man has Right to rule more than another but when Men for their own private Quiet and Security do divest themselves of that Power by conferring it on a common Representative Or when Kingdoms got by Usurpation in tract of time become Lawful Governments the Concurrence of the People being won over by degrees In these Cases so far as they resign their Power so far have they made themselves Subjects and therefore if an Usurper acquire the Power de facto this cannot be said to be
from God since the Consent of the People which is de Jure Naturae cannot be resum'd and transferr'd upon any succeeding Capacity as long as that 's in being on which they conferr'd their Right at first CHAP. VIII Of God's Influence on Human Actions AND here I must beg my Readers leave to digress a little from the Method I propos'd viz. Not to meddle with Arguments of Sacred Authority till such time as by the Thread of this Discourse I should be brought to speak of reveal'd Religion and particularly the Christian But so it is that I cannot make any further Progress till such time as some Difficulties be remov'd which seem to obviate our intended Method under an appearance of being founded or to speak more properly confounded in God's Providential Order For whosoever shall look back a little upon the Government of the late Usurper cannot but meet with many pretended Luminaries I should say Incendiaries of those times who endeavour'd to father the Revolution upon God's singular and gracious Providence and so making it to be of Divine Authority And because such Revolutions may happen again it will not be amiss to examine this Doctrine by the Weights and Measures of the Sanctuary and that we may do this it will be proper to enquire a little as far as our shallow Reason will permit into the manner of God's Operations in the Minds and with the Actions of Men. That we may understand the Question therefore aright I shall premise Two Things First That I shall not in this place discourse of Evangelical Works or Graces but of Moral Duties nor yet of such as are morally good but of such rather as are morally bad and of the Causes from whence they rise In the next place that in regard to Human Actions the efficient Causes are of Two sorts First Physical or such by which the substance or matter of the Action as I may say with leave from Logick is produc'd There is also another kind of efficient Cause and that is Moral as where one invites another to an Action by proposing a Reward or by counselling or exciting his Will and Affections to make such a Choice Also the final Cause which is term'd by some the Objective comes under this denomination forasmuch as the End or Object in all Animal and Human Actions does influence the Action and excite move and by a kind of secret force impell him to act for the obtaining of such an End or Object Now for the Physical Influence of God on Human Actions it is no way to be doubted that he concurs to them forasmuch as being the Creator of all things they cannot act without him but this kind of influence is general and regards all Human Actions not as good or bad but purely as the Actions of his Creatures like the influence of the Sun which indifferently shines upon the Earth and serves to nourish and to mature hurtful as well as wholsome Plants The stress then of the Question is conversant about a moral Agency as whether God does excite the Will and Affections to sinful Actions by impelling them thereunto by proposing undue Objects or by obstructing them from making any other choice The Great Doctor and Divine of his time and who drew great numbers after him John Calvin seems to have laid the Foundation of those many Erroneous Opinions touching Providence in some bold and Heterodox Assertions of God's being the Author and first Mover of Man to all sinful Actions denying him not only a liberty of doing good but of declining Evil so that whatsoever Sin any man commits does not proceed from the man 's own free Choice for then he might have declin'd it but from a Predetermination in God who does actually excite him to the commission of it This he professedly and strenuously affirms in teaching That Men do nothing Calv lib. 1. Institut c. 18. Sect. 1. but by the secret Approbation of God nor act any thing with deliberation but what he himself hath before decreed and by his secret Direction hath constituted as is fully proved by innumberable and clear Testimonies And a little before he saith It may seem absurd perhaps that by the Will and Command of God a Man should be made blind for which blindness he afterwards suffers punishment this they endeavour to evade by saying That is done by the Permission not by the Will of God but whilst God declares openly that he himself does it this Evasion is baffled Likewise speaking of the Assyrians whom God made use of for the Chastisement of Judah he says They were impell'd by the Will and Appointment of God I confess says he Ibid. Sect. 2. God many times acts in the Reprobate by making use also of Satan's Labour but yet so far only as 't is permitted to Satan to move in it by the impulse of God! O strange we had thought that Satan had been forward enough of himself to tempt us to Sin and that he needed not to be pushed on to it by God! But to proceed he exempts Satan from being any other than the Tool or Instrument which God makes use of to effect wicked purposes It is said 2 Cor. 4. continueth Calvin That Satan Lib. 2. Inst cap. 4. or the God of this World hath blinded the Minds of those who believe not but how can this be unless the efficacy of the Error proceed from God And in this Sense 't is that Calvin expounds that place of St. Paul 2 Thes 2. That the Efficacy of Error Lib. 1. Inst cap. 18. Sect. 2. or of being seduc'd was infus'd by God to the end that they might believe a Lye who obeyed not the truth And in this Sense also 't is that he explains that Passage of the Fourteenth of Ezekiel And if a Prophet be deceiv'd when he hath spoken a thing I the Lord have deceived that Prophet As for Examples he produces that of Shimei's cursing David of Absalom's lying with his Father's Concubines of the lying Spirit which deceiv'd the Prophets and by them Ahab to the end he might perish at Ramoth-Gilead of Satan's misusing Job with many other Passages of the like Nature all which he pretends to have proceeded effectually from God and that the Devil was only the Instrument as was said before to execute what God had commanded And to prevent that Answer which Divines commonly make to such Objections viz. That God may be said to harden the Hearts of Men and to infatuate and darken their Understandings and Minds by withdrawing his Spirit and Grace and to leave Men to their natural blindness and imperfection This he rejects as unsound standing stiffly to his Doctrine to wit That God by the help of Satan does destine Lib. 2. Inst Cap. 4. Sect. 3. the Counsels of wicked Men as he pleases and that he does excite their Wills and confirm and strengthen them in their Purposes And for those who are of another Opinion he looks upon them as
an eternal and prae-existent matter then must that matter have been immutable for though the things made out of it be subject to continual vicissitudes and corruptions yet the matter must be still the same as the Stone and Timber of which the House is made is the same still for nature and essence as 't was before Now if that out of which the World was made was Immutable and Eternal then must it have those Perfections of which the Divine Nature chiefly do's consist but if this cannot be granted then must it be mutable and then can it not be Eternal for what 's Eternal must of necessity endure the same for ever But to proceed This Truth of the Existence of a God made such deep Impressions on the minds of Men through all Ages that even the Poets themselves so much abandon'd as they were to their own wanton Fictions were ever and anon forc't to throw off their Masks and to expose the bare-fac'd Truth The places cited out of the Ancient Greeks are known and many As the Passages also of the Sibylls in Lactantius No less remarkable are the Latins Ovid's first Book of his Metamorphoses seems nothing but a Paraphrase upon Genesis As also Virgil in that Passage or Fiction of Aeneas his descent into Hell Lib. 6. Aeneld where his Father Anchises amongst other Mysteries tells him In the beginning 't was the Spirit did form Heaven Earth and Seas Sun Moon and Stars of Morn The Mind diffusing through the bulky Frame Fermented all the Mass and from thence came Trees Flowers Birds Beasts thence also Mankind sprang With whatsoever is in th' Ocean The like he hath also in his fourth Book of his Georgicks What Opinion the Wisest of the Romans had touching the Heathen Gods cannot be better learnt then from Cato in Lucan who being Lucan l. 9. reduc'd to great Extremities in the Deserts of Libya was advised by Labienus to Consult the Oracle of Hamon being then near unto it to which Cato most Christian like reply'd God's Throne 's the Earth the Sea the Air and Heaven And above all a Mind to Vertue given What needs a further search of Gods above What ever we see where ever we be there 's Jove adding further that 't was not the Oracle but Death which could make him certain and without more ado he continued on his march never offering so much as once to salute Jupiter In short whosoever shall consider what the wisest of the Heathen spake concerning a Deity though they sometimes used the word Jupiter as being a Name most known to the Vulgar yielding herein as I have said to the Stile and Customs of the Times in which they liv'd Nevertheless the Descriptions they made could belong to none but to the only True and Immortal God For could that Jupiter be thought by them to be Hominum Sator atque Deorum who was born in Creete and so came into the World being Peopled before his Birth as now it is Could he be the Father of those who were born before himself Or could he give Immortality and Divinity to others who could not preserve himself from Death Could he be the just and upright Governour of the World who in his Life time committed so many Murders Rapes and Incests and after his fictitious Translation ceas'd not to have his Ganymede and to be employ'd about nothing more than to get Fuel for his Lust The grossest Heathen could never believe this much less so many Excellent and Learned Men amongst them of whom we read so much in prophane Story Some are of Opinion that this knowledge which the Heathen had of the True God was not from any instinct of the Light of Nature but from Divine Revelation first to the Patriarchs and from them by way of Tradition deliver'd from Generation to Generation The Ground for their Opinion is this The most Ancient Authors whose Testimonies are cited in this Argument are Zoroastres and Hermes Trismegistus The former is said to have lived about the beginning of the Chaldean Empire and is by some suppos'd to have been the Son or Nephew of Ham. Whoever he was Plutarch makes him Tract de Isid Oser to have liv'd many Ages before the Trojan Wars he is said also to have Instituted the Order of the Magi and in Imitation of these the Persians afterwards had their Sophi These Magi had the Custody of the Emperors Archives Registring the Actions of their Lives and were accounted as Oracles in Matters of Religion As for Mercurius Trismegistus he was an Egyptian and of the greatest Antiquity In the Works which bear his Name he seems to speak as clearly of the Divine Mysteries as Moses himself Now the Egyptians and the Chaldeans were ever accounted by all Prophane as well as Sacred Historians to have been the most Ancient of all Nations and we find in Scripture that 't was with these Nations the Patriarchs had greatest Commerce For Abraham liv'd for some time amongst the Chaldees and in Egypt where the Children of Jacob also with their Posterity sojourn'd for some Ages 'T was no wonder then that these two Nations should have so early a knowledge of Sacred Mysteries as also of all other kind of Learning From Egypt it was that the Greeks took their Light Orpheus the most Ancient Author amongst them visited Egypt and search'd into all their Sacred Records Next after him was Pythagoras who not only travell'd into Egypt but into Chaldea also and 't was from Pythagoras chiefly that Plato took his Notions as the Poets from Orpheus so that the nearer they were to the Original the better always were their Copies But whatsoever knowledge the Ancients had by this way of Tradition certain it is that they could not but receive much Light too from the Book of Nature For Reason tells us that whatsoever has a Beginning must have it either from it self or from some other not from it self for then must it have had an Existence before it had an Existence the thing which produces another being ever before that which is produc'd But if it has its beginning from something else and that from another and so on we must either make an Infinite Progress in Natural Productions which is utterly impossible for no Infinite can actually be made up of Finite Actions or we must at length resolve all into one first Cause which in it self is without beginning which can be no other than God Let a Man turn himself which way soever he pleases he shall find a vast Expanse of Creatures before his Eyes He sees the Earth producing every Living thing and Plants in their Season and yielding all things useful for the Life of Man He sees the Heavens beautified with innumerable Stars of vast Bulk and Purity he sees those Glorious Luminaries the Sun and Moon he sees all these Celestial Bodies how they are most regular and perpetual in their Motion most unchangeable in their Natures and of wonderful Influence
Blasphemers who spit their Venom against Heaven adding withal that this is no new thing since in all Ages there have been wicked and prophane Men Qui adversus hanc Doctrinae partem ore rabido Lib. 1. Inst Cap. 18. Sect. ult latrarent which Language of his is so virulent and unchristian like that I know not how to make it English And to conclude this Chapter says Calvin If it shall seem difficult to any what we now assert to wit That there is no Agreement of God with Man when Man by the just Impulse of God does that which is not lawful for him to do he cryes out Who can forbear trembling at the Judgments of God who works in the Hearts of Men whatsoever he will More justly may we cry out Who can forbear trembling to hear such desperate Doctrine 'T is true he denies every where that God is the cause of Sin but whether that which I have cited out of him and which was delivered by him not occasionally but ex professo be not a proof of his making God to be the cause of Sin I know not what can ever be proved upon the Earth and if he contradicts himself let those who follow him look to that he seeming in this Particular to be an Example of that Judgment which he so often ascribes to God of being deliver'd over in Reprobum sensum or of having the Eyes of his Understanding darkned And thus much for the Doctrine of Calvin whom I shall forbear to treat with that scurrilous Language he so freely bestows on those who differ from him in Opinion upon this Point He was certainly a learned Man and of a strict Life and severe but withal of a most morose and sour Disposition most vexatious furious and obstinate as are all those who follow him most opiniative of himself a Vilifier of such as deserted from him and as to what concerns the Point in question his Doctrine is little less than Blasphemy For according to this Doctrine Man is made a meer stupid dead and Passive Principle and Free Grace is built upon the greatest Similitude of which a Rational Nature is capable if so be it be capable thereof a necessity to Sin But God has given us faculties to discriminate betwixt Good and Evil and Abilities also to arbitrate upon them To what purpose otherwise are all those Menaces Exhortations and Prohibitions so frequently us'd and insisted on in Scripture What meaneth the Spirit of God when we are required to do good and eschew evil to repent us of our sinful ways and to turn unto the Lord to put on the Armour of God and to withstand the Wiles of the Devil and to work out our Salvatition with fear and trembling For if so be I have not a power to obey these Injunctions How is it that God commands me to do that which is impossible and yet punishes the non-performance with Eternal Death This is all one as if a General should bind his Soldiers Hands and Feet and having done so require him to rise up to apply himself to his Service and to combat the Enemy and then execute the man for not executing his Commands Besides supposing the Will to be thus impotent and deprav'd might not the Sinner thus interrogate his Soul Why am I thus sollicitous to withstand the Assaults of the Devil Why do I thus tire and weary out my self with vain Endeavours Why do I embitter the Pleasures and Enjoyments of my Life with Grief and Anxiety when it lies not in my own power to remove my Fear Nay might not the Reprobate thus expostulate with God as Sostratus in Lucian did with Minos Seest thou not with what Injustice thou art chargeable who hast doom'd me to everlasting Misery being subservient and instrumental only in those Evils which Fate had predefin'd and yet thou rewardest others with Happiness who are no other than the Dispensers of that Good to which the guidance of their unalterable Decrees had pre-ordain'd them Was there not the same Necessity in both why then is there such inequality in the Sentence These and such like prodigious Blasphemies are the Natural or rather the Unnatural Consequences of this Doctrine 'T is true if we look back on man as in a state of Nature and as under the deprivation of that Primitive Perfection with which he was once invested he has no Abilities of himself to fulfil the Will of God nor perform those Christian Duties which are requir'd of him unless he be first illuminated by God's Holy Spirit quicken'd with his Grace and encouraged by the discoveries and Gracious promises of the Gospel But this is nothing to the Question for we now consider man under his moral Capacity and of moral Actions 't is that Calvin tells us That it is of the special Grace of God as often as we think of doing any thing which may concern our Temporal Good or as often as our minds and thoughts have a version to any thing that may hurt us Upon these moral Actions then it is that Calvin does chiefly controvert though the Arguments and Examples he makes use of are taken in a manner all of them from the Old Testament To all which I answer First in general That those Expressions which we meet with every where in Scripture are not to be understood in strict Propriety of Language but per Modum Recipientis and in the same Sense as God is said every where to repent to be jealous to be angry to forget to hear and see with such like Passions and Affections as are infinitely short of the Divine Nature it seeming good to the Holy Spirit to use such Descriptions to make weak and ignorant men more capable to understand the Will of God by such sensible and familiar Representations And that this is the true Sense of them is evident from those infinite Places in the Old Testament where Men are invited to Repentance and Amendment of Life to turn to the Lord and where heavy Judgments are every where denounc'd against those who shall not conform themselves to such Admonitions all which would be nothing but a mere delusion of men if they were not able to turn themselves one way or other 'T is certain also that the Prophets every where use many Rhetorical and Figurative Expressions Emblems and Similitudes as doth David also Job and almost all the Ancient Writers Now to understand all these literally would be to lead us into endless Perplexities we have therefore no other Rule to understand them by but by interpreting them in such a Sense as shall agree best with the Nature and Attributes of God with the general Context and Scope of Scripture and with the Nature also of Men endu'd with Reasonable Souls Now so it is that the Actions of Men are ascrib'd also to God not only from that general Influence he has upon his Creatures as their Creator and by which he gives them Beings and affords them his general
but by force of Arms Something like this also we find at this day to arise frequently amongst the High-land Clans where meeting with one another in great Bodies they fight it out at Sharps and live always in a kind of Hostile manner To remedy such Mischiefs the several Families or Tribes of old were forc'd to unite themselves into one Common and greater Body under certain Laws of Government whether Monarchical or of a Commonwealth or in Case of Conquest to make the best Terms they could with the Conqueror And this is the True and Natural Original of all Governments throughout the World and are no more the Work and Institution of God than other Civil or Natural Occurrences derivable from him as he is the Creator and Preserver of the World which generally he Governs by the ordinary and familiar Methods of Nature CHAP. X. Of God's special Providence over the Actions of Private Persons FRom God's Providential Government of Human Affairs in respect of Civil Bodies we advance in the next Place to consider the continuance of the same Paternal and Providential Power in relation to the Lives and Actions of every Private Man This follows Naturally from the former for as much as the same Virtue which moves the Body must move also every Part and Member of it as also for that God's Omnipotence Omniscience and Omnipresence upon which Attributes is founded his Providential Power extend themselves to all the Actions of Individual Persons from the dependance they have on him as their first Cause and Preserver But to prosecute this Point with more particular Arguments we may first take notice of what occurs to our Observation in God's special Care of Man at his first entrance into the World above other Creatures It is known to all how some have been expos'd in their Infancy and have been miraculously preserv'd to be the Parents of mighty Nations such as Moses Cyrus Romulus and the like is storied also by the Poets of their Jupiter and others of their Gods thereby intimating the special care of Divine Providence towards particular Men not only in saving them from the Dangers they were expos'd to but by making them the chiefest Instruments in Matters of greatest Moment and of Universal Benefit But to leave these unusual Methods which seem to carry in them some shew of Miracle let us look a little nearer home and we shall find that Man of all Creatures that come into the World is naturally the most unable to shift for himself all Beasts almost as soon as born find the way to the Teat Birds once hatch'd are quickly in a Condition to feed themselves but with Mankind 't is otherwise The Infant that is born stands in need of continual Help and Succour and is expos'd to continual Cold and Hunger to Wants and Danger and this too not for some days but for some years before it can be able to feed and nourish it self and yet we see how God does provide for all these Exigencies of Nature when all Natural means seem to fail For the Children of those poor Creatures who seem destitute of all Relief themselves rarely miscarry through want of Succour unless through the wilful Impiety and Cruelty of such Parents who to conceal their own shame or to ease themselves of some small Expence and Care embrue their Hands in the Blood of those tender Infants or actually with-hold that Sustenance and Comfort which their Condition does require In which Case God is not oblig'd to work Miracles and force the Wills of those bloody and obdurate Wretches to prevent the Effects of their wicked Intentions no more than he is oblig'd to lay a Physical restraint on Men to keep them from the commission of Murder Theft Incest or any other such Crimes as depend upon their own proper Will and Power I shall here forbear to speak of the Natural Gifts and Perfections of Man's Mind that being elsewhere treated of at large We have a signal Proof of God's particular Goodness and Care towards Man in that Dominion and Soveraignty he has given him over all other Animals whatsoever How do all the Beasts of the Earth and Fowls of the Air give way and retire at his appearance or approach and by such with-drawing confess a Majesty in his Presence The fiercest Creatures and those of greatest strength will not make opposition unless they be mightily provok'd and reduc'd to great Extremity Others again express a more than ordinary Obsequiousness mixt with Fear and almost all pay him Homage and Service In a word Providence is that Vigilant and Indulgent Mother which with an hundred Arms labours perpetually and presents to every Man all the Blessings and Delights of Nature She enlivens him by the Light and Beauty of the Stars she warms him with her Flames she refreshes him with her sweet Showers and Breezes of Air she serves him with her wholesom Waters she surrounds him with Rivers which serve for Defence and Commerce for Delight and Benefit She delights him with Verdant Pastures with enamel'd Meadows and with the Curious Colours Figures and sweet Odours of Herbs and Flowers She does Recreate him with the Melody of Birds and with the soft murmurs of Chrystal Rivolets and Fountains she does nourish and enrich him with her fruitful Fields she shelters him with her Trees yielding Shade and Materials for Building she does feast him with infinite variety of Fruits beautiful to the Eyes fragrant to the Smell and delicious for Taste as well as wholesom for Food she furnishes his Table with all varieties of Meat according to mens different Appetites and the several Seasons of Nature the Earth with all sorts of Flesh the Air with Fowl and the Rivers with Fish and in Case of Sickness he is succour'd with Medicinal Plants Minerals and Waters of rare Virtue so that which way soever a man turns himself he receives Tribute from every quarter of the World and Feasts his Senses with the Wonders and Delights which do surround him These indeed are but some of those Entertainments which are in a manner common to all Men being such as flow from the Hands of Providence in the Blessings of Nature To which if we add the Benefits and Ornaments of Art with what comes from Traffick and Commerce they would exceed Number As for other Creatures into what a narrow compass are their Enjoyments reduc'd All their content is measur'd by a little Food and Water and after the Flux of a few years or days perhaps they wax feeble and die That which seems to discredit this important Truth is the Observation which has been made through all Ages that the greatest Libertines and Oppressours are for the most part Prosperous and swim in Pleasures and Delights whilst the Vertuous and Innocent are generally despis'd and many times reduc'd to Misery or if some become more fortunate it is presently attributed to the Deity they Invoke when yet others much more in Number and no less constant in
is drawn from its Natural Inclinations which are such as are still aspiring towards higher degrees of Perfection The Mind is never satiated with Knowledge but still thirsts after new Discoveries our perception of one thing does naturally lead us into the enquiry of another which having once obtained our Soul takes a farther prospect still till at length being arriv'd to the first origine of all things it dwells on it and enquires also into the Nature and Perfections of it as far as its own limits will allow and deserves to be united with it for ever Now this shews sufficiently that in this life 't is only in a tendency to that Perfection and Rest which cannot be attain'd to but in another The descending stone if any thing obstruct its Motion does by its resisting weight tell us that by Nature it would go farther and the nearer it comes to its centre it presses still with greater weight and if no obstacle occurr it is still more impetuous in its Motion till it falls at last to that point of Rest from which 't will not be remov'd but with greater difficulty In like manner we observe also how the Flame mounts upwards and the more pure and subtile 't is the quicker in its Motion which still encreases the higher it rises till at last 't is swallow'd up and incorporated in that immense Region of Aether to which it was design'd by Nature Thus fares it with the Soul of Man which does enlarge its desires far beyound the Enjoyments of Life the more t is fill'd the greater still is its appetite which discovers plainly that it is not yet arriv'd to its place of Rest but is only in the way towards it which since it can never find whilst it is in union with the Body it remains that there must be a future State where it shall meet with a suitable content which cannot be unless the Soul by Nature were Incorruptible and Immortal So that whosoever shall but make a Reflection upon himself and consider the Frame and Temper of his own Mind must needs observe it to be of a Nature more active and diffusive than Fire and more quick and penetrating than Lightning and as to its comprehensive Power most capacious and such as Labour cannot exhaust nor Age make feeble On the contrary the longer it endures it still grows more Vigorous and requires something more than finite to fills its Dimensions from all which we may well conclude that 't is of a Spiritual and Angelick Nature and such as must survive all the decays and changes of the Body And indeed were it corruptible and mortal it must be some of these ways First by the Action of its Contrary as we see mixt Bodies are corrupted by some Excess or Irregularity in their first qualities which interchequing with one another cause a dissolution but this cannot be the case of the Soul which is of a Nature most pure and unmixt Another way by which things are destroy'd is by Division and Separation of its parts thus by daily experience we see how things Natural and Artificial are always wasted and broke to peices but the Soul being without Extension of parts cannot be dissolv'd by divisibility A third way by which we observe Bodies to perish is by a deficiency of their Aliment thus a Tree dies for want of Moisture and a Lamp is extinguish'd for want of Oyl to feed it but 't is not so with the Soul of Man for though it subsist in the Body as the flame of a Lamp in the Viol yet has it not its Illumination from it 'T is true it receives many Informations by the outward Organs of the Senses but these Images being simple and common bear no Analogy to the workings of the Mind besides we find the Soul subsisting and acting when all sensitive assistence is withdrawn That then on which the Mind of Man feeds and improves it self is that infinite variety of Objects whether visible or intellectual which we meet with perpetually both in Heaven and Earth together with those noble Speculations and Conclusions of Reason which though compounded of a few naked Notions and capable of being multiplied into as great a number as that of Words which yet are but the Productions of a few simple and Alphabetick Sounds variously mixt and set together Now since the Multitude and greatness of mental Objects can never be exhausted by the Soul it follows that the Soul of Man can never perish through want of a suitable Aliment and Supply indeed all sensible and material things cannot so properly be said to perish as to be corrupted by being chang'd into something of another Nature which Transmutation or Corruption of things is at the most nothing but a resolution of them into their Elements from whose implace new bodies do rise but the Soul of Man is uncapable of all such Alterations It is not resolvable into any Elements as being of a Nature more unmixt and pure than any Element whatsoever it is not changeable into another Soul or capable of being other than what it is but by Annihilation which yet is not consistent with the Nature of God who having once created a thing is never known to have reduc'd it to its first nothing And therefore as the third General Argument the Immortality of the Soul is yet farther demonstrable from the Justice of God's Providence We have observ'd in the precedent Chapters that as to the Comforts and Blessings of this Life wicked Men generally have the upper hand whilst Innocent and Vertuous Persons are oft-times expos'd to unjust Sentences Calumnies Oppression Torments Imprisonments Confiscation of Goods and sometimes to Death it self How many a poor and honest Christian is there in the World who suffers by Sickness Cold Hunger and all courses of Poverty and yet lives always in an humble Resignation of his Will to that of Almighty God and is thankfull too for the small Comforts of life he receives from him by the Ministry of his own laborious Hands whilst some rich Glutton lies Batning amidst his Wealth and swelling with Pride and Fatness of Bread abandons himself to ease and all manner of disorders both of Body and Mind Whose Religion indeed consists only in having some young formal Chaplain for State rather than for Devotion thinking his Equipage defective unless he has some one in the Ecclesiastick Livery to wait upon him Now how these and infinite such Indecencies can consist with the Justice of God's Providential Government is a difficulty which can never be answered were there not a Future State where unfortunate Vertue should be crown'd and prosperous wickedness be chastis'd which yet can never be unless the Soul of Man survive the Miseries and Dissolution of the Body The Truth of it is take away the Doctrine of the Soul's Immortality and we destroy all Morality For morally speaking who would deny his Soul the Contents and Pleasures of his Appetite were all Felicity determin'd in sensual