against the Justice of Providence So that these men have taken care always to have an Objection against Providence for according to their Notions of Justice and Goodness God cannot be both which is a certain demonstration that they mistake the true Notion of Justice and Goodness they are both great and excellent Vertues both are essential to the Idea of God both are necessary to the good government of the world and therefore both of them must be very consistent and reconcilable with each other both in Notion and Practise I have already vindicated the Justice of God's Providence and there is no great difficulty in vindicating his Goodness the Objections against which are founded in plain and evident Mistakes and therefore will receive an easy Answer And I shall first consider what the Mistakes are and then particularly answer the Objections 1. As for the first The Mistakes either relate to the nature of God's Goodness or to the nature of Good and Evil or to the Goodness of Providence and Government 1. The Mistakes concerning God's Goodness And the fundamental Mistake is this That men consider the Goodness of God absolutely without relation to the Nature Quality or Desert of the Subjects who are to receive good They contemplate Goodness in its abstracted Idea and Notion and whatever they conceive belongs to the most Perfect Goodness that they expect from God in the Government of this world and if they do not find it they conclude that the world is not governed by a Good Providence As for instance It is certainly an Act of the most Perfect Goodness to make all Creatures happy not to suffer any Miseries to enter into the world that there be nothing to deface the Beauty or to disturb the Harmony of it No lamentable Sights nor doleful Complaints to move our pity nor to terrify us with the melancholy presages of our own Sufferings nor to make frightful impressions on us of a Severe and Inexorable Deity Could they see such a world as this they would thankfully own the Divine Goodness and securely rejoyce in it But this world wherein we live gives us a very different prospect we see a great many Miserable people and feel a great many Miseries our selves and many times expect and fear a great many more and how unlike is this world to what we should have imagined the world to have been had we never seen it but only heard of a world made and governed by Infinite and Perfect Goodness Indeed all the Objections against the Goodness of Providence do ultimately resolve into this That the world is not so happy as a Good God can make it and therefore a Good Providence does not govern the world and a plain Answer to this will enable any man to answer all the rest And the Answer to this is short and plain That Infinite and Perfect Goodness will do all the good which can be wisely done but not all the good which men may expect from Infinite Goodness for the external exercise of Goodness must not bear proportion to the Infinite Fulness of the Divine Nature but to the State Condition and Capacities of Creatures and therefore we must not measure the Goodness of Providence merely by External Events which may sometimes be very calamitous but by that proportion such Events bear to the State and Deserts of Mankind or of particular men in this world The best man in the world does not think himself bound to do all the good he can to every one he meets he will make a difference between a Child and a Servant between a Friend and an Enemy between a Good and a Bad man and much more must a Good Prince and a Good Magistrate do so and much more must God who is the Supream and Soveraign Lord of the world We shall better understand this if we view Man in his several States and observe how the Divine Goodness suits it self to those different States The Divine Goodness made the World and made Man and hence we may take our estimate what the Goodness of God is and what it can and will do when Goodness freely exerts it self without any external impediment to set bounds to it And if we believe the History of the Creation the Divine Goodness displayed it self in a most beautiful and glorious Scene the New-made World and the new-created Man were as perfect and happy as the perfect Ideas of their Natures in the Divine Mind This was the World which God made such a happy world as it became Perfect Goodness to make and hence we learn what the Goodness of God is and what it would always do for when the Divine Goodness made the World he made it what he would have it be But Man did not continue what God had made him He sinned and by Sin brought Death and Misery into the world And therefore though we do not now see such a happy state of things we must not hence conclude that the world is not governed by Perfect Goodness but that a perfect state of Ease and Happiness in this world does neither become the Providence of God nor is good for Sinners and we have reason to conclude this not only because God made Innocent man happy but because he has prepared a much greater Happiness for Good men in the next world Which shews that the change is not in God but in Men He made man happy at first and he will make Good men perfectly happy hereafter but though he be always the same as good now as he was when he at first made the world and as he will be when he shall reward all Good men in the Resurrection of the Just yet the degenerate state of Mankind requires such a mixture of Good and Evil as we now see and feel and complain of in this world For it is a very different case to see Goodness acting alone and pursuing its own gracious Inclinations and to see it limited and confined by Justice which must be the case when Mankind are Sinners For then Goodness cannot do what is absolutely best but what is best in such Cases and when Goodness and Justice are reconcilable as they are in a probation State there Wisdom must prescribe the temperament Justice requires the punishment of Sinners but Goodness is inclined to spare and Wisdom judges when and in what manner it is fit to punish or to spare An Incurable Sinner is the Object of strict and rigorous Justice a Corrigible Sinner is the Object both of Justice and Goodness his Sin deserves correction and punishment but that he is corrigible makes him the Object of Patience and Discipline And this we must suppose to be the difference between the Case of Apostate Angels and of Fallen Man and therefore Justice immediately seized on those Apostate Spirits but God in infinite goodness promised a Saviour to Mankind This makes the present state of Mankind in this world to be a state of Trial and Discipline to reclaim and
End explains them and then we admire the Skill and Art of the Poet. Now the great Obscurities and Difficulties of Providence are in such intermediate Events before we know what God intends by them As to give an Instance or two of it Had we heard no more of Ioseph but that he was sold by his Brethren into Egypt and there falsly accused by a Wanton Mistress and cast into Prison we should have thought that God had dealt very hardly with him but when we understand that all this was the way to Pharaoh's Throne there is no man but would be contented to be a Ioseph Thus the Story of Iob's Afflictions strikes Terror and Astonishment into all that hear them Iob himself knew not what account to give of his Sufferings and his Friends gave a very bad one by falsly and uncharitably accusing Iob of some unknown Wickedness to vindicate God's Severity towards him and we should have been as much puzzl'd with it to this day had we not been acquainted with the Reason of Iob's Sufferings and with that long and great Prosperity wherewith God rewarded his Faith and Patience and now no man thinks the Sufferings of Iob any Difficulty in Providence much less any Objection against it Thus it is with reference to single men when we see only a Scene or two of their lives we may meet with such prosperous or adverse Events as we cannot account for but could we see from the beginning to the end in most cases the Divine Providence would justify it self But then the hidden and Mysterious Designs of Providence relating to Churches and Kingdoms which comprehend so many great and wonderful Revolutions the Translations of Empires the removing the Gospel from one Countrey and planting Churches in others where there were none before the Increase and Flourishing State of Religion in one Age and its great Declension and almost total Eclypse in another those surprizing Changes which may be observed in the Genius Tempers and Inclinations of Princes and People in several Ages the unaccountable Beginnings of War and the as unaccountable Successes and unaccountable End of it the long Prosperity of Persecuting Tyrants and their sudden Fall These and such like Events must needs be very obscure and unknown to us who know not what God aims at in all this nor what Designs he is carrying on The Designs of Providence many times reach from one Age to another nay do not come to perfection in many Ages and yet have all a mutual dependance and relation to each other and are subservient to some last great End The Prophesies of Daniel and the Revelations of St. Iohn as Mysterious Books as they are and as difficult as it is to apply the several parts of them to their particular Events yet thus much is plain in them That there is a long Series and Chain of Events which reach from Age to Age with Infinite Turnings and Variety of Wisdom directed by a steady and unerring Counsel to some Unknown but Glorious Conclusion And when the Divine Counsels are so deep and mysterious and so far out of our sight when we see so little a part of what God does and know not what end God aims at in it how impossible is it that we should understand the reason of particular Events Had we a certain and particular History of what God has already done and could we certainly understand the Prophesies of what is still to be done in every Age and in all succeeding Ages that we could have one View of Providence from the Beginning to the End we should be more competent Judges of the Wisdom Beauty and Justice of Providence but when our Accounts of what is past are so imperfect and uncertain and our Knowledge of what is to come much more imperfect than of what is past when we know so little of our own Age of our own Countrey of our own Neighbourhood it is as impossible to understand the Reasons of Providence as it is to understand the wise Contrivance and Design of a Comedy by reading one Act or it may be but one Scene of that Act. This is certain that we can never understand the Reasons of Providence without understanding the Counsels of God and for what end every thing is designed for every thing is well or ill contrived as it serves the end for which it is intended and therefore we may as reasonably pretend to understand all the secret Counsels of God as all the Reasons of Providence This very Reason St. Paul gives why the Providence of God is so unsearchable 11. Rom. 33 34. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out For who hath known the mind of the Lord or who hath been his Counsellor 3dly We are very ignorant also of the state of the other world and while we are so it is impossible we should be able thoroughly to comprehend the Reason of God's Providence in this world It is a vain thing to talk of Providence without taking the other world into the account Were there no other life after this it were not worth the while to dispute Whether there be a Providence or not for whether there be or be not a Providence things are as they are and if Death put an end to us it is of no great consequence which is truest The only reason why some men so zealously dispute against a Providence is because they are unwilling to believe that there is a God or another world and the reason why we so zealously contend for a Providence is to support our selves against all cross Events with the Care and Protection of a Wise and Good God at present and with the Hopes of a more Blessed and Happy Life hereafter So that in truth this Dispute is not so much intended against Providence as against the Being of God and another Life and therefore both these must be taken into the account when they make their Objections against Providence or all their Arguments signify nothing As for Instance It is not enough for them to say and to prove too That there are such Difficulties in Providence for the Difficulties of Providence are their great Objection as no man can give a reasonable account of but that there are such Difficulties as Infinite Wisdom it self cannot account for for tho there may be many Difficulties which we cannot particularly answer as all wise men acknowledge that there are yet unless they can positively prove That Infinite Wisdom it self cannot answer these Difficulties the world may still be governed by an Infinitely Wise Being and it is demonstrable that they can never prove this for nothing less than Infinite Wisdom can tell what Infinite Wisdom knows and what Difficulties it can answer Which shews how vain all these Arguments against Providence are which at last resolve themselves into the Ignorance of Human Understandings That there is no Providence because
Power in transferring Estates and Properties and all men would allow it to be very just and righteous Now this is the Case with respect to God as I observed before for he is the sole Lord and Proprietor of the world and therefore no other bounds can be set to the just exercise of his Authority but to do what is wise and good He may give or take away any man's Estate or Honour or Power whenever he can serve any wise or just or good ends by it for they are all but several Trusts we are but God's Stewards and must give an Account of our Stewardship and if we do not use our Riches and Honours well or when he has no longer any use of us he has as Absolute Authority to lay us aside as a Lord has to change his Steward when he pleases Thus God is the Absolute Lord of all men we are all his Creatures and are in his hands as Clay in the hands of a Potter and therefore he may deal with us as he pleases and may serve the ends of his own Glory and Providence of us as far as his own Wisdom and Goodness will direct Thus for instance we think it very unjust in Human Governments to punish a vertuous and innocent man to strip him of his Estate or Honours to afflict his body to expose him to publick scorn and confine him to a noisom Prison and at last to take away his life with exquisite Pains and Torments But the Sovereign Authority of God extends to all this when he can serve his own Glory and the wise ends of his Grace and Providence by it without doing any real injury to his Creatures The Wisdom of God requires that there should be very great and excellent Reasons for doing this and the Goodness of God requires that such good men should be greatly supported under their sufferings and greatly rewarded for them but then the Sovereignty of God gives him Authority to use the Services of his Creatures in doing or suffering his Will This was the Case of Iob whom God exercised with great sufferings to make him an eminent Example of Faith and Patience but we know what was the end of Iob and how greatly God rewarded his Sufferings tho Iob himself while he was under these sufferings knew not what other account to give of them but to resolve all into the Sovereign Will and Pleasure of God The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away and blessed be the name of the Lord. And Shall we receive good at the hands of God and shall we not receive evil Which indeed is Answer enough to all such Cases while we have an implicate Faith in the Wisdom and Goodness of Providence Thus God dealt with Ioseph made him the Instrument of transplanting his Father and all his Family into Egypt and rewarded his sufferings by advancing him to Pharaoh's Throne Nay thus God dealt with Christ himself who as man was Perfect and Innocent who did no evil neither was any guile found in his mouth who went about doing good and was obedient to his Father's Will in all things and yet him God delivered into the hands of sinners to suffer an ignominious and painful Death for the Redemption of the world And the Sovereignty of God will justify the greatest Sufferings of the most innocent men when they serve such admirable Ends and are so greatly rewarded And thus God has dealt with some of the best men that ever lived in the world Witness the Sufferings of Prophets and of other good men under the Old Testament and of the Apostles and Martyrs of Christ who have trod in the steps of their Lord who have suffered with him that they might be glorified together I know not what the Sovereignty of God signifies if he may not serve the wise ends of his Grace and Providence even by the Sufferings of his Creatures when such Sufferings how uneasy and grievous soever they are at present shall turn to their much greater good when they shall be so greatly rewarded that good men themselves shall think the reward an abundant recompence for their sufferings and glory in those very sufferings which will have so great a reward Thus let us consider God as the Supreme and Absolute Judge of the World Now a Sovereign and Absolute Judge must do that which is just but he is tied up by no Rules or Formalities of Law as Inferior Ministers of Justice are if he reward the good and punish the wicked he may do it at what time and in what manner he pleases He is under no rule but his own Sovereign Will and Wisdom When men have deserved Punishment he may spare them as long or execute Vengeance on them as soon as he sees fit for he is the Absolute Judge of time and place and other circumstances of executing Judgment This Prerogative all Sovereign Princes challenge and it is indeed an inseparable Right of Sovereignty So that it is no reasonable Objection against the Justice of Providence That God does not immediately reward all great and vertuous actions nor immediately punish wickedness for a Sovereign Justice is under no obligation to do this All that we can expect from the Divine Justice is That good men shall be rewarded and the wicked punished and that whenever God does reward or punish good men shall have no reason to complain that their reward was delayed nor bad men to glory in the long delays of punishment but the greatness of the Rewards or Punishments shall recompence for all delays for then God is just in rewarding good men and punishing the wicked how long soever he delay either Sovereign Justice is not confined to time and when the Sufferings of good men who deserve a Reward and the Prosperity of bad men who deserve Punishment and the delays of both are taken into the account God is very Just and Righteous how long soever he delay to reward or punish From what I have now discoursed concerning the Sovereignty of the Divine Justice you may easily observe That all the Objections against the Justice of Providence have no other Foundation but our Ignorance of the Nature of God's Justice we measure the Justice of Providence by the Rules of Justice among men without considering that God is the Sovereign Lord of the world and therefore has a Right and Authority superior to men and therefore a superior Justice too It is unjust for men to deprive one another of their Just and Legal Lights and therefore they think this a Reflection on the Justice of Providence too when men suffer wrongfully but no man has any Right against God who is the sole Proprietor of the world and therefore he may give and he may take away he may set up and pull down and do whatsoever pleaseth him both in Heaven and in Earth It is unjust for men to afflict and oppress the innocent and vertuous or to encourage and prosper the wicked and therefore they
Justice of Providence and to agree very exactly with the actual Administration of Providence For it is manifest that all good men are not rewarded nor all wicked men punished in this world that a Righteous Cause is sometimes oppressed and that Oppression and Injustice is very often prosperous which must needs appear a great Difficulty to those who make no difference between the Justice of God and Men who think that the Justice of Providence is as much concerned to defend all mens Rights and Properties as the Justice of a Prince is This makes them quarrel against Providence when they are hardly and unjustly used by men and so blinds their minds that they see not the true Reasons why God afflicts them and neither reverence his Judgments nor make a wise use of them The Reasons of this seem very plain the only Question is How it agrees with that account which the Scripture gives us of God's Justice and Righteousness For the Righteousness of God is represented in Scripture by loving Righteousness and favouring a Righteous Cause Thus 11. Psalm 7. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness and his countenance doth behold the upright And the Psalmist very often encourages himself to expect the Divine Favour and Protection from his own Innocence and Integrity and the Righteousness of his Cause 35. Psal. 19. Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause Stir up thy self and awake to my judgment even to my cause my God and my Lord. Iudge me O God according to thy righteousness and let them not rejoice over me Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at my hurt Let them be cloathed with shame and dishonour that magnify themselves against me Let them shout for joy and be glad that favour my righteous cause yea let them say continually Let the Lord be magnified which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant 23 24 26 27. v. The Lord shall judge the people Iudge me O Lord according to my righteousness and according to mine integrity that is in me Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end but establish the just for the righteous Lord trieth the heart and reins God judgeth the righteous and God is angry with the wicked every day If he turn not he will whet his sword he hath bent his bow and made it ready And concludes I will praise the Lord according to his righteousness and will sing praises to the name of the Lord most high 7. Psal. 8 c. Where the Righteousness of the Lord for which the Psalmist praises him is his Judging and Defending a Righteous Cause Thus in 9. Psalm 8 9 10. He shall judge the world in righteousness he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness The Lord also will be a refuge to the oppressed a refuge in time of trouble And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee for thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek thee It were easy to multiply Texts to this purpose where God is expresly declared to be an irreconcilable Enemy to all Injustice and Violence the Protector of the Widow the Fatherless and Oppressed and of all just and righteons men But those conclude a great deal too much who would prove from such Texts as these That no Righteous Man nor Righteous Cause shall ever be oppressed That good men shall always be prosperous and the wicked always miserable for it is evident that this was not the state of the world when these Psalms were penned and therefore this could not possibly be the meaning of them How many Complaints does the Psalmist make against his Enemies those who were wrongfully his Enemies 69. Psalm 4. That his Enemies were lively and strong and they that hated him wrongfully were multiplied 38. Psalm 19. How passionately does he pray for Protection against his Enemies How long wilt thou forget me O Lord for ever how long wilt thou hide thy face from me how long shall I take counsel in my soul having sorrow in my heart daily how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me 13. Psalm 1 2. The 37th Psalm is a plain proof that wicked men were very prosperous in those days tho they are threatned with final destruction And to the same purpose the 73d Psalm gives us a large description of the Prosperity and Pride of bad men many of whom spend their lives and end their days prosperously I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked For there are no bands in their death but their strength is firm They are not in trouble as other men neither are they plagued as other men Behold these are the ungodly who prosper in the world they encrease in riches The Prosperity of bad men and the Miseries and Afflictions of the good were in those days a great Difficulty in Providence and were so to the Psalmist himself and therefore it is certain that whatever he says of the Righteousness of God and his care of Righteous men and his abhorrence of all Wickedness and Injustice cannot signify That God will always defend men in their just Rights that he will always prosper a Righteous Cause and Righteous Men for this was against plain matter of fact and we cannot suppose the Psalmist so inconsistent with himself as in the same breath to compalin that wicked men were prosperous and good men afflicted and to affirm That the Just and Righteous Judge of the World would always punish Unjust Oppressors and protect the Innocent Nay indeed the very nature of the thing proves the contrary for there can be no Unjust Oppressors if no body can be oppressed in their just Rights and therefore it is certain the Divine Providence does at least for a time suffer some men to be very prosperous in their Oppressions and does not always defend a just and innocent Cause for if he did there could be no innocent oppressed man to be relieved nor any Oppressor to be punished And if it be consistent with the Justice and Righteousness of Providence to permit such things for some time we must conclude that it is at the discretion of Providence how long good men shall be oppressed and the Oppressor go unpunished The plain account then of this matter as it is represented in Scripture is this 1. That as God is infinitely Just and Righteous himself so he loves Justice and Righteousness among men he loves Righteousness and Righteous Men and hates all Injustice Violence and Injuries for the Righteous Lord must love Righteousness and hate Iniquity and therefore though the Divine Justice is Superior to all Human Rights and his Authority Absolute and Sovereign to dispose of all his Creatures and of all they have as his own Wisdom directs yet men cannot invade each other's Rights without Injustice and when Rights and Properties are setled by Human Laws it is
the Rule of Righteousness to us to give to every man that which is his own and it is the Justice of Government to punish those who invade another's Rights and this is that Justice which the Righteous Lord loves in men and the violation of which he hates So that the Justice of the Divine Nature makes God love Righteousness and Justice and hate all Injustice and Oppression and the Justice of Providence requires that God should punish Injustice and Violence and protect the Just and Innocent as far as the nature and ends of God's Government of the World requires and this the Scripture everywhere declares that God will do That he is angry with the wicked every day That he is a refuge and sanctuary and strong tower and rock of defence to Just and Righteous men Not that every particular bad man who does unjust things shall be immediately punished for his Unjustice nor that every man who has a just and righteous Cause shall be protected from the violence and injustice of the Wicked for the Experience of all the World proves that this never was done and therefore this cannot be the meaning of the Promises and Threatnings of Scripture But there is enough meant by it to vindicate the Justice of Providence in this World to be a support to good men and a terror to the wicked 1. For first it signifies That in the ordinary course of Providence where there is nothing but the justice or injustice of the Cause to be considered God will favour a just and righteous Cause There may be other wise Reasons why God may suffer a just Cause to be oppressed and Injustice to be prosperous and we ought to believe that there are always wise Reasons for it when God does suffer this because we certainly know that God is no favourer of Injustice but he who has a just Cause may for other Reasons deserve to be punished and then God may justly punish him by unjust Oppressors and thus Injustice may be prosperous and Justice oppressed but where the other sins and demerits of the man do not forfeit God's protection of a just Cause the Divine Providence will make a visible distinction between just and unjust 2dly And therefore no man can promise himself the Divine Protection but only when his Cause is just and right Which is the reason why the Psalmist as you have already heard so often pleads his own innocence and integrity and the righteousness of his Cause to move God to save and defend him For God has promised his protection upon no other terms and whenever Injustice prospers it is not in favour to the unjust man or his unjust Cause but in punishment to others whom God thinks fit to correct and chastise by such injustice Tho wickedness may prosper for a while there is no way to obtain the Divine Favour and Protection but by doing good for a Righteous God can have no favour for an unjust Cause and therefore if we believe that God governs the World we must expect his protection only in the ways of Righteousness and this will give us a secure hope and dependance on God That we shall not be ashamed while we have respect unto all his commandments 3dly And for the same Reason though Injustice may prosper for a time no unjust man can be secure from a Divine Vengeance God does not always punish bad men as soon as they deserve it but sometimes he does and he is always angry with them and therefore they are always in danger God is angry with the wicked every day if he turn not he will whet his sword he hath bent his bow and made it ready he hath also prepared for him the instruments of death he hath ordain'd his arrows against the persecutors 7. Psalm 11 12 13. 4thly And therefore though every particular good man be not rewarded nor every bad man punish'd in this World yet the Divine Providence furnishes us with numerous Examples of Justice both in the protection and defence of good men and in the punishment of the wicked This is so notoriously known that no man can deny it That besides the ordinary Miseries and Calamities of Sinners which are the natural and necessary effects and rewards of their Sins and make them the scorn and the pity of Mankind God does very often execute very remarkable Judgments upon remarkable Sinners which bear the evident Tokens and Characters of a Divine Vengeance on them and does appear as wonderfully for the preservation of just and good men in a Righteous Cause Both Sacred and Prophane Story and our own observation may furnish us with many Examples of both kinds which are sufficient to vindicate the Justice of Providence and the truth of those Promises and Threatnings which are made in Scripture 2dly The better to understand that Account the Scripture gives us of the Justice of Providence I observe That the protection and defence of Providence is never promised in Scripture merely to a just and righteous Cause but only to just and righteous and good men This is not commonly observed and yet as soon as it is named it is so evident that it needs no proof and the consequence of it is very considerable We cannot indeed separate a just and righteous Man from a righteous Cause for as far as he is engaged in an unjust Cause he is an unjust Man but if the Divine Protection be promised to the righteous Man not to the righteous Cause then a righteous Cause may be oppressed when the man has no right to God's Protection without any impeachment either of the Righteousness or Justice of God Which shews the difference as I observed before between the Justice of Providence and the Justice of Human Governments The Justice of Human Governments considers mens Rights the Justice of Providence considers their moral Deserts Human Justice defends bad men in their just Rights the Divine Justice which is supreme and absolute has no regard to Human Rights when the men deserve to be punished For God challenges to himself such an absolute right and propriety in all things as to give or take them away when he pleases And therefore he threatens Israel by the Prophet Hosea that since they had served Baal with the Corn and Wine and Oyl and Silver and Gold which he gave them Therefore will I return and take away my corn in the time thereof and my wine in the season thereof and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness 2. Hos. 8 9. The 26. Levit. contains the Promises and Threatnings to Israel and the Condition of both is their keeping or transgressing his Laws and Statutes and Commandments if they observed his Laws he would bestow all good things on them if they transgressed his Laws he would take them all away without any regard to their Rights or Properties Among other Judgments he threatens them to deliver them into the hands of their Enemies who should oppress
than to command every thing that is Holy and to forbid all kinds and degrees of Wickedness and to encourage the practice of Vertue and to discourage all Wicked practices as much as the Wisdom of Government and the freedom of human Actions will allow That God does all this wherein the Holiness of Government consists I know no man that denies As wicked as Mankind is it is not for want of holy and just and good Laws The law of the Lord is an undefiled law converting the soul the testimony of the Lord is sure and giveth wisdom unto the simple the statutes of the Lord are right and rejoyce the heart the commandment of the Lord is pure and giveth light unto the eyes The fear of the Lord is clean and endureth for ever the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether 19. Psal. 7 8 9. The great complaint is That the Laws of God are too Holy for the Corrupt state of this World and most men think to excuse their Wickedness by the degeneracy of human Nature and the too great Purity and Perfection of the Divine Laws which they have no Ability to perform Now the Holiness of God's Laws are an undeniable Argument of the Holiness of his Providence and Government whether we consider these Laws as a copy of his Nature or a declaration of his Will much more if we consider them both as his Nature and his Will as all Moral Laws which have an eternal and necessary Goodness in them are for the Divine Nature and Will must be the rule and measure of his Providence and Government unless he Govern the World contrary to his own Nature and Will Nay Laws themselves are not only the Rule of Obdience to Subjects but of Government to the Prince and it is universally acknowledged to be as great a miscarriage in a Prince not to Govern by his own Laws as it is in Subjects not to obey them Princes may be guilty of such miscarriages but God can't and therefore the Laws he gives to us are the Rules of his own Providence and then the Holiness of his Laws prove that his Government and Providence must be very Holy And indeed we have very visible and sensible proofs of this in that care he takes to encourage the Practice of Vertue and to discourage Wickedness This he has done by those great Promises which he has made to the Observation of his Laws and by those terrible Threatnings which he has denounc'd against the breach of them both in this World and in the World to come But this is not what I mean for men can despise both Promises and Threatnings if they do not see the Execution of them and the Promises and Threatnings of the other World which are much the most considerable are out of sight and do not so much affect Bad men and that which is most proper for us to consider here is how the external Administrations of Providence encourage Vertue and discourage Wickedness and Vice Now those who believe that all the Miseries that are in the World are the effects or rewards of Sin as all men must do who believe the Scripture nay as all men must do who believe that a Just and Good God governs the World must confess that the Divine Providence has done abundantly enough to discourage Wickedness For it is visible enough how many Miserie 's there are in the World So many and so great as are commonly thought a reproach to Providence but if they be the just recompence of Sin they are only an Argument of the Justice and Holiness of Providence If we believe the Scripture Mortality and Death and consequently all those Infirmities and Decays of Nature all those Pains and Sicknesses and Diseases which are not the effect of our own Sins or which we do not inherit from our more immediate Parents as an entail of their Sins are owing to the Sin of Adam which brought Death upon himself and all his Posterity and such a curse upon the earth as has entail'd Labour and Sorrow on us As for many other Miseries and Calamities of life they are visibly owing to our own or to other mens Sins Such as Want and Poverty Infamy and Reproach Seditions and Tumults violent Changes and Revolutions of Government and all the Miseries and Desolations of War Take a survey in your thoughts of all the several sorts of Miseries which are in the World and tell me what place they could find here by what possible means they could enter into the World were Sin banished out of it What Miseries could disturb Human life were all men Just and Honest and Charitable did they love one another as themselves Perfect Vertue is not only an innocent and harmless but a very beneficial thing it does no hurt but all the good it can both to it self and others and when there is nothing to hurt us neither within nor without we can suffer no hurt And is not this a sufficient proof of the Holiness of Providence that God has so ordered the nature of things and the circumstances of our life in this World that if men will be Wicked they shall be Miserable Can any thing in this World more discourage men from Sin or make them more zealous to reform themselves and the rest of Mankind than so many daily and sensible proofs that there is no expectation of a secure state of rest and happiness while either they themselves or other men with whom they must of necessity converse or have something to do are Wicked For you must remember that I am not now a vindicating the Justice but the Holiness of Providence and therefore it is no Objection against what I have now said That many times vertuous and innocent men suffer very greatly by the Violence and Injustice of the wicked Tho this may be an Objection against the Justice of Providence which I have already accounted for yet it is no Objection against the Holiness of Providence but a great justification of it for the more effectual care God has taken to give all mankind an abhorrence of all Wickedness both in themselves and others the more undeniable proof it is of the Holiness of God's Government and this is more effectually done by the evils which we suffer from other mens wickedness than from our own Men who are very favourable to their own Vices when they feel the Pleasures and Advantages of them learn to hate to condemn to punish them by feeling what they suffer from other mens sins When they lose their own Estates by Injustice and Violence or their Good Names by Reproaches and Defamations or are injur'd in the Chastity of their Wives and Daughters by other mens Lusts this gives them a truer sense of the evil of Injustice Defamation and Lust and makes them condemn these Vices in themselves how well soever they love them This is the foundation of Human Government which keeps Mankind in order and lays great Restraints upon
imperfect can with such great probability almost to the degree of certainty foresee many Events which depend also upon free and contingent Causes And if we will allow that God's Praescience is owing to the perfection of his Knowledge then it is certain that it neither makes nor proves any fatal necessity of Events If we say indeed as some men do that God foreknows all things because he has absolutely decreed whatever shall come to pass this I grant does infer a fatal necessity and yet in this case it is not God's Fore-knowledge but his Decree which creates the necessity All things upon this Supposition are necessary not because God foreknows them but because by his unalterable Decrees he has made them necessary he foreknows because they are necessary but does not make them necessary by foreknowing them but if this were the truth of the case God's Praescience considered only as fore-knowing would be no greater perfection of knowledge than men have who can certainly fore-know what they certainly intend to do and it seems God can do no more But thus much we learn from these mens Confession That Foreknowledge in its own nature lays no necessity upon Human Actions that if God can fore-know what he has not absolutely and peremptorily decreed how certain soever such Events may be his Fore-knowledge does not make them necessary And therefore we cannot prove the necessity of all Events from God's Fore-knowledge till we have first proved that God can foreknow nothing but what is necessary That is in truth That there is no such Perfection as Praescience belonging to the Divine Nature for to foreknow things in a Decree or only in necessary Causes is no more that perfection of Knowledge which we call Praescience than it is Praescience in us to know what we intend to do to morrow or that the Sun will rise to morrow But that God's Fore-knowledge is not owing to a necessity of the Event and therefore cannot prove any such necessity is evident from hence That the Scripture which attributes this Fore-knowledge to God does also assert the liberty of Human Actions charges mens Sins and final Ruin on themselves sets before them Life and Death Blessing and Cursing as I observed before Now how difficult soever it may be to reconcile Praescience and Liberty it is certain that Necessity and Liberty can never be reconciled and therefore if men act freely they do not act necessarily and if God does foreknow what men will do and yet men act freely then it is certain that God foreknows what men will freely do That is That Foreknowledge is not owing to the necessity but to the perfection of Knowledge And this is enough to satisfy all Christians who cannot reason nicely about these matters that this Argument from Praescience to prove the necessity of Human Actions and consequently to charge mens Sins upon God must be fallacious and deceitful because the Scripture teaches the Fore-knowledge of God and yet charges the guilt of mens Sins upon themselves And if we believe the Scripture we must believe both these and then we must confess that Praescience does not destroy Liberty 2dly Another Objection against the Holiness of Providence is this That God does not only foreknow but decrees such Events as are brought to pass by the Sins of men and therefore at least in such Cases he must decree mens Sins too We have a famous Example of this in the Crucifixion of our Saviour Never was there a more wicked Action committed and yet St. Peter tells the Iews that this was the effect of God's Counsel and Decrees Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain 2. Acts 23. But if we consider the words carefully this very Text will answer the Objection For what does St. Peter say was done by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God Did they take him and by wicked hands crucify and slay him by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God This is not said but he was delivered that is put into their power by the determinate counsel and fore-knowledge of God and then they took him and with wicked hands slew him And then we must observe that here are two distinct Acts of God relating to this Event The determinate counsel and the fore-knowledge of God The Will or Counsel of God which he had fore-ordain'd and praedetermined the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was that Christ should die an Expiatory Sacrifice for the Sins of the world which was a work of such stupendious Wisdom Goodness Holiness and Justice that nothing could more become God than such Counsels and Decrees But then by his Infinite Praescience and Foreknowledge he saw by what means this would be done if he thought fit to permit it viz. by the Treachery of Iudas by the Malice of the Scribes and Pharisees and by the Compliance of the Roman Powers and this he determined to permit and to deliver him up into their hands the certain effect of which would be that they would take him and with wicked hands crucify him and slay him So that though God did decree that Christ should die yet he did not decree that Judas should betray him or that the Scribes and Pharises and Pontius Pilate should condemn and crucify him but this he foresaw and this he decreed to permit and to accomplish his own Wise Counsels for the Salvation of mankind by such Wicked Instruments and there is nothing in all this unworthy of God or unbecoming the Holiness of his Providence And thus it is with reference to all other Events which are decreed by God He never decrees any thing but what is holy and good and though he many times accomplishes his Wise Decrees by the Wickedness and Sins of men yet he never decrees their Sins but by his foresight and wonderful Wisdom so disposes and orders things as to make their Sins which they freely and resolvedly commit and which nothing but an irresistible Power could hinder them from committing serve the Wise and Gracious ends of his Providence This is Wisdom too wonderful for us but thus we know it may be and thus the Scripture assure us it is 3dly Another pretence for charging God with the Sins of men is from some obscure expressions of Scripture which when expounded to a strict literal sense as some men expound them seem to attribute to God some kind of Causality and Efficiency in the Sins of men But unless we will make the Scripture contradict it self it is certain that those few Texts which seem to make God the Author of Sin are misunderstood Because not only some few particular Texts but all the natural Notions we have of God the very nature and design of Religion and three parts of the Bible either directly or by necessary consequence prove the contrary And supposing then that we could give no tolerable account of such Texts is it not more reasonable
good of Nature and therefore whatever is the Happiness or any part of the Happiness of Man is the good of Nature the good of the End is that which is good to make men happy and the more effectual it is to promote our Happiness the greater Good it is tho it may be a great Natural Evil and whatever will hinder or destroy our Happiness is a great Evil though it may be a great Natural Good In all such Cases things are good or evil with respect to their End or to their Natural or Moral Consequences When we are in health that is good Food which is pleasant and wholsome and will preserve health but the same Diet may be very hurtful and fatal when we are sick Indulgence or Severity to Children is either good or evil in proportion to their Tempers and Inclinations as it is apt either to corrupt their Manners or to train them up to Piety and Vertue And therefore when we speak of Discipline and Government which is the true notion of God's Providence in this World we must not consider so much what is naturally good and evil as what the state of those is who are the Subjects of Discipline and what is good for them in such a State for how many Natural Evils soever there are in the World the Evils of Afflictions and Judgments of Plague and Famine and Sword if such Severities be good for Mankind it is as great an argument of the Goodness of Providence to inflict them as it is for a Parent or a Prince to reclaim and reform his Children or his Subjects by great Severities And an easy and prosperous State when the Wickedness of Mankind require severe Restraints is no more an Act of Kindness and Goodness than the fond Indulgence of Parents is to disobedient Children So that this takes away the very foundation of this Objection against the Goodness of Providence The principal Objection is That there are a great many Evils and Miseries in the World we grant it but then we say That God is very good in it and that these Natural Evils tho they are grievous are not Evils to us because they are and are intended for our good We can neither prove nor disprove the Goodness of Providence merely by external Events especially with respect to particular men For Prosperity is not always good for us nor is Affliction always for our hurt God may make some men prosperous in his Anger and chastise others in great love and goodness and this I take to be the meaning of the Wise-man 9. Eccl. 1 2. No man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them For all things come alike to all there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked to the good and to the clean and to the unclean to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not as is the good so is the sinner and he that sweareth as he that feareth an oath Which does not signify that the Divine Providence makes no difference between Good and Bad men for God does love Good men and hate the Wicked and his Providence makes a great difference between them though this difference is not always visible in external Events For when the same Event happens to both whether it be a Natural Good or Evil it may be an Act of Favour to Good men and of Judgment to the Wicked For external Prosperity and Adversity in a State of Discipline may either be good or evil and may be good for one when at the same time it is evil to another and therefore the Providence of God may make a difference when the external Event makes none The Wise-man confesses This is an evil among all things that are done under the Sun that there is one event unto all Bad men who look no farther than external Events make a very bad use of it and conclude that God makes no difference when they see none made And thus the heart of the sons of men is full of evil and madness is in their heart while they live and after that they go to the dead 3. v. But those who consider wisely see no reason from external Events from such a promiscuous distribution of good and evil either to deny a Providence or the Goodness and Justice of Providence since good and evil in this State are not in the things themselves but in the End for which they are intended and which they serve It is of great consequence rightly to understand this matter to give us a firm persuasion of the Goodness of God even when he corrects and punishes and to cure our discontent at the Prosperity of the Wicked and therefore I shall briefly represent to you the State of Mankind in this World and what is good in such a State Man has sinned and Man must die but God has in infinite goodness to Mankind sent his own Son into the World to save Sinners who by death hath destroyed him who had the power of Death that is the Devil and hath brought Life and Immortality to light by the Gospel This removes the Scene of Happiness from this World to the next and makes this present Life only a State of Probation for Eternity If we obey the Laws of our Saviour and imitate his Example he has promised to raise us again when our dead Bodies are putrified in the Grave into Immortal Life but has threatned all the Miseries of an Eternal Death against Incorrigible Sinners so that the greatest good that God or Man can do for us in this World is by all the wise methods of Discipline and Government to prepare us for the Happiness of the next and to preserve us from those Eternal Miseries which will be the portion of Sinners Tho there are thousands of foolish Sinners who never consider this yet all Mankind agree that that is best for us in this World which will make us eternally happy in the next and that is a very great Evil which will betray us to Eternal Miseries There are a great many Infidels who believe neither a Heaven nor a Hell but yet these very Infidels are not so void of common Sense as to deny supposing there were a Heaven and a Hell that to be the best Condition for us in this World whatever it be upon other accounts which will carry us to Heaven and keep us out of Hell Now if this be the Case there cannot be so great Evils in this World but what may be good for us and therefore may be an expression of God's Goodness to us For if Pain and Sickness Poverty and Disgrace wean us from this World subdue our Lusts make us Good men and qualify us for Eternal Rewards though they are great Afflictions yet they are very good as the way though a rough and difficult way to Happiness That prosperity does oftentimes corrupt mens Lives and Manners make them proud and sensual regardless of God and of Religion and so fond of
this is enough in answer to an Objection which no considering man would seriously make The more considerable Objection relates to the many Evils and Miseries that are in the World and the only Objection which if it were true could have any weight in it is That the Miseries of this Life are so many so great and so universal that they overballance the Pleasures and Comforts of it that a wise man would rather chuse not to be than to live in this World And though the generality of Mankind are of another mind and therefore need no answer to this yet they think they have the Scripture on their side For the Wise-man 4. Eccl. 2 3. tells us Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive Yea better is he than both they who hath not yet been who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun This at first view looks like a very sharp Satyr upon Human Life that it is better to die than to live and that not to live at all is better than either And were this universally true it were a vain thing to think of vindicating the Goodness of Providence in the government of this World which has nothing good or desirable in it That this is not the meaning of the words we may certainly conclude from those many Promises which are made to Good men in this Life and God would not promise Good men what is worth nothing But the Explication of this Text will contribute very much to the understanding this whole matter and therefore I shall 1. Shew you That this is not universally true nor intended to be so understood by the Wise-man That it is better to die or not to be than it is to live 2. Shew you in what sense the Wise-man meant this viz. with respect to the many Miseries and Calamities which some Ages of the World and which some men in all Ages are exposed to And how this also is to be understood 1. That this is not universally true That it is better to die or not to be born than it is to live This I confess was taught by some of the Ancient Philosophers and Poets in too general terms That the first best thing is not to be born and the next to die quickly but no body believed them for most men felt it otherwise That light is sweet and it is a pleasant thing for the eyes to behold the sun 11. Eccl. 7. There is a sense indeed wherein this may be true If we acknowledge that this Life in its greatest glory and perfection is the most imperfect state that a Reasonable Soul can live in as most certainly it is then those Philosophers who did believe that the Souls of men lived and acted before they were born into this World and were thrust into these Bodies in punishment for what they had done amiss in a former state had reason to say That the best thing is not to be born for upon this Supposition it is best for them to continue in that State of Happiness and not to come into this World and if when they die they return to their Original State of Happiness the next best thing for them is to die quickly and it is most probable that this was their secret meaning in it For if we only consider the Advantages and Disadvantages of Life in ordinary Cases Life is very desirable so desirable that it makes Death the King of Terrors It would be a great Reproach to the Wisdom and Goodness of Providence were this Life so contemptible or so calamitous a State that it were more desirable not to be than to live in this World but no man yet ever made Life an objection against Providence though we know they do the Miseries and Calamities of Life Men may make themselves miserable without any reproach to Providence and most of the Miseries that are in the World are owing to mens own fault or folly but had God made Life it self so contemptible or miserable a state as to be worse than not being this had been an unanswerable Objection I 'm sure we are very ungrateful to Almighty God if we do not acknowledge that bountiful provision which he has made for the Happiness of Mankind in this World For what is wanting on God's part to make Man as happy as he can be here We want no Sense which is useful to Life we want no Objects to gratify those Senses and which is very considerable the most useful and necessary and delightful Objects are most common and such as Mankind pretty equally share in There is not such a mighty difference as some men imagine between the Poor and the Rich In pomp and shew and opinion there is a great deal but little as to the true Pleasures and Satisfactions of Life They enjoy the same Earth and Air and Heavens hunger and thirst makes the Poor man's Meat and Drink as pleasant and refreshing as all the Varieties which cover a Rich man's Table and the Labour of a Poor man is more healthful and many times more pleasant too than the Ease and Softness of the Rich to be sure much more easy than the Cares and Solicitudes the Pride and Ambition Discontents and Envyings and Emulations which commonly attend an Exalted Fortune These indeed at best are but mean Pleasures the Pleasures of Sense which are the lowest Pleasures a Reasonable Soul is capable of but yet they are so entertaining that the generality of Mankind think it worth living to enjoy them nay most men know little of any other Pleasures but these and as philosophically as some may despise the Body and all it's Pleasures in words there are but a very few who can live above the Body and all its Pleasures while they live in it But how mean soever these Pleasures be it is certain they make Mankind notwithstanding all the common allays they meet with not only patient of living but desirous to live And yet there are more Noble and Divine Pleasures which men may enjoy in this World such as gratify the nobler Faculties of the Soul the Pleasures of Wisdom and Knowledg of Vertue and Religion to know and worship God to contemplate the Art and Beauty and Perfection of his Works and to do good to men These indeed are Pleasures that do not make us very fond of this Body nor of this World for they do not arise from the Body nor are they confined to this World We have reason to hope that when we get loose from these Bodies our Intellectual Faculties will be vastly improved that we shall know God after another manner than we now do and discover new and brighter Glories which are concealed from Mortal Eyes but yet the Pleasures of Knowledge and Wisdom and Religion in this World are very great and ravishing and therefore we either do or may enjoy at present such Pleasures as make Life very desirable Were there no other
though the Troubles and Calamities which we often meet with in this World do not prove Life to be a contemptible State or worse than not being yet they do prove Life to be a very Imperfect State that the mere Sensible Pleasures and Advantages of Life together with these great allays are but vanity and vexation of spirit Wise men see that there can be no compleat Happiness in this World and that it is vain to expect it for how can this World make us happy which though it has its Pleasures has its Troubles and Cares and Disappointments too is an insecure and mutable State exposed to Chance and Accident to the Lusts and Passions of men is always chequered with Prosperous and Adverse Events has always a mixture of Good and Evil and many times the Evil is the prevailing Ingredient And therefore though the natural love of Life and the many Sweets and Comforts of it reconcile very miserable people to living yet a wise man sees no reason to be fond of this State much less to dream of perfect and lasting Happiness in it 2dly The many Troubles we are exposed to plainly prove That there is no Happiness to be had in this World but in the practice of Vertue It was a vain brag of the Stoicks That Vertue alone could make a man happy that their Wise-man could be perfectly happy in Phalaris's Bull for Vertue is not Meat and Drink and Clothes can't cure Bodily Pain and Sickness nor satisfy the Appetites and Desires of the Body and while a Wise man lives in a mortal Body he must feel the wants and pains of it and to be in want and pain is not happiness But yet thus much is certainly true That nothing can make a man happy in this World without the practise of Vertue and that when we must encounter with the Troubles and Difficulties of Life nothing can give us any degree of Ease and Satisfaction but the practice of Vertue We may meet with such Troubles as will sowre all our other Enjoyments and make them unable to bear up our spirits which sink under their own weight under the disorders of their own Passions Are tormented with Fears with Disappointments with Envy with Rage and when they cannot bear themselves can bear nothing else nor relish their wonted Pleasures But you have already heard that Vertue has its proper Pleasures in the greatest Difficulties inspires us with prudent Counsels to disintangle our selves animates us with courage and bravery to resist the Evil or to bear it sweetens our Labours with the satisfaction of great and generous Actions for the Publick Good keeps our own Passions under government and triumphs over an adverse Fortune by raising the mind above it By such helps as these a Good man may enjoy some competent measure of Ease and Satisfaction in the worst Condition but when such Troubles surprise a mind unarmed and unfortified with Vertue unable to resist and unable to bear we may then with great truth and reason apply this Text to him I praised the dead who are already dead more than the living who are yet alive Were the state of this World always easy and prosperous there would be little need of Passive Vertues though Vertue in general is always necessary to make men happy but all men must be sensible how necessary Passive and Suffering Vertues are for an inconstant troublesome and suffering state which is always in some degree the state of this World and that will convince those who will consider it how necessary the practice of Vertue is to make men happy 3dly Though the Troubles of this Life are no reason why a Good man should hasten his escape out of this World before his time yet they are a very good reason to make him contented to leave this World whenever God calls him out of it For though Vertue will sweeten Labours and Difficulties yet no man would chuse always to live in a state of War Ease and rest is very pleasant and refreshing after labour Though a Prince be glorious in the Field covered with dust and sweat and sprinkled with the Bloud of his Enemies yet the Triumphs of a secure and quiet Throne are greater and more desirable And this makes the Grave too in some degree acceptable after the toils and labours of Vertue that there the weary are at rest especially since this Rest is not a state of insensibility for all the Labours and Difficulties of a Vertuous Life are infinitely to be preferred before the ease and rest of knowing and feeling and being sensible of nothing which is the rest of a Stone and of things without life not the rest of a Man But they rest from their labours and their works follow them they rest in a peaceful and secure enjoyment of Endless Happiness they rest from all the Labours of Vertue and enjoy its Rewards This is a sufficient justification of Providence with respect to the present Evils and Calamities of Life for it is what exactly becomes the Goodness of Providence in this World such a mixt State of Good and Evil as may wean us from the tempting Vanities of this Life and convince us that there is no perfect Happiness to be found here which is necessary to raise our hearts above this World and to set our Affections upon things above which is an Eternal State of perfect Ease and Rest And since Religion and Vertue is necessary to our Future Happiness nothing can be better for us than such a state of things as shall make Vertue necessary to our present Happiness and since we must leave this World and Death is the King of Terrors whatever reconciles us to Death and makes it easy may be reckoned one of the greatest pleasures and securities of Human Life Secondly In answer to this Objection against the Goodness of Providence from those many Evils and Calamities that are in the World we must consider That most of the Evils of Human Life are owing to mens own wickedness and folly and it is very unreasonable to make those Evils an Objection against Providence which men wilfully bring upon themselves Thus the Wise-man long since stated this Question The foolishness of man perverteth his ways and his heart fretteth against the Lord 19. Prov. 3. Men make themselves miserable and then reproach the Divine Providence with their Miseries And therefore I shall briefly shew you that Mankind undo themselves and that the Evils which men bring upon themselves are no reasonable Objection against the Goodness of Providence 1. The first is a very proper Subject for a Satyr against the Folly and Wickedness of Mankind but needs no proof If we take a survey of the many Miseries of Human Life and resolve them into their immediate and natural Causes we shall find that most men take great care to leave very little for God to do in the punishment of Wickedness in this World There are but two visible Causes of all the Miseries that
are in the World either the Disorders of Nature or the Wickedness of Men By the Disorders of Nature I mean unseasonable Weather Earthquakes excessive Heat or Cold great Droughts or immoderate Rains Thunders Lightnings Storms and Tempests which occasion Famines and Plagues great Sickness or a great Mortality these may very reasonably be attributed to the more immediate Hand of God who directs and governs Nature but besides that in such Cases the visible Corruption of Mankind justifies such Severities how rarely do these happen and how few suffer by them in comparison with those many and constant Evils which the wickedness of men every day bring upon themselves and others For most of the other Evils and Calamities of life are visibly owing to mens Sins Bodily Sickness sharp and painful Distempers which shorten mens lives or make them miserable are the common effects of Intemperance Luxury or Wantonness Children inherit the Diseases of their Parents and come into the World only to cry and die or to struggle some few years in the very Kingdom and Territories of Death and to languish under those mortal Wounds which they received with the first beginnings of life Another great evil is Poverty which many men bring upon themselves by Idleness or Prodigality and some expensive Vices It is not in every man's power by the greatest Prudence and Industry to make himself rich for time and chance happeneth to them all but in ordinary Cases Prudence and Industry joined with a religious regard for God and his Providence will preserve a man from the pressing Wants and Necessities of Poverty Others who do not make themselves poor by their own Sins are many times reduced to great poverty by the Sins of other men by Injustice and Oppression and Violence by the Miseries and Calamities of War which brings a thousand Evils with it which makes many helpless Widows and Orphans deprives men of their Patrons and Benefactors drives others from their plentiful Fortunes to seek their Bread in a strange Land plunders Poor and Rich lays a flourishing Countrey desolate puts a stop to Trade makes Provisions dear and leaves no work for the Poor Some others are reduced to Poverty more immediately by the Providence of God without their own fault Those who have no other support but their daily labour are quickly pinched by a long and Expensive Sickness or by the Infirmities of Age or by the loss of their Eyes or Hands or Legs others are undone by Fire or Shipwrecks or the various Accidents of Trade which the most wary and cautious men cannot escape but besides that there are few of these in comparison with the throngs and crowds of Idle Prodigal Self-made Poor God has made provision for all such Cases that no man shall suffer extreme want by commanding the Rich especially to supply the want of such Poor who are properly God's Poor or the Poor of God's making and commanding this under the penalty of their Eternal Salvation and the forfeiture of their own Estates if they prove unjust and unfaithful Stewards So that though God makes some men poor it is the fault of other men if they suffer want The poverty they suffer is owing to the Providence of God the wants and miseries they suffer are owing to the Sins to the Uncharitableness of Men For though the World be unequally divided of which more presently yet there is enough to supply the wants of all the Creatures that are in it and God never intended that any of his Creatures should want necessaries that one man's plenty and abundance should cause another man to starve And thus it is in most of the other miseries of life it is the sin and the folly of Mankind which makes them miserable which is so obvious to every one who will consider it that I need not expatiate on every particular I believe there is no man but will confess that were all men good and vertuous this World would be a very happy place and if the practice of moral and sociable Vertues would make Mankind happy it is no hard matter to guess what it is that disturbs the Peace and Happiness of the World 2dly Let us now consider how unreasonable it is to reproach the Divine Providence with those Evils and Miseries which Mankind bring upon themselves And laying down this as a Principle that most men make themselves miserable it is very easy to defend and justify the Goodness of Providence For these Evils which men complain of are not justly chargeable upon Providence and therefore are un unreasonable Objection against Providence God does not bring these Evils upon Mankind but men bring them upon themselves Supposing the nature of things and the nature of man to be what they now are and that men lived just as they now do there must be the same Miseries in the World that there now are though there were no Providence Though God did not interpose in the government of the World yet Intemperance Luxury and Lust would destroy mens health Sloth and Prodigality and expensive Vices would make men poor Pride Ambition and Revenge would make Quarrels raise Wars and bring all the Calamities of War upon the World if there were no Providence thus it must be for excessive eating and drinking will oppress Nature and those who will take no honest pains to get Money or will spend what they have upon their lusts must be poor and those who will quarrel and fight must take what follows these evils are not owing to Providence because Providence does not bring them no more than Providence makes men wicked Men make themselves wicked and wickedness makes them miserable and we may as well charge the Providence of God with all the wickedness of men as with those miseries which their own wickedness brings upon them Now since most of those evils which are in the World are not justly chargeable upon Providence the Goodness of God is very visible in those very Evils and Calamities which Mankind suffer For 1. God has in ordinary Cases put it into every man's power to preserve himself from most of the greatest evils and miseries of life even from all those which men bring upon themselves by their own sins What could be done more than this for a reasonable Creature to make it his own choice and to put it into his own power whether he will be happy or miserable God has not only in his Laws but in the nature of things set before us life and death happiness and misery All men see what the visible and natural punishments of Sin are and have a natural aversion to those evils and may avoid them if they will this is a plain proof not only of the Holiness of Providence as I observed before in deterring men from sin by those natural evils which attend it but also of the Goodness of Providence by shewing men a plain and natural method how to avoid the miseries of life and to make themselves easy and
happy Let the most Sceptical Objector against Providence consider with himself what God could have done more to prevent the miseries of Mankind without changing the nature of man or the nature of things To have laid a necessity upon man that he should never chuse nor do any thing which will bring these evils on him had been to change his nature to destroy the free exercise of his Reason and the liberty of choice and yet men cannot live as they do and escape these miseries unless all Nature be changed We must have other kind of Bodies than we have or our Meat and Drink must have other vertues and qualities to bear the disorders and excesses of intemperance and lust without feeling the inconveniences of it Fire must not burn nor Water drown if Wine must not inflame nor a flood of indigested Liquors extinguish the vital heat The whole World must be a Paradise and bring forth fruit of it self and all things must be possessed in common or the idle slothful prodigal Sinners must be poor Our Bodies must be invulnerable and immortal or there must be no instruments of death in the World or men who quarrel will fight and kill one another It is impossible as the World now is to separate sin and misery but men may avoid misery if they please And that is a very good World and a good God that made such a World and a good Providence which governs the World wherein men may make themselves happy if they will 2dly Besides this the Goodness of Providence is seen in hindering and preventing a great many more evils and miseries which the sins and lusts of men would bring upon the World were they not under the restraints and government of Providence No man doubts but there might be a great deal more evil and misery in the World than there is nor that many bad men are inclined to do a great deal more hurt than they do what is it then after all that makes the World so tolerable a place If this be owing to the Providence of God it is a great argument of his Goodness that he will not suffer foolish Sinners to make themselves and others so miserable as they would that as many furious Phaetons as there are in the World it is not yet all in flames but the Moral as well as the Natural World has its Temperate as well as Torrid Zones and what shall we attribute this to if we do not attibute it to Providence To what else can we ascribe our deliverance from those unseen Snares which were laid for us and which we knew nothing of till we had escaped nay which it may be we know nothing of to this day how many wicked Designs prove abortive how many secret Plots are discovered when ripe for execution how often does God put a hook into the nostrils of the proudest Tyrants and by some cross Accidents or by weak and contemptible means breaks their Power and humbles them to the dust Sacred and Profane Histories are full of such Examples which can be attributed to nothing else but a Divine Providence which sets bounds to the Waves of the Sea and to the Rage and Pride of men The Scripture teaches us to ascribe our deliverance from all the evils we escape as well as all the good we enjoy to a Divine Providence and then we must acknowledge that the Divine Providence prevents all that evil which bad men would do but can't and who knows how much this is who knows how much evil bad men would do had they no restraint that we have much more reason to adore the Divine Goodness for restraining the Lusts and Passions of men which prevents an universal deluge of misery than complain that he suffers so many miseries to afflict the World 3dly Especially if we consider in the next place That God permits bad men to do no more hurt and mischief than what he over-rules to wise and good purposes For God many times serves the wise ends of his Providence by the wickedness of men to punish the wicked and to chastise the good to exercise the Graces and Vertues of good men or to give terrible Examples of his Vengeance on the wicked and all this how severe soever it may be proves the Goodness of Providence because it is for the general good of the World that bad men should be punished suppressed destroyed and that good men should be made better and become great and eminent Examples of Faith and Patience Whatever evils and miseries there are in the World if there be no more than the good government of the World requires if no man suffers any more than what he deserves or than what will do himself good if he wisely improves it or will do others good if they will either take warning by his Sufferings or imitate his Vertues all this is not only reconcilable with the Goodness of Providence but is an eminent instance of it for to do good is an expression of Goodness though the ways of doing it may be very severe This is a sufficient justification of Providence even as to those evils which God himself immediately inflicts upon the World that he inflicts no more nor greater evils than what are for the good government of the World as I have observed before but it is much more so with reference to those evils which men bring upon themselves for is it not wonderful Goodness in God to defend us from our selves to qualify the malignity of our own sins to suffer us to do our selves no more hurt than what he can turn into great good to us if we consider our ways and learn wisdom by the things which we suffer So to restrain bad men that they shall hurt no body but those whom God thinks fit to punish or to correct or to exercise with some severities and that they shall do no more hurt nor hurt any longer than the Divine Wisdom sees useful to these ends Let us then briefly review this Objection and Answer and setting aside the consideration of God and his Providence let us suppose it to be the case of a Father And I hope what we our selves would allow to be a reasonable defence of earthly Parents will be thought a good justification of God and his Providence Suppose then a Father has several Children whom he providees very bountifully for and sends them abroad into the World in such hopeful circumstances that if they will be frugal diligent and vertuous they may live happily and increase their Fortunes Should such Children turn Prodigals and waste their Estates in rioting and luxury destroy their health and suffer all the miseries of sickness and poverty would any man blame their good Father for this and would not such a good man think himself much injured should he be accused of unkindness and severity to his Children only because after all the kindness he could show them they have made themselves miserable especially if we suppose
and raised an expectation even among the Romans of some great Prince who was to rise in the East as Tacitus observes And though the knowledge of the God of Israel did not reform Nations yet we have reason to believe that it made a great many private Converts who secretly forsook the Idolatries of their Countries and Worshipped the only True God It is reasonable to think it should do so and we must confess it was wisely designed by God for that purpose and some few examples of this kind which we know may satisfie us that there were many more On the Famous Day of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost descended on the Apostles in a Visible appearance of cloven tongues like as of fire there were at Ierusalem great Numbers not only of Iews but of Proselytes out of every Nation Parthians and Medes and Elamites and the dwellers in Mesopotamia and in Iudaea and Cappadocia in Pontus and Asia Phrygia and Pamphilia in Egypt and in the parts of Lybia about Cyrene and strangers of Rome Iews and Proselytes Cretes and Arabians 2. Acts 9 10 11. Whether these were Circumcised or Uncircumcised Proselites is not said but Proselites they were out of all these Nations who came up at the Feast to Worship at Ierusalem from whence we learn that the dispersion of the Iews into all Nations made great Numbers of Proselites who either undertook the observation of the Mosaical Law by Circumcision and became Iews or at least renounced all the Heathen Idolatries and worshipped no other God but the God of Israel The number of these last seems to have been much greater than that of Circumcised Proselites and if we believe some Learned men there is frequent mention made of them in Scripture under the names of worshipping Greeks and devout men and those which feared God When Saint Paul preached at Thessalonica there consorted with Paul and Silas of the devout Greeks a great multitude 17. Acts 24. The very name of Greeks proves them to be Gentiles not Iews who are always distinguished from each other and that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 devout or worshipping Greeks proves that they were the Worshippers of the God of Israel for that Title is never given in Scripture to Idolaters and their frequenting the Iewish Synagogue sufficiently proves it for no Gentiles resorted thither but those who worshipped the God of Israel Of this number was Lydia 16. Acts 14. and Cornelius the Roman Centurion who was not only a devout man and one who feared God himself but all his Family were so too 10. Acts 2. and the Eunuch 8. Acts 27. and almost in every place where St. Paul preached the Gospel we find great numbers of these worshipping Gentiles at Thessalonica and Philippi as you have seen at Corinth 18. Acts 4. at Antioch of Pisidia 13. Acts 43. and we have reason to conclude that thus it was in other places which shews what a great effect the dispersion of the Iews into all these Countries had in making Proselites some to the Iewish Religion but many more to the Worship of the God of Israel which prepared them to receive the Gospel when is was preached to them For they were the Worshippers of the True God and were instructed in the Law and the Prophets as appears from their frequenting the Iewish Synagogues and therefore were in expectation of the Messias and were capable of understanding the Scripture Proofs of the Christian Faith It is certain the first Gentile Converts were of this sort of men who more readily embraced the Faith than the Iews themselves for they had all the preparations for Christianity which the Iews had but none of their Prejudices neither a fondness for their Ceremonial Worship nor for the Temporal Kingdom of the Messias And therefore a very Learned man expounds that Text 13. Acts 48. As many as were ordained to eternal life believed of these devout and worshipping Gentiles that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ready disposed and prepared to receive the Doctrine of Eternal Life by Christ Jesus And thus we are come to the days of Christ whose appearance in the world was the last and most effectual means God used for the recovery of Mankind to consider the Divine Wisdom in the Redemption of the world by Jesus Christ relates to the wisdom of the Christian Religion not of Providence and therefore does not concern my present Argument but if we take a brief review of what I have said we may the better understand in what sense Christ is said to come in the fulness of time for he came as soon as the world was prepared to receive him For I would desire any man who complains that the coming of Christ was too long delayed to tell me in what sooner period it had been proper for him to appear In every Age as I have already shewn God took the wisest methods that the Condition of Mankind would at that time allow to reform the world and if Christ appeared at such a time as the Divine Wisdom saw most fit and proper for his appearance he appeared as soon as he could if we will allow God to dispense his Grace and Favours wisely That he did so no man can doubt who believes the Wisdom and Goodness of God But my business at present is to give you a fair representation of all those wise Advances God made to this last compleating and stupendious Act of Grace and Love God had promised our first Parents immediately upon the Fall That the seed of the woman should break the serpent's head and by vertue of this Promise all truly good men were saved by Christ from the beginning of the world But the more to recommend the Love of God in the Incarnation and Death of our Saviour it seems very congruous to the Divine Wisdom that all other Methods should be first tried for the reforming of Mankind before the coming of Christ and that he should come in such a time when the world was best prepared to receive Him and as little as we understand of the unsearchable Counsels of God it may satisfy us that upon both these accounts Christ appeared in the fulness of time When all flesh had corrupted his ways and there was but one Righteous Family left the only probable means of restoring Piety and Vertue to the world was to destroy all that Wicked Generation of Men and to preserve that Righteous Family to new-people the world When that New Generation began to corrupt themselves God separated them from each other by confounding their Languages and formed them into distinct Societies and Kingdoms which was the most effectual way to stop the Infection and to force on them the practise of many Moral and Civil Vertues When notwithstanding this they all declined to Idolatry God chose Abraham and his Posterity to be his peculiar People to preserve the Faith and Worship of the One Supream God in the world he gave them his Laws committed to