was necessary to establish a more general Communication among mankind which is the most effectual means to spread a Wholesome as well as a Pestilential Contagion And since Commerce and Traffick was not so general in those days as it is now there was no such ready way to do this as by Force of Arms which united a great many Kingdoms and Nations into one which besides all other advantages conveyed the knowledge of all memorable Actions into all parts of the Empire Now in the beginning of these great Empires for tho the Assyrian Monarchy began long before yet Nebuchadnezzar was the Golden Head of that Image which represented the Four Monarchies God carried Iudah Captive into Babylon and thereby made himself known to be the Supreme and Sovereign Lord of the world over all the Babylonish Empire The first occasion God took to make himself known in Babylon was Nebuchadnezzar's Dream which he had forgot and none of the Magicians or Astrologers or Sorcerers of Chaldaeans could shew the King his Dream much less tell him the Interpretation of it but Daniel did both which made Nebuchadnezzar acknowledge to Daniel Of a truth it is that your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of secrets since thou couldst reveal this secret 2. Dan. 47. And this advanced Daniel to great Authority for the King made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief of the governors over all the Wise men of Babylon And we need not doubt but he used his Authority especially among the Wise-men of Babylon who had the greatest influence upon others to propagate the knowledge of the One Supreme God among them In the Reign of the same King God magnified his Power in the Preservation of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego from the Fiery Furnace which occasioned a Decree that gave great advantage to the Iews and disposed all men to think very honourably of their God That every people nation and language which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach Meshach and Abed-nego shall be cut in pieces and their houses shall be made a dunghil because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort 3. Dan. 28 29. And that experience Nebuchadnezzar had of the Power and Justice of God in his own person extorted from him as devout Praises of God and as Orthodox a Confession of his Faith in him as any Iew could have made 4 Dan. Thus in the Reign of Belshazzar who with his Princes his Wives and Concubines drank Wine out of the Golden Vessels of the Temple God gave a Glorious Testimony to himself by a Hand-writing on the Wall which as Daniel expounded it and the Event that very Night confirmed foretold the immediate Overthrow of his Empire by the Medes and Persians This was a very sudden Vengeance for their Idolatrous Revels and the Profanation of the Holy Vessels of the Temple as Daniel very freely acquainted the King 5 Dan. And tho his Advancement by Belshazzar who made him the Third Ruler in the Kingdom was but of a very short continuance the King being slain that Night yet it so recommended him to Darius who began the Second Monarchy of the Medes and Persians that he advanced Daniel to the same or greater Honour and Power he being made the first of the Three Presidents who had the Government of the Hundred and Twenty Princes whom Darius set over the whole Kingdom In the beginning of this New Monarchy God gave a fresh Demonstration of his Power in delivering Daniel from the Lyons Den for which reason Darius made a Decree That in every dominion of his kingdom men fear and tremble before the God of Daniel 6. Dan. 25 26 27. So that by the Captivity of Iudah God made himself known over all the Babylonian and Persian Monarchy and this disposed Cyrus the Seventy Years of their Captivity being accomplished to give them liberty to return into their own Country and to publish a Decree for the Rebuilding the City and Temple of Ierusalem But still to preserve the knowledge of God among them the Divine Providence so ordered it that when all had liberty to return great numbers stayed behind in Babylon where they freely professed and exercised their Religion which together with the Civil Dependance of the Iewish State on the Persian Monarchy preserved a constant Correspondence and Intercourse between them and that preserved the knowledge of the Iews and of their God The Grecian Empire which put an end to the Persian made the God of the Iews still more known to the world Alexander the Great came to Ierusalem treated the Iews with great kindness consulted the Records of their Prophets offered Sacrifices to God and not only confirmed their old but granted new Privileges to them And thus God became known not only to the Babylonian and Persian but to the Grecian Monarchy And when after Alexander's Death the Empire was divided this caused a new dispersion of the Iews especially into Syria and Egypt Ptolomy the King of Egypt having surprized Ierusalem carried great Numbers of them into Egypt and having entertained a kind opinion of them there employed them in his Armies and Garisons and made them Citizens of Alexandria his Son Ptolomy Philadelphus procured the Translation of their Law into Greek which was a new Publication of their Religion and after this Onias Built a Temple in Egypt in all things like to that of Ierusalem where they Worshipped God according to the Rites of the Jewish Law that God was now as much known in Egypt as he was in Iudaea And to let pass a great many other things which contributed very much to propagate the knowledge of the God of Israel in the World To compleat all the Power and Oppressions of the Assyrian Monarchs forced the Iews to pray the Alliance and Assistance of the Romans which ended as such powerfull Alliances very often do in their Subjection to the Roman Powers who first Governed them by Kings and Tetrarchs and at last reduced them into a Roman Province And thus the Iews and their God and their Religion became known over all the Roman Empire These Four successive Monarchies did gradually encrease and spread the knowledge of One Supream God over all the World and thereby prepared the way for the Kingdom of the Messias that Kingdom which the Prophet Daniel tells us the God of heaven would set up which should never be destroyed 2. Dan. 44. For the better to understand this we must observe that though the knowledge of God made no publick Reformation of the Pagan Idolatries yet it greatly disposed men to receive the Gospel when it should be Preached to them it visibly reformed their Philosophy and gave them the Notion of One Supreme Being as is evident from the Poets and Philosophers of those Ages though they still Worshipped their Countrey gods it gave them some obscure knowledge of the Iewish Prophecies concerning the Kingdom of the Messias
upon mount Zion and on Ierusalem I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the King of Assyria and the glory of his proud looks 10. Isai. 5 6 7 12. A great many Examples might be given of this nature but these are sufficient to show what different Intentions God and Men have in the same actions and how easily God can defeat what men intend and accomplish by them his own Wise Counsels which they never thought of When God has no particular Ends of Providence to serve by the Lusts and Passions and evil Designs of men he commonly disappoints them that when they intend evil and imagine a mischievous device they are not able to perform it 21. Psal. 11. Or he turns the evil upon their own heads The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made in the net which they hid is their own foot taken the Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands 9 Psal. 15 16. Or he doubly disappoints their malice not only by defeating the evil they intended but by turning it to the great advantage of those it was intended against which was visible in the case of Haman whose malice against Mordecai and all the Iews for his sake did not only prove his own ruin but the great advancement of Mordecai and the Glory and Triumph of the Iewish Nation Having thus briefly shewn what Government God has both of the Hearts and the Actions of men how easily he can alter their Counsels and manage their Passions make them do what good they never intended and disappoint the evil which they did intend or turn it into good this is a sufficient Demonstration how Absolute the Divine Providence is for he who has such an Absolute Government of Nature of what we call Chance and Fortune and of the Wills and Actions of men can do whatsoever pleaseth him But that we may have the clearer and more distinct apprehension of God's government of mankind to make them the Instruments of his Providence I shall more particularly but very briefly state this matter both with respect to good and to bad men 1. As for Good men there is no difficulty in their case for they are the Ministers of a good and beneficent Providence they do good out of Temper and Inclination and a Habit and Principle of Vertue and out of Reverence to the Divine Laws and are ready to obey every extraordinary impression to excite and determine them to such particular good offices as God thinks fit to employ them in And this is nothing but what is very honourable for God and what becomes good men for to do good is the Glory of Human Nature as well as of the Divine Providence and good men will observe the Laws of Vertue in doing good and while good is done by honest and vertuous means there can be no Objection against Providence 2dly But as Bad men are most difficulty governed so the greatest difficulty is in vindicating Providence in making use of the Ministries of Bad men for it is commonly thought a great blemish to Providence when Glorious and Admirable Designs are brought to pass by the Sins of men Now the Foundation of this Objection is a great mistake as if God could not serve his own Providence by the Sins of men without being the Cause of mens sins for there is no colour nor reasonable pretence of an Objection against God's making the Sins of men serve wise and good ends if he can do this without having any hand in mens sins It is the great Glory of Providence to bring good out of evil and while all the Events of Providence are Just and Righteous and Holy and Wise and such as become a God it is much more admirable to consider that all this should be while there is so much wickedness and disorder in the world The true state of this matter in short is this God never suggests any evil designs to men that is owing to their own wicked hearts or to the Temptations of other wicked men or of wicked Spirits but when men have formed any wicked Designs he sometimes as you have heard changes their purposes or deters them from putting them in execution and when he suffers them to proceed to action he either shamefully disappoints them or serves some wise and good end by what they wickedly do And if Providence consists in the Care and Government of mankind how can God govern mankind better than to permit bad men to do no more hurt than what he can turn to good God does not govern the world by an immediate and miraculous Power but governs men by men and makes them help and defend reward and punish one another and therefore there is no other ordinary way of punishing bad men excepting the Civil Sword which reaches but a few Criminals but to punish them by the Wickedness of other bad men and what can more become the Wisdom and Justice of Providence than to make bad men the Ministers and Executioners of a Divine Vengeance upon each other which is one great End God serves by the Sins of men I 'm sure it is for the great good of the world that God has the government of bad men that they cannot do so much hurt as they would and that the mischief God permits them to do is directed to fall on such persons as either want Correction or deserve Punishment For this is another thing very observable in God's government both of the good and bad actions of men that as in the government of Natural Causes God directs where and when and in what proportion Nature shall exert its Influences that it shall rain upon one City and not upon another so God does not only excite men to do good but directs and determines them where to do it chuses out such persons as they shall do good to and appoints what good they shall do and in what measures and proportions they shall do it And he not only sets bounds to the Lusts and Passions of bad men but when he sees fit to permit their wickedness he directs where the hurt and mischief of it shall light We need no other proof of this but the very Notion of Providence which is God's Care of his Creatures for that requires a particular Application of the good or evil which men do to such particular persons as God thinks fit to do good to or to afflict and punish which is the most material and most necessary exercise both of the Wisdom and Justice and Goodness of Providence For if God suffered men to do good or evil at random without directing them to fit and proper Objects the Fortunes of particular men would depend upon as great a Chance as the mutable Lusts and Passions and Fancies of men The only Use I shall make of this at present is to convince you how perfectly we are in God's hands and how secure we are in his
if the whole world consists of particulars it must be taken care of in the care of particulars for if all particulars perish as they may do if no care be taken to preserve them the whole must perish And there is the same reason for the Government of Mankind for the whole is governed in the Government of the parts and Mankind can't be well governed without the Wise Government of every particular Man I 'm sure that the Objections against a Particular Providence are very foolish Some think it too much trouble to God to take care of every particular as if it were more trouble to him to take care of them than it was to make them or as if God had made more creatures than he could take care of as if an Infinite Mind and Omnipotent Power were as much disturbed and tired with various and perpetual Cares as we are Others think it below the Greatness and Majesty of God to take cognizance of every mean and contemptible creature or of every private man as if it were more below God to take care of such creatures than it is to make them as if numbers made creatures considerable to God that tho one man is below God's care yet a Kingdom is worthy of his care and notice when the whole world to God is but as the drop of the bucket and the small dust of the balance Now it is certain there can be no particular Providence without God's Government of all Events for if any good or evil happens to any man without God's Order and Appointment that is not Providence whatever other name you will give it So that if God does take a particular care of all his creatures this is a demonstration that he has the Absolute Government of all Events for without it he cannot take Care of them and if God have the Government of all Events as the Scripture assures us he has this confirms us in the belief of a particular Providence for if all the Good or Evil that happens to every particular man is appointed by God that is proof enough that God takes Care of every particular Man God's Government of all particular Events and his Care of all Individuals include each other in their very Natures The Care of particular Creatures consists in the Government of all particular Events and the Government of all Events is the Exercise of a particular Providence as our Saviour represents it 10. Matth. 29 30 31. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father But the very hairs of your head are all numbred Fear ye not therefore ye are of more value than many sparrows Where God's particular Providence over all his Creatures is expressed by his particular care of all Events which extends even to the Life of a Sparrow and to the Hairs of our Heads Thus much is certain That without this belief That God takes a particular Care of all his Creatures in the Government of all Events that can happen to them there is no reason or pretence for most of the particular Duties of Religious Worship For most of the Acts of Worship consider God not merely as an Universal Cause could we form any Notion of a general Providence without any Care of particular Creatures or particular Events but as our particular Patron Protector and Preserver To fear God and to stand in awe of his Justice to trust and depend on him in all Conditions to submit patiently to his will under all Afflictions to pray to him for the supply of our Wants for the relief of our Sufferings for Protection and Defence to love and praise him for the Blessings we enjoy for peace and plenty and health for friends and benefactors and all prosperous Successes I say these are not the Acts of Reasonable men unless we believe that God has the Supreme Disposal of all Events and takes a particular Care of us For if any Good or Evil can befal us without God's particular Order and Appointment we have no reason to trust in God who does not always take Care of us we have no reason to bear our Sufferings patiently at God's hand and in Submission to his Will for we know not whether our Sufferings be God's Will or not we have no reason to love and praise God for every Blessing and Deliverance we receive because we know not whether it came from God and it is to no purpose to pray to God for particular Blessings if he does not concern himself in particular Events But if we believe that God takes a particular Care of us all and that no Good or Evil happens to us but as he pleases all these Acts or Religious Worship are both Reasonable Necessary and Just. But of this more hereafter CHAP. IV. Concerning the Sovereignty of Providence HAving in the former Chapter shewn That the Government of the Divine Providence consists in Over-ruling and Disposing all Events For the better understanding of this and to prevent a great many ignorant Objections against it besides what I have already said it will be necessary more particularly to explain the Nature and Essential Characters and Properties of God's Governing Providence And I shall begin with 1. The Sovereignty of Providence For God being the Sovereign Lord of the World must Govern with a Sovereign Will For a Sovereign Lord is a Sovereign and Absolute Governor For which reason the Scripture so often resolves all things into the sole will and pleasure of God and in many cases will allow us to seek for no other Cause He doth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth Whatever the Lord pleased that did he in heaven and in earth in the seas and all deep places That the Will of God is Sovereign and Absolute and Unaccountable needs no other proof but that his Power is Absolute and his Wisdom Unsearchable for Absolute Power makes an Absolute Will He who has Power to do whatever he will can do whatever he will and that is the definition of a Severeign and Absolute Will And thus the Scripture resolves the Sovereignty of God into Power That none can stay his hand or say unto him what dost thou He is wise in heart and mighty in strength who hath hardened himself against him and hath prospered And indeed a Power which is Supreme and Absolute which can do all things and which has no greater Power above it none equal to it has a right to Sovereignty For Absolute Power must be the Maker of all things and that must give an Absolute Right to all things and that gives a Right to Absolute Government if there be any such thing as a Natural Right to Government for if God have a Natural Right to Govern his Creatures he must have a Right to Absolute Government because the Right he has in his Creatures is Absolute and Uncontroulable No Creature has
he beget a wicked son his son shall surely dye and if this wicked son beget a just and righteous son he shall live The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him That if the wicked man turn from his wickedness he shall live and if the righteous man turn from his righteousness he shall dye and appeals to them to judge whether this be not equal Yet ye say The way of the Lord is not equal Hear now O house of Israel are not my ways equal are not your ways unequal This plainly proves That all the administrations of Providence are very just and equal and that to attribute any thing to God which contradicts the common Notions of Justice and Righteousness is a very great Reproach to him and is thought so by God himself And therefore when the Prophet Ieremiah complained of the Prosperity of bad men as a great difficulty in Providence he lays this down in the first place as an unshaken Principle That God is very Just and Righteous Righteous art thou O Lord when I plead with thee yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously 12. Jer. 1. This very Complaint That there are great Difficulties in Providence That the ways and judgments of God are unsearchable and past finding out is a plain proof that all mankind expect from God that he should govern the world with great Justice and Equity for otherwise tho such a Providence it self would be a great Difficulty there could be no Difficulties in Providence if God were not by the Holiness and Justice of his own Nature obliged to observe the Eternal and Immutable Laws of Justice and Righteousness in governing the world For upon this supposition What could the unaccountable Difficulties of Providence be Is it that we observe such Events as we know not how to reconcile with the common Rules of Justice And what then This is no Difficulty nor unaccountable if God observes no Rules of Justice in his Government if he act by such an unaccountable Will as has no Law or Rule by such a Will as regards not what we call right and just but makes every thing just it wills The Difficulty and Unsearchableness of Providence consists not in the Rules of Providence but in the Events not in reconciling the Rules of Providence to the common Notions of Justice and Righteousness but in reconciling some Events to the acknowledged Justice and Righteousness of God's Government This is the Atheists Objection against God's governing the world because they think that the world is not justly and wisely governed and tho we can vindicate the Providence of God notwithstanding a great many difficult and unaccountable Events which the Atheists object yet we can never vindicate the Providence of God against Unjust and Arbitrary Rules of Government which the reason of all mankind conclude to be arbitrary and unjust As for Instance Tho we see good men afflicted and wicked men prosperous and it may be can give no particular account why this good man is afflicted and such a wicked man prosperous yet we can vindicate the Wisdom and Justice of Providence notwithstanding this and the Unsearchable Wisdom of God is a good answer to it But should any man turn this into a Rule of Providence That by the Sovereign and Unaccountable Will of God some good men shall be finally miserable and some bad men shall be finally happy this we can never vindicate because it contradicts the common Notions of Justice and Righteousness And tho we cannot always judge of the Righteousness and Justice of a particular Event yet we can judge of the Rules and abstracted Notions of Justice and Righteousness Thus God had often threatned the Iews That he would visit on them not only their own sins but the iniquities of their Fathers which in some cases may be very wise and just of which more hereafter but when by an ignorant or spiteful mistake they turned this into an unjust Proverb which all men acknowledged to be unjust God declared his Abhorrence of it What mean ye that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel saying The fathers have eaten sowre grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge As if Children who had never eaten sowre Grapes themselves should have their teeth set on edge by their Fathers eating them that is that those who had not deserved to be punished for their own sins should yet be punished for their Fathers sins This appears manifestly unjust and God himself rejects it as a Reproach to his Providence And how difficult soever some passages of Providence may be we must own no Rules of Providence which are manifestly unjust Thus it is too certain that much the greatest part of mankind will be finally miserable and this is very reconcilable to the Justice of God if the greatest part of mankind are very wicked and deserve to be miserable But to say That God created the greatest part of mankind nay that he created any one man under the Absolute Decree of Reprobation that he made them to make them miserable can never be justified by the Unaccountable Will and Pleasure of God because it is notoriously unjust if mankind are competent Judges of what is just and unjust The Sum is this That the Providence of God is Unsearchable Incomprehensible Unaccountable is no reason to attribute any thing to God which when reduced into abstracted Notions and general Rules of action is notoriously unjust but the true use of it is to reverence the Judgments of God and not to charge any particular Events of Providence with Injustice merely because we do not understand the reasons of them The general Notions and Rules of Justice are not unaccountable things for we understand very well what they are for Justice is the same thing in God and Men but the unsearchable Wisdom of God can do a great many things wisely and justly which our narrow minds cannot comprehend the Wisdom and Justice of Now this makes Infinite Wisdom a sufficient reason why we should acquiesce in the Wisdom and Justice of Providence notwithstanding such Events as we cannot understand the reasons of But an Unaccountable Will which acts by no Rules of Justice as far as we can understand what Justice means can give no reasonable satisfaction to any man for it is no reason to be satisfied with Providence That God does such things by a Sovereign and Arbitrary Will as the reason of mankind condemns as unjust for this does not answer our Complaints but justifies them This is all the Atheist endeavours to prove and all that he desires should be granted him to confute the belief of a God and a Providence That God does such things
as we can give no satisfactory account of does him little service because the Unsearchable Wisdom of God answers such Difficulties but if we will grant him That God acts by such Rules as all men who judge impartially according to the natural notions and the natural sense which we have of Justice must think unjust this is what he would have and he will give us leave to talk as much as we please of the Arbitrary and Sovereign Will of God but he will believe no such God for this is not the Natural Notion of a God to be Arbitrary but to be Good and Just And to say that God is Good and Just but not Good and Just as men understand Goodness and Justice is to say that we have no Natural Notion of the Goodness and Justice of God and then we can have no Natural Notion of a God For if the Natural Notion of a God is That he is Just and Good it seems hard to think that we should have a Natural Notion of a Good and Just God without having any Natural Notion what his Justice and Goodness is but instead of that should have such Natural Notions of Justice and Goodness as if we believe what some men say of God can never be reconciled with his being Just and Good This then must be laid down as a standing Rule That we must never attribute any thing to God which contradicts the Natural Notions which we have of Justice and Goodness under a pretence That God is unaccountable and his ways and judgments unsearchable for it is not the Will of God which is always directed by Goodness and Justice that is unaccountable but his Wisdom not the standing Rules of his Providence which are nothing else but perfect and unerring Justice and Goodness but the application of particular Events to these Rules And having premised this by way of Caution I come now more particularly to consider in what Cases this is a reasonable Answer to all the Difficulties of Providence 1. Now in the first place I observe in general That the Unsearchableness of the Divine Wisdom in governing the world is a reasonable Answer to all difficulties which have no intrinsick or essential evil in them Whatever we see done in the world if it be possible to imagine any Cases or Circumstances wherein such a thing may be wisely and justly done we have reason to believe that the Infinite Wisdom of God had wise and just reasons for doing it tho we know not what they are For is it not great perverseness to charge God with doing such things unjustly as it is possible might be done for wise and just Reasons And yet I challenge all the Atheists in the world to name me any one thing which ever God did that could not possibly in no Cases or Circumstances whatsoever be wisely and justly done The Difficulties of Providence do not consist merely in external Events for all external Events may be good or evil just or unjust with respect to their different Circumstances of Time or Place or Person and the like And therefore when we see any thing happen which as far as we apprehend the case seems a difficulty in Providence if altering the Case would answer the difficulty it is only supposing that God sees the Case to be otherwise than we apprehend it to be and the Difficulty vanishes and is not this very easy and natural to suppose that God may know the Case better than we do And is it not much more reasonable to suppose that we mistake the Case than to charge the Divine Providence with doing any thing hard or unjust But to make you sensible of this I shall explain it a little more particularly Most of the Objections against Providence relate to the good or evil that happens to private Men or to Publick Societies to Kingdoms and Common-wealths such as the Length or Shortness of our Lives Health or Sickness Poverty or Riches Honour or Disgrace Famine Sword and Pestilence or the contrary Blessings of Plenty Peace and a wholsome Air the Changes and Revolutions of States and Empires the removing Kings and setting up Kings Now what of all this is there that God can never wisely and justly do May not God have very wise and just Reasons for lengthening some mens Lives and for shortening others For making men Rich or Poor Honourable or Vile For translating Kingdoms and Empires For sending Peace or War Plenty or Famine And if all these things can be wisely and justly done how can the doing of any of these things be an Objection against Providence Yes you 'l say such good or evil Events may be wrong applied to persons who do not deserve them and then they become unjust and so you apprehend they many times are and this is the Difficulty of Providence But now if there be no iniquity in the Events themselves when there are wise and just reasons for them why should we not rather conclude That there are wise Reasons for them when they are ordered and appointed by God Are not the Natural Notions we have of the Divine Justice a sufficient reason to believe that God never does any thing but what is just And is not his unsearchable Wisdom which sees such things as we cannot see a sufficient reason to confess That God may have wise and just Reasons for what he does tho we know them not This is enough to satisfy all the Friends of Providence and to silence its Enemies For if all those Events which they think hard or unjust may be very wise and just as the Natural Justice of God is reason to believe they are and as the unsearchable Wisdom of God proves they may be tho we do not see the Wisdom and Justice of them then it is certain That what may be wise and just can be no Argument against the Wisdom and Justice of Providence And when we have so many Reasons to believe a Providence such a may be is a reasonable answer to all such Difficulties as are themselves no more than may bees 2dly The unsearchable Wisdom of God is a reasonable satisfaction as to all Prerogative Acts which we must seek for no other reason of but the good Will and Pleasure of God I call those Prerogative Acts which are the exercise of a Free and Sovereign Will within the bounds of Just and Good The Divine Nature as Infinite as it is confines it self within the bounds of Justice and Goodness and the Prerogative of God as the Absolute and Sovereign Lord cannot transgress these bounds but there are a great many acts of Sovereignty relating to the free exercise of Justice and Goodness which are under the necessary direction of no Law but are only the free and unaccountable Choice of a Sovereign Will As in Scripture God is sometimes said to do such things according to his Will according to the good Pleasure of his Will according to his good Pleasure which always relates to such
Justice of Providence and to agree very exactly with the actual Administration of Providence For it is manifest that all good men are not rewarded nor all wicked men punished in this world that a Righteous Cause is sometimes oppressed and that Oppression and Injustice is very often prosperous which must needs appear a great Difficulty to those who make no difference between the Justice of God and Men who think that the Justice of Providence is as much concerned to defend all mens Rights and Properties as the Justice of a Prince is This makes them quarrel against Providence when they are hardly and unjustly used by men and so blinds their minds that they see not the true Reasons why God afflicts them and neither reverence his Judgments nor make a wise use of them The Reasons of this seem very plain the only Question is How it agrees with that account which the Scripture gives us of God's Justice and Righteousness For the Righteousness of God is represented in Scripture by loving Righteousness and favouring a Righteous Cause Thus 11. Psalm 7. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness and his countenance doth behold the upright And the Psalmist very often encourages himself to expect the Divine Favour and Protection from his own Innocence and Integrity and the Righteousness of his Cause 35. Psal. 19. Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause Stir up thy self and awake to my judgment even to my cause my God and my Lord. Iudge me O God according to thy righteousness and let them not rejoice over me Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at my hurt Let them be cloathed with shame and dishonour that magnify themselves against me Let them shout for joy and be glad that favour my righteous cause yea let them say continually Let the Lord be magnified which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant 23 24 26 27. v. The Lord shall judge the people Iudge me O Lord according to my righteousness and according to mine integrity that is in me Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end but establish the just for the righteous Lord trieth the heart and reins God judgeth the righteous and God is angry with the wicked every day If he turn not he will whet his sword he hath bent his bow and made it ready And concludes I will praise the Lord according to his righteousness and will sing praises to the name of the Lord most high 7. Psal. 8 c. Where the Righteousness of the Lord for which the Psalmist praises him is his Judging and Defending a Righteous Cause Thus in 9. Psalm 8 9 10. He shall judge the world in righteousness he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness The Lord also will be a refuge to the oppressed a refuge in time of trouble And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee for thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek thee It were easy to multiply Texts to this purpose where God is expresly declared to be an irreconcilable Enemy to all Injustice and Violence the Protector of the Widow the Fatherless and Oppressed and of all just and righteons men But those conclude a great deal too much who would prove from such Texts as these That no Righteous Man nor Righteous Cause shall ever be oppressed That good men shall always be prosperous and the wicked always miserable for it is evident that this was not the state of the world when these Psalms were penned and therefore this could not possibly be the meaning of them How many Complaints does the Psalmist make against his Enemies those who were wrongfully his Enemies 69. Psalm 4. That his Enemies were lively and strong and they that hated him wrongfully were multiplied 38. Psalm 19. How passionately does he pray for Protection against his Enemies How long wilt thou forget me O Lord for ever how long wilt thou hide thy face from me how long shall I take counsel in my soul having sorrow in my heart daily how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me 13. Psalm 1 2. The 37th Psalm is a plain proof that wicked men were very prosperous in those days tho they are threatned with final destruction And to the same purpose the 73d Psalm gives us a large description of the Prosperity and Pride of bad men many of whom spend their lives and end their days prosperously I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked For there are no bands in their death but their strength is firm They are not in trouble as other men neither are they plagued as other men Behold these are the ungodly who prosper in the world they encrease in riches The Prosperity of bad men and the Miseries and Afflictions of the good were in those days a great Difficulty in Providence and were so to the Psalmist himself and therefore it is certain that whatever he says of the Righteousness of God and his care of Righteous men and his abhorrence of all Wickedness and Injustice cannot signify That God will always defend men in their just Rights that he will always prosper a Righteous Cause and Righteous Men for this was against plain matter of fact and we cannot suppose the Psalmist so inconsistent with himself as in the same breath to compalin that wicked men were prosperous and good men afflicted and to affirm That the Just and Righteous Judge of the World would always punish Unjust Oppressors and protect the Innocent Nay indeed the very nature of the thing proves the contrary for there can be no Unjust Oppressors if no body can be oppressed in their just Rights and therefore it is certain the Divine Providence does at least for a time suffer some men to be very prosperous in their Oppressions and does not always defend a just and innocent Cause for if he did there could be no innocent oppressed man to be relieved nor any Oppressor to be punished And if it be consistent with the Justice and Righteousness of Providence to permit such things for some time we must conclude that it is at the discretion of Providence how long good men shall be oppressed and the Oppressor go unpunished The plain account then of this matter as it is represented in Scripture is this 1. That as God is infinitely Just and Righteous himself so he loves Justice and Righteousness among men he loves Righteousness and Righteous Men and hates all Injustice Violence and Injuries for the Righteous Lord must love Righteousness and hate Iniquity and therefore though the Divine Justice is Superior to all Human Rights and his Authority Absolute and Sovereign to dispose of all his Creatures and of all they have as his own Wisdom directs yet men cannot invade each other's Rights without Injustice and when Rights and Properties are setled by Human Laws it is
them in their own Land or carry them captive into strange Countries This destroy'd all their Rights and Properties at once and yet I suppose no man will say that the Philistins or Moabites or Aramites had any right to invade Canaan and to bring Israel under their Yoke and Nebuchadnezzar had no better right than they when he destroyed the Temple and City of Ierusalem and carried the Iews captive to Babylon but God was very just and righteous in this though he did not defend them in their just Rights because they had deserved such punishments And thus throughout the Book of Psalms the protection of the Divine Providence is promised only to good and righteous men to those who love God who fear and reverence and worship and put their trust in him that if men be not thus qualified whatever their Cause is they have no right to the Protection of Providence And this is the Justice of Providence not to secure Human Rights but to protect and defend good men and to punish the wicked 3dly We may observe also in Scripture That notwithstanding the Justice of Providence and God's love to Righteousness and to righteous Men he still by a Sovereign Authority reserves to himself a liberty to correct and chastise good men and to exercise their Graces and Vertues and to serve the ends of his own Glory by their Sufferings We must distinguish between Acts of Discipline and Justice which have very different ends and measures as the Correction of a Child differs from the Execution of a Malefactor For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth He corrects us for our profit that we may be partakers of his holiness 7. Heb. 7 8 9. Very good men may fall into such great sins as may deserve a severe correction not only to give them a greater abhorrence of their sins and make them more watchful for the future but to be an Example to others and in such cases Repentance it self though it will obtain their pardon will not excuse them from Temporal Punishments as we see in the Example of David when he had been guilty of Adultery and Murther upon his repentance God declared his pardon by the Prophet Nathan but would not remit his punishment which was not so much an act of Justice and Vengeance as of necessary Discipline And these are generally the many Afflictions of the Righteous out of which the Psalmist tells us God will at last deliver them whereas the Punishments of the Wicked when God after a long patience awakes to judgment are usually for their final ruin and destruction Thus good men may have many secret failings and miscarriages known to none but God and themselves which may deserve severe corrections which sometimes are made an argument against the Justice of Providence when the correction is visible but the causes for which they are corrected unknown Other good men suffer for the trial of their faith which is more precious than of gold which perisheth and are trained up by great severities to heroical degrees of Vertue All this is very reconcilable with God's love of Righteousness and righteous Men for it is the effect of this Love And thus good Men for a time may visibly suffer as much as the wicked which occasions such Complaints that all things fall alike to all but such Corrections as these are not properly Acts of Justice but of Discipline not so much for the punishment of Good men as to make them better not the effects of Anger but of Love 4thly We may observe in Scripture also That God exercises a Sovereign Authority in exercising his Judgments upon Wicked men He does not always punish them as soon as they deserve punishment but sometimes waits patiently for their return sometimes uses them as the Instruments of his Justice to punish other Bad men or to correct the Miscarriages and to exercise the Graces and Vertues of Good men and when he has finished what he had to do by them reserves them for a more publick and glorious Execution to be the Triumphs of his just Vengeance and standing Examples to the World which we know was the case of Pharaoh and the King of Assyria of Antiochus and some great Persecutors of the Christian Faith Thus have I shewn you wherein the Justice of Providence consists both from the nature of the Divine Justice and the Ends of God's Government in this World and from the Account the Scripture gives us of it which will enable us to answer all the Objections against the Justice of Providence I shall observe but one thing more That it is evident from this Discourse that we must not judge of the goodness of any Cause by external and visible Success much less make the oppression of a just Cause any argument against the Justice of Providence For Justice does not oblige God always to favour a just Cause when those who have a just Cause deserve to be punished God may justly punish Bad men by unjust Oppressors for he is the Sovereign Lord of the World and can dispose of his Creatures as his own Absolute Authority and Unsearchable Wisdom shall direct CHAP. VI. The Holiness of Providence THE next Enquiry is concerning the Holiness of Providence For God is a Holy Being as Holiness is opposed to all Impurity and Wickedness and such as God's Nature is such his Government must be and therefore the Psalmist 145. Psalm 17. assures us That the Lord is not only righteous in all his ways which signifies the Justice of Providence which I have already discoursed of but he is holy in all his works as he tells us more at large 5. Psal. 4 5 6 For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness neither shall evil dwell with thee The foolish shall not stand in thy sight thou hatest all workers of iniquity thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man And yet there want not Objections and such as some men think inexplicable difficulties against the Holiness of Providence And therefore my design at present is to set this in as clear a light as I can and to that end I shall enquire 1. What the Holiness of God requires of him in the Government of the world 2. What it does not require of him And 3. What is Inconsistent and Irreconcilable with the Holiness of Providence And if God Governs the World as his Essential Holiness requires that he should Govern it if what men ignorantly Object against Providence be no just impeachment of his Holiness and if nothing be justly chargeable on Providence which is inconsistent and irreconcilable with the Holiness of the Divine Nature I suppose I need then add no more to vindicate the Holiness of Providence 1. Now as for the first the case seems very plain That the Holiness of a Governour in the Government of Reasonable Creatures and Free Agents can require no more of him
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
of particular Creatures but of the good of the whole And this in some Cases may make the greatest and most terrible Acts of Severity such as are enough to afright and astonish the World Acts of the greatest Goodness and Mercy too which will vindicate the Goodness of Providence when God seems to be most severe and to have forgot all Goodness and Compassion As to explain this in some particular Cases The good government of the World requires the defence and protection of Mankind from violent and unjust Oppressions and the most exemplary Vengeance executed upon such private or publick Oppressors is a great Act of Goodness and a great deliverance to the Oppressed 136. Psalm the Psalmist exhorts us To give thanks to the Lord for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever And among other Expressions of the Divine Goodness and Mercy he mentions the Plagues of Egypt and the Deliverance of Israel by the overthrow of Pharaoh in the Red-Sea To him that smote Egypt in their first-born for his mercy endureth for ever And brought out Israel from among them for his mercy endureth for ever With a strong hand and with a stretched-out arm for his mercy endureth for ever To him which divided the Red-sea into parts for his mercy c. and made Israel to pass through the midst of it but over-threw Pharaoh and his host in the Red-sea for his mercy c. To him who smote great kings and slew famous kings Sihon king of the Amorites and Og the king of Bashan and gave their land for an heritage even for an heritage to Israel his servant for his mercy endureth for ever This ought to be well considered before we object the Evils and Calamities which befall Bad men against the Goodness of Providence For there are few Bad men who suffer any Remarkable Vengeance but that their Sufferings are a great kindness and deliverance to others and it may be to the Publick in breaking their Power or taking them out of the World And in all such Cases the Psalmist has taught us a very proper Hymn I will sing of mercy and judgment unto thee O Lord will I sing 101. Psal. 1. Thus the good government of the World requires some great and lasting Examples of God's Justice and Vengeance against Sin And as terrible as such Examples are they are a great publick Good to the World Some few such Examples as these will serve to warn an Age nay many succeeding Ages and Generations of men which prevents the more frequent Executions of Vengeance and justifies the Patience and Long-suffering of God to Sinners If such Examples in any measure reform the World as God intends they should it makes this World a much happier place for the better men are the less hurt and the more good they will do and the less evil there is committed in the World the less Mankind will suffer and the greater Blessings God will bestow on them And though there be a great deal of Wickedness committed in the World after such Terrible Warnings as these God may exercise great Patience and Forbearance towards Sinners without the least blemish to his Holiness or Justice For such Frightful Executions convince the World of God's Justice and when God has publickly vindicated the Honour of his Justice he may try gentler Methods and glorify his Mercy and Patience towards Sinners And thus God punishes that he may spare is sometimes very terrible in his Judgments to prevent the necessity of striking often that Sinners may have sufficient warning and that he may be good to Sinners without encouraging them in sin Thus the destruction of the Old World by a Deluge of Water when they were past being reformed is a warning to all Sinners as long as this World lasts and is a publick and standing Confutation of Atheism of such Scoffers as say where is the promise of his coming for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation The constant and regular course of Nature without any Supernatural Changes and Revolutions tempts men to think that there is no God in the World who changes Times and Seasons but this St. Peter tells us is visibly confuted by the destruction of the Old World for this they are willingly ignorant of that by the word of God the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished And this is reason enough to fear and expect what God has threatned That this present World shall be burnt by fire But the heavens and the earth which are now by the same word are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men 2 Peter 3. 5 6 7. Such Destructions as these can be attributed to no Natural Causes but the same Word which made the World destroyed the Old World by Water and will destroy this by Fire which makes it a visible Demonstration of the Power and Justice of God The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by Fire from Heaven is not only a general Warning to Sinners but an Example of a Divine Vengeance against all Uncleanness and Unnatural Lusts. As St. Iude tells us Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh are set forth for an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire v. 7. Thus the Destruction of Ierusalem by the Romans which was attended with the most terrible Circumstances that we ever meet with in Story is a lasting Confutation of Infidelity and a glorious Testimony to Christ and his Religion So that most of the terrible Examples of God's Vengeance how terrible soever they were to those who suffered are Acts of great Goodness to the World and therefore belong to the Goodness of Government by some severe Executions to protect and defend the Innocent and reclaim other Offenders without the necessity of terrifying the World in every Age with such repeated Severities Nay we may observe farther That when the World is grown very corrupt and degenerate and such Sinners if they be suffered to continue in it will certainly propagate their Atheism Infidelity and Lewdness to all Posterity it is great Goodness to all succeeding Generations to cleanse the World of its impure Inhabitants by some great Destruction by Sword or Plague or Famine to lessen the number of Sinners and to possess those who escape with a greater awe and reverence of God's Judgments Nay to observe but one thing more Many times these terrible Shakings and Convulsions of the World are intended by God to open some new and more glorious Scene of Providence Thus it was in the Four Empires which preyed upon each other and were at last swallowed up by the Roman Powers though they made great Destructions in the World yet they carried Learning and Civility into
this kind Father to keep such a watchful eye over them and to take such prudent and effectual care as not to suffer them utterly to undo themselves to make their condition hopeless and desperate but only to let them feel the smart of their own folly to bring them to more sober thoughts not to perish under it till there is no hope left of reclaiming them What could a kind Father do more for Prodigals unless you would have him maintain them in their luxury and lewdness which a wise and good Father can't do He brought none of these miseries upon them and it is kindness to let them smart under them to prevent their undoing as long as he can he turns the miseries they bring upon themselves only into a state of discipline he suffers them to injure one another to make them all sensible of their folly and those who are past recovery he makes Examples of greater Severities to reform the rest If this would be thought a kind merciful and wise Conduct in earthly Parents apply it to the Providence of God and you have an answer to most of the miseries of Human Life 3dly In answer to this Objection against the Goodness of Providence from the many evils and miseries that are in the World we may consider further That as most of these evils are owing to our own or to other mens sins so it is we our selves who give the sting to them all As many external Calamities as there are in the World and as the present state of this World requires there should be in it God has made abundant provision for the support of good men under them It is not always in our power to avoid many of the Sufferings and Calamities of life but it is our own fault if we sink under them Natural Courage and strength of mind the powers of Reason and a wise consideration of the nature of things the belief of a Good Providence which takes care of us and orders all things for our good and the certain hopes of immortal life will support good men under their sufferings and make them light and easy And if God enable us to bear our sufferings and to enjoy our selves under them to possess our Souls in patience and to rejoyce in hope though we may suffer we are not miserable and Sufferings without misery are no formidable Objections against Providence this is like the Bush that was on fire but was not burnt a signal token of the Divine Presence and Favour and that can be no objection against the Goodness of Providence What is merely external may afflict a good man but cannot make him miserable for no man is miserable whose mind is easy and chearful full of great hopes and supported with Divine Joys But the disorders of our Passions make us miserable and make us sink under external Sufferings An immoderate love of this World Pride Ambition Covetousness Anger Hatred Revenge make every Condition uneasy and any great Sufferings intolerable It is this that makes Poverty and Disgrace the loss of Estate and Honours the Frowns of Princes and the Clamours of the People such unsufferable Evils which a wise and good man cannot only bear but modestly despise It is this that terrifies us with the least approach of danger and distracts us with fear and care and solicitude and with all the imaginary evils and frightful appearances which a scared fancy can raise in the dark Especially when guilt makes men afraid and look upon every misfortune disappointment affliction as a token of the Divine Vengeance and a terrible presage of the endless miseries of the next life External Evils and Calamities as far as they are good can be no objection against the Goodness of Providence and they are good as far as the Providence of God is concerned in them for they are permitted and ordered by God for wise and good ends and if they do not prove good to us it is our own fault who will not be made better by them Whatever men suffer if their sufferings do not make them miserable this is no just reproach to Providence for God may be very good to his Creatures whatever they suffer while they can suffer and be happy not perfectly and compleatly happy which admits of no sufferings but such a degree of self-enjoyment as reconciles external Sufferings with inward peace contentment patience hope which is the happiness of a suffering state and a much greater happiness than the most prosperous Fortune without it and if we be not thus happy under all our Sufferings it is our own fault Thus the Wise-man tells us That it is not so much external Sufferings which is all that can be charged upon the Divine Providence which makes men miserable but the inward guilt and disorders of their own minds 18. Prov. 14. The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity but a wounded spirit who can bear And if all that God inflicts on us may be born our misery is owing to our selves But I have so particularly discoursed this upon another occasion that I shall enlarge no farther on it 2dly Another Objection against the Goodness of Providence is God's partial and unequal care of his Creatures and I confess Partiality is a very great Objection both against Justice and an Universal Goodness and such the Goodness of Providence must be The foundation of the Objection is this That there are very different ranks and conditions of men in the World Rich and Poor High and Low Princes and Subjects and a great many degrees of Power and Honour and Riches and Poverty and we cannot say that God deals equally by all these men whose Fortunes are so very unequal But there is no great difficulty in answering this For 1. The Goodness of Providence consists in consulting the general good and happiness of Mankind and of particular men in subordination to the good of the whole and this fully answers the Objection For though there are too many who are not well satisfied with their own Station and never will be unless they could be uppermost yet I dare appeal to any man of common sense whether it be not most for the good of Mankind that there should be very different Ranks and Orders of men in the World There is not any one thing more necessary to the happiness of the World than good Government and yet there could be no Government in an equality and there is nothing makes such an inequality like an unequal Fortune Were all men equally rich and great there would be neither Subjects nor Servants for no man will chuse to be a Subject or a Servant who has an equal title to be a Lord and Master And then no man could be rich and great which are only comparative terms and which is worse than that no man could be safe And if an inequality in mens Fortunes be as necessary as Government that is a sufficient justification of Providence for Humane Societies
meaning of it from what Noah had often told them and this must needs convince them of the terrible Justice and Vengeance of God And the gradual increase of the Flood gave them some time to repent in and to beg God's pardon and I 'm sure this makes a glorious representation both of the Goodness and Wisdom of God in the most terrible Judgment that ever was executed upon the world if we had sufficient reason to believe as there want not some fair appearances of it that God intended the Deluge as well to convince and save all that could be brought to repentance in the Old World as to reform the New Thus since God had determined to destroy that wicked Generation of men and to preserve only Noah and his three Sons to destroy the Earth by a Deluge and to shut up Noah in the Ark was as great or a greater mercy to Noah than his preservation was Let us suppose that instead of drowning the world God had at once destroyed all Mankind by Plague or Thunder from Heaven or some other sudden stroke excepting Noah and his Sons who should be Eye-witnesses of this Terrible Execution and live to see the Earth covered with dead Bodies and none left to bury them and their Cities lie waste and desolate without Inhabitants who can conceive what the horror of such a sight would have been who would have been contented to live in such a world to converse only with the Images of Death and with noisome Carkasses But God in great mercy shut up Noah in the Ark that he should not see the Terror and Consternation of Sinners when the Flood came and he washed away all their dead Bodies into the Caverns of the Earth with all the marks and signs of their Old Habitations that when Noah came out of the Ark he saw nothing but a new and a beautiful World nothing to disturb his imagination no marks or remains of that Terrible Vengeance This indeed destroyed all other living Creatures as well as Sinners excepting those that were in the Ark with Noah but this I suppose is no great objection against Providence that the Creatures which were made for man's use were destroyed with man since God preserved some of each Kind for a new increase and yet the Wisdom of God was very visible in this for had the World been full of Beasts when there were but four men in it the whole Earth would quickly have been possessed by Wild and Savage Creatures which would have made it a very unsafe habitation for men To conclude this Argument the sum of it in short is this When the wickedness of Mankind was grown universal and incurable it became the Wisdom of God to put an end to that Corrupt State and to propagate a new Race of men from a Righteous Stock and to take the most effectual course to possess them with a lasting belief of his Being and Providence and with a religious awe of his Justice and Power To this end he destroyed the Old World with a Deluge of Water and preserved Noah and his Sons in the Ark which had all the advantages imaginable to deter men from sin which brought a Deluge upon the Old World and to encourage the practise of true Piety and Vertue which preserved Noah from the Common Ruin We see in this Example that numbers are no defence against the Divine Justice and therefore no security to Sinners when all flesh had corrupted his ways God destroyed them all nay we see that the more wickedness prevails in the world the nearer it is to destruction that the great multitude of Sinners is so far from being a reasonable temptation and encouragement to sin that it is a fair warning to considering men to separate and distinguish themselves from a wicked world by an exemplary Vertue that God may distinguish them also when he comes to Judgment which an universal corruption of manners shews to be very near and it is a dangerous thing to sin with a multitude when the multitude of Sinners will hasten Vengeance Here we see that though Sinners may be very secure they are never safe as our Saviour observes it was in the days of Noah they were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriages until the day that Noah went into the Ark and knew not until the flood came and took them all away 24. Matth. 37 38 39. God may delay punishment a great while and seem to take no notice of what is done below till Sinners begin to think that he is such a one as themselves but their Judgment all this while neither slumbers nor sleeps there may be the greatest Calm and the serenest days before the most terrible Earthquakes and the longer God has kept silence the more reason have we to expect a severe and surprizing Vengeance which makes the Psalmist's Advice in such Cases very seasonable Now consider this ye that forget God lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver And who would be afraid or be ashamed of Noah's singularity to be good alone and to be the single Example of Piety and Vertue that remembers that he alone with his three Sons were saved from the Deluge and he that would be a Noah in the Ark must be a Noah in a wicked World But this is sufficient to justify the Wisdom of Providence as to Noah's Flood which put an end to the Old World and now let us take a view of the New Notwithstanding that late terrible Example of God's Power and Justice in the destruction of the Old World that new Generation of men began to grow very corrupt as God foresaw they would but resolved to try some new methods and not to drown the world any more When Noah had offered a Burnt-offering to the Lord of every clean beast and of every clean fowl after his coming out of the Ark The Lord smelled a sweet savour and the Lord said in his heart I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth Neither will I again smite any more every living thing as I have done 8. Gen. 20 21. The first Exploit we hear of them was their building the Tower of Babel which Story is so briefly related by Moses that we cannot give a perfect account of the Reasons and Circumstances of it The most probable Account seems to be this that Nimrod the Son of Cush and Grandson of Ham in which Line True Religion and Piety first decayed affecting an Universal Empire to prevent the dispersion of the People persuaded them to build a magnificent Seat for his Empire which should be a center of Union for them at what distance soever they should be forced to remove That the whole Earth should be but one Kingdom and Babel the Royal Palace Had this Design succeeded the whole world would have been but one People and the Universal Monarchy in the Line of
there was a Power and therefore a God above them all whom all Mankind ought to fear and worship This convinc'd Nebuchadnezzar of the Power of the God of Israel when he had delivered Shadrach Meshach and Abed-nego from the fiery Furnace he made a Decree That every people nation and langage which spake amiss against the God of Shadrach Meshach and Abed-nego shall be cut in pieces and their houses shall be made a dunghill because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort Thus when God had delivered Daniel from the Lion's Den Darius made a Decree That in every dominion of his kingdom men should tremble and fear before the God of Daniel For he is the living God and stedfast for ever and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed and his dominion shall be even unto the end He delivereth and rescueth and worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth who hath delivered Daniel from ihe power of the lions Both these Kings were convinced by these great and wonderful Works that the God of Israel was the Supream God but Nebuchadnezzar's Decree only forbids men to blaspheme God Darius seems to command all People to worship him for to tremble and fear before him signifies a religious veneration but neither of them appointed any solemn Worship to be paid him much less did they forbid the Worship of any other Gods But a little consideration would have carried them farther for those mighty Works which proved a Power superior to all Gods proved a Sovereign Providence too that this Supream God had not so committed the Government of the world to any Ministers or inferior Deities but that he reserved the supream disposal of all things in his own hands as Nebuchadnezzar was convinced that His dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom is from generation to generation and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing and he doth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him What dost thou This cut off all reasonable Pretences of paying Divine Worship to their Country-goods for if there be a Superior Power and Providence over them at most they could be only Ministers of the Divine Will and therefore could have no title to Divine Honours no more than Ministers of State have to the Royal Dignity And it was very reasonable to conclude this when they saw that this Supream God would not suffer Israel whom he had chosen for his peculiar People to worship any other God besides himself This was not unknown to the Egyptians but was more manifest in After-ages when God so severely punished them for their Idolatry and was made evident to Nebuchadnezzar and Darius when God delivered Shadrach Meshach and Abednego out of the fiery Furnace who refused to worship the Golden Image which he had set up and delivered Daniel from the power of the Lions when he was cast into the Lions Den for praying to his God This shews the strange power of Prejudice and Custom but yet we must confess that this was wisely designed by God for the cure of Polytheism and Idolatry Having thus vindicated and explained the Wisdom of Providence both with respect to the removal of Israel out of the Land of Canaan into Egypt and the hard bondage they suffered there and their deliverance out of Egypt with a mighty hand and out-stretched arm with Signs and Wonders and Miracles let us now follow them into the Wilderness God having chose Israel for his peculiar People and delivered them out of Egypt before he shewed them openly to the world under such a peculiar Character it was necessary first to form their Manners to take care that they should own him for their God and behave themselves as it became so glorious a Relation this could not be done in Egypt where they were oppressed by hard bondage and therefore God first leads them into the Wilderness remote from the conversation of all other People and upon all accounts a fit place both to instruct and try them I do not intend as I said before to inquire into the Mystical Reasons of those various Providences with which God exercised them in the Wilderness to which our Saviour and his Apostles so often refer and which they apply to the Gospel-state but shall only consider the Wisdom of Providence as to the external and visible conduct of that People to make them fit to be owned before all the World for his peculiar People They had lived two hundred years in Egypt and were tinctur'd with the Idolatries and had learnt the corrupt Manners of that People and had all that meanness and stupidity and perverseness of humour that a state of Servitude and Bondage is apt to create of which we have too many visible Instances in their behaviour towards Moses All this was to be corrected before their entrance into Canaan which will give us the reasons of some very wonderful Providences The first remarkable thing to this purpose to be observed is God's delivering the Law to them with all the most formidable Solemnities in an audible Voice from Mount Sinai Which Moses tells them was such a thing as was never known before since the day that God created man upon the earth Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire as thou hast heard and live And the use Moses makes of it is very natural to confirm them in the Belief and Worship of the One Supream God Vnto thee it was shewed that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God there is none else besides him Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice that he might instruct thee and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire Know therefore this day and consider it in thine heart that the Lord is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath there is none else For what can convince men that there is One Supream God if such a terrible Appearance as that on Mount Sinai and the Law delivered in an audible Voice from Heaven will not convince them Numa pretended to receive his Laws from the Goddess Aegeria as some other Lawgivers pretended to do the like but no man knew any thing of it but themselves but here a whole Nation heard God speak to them and saw such an Awful Appearance upon the Mount as made Moses himself fear and tremble I desire any man to tell me how God who is a Pure Invisible Mind could possibly give a more visible Demonstration of his Presence and Power I desire the Wittiest and most Philosophical Atheists only for Experiment sake to suppose the Truth of that Relation which Moses gives us of this matter and that they themselves had been present at Mount Sinai had seen the Smoke and Fire
and not only restored Peace to the Christian Church but made Christianity the Religion of the Empire And if the Wisdom of Providence consists in giving us wise Instructions I am sure this furnishes us with many When things are reduced to that extremity as to be past Human relief it makes it visible to all the world that it is God's doing Where there is Force against Force and Counsels against Counsels though Providence determines the Event Human Power and Counsels very often monopolize the Glory and leave God out but when God does that which men are so far from being able to do that they can't think it possible to be done this awakens a sense of an Invisible Power and makes the Divine Glory and Providence known to the world When God exposes his own Church and People to such a suffering state and threatens them with Final Ruin it is a severe Summons to repentance and warns them not to trust in vain words crying The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord for God will purge his own House and no External Relation or Priviledges shall secure us from Vengeance if we walk not worthy of that holy vocation wherewith we are called But such Deliverances as these give us great reason never to despair they teach us That no case is desperate when God will save and therefore the less expectation we at any time have of Human Succors the more earnestly ought we to implore the Divine Protection and learn to live upon Faith and Trust in God When Good men are reduced to such Extremities it makes them more fervent and importunate in their Prayers more serious in their Repentance more sensible how much they stand in need of God and such surprizing and unexpected Deliverances inflame their Devotions make their Praises and Thanksgivings more hearty and sincere which gives great glory to God and betters their own minds 5thly The sudden Revolutions of the world and the various and unexpected Changes of mens Fortunes which is thought one great Calamity of Human Life is intended by God to instruct us in some necessary and excellent parts of Wisdom Some Crafty Politicians like Mariners steer their course as the Wind blows and change as it changes They have no other Rule for their Actions but to guess as well as they can where their advantage or safety lies but Providence very often disappoints them in this by such hasty changes and short turns as make them giddy and this teaches us to act by Rule not by a politick foresight of Events our Rule can never deceive us what is just and right and true is always safe but our Politicks may for things may not go as we expect The various changes of mens Fortunes teach us to treat all men with great humanity not to be insolent when we are prosperous nor to despise our Inferiors for we know not what they nor we may be before we die Civility and modesty of conversation is always safe but pride and insolence may create us Enemies who may in time how mean soever they are at present be able to return our insolence The Divine Providence so orders Human Affairs as to teach us most of the wisest Rules of Human Life both for our Religious and Civil Conversation and this I take to be a manifest proof of the Wisdom of Providence 6thly The Wisdom of Providence is often seen in the wise mixture and temperament of Mercy and Judgment when he corrects but not destroys humbles but does not cast down when he makes us sensible of his displeasure and gives us just reason to fear but without despair when as the Psalmist speaks He lifts up and casts down keeps us under the discipline of hopes and fears and tries our Faith and Patience and Submission and both threatens and invites us to repentance by the interchangeable Scenes of prosperous and adverse Events Thus the Psalmist tells us it is with good men The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his way though he fall he shall not utterly be cast down for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand 37. Psal. 23 24. Thus 94. Psal 14 15. For the Lord will not cast off his people neither will he forsake his inheritance but judgment shall return unto righteousness and all the upright in heart shall follow it And he proves this by his own Experience Vnless the Lord had been my help my soul had almost dwelt in silence When I said my feet slippeth thy mercy O Lord held me up 17 18 Verses An Example of this ye have 27. Isaiah Hath he smitten them that is Israel as he smote those that smote him He smote Israel but not as he smote the Enemies of Israel Or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him In measure when it shooteth forth wilt thou debate with it He stayeth his rough wind in the day of his east wind This is to sing to God of Mercy and of Judgment to learn righteousness by the things which we suffer but still to trust in his help CHAP. IX Concerning those Duties which we owe to Providence I Have now finished what I intended with relation to the Nature and Justification of Providence and all that remains is to explain and enforce those Duties which we owe to Providence Natural Religion is founded on the belief of a God and a Providence for if there be no God there is no Object of our Worship if there be no Providence there is no Reason for our Worship But a God that made the world and takes care of all the Creatures that are in it deserves the Praises and Adorations of all A God who neither made the world nor governs it is nothing to us we have no relation to him he has nothing to do with us nor we with him but a God in whom we live and move and have our being is the Supream Object of our love and fear and reverence and hope and trust and of all those religious and devout Affections which are due to our Maker and Soveraign Lord. This is so plain that it is enough to name it but the nature and extent of those Duties which we owe to Providence deserves a more particular consideration As to instance in some of the chief 1. To take notice of the Hand of God in every thing that befalls us to attribute all the Evils we suffer and all the good things we enjoy to his Soveraign Will and Appointment This is the foundation of all the other Duties which we owe to Providence and the general neglect of this makes us defective in all the rest Now if the Divine Providence has the absolute government of all Events you must confess it your duty to take notice of Providence and to acknowledge God in every thing for this is only applying the general Doctrine of Providence to particular Events without which particular application the general belief of a
Providence will and can have no effect upon us The Psalmist complains of those wicked men who regard not the works of the Lord nor the operation of his hands 28. Psal. 5. And a great many such there are who have a general notion and belief of a Providence but take no notice of what God does or take no notice of God in what is done Most men are too apt to attribute all Events to the immediate and visible Causes and though at other times they will own a God and a Providence yet as to particular Events take as little notice of God as if he had nothing to do in it Such a belief of Providence as this is of no use at all in Religion it neither gives glory to God nor has any influence upon the government of our lives But if we will own Providence to the true ends and purposes of Religion we must not content our selves with a general belief of God's governing the world but whatever our state and condition be or whatever extraordinary good or evil happens to us we must receive all as from the Hand of God If we are poor we must own this to be God's will and appointment that we should be poor if we be rich we must consider that it is God's Blessing which maketh rich if we lose our Estates by Injustice and Oppression we must acknowledge as Iob did The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away And whatever Evils and Miseries befall us we must say with good old Eli It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good Or with David I was dumb and opened not my mouth because it is thy doings Without believing God's government of all Events we deny a particular Providence and unless at the very time when any good or evil befals us we see and acknowledge God's hand in it we can have no present affecting sense of his Providence All such Acts of Providence are lost as far as our taking no notice of them can lose them God loses the glory of his Goodness Mercy Patience or Justice and we lose those Divine Comforts and Supports or those Spiritual Instructions and Admonitions which a due sense and acknowledgment of Providence would have furnished us with And therefore let us accustom our selves in all Events in the first place to take notice of God and his Providence which will teach us how to behave our selves in all Circumstances and how to make the best and wisest use of whatever happens and it was necessary to premise this for it is in vain to teach men their duty to Providence till they have learnt to attribute all particular Events to the Providence of God and to live under a constant sense and regard of it 2dly When we have thus affected our minds with a just sense of the Divine Providence in every thing that befalls us we must in the next place take care to compose our Souls to a quiet and humble submission to the Sovereign Will and Pleasure of God in all things All men confess that it is our duty to submit to the Will of God and if all the Events of Providence are God's doings and what God does is his Will as the Scripture assures us it is and Reason tells us it must be unless God does any thing against his own Will then we must submit to the Providential Will of God in all Events as well as to the Commanding Will of God in obeying his Laws The Soveraign Authority and Dominion of God requires this of us for we are his and he may dispose of our Condition and Fortune in the world as he pleases The Absolute Power of God makes it both prudent and necessary For who hath hardened himself against him and prospered that is against his Providential Will for that whole Dispute is about Providence And the Wisdom and Goodness of God makes it both reasonable and our interest to submit to him for all his Providences how severe soever they may appear are ordered for the good of those who do submit to him So that it is our duty to submit because he is our Soveraign Lord whether we will submit or no we must suffer his Will because we cannot resist his Power and there is no danger in submitting to God for he will consult our present and future Happiness and do better for us than we could chuse for our selves This is plain enough but that which I principally intend is to consider the nature and various acts of that Submission which we owe to Providence or to the Providential Will of God and I shall distinctly inquire what submission we owe to Providence under all the Evils Afflictions and Calamities of life and in those several states conditions and relations of life which the Providence of God placeth us in 1. What submission we owe to Providence under all the Sufferings and Afflictions which we meet with in this world I do not mention a happy and prosperous Fortune for it requires no great submission to be prosperous this is what all men desire and chuse but to submit is to make our own Wills and Desires and Fears and Aversions and natural Passions and Affections stoop and yield to the Will of God which there is no occasion for but in a suffering and afflicted state Now when we suffer such things as are very grievous to flesh and blood submission to the Will of God does not require that we should not feel our Sufferings that we should not be afflicted with them that we should not complain of them for to submit to God is not to put off the sense and passions of human Nature it does not alter the nature of things nor our opinions about them Afflictions are afflictions still and will be felt and though we must bear them in submission to God yet we must bear them as Afflictions can be born and as human Nature can bear them with pain and grief and reluctancy with sighs and groans and complaints with vehement and importunate desires and Prayers to God and man to help and deliver us We have frequent examples of this in Scripture The Psalms of David as they abound with all dutifull Expressions of Reverence and Submission to the Will of God so they are very full of complaints and of the most passionate sense of Sufferings represented so as to be felt in such a strain of moving Eloquence as not Art but Afflicted Nature teaches But we have one Example above all others and that is the Example of our Saviour Christ who suffered with Fear and Reluctancy and with earnest Prayers to his Father If it be possible let this cup pass from me The truth is the greater our fears and sorrows and aversions are the greater is our submission to God it may be thought a great weakness of Nature to be so much afraid of our Sufferings but it argues the greater strength of Faith and is a more glorious Victory over self to make our very
fears and aversions submit to the Divine Will for the more what we suffer is against our own will the greater is our submission to the Will of God Submission to God does not consist in courage and fortitude of mind to bear Sufferings which men may have without any sense of God and which the profoundest Reverence for God will not always teach us but he submits who receives the Bitter Cup and drinks it though with a Trembling heart and hand This ought to be observed for the comfort of those who have a very Devout sense of God and Reverence for his Judgments but betray great weakness of Mind and disorders of Passions under their Sufferings who are very impatient of Pain and have such soft and tender Passions that every Affliction galls them and when they reflect upon these Disorders this creates new and greater Troubles to them for they conclude that all this is want of a due Submission to the Will of God But Religion was never intended to extinguish the Sense and Affections of Nature to reconcile us to Pain or to make all things indifferent to us and while there is any thing that we love it will be grievous to part with it and while there is any thing that we fear it will be grievous to suffer it Religion will rectify our Opinions of things and cure our fondnesses and set bounds to our Passions but when all these flattering or frightful disguises are removed which magnified the Good or Evil that is in things yet Good and Evil they are and will excite in us either troublesome or delightful Passions and this will exercise our Submission to God to part with what we love and to suffer what we fear and were not this the case there were no use of Submission To explain this in a few words let us consider how that man must suffer who suffers with Submission to God and that is the Submission which we owe to Providence Now a man who suffers with Submission must not reproach and censure the Divine Providence but think and speak honourably of God how hardly soever he deals with him he may complain of what he suffers both to God and men but he must not complain of God This was Iob's Behaviour Naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away and blessed be the name of the Lord in all this Iob sinned not nor charged God foolishly I Job 21 22. And the Prophet David was an Example of the like Submission I was dumb I opened not my mouth because thou didst it 39. Psalm 9. He submitted silently and patiently as to God's hand opened not his mouth against God though he complains of the Wickedness of men and of the severity of his Sufferings Deliver me from all my transgressions make me not the reproach of the foolish remove thy stroke away from me I am consumed by the blow of thine hand 8 10. To reproach and revile Providence to fret against God or as Iob's Wife advised him to curse God to be weary of his Government and impatient to think that we cannot resist and cast off so uneasy a yoke this is directly contrary to Submission Such men suffer God's Will because they cannot help it but they would Rebel if they could those who are so outragious against what God does and so impatiently angry with God for doing it only want power to stay his hand and to pull him from his Throne Submission to God is the Submission of our Wills to the Will of God Now though no man can absolutely chuse sufferings for suffering is a natural Evil and therefore not the object of a free choice yet men may chuse suffering against the natural byass and inclination of their own wills in Subjection to the will of God Of this our Saviour is a great Example who express'd a great aversion against suffering Prayed earnestly Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me nevertheless not my will but thy will be done Our own wills will draw back and recoil at suffering For no affliction is for the present joyous but grievous but yet a will that is subject to God will deny it self and chuse that God's will should take place And this is our Submission to the Will of God in suffering yet how uneasie soever it be to us we are so far from complaining against God that we would not have it otherwise when God sees fit it should be so that though we do not and cannot chuse sufferings yet we chuse that the Will of God should be done though it be to suffer Another act of Submission to God is when we wait patiently on God till he think fit to deliver us when notwithstanding all we suffer our hope and trust and dependance is still on God To submit to God is to submit in Faith and Hope to submit as to the Corrections and Discipline of a Father for it is impossible for any man to submit without Hope as impossible as it is to be contented with final Ruin When we cast off our Hope in God there is an end of our Submission then we shall come to that desperate conclusion Behold this evil is of the Lord why should I wait on the Lord any longer 2 Kings 6. 33. But never was there a greater expression of Submission than that of Iob Though he slay me yet will I trust in him he also shall be my salvation for a hypocrite shall not come before him 13. Job 15 16. This the Psalmist has fully express'd 27. Psalm 13 14. I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of living Wait on the Lord be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart wait I say on the Lord. To Hope in the Mercy and Goodness of God even when he strikes to wait Patiently till he will be Gracious to make our complaints to him and to expect our Deliverance and Salvation only from him this is to Submit to the Will of God to make his Will our Will to attend all the motions of his Providence as patiently and diligently as a Servant does the commands of his Lord as it is elegantly represented 123. Psalm 1 2. Vnto thee lift I up mine eyes O thou that dwellest in the heavens Behold as the eyes of servants look upon the hand of their masters and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God until that he have mercy upon us This is that Submission which we owe to Providence under all the Evils and Calamities of Life and if we would make this Submission easy and chearful we must possess our Souls with a firm perswasion of the Wisdom and Goodness of God We must not look upon him a meer Soveraign and Arbitrary Lord for to submit to meer Arbitrary Will and Power is and will be very grievous
thus it is whenever God sees fit to interpose which he does as often as he has any wise end to serve by it Thus we are told That when a mans ways please the Lord he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him 16. Prov. 7. And it is a very remarkable Promise God makes to the Children of Israel that when all their Males should come Three times every Year to Worship God at Ierusalem by which means their Country was left without defence exposed to the Rapine of their Enemies who dwelt round about them That no man should desire their land when they go up to appear before the Lord. 34. Exod. 24. We have many Examples of this in Scripture and some of those many ways whereby God does it When Abraham sojourned in Gerar he said of Sarah his Wife that she was his Sister and Abimelech the King of Gerar sent and took her but God reproved Abimelech in a dream and tells him that he had withheld him from Sinning and not suffered him to touch her 20. Genes 1. c. Thus when Iacob fled from Laban with his Wives and Children and Laban pursued him God appeared to Laban in a dream and Commanded him that he should not speak to Iacob either good or hurt 31. Genes 24. Such appearances were very common in that Age though they seem very extraordinary to us but God does the same thing still by strong and lively impressions upon our minds by suggesting and fixing such thoughts in us as excite or calm our Passions as encourage us to bold and great Attempts or check us in our career by frightful Imaginations and unaccountable Fears and Terrors or by such other Arguments as are apt to change our Purposes and Counsels Sometimes God does this by a Concurrence of External Causes which at other times would not have been effectual but shall certainly have their Effect when God inforces the impression Thus God in a moment turned the Heart of Esau when he came out in great Rage against his Brother Iacob It was an old Hatred he had conceived against him for the loss of his Birthright and of his Blessing and he had for many years confirmed himself in a resolution to cut him off the first opportunity he had to do it And could it be expected that the Present which Iacob sent him which he could have taken if he had pleased without receiving it as a Gift and that the Submission of Iacob when he was in his Power should all on a sudden make him forget all that was past and the very Business he came for and turn his bloody Designs into the kindest Embraces No! this was God's work the effect of that Blessing which the Angel gave to Iacob after a whole Nights wrestling with him in Peniel 32. and 33. Genes and when God pleases the weakest means shall change the most sullen and obstinate Resolutions Of the same nature with this is the Story of David and Abigail Nabal had highly provoked David by the churlish Answer which he sent him and David was resolved to take a very severe revenge on Nabal and his House but God sent Abigail to pacifie him who by her presence and dutiful and submissive Behaviour and wise Counsels diverted him from those bloody resolutions he had taken as David himself acknowledges Blessed be the Lord God of Israel which sent thee this day to meet me and blessed be thy advice and blessed be thou who hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood and from avenging my self with my own hand 1 Sam. 25. 32 33. Saul pursued David in the Wilderness to take away his Life and God delivered him Twice into David's hands and the kindness David shewed him in not killing him when he was in his Power did at last turn the Heart of Saul that he pursued him no more 1 Sam. 26. 27. ch Thus God confounded the good Counsel of Ahitophel by the advice of Hushai which Absolom chose to follow and the Text tells us this was from God who had purposed to defeat the good counsel of Ahitophel to the intent that he might bring evil upon Absolom 2 Sam. 17. 14. Such an absolute Empire has God over the minds of men that he can turn them as he pleases can lead them into new thoughts and counsels with as great ease as the waters of a river may be drawn into a new Channel prepared for them 2dly When God does not think fit to change and alter mens Wills and Passions he can govern their Actions and serve the ends of his Providence by them When God suffers them to pursue their own Counsels and to do what they themselves like best he does that by their hands which they little expected or intended The same Action may serve very different Ends and therefore God and Men may have very different intentions in it and what is ill done by men and for a very ill End may be ordered by God for Wise and Good purposes Nay the ill Ends which men Designed may be Disappointed and the good which God intended by it have its Effect And this is as Absolute a Government over mens Actions as the ends of Providence require when whatever men do if they intend one thing and God another the counsel of God shall stand and what they intended shall have no effect any farther than as it is subservient to the Divine Counsels as to give some plain examples of it Ioseph's Brethren being offended at his Dreams and at the peculiar kindness which their Father Iacob shewed him resolved to get rid of him but God intended to send him into Egypt to advance him to Pharaoh's Throne and to transplant Iacob and his Family thither and therefore God would not suffer them to slay him as they at first intended but he suffered them to sell him to the Ishmaelites who carried him into Egppt which disappointed what they aimed at in it never to see or hear more of him but accomplished the Decrees and Counsels of God Another Example we have in the King of Assyria who came against Ierusalem with a powerful Army with an intention to destroy it but God intended no more than to Correct them for their Sins this God suffered him to do but he could do no more O Assyrian the rod of mine anger and the staff in their hand is mine indignation I will send him against a hypocritical nation and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge to take the spoil and to take the prey and to tread them down like the mire in the street Thus far God gave him Commission that is thus far God intended to suffer his Rage and Pride to proceed but this was the least of his intention Howbeit he thinketh not so but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few but in this God disappointed him Wherefore it shall come to pass that when the Lord hath performed his whole work
this World that they never care to think of another and that Afflictions and Adversity has many times a quite contrary effect to make men serious and considerate to possess them with an awe and reverence of God to correct and reform Bad men and to exercise the Graces and Vertues of the Good both the Reason of things and the Experience of Mankind may satisfy us That this is what God designs in those Afflictions and Sufferings he brings on Mankind the Scripture every where assures us and the natural conclusion from hence is That Afflictions are not evil nor any Objection against the Goodness of Providence If they prove evil to us it is our own fault for God designs them for good As the Apostle expresly tells us That all things work together for good to them that love God And whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth if ye endure chastening God dealeth with you as with sons for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not but if ye be without chastisement whereof all are partakers then are ye bastards and not sons 21. Hebr. 6 7 8. This then must be our great care to rectify our Notions of Good and Evil to withdraw our minds from Sense and not to call every thing good that is pleasant nor every thing evil that is afflicting this distinction the Heathen Poet long since observed and gives it as a Reason and a very wise and good Reason it is why we should entirely give up our selves to God and leave him to chuse our Condition for us Nam pro jucundis aptissima quaeque dabunt Dii That though God will not always give us those things which are most pleasant he will give us what is most profitable for us And if we judge of Good and Evil not by Sense nor by external Appearances but by that spiritual good they do or are intended to do us in making us Good men here and happy hereafter men may if they so please as reasonably quarrel with the great Ease and Prosperity which so many enjoy as with the Afflictions which others suffer for Prosperity does oftner corrupt mens Manners and betray them to Sin and Folly than Afflictions do Good men themselves can hardly bear a prosperous State nor resist the Temptations and Flatteries of Ease and Pleasure whereas Afflictions many times reform Bad men and make Good men better as the Psalmist himself owns It is good for me that I have been afflicted for before I was afflicted I went astray but since I have learned to keep thy laws And if both Prosperity and Adversity may be either for our good or hurt and when they are so we cannot always tell we must leave this to God and commit our selves to his Care and Discipline who knows us better than we know our selves and knows what is best for us But this may seem to start a new and more difficult Objection That if we must not judge of Good and Evil by external and sensible Events we can have no sensible Proofs of the Goodness or Justice of Providence As we cannot object the external Evils and Calamities that are in the World against the Goodness of Providence so neither can we prove the Goodness of Providence from those external and sensible Blessings which God bestows upon Mankind So that Religion gains nothing by this it silences indeed the Objections against Providence but it also destroys the Proofs of a Good and Just Providence The Answer to this Objection will give us a truer notion and understanding of the Goodness of Providence For though we cannot know love or hatred merely by external Events yet this does not destroy the natural good or evil of things nor the Justice or Goodness of Providence in doing good or in sending his Plagues and Judgments on the World Natural Good and Evil are the Instruments and Methods of Discipline Good men are encouraged and rewarded in this World by some external and natural Blessings and Bad men are restrained and governed by some natural Evils and the Goodness and Justice of God in doing good and in punishing make these external Blessings and Punishments the Methods of Discipline which could have no efficacy in them either to encourage Good men or to reform the Wicked but as they are the visible significations of God's Favour or displeasure and therefore such external Blessings and Punishments are evident Proofs of the Goodness and Justice of Providence or else they could not be the Methods of Discipline nor have any moral efficacy upon Mankind But yet when these Acts of Goodness or Justice are made the Methods of Discipline and not intended as the proper Rewards or Punishments of Vertue or Vice they are not always confined to Good or Bad men and therefore are not certain and visible Marks of God's Love or Hatred It is an Act of Goodness in God to do good to the Evil and to the Good To the Good it is a mark of his Favour and an incitement to a more perfect Vertue to the Evil an expression of his Patience and an invitation to Repentance but when he is good both to the Evil and to the Good the mere external Event can make no difference The external Good may be the same and God is good to both and intends good to both but yet has not equal favour to both It is an Act of Justice in God to punish and to correct Sin and both Good and Bad men many times feel the same Severities to correct and chastise the Follies and to quicken and inflame the Devotions of Good men and to over-awe and terrify Bad men with the sense of God's Anger and the fears of Vengeance This is to be just and to be good to both as great Goodness and Justice as it is to reform Bad men and to make Good men better tho the external Events of Providence in such Cases make little distinction between them We see in all these Instances manifest Proofs both of the Justice and Goodness of God though Prosperity is not always a Blessing nor Afflictions always evil They are always indeed in themselves Natural Goods and Evils and therefore are the proper Exercise of a Natural Goodness and Justice but with respect to Moral Ends to that influence they have upon the direction and government of our Lives what is naturally good may prove a great evil to us and what is naturally evil may do us the greatest good and then we must confess That the Goodness of Providence must not be measured merely by the natural good or evil of external Events but by such a mixture and temperament of good and evil as is best fitted to govern men in this World and to make them happy in the next 3dly There is another Mistake about the Nature of Government and what Goodness is required in the Government of the World Now the Universal Lord and Sovereign of the World must not only take care