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A51226
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Of the vvisdom and goodness of Providence two sermons preached before the Queen, at White-Hall, on August 17, 24, MDCXC / by John Moore ...
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Moore, John, 1646-1714.
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1690
(1690)
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Wing M2551; ESTC R20154
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24,694
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71
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want and distress but also that he has both the Power and the Will to relieve or deliver all those who make their humble supplications unto him Did afflictions happen by meer Chance we should not know how to behave our selves under them we should have no encouragement to bear them Patiently nor skill to make a due Provision for those which may seize upon us hereafter and turn them into a benefit to our Souls But when we know from whence they come and that our Cup how bitter soever it be was mingled by the merciful hand of our Most Gracious Father for the Health of our Souls with what readiness and courage shall we stoop to our Burden and what an humble and heavenly Temper shall we attain by our Sufferings Did not God know us or take notice of our Lives how could he now Govern the World or Judge it hereafter Insomuch as there is no calling the truth of the Doctrine of Providence into question without striking at the foundation of all the Arguments for Divine Worship for the Fear and Service of God for Trust in his Mercy and hope in his Assistance and without putting an end to every reasonable thought about future Rewards and Punishments But though there be a great deal of Malice in the objections against Providence yet upon little examination they will be found weak and such as cannot shake the belief of any who will impartially consider them 'T is objected That for God to have the care of all things upon him would disturb his Peace and that for him to condescend to observe the actions of trifling Man and to have a regard to the small and vilest parcels of the World would be below the dignity of his Glorious Majesty The weakness of this Objection which is so much flourisht by the Epicureans lyes herein That they suppose God to be like unto men who can hardly transact any affair wisely without much thinking who cannot be concern'd in many things together without great disquiet and trouble Now the trouble uneasiness irresolution and difficulty which men find in much or great business does arise from their faculties being stinted they are fain to turn things up and down in their thoughts and to work their brains with long consideration before they can resolve what is fit to be done and after they have resolved they are as much at a loss for means to accomplish their designs But what is more evident than that the boundless Power Wisdom and Knowledg of God cannot be exposed to any of these Objections and Difficulties Therefore to disown Providence in the plain consequence of things is to deny the existence of an Infinitely perfect Being And though we may bear with such a sorry Objection as this in the Epicures who were so vain as to ascribe the Original of the World in which do appear so many of the marks of deep Skill and Wise contrivance to a Fortuitous concourse or casual jumble of Atomes yet it would be intolerable in Christians who profess heartily to believe God to be Maker of Heaven and Earth to hold that he should not think the things Worthy of his Care and Protection which he once thought Worthy of his Making or that he should meet with Difficulties and Troubles in Governing the World who found none in Creating it As the firm Belief of Providence is of vast concernment to our Souls so the Spirit of God has made many declarations of it and fully set forth all the parts thereof in Holy Scripture not only how God is pleased to engage himself in making provision for the Children of men but how his care does extend to the smallest Creatures and the meanest parts of the Creation We are taught not only that the Rational Beings do live and move and subsist by the Goodness of their Maker but that he condescends to feed the little Sparrow and to cloath the fading Lillies of the Field and even to number the slender Hairs upon our Head Furthermore in the Word of God is set forth all the sorts of Instances in which the Divine Providence does manifest it self to men who seem to be the extraordinary Objects of God's Care and Love There an account is given how God concerns himself in our Birth and first Production that he makes the barren Woman to be a joyful Mother of Children that it is he that takes us out of the Womb that he is our Hope and our whole Dependance is upon Him from the time we hung on our Mothers Breasts and that the Mouths of Babes and Sucklings set forth the Praise of his Providence That the Divine Providence doth not only exercise it self about particular Persons but reaches unto Societies and Communions and takes Cities and Nations within it's special Cognisance that both their Prosperity and Sufferings come from him that except he keep the City the watchman waketh but in vain and that no Evil happens there but he hath done it and that he ever makes them to Flourish or Decline in proportion to their Virtues or their Sins the universal good of the Creation being the great design and measure of his Providence The Holy Scriptures sometimes acquaint us with those parts of Providence which relate to God's Infinite Knowledg and the Righteousness of his Dealings that nothing which we do or think can be hid from Him but that all lies open and naked to the Presence of Him before whom we stand that exact observation is made of every turn and design in our Lives that he seeth all under the whole Heaven and looketh unto the ends of the Earth that our whole behaviour is as it were registed in a Book that at the great Day of Judgment this Book shall be open'd and we be Sentenc'd to Everlasting Happiness or Misery according as our Lives shall from thence appear to have been Good or Evil. In our Bibles we learn that God suffers Afflictions to fall upon his own People and are there shewn the just reasons of those Proceedings of his which at first view seem'd hardly consistent with his immense Goodness and that all things in the end shall work together for the good of them who love him There we also learn that the Preservation and Continuance of Life is not in our power and that length of days does not depend upon our care and skill but that God keeps the issues of Life and Death in his own hand and we never by any means can be assured how long we have to live who see the days of the weak and sickly sometimes extended to very old Age and they of strong Constitutions and of firm and vigorous healâ—h lopt off in their green Years and full Strength and all this that we may never presume to set Death at a great distance from us but manage the present time prudently and circurnspectly and not rely upon infinitely contingent Futurity in the great Affair of our Souls for the due care of which we were sent
into the world In this Word of God we find an account not only of the uncertainty of our Lives but of all the other Goods we possess which belong unto the present state that the possession we have of them is very precaâ—ious and that of a sudden we may very many ways be put out of the enjoyment of those things we esteemed most had kept longest and were most secure of But tho the ways of turning us out of what we have be many yet the Holy Scripture gives us good assurance that we shall never be dispossest of the least good without the Appointment or License of Providence that as we may not set our hearts upon any of the things of the World which we have so we may bear Losses quietly and without ruffling the Peace of our Minds and making any abatement of our Love of God may submit to every change in our condition with the Patience of Job yielding back to the Lord what he had given Sometimes the Scriptures discourse of the strange Changes which are made in Kingdoms how God pulls men down and sets others up by unlikely means and when they least expected it and that in an instant he stript them of their vast Possessions when their Power and Plenty had thrust him out of all their thoughts and they placed their security in their own strength and did not attribute to his Providence the Glory of their Greatness Of the wonderful effects of Providence we have unquestionable examples in all Ages wherein the motion of God's hand hath been so visible that necessity will compel men to ascribe them to him How frequently hath the interposition of the Divine Power been clearly manifest in the Rise and Declension of Kingdoms and in the surprizing Periods which have been put to mighty Empires by small and improbable Causes notwithstanding they were founded in deep Policy and had been of long continuance he in a moment breaking the firm frame of things and turning up the Foundations which were laid by the Counsels of the most skilful and sagacious men VVhen the measure of the sins of a great People is full and their Iniquities are grown up to a ripeness fit for ruin so that God will no longer endure the abuse of his Mercies and the bold affronts which are put upon his Love and Kindness then Destruction comes swiftly upon them and they receive their terrible overthrow from those hands which they did despise Histories of all Countries furnish us with instances of this kind and we may read abundance of the mysterious variety of the workings of Providence in the quick turns and amazing changes which did happen to the Kingdoms of Judah and Israel Either the sick or the lame have strength enough to pull down the mightiest Nation when the crying sins thereof have provoked God peremptori 〈…〉 to resolve that there shall be an end put to all its Glory and Power Of this case we have a memorable declaration made from the Lord to the Jews by the Prophet Jeremy of the fatal Blow which should be given to their Kingdom even by those they themselves had beaten and that only the wounded men which remained should be sufficiently able to set Fire to their City and lay it in Ashes Thus saith the Lord Deceive not your selves saying The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us for they shall not depart for tho ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you and there remained but wounded men among them yet should they rise up every man in his tent and burn this city with fire Now when only the wounded and shatter'd remains of a Conquer'd Army shall be able to attack and take a well fortified City the great disproportion between the Instruments and the Work must force the mouths of the Inhabitants to confess that it is the Lord's doings and that their Misery is justly pulled down from Heaven by their abominable sins Wherefore when we behold any Empire or Kingdom that hath been long setled taken deep root enlarged its Borders and was â— Terror to its Neighbours to dissolve on a sudden and tumble down and all the Limbs of this well-built and often-try'd Body at once to be dis-jointed will not in this strange and unaccountable Revolution the Prints be most conspicuous and plain of the All-seeing and All-disposing Providence of God who turns the Wisdom of the Wise into Foolishness does not give the Race to the Swift nor the Battel to the Strong On the other hand to see a small Society or Body of Men preserv'd when environ'd with Powerful Enemies each of which could have devoured it and its State and Condition supported when they did all conspire to work its ruin and Peace and Safety restored by most improbable means where there was no appearance or likelihood of it must be a demonstration that God governs the world and orders all the affairs thereof From hence it is as the Divine Providence hath wonderfully put forth it self in all times so God shews himself highly displeased when his people presume to call his Care of them into question and make any doubt whether he observes their behaviour declaring it to be utterly impossible that he should either neglect or forget them For they say the Lord bath forsaken the earth and the Lord seeth not And as for me also my eye shall not spare neither will I have pity But Zion said The Lord hath forsaken me and my Lord hath forgotten me Can a woman forget her sucking children that she should not have compassion on the Son of her womb yea they may forget yet will I not forget thee Thus I have dispatch'd the first Head of this Discourse namely that nothing can come to us through the whole course of this life without the Order or at least the Permission of Providence and shewn That not only the Prosperity and Adversity the Poverty and Riches the Wisdom and Understanding the Length of Days and Death of particular Persons but also the Growth and Fall of Nations and Kingdoms comes from the Lord Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are done in Heaven and Earth He sheweth loving kindness unto thousands and recompenceth the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their Children after them The great the mighty God the Lord of Hosts is his name great in counsel and mighty in works for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men to give every one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings 2. That we should receive evil from the hand of God as well as good is very agreeable to his Wisdom In the miseries God sends or suffers to fall upon men in this life many of his great Ends in governing the world are serv'd and much Spiritual Profit may accrue to them who by the cross Events and Disappointments they here encounter are wean'd from the world and will not be drawn in