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
them in their own Land or carry them captive into strange Countries This destroy'd all their Rights and Properties at once and yet I suppose no man will say that the Philistins or Moabites or Aramites had any right to invade Canaan and to bring Israel under their Yoke and Nebuchadnezzar had no better right than they when he destroyed the Temple and City of Ierusalem and carried the Iews captive to Babylon but God was very just and righteous in this though he did not defend them in their just Rights because they had deserved such punishments And thus throughout the Book of Psalms the protection of the Divine Providence is promised only to good and righteous men to those who love God who fear and reverence and worship and put their trust in him that if men be not thus qualified whatever their Cause is they have no right to the Protection of Providence And this is the Justice of Providence not to secure Human Rights but to protect and defend good men and to punish the wicked 3dly We may observe also in Scripture That notwithstanding the Justice of Providence and God's love to Righteousness and to righteous Men he still by a Sovereign Authority reserves to himself a liberty to correct and chastise good men and to exercise their Graces and Vertues and to serve the ends of his own Glory by their Sufferings We must distinguish between Acts of Discipline and Justice which have very different ends and measures as the Correction of a Child differs from the Execution of a Malefactor For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth He corrects us for our profit that we may be partakers of his holiness 7. Heb. 7 8 9. Very good men may fall into such great sins as may deserve a severe correction not only to give them a greater abhorrence of their sins and make them more watchful for the future but to be an Example to others and in such cases Repentance it self though it will obtain their pardon will not excuse them from Temporal Punishments as we see in the Example of David when he had been guilty of Adultery and Murther upon his repentance God declared his pardon by the Prophet Nathan but would not remit his punishment which was not so much an act of Justice and Vengeance as of necessary Discipline And these are generally the many Afflictions of the Righteous out of which the Psalmist tells us God will at last deliver them whereas the Punishments of the Wicked when God after a long patience awakes to judgment are usually for their final ruin and destruction Thus good men may have many secret failings and miscarriages known to none but God and themselves which may deserve severe corrections which sometimes are made an argument against the Justice of Providence when the correction is visible but the causes for which they are corrected unknown Other good men suffer for the trial of their faith which is more precious than of gold which perisheth and are trained up by great severities to heroical degrees of Vertue All this is very reconcilable with God's love of Righteousness and righteous Men for it is the effect of this Love And thus good Men for a time may visibly suffer as much as the wicked which occasions such Complaints that all things fall alike to all but such Corrections as these are not properly Acts of Justice but of Discipline not so much for the punishment of Good men as to make them better not the effects of Anger but of Love 4thly We may observe in Scripture also That God exercises a Sovereign Authority in exercising his Judgments upon Wicked men He does not always punish them as soon as they deserve punishment but sometimes waits patiently for their return sometimes uses them as the Instruments of his Justice to punish other Bad men or to correct the Miscarriages and to exercise the Graces and Vertues of Good men and when he has finished what he had to do by them reserves them for a more publick and glorious Execution to be the Triumphs of his just Vengeance and standing Examples to the World which we know was the case of Pharaoh and the King of Assyria of Antiochus and some great Persecutors of the Christian Faith Thus have I shewn you wherein the Justice of Providence consists both from the nature of the Divine Justice and the Ends of God's Government in this World and from the Account the Scripture gives us of it which will enable us to answer all the Objections against the Justice of Providence I shall observe but one thing more That it is evident from this Discourse that we must not judge of the goodness of any Cause by external and visible Success much less make the oppression of a just Cause any argument against the Justice of Providence For Justice does not oblige God always to favour a just Cause when those who have a just Cause deserve to be punished God may justly punish Bad men by unjust Oppressors for he is the Sovereign Lord of the World and can dispose of his Creatures as his own Absolute Authority and Unsearchable Wisdom shall direct CHAP. VI. The Holiness of Providence THE next Enquiry is concerning the Holiness of Providence For God is a Holy Being as Holiness is opposed to all Impurity and Wickedness and such as God's Nature is such his Government must be and therefore the Psalmist 145. Psalm 17. assures us That the Lord is not only righteous in all his ways which signifies the Justice of Providence which I have already discoursed of but he is holy in all his works as he tells us more at large 5. Psal. 4 5 6 For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness neither shall evil dwell with thee The foolish shall not stand in thy sight thou hatest all workers of iniquity thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man And yet there want not Objections and such as some men think inexplicable difficulties against the Holiness of Providence And therefore my design at present is to set this in as clear a light as I can and to that end I shall enquire 1. What the Holiness of God requires of him in the Government of the world 2. What it does not require of him And 3. What is Inconsistent and Irreconcilable with the Holiness of Providence And if God Governs the World as his Essential Holiness requires that he should Govern it if what men ignorantly Object against Providence be no just impeachment of his Holiness and if nothing be justly chargeable on Providence which is inconsistent and irreconcilable with the Holiness of the Divine Nature I suppose I need then add no more to vindicate the Holiness of Providence 1. Now as for the first the case seems very plain That the Holiness of a Governour in the Government of Reasonable Creatures and Free Agents can require no more of him
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
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
and to arbitrate the Differences of Princes and the Fate of Men and Kingdoms And if God govern men by Nature he must govern Nature too for necessary Causes cannot be fitted to the government of free Agents without the direction and management of a Divine Providence which guides exerts or suspends the Influences of Nature with as great freedom as men act Men do not always deserve well or ill and if the kind or malign Influences of Nature must be tempered to mens deserts to punish them when they do ill and to reward them when they do well Natural Causes which of themselves act necessarily without Wisdom or Counsel must be guided by a Wise Hand Thus reason tells us it must be if God govern the world and God challenges to himself this Absolute and Sovereign Empire over Nature God has bestowed different Vertues and Powers on Natural Causes and in ordinary cases makes use of the Powers of Nature and neither acts without them nor against the Laws of Nature which makes some unthinking men resolve all into Nature without a God or a Providence because excepting the case of Miracles which they are not willing to believe they see every thing else done by the Powers of Nature and if it were not so God had made a World and made Nature to no purpose to do every thing himself by an immediate Power without making use of the Powers of Nature But the ordinary government of Nature does not signifie to act without it or to over-rule its Powers but to steer and guide its motions to serve the Wise Ends of his Providence in the government of Mankind For as God does not usually act without Nature nor against its Laws so neither does Nature act by steady and uniform motions without the direction of God But while every thing in the material world acts necessarily and exerts its Natural Powers God can temper suspend direct its Influences without reversing the Laws of Nature As for instance Fire and Water Wind and Rain Thunder and Lightning have their Natutral Vertues and Powers and Natural Causes and God produces such effects as they are made to produce by their Natural Powers he warms us with Fire invigorates the earth by the benign Influences of the Sun and Moon and other Stars and Planets refreshes and moistens it with Springs and Fountains and Rain from Heaven fans the Air with Winds and purges it with Thunders and Lightnings and the like but then when and where the Rains shall fall and the Winds shall blow in what measure and proportion times and seasons Natural Causes shall give or withhold their Influences this God keeps in his own Power and can govern without altering the standing Laws of Nature and this is his government of Natural Causes in order to reward or punish men as they shall deserve Thus God reasons with Iob concerning his Power and Providence 38. Job 31 32 c. Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades or loose the bands of Orion canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons knowest thou the ordinances of heaven or canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds that abundance of waters may cover thee canst thou send lightnings that they may go and say unto thee here we are This is above Human Power but belongs to the Government and Providence of God Fire and hail snow and vapour and stormy winds fulfil his word 148. Psal. 8. Sometimes God restrains the influences of Nature shuts up heaven that it shall not rain 2 Chr. 7. 13. At other times he calls to the clouds that abundance of water may cover the earth He gives the former and the latter rain in its season and preserveth to us the appointed weeks of harvest 5. Jer. 24 as he promised to Israel 11 Deut 14 15. I will give you the rain of your land in his due season the first rain and the latter rain that thou mayst gather in thy corn and thy wine and thy oyl and I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle that thou mayst eat and be full He prescribes in what proportions it shall rain 2. Joel 23 24. Be glad ye children of Sion and rejoyce in the Lord your God for he hath given you the former rain moderately and he will cause to come down for you the former rain and the latter rain in the first month Nay God appoints on what place it shall rain 34. Ezek. 26. And I will make thee and the places round about my hill a blessing and I will cause the shower to come down in his season there shall be showers of blessing 4. Amos 7 8. And also I have withholden the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest and I caused it to rain upon one city and caused it not to rain upon another city One piece was rained upon and the piece whereupon it rained not withered So two or three cities wandered to one city to drink water but they were not satisfied It is impossible to give any tolerable account of such Texts as these without confessing That God keeps the Direction and Government of all Natural Causes in his own hands for particular Effects and all the Changes of Nature can never be attributed to God unless the Divine Wisdom and Counsel determines Natural Causes to the producing such particular Effects Great part of the Happiness or Miseries of this Life is owing to the good or bad Influences of Natural Causes that if God take care of Mankind he must govern Nature and when he promises Health and Plenty or threatens Pestilence and Famine how can he make good either if he have not reserved to himself a Soveraign Power over Nature The sum is this That all Natural Causes are under the immediate and absolute Government of Providence that God keeps the Springs of Nature in his own hand and turns them as he pleases For meer Matter though it be endowed with all Natural Vertues and Powers which necessarily produce their Natural Effects yet it having no wisdom and counsel of its own cannot serve the Ends of a Free Agent without being guided by a Wise Hand and we see in a thousand Instances what an Empire Human Art has over Nature not by changing the nature of things which Human Art can never do but by such a skilful application of Causes as will produce such Effects as unguided and if I may so speak untaught Nature could never have produced and if God have subjected material Nature to Human Art surely he has not exempted it from his own Guidance and Power This shews how necessary it is that God by an immediate Providence should govern Nature for Natural Causes are excellent Instruments but to make them useful they must be directed by a Skilful Hand and those various Changes which are in Nature especially in this Sublunary World which we are
upon mount Zion and on Ierusalem I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the King of Assyria and the glory of his proud looks 10. Isai. 5 6 7 12. A great many Examples might be given of this nature but these are sufficient to show what different Intentions God and Men have in the same actions and how easily God can defeat what men intend and accomplish by them his own Wise Counsels which they never thought of When God has no particular Ends of Providence to serve by the Lusts and Passions and evil Designs of men he commonly disappoints them that when they intend evil and imagine a mischievous device they are not able to perform it 21. Psal. 11. Or he turns the evil upon their own heads The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made in the net which they hid is their own foot taken the Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands 9 Psal. 15 16. Or he doubly disappoints their malice not only by defeating the evil they intended but by turning it to the great advantage of those it was intended against which was visible in the case of Haman whose malice against Mordecai and all the Iews for his sake did not only prove his own ruin but the great advancement of Mordecai and the Glory and Triumph of the Iewish Nation Having thus briefly shewn what Government God has both of the Hearts and the Actions of men how easily he can alter their Counsels and manage their Passions make them do what good they never intended and disappoint the evil which they did intend or turn it into good this is a sufficient Demonstration how Absolute the Divine Providence is for he who has such an Absolute Government of Nature of what we call Chance and Fortune and of the Wills and Actions of men can do whatsoever pleaseth him But that we may have the clearer and more distinct apprehension of God's government of mankind to make them the Instruments of his Providence I shall more particularly but very briefly state this matter both with respect to good and to bad men 1. As for Good men there is no difficulty in their case for they are the Ministers of a good and beneficent Providence they do good out of Temper and Inclination and a Habit and Principle of Vertue and out of Reverence to the Divine Laws and are ready to obey every extraordinary impression to excite and determine them to such particular good offices as God thinks fit to employ them in And this is nothing but what is very honourable for God and what becomes good men for to do good is the Glory of Human Nature as well as of the Divine Providence and good men will observe the Laws of Vertue in doing good and while good is done by honest and vertuous means there can be no Objection against Providence 2dly But as Bad men are most difficulty governed so the greatest difficulty is in vindicating Providence in making use of the Ministries of Bad men for it is commonly thought a great blemish to Providence when Glorious and Admirable Designs are brought to pass by the Sins of men Now the Foundation of this Objection is a great mistake as if God could not serve his own Providence by the Sins of men without being the Cause of mens sins for there is no colour nor reasonable pretence of an Objection against God's making the Sins of men serve wise and good ends if he can do this without having any hand in mens sins It is the great Glory of Providence to bring good out of evil and while all the Events of Providence are Just and Righteous and Holy and Wise and such as become a God it is much more admirable to consider that all this should be while there is so much wickedness and disorder in the world The true state of this matter in short is this God never suggests any evil designs to men that is owing to their own wicked hearts or to the Temptations of other wicked men or of wicked Spirits but when men have formed any wicked Designs he sometimes as you have heard changes their purposes or deters them from putting them in execution and when he suffers them to proceed to action he either shamefully disappoints them or serves some wise and good end by what they wickedly do And if Providence consists in the Care and Government of mankind how can God govern mankind better than to permit bad men to do no more hurt than what he can turn to good God does not govern the world by an immediate and miraculous Power but governs men by men and makes them help and defend reward and punish one another and therefore there is no other ordinary way of punishing bad men excepting the Civil Sword which reaches but a few Criminals but to punish them by the Wickedness of other bad men and what can more become the Wisdom and Justice of Providence than to make bad men the Ministers and Executioners of a Divine Vengeance upon each other which is one great End God serves by the Sins of men I 'm sure it is for the great good of the world that God has the government of bad men that they cannot do so much hurt as they would and that the mischief God permits them to do is directed to fall on such persons as either want Correction or deserve Punishment For this is another thing very observable in God's government both of the good and bad actions of men that as in the government of Natural Causes God directs where and when and in what proportion Nature shall exert its Influences that it shall rain upon one City and not upon another so God does not only excite men to do good but directs and determines them where to do it chuses out such persons as they shall do good to and appoints what good they shall do and in what measures and proportions they shall do it And he not only sets bounds to the Lusts and Passions of bad men but when he sees fit to permit their wickedness he directs where the hurt and mischief of it shall light We need no other proof of this but the very Notion of Providence which is God's Care of his Creatures for that requires a particular Application of the good or evil which men do to such particular persons as God thinks fit to do good to or to afflict and punish which is the most material and most necessary exercise both of the Wisdom and Justice and Goodness of Providence For if God suffered men to do good or evil at random without directing them to fit and proper Objects the Fortunes of particular men would depend upon as great a Chance as the mutable Lusts and Passions and Fancies of men The only Use I shall make of this at present is to convince you how perfectly we are in God's hands and how secure we are in his
Prerogative Acts and signifies to us That we must seek no farther for the Reasons of such things than the Sovereign Will of God as a Sovereign Prince while he keeps within the Legal Exercise of his Prerogative needs give no other account of it but that it is his Will and Pleasure But there are some men who will not be so civil to God as they are to a Sovereign Prince to take his sole Will and good Pleasure for a satisfactory reason of any thing but quarrel about these Prerogative Acts and ask a great many foolish Questions and make a great many impertinent Objections even against the exercise of a Free and Sovereign Goodness Now in truth this is to deny God the Rights of a Sovereign to demand a Reason of him beyond his own Will for the Acts of pure Sovereignty but yet I will grant these men That tho in all such Cases we must ask no other reason but the mere Will of God yet God never does any thing for mere Will and Pleasure in the sense that some men do but has always wise and hidden Reasons which we cannot comprehend And tho they will not allow the unsearchable Wisdom of God a just satisfaction to other Objections yet methinks where they ought to demand no other reason but the Will of God it should abundantly satisfy them to know That tho this Will of God is Sovereign and Unaccountable it is always guided by Infinite and Infallible Wisdom That you may the better understand this I shall give you some Instances of it in the Prerogative Acts of Goodness and Justice Goodness indeed is essential to the Notion of a God but yet there are some Sovereign Acts of Goodness which no creature could challenge from God which God might not have done and yet have been very good and why God exercises such Free and Prerogative Acts of Goodness must be resolved wholly into the good Pleasure of his own Will This is the account the Scripture gives us of that Mysterious Goodness in the Redemption of the World by our Lord Jesus Christ which is therefore every where in Scripture called Grace and Free Grace and the Love of God and the Will of God as Christ tells us That he came not to do his own will but the will of him that sent him And the whole Oeconomy of our Redemption is called the purpose of him who worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will And thus is every part of our Redemption as our New-Birth Of his own will he hath begotten us The Gifts of the Holy Ghost were bestowed upon the Apostles according to his own will God worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure All which signifies no more but this That these are such Prerogative Acts of Goodness as we must seek for no other reason of but the Sovereign Will and good Pleasure of God Now in such Sovereign Acts of Goodness as these the time and manner and other circumstances and the rules and methods of administration are all perfectly free and voluntary where God has not bound up himself by Covenant and Promise and therefore we must satisfy our selves that God has very wise Reasons for what he does but must not critically examine whether every thing be done in the best manner that we can think on which would put an end to a great many foolish Enquiries with which men perplex themselves and disparage the Mysteries of our Salvation As Why God sent Christ into the world for the Salvation of Mankind Whether there was no other possible way to save sinners or whether this were absolutely the best Why God sent Christ so late into the world in the last days when it grew near its end and so many Generations of men had perished in ignorance and wickedness before his Appearance Why so great a part of the world to this day have never heard of Christ And a great many other such like Questions as these To all which it is sufficient to reply That our Redemption by Christ is an act of Sovereign Grace and therefore we must enquire no farther than the Will of God Had God never sent Christ into the world nor preached the Gospel to any one Nation we should have had no reason to complain for he did not owe such a Saviour to sinners and therefore we have less reason to complain of the time of his coming into the world and that his Gospel is not universally received by mankind Sovereign Grace is free and unaccountable and we need not doubt but that such stupendious Goodness is administred by as unsearchable Wisdom and it is reasonable for us to acquiesce in the belief of God's unerring Wisdom especially in such cases where we have no right to enquire beyond his Will When we receive all from God without his owing us any thing it is a good answer St. Paul gives Who hath first given unto him and it shall be recompensed to him again for of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory for ever Amen Thus the Divine Justice requires that God should punish obstinate and incorrigible sinners but then he executes Justice with a Free and Sovereign Authority that is he is not confined to time and place and manner of punishing sinners as the Inferior Ministers of Justice are but when men have made themselves vessels of wrath fitted for destruction then God may punish sooner or later publickly or privately and in what manner he pleases without giving any other reason for it but his own Will God has more reasons of punishing Sinners in this world than merely to take Vengeance of their sins and therefore he punishes them in such a manner as may best serve the ends of his Providence as may most advance his own Name and Glory and do most good in the world Thus God tells Pharaoh For this cause have I raised thee up that is either advanced thee to the Throne or preserved thy Life thus long in the midst of all the Plagues I have brought upon thy Land for to shew in thee my power and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth that is to take such a remarkable Vengeance on thee as may make all the earth confess my Glory Would men but allow God the Authority of a Sovereign who can Spare and Reprieve nay Pardon in this world without the imputation of Injustice it would answer all the Cavilling Objections against Providence which relate to the Punishments of bad men God might then be allowed to execute speedy Vengeance upon some sinners and to delay the Punishment of others and to suffer them to be prosperous for a great while without giving any other reason for it than his own Will and Pleasure God hath always wise Reasons for these things tho we do not always know them but if the Sovereignty of God will justify all this without any other
Providence for no Creature has any Legal Property against God The Justice of Providence does not relate to the Rights of Creatures but to the Moral and Eternal Reasons of things it does not consist in defending every man in his Legal Rights which is the Justice of Human Governments but in rewarding or punishing men according as they deserve or as may best serve the wise ends of God's Government in this world There seems to me to be no occasion for that Dispute de Iure Dei in Creaturas what Right God has in Creatures for there is no doubt but God has an Absolute Unlimited Uncontroulable Right in all his Creatures they and all they have are his and at his Absolute Disposal tho it does not hence follow that God may without any Injustice make Creatures on purpose to make them miserable for tho Creatures have no Natural Rights against God yet the Justice and Goodness of the Divine Nature gives them a Moral Right to such usage as they shall deserve as for instance That an innocent Creature should not be miserable and that those who deserve well should not be ill used But these Moral Rights concern Distributive Justice and result from the Goodness and Justice of the Divine Nature and Government not from the Natural Rights of Creatures We are absolutely at the Will and Disposal of God as Slaves and Vassals are at the Will of their Lord but our security is That God can will nothing but what is wise and just and good 3dly From hence it evidently follows That in our Disputes about the Justice of Providence we must confine our enquiries to Distributive Justice that is we must not barely consider what men have or what they lose or what they suffer nor what the immediate and visible Causes of all this are whether just or unjust but we must consider what proportion there is between their Condition and their Moral Deserts or whether they enjoy or suffer any thing which will not serve the wise and just ends of God's Government If men are put into such a condition as they have neither deserved nor can make any good use of or which does not make them Instruments of the Divine Providence to serve some wise and good ends by what means soever they come into such a condition it reflects upon the Wisdom and Justice of God who has the Supreme Disposal of all Events and by a Sovereign Authority allots all men their several Portions and Stations in the world But let mens Condition be what it will whether they be Rich or Poor Happy or Miserable advanced or ruined by Injustice Oppression and Violence if this be what they deserved what they are fit for what the wise Government of the world requires it can be no blemish to Providence which directs and governs all things with Wisdom and Justice So that it is no Objection against the Justice of Providence to say That there are a great many miserable people in the world and a great deal of Injustice daily committed in it unless you can prove That any of these miserable people ought not for wise and just reasons to suffer such Miseries or that any suffer by Injustice what they ought not to suffer For if notwithstanding all the Miseries that are in the world and all the Wickedness that is committed in it no man suffers any thing but what he deserves or what God may wisely and justly inflict on him this abundantly vindicates the Wisdom and Justice of Providence 4thly But for the better understanding of this we must consider more particularly the Nature of God's Justice and what Acts of Justice the Government of this world requires and how it differs from the Justice of Human Governments the confounding of which has occasioned most of the Objections against the Justice of Providence 1. To consider the Nature and Exercise of God's Justice for tho the general Notion of Justice be the same whether we speak of the Justice of God or Men yet the particular Acts of Justice vary as they do even among men according as their Rights and Authority differ Justice signifies to give to every man what is his own and to take nothing from any man but what is our own to serve our selves of other men and to reward or punish them as their Actions deserve and as our Authority will justify So that the particular expressions of Justice and Righteousness as exercised by different persons differ as much as the Circumstances of mens Fortune and Conditions Relations Authority and Power differ For when two men do the same thing it may be done very justly by one and very unjustly by the other because one may have a Right and Authority to do it and the other have none as a Prince or Judge may very justly execute a Criminal and confiscate his Estate which a private man cannot justly do Now if the difference between a private man and a Magistrate between a Prince and a Subject makes such a vast difference in the particular Acts and Exercise of Justice and Righteousness as they respect such different states that vast disproportion which is between God and Creatures must make a much greater difference that tho the General Notion of Justice and Righteousness is the same both with respect to God and Men yet God may do that very justly which men cannot justly do as a Prince may exercise some Acts of Justice which a private man must not do I shall at present only instance in God's Absolute Dominion and Sovereignty and shew you in some plain Cases what a vast difference this makes between the Justice of God and the Justice of Men. Now God's Absolute Dominion gives him Right and Authority to do whatever is consistent with Wisdom and Goodness For Absolute Dominion is Absolute Authority and Absolute Authority makes every thing just which is wise and good A Limited Authority has a Rule and must not do what is wise and good against its Rule of Right No man must take away that which is anothers and which he has no Authority to take away whatever wise and good ends he can serve by it Tho it were never so apparent that it would be a great kindness to the man himself to take away great part of his Estate which he uses ill to oppress his Neighbours and to make himself a Beast tho he does not deserve the Estate he has nay deserves to lose it tho we could bestow it upon men who deserve and would use it better or could employ it to excellent uses for the Service of God and of his Church or for the relief of the Poor All these wise and good Purposes would justify no man who invades another's Rights without a just Authority But had any Prince such an Absolute Authority over the Estates of all his Subjects that he could give or take them away as he pleased then such Reasons as these would justify the exercise of such a Sovereign Will and
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
mens Lusts for did not all Mankind suffer by one another's sins I doubt neither good nor bad men would be so zealously concerned to punish and suppress Vice and therefore the Divine Providence could not have taken a more effectual course to discourage Wickedness than to make all Mankind sensible of the evil of sin by making them all at one time or other feel the evil of sin in what they suffer by their own or other mens sins For were all men convinced and it is strange that their own sense and feeling will not convince them that all the evils and miseries of life are owing to sin and that it is impossible to be happy without reforming themselves and others as far as they can what more powerful Argument could Providence offer to us to reform the world There are another sort of Calamities and very terrible ones too which those who believe a Providence can attribute to nothing else but the just Judgment and Vengeance of God upon a wicked world Such as Plague and Pestilence and Famine Deluges and Earthquakes which destroy Cities and Countries and more ordinary Accidents when they act in such an extraordinary manner as if they were directed and guided by an unseen hand A great many such Instances are recorded in Scripture and expresly ascribed to the Judgment of God God has threatned such Judgments in Scripture and therefore when we see them executed we must conclude That they are inflicted by God as the just Punishment of Sin Nay those very evils and miseries which we suffer by other mens sins are in Scripture attributed to God who has the Supreme Disposal of all Events For as I observed before it is not sufficient proof that these Judgments are not ordered by God that we can find some immediate Causes for them that some of them are owing to Natural Causes others to Men others to some surprizing and unusual or it may be usual Accidents for whoever believes a Divine Providence does not therefore believe that God does every thing immediately by his own Power without the Ministry of any Second Causes either Natural or Free Agents or what we call Accidents but he is only obliged to believe That God governs all Second Causes to produce such Effects as he sees fit That all Nature moves at God's Command That fire and hail snow and vapours wind and storm fulfil his word 148. Psal. 8. v. That both good and bad men are under his Government and the Ministers of his Providence and that what seems perfect Chance to us is directed by his Wisdom and Counsel and then whatever evils we suffer and whatever the immediate Causes of them be we must ascribe them all to God especially when the same kind of Judgments which had the same kind of immediate Causes are attributed to God in Scripture it is reason enough for us whenever such Judgments befal us to ascribe them to the Providence of God But I need not dispute here Whether all those Evils and Calamities which befal sinners are ordered and appointed by God for till they can prove à priori by direct and positive Arguments That there is no God nor a Providence which none of our Modern Atheists pretend to do while they dispute only by way of Objection they must prove that things are not so ordered as they ought to have been ordered did God govern the world and if we can prove that they are their Objection is answered Now with respect to my present Argument to vindicate the Holiness of Providence it is plain beyond all contradiction that things are so ordered for the discouragement of Wickedness and the encouragement of Vertue as if they had been so ordered on purpose by the greatest Wisdom and the most perfect Holiness and therefore we have reason to believe that they were so ordered by a Wise and a Holy Providence As far then as to command and encourage all Holiness and Vertue and to forbid and discourage all Wickedness and Vice is a Proof of the Holiness of Providence I hope I have sufficiently cleared this Point and I must desire you to observe That these are direct and positive Proofs such as every man may understand and cannot avoid the evidence of and therefore are not to be shaken by every Difficulty objected against them For our knowledg is so imperfect that there is nothing almost which we so certainly know but is liable to such Objections as we cannot easily and satisfactorily answer but one plain positive Proof is a better Reason to believe any thing than a hundred Objections against it are not to believe it because since it is confessed on all hands that our knowledg is very imperfect it is no reason to disbelieve what we do know and what we are as certain of as we can be of any thing because there are some things relating to the same subject which we do not know and therefore unless the Objection be as positive and evident as the proof is and I am sure there are no such Objections against the Holiness of Providence we may very reasonably acknowledge that there are some difficulties which we do not understand and yet may very reasonably believe on as we did 2dly Let us now consider What the Holiness of God's Providence and Government does not require of him And I shall name but one thing which some men make a great Objection against Providence viz. That there is so much Sin and Wickedness daily committed in the World Now if the being of Sin in the World or if the Wickedness of men were irreconcilable with the Holiness of Providence this were an unanswerable Objection against it for it cannot be denied but that Mankind are very wicked But what consequence is there in this that God can't be Holy nor his Providence Holy because Men are wicked We may as well prove that there is no God because there is a Devil Such conceits as these tempted some ancient Hereticks to assert Two Principles a Good and a Bad God because they thought that if there were but one God and he very good there could be no such thing as evil in the World But would any man think this a good Argument against the Holiness of a Prince and his Government that he has many Wicked Subjects and how then do the Sins of men come to be an Argument against the Holiness of Providence To state this in a few words When we speak of God's permitting Sin we either mean the internal or the external Acts of Sin 1. The internal Act of sin which is nothing else but the choice of the Will When men chuse that which is wicked and fully resolve and purpose as they have opportunity to do it This is the sin this makes us guilty before God who knows our hearts though Human Laws can take no cognizance of it as our Saviour tells us He that looketh upon a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his
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
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
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
have delivered Israel without them for it would argue a great defect in the ordinary methods of Government if God could not at any time save good men and punish and destroy the wicked without a Miracle God can do whatever he pleases by the wise direction and government of natural and moral Causes and therefore does not work Miracles because he needs them to supply the defects of natural Powers but to bear testimony to his own Being and Providence and to give authority to his Ministers and Prophets and we must learn the wisdom of this from the state and condition of the world at that time Mankind at that time were so far from being Atheists that they would worship any thing the meanest and most contemptible Creatures rather than have no God and they were so sensible how much they stood in need of a Divine Providence that one God would not serve them but they wanted as many Gods not only as there were Nations but as they had wants to supply This was a great corruption of the Light of Nature and those Notions of One Supream God imprinted on our minds and proclaimed by the whole visible Creation but yet was so universal and so prevailing that their wisest Philosophers who had better notions of the Deity were not able to resist the Torrent and durst not openly oppose the Worship of those Countrey Gods for fear of a popular Rage and Fury Now when neither the Light of Nature nor the Works of Creation and of a common Providence could secure the belief and worship of the One Supream God what remained but for God to make some more sensible manifestation of himself to the world and let any man consider what more effectual way could have been taken to convince men of the Divine Power and Providence than by Miracles especially such Miracles as are for the deliverance and protection of good men and the punishment and overthrow of the wicked When the Corruption of Mankind is such that they will not learn from Nature there is no way of teaching them but by something which is supernatural and when the beautiful and regular and uniform Order of Nature will not convince men that there is a God at least not that there is One Supream God who made and who governs this World Miracles will Those who will not believe that the World was made or had any Wise and Intelligent Cause must confess that Miracles have a Cause because they see them produced and that that Cause is not Nature because they see them produced without any Natural Cause or against the Laws of Nature nor Chance and Accident because they are done at the command of a Free Agent at the word of a man as all the Signs and Wonders in Egypt were wrought at the word of Moses whose word had no natural vertue and efficacy in it to work Wonders And therefore Miracles certainly prove that there is an Invisible Intelligent Cause who if he did not make the World could have made it if he had pleased for whoever can in any one instance act without or against Nature can create Nature too For to do any thing which Nature cannot do is in that particular to make Nature and he who can make Nature in one instance can do so in all and this is a good reason to believe that the World was made when we know that there is a Cause that can make the World And that Superior Power he exercises over Nature proves that he both can and does govern the World for he has the supream and absolute Government of Nature who can when he pleases give new powers to it or suspend and reverse its Laws So that Miracles are a Supernatural Proof of a Divine Power and Providence and no man who believes that there ever was a true Miracle wrought can be an Atheist and therefore it is no wonder that Atheists are such professed Enemies to the belief of Miracles but it is a great wonder that they can persuade themselves to reject all those Authentick Relations we have of Miracles both from the Law of Moses and from the Gospel of Christ which are the most credible Histories in the world if we look upon them as no more than Histories and have obtained the most universal belief Especially this is very unaccountable in those men who pretend to Deism to acknowledge a God who made the World for cannot that God who made the World and made Nature act without or above or against Nature when he pleases And may it not become the Divine Wisdom and Goodness to do this when it is necessary for the more abundant conviction of Mankind who are sunk into Atheism or Idolatry when Signs and Wonders are necessary to awaken men into the sense and belief of God and his Providence which was the case in the days of Moses or to give Authority to Prophets to declare and reveal the Will of God to men which was a reason for Miracles as long as God thought fit to make any new and publick Revelations of his Will when it is as reasonable and credible that God who can when he pleases should some times work Miracles as it is that he should take care to preserve the knowledge of himself and his Will and to restore it when it is lost or to make such new discoveries of his Grace as the fallen state of Mankind requires when I say the thing it self is so credible and so worthy of God what reasonable pretence can there be for rejecting Miracles for which we have the Authority of the best attested History in the World But Atheism was not the Disease of that Age which had run into the other Extreme of Polytheism and Idolatry and therefore though Miracles do prove the Being and Providence of God the Miracles of Moses were principally intended to prove the Glory and Power of the God of Israel that the God of Israel is the One Supream God and that he had chosen Israel for his peculiar People and this he did by doing such things as no other God could do such as made the Egyptian Magicians confess that it was the Finger of God and what more effectual way could be taken to convince the world of One Supream God than such visible demonstrations of an Absolute and Soveraign Power superior to all Those who worshipped a plurality of Gods either had no notion of One Supream God whose Power ruleth over all or if they had yet they believed that this Supream God had committed the care and government of Mankind to inferior Deities whom they therefore worshipped with Divine Honours as the Disposers of their Lives and Fortunes and either paid no worship to the Supream God which was the more general practice or worshipped their Country-gods together with him and that with the most frequent most solemn and pompous Worship Now such great and wonderful Works as these which none of their Country-gods could do was an evident proof that
usurping Powers as long as we can resist but the Providence of God which governs the world makes it lawful to submit when we cannot resist and when by such submissions new Kingdoms are erected and we are become the Subjects of new Powers then Providence has changed our Relations and made it our duty to submit 4thly There is another Inquiry also of great moment how our submission to Providence under all our Sufferings and Changes of Fortune requires us to behave our selves towards men who are the Causes and Instruments of such Misfortunes For if it be the will of God that we should suffer such things why should we be angry with the men who do them why should we punish them why should we revenge our selves of them when they only execute the Divine Counsels and do what God saw fit that we should suffer Does not Ioseph thus excuse his Brethren for selling him into Egypt that it was God who sent him thither And does not David for this reason forbear his revenge on Shimei Let him curse for God hath said unto him Curse David But the answer to this is short and plain that God's over-ruling mens wickedness to serve wise and good ends does not excuse their wickedness nor excuse them from the just punishments of their wickedness the sin is their own though it be wisely ordered by God for our trial or correction but the wise Government of God makes no change in the nature of mens Actions nor in their Deserts God himself will punish their wickedness though he serves wise ends by it and has commanded men to do so for no man sins by the will of God though no man suffers any thing but by God's will But yet Submission to Providence will greatly mitigate our Resentments and calm our Passions and keep them within the bounds of Reason and Religion When we consider that whatever we suffer is appointed for us by God that how wicked soever men are we can suffer nothing by their wickedness but what God for wise Reasons sees fit we should suffer this will satisfy us that we are more concerned with God than with men that tho Men be the Rod wherewith we are scourged it is God that strikes and a Reverence for the Divine Judgments will make us take less notice of the Instruments of our sufferings In short Submission to Providence leaves us nothing to be angry with men for but their own wickedness that we suffer tho we suffer by their wickedness yet it is not so much their doings as God's who orders these sufferings for us and without whose Order and Appointment no man can hurt us and therefore we must not be angry with men for our sufferings but reverence God Whatever their Personal Hatred or Malice or Revenge be how much soever they intend or desire to do us hurt we may securely despise them as out of their reach for we are in the hands of God And if our Sufferings are not owing to men any otherwise than as Instruments in God's hands why should we be angry with men for what we suffer Why should we revenge our Sufferings on them when we suffer by the Will of God We may be angry at their Wickedness and at their ill will to us but humbly submit to our Sufferings as the Will of God Now I need not say how this will calm and temper our Passions because it leaves so little of self in our Anger and Resentments let men be as angry with Wickedness as they please and punish it as it deserves this is a Virtuous Anger and never transports men to excess it is self-love which inflames our Anger and sharpens our Revenge not that such Wickedness is committed but that we are the Sufferers by it for men are never so angry in another man's Cause as they are in their own tho the Wickedness the Affront the Injury is the same but Personal Injuries and Affronts are most provoking that is we love our Selves more than we hate Wickedness when our Anger is excessive But now if men have nothing to do with us nor we with them as to the case of Suffering if all this be ordered and appointed by God here is little room for Personal Resentments for that we suffer by their Wickedness is God's doings and therefore we have nothing to be angry with them for but that they are wicked and then tho our own Sufferings will give us a greater sense and abhorrence of their Wickedness and make us more personally concerned to punish it yet our Passions will be more gentle and easy the more we attribute our Sufferings to God and the less to Men. Secondly Another Duty we owe to Providence is An entire Trust and Dependance on God The state of a Creature is all Dependance and Faith and Hope and Trust are the Virtues of a dependant state and can in reason have no other Object but that Being on whom we depend the great Creator and Governor of the world in whom we live move and have our being All other Dependancies are vain because none else can help us but God has all Events in his hands he can help us if he pleases and he will help us if we trust in him The Scripture abounds with Exhortations to trust in God with promises to those who do trust in him with Examples of God's Care and Protection of those good men who make him their only Hope and Trust but yet the Duty it self needs some Explication and therefore I shall consider the Nature of this Hope and Trust and what are the various Acts of it or wherein the Exercise of it consists 1. The Nature of this Faith and Hope and Trust in the Divine Providence What it is to hope and trust and depend on God or Men we all know and feel but the Question is What it is we must trust God for and how far we must depend on him For must we believe That God will do every thing for us which we trust in him to do If suppose we have a Child or a Friend dangerously sick must we firmly believe that God will spare their lives and restore their health if we trust in him to do it Must a Merchant confidently expect a safe and advantageous Voyage if he trust in God for it Has God any where promised to give us whatever we trust in him for Or does the Nature and Reason of Providence infer any such thing And yet what does Trust in God signify if we must not depend on him for those good things which we want and desire and trust him for What do all the Promises made to Hope and Trust in God signify if they give us no security that we shall obtain our Desires of God Nay indeed how can any man hope and trust in God when he has no assurance that he shall obtain what he hopes for I doubt not but such thoughts as these make most men so distrustful of Providence that tho they talk
his Promise does honour to his Truth and Faithfulness but to trust God to chuse our condition for us to do for us either what we desire or what he likes better argues such an entire dependence on God and an absolute resignation to his Will with a perfect assurance of his Wisdom and Goodness that it is impossible a Creature can express a greater veneration for the Divine Perfections I am sure we do not think that any man does us so much honour by taking our word for what we expresly promise to do for him as that man does who commits all his Concernments with a secure confidence to our disposal without knowing what we intend to do But for a more particular explication of this let us consider what this trust in God signifies and what security it gives us 1. What this trust in God signifies since it does not signify an assurance that God will do what we desire what is the meaning of it Now this signifies 1. That all the Good we hope for or expect we expect from God alone that we have no other reliances and dependences but only on God though we justly value the kindness of our Friends and the Patronage and Protection of Princes and powerful Favourites and thank God when he raises up such Friends and Patrons to us yet our entire trust and hope is in God That since we know that all Events are in God's hands we are sure none can help us but by God's appointment and we desire to be at the disposal of none but God and therefore in Scripture our trust in God is always opposed to our trust in men in Princes in Human Counsels Policy or strength It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in Princes 118. Psalm 8 9 Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand Some trust in chariots and some in horses but we will remember the name of the Lord our God they are brought down and fallen but we are risen and stand upright 20. Psalm 6 7 8. All wise men are greatly satisfied and pleased to see the probable means and instruments of their safety and defence because God ordinarily works by means but Good men know that they are but instruments in God's hands and no Wise man puts his trust in the instruments be they never so good but in the Workman Thus much our trust in God must necessarily signifie that we have no reliance but only on God who is the Supreme Disposer of all things that we depend as entirely on him as if there were no second and intermediate Causes which are to be employed and used but not to be the final Objects of our trust 2dly Our trust in God signifies our absolute dependence on the Wisdom Power and Goodness of God to take care of us It is a committing our selves to God putting our selves absolutely into his hands with a full persuasion that he will do what we desire or do what shall be better for us that he will answer our requests or deny them with greater Wisdom and Goodness than he could grant them All men must grant that this is a perfect trust in God and such a trust and dependence as we owe to Providence for if God Govern the World and take care of all his Creatures with infinite Wisdom and Goodness does it not become all reasonable Creatures to give up themselves securely to the Government of Providence If we believe that infinite Wisdom and Goodness takes care of us what need we know any more Would we desire any thing else or can we wish for any thing better than what infinite Wisdom and Goodness can do for us or would we have any thing which infinite Wisdom and Goodness does not think fit to give us This indeed does not give us that security which some men desire that we shall never suffer those particular evils which we fear and which we see coming upon us or that we shall obtain some other blessings which we are passionately fond of but it gives us a much better security than this that we shall have always what is good for us which is more than we can promise our selves should God always grant our own desires This gives us a most profound rest and peace of mind delivers us from all careful and solicitous thoughts for times to come which are many times more terrible than the evils we fear it teaches us to do our Duty with the best prudence and industry we can but to leave all Events to God's disposal to make known our requests to God and to cast all our care upon him for he careth for us It will not make us wholly unconcerned and indifferent whatever happens because the natures of things are not equal or alike indifferent Riches and Poverty Health or Sickness Honour or Disgrace War or Peace Plenty or Famine cannot be alike indifferent to any man who has his senses about him but it will make us quiet and patient under all Events and help us to bear the most adverse Fortune with such an unbroken greatness of mind as is natural to a firm and stedfast Trust and Hope in God This is properly to trust Providence not to trust that God will do every thing for us which we desire which is to command and govern or at least to direct Providence not to trust it but to live securely under the Care and Protection of God without disturbing our selves with unknown and future events in a confident assurance that we are safe and happy in God's hands 2dly Tho our Trust in God does not signify an absolute security what God will do for us yet it is the most certain way to obtain whatever we wisely and reasonably desire of God When we trust in God he reserves to himself a liberty to judge whether it be good for us but if what we desire be good for us our trust and dependence on God will engage Providence on our side Trust in God refers our Causes to him to judge for us and to do what he sees fit and we have God's Word and Promise for it That if we do trust in him he will take care of us that we shall want nothing that is good and shall be delivered from all evil 31. Psal. 21 22. O how plentiful is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee and that thou hast prepared for them that put their trust in thee before the sons of men thou shalt hide them privily by thy own presence from the provoking of all men thou shalt keep them secretly in thy Tabernacle from the strife of tongues Thus 37. Psal. 40 41. The salvation of the righteous cometh of the Lord who is also their strength in the time of trouble And the Lord shall stand by them and save them