Works of Nature prove that the World was at first made by a wise and powerful Being the continuance and preservation of all things the regular motions of the Heavens the uniform productions of Nature prove the World is upheld directed and governed by the same Omnipotent Wisdom and Counsel As St. Paul tells us The invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead 1 Rom. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Dominion and Soveraignty or his governing Providence this visible World does not only prove an Eternal Power which made it but a Soveraign Lord who administers all the Affairs of it And 14. Acts 17. He proves the Being of God from his Providence Nevertheless he left not himself without witness in that he did good and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness And 17. Acts 28. He proves that God governs the World and takes care of all the Creatures that are in it because he made it For in him we live move and have our being as certain of your own Poets have said for we are also his off-spring which is very improperly alledged by St. Paul if we may be the Off-spring of God and yet not live and move and have our Being in him that is if God's making the World does not necessarily prove his constant care and governmet of it But the Apostle knew in those days that no man who confessed that God made the World questioned his Providence and therefore makes no scruple to prove that we live and subsist in God because he made us This is a noble Argument to prove both the Being and Providence of God which cannot be separated from the Works of Nature and the Wise Government of the World It would give us a very delightful entertainment to view all the Curiosities and suprizing Wonders of Nature with what beauty art and contrivance particular Creatures are made and how the several parts of this great Machine are fitted to each other and make a regular and uniform World How all particular Creatures are fitted to the use and purposes of their several Natures and yet are made serviceable to one another and have as mutual a connexion and dependance as the Wheels of a Clock What an equal and steady Hand governs the World when its motions seem most excentrick and exorbitant and brings Good out of Evil and Order out of Confusion when things are so perplext that it is impossible for any one but a God to disentangle them There is no need of the subtilty of Reason and Argument in this Cause would but men attentively study the Works of God and dwell in the contemplation of Nature and Providence for God is as visible in his Works as the Sun is by its Light when all the Wonders of Nature are unfolded and exposed particularly to our view it so over-powers the mind with such infinite varieties of that most Divine Art and Wisdom that modest men are ashamed to ascribe such things to a blind Chance which has no Design or Counsel Indeed to say that a World full of Infinite Marks and Characters of the most admirable Art a World so made that no Art could make it better was not made by a wise Mind but by Chance by a fortuitous concourse of Atoms which without any Design after infinite fruitless Trials happened into this exact useful beautiful Order that now they are in know when they are well and in despight of Chance move as constantly regularly artificially in all new Productions as the divinest and most uniform Wisdom could direct I say to affirm this is to put an end to all Disputes by leaving no Principles of Reason and Argumentation to dispute with An Atheist is the most vain Pretender to Reason in the World The whole strength of Atheism consists in contradicting the universal Reason of Mankind They have no Principles nor can have any and therefore they can never reason but only confidently deny or affirm They can assign no Principles of Reason which the rest of Mankind allow to be Principles from whence they can prove that there is no God and no Providence but they only reject those Principles which all other men agree in and from whence it must necessarily follow that there is a God and a Providence It will be of great use briefly to explain this which will teach you to reject Atheism and Atheists without troubling your selves to dispute with them for they have no common Principles with the rest of Mankind to reason upon nor indeed any Principles of Reason at all A few words will suffice for this purpose Mankind who have been used to thinking and reasoning have universally agreed That there must be something that had no beginning and no cause for nothing can produce nothing that had there ever been a time when there was nothing there never could have been any thing unless there can be an effect without a cause which is too absurd for Atheists themselves to say in express words who do not boggle much at Absurdities and therefore they make their Atoms and their Vacuum to be eternal It is agreed also That whatever had a beginning had a cause and the most easy and natural progress of Human Understandings is to reason from one cause to another till we ascend to and center in a first Cause For it is as easy and natural to believe one first Eternal Cause as to believe an Eternal Being but though it is natural to believe something Eternal it is as unnatural to believe all things to be so we have no notion of all things being Eternal though we have of an Eternal Cause for the very reason why we are forced to confess something Eternal is because there must be an Eternal Cause of all other things that is because all things are not eternal But if any thing which has not an eternal and unchangeable Nature but is capable of being made and unmade changed and altered as all the things of this World are might be without a Cause then every thing may be without a Cause and if the Eternity of all things be a natural Notion it cannot be a natural Notion that there is a first Cause For that very Notion supposes that something had a beginning and was originally made when it was not before and therefore that all things are not eternal For to be made in this Axiom primarily relates to the being of things and is so understood by all men And how can such a notion of the making and giving being to any thing be natural if it be a natural notion that all things are eternal and that nothing was made Hence it is that seen and visible Effects which have no visible Cause adequate to the producing such Effects are allowed by all Mankind to be a sufficient proof of some Invisible Cause as St. Paul tells us
good may come This St. Paul rejects with the greatest abhorrence and tells us that such mens Damnation is just 3. Rom. 8. for it is the greatest contradiction in the World to do evil in order to do good for how can a Man who can for any reason be persuaded to do evil be a hearty and zealous lover of Goodness It is certain that he who does any evil does not heartily love that goodness to which the evil he does is opposed and he who does not heartily love all goodness is a hearty lover of none There is no reconciling good and evil no more than you can reconcile contradictions a good man will love and do that which is good and an evil man will do that which is evil and though the Divine Wisdom can bring good out of evil yet evil is not and cannot be the natural cause of good no more than Darkness can be the cause of Light and therefore a Good Design can never justify a Bad Action For that Bad Actions should do good is contrary to the nature of Bad Actions and whatever men may intend I 'm sure no man can alter the nature of things and therefore can never justify himself in doing evil that good may come It is certain a Wise and Holy God requires no such thing of us and though he very often brings about great and admirable Designs by mens Sins yet no man knows how to do it nor knows when God will do it nor did ever any man who ventured upon sin in order to do some greater good ever do the good he intended though many times he runs himself into more and greater sins than ever he intended Nay I dare boldly say That no man ever deliberately ventured upon a known sin to do some greater good by it but there was always some base worldly Interest at the bottom coloured over with a pretence of doing good either to deceive the world or sometimes to deceive their own Consciences The Church of Rome among whom there are those who teach and practise this Doctrine are an undeniable Example of it and we have had too many sad Examples of it nearer home This seems to me one reason why those Prophesies which concern future Ages are generally so obscure that no man knows when nor how they shall be fulfilled that no man may be tempted to any sin to serve Providence and to fulfil Prophesies As obscure as these Prophesies are yet we see some heated Enthusiasts very forward to venture on any thing to fulfil Prophesies to pull down Antichrist to set up the Kingdom of Christ especially when they hope to set up themselves with him But God conceals Times and Seasons from us and though he many times fulfils Prophesies by the Sins of men yet he allows no man to sin to fulfil Prophesies And therefore never lets us know when nor by what means Prohesies shall be fulfilled Let us lay down this as a certain Principle That God needs not our Sins and that we can never please him by doing evil whatever the Event be He makes use of the Sins of men to serve his Providence but he will punish them for their Sins CHAP. VII The Goodness of Providence 3. THE next Inquiry is concerning the Goodness of Providence Though methinks it is a more proper Subject for our devout Meditations than for our Inquiries for we need not look far to seek for proofs and demonstrations of the Divine Goodness The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord We see and feel and taste it every day we owe our being our preservation and all the comforts of our lives to it There is not so mean nor so miserable a Creature in this world but can bear its testimony to the Divine Goodness Nay if you would pardon the harshness of the expression I would venture to say That the Goodness of God is one of the greatest Plagues and Torments of Hell I mean the remembrance of God's Goodness and their wicked and ungrateful abuse of it This is that Worm that never dieth those sharp Reflections men make on their Ingratitude and Folly in making themselves miserable by affronting that Goodness which would have made them happy Whatever other Objections fome wanton and sporting Wits make against Providence one would think it impossible that any man who lives in this world and feels what he enjoys himself and sees what a bountiful provision is made for all Creatures should question the Goodness of Providence by which he lives moves and has his being We should think him an extraordinary Benefactor who did the thousandth part for us of what God does and should not challenge his goodness though he did some things which we did not like or did not understand but Atheism is founded in Ingratitude and unless God humour them as well as do them good he is no God for them Nay I cannot but observe here the perverse as well as the ungrateful Temper of Atheists when they dispute against the Justice of Providence then God is much too good for them though he give us Examples enow of his Severity against Sin yet his Patience and Long-suffering to some few Prosperous Sinners is thought a sufficient Argument that God is not just or that he does not govern the world When they dispute against the Goodness of Providence then God is not good enough for them Though they see innumerable Instances of Goodness in the government of the world yet this is not owing to a Good God but to Good Fortune because they think they see some of the careless and irregular Strokes of Chance and Fortune intermixt with it in the many Evils and Calamities of life Now it is impossible for God himself to answer these two Objections to the satisfaction of these men and that I think is a sufficient answer to them both For should God vindicate his Justice to the satisfaction of these men by punishing in this world every sin that is committed according to its desert there would be very little room for the exercise of Goodness If every man must suffer as much as he sins the very best men will be great Sufferers much greater Sufferers than any of them now are tho their Sufferings are made another Objection against Providence and there will be as many formidable Examples of Misery as there are Atheists and Profligate Sinners and this would be an unanswerable Objection against the Goodness of Providence for how good soever God might be if he must punish every sin he has no opportunity to shew his Goodness And on the other hand should God be as good as these men would have him that is that to prove himself good he should not inflict any Evils or Calamities on men whatever their Sins or Provocations are that whereas God planted Paradise only for man in innocence the whole world should be now a Paradise though there is not an innocent man in it this would be as unanswerable an Objection
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
begotten the drops of the dew out of whose womb came the ice and the hoary frost of heaven who hath gendred it By these and such like Questions expressed in unimitable words God convinces Iob how ignorant he was of the most common and familiar Works of Nature which made it great Presumption in so ignorant a Creature to censure the Wisdom of Providence And the Force of the Argument does not only consist in this That the very Works of Nature convince us that God is infinitely wiser than we are and can do great and excellent things which are above our understanding and therefore that we never ought to censure any thing that God does because he is so much wiser than we are that we are not competent Judges of what he does which is an unanswerable Argument to teach us the most profound Reverence and the most absolute Resignation of our selves to God But the Force of this Argument reaches farther That our ignorance of the Works of Nature is both the Cause and the Proof of our great Ignorance of the Works of Providence For no Being can know how to govern a world who does not know how to make it and he who does not know how to govern the world himself is a very unfit Judge of the Wisdom of Providence for he can never know when the world is well and wisely governed because he does not know what belongs to the government of the world The wise government of all creatures must be proportioned to their natures and therefore without understanding the Philosophy of Nature the Springs of Motion the mutual dependance of Causes and Effects what end things are made for and what uses they serve we can never know what is fit to be done nor what can be done or by what means it is to be done and then can never tell when any thing is done as it should be We know not what the Rules nor what the Ends of God's Government are which makes it impossible to judge of the Wisdom of Government Without understanding the Natures of things we must of necessity make as wild Conjectures about Providence as a blind man does of Light and Colours As for instance how is it possible to talk a wise word about God's Government of Mankind in what manner and by what means he turns their hearts directs and influences their counsels suggests thoughts to them and foresees their thoughts and how they will determine themselves when we know so little of the Make and Frame of our own minds where the spring of thoughts is and how we connect Propositions and draw consequences what the power of the Will is how we determine our selves in indifferent matters where the balance is equal for tho we feel all these Powers in our selves yet we know not whence they are nor how they act And yet how many intricate questions are there relating to the Disputes of Providence which are wholly owing to such Nice Philosophical Speculations which we know nothing of and yet which some men perplex themselves with and undertake very gravely to determine Such are the Disputes about Necessity and Fate Prescience and Predetermination and the liberty of Human Actions which as they are differently determined make very different and contrary Hypotheses of Providence and either charge God with the Sins of men or acquit him from any Partnership in Wickedness For all these questions at last resolve themselves into this How the Mind of man acts and determines it self Whether it be determined from abroad from a necessary Train and Series of Fatal Events or from the Decrees and Predetermination or Foreknowledg of God Or whether it be a self-moving Being and determines it self from the Principles of its own Nature and its own free Choice Now unless we understood the Philosophy or the Natural Frame and Composition of our own Minds it is impossible to say any thing to the purpose in this cause any farther than our own sense and feeling goes and that is on the side of liberty for unless we are strangely imposed on we feel our selves free But this may satisfy us that as to all the Difficulties of Providence which can be no other way resolved but by a knowledge of Nature we must of necessity be as ignorant of them as we are of the nature of things and therefore our confessed ignorance of Nature is a good Argument in all such cases to make us very modest in Censuring Providence We know enough both of the works of Nature and of the works of Providence to serve all the wise ends and purposes of living which is all that is useful for us to know and all that God intended we should know but the Reasons and Causes of things belong only to that Wisdom which can make and govern a world We know as much of Providence as we do of Nature and would men set bounds to their Enquiries here which is as far as Human Understandings can reach we should hear very few Objections against Providence Our ignorance of Nature and Natural Causes and the Natural Springs of Motion how things were made and how they act and for what ends they were made which in many cases we do but very imperfectly guess at is a plain demonstration That we never ought to admit any Difficulties in Nature as a sufficient Objection against the Being or the Providence of God in bar to all the Moral Evidence and Assurance we have of both We have all the Moral Evidence we can have for any thing That God governs the world by a Wise and Holy and Free Providence That he is not the Author of Sin That our Wills at least as far as Vertue and Vice is concerned are under no Foreign Force and Constraint but chuse and refuse and determine themselves with a Natural Liberty I say we have undeniable evidence of this from the Wisdom Justice and Holiness of the Divine Nature from the difference between Vertue and Vice and the nature of Rewards and Punishments these things are plain and such as we can understand and such as we cannot deny with any fair appearance of Reason but now all the Arguments against Providence and for Necessity and Fate are mere Philosophical Speculations which men vainly pretend to when it is demonstrable they can know nothing of them As for instance Some tell us That it is not a Wise and Free Providence that governs the world but that all things come to pass by a Necessary Chain of Causes which fatally determine the Will to Chuse and Act as these Causes move it Now whether there be such a necessary Chain of Causes or not it is certain no man can know it who does not as perfectly understand this great Machine of the World and all its Motions as an Artist does all the Wheels in a Watch or Clock nor can any man know how such a Chain of Causes should move and determine the Mind of Man without understanding the Philosophy of Human Souls how
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
the Rule of Righteousness to us to give to every man that which is his own and it is the Justice of Government to punish those who invade another's Rights and this is that Justice which the Righteous Lord loves in men and the violation of which he hates So that the Justice of the Divine Nature makes God love Righteousness and Justice and hate all Injustice and Oppression and the Justice of Providence requires that God should punish Injustice and Violence and protect the Just and Innocent as far as the nature and ends of God's Government of the World requires and this the Scripture everywhere declares that God will do That he is angry with the wicked every day That he is a refuge and sanctuary and strong tower and rock of defence to Just and Righteous men Not that every particular bad man who does unjust things shall be immediately punished for his Unjustice nor that every man who has a just and righteous Cause shall be protected from the violence and injustice of the Wicked for the Experience of all the World proves that this never was done and therefore this cannot be the meaning of the Promises and Threatnings of Scripture But there is enough meant by it to vindicate the Justice of Providence in this World to be a support to good men and a terror to the wicked 1. For first it signifies That in the ordinary course of Providence where there is nothing but the justice or injustice of the Cause to be considered God will favour a just and righteous Cause There may be other wise Reasons why God may suffer a just Cause to be oppressed and Injustice to be prosperous and we ought to believe that there are always wise Reasons for it when God does suffer this because we certainly know that God is no favourer of Injustice but he who has a just Cause may for other Reasons deserve to be punished and then God may justly punish him by unjust Oppressors and thus Injustice may be prosperous and Justice oppressed but where the other sins and demerits of the man do not forfeit God's protection of a just Cause the Divine Providence will make a visible distinction between just and unjust 2dly And therefore no man can promise himself the Divine Protection but only when his Cause is just and right Which is the reason why the Psalmist as you have already heard so often pleads his own innocence and integrity and the righteousness of his Cause to move God to save and defend him For God has promised his protection upon no other terms and whenever Injustice prospers it is not in favour to the unjust man or his unjust Cause but in punishment to others whom God thinks fit to correct and chastise by such injustice Tho wickedness may prosper for a while there is no way to obtain the Divine Favour and Protection but by doing good for a Righteous God can have no favour for an unjust Cause and therefore if we believe that God governs the World we must expect his protection only in the ways of Righteousness and this will give us a secure hope and dependance on God That we shall not be ashamed while we have respect unto all his commandments 3dly And for the same Reason though Injustice may prosper for a time no unjust man can be secure from a Divine Vengeance God does not always punish bad men as soon as they deserve it but sometimes he does and he is always angry with them and therefore they are always in danger 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 he hath also prepared for him the instruments of death he hath ordain'd his arrows against the persecutors 7. Psalm 11 12 13. 4thly And therefore though every particular good man be not rewarded nor every bad man punish'd in this World yet the Divine Providence furnishes us with numerous Examples of Justice both in the protection and defence of good men and in the punishment of the wicked This is so notoriously known that no man can deny it That besides the ordinary Miseries and Calamities of Sinners which are the natural and necessary effects and rewards of their Sins and make them the scorn and the pity of Mankind God does very often execute very remarkable Judgments upon remarkable Sinners which bear the evident Tokens and Characters of a Divine Vengeance on them and does appear as wonderfully for the preservation of just and good men in a Righteous Cause Both Sacred and Prophane Story and our own observation may furnish us with many Examples of both kinds which are sufficient to vindicate the Justice of Providence and the truth of those Promises and Threatnings which are made in Scripture 2dly The better to understand that Account the Scripture gives us of the Justice of Providence I observe That the protection and defence of Providence is never promised in Scripture merely to a just and righteous Cause but only to just and righteous and good men This is not commonly observed and yet as soon as it is named it is so evident that it needs no proof and the consequence of it is very considerable We cannot indeed separate a just and righteous Man from a righteous Cause for as far as he is engaged in an unjust Cause he is an unjust Man but if the Divine Protection be promised to the righteous Man not to the righteous Cause then a righteous Cause may be oppressed when the man has no right to God's Protection without any impeachment either of the Righteousness or Justice of God Which shews the difference as I observed before between the Justice of Providence and the Justice of Human Governments The Justice of Human Governments considers mens Rights the Justice of Providence considers their moral Deserts Human Justice defends bad men in their just Rights the Divine Justice which is supreme and absolute has no regard to Human Rights when the men deserve to be punished For God challenges to himself such an absolute right and propriety in all things as to give or take them away when he pleases And therefore he threatens Israel by the Prophet Hosea that since they had served Baal with the Corn and Wine and Oyl and Silver and Gold which he gave them Therefore will I return and take away my corn in the time thereof and my wine in the season thereof and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness 2. Hos. 8 9. The 26. Levit. contains the Promises and Threatnings to Israel and the Condition of both is their keeping or transgressing his Laws and Statutes and Commandments if they observed his Laws he would bestow all good things on them if they transgressed his Laws he would take them all away without any regard to their Rights or Properties Among other Judgments he threatens them to deliver them into the hands of their Enemies who should oppress
confess that they cannot tell by their own sense and feeling that they are thus moved and inclined by God but only charge their Sins on God to excuse themselves Every man feels what it is that tempts him his love of Riches of Pleasures or Honours and that the temptation and impulse is weaker or stronger in proportion to his fondness and passion for these tempting Objects but yet he feels himself at liberty to chuse and determine himself and finds a Principle within him which resists and opposes his compliance with the temptation as contrary to the Will and Law of God and the dictates of right Reason and that for which God will Punish him And is there any reason for men to charge their Sins upon God when the only thing that gives check to them and makes Sin uneasy is the conviction of their own Consciences that it is what God has forbid and what he will punish This I think is no evidence of God's tempting and inclining men to Sin that he has imprinted on our minds such a natural sense of his abhorrence of all Evil and such a natural awe and dread of his Justice that while we preserve this sense strong and vigorous no temptation can fasten on us If we appeal to Reason the Reason of all Mankind proves That God does not and cannot tempt incline and over-rule men to chuse or to act any Wickedness for this is a direct contradiction to the Holiness and Purity of his Nature and the Justice of his Providence All mankind believe God to be perfect Holiness which is essential to the very notion of a God and Reason tells us that such a Pure and Holy Being cannot be the Author of Sin nor were it possible to vindicate the Justice of Providence in the punishment of sin did men sin by Divine Impulses or by Necessity and Fate And the Scripture teaches this in express words Let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God For God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any man 1. James 13. And all the Laws and Promises and Threatnings Exhortations Reproofs and passionate Expostulations which we meet with in Scripture if they mean any thing sincere do necessarily suppose that men sin freely and that God is so far from inclining and tempting men to sin that he does all that becomes a Wise and Holy Being to restrain and deter them from it Now when we have such direct and positive Proofs that God is not and cannot be the Author of Sin it is certain that we can have no direct and positive Proof that he is nor is any such Proof pretended and then some remote and uncertain Consequences which are owing to our Ignorance or confused and imperfect notions of things or to some obscure Expressions of Scripture are not and ought not to be thought sufficient to disprove a direct and positive Evidence no more than the difficulties about the nature of motion are a just reason to deny that there is any motion when we daily see and feel our selves and the whole world move And yet such kind of Difficulties as these is all that is pretended to charge the Providence of God with the Sins of men the most material of which I intend at this time to examine 1. One and that the most plausible pretence to destroy the Liberty of Human Actions and to charge the Sins of men upon God is his Praescience and Foreknowledge of all Future Events That God does foreknow things to come is generally acknowledged by Heathens Jews and Christians and Prophesy is a plain demonstration of it for he that can foretell things to come must fore-know them Now from hence they thus argue What is certainly fore-known must certainly be and what is thus certain is necessary and therefore if all future Events are certain as being certainly foreknown then all things even all the Sins of men are owing to Necessity and Fate And then God who is the Author of this Necessity and Fate must be the Cause and Author of mens Sins too Now in answer to this I readily grant That nothing can be certainly fore-known but what will certainly be but then I deny that nothing will certainly be but what has a necessary Cause For we see ten thousand effects of free or contingent Causes which certainly are though they might never have been for whatever is certainly is and whatever certainly is now was certainly though not necessarily future a thousand years ago That man understands very little who knows not the difference between the necessity and the certainty of an Event No Event is necessary but that which has a necessary Cause as the rising and sitting of the Sun but every Event is certain which will certainly be though it be produced by a Cause which acts freely and might do otherwise if it pleased as all the free Actions of men are some of which though done with the greatest freedom may be as certain and as certainly known as the rising of the Sun Now if that which is done freely may be certain and that which is certain may be certainly known then the certainty of God's Fore-knowledge only proves the certainty but not the necessity of the Event And then God may fore-know all Events and yet lay no necessity on mankind to do any thing that is wicked In the nature of the thing fore-knowledge lays no greater necessity upon that which is fore-known than knowledge does upon that which is known for fore-knowledge is nothing but knowledge and knowledge is not the cause of the thing which is known much less the necessary cause of it We certainly know at what time the Sun will rise and sit every day in the year but our knowledge is not the cause of the Sun 's rising or sitting Nay in many cases in proportion to our knowledg of men we may with great certainty foretel what they will do and how they will behave themselves in such or such circumstances and did we perfectly know them we should rarely if ever mistake for though men act freely they do not act arbitrarily but there is always some byass upon their minds which inclines and draws them and the more confirmed habits men have of Vertue or Vice the more certainly and steadily they act and the more certainly we may know them without making them either vertuous or vicious Now could we certainly know what all men would do before they do it yet it is evident that this would neither make nor prove them to be necessary Agents And therefore though the perfection of the Divine Knowledge is such as to know our thoughts afar off before we think them yet this does not make us think such Thoughts nor do such Actions How God can foreknow things to come even such Events as depend upon the most free and contingent Causes we cannot tell but it is not incredible that Infinite Knowledge should do this when Wise men whose Knowledge is so very
imperfect can with such great probability almost to the degree of certainty foresee many Events which depend also upon free and contingent Causes And if we will allow that God's Praescience is owing to the perfection of his Knowledge then it is certain that it neither makes nor proves any fatal necessity of Events If we say indeed as some men do that God foreknows all things because he has absolutely decreed whatever shall come to pass this I grant does infer a fatal necessity and yet in this case it is not God's Fore-knowledge but his Decree which creates the necessity All things upon this Supposition are necessary not because God foreknows them but because by his unalterable Decrees he has made them necessary he foreknows because they are necessary but does not make them necessary by foreknowing them but if this were the truth of the case God's Praescience considered only as fore-knowing would be no greater perfection of knowledge than men have who can certainly fore-know what they certainly intend to do and it seems God can do no more But thus much we learn from these mens Confession That Foreknowledge in its own nature lays no necessity upon Human Actions that if God can fore-know what he has not absolutely and peremptorily decreed how certain soever such Events may be his Fore-knowledge does not make them necessary And therefore we cannot prove the necessity of all Events from God's Fore-knowledge till we have first proved that God can foreknow nothing but what is necessary That is in truth That there is no such Perfection as Praescience belonging to the Divine Nature for to foreknow things in a Decree or only in necessary Causes is no more that perfection of Knowledge which we call Praescience than it is Praescience in us to know what we intend to do to morrow or that the Sun will rise to morrow But that God's Fore-knowledge is not owing to a necessity of the Event and therefore cannot prove any such necessity is evident from hence That the Scripture which attributes this Fore-knowledge to God does also assert the liberty of Human Actions charges mens Sins and final Ruin on themselves sets before them Life and Death Blessing and Cursing as I observed before Now how difficult soever it may be to reconcile Praescience and Liberty it is certain that Necessity and Liberty can never be reconciled and therefore if men act freely they do not act necessarily and if God does foreknow what men will do and yet men act freely then it is certain that God foreknows what men will freely do That is That Foreknowledge is not owing to the necessity but to the perfection of Knowledge And this is enough to satisfy all Christians who cannot reason nicely about these matters that this Argument from Praescience to prove the necessity of Human Actions and consequently to charge mens Sins upon God must be fallacious and deceitful because the Scripture teaches the Fore-knowledge of God and yet charges the guilt of mens Sins upon themselves And if we believe the Scripture we must believe both these and then we must confess that Praescience does not destroy Liberty 2dly Another Objection against the Holiness of Providence is this That God does not only foreknow but decrees such Events as are brought to pass by the Sins of men and therefore at least in such Cases he must decree mens Sins too We have a famous Example of this in the Crucifixion of our Saviour Never was there a more wicked Action committed and yet St. Peter tells the Iews that this was the effect of God's Counsel and Decrees Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain 2. Acts 23. But if we consider the words carefully this very Text will answer the Objection For what does St. Peter say was done by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God Did they take him and by wicked hands crucify and slay him by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God This is not said but he was delivered that is put into their power by the determinate counsel and fore-knowledge of God and then they took him and with wicked hands slew him And then we must observe that here are two distinct Acts of God relating to this Event The determinate counsel and the fore-knowledge of God The Will or Counsel of God which he had fore-ordain'd and praedetermined the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was that Christ should die an Expiatory Sacrifice for the Sins of the world which was a work of such stupendious Wisdom Goodness Holiness and Justice that nothing could more become God than such Counsels and Decrees But then by his Infinite Praescience and Foreknowledge he saw by what means this would be done if he thought fit to permit it viz. by the Treachery of Iudas by the Malice of the Scribes and Pharisees and by the Compliance of the Roman Powers and this he determined to permit and to deliver him up into their hands the certain effect of which would be that they would take him and with wicked hands crucify him and slay him So that though God did decree that Christ should die yet he did not decree that Judas should betray him or that the Scribes and Pharises and Pontius Pilate should condemn and crucify him but this he foresaw and this he decreed to permit and to accomplish his own Wise Counsels for the Salvation of mankind by such Wicked Instruments and there is nothing in all this unworthy of God or unbecoming the Holiness of his Providence And thus it is with reference to all other Events which are decreed by God He never decrees any thing but what is holy and good and though he many times accomplishes his Wise Decrees by the Wickedness and Sins of men yet he never decrees their Sins but by his foresight and wonderful Wisdom so disposes and orders things as to make their Sins which they freely and resolvedly commit and which nothing but an irresistible Power could hinder them from committing serve the Wise and Gracious ends of his Providence This is Wisdom too wonderful for us but thus we know it may be and thus the Scripture assure us it is 3dly Another pretence for charging God with the Sins of men is from some obscure expressions of Scripture which when expounded to a strict literal sense as some men expound them seem to attribute to God some kind of Causality and Efficiency in the Sins of men But unless we will make the Scripture contradict it self it is certain that those few Texts which seem to make God the Author of Sin are misunderstood Because not only some few particular Texts but all the natural Notions we have of God the very nature and design of Religion and three parts of the Bible either directly or by necessary consequence prove the contrary And supposing then that we could give no tolerable account of such Texts is it not more reasonable
than the Creation of a New World would be But had God destroyed the whole Race of men and created a new Man to inhabit the New World this would have argued some defect in the first Creation for there can be no pretence for destroying Man to make him again but a design to make him better to correct that in a second trial which Experience had discovered to be faulty in the first But though the wisdom of Government will admit of various Trials and Experiments the Wisdom of Creation wont The Government of free Agents must be accommodated to their Natures and Dispositions not only to what God made them but to what they make themselves and therefore the Methods of Government must change as men change themselves but the Natures of all things are made only by God and if there be any fault in them it is chargeable upon the Divine Wisdom and to make Man and destroy him and make him again would argue a great fault somewhere 2dly I observed also before That to make the destruction of the Old World of any use to propagate Religion and Piety in the New it was necessary that some Inhabitants of the Old World should survive the Deluge to be Witnesses of that Terrible Destruction Had no man survived though God should have created man a-new that new Generation of men could have known nothing of the Deluge but by Revelation whereas God intended a sensible proof of his Power and Providence which Mankind wanted Besides that Revelation which we may suppose God made to Adam of the Creation of the World and his own sense that he himself was but just then made and was the first and the only man upon Earth there are such visible Marks of a Divine Wisdom and Power in the frame of the World as one would think should be sufficient to convince men that the World was made and is preserved and governed by God and yet because no man saw the World made neither Reason nor Revelation can persuade some men that God made the World And is it reasonable then to think that when there are no remaining signs of a Deluge left the belief of a Deluge should for any long time have prevailed in the world without any living Witnesses who saw the Deluge though we should suppose God to have revealed it to new-created man No man could see the Creation of the world because the world must be made before man was made to live in it but though no man saw the world made there were some who saw the destruction which the Deluge made which was as visible a proof of the Divine Power and a much greater proof of a Just and Righteous Providence No man who believes that God destroyed the Old World with a Deluge of Water can doubt whether God made the world and governs it and for this the New World had the testimony of Eye-witnesses which is as sensible a proof of a God and a Providence as we can possibly have 3dly The preservation of Noah and his Sons in the Ark was an evident proof that this Deluge was sent by God God fore-warned Noah of it an hundred years before it came and commanded him to prepare an Ark and gave him directions how to make it Thus much is certain That Noah did know of it before-hand and prepared an Ark which remained as a visible Testimony of the Flood to future Generations Now there being no Natural Causes of the Flood there could be no Natural Prognosticks of it Our Saviour himself observes That there were not the least Symptoms of any such thing till Noah entred into the Ark and therefore Noah had no other way of knowing this but by Revelation and it was so incredible a thing in it self that the rest of Mankind would not believe him though he warned them of it and they saw that he believed it himself by his preparing an Ark for his own safety And if we believe the Account that Moses gives of it that some of all sorts of Living Creatures both the Beasts of the Field and the Fowls of the Air were preserved with Noah in the Ark as we must believe if we believe the Universal Deluge unless we will say that God new-made all Living Creatures after the Flood what account can be given of this that some of all sorts in such numbers as God had appointed and had prepared reception for should come of their own accord to Noah when he was ready to enter into the Ark had they not been led thither by a Divine Hand 4thly The preservation of Noah and his Sons in the Ark did not only prove that the Deluge was sent by God but was a plain Evidence for what reason God sent such a Terrible Judgment viz. To put an end to that wicked Generation of men and to new-people the world with a Righteous Seed This Reason God gave to Noah and the nature of the thing speaks it For when all the wicked Inhabitants of the world were destroyed and not one escaped the Deluge but only that one Righteous Family which had escaped the Corruptions of the Age too and that preserved by the peculiar Order and Direction of God this is a visible Judgment upon all the wicked of the Earth and makes a visible distinction between Good and Bad men When such Evils and Calamities befall the world as may be resolved into Natural or Moral Causes as Plagues and Famines and Wars Fires and Earthquakes and it may be Good and Bad men share pretty equally in the publick Misfortunes Atheists and Infidels will not allow these Evils to be inflicted by God much less to be the punishment of Sin when they make no visible distinction between the good and the bad but the Universal Deluge was both a Supernatural and a distinguishing Judgment none but God could thus destroy the Earth and none but the wicked were destroyed and therefore this is an undiable demonstration of the Justice and Righteousness of God that he hates wickedness and will punish wicked men There are some other Marks of Excellent Wisdom in the Universal Deluge which I shall only name because tho they are worth observing yet they are of less moment as to my present Design As the Deluge was to be a lasting proof of a Just Providence to the New World and as you have heard was upon all accounts admirably fitted to that purpose so we may reasonably suppose that when it came it convinced that wicked Generation of men and brought them to repentance which it gave them some time for and though it could not save them in this world who knows but that a sudden repentance upon such a sudden conviction might obtain mercy for them in the next Noah was a Preacher of Righteousness he had often reproved them for their sins and threatned them with a Deluge but they would not believe him though they saw him preparing the Ark but when they saw the Flood come they knew then the
the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground for out of it wast thou taken For dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return 3. Gen. 17 18 19. This was a very severe Sentence which deprived man of Immortality and of the easy and happy life of Paradise condemned him to labour and sorrow while he lived and then to return unto dust and yet the Wisdom as well as Justice of Providence is very visible in it it was not fit that when man had sinned he should be immortal in this World and an industrious and laborious life is the best and happiest state for fallen man as I have elsewhere shown at large We know little more than this of the Antediluvian World till we hear of the general corruption of Mankind That the earth was filled with violence for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth insomuch that it repented the Lord that he had made man upon the earth and it grieved him at his heart 6. Gen. This was so universal a Corruption that there was but one righteous Family left only Noah and his three Sons and therefore God resolved to sweep them all away with an universal Deluge excepting that one righteous Family whom he preserved in the Ark which he appointed Noah to prepare for that purpose The justice of this no man can dispute for if all Flesh corrupt its ways God may as justly destroy a whole world of Sinners as he can punish or cut off any one single Sinner But that which I am now concerned for is to shew the wonderful Wisdom of Providence in the destruction of the Old World by a deluge of Water and rightly to understand this we must consider the several Circumstances of the Story and what God intended by it Now though that wicked Generation of men deserved to be destroyed yet God did not intend to put a final end to this World nor to cut off the whole Race of all Mankind but to raise a new Generation of men from a Righteous Seed and to make the destruction of the Old World a standing Warning and a visible Lesson of Righteousness to the New And a few Observations will satisfy us that nothing could be more wisely designed for this purpose 1. Let us consider the Wisdom of Providence in destroying the Old World without the utter destruction of Mankind It was too soon to put a final end to the World which he had so lately made without reproaching his own Wisdom in making it There had been very little of the Wisdom of Government yet seen but one Act and that concluding in all disorder and confusion and had God left off here and put a final end to the Race of Mankind it had been but a very ill spectacle to the Angelical World to see a whole Species of Reasonable Beings so soon destroyed The Old Serpent who deceived our first Parents would have gloried in his Voctory that he had utterly spoiled and ruined the best part of this visible Creation and even forced God to destroy the most excellent Creature he had made on Earth But God had threatned the Serpent that the Seed of the Woman should break his head and therefore the whole Posterity of Eve must not be destroyed but a Righteous Seed must be preserved to new-people the World But besides this The destruction of the Old World being intended as a warning to the New it was necessary there should be some living Witnesses both of the destruction and the resurrection of the World to assure their Posterity of what they had seen and to preserve the memory of it to all Generations Of which more presently 2dly The Wisdom of God was very visible in delaying so terrible an Execution till there was no remedy To destroy a World carries great horror with it and makes a frightful representation of God if it be not qualified with all the most tender and softning Circumstances And I cannot think of any thing that can justify Providence in it excepting the last Judgment when the Divine Wisdom thinks fit to put a final end to this World but the irrecoverable state of Mankind and the absolute necessity of some new methods of reforming the World And therefore God delayed the destruction of the Old World till all Flesh had corrupted his ways and there was but one Righteous Family left which must be in danger of being corrupted too by the universal wickedness of the Age. However it is certain That though Noah might have preserved his own Integrity and have taught his own Family that Fear and Worship of God yet he could do no good upon the rest of the World he was a Preacher of Righteousness but his Sermons had no effect It is generally concluded by the Ancients that he was an hundred years in building the Ark and all this while he gave visible warning to them of the approaching Deluge Now when it was impossible by any ordinary means to put a stop to the wickedness of Mankind what remained but to destroy that corrupt and incurable Generation and to preserve righteous Noah and his Sons to propagate a new Generation of men and to train them up in the fear and worship of God Had he delayed a little longer the whole World might have been corrupt without one righteous man in it and then he must either have maintained or preserved a World of Atheists and profligate Sinners or must have destroyed them all But it more became the Divine Wisdom when Religion was reduced to one Family to defer Vengeance no longer while he had one righteous Family to save to preserve the Race of Mankind and to restore lost Piety and Vertue to the World 3dly The Wisdom of Providence in destroying the Old World is very visible in the manner of doing it 1st For first it was a Miraculous and Supernatural Destruction and therefore an undeniable evidence of the Power and Providence of God There are no visible Causes in Nature to do this and therefore it must be done by a Power Superior to Nature Some men think it sufficient to disparage the Mosaical Account of the Deluge if they can prove the natural impossibility of it and others who profess to believe the Story think themselves much concerned to give a Philosophical Account of it without having recourse to Miracles and a Supernatural Power which they say unbecomes Philosophers But if it unbecomes Philosophers to believe Miracles I doubt they will think it very much below them to be Christians which no man can be who does not believe Miracles and if they will allow of Miracles in any case methinks they should make no scruple to attribute the destruction of the World to a Miraculous and Supernatural Power The comfort is the truth of the Story does not depend upon any Philosophical Hypothesis we do not believe that the whole World was drowned because we can tell by what Natural Causes it might be drowned but
because Moses has recorded it in his Writings who we know was Divinely inspired And we know also that there has been no satisfactory account given yet from the Principles of Nature and Philosophy how the whole World could be drowned at least none that will agree with the Mosaical History either of the Creation or of the Deluge and it is better to have no Account than such an Account as confutes Moses could any such be given for this confutes or at least discredits the Story it self for which we have no Authentick Authority when the Authority of Moses is lost But indeed it is no service to Religion to seek after Natural Causes for the destruction of the World any more than it is to resolve the making of the World into Natural Causes for it is great good nature in men to own a God if they can make and destroy a World without him there can be no such thing as natural Causes till the World is made and every thing endowed with its Natural Vertues and Powers and united into a regular frame with a mutual dependance and connexion and therefore it is a vain thing to talk of making the World by Natural Causes when it is demonstrable that there can be no Natural Causes till the World is made And it is as certain that Nature must move unnaturally and be put into an universal disorder before the World can be destroyed for while Natural Causes keep their Natural Course they will preserve not destroy the World and therefore the destruction of the World is not owing to Natural Causes but to praeternatural Disorders and what Philosophy can give an account of that What can put Nature into such an universal disorder but the same Divine Power which put it into order and gave Laws to it And this is what God intended in the destruction of the Old World to give a visible and lasting proof of his Being and Providence to the New by such a Miraculous Deluge as could be attributed to no other Cause but a Divine Vengeance That universal Corruption of Mankind would persuade us that the very belief and notion of a God was lost among them or if it be hard to conceive how that should be when the World by computation was not Seventeen hundred years old and Lamech Noah's Father lived fifty years with Adam himself that it seems impossible that the Tradition of God's creating the World should have been lost in so short a time yet at least they could have no sense of God's Justice and Providence they could not believe that God took any notice of their Actions or would execute such a terrible Vengeance on them for their sins We do not read of any one Act of Judgment which God exercised before the Flood and it is not improbable that his sparing Cain when he had killed his Brother Abel might encourage them with hopes of impunity whatever wickedness they committed and therefore the Divine Wisdom saw it necessary to put an end to the Old and to begin the New World with a visible demonstration of his Power and Justice to teach men the fear and reverence and worship of that God who not only made the World but has once destroyed it and therefore can destroy it again with all its wicked Inhabitants whenever he pleases Now to make this a lasting proof of God's Power and Justice it must be evident beyond all contradiction that it was God's doing and therefore it was necessary that God should destroy the world in so miraculous a manner as could be attributed to no other Cause for it is the true Spirit of Atheism and Infidelity to attribute nothing to God which they can ascribe to any visible Cause Had all Mankind excepting Noah and his Sons been destroyed by Plague or Famine or Wild Beasts though such a general destruction would have convinced Wise and Reasonable men that the Hand and the Vengeance of God was in it yet if we may judge of the rest of Mankind by the wonderful improvements in Wit and Philosophy which our Modern Atheists have made they would think scorn to attribute Plague or Famine or such like evil Accidents to God though all Mankind were destroyed by them But when they hear of a World drowned and know not where to find water to drown it without a miraculous dissolution of Nature they must either laugh at the Story which men in their wits can't well do or they must believe a God and a Providence But whatever shift the Infidels of our Age may make to disbelieve the Universal Deluge it must be confessed that it was a very wise and most effectual means to convince that new Generation of men while the uncorrupted Tradition of the Deluge was preserved 2dly The Wisdom of the Divine Providence was seen in destroying that wicked Generation of men without destroying the Earth God did not intend to put a final end to the Race of Mankind but the Earth was to be again inhabited by a new Generation and a Deluge of Waters was best fitted to this purpose which did no hurt to the Earth when it was dried up again but rather moistened and impregnated it with new Seeds and Principles of life There are but two ways we know of to destroy this Earth either by Water or Fire it has already been destroyed by Water and will be destroyed by Fire and it is enough to satisfy any man that this is not Accident but a Wise Design to consider that a Deluge of Water was made use of to purge and reform the World but Fire is reserved for the final destruction of it Whereas had this Order been inverted as it might have been had it been mere Chance it is evident that the Earth could neither have been preserved from Fire nor utterly destroyed by Water without a perpetual Deluge A Deluge of Water does not destroy the Earth nor make it uninhabitable after the Deluge ceases but Fire destroys the Frame and Constitution of it and melts all into one confused mass there is some defence against a Deluge Noah and his Sons were preserved in the Ark to people the New World but there is no defence against Flames the whole Earth and all the wicked Inhabitants of it must burn together And this is one wise Reason why God chose to drown the World not to burn it because the end of all things was not yet come 3dly There is great variety of Wisdom to be observed in God's preserving Noah and his Sons in the Ark from perishing by Water For first as I observed before this was very necessary to preserve the Race of Mankind to new-people the World which much more became the Divine Wisdom than to have created man a-new When all flesh had corrupted his ways it became God to try new Methods of reforming the World for this opens new and surprizing Scenes of Providence and displays such a multifarious Wisdom in the government of Mankind as is much more wonderful