him he knows what Angels and Men do and infinitely more what is known by them obscurely is known by him clearly What is known by man after it is done was known by God before it was wrought By his wisdom as much as by any thing he infinitely differs from all his Creatures as by wisdom Man differs from a Brute We cannot frame a notion of God without conceiving him infinitely wise We should render him very inconsiderable to imagine him furnisht with an infinite knowledge and not have an infinite wisdom to make use of that knowledge or to fancy him with a mighty power destitute of prudence Knowledge without prudence is an eye without motion and power without discretion is an arm without a head a hand to act without understanding to contrive and model a strength to act without reason to know how to act It would be a miserable notion of a God to fancy him with a brutish and unguided power The Heathens therefore had and could not but have this natural notion of God Plato therefore calls him Mens †Eugub per. Philosoph lib. 1. cap. 5. and Cleanthes used to call God Reason and Socrates thought the title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too magnificent to be attributed to any thing else but God alone Arguments to prove that God is wise Reas 1. God could not be infinitely perfect without wisdom A rational Nature is better than an irrational Nature A man is not a perfect man without reason how can God without it be an infinitely perfect God Wisdom is the most eminent of all Vertues all the other perfections of God without this would be as a body without an eye a soul without understanding A Christian's Graces want their lustre when they are destitute of the guidance of wisdom Mercy is a feebleness and Justice a cruelty Patience a timerousness and Courage a madness without the conduct of wisdom so the Patience of God would be cowardise his Power an oppression his Justice a tyranny without wisdom as the Spring and Holiness as the Rule No attribute of God could shine with a due lustre and brightness without it Power is a great perfection but wisdom a greater * Licet magnum sit posse majus tamen est sapere Wisdom may be without much power as in Bees and Ants but power is a tyrannical thing without wisdom and righteousness The Pilot is more valuable because of his skil than the Gally Slave because of his strength and the conduct of a General more estimable than the might of a private Souldier Generals are chosen more by their skill to guide than their strength to act What a Clod is a man without Prudence what a Nothing would God be without it This is the Salt that gives relish to all other perfections in a Creature This is the Jewel in the Ring of all the Excellencies of the Divine Nature and Holiness is the splendor of that Jewel Now God being the first Being possesses whatsoever is most noble in any Being If therefore Wisdom which is the most noble perfection in any Creature were wanting to God he would be deficient in that which is the highest Excellency God being the living God as he is frequently termed in Scripture he hath therefore the most perfect manner of living and that must be a pure and intellectual life Being essentially living he is essentially in the highest degree of living As he hath an infinite life above all Creatures so he hath an infinite intellectual life and therefore an infinite Wisdom whence some have called God not sapientem but super-sapientem †Suarez Vol. 1 lib. 1. cap. 3 p. 10. not only wise but above all wisdom Reas 2. Without infinite Wisdom he could not govern the World Without wisdom in forming the Matter which was made by Divine power the World could have been no other than a Chaos and without wisdom in Government it could have been no other than a heap of Confusion without wisdom the World could not have been created in the posture it is Creation supposeth a determination of the will putting power upon acting the determination of the will supposeth the counsel of the understanding determining the will No work but supposeth understanding as well as will in a rational Agent As without skill things could not be created so without it things cannot be governed Reason is a necessary perfection to him that presides over all things Without knowledge there could not be in God a foundation for Government and without wisdom there could not be an exercise of Government and without the most excellent wisdom he could not be the most excellent Governour He could not be an universal Governour without a universal wisdom nor the sole Governour without an unimitable wisdom nor an independent Governour without an original and independent wisdom nor a perpetual Governour without an incorruptible wisdom He would not be the Lord of the World in all points without skill to order the affairs of it Power and wisdom are foundations of all Authority and Government Wisdom to know how to rule and command Power to make those Commands obeyed No regular Order could issue out without the first nor could any order be enforced without the second A feeble wisdom and a brutish power seldom or never produce any good effect Magistracy without wisdom would be a frantick power a rash conduct like a strong arm when the eye is out it strikes it knows not what and leads it knows not whither Wisdom without power would be like a great body without feet * Amirant moral like the knowledge of a Pilot that hath lost his arm who though he knows the Rule of Navigation and what Course to follow in his Voyage yet cannot mannage the Helm But when those two wisdom and power are link't together there ariseth from both a fitness for Government There is wisdom to propose an end and both wisdom and power to employ means that conduct to that end And therefore when God demonstrates to Job his right of Government and the unreasonableness of Job's quarrelling with his proceedings he chiefly urgeth upon him the consideration of those two excellencies of his Nature power and wisdom which are exprest in his Works †Chap. 38 39 40 41. A Prince without wisdom is but a Title without a Capacity to perform the Office no man without it is fit for government Nor could God without wisdom exercise a just Dominion in the World He hath therefore the higest wisdom since he is the universal Governour That wisdom which is able to govern a Family may not be able to govern a City and that wisdom which governs a City may not be able to govern a Nation or Kingdom much less a World The bounds of God's government being greater than any his wisdom for government must needs surmount the wisdom of all ‖ Amyrald desert Theâ—l p. 111. And though the Creatures be not in number actually infinite yet they
Body of Man should be polisht in the lower parts of the Earth as he calls the Womb verse 15. in so short a time with Members 〈◊〉 a various form and usefulness each labouring in their several functions Can any man give an exact account of the manner how the Bones do grow in the womb Eccles 11.5 'T is unknown to the Father and no less hid from the Mother and the wisest Men cannot search out the depths of it 'T is one of the Secret works of an Omnipotent Power secret in the manner though open in the effect So that we must ascribe it to God as Job doth Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about Job 10.8 Thy hands which formed Heaven have formed every Part every Member and wrought me like a Mighty workman The Heavens are said to be the work of Gods hands and Man is here said to be no less The forming and propagation of Man from that Earthy matter is no less a wonder of Power than the structure of the World from a rude and indispos'd Matter †Trismegist in Serm. Greek in the Temple p. 57. A Heathen Philosopher descants elegantly upon it Dost thou understand my Son the forming of Man in the womb who erected that noble Fabrick who carv'd the Eyes the Christal-windows of light and the conductors of the Body who bor'd the Nostrils and Ears those Loop-holes of scents and sounds who stretched out and knit the Sinews and Ligaments for the fastning of every Member who cast the hollow Veins the Channels of Blood set and strengthned the Bones the Pillars and Rafters of the Body who digg'd the Pores the sinks to expel the filth who made the Heart the repository of the Soul and formed the Lungs like a Pipe What Mother what Father wrought these things No none but the Almighty God who made all things according to his pleasure 't is He who propagates this Noble piece from a pile of Dust Who is born by his own advice who gives stature features sence wit strength speech but God 'T is no less a wonder that a little Infant can live so long in a dark Sink in the midst of filth without breathing And the eduction of it out of the Womb is no less a wonder than the forming increase nourishment of it in that Cell A wonder that the life of the Infant is not the death of the Mother or the life of the Mother the death of the Infant This little Creature when it springs up from such small beginnings by the Power of God grows up to bâ— one of the Lords of the World to have a Dominion over the Creatures and propagates its kind in the same manner All this is unaccountable without having recourse to the Power of God in the government of the Creatures And to add to this wonder Consider also what multitudes of Formations and Births there are at one time all over the World in every of which the Finger of God is at work and it will speak an unwearied Power 'T is admirable in one Man more in a Town of Men still more in a greater and larger Kingdom a vaster World there is a Birth for every Hour in this City were but 168 born in a Week though the Weekly Bills mention more What is this City to Three Kingdoms what Three Kingdoms to a populous World Eleven Thousand and eighty will make one for every Minute in the Week what is this to the Weekly propagation in all the Nations of the Universe besides the generation of all the Living Creatures in that Space which are the works of Gods fingers as well as Man What will be the result of this but the notion of an unconceivable unwearied Almightiness alway active alway operating 3. It appears in the Motions of all Creatures All things live and move in him Acts 17.28 by the same Power that Creatures have their Beings they have their Motions They have not only a Being by his powerful Command but they have their minutely Motion by his Powerful concurrence Nothing can act without the Almighty influx of God no more than it can exist without the Creative Word of God 'T is true indeed the ordering of all Motions to his Holy ends is an act of Wisdom but the motion it self whereby those Ends are attained is a work of his Power 1. God as the first Cause hath an influence into the motions of all second Causes As all the Wheels in a Clock are moved in their different motions by the force and strength of the principal and primary Wheel if there be any defect in that or if that stand still all the rest languish and stand idle the same moment All Creatures are his Instruments his Engines and have no Spirit but what he gives and what he assists Whatsoever Nature works God works in Nature Nature is the Instrument God is the Supporter Director Mover of Nature that what the Prophet saith in another case may be the language of universal Nature Lord thou hast wrought all our works in us Isai 26.12 They are our works subjectively efficiently as second causes Gods works originally concurrently The Sun moved not in the Valley of Ajalon for the space of many hours in the time of Joshua †Josh 10.13 nor did the Fire exercise its consuming quality upon the Three Children in Nebuchadnezzars Furnace ‖ Dan. 3.25 He withdrew not his supporting Power from th ir Being for then they had vanâ—shed but his influencing Power from their qualities whereby their motion ceas'd till he return'd his influential concurrence to them which evidenceth that without a perpetual derivation of Divine Power the Sun could not run one stride or inch of its race nor the Fire devour one grain of light Chaff or an inch of Straw Nothing without his sustaining Power can continue in Being nothing without his co-working Power can exercise one mite of those qualities it is possessed of All Creatures are wound up by him and his hand is constantly upon them to keep them in perpetual motion 2. Consider the variety of motions in a single Creature How many motions are there in the Vital parts of a Man or in any other Animal which a Man knows not and is unable to number The renewed motion of the Lungs the Systoles and Diastoles of the Heart the Contractions and Dilatations of the Heart whereby it spouts out and takes in Blood the power of Concoction in the Stomach the motion of the Blood in the Veins c. all which were not only setled by the Powerful hand of God but are upheld by the same preserv'd and influenc'd in every distinct motion by that Power that stampt them with that Nature To every one of those there is not only the sustaining Power of God holding up their Natures but the motive Power of God concurring to every motion for if we move in him as well as we live in him then every particle of our motion
yet he cannot but approve of that Law as it prohibits every man from doing him the like injury and disgrace The sutableness of the Law to the Consciences of men is further evidenced by those furious reflections and strong alarms of Conscience upon a transgression of it and that in all parts of the World more or less in all men So exactly hath Divine wisdom fitted the Law to the Reason and Consciences of men as one Tally to another Indeed without such an agreement no mans Conscience could have any ground for a Hue and Cry nor need any man be startled with the Records of it This manifests the wisdom of God in framing his Law so that the Reasons and consciences of all men do one time or other subscribe to it What Governour in the World is able to make any Law distinct from this revealed by God that shall reach all places all persons all Hearts We may add to this the extent of his Commands in ordering goodness at the root not only in action but affection not only in the motion of the Members but the disposition of the Soul which suting a Law to the inward frame of man is quite out of the compass of the wisdom of any Creature 4. His Wisdom is seen in the incouragements he gives for the studying and observing his will Psal 19.11 In keeping thy Commandments there is great reward The variety of them there is not any particular Genius in man but may find something sutable to win upon him in the revealed will of God There is a strain of Reason to satisfy the Rational of Eloquence to gratify the the Fanciful of Interest to allure the Selfish of Terror to startle the Obstinate As a skilful Angler stores himself with Baits according to the Appetites of the sorts of fish he intends to catch so in the Word of God there are varieties of Baits according to the varieties of the Inclinations of men Threatnings to work upon Fear Promises to work upon Love Examples of holy men set out for Imitation and those plainly neither his Threatnings nor his Promises are dark as the Heathen Oracles but peremptory as becomes a Soveraign Law giver and plain as was necessary for the understanding of a Creature As he deals graciously with men in exhorting and incouraging them so he deals wisely herein by taking away all Excuse from them if they ruine the interest of their Souls by denying Obedience to their Soveraign Again the Rewards God proposeth are accommodated not to the Brutish parts of man his Carnal Sense and Fleshly Appetite but to the Capacity of a Spiritual Soul which admits only of Spiritual Gratifications and cannot in its own Nature without a sordid subjection to the Humors of the Body be moved by Sensual Proposals God backs his Precepts with that which the Nature of Man longed for and with Spiritual Delights which can only satisfy a rational Appetite And thereby did as well gratifie the noblest Desires in man as Oblige him to the noblest Service and Work * Amytaut Indeed Vertue and Holiness being perfectly amiable ought chiefly to affect our Understandings and by them draw our Wills to the esteem and pursuit of them But since the desire of Happiness is inseparable from the Nature of Man as impossible to be dis-join'd as an Inclination to descend to be severed from heavy Bodies or an instinct to ascend from Light and A ry of Substances God serves himself of the Inclination of our Natures to happiness to engender in us an esteem and affection to the Holiness he doth require He proposeth the enjoyment of a supernatural Good and everlasting Glory as a Bait to that insatiable longing our Natures have for Happiness to receive the impression of Holiness into our Souls And besides he doth proportion Rewards according to the degrees of mens Industry Labour and Zeal for him and weighs out a Recompence not only suted to but above the service He that improves five Talents is to be ruler over five Cities that is a greater proportion of Honour and Glory than another Luke 19.17.18 As a wise Father excites the affection of his Children to things worthy of Praise by varieties of Recompenses according to their several Actions And it was the Wisdom of the Steward in the Judgment of our Saviour to give every one the portion that belonged to him Luke 12.42 There is no part of the Word wherein we meet not with the will and Wisdom of God varieties of Duties and varieties of Encouragement mingled together 5. The Wisdom of God is seen In fitting the Revelations of his will to after-times and for the preventing of the foreseen Corruptions of men The whole Revelation of the mind of God is stored with Wisdom in the words connexion sence It looks backwards to past and forwards to Ages to come A hidden wisdom lies in the bowels of it like Gold in a Mine The Old testament was so composed as to fortify the New when God should bring it to light The Foundations of the Gopel were laid in the Law The Predictions of the Prophets and figures of the Law were so wisely framed and laid down in such clear expressions as to be Proofs of the Authority of the New Testament and Convictions of Jesus his being the Messiah Luke 24.14 Things concerning Christ were written in Moses the Prophets and Psalms and do to this day stare the Jews so in the face that they are fain to invent absurd and Nonsensical Interpretations to excuse their Unbelief and continue themselves in their obstinate Blindness And in pursuance of the efficacy of those Predictions it was a part of the Wisdom of God to bring forth the Translation of the Old Testament by the means Ptolomy King of Egypt some hundreds of years before the coming of Christ into the Greek Language the Tongue then most known in the World And why to prepare the Gentiles by the reading of it for that gracious call he intended them and for the entertainment of the Gospel which some few years after was to be publisht among them that by reading the Predictions so long before made they might more readily receive the accomplishment of them in their due time The Scripture is written in such a manner as to obviate Errors foreseen by God to enter into the Church It may be wondred why the Vniversal Particle should be inserted by Christ in the giving the Cup in the Supper which was not in the distributing the Bread Mat. 26 27. Drink ye all of it Not at the distributing the Bread Eat you all of it And Mark in his Relation tels us They all drank of it Mark 11.23 The Church of Rome hath been the occasion of discovering to us the Wisdom of our Saviour in in s erting that Particle all since they were so bold to exclude the Communicants from the Cup by a trick of Concomitancy Christ foresaw the Error and therefore put in a little word to obviate a
inspection of his Works God hath given full Testimonies of this Perfection in the Heavenly Bodies dispersing their Light and distributing their Influences to every part of the World In framing Men into Societies giving them various Dispositions for the preservation of Governments making some Wise for Counsel others Martial for Action changing Old Empires and raising New Which way soever we cast our Eyes we shall find frequent occasions to cry out Oh the depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God Rom. 11.33 To this purpose we must not only look upon the bulk and outside of his Works but consider from what Principles they were raised in what order disposed and the exact symmetry and proportion of their parts When a Man comes into a City or Temple and only considers the surface of the Buildâ—ngs they will amaze his Sense but not better his Understanding unless he considers the Methods of the Work and the Art whereby it was erected 1. This was an End for which they were created God did not make the World for Mans use only but chiefly for his own Glory for Mans use to enjoy his Creatures and for his own Glory to be acknowledged in his Creatures that we may consider his Art in framing them and his Skill in disposing them and not only gaze upon the Glass without considering the Image it represents and acquainting our selves whose Image it is The Creatures were not made for themselves but for the service of the Creator and the service of Man Man was not made for himself but for the Service of the Lord that created him He is to consider the Beauty of the Creation that he may thereby glorifie the Creator He knows in part their excellency the Creatures themselves do not If therefore Man be idle and unobservant of them he deprives God of the glory of his Wisdom which he should have by his Creatures The Inferiour Creatures themselves cannot observe it If Man regard it not what becomes of it his Glory can only be handed to him by Man The other Creatures cannot be Active Instruments of his Glory because they know not themselves and therefore cannot render him an active Praise Man is therefore bound to praise God for himself and for all his Creatures because he only knows himself and the Perfections of the Creatures and the Author both of himself and them God Created such Variety to make a Report of himself to us we are to receive the Report and to reflect it back to him To what purpose did he make so many things not necessary for the support and pleasure of our Lâ—ves but that we should behold him in them as well as in the other We cannot behold the Wisdom of God in his own Essence and Eternal Idea's but by the reflection of it in the Creatures As we cannot steadily behold the Sun with our Eye but either through a Glass or by reflection of the Image of it in the Water God would have us meditate on his Perfections he therefore chose the same Day wherein he reviewed his Work and rested from it to be celebrated by Man for the contemplation of him Gen. 2.2 3. that we should follow his Example and rejoyce as himself did in the frequent reviews of his Wisdom and Goodness in them In vain would the Creatures afford Matter for this study if they were wholly neglected God offers something to our Consideration in every Creature Shall the Beams of God shine round about us and strike our Eyes and not affect our Minds Shall we be like Ignorant Children that view the Pictures or point to the Letters in a Book without any sense and meaning How shall God have the homage due to him from his Works if Man hath no care to observe them The 148 Psalm is an Exhortation to this The view of them should often extract from us a wonder of the like nature of that of Davids Psal 104.24 Oh Lord how wonderful are thy Works in wisdom hast thou made them all The World was not Created to be forgotten nor Man created to be unobservant of it 2. If we observe not the Wisdom of God in the views of the Creatures we do no more than Brutes To look upon the Works of God in the World is no higher an act than meer Animals perform The Glories of Heaven and Beauties of the Earth are visible to the sense of Beasts and Birds A Brute beholds the motion of a Man as it may see the Wheels of a Clock but understands not the inward Springs of Motion the End for which we move or the Soul that acts us in our motion much less that Invisible Power which presides over the Creatures and conducts their motion If a Man do no more than this he goes not a step beyond a Brutish Nature and may very well acknowledge himself with Asaph a foolish and ignorant Beast before God Psal 73.22 The World is viewed by Beasts but the Author of it to be contemplated by Man Since we are in a higher rank than Beasts we owe a greater Debt than Beasts not only to enjoy the Creatures as they do but behold God in the Creatures which they cannot do The Contemplation of the Reason of God in his Works is a noble and sutable employment for a Rational Creature We have not only Sense to perceive them but Souls to mind them The Soul is not to be without its operation Where the operation of Sense ends the work of the Soul ought to begin We travel over them by our Senses as Brutes but we must pierce further by our Understandings as Men and perceive and praise him that lies Invisible in his visible Manufactures Our Senses are given us as Servants to the Soul and our Souls bestowed upon us for the knowledge and praise of their and our Common Creator 3. This would be a means to increase our Humility We should then flag our Wings and vail our Sails and acknowledge our own Wisdom to be as a drop to the Ocean and a Shadow to the Sun We should have mean thoughts of the Nothingness of our Reason when we consider the sublimity of the Divine Wisdom Who can seriously consider the Sparks of Infinite Skill in the Creature without falling down at the feet of the Divine Majesty and acknowledging himself a dark and foolish Creature Psal 8.4 5. When the Psalmist considered the Heavens the Moon and Stars and Gods ordination and disposal of them the use that results from it is What is Man that thou art mindful of him We should no more think to mate him in Prudence or set up the spark of our Reason to vye with the Sun Our Reason would more willingly submit to the Revelation when the Characters of Divine Wisdom are stampt upon it when we find his Wisdom in Creation incomprehensible to us 4. It would help us in our acknowledgments of God for his Goodness to us When we behold the Wisdom of God in Creatures below
a man of them succeeded in the Throne but the Crown is transferr'd to Jehu by Gods disposal In Warrs whereby flourishing Kingdoms are overthrown God hath the cheif hand in reference to which it is observed that in the two Prophets Isaiah and Jeremy God is called the Lord of Hosts 130 times 'T is not the Sword of the Captain but the Sword of the Lord bears the first rank The Sword of the Lord and of Gideon Judg. 7.18 The Sword of a Conqueror is the Sword of the Lord and receives its Charge and Commission from the great Soveraign Jerem. 47.6 7. VVe are apt to confine our thoughts to second Causes lay the fault upon the miscarriages of persons the Ambition of the one and the Covetousness of another and regard them not as the effects of Gods soveraign Authority linking second Causes together to serve his own purpose The skill of one man may lay open the folly of a Counsellour an earthly force may break in peices the power of a mighty Prince But Job in his consideration of those things referrs the matter higher Job 12.18 He looseth the bond of Kings and girdeth their Loyns with a girdle He looseth the Bonds of Kings i. â— takes off the yokes they lay upon their Subjects and girds their Loyns with a girdle A Cord as the Vulgar he lays upon them those fetters they fram'd for others such a girdle or band as is the mark of Captivity as the words ver 19. confirm it He leads Princes away spoil'd and overthrows the mighty God lifts up some to a great height and casts down others to a disgraceful ruine All those changes in the face of the World the revolutions of Emâ—ires the desolating and ravaging wars which are often immediately the birth of the Vice Ambition and fury of Princes are the Royal Acts of God as Governour of the World All Government belongs to him he is the Fountain of all the Great and the Petty Dominions in the World And therefore may place in them what substitutes and Vicegerents he pleaseth As a Prince may remove his Officers at pleasure and take their Commissions from them The highest are setled by God durante bene placito and not quamdiu bene se gâ—ssâ—rint Those Princes that have been the Glory of their Country have sway'd the Scepter but a short time when the more Wolvish ones have remain'd longâ—r in Commission as God hath seen fit for the ends of his own Soveraign Government Now by the revolutions in the World and Changes in Governours and Government God keeps up the acknowledgment of his Soveraignty when he doth arrest grand and publick offenders that wear a Crown by his Providence and employ it by their pride against him that plac'd it there When he arraigns such by a signal hand from Heaven he makes them the publick examples of the rights of his Soveraignty declaring thereby that the Cedars of Lebanon are as much at his foot as the Shrubs of the Valley that he hath as Soveraign an Authority over the Throne in the Palace as over the Stool in the Cottage 2. The Dominion of God is manifested in raising up and ordering the Spirits of men according to his pleasure He doth as the Father of Spirits communicate an influence to the Spirits of men as well as an existence he puts what inclinations he pleaseth into the will stores it with what habits he please whither natural or supernatural whereby it may be render'd more ready to act according to the divine purpose The will of man is a finite principle and therefore subject to him who hath an infinite Soveraignty over all things and God having a Soveraignty over the will in the manner of its acting as causeth it to will what he wills as to the outward act and the outward manner of performing it There are many examples of this part of his Soveraignty God by his Soveraign conduct ordered Moses a Protectoress as soon as his Parents had form'd an Ark of Bulrushes wherein to set him floting on the River Exod. 2.3 4.5.6 They expose him to the waves and the waves expose him to the view of Pharoahs Daughter whom God by his secret ordering her motion had posted in that place and though she was the Daughter of a Prince that inveterately hated the whole Nation and had by various Arts endeavour'd to extirpate them yet God inspires the Royal Lady with sentiments of compassion to the forlorn Infant though she knew him to be one of the Hebrews Children ver 6. i. e. one of that race whom her Father had devoted to the hands of an Executioner yet God that doth by his Soveraignty rule over the Spirits of all men moves her to take that Infant into her protection and nourish him at her own charge give him a liberal Education Adopt him her Son who in time was to be the ruin of her race and the Saviour of his Nation Thus he appointed Cyrus to be his Shepherd and gave him a Pastoral Spirit for the Restauration of the City and Temple of Jerusalem Isaiah 44.28 And Isaiah 45.5 Tells them in the Prophesie that he had girded him though Cyrus had not known him i. e. God had given him a military Spirit and strength for so great an attempt though he did not know that he was acted by God for those divine purposes And when the time came for the House of the Lord to be re-built the Spirits of the people were rais'd up not by themselves but by God Ezra 1.5 Whose Spirit God had rais'd to go up And not only the Spirit of Zerubbabel the Magistrate and of Joshua the Priest but the Spirit of all the people from the highest to the meanest that attended him were acted by God to strengthen their hands and promote the work Hag. 1.14 The Spirits of men even in those works which are naturally desirable to them as the Restauration of the City and rebuilding of the Temple was to those Jews are acted by God as the soveraign over them much more when the wheels of mens spirits are lifted up above their ordinary temper and motion It was this Empire of God good Nehemiah regarded as that whence he was to hope for success he did not assure himself so much of it from the favour he had with the King nor the reasonableness of his intended Petition but the absolute power God had over the heart of that great Monarch And therefore he supplicates the heavenly before he petitioned the earthly Throne Nehem. 2.4 So I pray'd to the God of Heaven The Heathens had some glance of this 't is an expression that Cicero hath some where That the Roman Common-wealth was rather Govern'd by the Assistance of the supream Divinity over the Hearts of Men than by their own Counsels and Management How often hath the feeble courage of men been heightned to such a pitch as to stare death in the face which before were dampt with the least thought or glance of