the Noise of the Seas Psal 64.7 and the Noise of the Waves thereof and the Tumults of the People GOD is the King over all the Earth Psal 47.7 sing Praises every one that hath Vnderstanding Thus far extends GOD's Special Care over Mankind in General But Thirdly A choice and Particular Providence attends GOD's own People He looks upon them with a tender Eye He dresses His Flock with a Pastoral Care and endears His own Beloved Children with a Paternal Love Thus He is said To give His Beloved Sleep 〈◊〉 Peace and Quiet There is as the Schools phrase it a Divine Manutenency whereby the Chosen of GOD are supported in Times of Affliction their feeble Knees strengthned and they led through this Vale of Misery to a Place of Glory and Triumph Mat. 16.18 Vpon a Rock Christ has promised to build his Church and the Gates of Hell shall never prevail against it Thus saith the Lord that created thee Isai 43.1 2. O Jacob that formed thee O Israel for I have redeemed thee I have called thee by thy Name thou art mine When thou passest through the Waters I will be with thee and through the Floods that they do not overflow thee when thou walkest through the Fire it shall not burn thee neither shall the Flame kindle upon thee GOD will be their Strength and Castle of Defence He will preserve their going out and coming in He will shield them from the Storms and Battery of Fortune from the Malice and Violence of Evil Men and Evil Spirits What Foundation can be more firm than the Rock of Ages Who can be so safe as he who walks in the Strength of Israel and under the Shadow of the Almighty Or who more free from danger than he who is surrounded with Guardian Angels GOD says of His Own as David did of Absalom See that you do the Young Man no harm and as He said of Jerusalem He that toucheth you Zech. 2.8 toucheth the Apple of mine Eye Though Machiavel himself Projects and Contrives though the Plot be deep and the Execution suddain though the Train be laid and the Match lighted though Achitophel join in Counsel and Senacherib provide a formidable Host though the Horse be prepared to the Battel and the Lot cast into the Lap yet the Ends and Disposal of all things are in the Hand of GOD for were not all things acted by His Permission He could not be Omnipotent He that is our GOD is the GOD of Salvation Psal 68.20 and unto GOD the LORD belong the Issues from Death Thus far the Scripture clears the Doctrine of Providence which was my first Argument The second may be the Completion of Prophesies St. Peter though he was at the Transfiguration of our Saviour with James and John Mat. 17.5 upon the Mount when Amazing Beams of Light surrounded them and a Voice came from that Excellent Glory yet he lays a greater stress upon this way of Evidence and afterwards gave out 2 Pet. 1.19 That we have a more sure Word of Prophesie This is an Argument of its own Nature infallible for no Prophesie could be compleated unless there was a Chain and Combination of Causes knit together and directed by the great Mover of all things For if Humane Affairs were supposed to depend upon Chance and Fortune how could these blind Agents compass any thing useful certain or beneficial to Mankind if they were only guided by the insensible Principles of Matter and Motion jumbled together The truth is the very pretence and counterfeit of Prophesie has produced wonder and amazement Thus it fared with Alexander in his bold Expedition against the Scythians for when the Army began to mutiny because of the difficult Passages and Fatigues in marching he was advised by a wise Man who was in the Camp and understood an Eclipse was near to comfort the Souldiers by telling them That if within so many Hours there was not a manifest appearance in the Heavens as a Signal of the favour of the Gods to prosper their Designs he would desist and retreat but the Eclipse appearing they gave a shout and went on courageously In the Old Testament how many Prophesies were recorded and fulfilled in the New after many hundred Years of Intermission in Nations far distant by Men of different Inclinations and Complexions disagreeing in Interest Language and Education For example a Curse is denounced by the Leader of GOD's People upon him that should attempt to rebuild the Walls of Jericho the Hebrew phrase is Jos 6.26 He shall lay the Foundation thereof in his Eldest Son and in his Youngest Son shall he set up the Gates viz The whole Family of that Man should be rooted out and this happened not long after upon Hiel who laid the Foundation thereof in Abiram his Eldest Son and set up the Gates in Segub the Youngest 1 Kin. 16.34 The Destruction of Bethels Altar was foretold by Josiah some hundreds of Years before it came to pass We might instance in Cyrus foretold by Isaiah In the Siege of Jerusalem by the Prophet Jeremiah and the several Monarchies by Daniel which he foretold so exactly that Porphyry that great Enemy of Christianity when he had turn'd over the Greek Historians and compared them with Daniel's Prophesie he had nothing to say but in a malicious opposition to affirm a Lye by likening it to Lycophron's Cassandra affirming it was wrote after the things had happened Of all the Testimonies that ever GOD produced to manifest a Truth of all the Seals that ever He set to the Confirmation of a thing nothing appears so miraculous and prevailing upon the Understanding as this of the fulfilling of Prophesies for its Testimony is sure in its own Nature Unerring and Oracular and subject to no manner of Cheat or Evasion To know what is to come to look into Ages yet unborn to rip up the Womb of Time to foretel the Changes of Empires and the Moving Sands of Mighty Monarchies to foresee the Grand Revolutions of this Globe of Earth beyond what may be gathered by Observation and founded upon Presumption these things are too deep for the Scantling of Humane Nature to reach the Object lies too far to be discovered by the dim and narrow sight of a Mortal Eye In vain therefore do Men gaze upwards to read their Destiny in the Stars when the Periods of Time and the Stages of Humane Life are only Registred in the Kingdom of Heaven In vain also do Men appeal to the Shades below for though Samuel may appear in his Mantle yet he has lost the Gift of Prophesie It falls out in this case as in that of the Day of Judgment the various Success of Humane Affairs and the Ends of the World none knoweth them but the FATHER Himself Prudens futuri temporis Exitum Caliginosâ nocte premit Deus These things could never be unless there was a Chain of Divine Providence every Link whereof
was secured by the Power and Integrity of that GOD who is always true to His Promise and therefore stiled a Faithful Creator 1 Pet. 4.19 for the Counsel of the Lord viz His Providence standeth for ever Psal 33.11 and the Thoughts of His Heart throughout all Ages This is the second Argument The Fulfilling of Prophesies the third is The Remorse and Conviction of Conscience which attends Malefactors Here the Footsteps of Providence are visible when in the very Bosom of the Criminal the Wrath of GOD is revealed from Heaven and it fares with him as with the unhappy Spirits to be tormented before their time Impius est sibi Gehenna Our common Indictment of Offenders includes the Doctrine of Providence when their Accusation begins thus Having not the fear of GOD before their Eyes How grievous and pungeant are the secret Lashes of Conscience How keen and irksome the memory of those things whereof we are now ashamed Rom. 2.15 This shews the Work of the Law written in Mens Hearts their Consciences in the mean while accusing or excusing one another This is the Private Sessions of the Soul where the Reason of Man sits Judge Conscience becomes the Accuser Fear the Jaylor and Sorrow the Executioner Nocte dieque suum gestare in pectore testem Perpetua anxietas Tacitus reports That when Nero did but set his foot in the Temple of Vesta he was surprized with horrour and trembling and the Historian adds that it was Facinorum Recordatione for what had that lewd Tyrant to do in the Temple of Vesta who in abhorrence of Chastity had defiled his own Mother If there be no Sovereign Justice and Men think that Astraea has left Heaven as well as the Earth then what need they start and tremble when no Mortal Eye sees them If we enter into the Chambers of the Sick to what purpose do we see them mourn and lament upon their Death-Beds make solemn Vows and Protestations for Amendment of Life What need the Knees smite when the Hand wrote upon the Wall Or why do Dying Men lift up their Eyes to Heaven if they think there is no GOD no Righteous Judge no Tribunal to be Erected there So much for the first Consideration That there is an Almighty Being who does concern and interest Himself in the Rule and Management of the World Let us now consider the Objections as first Why GOD permits any Evil to be acted in the World There are two sorts of Evil the one of Sin and the other of Punishment and if we could trace the whole Series of Providence as far as it relates to the permission of one and the inflicting of the other we shall find nothing repugnant to the Divine Attributes In the Forming of Man GOD exercised His Wisdom and His Power in giving Him Laws He shew'd His Goodness and His Justice He made him Lord over his own Will to Crown the Dignity of his Nature He gave him the Power of Choice to declare that He stood in no need of his Service and Assistance but that He should be as much Glorified in punishing his Rebellion as by rewarding his Obedience To prevent Sin therefore in Man GOD must either have taken away his Rational Soul and levell'd him with the Beasts of the Field or else have so far exalted his Nature that he should be uncapable of sinning either of which Actions would have blotted out the Order of Men and dissolv'd the Frame of Humane Nature So that this Exception is altogether unreasonable seeing we know GOD had a Right to make such a Creature as Man and if he fell his Sin lies at his own door GOD must either permit many Sins or none at all and this latter would either unman or destroy us Yet the Evils which GOD prevents are far more than He permits considering the Flux of our Inclinations and the Tendency of Humane Nature So that it is more proper for us to be thankful for GOD's Restraining Grace seeing His Mercy is over all His Works than to be Prophane and Querulous to question His Goodness and the Ordination of His Wisdom For great are the Works of the LORD and perfect in all His Will The second Objection may be Why Good and Virtuous Men grieve and are afflicted Why our Saviour left part of His Church Militant and not all over Triumphant Say some if there be a GOD and a Divine Providence what is the reason so little care is taken of the Sons of GOD and the Heirs of Promise Why are those neglected who make frequent and early Addresses unto Heaven Who live honest sober and temperate Lives yet are subject to the Scorn and Derision the Affronts and Insolencies of Licentious and Profligate Men Thus they Wag their Heads and say Why does not GOD save them harmless and take them down from the Cross For when they can lay nothing to the charge of GOD's Goodness they begin to question His Power and Dominion whereas if we understood the ways of GOD's dealing with us if we could foord the Current of Providence and find out the Reasons of the promiscuous Dispensations of Heaven we should see Justice in all His Actions no Innocent opprest none but the Guilty punisht nothing taken away but what we deserve to lose We should find no wild Accidents of Fortune as if the Reins of the Government of the World were let lose though possibly the Instruments of GOD's over-ruling Power may be guilty of Violence and Injustice Yet the obvious Reasons of the Afflictions of Good Men which we are capable of understanding are such as follow To wean their Affections from the fondness and delight which the best of Men are apt to take in the Pleasures and Vanities of this Life or that the World may not conclude they served GOD for Profit and Temporal Advantage it was the Devil's Argument against Job He does not serve GOD for nought Sometimes they come for Tryal and Amendment thus we read of the Furnace of Affliction which is to Purifie and Refine us from the Dross of this Life and to prepare us for a better for he that has not tasted of the Bread of Affliction the Morallist could say Ignorat rerum Naturae alteram partem therefore David said It was good for him that the LORD had humbled him Sometimes Good Men are afflicted for example to others Ye have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the LORD So that we see for several Reasons GOD does not seat all Good Men in the Fortunate Islands but reserves many to taste of the Cup of Affliction CHRIST was to us a Pattern in Suffering and upon this very account we have a Title to Heaven for Poverty Mourning and Persecution are reckoned among the Beatitudes and we are Joynt Heirs with Christ Rom. 8.17 if so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together For our light affliction which is but for a moment
worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory This may suffice for the second Objection why Good and Holy Men lie under the Pressures of Calamity and Sorrow the third is How it stands with the Justice and Power of GOD to let the Wicked prosper This has startled many Sober Men who gazing upon the prosperous Impieties and shining Fortunes of their Oppressors have been much amazed and dissatisfied David explains himself to this sense at large Psalm 73. when he saw the Sons of the World Nest themselves in the Tallest Cedars but at last he found it was but a Preamble to their own Destruction Tolluntur in altum Vt lapsu graviore ruant The very Wealth Authority and Fulness of the Wicked is often bestow'd upon them for their own Ruine Thus it provoked Herod to Blasphemy Dives is also now sensible that his Table was made a Snare unto him We find that there was a time When the Iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full Gen. 15.16 and the Sentence of the Wicked was Prov. 1.32 That their Prosperity should slay them The Prosperous Villanies of our late Regicides who tore off the Robes of Majesty and surfeited with Royal Blood their wonderful Successes did only procure to them a more early Damnation We should therefore no more wonder at the gaudy outside of a prosperous Wicked Man than to see an Executioner very brave after the Butchering some Noble and Gallant Innocent for Splendid Spoils are but his Fees and Vales These Men as Ajax said of Vlysses may put on the Glorious Armour of Achilles only to be made a Mark for Ruine Cato seeing the strange Success of Caesar against Pompey said There was a great uncertainty in the Government of the Gods alluding possibly to that of Plato in his Politicks That there are Ages in which the Gods do Govern the World in their own Persons and others wherein they neglect them This made the Poet write Marmoreo tumulo Licinus jacet at Cato parvo Mart. Pompeius nullo quis putat esse Deos Every Humane Action is entangled with infinite Adherents so that it is impossible for us to know the exact Measures of the Divine Dispensations therefore we must patiently abide the time of a more General Knowledge viz. The Revelation of the Righteous Judgment of GOD. GOD has also several other Good Ends when he defers the Punishment and Prorogues the Execution as that Sinners may Repent and Amend thus the Long-suffering of our Lord is called Salvation 2 Pet. 3.15 Sometimes GOD may favour Wicked Men in Temporals upon the account of some good Action of their Parents 2 Kin. 10 30. when Jehu's Children were to sway the Scepter to the fourth Generation For many have received Earthly Blessings who are never like to enter into the Kingdom of GOD which is thought to be the sense of those words Mat. 10.42 Whosoever shall give to these little Ones a Cup of cold Water verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his Reward viz. His Water shall be turned into Wine and he shall prosper in Temporal Concerns The Wicked also may fare well for a while for the sake of their good Neighbors and therefore the Jews have a Proverb to this sense Benè est Justo benè ejus Vicino Gen. 18.23 Says Abraham to GOD It is not thy property to destroy the Just with the Vnjust Two Hundred Seventy and Six Men sailed with St. Paul to Rome and the Angel told him GOD had given him the Lives of all that sailed with him Acts 27.22 So much in Answer to the Prosperity of the Wicked The fourth and last Objection is Why all things come alike to all Men as if Chance and Fortune Govern'd the World To understand this we must consider Events are usually divided into Necessary Contingent but not Casual Contingent and Casual Necessary Events are those which run in a constant stream and never alter unless they are miraculously over-ruled and countermanded as Night and Day Winter and Summer the Light of the Sun and the Descent of Heavy Bodies Contingent but not Casual are the Events of all our Designs and Deliberations which depend upon Choice and Election as to go a Journey build a House or raise an Army or to perform any Action which depends upon Forecast and Consideration Contingent and Casual are such Events as are not compass'd by our Knowledge or Contrivance but surprize and attack us on a suddain as the Arrow which slew Ahab when the Bow was drawn at a Venture and the Dart which wounded the Apostate Julian Now all these Events though they have several Names and distinct Terms in order to our Apprehension yet they are all regulated by Providence whether the Venetians chuse a Senator or the Romans undertake a Warlike Expedition Prov. 16.33 The Lot is cast into the Lap and the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD who giveth all things to all and worketh all things for all and in all Though we seem to be surrounded with swarms of Accidents though Men think we float in an Ocean of Chances and Adventures yet upon due Consideration it will be found that our sole Dependance is upon GOD that we are infinitely Debtors to Providence and so have no reason to yield our selves up Vassals to Fortune Te facimus Fortuna Deam c. If every Taste of Good Success be the Blessing of GOD and every Disaster and Calamity in some measure a Curse then what have we to do with Chance or Fortune If GOD should punish no Sin here the Atheist would defie His Providence and conclude that He neither cares for nor has any Knowledge of Humane Affairs If GOD should punish every Sin here as soon as committed Men would be apt to think there were no future Rewards nor Punishments When Good Men lament we may see GOD hates all Sin in punishing them When Bad Men rejoyce it puts us in Mind of a Day of Judgment and the Immortality of the Soul These and other good Uses we may make from our Observations of the Effects of the Divine Will and Pleasure for Adversity shews that there is a Providence as well as Prosperity Stantia non poterant tecta probare Deus It is GOD who debaseth the Proud and exalteth the Humble who adds Years to the Life of the Penitent but will not suffer the Blood-Thirsty-Man to live out half his days We behold His Goodness when He rescues and supports the Miserable and we acknowledge His Power and Dominion when He subdues the Insolent and overthrows the Mighty Thus have I endeavour'd to vindicate the Issues of Divine Providence against those prophane Men who like Alcibiades would strike off the Head of Divine Power and render GOD Himself insignificant and unactive They would live independent and not hold of GOD's Empire a sort of Men who are prodigiously wicked and study to contend against Providence the great Prerogative of Heaven What is there can escape the Eye of Providence The smallest Sin though committed under the shelter of Darkness and Secresie is set down in great Characters in the Publick Register of Heaven The Springs and Principles of Life the smallest Mite or Insect which we can hardly discover without the help of Art and Glasses are as apparent and visible to GOD as the Glorious Face of the Sun is to us All things are open and naked 'T is all broad Day-light in the Land of Providence A Gadibus usque ad Gangen From a Goliah to a Zacheus from a Monarch to a Pesant from him who appears great to him that makes a small Figure in the World from the highest Cherub to John the Baptist from the Raven to the Sparrow from the vast Indian Mines to the poor Widows Mite All things are manifest to Him from the Swelling Alps to a Grain of Sand from an Elephant to a Fly the Spreading Oak to a Blade of Grass from the Leviathan to the poorest Minnum Therefore have we not reason to study Resignation to the Divine Will to dread His Anger who is GOD Omnipresent No Member of the Creation was made but for some use and service therefore if we do not answer the particular Ends of our Creation we seem to assert by the insignificancy of our Lives that GOD made us for no end or purpose at all To conclude He that walks on the Theatre of this World and only has an Eye to the Means set before him but despises the Guidance and Determination of Providence that Man is a profest Atheist And that Man who acknowledges Providence in relation to the End and yet denies to make use of the Means he is a prophane and unreasonable Man for GOD is neither pleased with that Man who remits all to Him nor with him who commits nothing He seldom operates without Man and does not like that Man should operate without Him the one is to tempt GOD by a pretence of obliging Him the other to provoke Him by refusing to be obliged by Him But he that so uses the Means set before him in all Occurrences of Humane Life as to confide in and depend upon the Favour and Providence of GOD to attain the End he shall taste of the Bounty and Largess of Heaven he proceeds in the best way that Man shall be happy and blessed for ever Which GOD grant we may all be through JESVS CHRIST His sake To whom with the FATHER and HOLY SPIRIT be Honour and Glory Dominion and Thanksgiving World without End Amen FINIS