Employment or Profession be shall serve Kings This is impossible in the nature of the thing and therefore cannot be the meaning of these Promises And yet such kind of Promises as these signify a great deal for the encouragement of Wisdom and Industry and Vertue not that every wise and prudent and diligent man shall be rich and honourable but that every man shall find the rewards of Religion and Vertue proportioned to his capacities and state of life and that this is God's way of promoting men when he advances them in favour and good-will to them and therefore this is the only way wherein we must expect the blessing and protection of God But then there are some Promises which are equally made to all good men and they are a sure foundation of our hope and trust if we be truly good men in all conditions As that God will never leave them nor forsake them 13. Hebr. 5. That he will always take care of them as a Father takes care of his Children That tho he may not think fit to advance them in the world yet he will provide Food and Raiment for them as our Saviour proves by many Arguments 6. Matth. 25 34. Take no thought for your life what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink nor yet for your bodies what ye shall put on is not the life more than meat and the body than raiment and will not that God who has given us our Lives and our Bodies give us what is absolutely necessary for their support Behold the fowls of the air they sow not neither do they reap nor gather into barns yet your heavenly father feedeth them are ye not much better than they Therefore take no thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewith shall we be cloathed for after all these things do the Gentiles seek for your heavenly father knoweth ye have need of all these things But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you This is an absolute Promise and gives absolute security to good men that if they take care to serve God God will take care to feed and cloath them either by blessing their ordinary prudence and industry or when that fails by extraordinary Providences by providing for them without their care or labour as he feeds the Fowls of the Air who neither sow nor reap And to name but one Promise more which is our security in all conditions St. Paul assures us That all things work together for good to them that love God 8. Rom. 28. which is such a general security as is a foundation for an universal hope in God That though we cannot know in every particular case what God will do for us yet we certainly know that he will order all things for our good Thus far we have the Promises of God to trust to That God will always take care of us and in particular that he will provide Food and Raiment for us which is all that he has absolutely promised to good men and is all that our Saviour allows us absolutely to pray for Give us this day our daily bread And this good men whose faith does not fail but against all discouragements trust securely in God's provision may ordinarily expect from God even in an afflicted and persecuted state where Famine it self is not the persecution for I dare not extend this so far as to say that no good man shall ever die of want for some extraordinary Cases are always excepted out of the most general and absolute Promises relating to this life and reserved to the government of the Divine Wisdom But good men may have Food and Raiment and yet be exposed to many inconveniences and sufferings and therefore for our farther security we are assured That all things shall work together for good to them that love God 2. And this brings me to consider what it is to trust in God in particular cases when we have no particular promises what God will do for us in such cases but only a general assurance of God's care of us and of the Wisdom Justice and Goodness of his Providence We must particularly trust in God for our daily Provisions for our preservation from any present evils which threaten us for the success of our undertakings in all the particular Actions and Concernments of our lives but what can such a particular trust mean or what foundation is there for it when we have no particular promises that God will protect or succeed us in such particular cases and notwithstanding God's care of us and the Justice and Goodness of his Providence he may not answer our expectations in such cases but may order things quite otherwise than we desire Now this I confess were an unanswerable difficulty did a particular trust in God signify a firm belief and persuasion that God will do that particular thing which I rely and depend on him for for no man can have any reason to believe this or in this sense to trust in God without an express Promise or some private Revelation Now it is certain there are no such particular Promises which we can with any reason apply to our selves contained in Scripture and private Enthusiasms are a dangerous pretence the dreams of Self-love and the Visions of an heated Imagination I grant that under the Law there were such particular Promises and particular Revelations made to good men which were a sure foundation for a particular faith and trust in God as to some particular Events especially as to the Events of War which were commonly undertaken by God's express Command managed by his Direction with a certain promise of success as is evident in the Wars of Moses and Ioshua and the Iudges and in After-ages God did the same thing either by his Oracle of Vrim and Thummim or by his Prophets But there is no such thing among us now and therefore such a faith and trust in God we cannot have nor does God expect it from us we have nothing to depend on as to the certainty of Events but must trust to that assurance we have of God's care of us and of the Wisdom and Goodness of his Providence and therefore must consider what trust and dependence that is which we owe to Providence Now to trust Providence is not to trust in God that he will do that particular thing for us which we desire but to trust our selves and all our concernments with God to do for us in every particular case which we recommend to his care what he sees best and fittest for us in such cases The difference between these two is very plain and I think every one will confess that such a general trust and affiance in God is a much more excellent vertue and does much more honour to the Divine Nature than merely to trust his Promise which secures us of the Event To rely on God for the performance of
we see such things done in the world which for ought we know Infinite Wisdom can give very wise Reasons for but we can't Thus to come to the business in hand It is not enough to prove That there are such Difficulties in Providence as we can give no account of if there be no other life after this but they must positively prove That there are such Difficulties as the next world can give no account of All men must acknowledge this to be very reasonable for if there be another life after this it is evident that the Reasons of Providence must in many cases be wholly fetched from the other world If we must live in another world when we remove out of this then this life is but one short Scene of Providence and the government of Mankind in this world is chiefly in order to the next and then the Reasons of God's government also must relate to the next world And if we must judge of the Providence of God by its relation to the next world it will give a general Answer to all the Difficulties of Providence and give us a satisfactory Reason why we must not expect to understand all the particular Passages of Providence in this world The general Answer is this That all the seeming Irregularities of Providence in this world will be rectified in the next and when we see this done we shall then see the Wisdom of what we now call the Irregular and Eccentrick Motions of Providence It is certain this may be so and no man can prove it can't be so and if we had no other Evidence for it the reason and nature of things upon the supposition of the other world makes it highly probable that it will be so All men who believe another world believe also that good men shall be greatly rewarded and the wicked punished in the next life and we Christians are assured that it shall be so by the express Revelations of Scripture that good men shall be eternally rewarded in Heaven and bad men eternally punished in Hell-fire And it is wonderful to me that any Christians who profess to believe this should puzzle themselves about the Difficulties of Providence for what Difficulties are there which Eternal Happiness and Eternal Miseries will not answer The great Prosperity of bad men especially when they openly defy God and Religion and oppress all within their power and persecute the true Disciples of Christ and do all the mischief they can in the world and the Poverty and Disgrace Persecutions and Sufferings of good men are thought great Difficulties in Providence but could these Objectors but look into the next world and see Dives tormented in Flames and hear him beg only for a Drop of Water to cool his Tongue could they see Lazarus in Abraham's Bosom no longer begging an Alms but entertain'd with all the Delights of Paradise Could they see the Punishments of Tyrants Persecutors and Oppressors and the Glorious Crowns of Martyrs would they then any longer complain of Providence Would they think God too kind to bad men or too hard and severe to the good If the final Rewards and Punishments of good and bad men are reserved for the next world there is no difficulty at all in the Prosperity of some bad men and the Afflictions of the good in this world for they are not intended so much for Rewards and Punishments as for Methods of Discipline and Government that the Justice of God is not so much concerned in it as the Wisdom of Providence which we who know not what belongs to the government of the world are very unfit judges of This leaves room for God as his own Infinite Wisdom shall direct to exercise great Patience and Long-suffering towards bad men to make them the Ministers and Executioners of his Vengeance upon a wicked world or to lead them to Repentance and to correct the sins and follies of good men to rectify the temper of their minds to govern their passions to exercise and improve their Graces and Vertues in a word to make bad men good and to make good men better and to serve the wise ends of his Government and Providence by both So that the belief of another world gives a general Answer to all the Difficulties of Providence and it does not become a Christian to call any thing a Difficulty in Providence which the other world will answer That there are such Difficulties as we can give no account of without another life we all acknowledge and know that it must be so for if this life have a relation to the next the Reasons of Providence in many cases must of necessity be fetched from the next world and therefore when an Atheist disputes with a Christian against Providence if he will say any thing to the purpose he must dispute against Providence upon the supposition of another life and prove that the Eternal Rewards and Punishments of the next world cannot vindicate the Wisdom and Justice of Providence in this This is the true state of the Controversy and bring them to this Issue and they will find little to say which will give any trouble to a wise man to answer But after all we must confess That we know so little of the other world that it is impossible for us to give a particular reason of every passage of Providence which relates to the next world I say which relate to the next world which are the greatest difficulties of all to good men The belief of another life will answer all the Difficulties of Providence which concern this life but those Difficulties which concern the state of the other world it cannot answer but then there is a plain reason why we cannot answer such Difficulties viz. Because we do not know enough of the state of the other world to say any thing to them and therefore we ought not to trouble our selves about them here but to stay till we come into the next world and then it is very probable they will be no Difficulties I shall instance in one very great one and that is the state of Religion in this world which is no Objection against Providence with respect to this life but the whole Difficulty of it relates to the next life That since all men have Immortal Souls and must be happy or miserable for ever God should for so many Ages suffer the whole World excepting the Iews to live in Ignorance and in Pagan Idolatry and Superstition That Christ came so late into the world to reveal the True God and to publish the Gospel to them and that so great a part of the World still are Pagans and Mahometans nay that so little a part of the Christian World retain the True Faith and Worship of Christ This is Ten thousand times a greater Difficulty than any present evils and calamities because the consequences of it reach to Eternity But then the whole Difficulty is no more than this That we know not
what the condition of such men is in the other world who lived in invincible ignorance of the True God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ in this This we confess we do not know but believe so well of God that we are verily perswaded could we see what their state is in the other world we should see no reason to quarrel with the Justice or Goodness of God upon their account And have we any reason then to quarrel with God only because we know not how he deals with the ignorant Heathens in the next world If we knew how God dealt with these men and knew that he dealt hardly by them as far as we could judge this would be a difficulty but what Difficulty is there in knowing nothing of the matter For if we know nothing of it we ought to say and judg nothing of it neither Men must be very much inclined to quarrel with God who will raise Objections from what they confess they know nothing of and yet I cannot guess how they should know any thing of the state of ignorant Heathens in the next world since the Scripture says nothing of it and yet this can be known only by Revelation for we cannot look into the other world The plain truth of the case is this Some men without any Authority of Scripture confidently affirm That ignorant Heathens shall suffer the same Condemnation which Christ has threatned aginst wilful Infidels and wicked Christians and then it may well be thought a great Difficulty That God should as severely punish men for not knowing Christ when he was never preached to them and they had no other possible way of knowing him as he will punish those who have had the Gospel of Christ preached to them but refused to believe in him or have professed the Faith of Christ but lived very wickedly This I confess is a great Difficulty but it is a Difficulty of their own making and I should think it much more safe for our selves and much more honourable for God to confess our Ignorance of such matters as we have no possible way to know and to refer all such unknown Cases to the Wisdom Justice and Goodness of God than to pretend to know what we cannot know and from thence to raise such Objections as we cannot answer Whatever Difficulties immediately relate to the state of the other world we must be contented should remain Difficulties till we go thither for we know so little in particular about the other world that it is impossible we should be able either to satisfy our selves or others in such matters but these are not properly Difficulties in Providence for they do not so much concern the government of this world as of the next Thus I have at large shewn not only That the Absolute Power of God makes him Unaccountable as the Sovereign Lord of the World but That his Infinite Wisdom is above the comprehension of our Narrow Understandings he is not bound to give any account of all the Wise Designs of his Providence and we are not capable of receiving it This indeed is so plain at the first hearing to all men who believe God to be Infinitely Wise and are sensible of their own Ignorance that I should have been ashamed to have insisted so long on it did not all men know who know any thing of this Dispute That most of the Objections against Providence are owing wholly to this cause That men will not allow God to do what they cannot understand And the best way I could take to teach these men more Modesty in censuring Providence was to shew them particularly That if God govern the world wisely there are a thousand things which they must of necessity be ignorant of and then it can be no Objection against the Wisdom Justice and Goodness of God in governing the world that they cannot in many cases give a satisfactory account of the Particular Reasons of Providence Fifthly Let us now enquire in what cases this is a reasonable Answer to all the Difficulties of Providence That God giveth no account of his matters That the judgments of God are unsearchable and his ways past finding out And there is great reason for this Enquiry that no man may presume to attribute any thing to God which can never be reconciled with the common Notions of Good and Evil Just and Unjust upon this pretence That the Ways and Judgments of God are unsearchable and unaccountable and that we ought not to demand a reason of them That there are such men in the world is sufficiently known to those who understand any thing of some modern Controversies in Religion I need instance at present only in the Doctrine of Eternal and Absolute Election and Reprobation on which a great many other such like unaccountable Doctrines depend That God created the far greatest part of mankind on purpose to make them eternally miserable or at least as others state it That he Order'd and Decreed or which is the same thing effectually Permitted the Sin and Fall of Adam that he might glorify his Mercy in chusing some few out of the corrupted Mass of Mankind to be Vessels of Glory and to glorify his Justice in the Eternal Punishment of all others even of Reprobated Infants as involved in the Guilt of Adam's sin Now thus far I confess they are in the right that these are very unaccountable Doctrines for to make creatures on purpose to make them miserable is contrary to all the Notions we have of Just and Good But tho we readily confess That the Ways and Judgments of God are unsearchable yet men must not think upon this pretence to attribute what they please to God how absurd unreasonable unjust soever it be and then shelter themselves against all Objections by resolving all into the Unaccountable Will and Pleasure of God for God has no such Unaccountable Will as this is to do such things as manifestly contradict all the Notions which mankind have of good and evil We find in Scripture That God abhors all such Imputations as these as infinitely injurious to him and appeals to the common Notions of what is Just and Equal to justify the general Rules of his Providence The whole 18th Chapter of Ezekiel is a plain proof of this where God complains of that Proverb as reflecting upon the Justice and Equity of his Providence The fathers have eaten sowre grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge That is that the Children are punished for the sins of their Fathers How unreasonable an Imputation this is God proves from that Equal Right which he hath in Parents and Children which will not admit of such Partiality Behold all souls are mine as the soul of the father so also the soul of the son is mine the soul that sinneth it shall dye And declares this to be the general Rule of his Providence That a good man who does what is just and right shall surely live That if
than to command every thing that is Holy and to forbid all kinds and degrees of Wickedness and to encourage the practice of Vertue and to discourage all Wicked practices as much as the Wisdom of Government and the freedom of human Actions will allow That God does all this wherein the Holiness of Government consists I know no man that denies As wicked as Mankind is it is not for want of holy and just and good Laws The law of the Lord is an undefiled law converting the soul the testimony of the Lord is sure and giveth wisdom unto the simple the statutes of the Lord are right and rejoyce the heart the commandment of the Lord is pure and giveth light unto the eyes The fear of the Lord is clean and endureth for ever the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether 19. Psal. 7 8 9. The great complaint is That the Laws of God are too Holy for the Corrupt state of this World and most men think to excuse their Wickedness by the degeneracy of human Nature and the too great Purity and Perfection of the Divine Laws which they have no Ability to perform Now the Holiness of God's Laws are an undeniable Argument of the Holiness of his Providence and Government whether we consider these Laws as a copy of his Nature or a declaration of his Will much more if we consider them both as his Nature and his Will as all Moral Laws which have an eternal and necessary Goodness in them are for the Divine Nature and Will must be the rule and measure of his Providence and Government unless he Govern the World contrary to his own Nature and Will Nay Laws themselves are not only the Rule of Obdience to Subjects but of Government to the Prince and it is universally acknowledged to be as great a miscarriage in a Prince not to Govern by his own Laws as it is in Subjects not to obey them Princes may be guilty of such miscarriages but God can't and therefore the Laws he gives to us are the Rules of his own Providence and then the Holiness of his Laws prove that his Government and Providence must be very Holy And indeed we have very visible and sensible proofs of this in that care he takes to encourage the Practice of Vertue and to discourage Wickedness This he has done by those great Promises which he has made to the Observation of his Laws and by those terrible Threatnings which he has denounc'd against the breach of them both in this World and in the World to come But this is not what I mean for men can despise both Promises and Threatnings if they do not see the Execution of them and the Promises and Threatnings of the other World which are much the most considerable are out of sight and do not so much affect Bad men and that which is most proper for us to consider here is how the external Administrations of Providence encourage Vertue and discourage Wickedness and Vice Now those who believe that all the Miseries that are in the World are the effects or rewards of Sin as all men must do who believe the Scripture nay as all men must do who believe that a Just and Good God governs the World must confess that the Divine Providence has done abundantly enough to discourage Wickedness For it is visible enough how many Miserie 's there are in the World So many and so great as are commonly thought a reproach to Providence but if they be the just recompence of Sin they are only an Argument of the Justice and Holiness of Providence If we believe the Scripture Mortality and Death and consequently all those Infirmities and Decays of Nature all those Pains and Sicknesses and Diseases which are not the effect of our own Sins or which we do not inherit from our more immediate Parents as an entail of their Sins are owing to the Sin of Adam which brought Death upon himself and all his Posterity and such a curse upon the earth as has entail'd Labour and Sorrow on us As for many other Miseries and Calamities of life they are visibly owing to our own or to other mens Sins Such as Want and Poverty Infamy and Reproach Seditions and Tumults violent Changes and Revolutions of Government and all the Miseries and Desolations of War Take a survey in your thoughts of all the several sorts of Miseries which are in the World and tell me what place they could find here by what possible means they could enter into the World were Sin banished out of it What Miseries could disturb Human life were all men Just and Honest and Charitable did they love one another as themselves Perfect Vertue is not only an innocent and harmless but a very beneficial thing it does no hurt but all the good it can both to it self and others and when there is nothing to hurt us neither within nor without we can suffer no hurt And is not this a sufficient proof of the Holiness of Providence that God has so ordered the nature of things and the circumstances of our life in this World that if men will be Wicked they shall be Miserable Can any thing in this World more discourage men from Sin or make them more zealous to reform themselves and the rest of Mankind than so many daily and sensible proofs that there is no expectation of a secure state of rest and happiness while either they themselves or other men with whom they must of necessity converse or have something to do are Wicked For you must remember that I am not now a vindicating the Justice but the Holiness of Providence and therefore it is no Objection against what I have now said That many times vertuous and innocent men suffer very greatly by the Violence and Injustice of the wicked Tho this may be an Objection against the Justice of Providence which I have already accounted for yet it is no Objection against the Holiness of Providence but a great justification of it for the more effectual care God has taken to give all mankind an abhorrence of all Wickedness both in themselves and others the more undeniable proof it is of the Holiness of God's Government and this is more effectually done by the evils which we suffer from other mens wickedness than from our own Men who are very favourable to their own Vices when they feel the Pleasures and Advantages of them learn to hate to condemn to punish them by feeling what they suffer from other mens sins When they lose their own Estates by Injustice and Violence or their Good Names by Reproaches and Defamations or are injur'd in the Chastity of their Wives and Daughters by other mens Lusts this gives them a truer sense of the evil of Injustice Defamation and Lust and makes them condemn these Vices in themselves how well soever they love them This is the foundation of Human Government which keeps Mankind in order and lays great Restraints upon
imperfect can with such great probability almost to the degree of certainty foresee many Events which depend also upon free and contingent Causes And if we will allow that God's Praescience is owing to the perfection of his Knowledge then it is certain that it neither makes nor proves any fatal necessity of Events If we say indeed as some men do that God foreknows all things because he has absolutely decreed whatever shall come to pass this I grant does infer a fatal necessity and yet in this case it is not God's Fore-knowledge but his Decree which creates the necessity All things upon this Supposition are necessary not because God foreknows them but because by his unalterable Decrees he has made them necessary he foreknows because they are necessary but does not make them necessary by foreknowing them but if this were the truth of the case God's Praescience considered only as fore-knowing would be no greater perfection of knowledge than men have who can certainly fore-know what they certainly intend to do and it seems God can do no more But thus much we learn from these mens Confession That Foreknowledge in its own nature lays no necessity upon Human Actions that if God can fore-know what he has not absolutely and peremptorily decreed how certain soever such Events may be his Fore-knowledge does not make them necessary And therefore we cannot prove the necessity of all Events from God's Fore-knowledge till we have first proved that God can foreknow nothing but what is necessary That is in truth That there is no such Perfection as Praescience belonging to the Divine Nature for to foreknow things in a Decree or only in necessary Causes is no more that perfection of Knowledge which we call Praescience than it is Praescience in us to know what we intend to do to morrow or that the Sun will rise to morrow But that God's Fore-knowledge is not owing to a necessity of the Event and therefore cannot prove any such necessity is evident from hence That the Scripture which attributes this Fore-knowledge to God does also assert the liberty of Human Actions charges mens Sins and final Ruin on themselves sets before them Life and Death Blessing and Cursing as I observed before Now how difficult soever it may be to reconcile Praescience and Liberty it is certain that Necessity and Liberty can never be reconciled and therefore if men act freely they do not act necessarily and if God does foreknow what men will do and yet men act freely then it is certain that God foreknows what men will freely do That is That Foreknowledge is not owing to the necessity but to the perfection of Knowledge And this is enough to satisfy all Christians who cannot reason nicely about these matters that this Argument from Praescience to prove the necessity of Human Actions and consequently to charge mens Sins upon God must be fallacious and deceitful because the Scripture teaches the Fore-knowledge of God and yet charges the guilt of mens Sins upon themselves And if we believe the Scripture we must believe both these and then we must confess that Praescience does not destroy Liberty 2dly Another Objection against the Holiness of Providence is this That God does not only foreknow but decrees such Events as are brought to pass by the Sins of men and therefore at least in such Cases he must decree mens Sins too We have a famous Example of this in the Crucifixion of our Saviour Never was there a more wicked Action committed and yet St. Peter tells the Iews that this was the effect of God's Counsel and Decrees Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain 2. Acts 23. But if we consider the words carefully this very Text will answer the Objection For what does St. Peter say was done by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God Did they take him and by wicked hands crucify and slay him by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God This is not said but he was delivered that is put into their power by the determinate counsel and fore-knowledge of God and then they took him and with wicked hands slew him And then we must observe that here are two distinct Acts of God relating to this Event The determinate counsel and the fore-knowledge of God The Will or Counsel of God which he had fore-ordain'd and praedetermined the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was that Christ should die an Expiatory Sacrifice for the Sins of the world which was a work of such stupendious Wisdom Goodness Holiness and Justice that nothing could more become God than such Counsels and Decrees But then by his Infinite Praescience and Foreknowledge he saw by what means this would be done if he thought fit to permit it viz. by the Treachery of Iudas by the Malice of the Scribes and Pharisees and by the Compliance of the Roman Powers and this he determined to permit and to deliver him up into their hands the certain effect of which would be that they would take him and with wicked hands crucify him and slay him So that though God did decree that Christ should die yet he did not decree that Judas should betray him or that the Scribes and Pharises and Pontius Pilate should condemn and crucify him but this he foresaw and this he decreed to permit and to accomplish his own Wise Counsels for the Salvation of mankind by such Wicked Instruments and there is nothing in all this unworthy of God or unbecoming the Holiness of his Providence And thus it is with reference to all other Events which are decreed by God He never decrees any thing but what is holy and good and though he many times accomplishes his Wise Decrees by the Wickedness and Sins of men yet he never decrees their Sins but by his foresight and wonderful Wisdom so disposes and orders things as to make their Sins which they freely and resolvedly commit and which nothing but an irresistible Power could hinder them from committing serve the Wise and Gracious ends of his Providence This is Wisdom too wonderful for us but thus we know it may be and thus the Scripture assure us it is 3dly Another pretence for charging God with the Sins of men is from some obscure expressions of Scripture which when expounded to a strict literal sense as some men expound them seem to attribute to God some kind of Causality and Efficiency in the Sins of men But unless we will make the Scripture contradict it self it is certain that those few Texts which seem to make God the Author of Sin are misunderstood Because not only some few particular Texts but all the natural Notions we have of God the very nature and design of Religion and three parts of the Bible either directly or by necessary consequence prove the contrary And supposing then that we could give no tolerable account of such Texts is it not more reasonable
and raised an expectation even among the Romans of some great Prince who was to rise in the East as Tacitus observes And though the knowledge of the God of Israel did not reform Nations yet we have reason to believe that it made a great many private Converts who secretly forsook the Idolatries of their Countries and Worshipped the only True God It is reasonable to think it should do so and we must confess it was wisely designed by God for that purpose and some few examples of this kind which we know may satisfie us that there were many more On the Famous Day of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost descended on the Apostles in a Visible appearance of cloven tongues like as of fire there were at Ierusalem great Numbers not only of Iews but of Proselytes out of every Nation Parthians and Medes and Elamites and the dwellers in Mesopotamia and in Iudaea and Cappadocia in Pontus and Asia Phrygia and Pamphilia in Egypt and in the parts of Lybia about Cyrene and strangers of Rome Iews and Proselytes Cretes and Arabians 2. Acts 9 10 11. Whether these were Circumcised or Uncircumcised Proselites is not said but Proselites they were out of all these Nations who came up at the Feast to Worship at Ierusalem from whence we learn that the dispersion of the Iews into all Nations made great Numbers of Proselites who either undertook the observation of the Mosaical Law by Circumcision and became Iews or at least renounced all the Heathen Idolatries and worshipped no other God but the God of Israel The number of these last seems to have been much greater than that of Circumcised Proselites and if we believe some Learned men there is frequent mention made of them in Scripture under the names of worshipping Greeks and devout men and those which feared God When Saint Paul preached at Thessalonica there consorted with Paul and Silas of the devout Greeks a great multitude 17. Acts 24. The very name of Greeks proves them to be Gentiles not Iews who are always distinguished from each other and that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 devout or worshipping Greeks proves that they were the Worshippers of the God of Israel for that Title is never given in Scripture to Idolaters and their frequenting the Iewish Synagogue sufficiently proves it for no Gentiles resorted thither but those who worshipped the God of Israel Of this number was Lydia 16. Acts 14. and Cornelius the Roman Centurion who was not only a devout man and one who feared God himself but all his Family were so too 10. Acts 2. and the Eunuch 8. Acts 27. and almost in every place where St. Paul preached the Gospel we find great numbers of these worshipping Gentiles at Thessalonica and Philippi as you have seen at Corinth 18. Acts 4. at Antioch of Pisidia 13. Acts 43. and we have reason to conclude that thus it was in other places which shews what a great effect the dispersion of the Iews into all these Countries had in making Proselites some to the Iewish Religion but many more to the Worship of the God of Israel which prepared them to receive the Gospel when is was preached to them For they were the Worshippers of the True God and were instructed in the Law and the Prophets as appears from their frequenting the Iewish Synagogues and therefore were in expectation of the Messias and were capable of understanding the Scripture Proofs of the Christian Faith It is certain the first Gentile Converts were of this sort of men who more readily embraced the Faith than the Iews themselves for they had all the preparations for Christianity which the Iews had but none of their Prejudices neither a fondness for their Ceremonial Worship nor for the Temporal Kingdom of the Messias And therefore a very Learned man expounds that Text 13. Acts 48. As many as were ordained to eternal life believed of these devout and worshipping Gentiles that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ready disposed and prepared to receive the Doctrine of Eternal Life by Christ Jesus And thus we are come to the days of Christ whose appearance in the world was the last and most effectual means God used for the recovery of Mankind to consider the Divine Wisdom in the Redemption of the world by Jesus Christ relates to the wisdom of the Christian Religion not of Providence and therefore does not concern my present Argument but if we take a brief review of what I have said we may the better understand in what sense Christ is said to come in the fulness of time for he came as soon as the world was prepared to receive him For I would desire any man who complains that the coming of Christ was too long delayed to tell me in what sooner period it had been proper for him to appear In every Age as I have already shewn God took the wisest methods that the Condition of Mankind would at that time allow to reform the world and if Christ appeared at such a time as the Divine Wisdom saw most fit and proper for his appearance he appeared as soon as he could if we will allow God to dispense his Grace and Favours wisely That he did so no man can doubt who believes the Wisdom and Goodness of God But my business at present is to give you a fair representation of all those wise Advances God made to this last compleating and stupendious Act of Grace and Love God had promised our first Parents immediately upon the Fall That the seed of the woman should break the serpent's head and by vertue of this Promise all truly good men were saved by Christ from the beginning of the world But the more to recommend the Love of God in the Incarnation and Death of our Saviour it seems very congruous to the Divine Wisdom that all other Methods should be first tried for the reforming of Mankind before the coming of Christ and that he should come in such a time when the world was best prepared to receive Him and as little as we understand of the unsearchable Counsels of God it may satisfy us that upon both these accounts Christ appeared in the fulness of time When all flesh had corrupted his ways and there was but one Righteous Family left the only probable means of restoring Piety and Vertue to the world was to destroy all that Wicked Generation of Men and to preserve that Righteous Family to new-people the world When that New Generation began to corrupt themselves God separated them from each other by confounding their Languages and formed them into distinct Societies and Kingdoms which was the most effectual way to stop the Infection and to force on them the practise of many Moral and Civil Vertues When notwithstanding this they all declined to Idolatry God chose Abraham and his Posterity to be his peculiar People to preserve the Faith and Worship of the One Supream God in the world he gave them his Laws committed to
or Sorrow Anger or Repentance Pity and Compassion because those sensible Commotions which accompany these Passions in men are not incident to the Divine Nature But if the Scripture be a good Rule both of believing and speaking we may very honourably say that of God which God says of himself and believe that all these Affections are in God in such a perfect and excellent manner as becomes an Infinite and Eternal Mind Some men think that the Scripture's attributing Love and Joy and Delight Hatred Sorrow and Compassion to God is no better reason to ascribe such affections to him than it is to say that God has bodily Eyes and Ears and Feet and Hands because the Scripture attributes them also to God But there is a wide difference between these two for the Scripture has taken sufficient care to inform us that God is an infinite and unbodied Spirit without Shape or Figure and that is reason to believe that these are only allusive and metaphorical Expressions which represent the Powers by the Instruments of the Action seeing by Eyes and hearing by Ears but these affections which are attributed to God are not Instruments but Powers and are as essential to a Mind as Wisdom and Knowledge A pure Mind must have pure and intellectual Affections which move with greater strength and certainty though without the disturbance of humane Passions It is impossible to conceive a Mind without Wisdom and Knowledge or to conceive Wisdom and Knowledge without an intellectual Approbation and Abhorrence for perfect Wisdom must approve and disapprove and the several ways of approving or disapproving constitute the several Passions and Affections of the Soul and therefore these must be as perfect in God as Wisdom is though as void of sensible passions as a pure Spirit is Now if God have such Affections as these which may be moved in a manner suitable to the Divine Perfections then Prayer may move him and prevail with him to shew Mercy and Kindness Thus the Scripture represents it and without such a representation as this there can be no reason nor foundation for Prayer Not to shew you this in particular how God has been moved by the Intercessions of Good men to change his Counsels and to spare those whom he had threatned to destroy of which we have a famous Example in the Intercession of Moses for Israel when they had made the Golden Calf and worshipped it 32 Exod. 9 10 c. Of which the Psalmist tells us He said he would destroy them had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach to turn away his wrath lest he should destroy them 106. Psal. 23. I say not to insist on such Examples now I shall only observe that most of our Saviour's Arguments and Parables whereby he encourageth our Faith in Prayer are resolved into this principle That God is moved by our Prayers in some Analogy and Proportion as men are that whatever effect of our Prayers we may reasonably expect from Wise and Kind and Good men that we may more certainly expect from God Our Saviour promises 7. Matth. 7 8 9 10. Ask and it shall be given unto you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you For every one that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened This is as full a promise as can be made and yet for their greater security he proves to their own sense and feeling that it needs must be so We know and feel what the natural Kindness and Tenderness of Earthly Parents is for their Children how ready they are to answer all their reasonable requests especially when it is for the supply of their necessary wants and thus he assures us it is with God and much more because there is no comparison between the Kindness and Tenderness of Earthly Parents and the Goodness of God What man is there of you whom if his son ask bread will he give him a stone Or if he ask fish will he give him a serpent If you then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him Thus our Saviour represents the power of importunity by the parable of a man who came to his Friends to borrow some Bread of him when he was a bed which was so unseasonable a time as made it troublesome and uneasy but tho meer Friendship could not prevail with him to do it importunity did 11. Luke 5. c. and by the parable of the importunate Widow and the unjust Judge who tho he had no regard to Justice yet was conquered by her importunity to avenge her of her Enemy And shall not God avenge his own elect which cry day and night unto him tho he bear long with them 18. Luke 2. c. If importunity will prevail where neither Friendship nor the love of Justice will prevail how much more will it prevail with a Good and Merciful and Righteous God Indeed most of our Saviour's Parables proceed upon that likeness and resemblance which is between Human Passions and the Affections of the Divine Nature that we may certainly expect that from God which we can reasonably expect from Wise and Good men in the like cases what either Friendship or a love of Virtue or Natural Affections or Interest and Relation and Private Concernment will do that God will do for us as is evident in the Parables of the Lost Sheep and Lost Groat and Prodigal Son which could have no foundation were not God in some analogy moved as men are It is certain our Saviour intended we should understand it so when he makes it the reason of our Faith and Hope in Prayer And if it be thus we see the reason and necessity of Prayer and know how to pray to God so as to prevail to pray to God as we would in the like cases ask of men with the same Importunity Ardour Vehemence Sorrow and Contrition Trust and Dependence for what will prevail with men will much more prevail with God And indeed there are very wise reasons why God should make Prayer the necessary Condition of our Receiving as that his Power and Providence may be universally owned and acknowledged by Mankind That we may live in a constant dependence on him and be sensible that all we receive is his gift to lay restraints upon mens ungoverned Lusts and Appetites that they may never expect success without Prayer and therefore may never dare attempt any thing for which they dare not pray These are wise Reasons why God should not give unless we ask and therefore if we believe that God governs the World it is our Interest as well as our Duty to pray to him for we have no Title to his Protection without it Let us then in all Conditions make our humble and hearty Prayers and Supplications to God and recommend our Selves and