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DISCOURSE

CONCERNING THE

DIVINE PROVIDENCE.

BY WILLIAM SHERLOCK, D.D.

SECOND AMERICAN EDITION.

PITTSBURGH:
PUBLISHED BY J. L. READ

6TERE0TIPED BY L. JOHNSON AND CO.

1851.

PUBLISHER'S NOTICE.

The publisher of the present edition of Dr. Sherlock's
celebrated work on the "Divine Providence," feels as-
sured that he need offer no apology for bringing it out at
this time. The great importance of the subject ; the
unquestioned ability with which it is discussed ; the fact,
that for many years the work has been out of print, and
the frequent calls that have been made for it, during his
several years' experience in the book business, together
with the high estimation in which it is held by the fol-
lowing clergymen, who have cheerfully furnished recom-
mendatory notices, he thinks fully warrant him in pre-
senting it before the public in a new and greatly improved
dress.

RECOMMENDATORY NOTICES.

Pittsburgh, August 3, 1848.

Rev. J. L. Read : — I heartily approve of your intention to publish
" Sherlock on Providence." I read the work years ago, and have
regarded it ever since as one of the most valuable theological works
in my library. You have my best wishes for success.

C. Cooke, D.D.
Pastor Liberty Street M. E. Church, Pittsburgh.

August 7, 1848.

Dr. Sherlock's Essay on " Divine Providence" has earned for
itself a reputation amongst the pious and thinking both of this and
the Old World. To those who have not had the opportunity or privi-
lege of knowing its worth, it may be said, (to others it is needless,)
that it is a most judicious, scriptural, and practical discussion of

D. H. Riddle, D.D.

Pastor Third Presbyterian Church Pittsburgh.
3

August 7, 1848.

Sherlock on "Divine Providence" is an admirable book ; full
of mature and pious thought, sound argument, and beautiful illus-
tration. It is one of those sterling old books with which every
Christian, and especially every Christian minister, should be tho-
roughly familiar.

Rev. W. Hunter, M.A.

Editor Pittsburgh Ctiristian Advocate.
August 9, 1848.

The argument of Dr. Sherlock on " Divine Providence" appears
to me to be complete and conclusive. The scriptural authorities are
happily chosen, and signally clear and forcible in their application
to the points on which they are made to bear; and the illustrations
are lucid and striking. I most cordially recommend the work to the

religious public.

George Upfold, D.D.

Rector of Trinity Church, Pittsburgh.
August 9, 1848.

I heartily concur with the recommendation of the Rev. Dr. Upfold.

Rev. Thomas Crumpton,
Hector of Christ's Oiurch, Allegheny City.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Introduction. 9

CHAPTER I.

The necessary Connection between the Belief of a God and of
a Providence 10

The world can be no more governed than made by chance 10

An infinite and eternal Mind, which sees and knows all things, must

govern the world 12

He who made the world cannot be unconcerned for his creatures 14

No philosophers, except the Epicureans, who acknowledged a Deity,

denied a Providence 14

The same arguments which prove the being of a God, prove a Provi-
dence 16

The strength of Atheism consists in contradicting the universal reason
of mankind 17

CHAPTER II.

The general Notion of Providence, and particularly concerning
a Preserving Providence 21

The nature of preservation as distinguished from a governing Pro-
vidence 22

The first act of preservation in upholding and preserving the being and
natures of all things 22

The second act of preservation; God's co-operation and concourse
with creatures in all their actions 25

Some difficulties of Providence answered; as God's concourse with
creatures in sinful actions 28

Concerning the eternity of punishments 32

Some practical inferences 34

1' 5

6 CONTENTS.

CHAPTER III.

PAGB

Concerning God's Governing Providence 36

God's government of causes and of events . 36

God's government of natural causes, and wherein it consists 37

God's government of accidental causes, and what we call chance and

accident 41

God's government of moral causes or free agents 48

The difference between God's government of men, considered as rea-
sonable creatures, and as instruments of Providence 49

Concerning God's government of men's minds, their wills and passions 51

Concerning God's government of men's actions 54

God's government of good and bad men more particularly considered. 56

God's government of events 58

What is meant by events in this question 59

Wherein God's government of events consists 60

Concerning God's permission 60

The difference between God's government of all events and necessity

and fate 64

That the exercise of a particular Providence consists in the govern-
ment of all events 66

CHAPTER IV.

Concerning the Sovereignty of Providence 69

Concerning God's absolute power 71

That true absolute power can do no wrong, explained at large 71

The unsearchable wisdom of Providence 80

Infinite wisdom can do no wrong 82

That the wisdom of Providence must be as unaccountable as the wis-
dom of the creation 85

That the wise government of the world requires secret and hidden

methods of Providence 89

That we are ignorant of a great many things, without the knowledge

of which it is impossible to understand the reasons of Providence. . . 101
In what cases the unsearchable wisdom of God is a reasonable answer
to the difficulties of Providence Ill

CHAPTER V.
The Justice and Righteousness of Providence 123

That the justice of Providence does not consist in hindering all acts of
injustice and violence 124

God may do that very justly, which men cannot do without great in-
justice 124

What the nature and exercise of God's justice require 126

What acts of justice the present government of this world requires. . . 131
The account the Scripture gives us of God's justice and righteousness 134

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VI.

PAGE

The Holiness of Providence 143

What the holiness of government requires 143

What the holiness of God's providence does not require of him 149

God is not the cause and author of sin 155

The Divine prescience does not destroy the liberty of human actions. 157

God decrees no men's sins 160

Some texts of Scripture considered, which seem to make God the au-
thor of sin 161

Concerning God's hardening Pharaoh's heart 162

Seme other texts considered which seem to charge God with the sins

of men 176

CHAPTER VII.
The Goodness of Providence 187

Mistakes concerning the nature of God's goodness 189

The difference between absolute goodness and justice, and the good-
ness and justice of discipline 192

That God exercises all acts of goodness which a state of trial and dis-
cipline will admit 193

Another mistake concerning the nature of good and evil, and what
good and evil are in a state of discipline 198

Another mistake about the nature of government ; and what goodness
is required in the government of the world 204

The objections against the goodness of Providence answered ; and the
cause of many miseries which are in the world 207

Another objection is, God's partial and unequal care of his creatures. . 230

CHAPTER VIII.
The Wisdom of Providence 233

The wisdom of Providence considered in some great events recorded

in Scripture 234

The destruction of the world by Noah's flood 235

Concerning the confusion of languages and the dispersion of mankind

over all the earth 246

God's choosing Abraham and his posterity for his peculiar people. . . . 250

Concerning the removal of Jacob and his family into Egypt 258

The oppression of Israel in Egypt 260

God' s delivering the law from Mount Sinai 266

All that came out of Egypt, excepting Joshua and Caleb, died in the

Wilderness 268

The frequent relapses of Israel into idolatry 270

Concerning the captivities and dispersions of Israel, especially their

captivity in Babylon 275

In what sense Christ came " in the fulness of time" 280

The destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans 282

8 CONTENTS.

PAGE

The wisdom of Providence in some more common and ordinary events 285

That God rewards and punishes men in their posterity 286

God's punishing sin with sin 291

God's disappointing both our hopes and fears 292

God's deferring the deliverance of good men and the punishment of

the wicked to the utmost extremity 293

Concerning sudden changes and revolutions 294

The wise mixture of mercy and judgment 295

CHAPTER IX.

The Duties we owe to Providence 296

A particular acknowledgment of Providence in all events 296

Submission to the providential will of God 298

Concerning submission to God under afflictions and sufferings 298

Submission to the will of God with respect to the several states and

conditions of life 303

Concerning hope and trust in the Divine providence 312

Concerning the duties of prayer 323

DISCOURSE

DIVINE PROVIDENCE,

THE INTRODUCTION.

My chief design in this following treatise, is so to explain
the nature of Providence, as to reconcile men to the belief
of it, and to possess them with a religious awe and rever-
ence of the supreme and absolute Lord of the world. For
it is very evident, that the mistakes about the nature of
Providence are the principal objections against it, which
tempt some men to deny a Providence, or so weaken the
sense of it in others that they are very little the better for
believing it. That a Divine Providence does govern the
world, I have proved largely enough for my present design
in the " Discourse concerning a Future Judgment," cap. i.
§ 3, which I refer my reader to. But that this work might
not seem to want a foundation, I have not wholly omitted
the proof of a Providence, but have at least said enough to
convince those of a Providence who believe that there is
a God.

The whole is divided into nine chapters.

I. The necessary connection between the belief of a God
and of a Providence.

II. The general notion of Providence, and particularly
concerning a preserving Providence.

III. Concerning God's governing Providence.

9

10

CONNECTION BETWEEN THE BELIEF OF

IV. The sovereignty of Providence.

V. The justice of Providence.

VI. The holiness of Providence.

VII. The goodness of Providence.
VII. The wisdom of Providence.

IX. The duties we owe to Providence.

The explication of these things will not only answer
many difficulties in Providence, but will give us a clearei
notion of the divine attributes and of some of the principal
duties of religion.

CHAPTER I.

THE NECESSARY CONNECTION BETWEEN THE BELIEF OF A
GOD AND OF A PROVIDENCE.

Instead of other arguments to prove a Providence, I
shall at present insist only on this, that the belief of a God
infers a Providence ; that if we believe there is a God who
made the world, we must believe that the same God who
made the world does govern it too.

1. For, first, it is as absurd and unreasonable to think that
the world is governed by chance as to think that it was
made by chance ; for chance can no more govern than it
can make the world.

One principal act of Providence is to uphold all things in
being, to preserve their natures, powers, operations0- to
make this lower world again every year by new produc-
tions. _ For nature seems to decay, and die, and revive
again m almost as wonderful a manner and as unintelligible
to us, as it was first made. Now, though it is very absurd
to say that chance, which acts by no rule nor with any
counsel or design, can make a world, which has all the
marks and characters of an admirable wisdom in its contri-
vance—yet, it seems more absurd to say that chance can
preserve, that it can uphold the things it has made ; that it
can repair the decays of nature, nay, restore it when it seems

A GOD AND OF A PROVIDENCE. 11

lost : that it can not only do the same thing twice, but re-
peat it infinitely in new productions : that chance can give
laws to nature and impose a necessity on it to act regularly
and uniformly, that is, that chance should put an end to
chance, and introduce necessity and fate.* Were there not a
wise and powerful Providence, it is ten thousand times more
likely that chance should unmake and dissolve the world,
than that it should at first make it ; for a world that came
together by chance, and has nothing to keep it together but
the chance that made it, which is as uncertain and mutable
as chance is, will quickly unmake itself. Should the sun
but change his place, come nearer this earth, or remove
farther from it, there were an end of this lower world ; and
if it were placed there by chance, it is wonderful that in so
many ages some new unlucky chance has not removed it.
And therefore the Psalmist attributes not only the creation
but the preservation of all things to God. " Praise him,
sun and moon : praise him, all ye stars and light. Praise
him, all ye heavens, and ye waters that are above the
heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord ; for he
spake the word and they were made ; he commanded, and
they were created. He hath made them fast for ever and
ever ; he hath given them a law which shall not be broken."
Ps. cxlviii. 3 — 6.

2. The same wisdom and power which made the world,
must govern it too : it is only a creating power that can pre-
serve. That which owes its very being to power, must de-
pend upon the power that made it ; for it can have no
principle of self-subsistence independent on its cause. It
is only creating wisdom that perfectly understands the
natures of all things, that sees all the springs of motion, that
can correct the errors of nature, that can suspend or direct
the influences of natural causes, that can govern hearts,
change men's purposes, inspire wisdom and counsel, restrain
or let loose their passions. It is only an infinite mind that

* Casu inquis? itane vero? quidquam potest casu esse factum, quod
omnes in se habeat numeros veritatis ? quartuor tali jacti casu venereum
efficiunt, num etiam centum venereos si 400 talos ejeceris, casu futuros

putas ? Sic enim se perfecto res habet, ut nunquam perfecte veritatem

casus imitetur. — Cicero de Divinat. 1. 1.

12 CONNECTION BETWEEN THE BELIEF OF

can take care of all the world, that can allot every creature
its portion, that can adjust the interests of states and king-
doms, that can bring good out of evil, and order out of
contusion In a word, the government of the world requires
such wisdom and such power as no being has but he who
made it; and therefore, if the world be governed, it must
be governed by the Maker of it.

3. If there be any such being as we call God, a pure
infinite, eternal mind, it is a demonstration that he must
govern the world.

Those who deny a Providence will not allow that God
sees or takes notice of what is done here below. The
Epicureans though in civility and compliment to the su-
perstition of mankind, rather than from a real belief and
sense of a Deity, they did own a God, nay, a great many
gods, such as they were, yet never allowed their £ods "o
knoW an th of 0 ffairS) which ha^dS^

heir profound ease and rest, the sole happiness of the Tazv
inactive Epicurean deities; and this secured them from The

nd knewnofh0'8' Wh° YlVed aVa ^at d~ from Sei!
ana knew nothing concerning them.* '

tw • V 'J16 Same manner this is ^presented in Scripture
that wicked men would not believe that God saw or heard'
or took any notice of what they did ; Psalm Ixfv 5 << TW

' wT^ ^ summa cum pace fruatur.
bemota a nostns rebus, seunctaque longe.

A GOD AND OF A PROVIDENCE. 13

therefore, the Providence of God is described in Scripture
by his seeing and observing the actions of men. Job xxxi. 4 :
" Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps ?"
Psalm xxxiii. 18, 19: "Behold the eye of the Lord is upon
them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy,"
that is, to protect them, and to do good to them ; as it fol-
lows : " to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them
alive in famine." And, therefore, when good men pray for
help and succor, they only beg God to see and take notice
of their condition. Lam. i. 11 : " See, 0 Lord, and con-
sider, for I am become vile." Isa. lxiv. 9 : " Behold, see
we beseech thee, we are all thy people." Thus, in Heze-
kiah's prayer, "Incline thine ear, O Lord, and hear; open
thine eyes, O Lord, and see, and hear all the words of Sen-
nacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God."
And, therefore, God's seeing is made an argument that he
will reward or punish. Psalm x. 14 : " Thou hast seen it,
for thou beholdest mischief and spite to requite it with thy
hand." And, indeed, it is not to be imagined, that a holy
and just God, who sees and observes all the good and evil
that is done in the world, should not reward the good, and
punish the wicked ; for there is no other holy and just Being
in the world, that has authority to reward and punish, but
would certainly do it. And if the proof of a Divine Provi-
dence be resolved into God's knowing, what is done in the
world, the dispute will be soon ended; for those who believe
that there is a God, and that he is an infinite, omnipresent
Mind, cannot doubt whether he sees and knows all things.
As the Psalmist elegantly expresses it, Psalm cxxxix. 1 — 13 :
" O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou
knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising; thou under-
standest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and
my lying-down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For
there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, 0 Lord, thou
knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and be-
fore, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is
too wonderful for me ; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee
from thy presence ? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art
there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If

2

14 CONNECTION BETWEEN THE BELIEF OF

I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost
parts of the sea ; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy
right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness shall
cover me ; even the night shall be light about me ; yea, the
darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the
day ; the darkness and the light are both alike to thee ; for
thou hast possessed my reins : thou hast covered me in my
mother's womb." How is it possible that an omnipresent
mind should be ignorant of any thing, or that the maker of
the world should not be present with all his creatures : or
that, being present and seeing all their actions, he should be
an idle and unconcerned spectator?

4. For I think, in the next place, it is past all dispute,
that he who made the world cannot be unconcerned for his
creatures. He hath implanted in most creatures a natural
care of their offspring ; and it is made an argument of want
of understanding in the ostrich, that " she leaveth her eggs
in the earth and warmeth them in the dust, and forgetteth
that the foot may crush them or that the wild beast may
break them. She is hardened against her young ones, as if
they were not hers. Her labour is in vain without fear, be-
cause God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he
imparted to her understanding:" Job xxxix. 15 — 17. And
can we think, then, that an infinitely wise Being should be
as unconcerned for the world as the ostrich is for her eggs?

It is certain the Maker of the world is no sluggish, unactive
being ; for, to make a world is a work of infinite wisdom
and counsel, of divine art and power ; and not only to give
being to that which was not, is itself an act of excellent
goodness, but there are so many legible characters of a di-
vine bounty and goodness stamped upon all the works of
nature, that we must conclude the world was made by an
infinitely good being ; and it is impossible that a wise and
good being, who is a pure act and perfect life, can cast off
the care of his creatures. Besides the laws of God and
men, natural affection will not suffer men to forget their
children ; and though God has no superior, his own nature
is a law to himself.

This is sufficient to show how necessarily the belief of a
God infers a Providence, and therefore no philosophers, ex-

A GOD AND OF A PROVIDENCE. J 5

cepting Epicurus and his sect, who acknowledged a Deity,
ever denied a Providence ; and Tully tells us that he retained
the name of a God, but destroyed his being.*

The Stoic, in Tully, concludes a Providence from the
acknowledgment of a God,f and therefore tells us that
Providence signifies the Providence of God ;J and those
philosophers made no scruple of calling God Providence
and Fate, and the power of an eternal and perpetual law.§
For indeed mankind had no other notion of a God than that
he is an excellent and perfect being, who made and who
governs the world. || This is the notion which the philoso-
phers who acknowledged a Deity defended against Epicu-
rus and other atheists ; this is the notion of a God which
atheists oppose, the God whom they fear, an eternal Lord
who observes and takes notice of every thing, and thinks
himself concerned in all the affairs of the world. ^1 And
therefore the dispute whether there be a God or no, princi-
pally resolves itself into this, whether this world and all.
things in it are made and governed by wisdom and counsel,
or by chance and a blind material necessity and fate ;
which proves that the very notion of God includes a Provi-
dence, or else either to prove or to overthrow the doctrine
of Providence would neither prove nor overthrow the being
of a God.

This, I am sure, is very plain, that the same arguments
which prove the being of a God, prove a Providence. If
the beauty, variety, usefulness, and wise contrivance of the
works of nature prove that the world was at first made by
a wise and powerful being ; the continuance and preserva-

* Epicurum verbis reliquisse Deos, re sustulisse. — Be Nat. Deor. 1. 2.

f Quo concesso confltendum est eorum Consilio mundura administrari.
— Be Nat. Deor. 1. 2.

\ 'Providentia praecise dicitur pro Providentia Deorum. — Ibid.

§ Chrysippus Legis perpetua? et aaterna? vim, quae quasi dux vita?, et
Ministra Officiorum sit, Jovem dicit esse, eandemque fatalem necessita-
tem. — Ibid. 1. 1.

|| Aliquam excellentum esse et prestantem naturam, qua? lia?c fecisset,
moveret. regeret, gubernaret. — Ibid.

T Imposuistis in cervicibus nostris sempiternura Domirium, quern dies et
noctes timeremus; quisenim nou tiraeat omnia piovidentem. et cogitantem-
et animadvertentem, et omnia ad se pertinere putantem, curios urn, et ple-
num negotii Deum. — Ibid.

16 CONNECTION BETWEEN THE BELIEF OF

tion of all things, the regular motions of the heavens, the
uniform productions of nature, prove the world is upheld,
directed, and governed by the same omnipotent wisdom and
counsel. As St. Paul tells us, " the invisible things of God,
from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being un-
derstood by the things that are made, even his eternal power
and Godhead," Rom. i. 20, ©ew^j, his dominion and sove-
reignty, or his governing Providence ; this visible world
does not only prove an eternal power which made it, but a
sovereign Lord, who administers all the affairs of it. And
Acts xiv. 17, he proves the being of God from his Provi-
dence : " Nevertheless he left not himself without witness in
that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful
seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. And
Acts xvii. 28, he proves that God governs the world, and
takes care of all the creatures that are in it, because he made
it : " For in him we live and move and have our being, as
certain of your own poets have said ; for we are also his
offspring :" which is very improperly alleged by St. Paul,
if we may be the offspring of God, and yet not live and
move, and have our being in him ; that is, if God's making
the world does not necessarily prove his constant care and
government of it. But the apostle knew in those days, that
no man who confessed that God made the world, questioned
his Providence, and therefore makes no scruple to prove that
we live and subsist in God, because he made us.

This is a noble argument to prove both the being and
Providence of God, (which cannot be separated,) from the
works of nature and the wise government of the world.
It would give us a delightful entertainment to view all the
curiosities and surprising wonders of nature. With what
beauty, art, and contrivance particular creatures are made,
and how the several parts of this great machine are fitted to
each other, and make a regular and uniform world ; how all
particu-lar creatures are fitted to the use and purposes of
their several natures, and yet are made serviceable to one
another, and have as mutual a connection and dependence
as the wheels of a clock. What an equal and steady hand
governs the world when its motions seem most eccentric
and exorbitant, and brings good out of evil, and order out

A GOD AND OF A PROVIDENCE. 17

of confusion, when things are so perplexed that it is impos-
sible for any one but a God to disentangle them.

There is no need of the subtlety of reason and argument
in this cause, would men but attentively study the works of
God, and dwell in the contemplation of nature and Provi-
dence ; for God is as visible in his works as the sun is by
his light. When all the wonders of nature are unfolded
and exposed particularly to our view, it so overpowers the
mind with such infinite varieties of that most divine art and
wisdom, that modest men are ashamed to ascribe such things
to a blind chance, which has no design or counsel.

Indeed, to say that a world full of infinite marks and
characters of the most admirable art, a world so made that
no art could make it better, was not made by a wise mind,
but by chance, by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, which,
without any. design, after infinite fruitless trials, happened
into this exact, useful, beautiful order that now they are in,
know wrhen they are well, and in despite of chance, move
as constantly, regularly, artificially, in all new productions,
as the divinest and most uniform wisdom could direct : I
say, to affirm this, is to put an end to all disputes, by leaving
no principle of reason and argumentation to dispute with.

An atheist is the most vain pretender to reason in the
world. The whole strength of atheism consists in contra-
dicting the universal reason of mankind. They have no
principles, nor can have any, and therefore they can never
reason, but only confidently deny or affirm. They can as-
sign no principles of reason which the rest of mankind
allow to be principles, from whence they can prove there
is no God, and no Providence ; but they only reject those
principles which all other men agree in, and from whence
it must necessarily follow, that there is a God and Provi-
dence.

It will be of great use briefly to explain this, which will
teach you to reject atheism and atheists, without troubling
yourselves to dispute with them; for they have no common
principles with the rest of mankind to reason upon, nor in-
deed any principles of reason at all.

A few words will suffice for this purpose. Mankind who
have been used to thinking and reasoning, have universally

2*

18 CONNECTION BETWEEN THE BELIEF OF

agreed that there must be something that had no beginning
and no cause ; for nothing can produce nothing ; that had
there ever been a time when there was nothing, there never
could have been any thing, unless there can be an effect
without a cause, which is too absurd for atheists themselves
to say in express words, who do not boggle much at ab-
surdities ; and therefore they make their atoms, and their
vacuum to be eternal. It is agreed, also, that whatever had
a beginning had a cause ; and the most easy and natural
progress of human understandings is to reason from one cause
to another, till we ascend to, and centre in a first cause.
For it is as easy and natural to believe one first eternal cause,
as to believe an eternal being ; but though it is natural to
believe something eternal, it is as unnatural to believe all
things to be so. We have no notion of all things being
eternal, though we have of an eternal cause. For the very
reason why we are forced to confess something eternal is
because there must be an eternal cause of all other things ;
that is, because all things are not eternal. But if any thing
which has not an eternal and unchangeable nature, but is
capable of being made and unmade, changed and altered, as
all the things of this world are, might be without a cause,
then every thing may be without a cause. And if the eter-
nity of all things be a natural notion, it cannot be a natural no-
tion that there is a first cause. For that very notion supposes
that something had a beginning, and was originally made
when it was not before, and therefore that all things are not
eternal. For to be made, in this axiom, primarily relates to
the being of things, and is so understood by all men. And
how can such a notion of the making and giving being to
any thing be natural, if it be a natural notion that all things
are eternal, and that nothing was made?

Hence it is that seen and visible effects which have no
visible cause adequate to the producing such effects, are
allowed by all mankind to be a sufficient proof of some in-
visible cause, as St. Paul tells us, and he spoke the language
of human nature in it : That " the invisible things of God
from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being under-
stood by the things that are made," Rom. i. 20. For if
that which is made must have a cause, f there be no visible

A GOD AND OF A PROVIDENCE. ]9

cause there must be an invisible maker, and therefore this
world which has no visible, must have an invisible cause.

And as it is natural to the reason of mankind to conclude
the cause from the effect, so is it to learn the nature of the
cause from the nature of the effect ; for whatever is in the
effect, must be either specifically or virtually in the cause.
For whatever is in the effect, which is not in the cause, that
has no cause, for nothing can be a cause of that which is not
itself. And therefore whatever has life and understanding
must be made by a living and understanding cause. What-
ever has art, and skill, and wise contrivance in its frame,
as every worm and fly has, must have a wise designing
cause for its maker; and then it is certain that this whole
world was not made by chance, or the fortuitous concourse
of atoms, but by an infinitely wise mind. This way of
reasoning is easy and natural to our minds ; all men under-
stand it, all men feel it. Atheists themselves allow of this
kind of proof in all other cases excepting the proof of a God
or a Providence; and therefore it is no absurd, foolish way
of reasoning, for then it must not be allowed of in any case;
and they have no reason to reject it in this case, but that
they are resolved not to believe a God and a Providence.
And yet this way of reasoning from effects to causes must
be good in all cases or in none ; for the principle is universal
that nothing can be made without a cause ; and if any thing
can be made without a cause, this principle is false and can
prove nothing. And I challenge the wisest and subtlest
atheist of them all, to prove from any principle of reason,
that the most beautiful and regular house that he ever saw,
which he did not see built, (for that is a proof from sense,
not from reason,) was built by men, and is a work of art,
and that it did not either grow out of the earth nor was
made by the accidental meeting of the several materials,
which, without knowledge, art, or design, fell into a regular
uniform building. Had these men never seen a house
built, I would desire to know how they would prove that it
is a work of art, built by a skilful workman, and not by
chance. And by what medium soever they will prove this,
I will undertake to prove that God made the world, though
we did not see him make it.

20 OF A GOD AND A PROVIDENCE.

But the present inquiry is only this, whether this be hu-
man reason, the natural reason of human minds ? If it be,
then men who will be contented to reason like men must
acknowledge and assent to this argument from effects to
causes, which unavoidably proves a God and Providence.
And this is all that I desire to be granted, that those who
will follow the notices and principles of human reason must
believe that God made and governs the world ; for I know
not how to reason beyond human reason ; those who do
may please themselves with it.

Those who have found out a reason which contradicts
the natural principles of reason, must reason with themselves,
for mankind cannot reason with them.

But let us consider how atheists reason when they have
laid aside this principle of reason from effects to causes.

They tell us that a most artificial world may be made
without art or any wise maker, by blind chance, without
any designing efficient cause — that life, and sense, and rea-
son may result from dead, stupid, senseless atoms. Well,
we hear this and bear it as patiently as we can. But how
do they prove this ? Why, they say it may be, and they can
go no further. But how do they know this may be ? have
they any such notion in their minds ? have they any natural
sensation that answers these words? does nature teach them
that any thing can be without a cause adequate to the effect ?
that any thing can be wisely made without a wise cause ?
that one contrary can produce the other ? that senseless stu-
pid matter can produce life, sensation and understanding ?
Can they then tell me what it is that can't be? I desire to
know by what rule they judge what may be, and what canH
be ; and if they can find any canH be more absurd and con-
tradictious than their may be, I will renounce sense and rea-
son for ever. If nothing can be without a cause, according-
to the reason of mankind, this can't be, and therefore all
that their may be'' s can signify is this, that if the reason of
mankind deceive us, such things may be as the most unques-
tionable principles of reason tells us can't be. And this is
the glorious triumph of atheistical reason ; it can get no fur-
ther than a may be, and such a may be as is absolutely im-
possible, if the reason of mankind be true.

A PRESERVING PROVIDENCE. 21

Set aside the relation between causes and effects, and all
the arguments from causes to effects, and from effects to
causes, and there is an end of all knowledge ; and set aside
all those first principles and maxims of reason which all
men assent to at the first proposal, the truth of which they
see and feel, and there is an end of all reason : for there
can be no reasoning without the acknowledgment of some
first principles, which the mind has a clear, distinct, and
vigorous perception of: and if men will distrust their own
minds in such things as they have an easy, natural percep-
tion of, and prefer some arbitrary notions, which seem ab-
surd contradictions and impossible to the rest of mankind,
and which they can have no idea of beyond the sound of
words, — they may be atheists if they please, at the expense
of their reason and understanding, that is, they may be
atheists if they will not judge and reason like men. But
if we are as certain of the being of a God and of a Provi-
dence as we are that nothing can be without a cause, we
have all the certainty that human nature is capable of.

CHAPTER II.

THE GENERAL NOTION OF PROVIDENCE, AND PARTICULARLY
CONCERNING A PRESERVING PROVIDENCE.

Having proved as largely as my present design required,
that the same God who made the world is the supreme
Lord and Governor of it, I proceed to consider the nature
of Providence.

The general notion of Providence is God's care of all
the creatures he has made, which must consist in preserving
and upholding their beings and natures, and in such acts of
government as the good order of the world and the happi-
ness of mankind require ; which divides Providence into
preservation and government, which must be carefully dis-
tinguished in order to answer some great difficulties in
Providence.

I begin with preserving Providence, which commences

22 A PRESERVING PROVIDENCE.

from the first instant of the creation ; for as soon as crea
tures are made, they need a divine power to preserve them.
For this is the strict notion of preservation, as distinguished
from a governing Providence, that God upholds all things
in being from falling back into their first notion, and pre-
serves their natural virtues, powers and faculties, and ena-
bles them to act, and to attain the ends of their several na-
tures ; which distinguishes this preserving Providence from
those many acts of preservation which belong to govern-
ment, such as preserving the lives of men from unseen acci-
dents and visible dangers ; nay, of beasts and birds too, as
our Saviour assures us, " that not a sparrow falls to the
ground without our Father," Matt. x. 29 : in which sense
the Psalmist tells us, that God " preserves both man and
beasts," supplies them with food and all other things neces-
sary to life, and preserves their lives from violence or acci-
dent as long as he sees fit.

This preservation, as distinguished from government, St.
Paul expressly teaches. " For in him we live, and move,
and have our being:" Acts xvii. 28. We were not only
made by him, but we live, and move, and have our being
in him : as the apostle to the Hebrews tells us of Christ,
that "he upholds all things by the word of his power :"
Heb. i. 3.

The schools have divided this into two distinct acts,
1. God's upholding and preserving the being and natures
of all things; 2. His co-operating with all creatures, and,
by a perpetual influx and concourse, actuating their natural
powers to perform their natural actions ; that is, that we
have our being in him, and that we live, and move, and act
in him, or by a new influx of power from him.

As for the first, the preservation of all things in being,
besides those texts of scripture which expressly attribute
this to God, the schools urge several arguments for the
proof of it, which I think may be resolved into this one, that
whatever does not necessarily exist by the internal principles
of its own nature, must depend on its cause, not only for its
being, but for its continuance and preservation ; for there
is no medium between necessary existence and dependence
on its cause.

A PRESERVING PROVIDENCE. 23

The very notion of a creature does not only include in it
its being made, but its dependence on its Maker for its con-
tinuance in being ; for whatever does not necessarily exist,
must not only be made at first, but must be upheld and pre-
served in being ; for it can no more preserve than it can
make itself. It was nothing once, and what was once no-
thing may be nothing again, and therefore cannot subsist of
itself, but in dependence on its Maker.

It is not with the being and natures of things, as it is with
the works of art, which, though they cannot make them-
selves, yet, when they are made, can subsist without the
artist that made them. As a house cannot build itself, but
when it is built, it continues of itself as long as the materials
and workmanship last, when the workman has left it ; for
the workman does not give being to the materials, but only
to the form, which subsists in the matter, and that in its first
cause ; but whatever receives its being from another, as all
creatures do, has nothing to support its being, but the cause
that made it.

This is so certain, that I should make no scruple to say,
that God can no more make an independent creature which
can subsist without him, than he can make an eternal crea-
ture which shall have no beginning ; which is not want of
power in God, but a repugnancy and contradiction in the
nature of creatures. That which once was not, can never
be so made as to have no beginning ; that which has not a
necessary existence, as nothing has, which once was not, can
not be made to exist necessarily without dependence on its
cause ; because necessary existence is not in its nature, for
then it would always have been.

Suarez has another argument to prove the dependence of
creatures on the perpetual influx of power from, the first
cause, which possibly some may think only a school of sub-
tlety, but seems to me to have great weight in it ; and it
proceeds upon this supposition, (which all men must grant,)
that if God made the world out of nothing, he could anni-
hilate all things, and reduce them into nothing again, if he
so pleased. Now, he says, that annihilation is not an act
of power, for all positive acts of power must have some real
and positive effect ; whereas to annihilate is to make no-

24 A PRESERVING PROVIDENCE.

thing, and therefore do nothing. Now, if to annihilate be
an act of power, then it can be nothing else but a withdraw-
ing that power which supported all things in being ; and
that proves, that all things are upheld in being by the divine
power if they cannot subsist, but fall into nothing again
when that upholding and preserving power is withdrawn.

This is a very sensible argument, if we distinguish be-
tween what we call destroying and annihilating, which is
apt to confound us in this matter. To destroy, is only to
change the present form and compages of things, while the
matter and substance continue the same. Thus God de-
stroyed the old world by water, and will destroy this world
by fire again, which is like pulling down a house without
destroying the materials, and this is an act of power and has
a positive effect. But to annihilate is to reduce something
to nothing, which is to do nothing, and therefore is no act
of power, but only a cessation of power. And if not to up-
hold is to annihilate, then all things subsist, as well as are
made, by the power of God.

I shall only add, that God cannot make a creature inde-
pendent of itself, without bestowing on it a self-subsisting
nature or necessary existence ; for whatever does not neces-
sarily exist by the internal principles of its nature, must de-
pend on something else to uphold it in being. Now, be-
sides what I observed before, that whatever necessarily
exists cannot be made, but must be eternal, (for that which
exists necessarily, must always exist, without a cause and
without a beginning ; for nothing can begin to have a neces-
sarily self-subsisting nature,) I now add, that whatever neces-
sarily is, cannot be changed, destroyed, annihilated ; for
whatever necessarily is, necessarily is what it is: which
proves, that if God can annihilate whatever he has made,
then all things subsist by the will, and pleasure, and power
of God, not by the internal principles of their natures ; for
whatever necessarily exists can never be annihilated, for
that is a contradiction.

How God upholds all things in being, we no more know
than how at first he made all things when there was nothing,
and therefore it is a vain inquiry of the schools, which no
man can resolve and which serves no end in religion, whe-

A PRESERVING PROVIDENT 25

ther creation and preservation be the same or two different
acts ? — Whether preservation be a continued creation, or
whether they be two distinct and different acts of power, to
make and to preserve ? For how can any man know this,
who neither knows how God creates nor how he preserves?
Thus much is certain, that to create is to give being to that
which was not before ; to preserve, is to continue that in
being which was made before ; and when any thing is once
created, it can never be newly created, till it falls into no-
thing again : for to create is to make out of nothing, not
to make a thing which already is. But by what acts of
power either of these is done, we cannot tell, nor are we
concerned to know ; for what way soever this is done, we
equally depend on God — we live and subsist in him.

But there is one thing fit to be observed, that this act of
preservation, which consists in upholding all things in being,
is fixed by a perpetual and unchangeable decree ; that
though God will dissolve this present frame of things, and,
it may be, cast the world into a new mould, yet nothing that
is made, neither matter nor spirit, shall be annihilated or
reduced into nothing again. This, I think, we may safely
conclude from the promises and threatenings of eternal re-
wards and punishments, which supposes that both good and
bad men shall live for ever — the one to be happy, the other
to be miserable to eternity ; and then we may reasonably
conclude, that the world, whatever changes it may suffer,
will continue as long as the inhabitants of it do.

This is the first act of what we call preserving Provi-
dence to uphold all things in being, in distinction, as I ob-
served before, from those several acts of preservation which
concern a governing Providence.

A second act of preserving providence is what the schools
call God's co-operation and concourse with creatures in all
their actions, that we not only live and have our being, but
that we move in God ; that whatever we do we do by a
natural power received from God ; and this is as certain as
that we have our being in him ; for if we live, we must move
in him.

But then whether God's co-operation and concourse be a
different act from his preserving the natural virtues and

3

26 A PRESERVING PROVIDENCE.

powers of action, is a nicer and more intricate speculation,
and neither the thing nor the reason of it is easy to be con-
ceived. Natural powers are internal principles of action
when a creature acts from an inward principle of nature ;
but if these natural powers, while they are preserved in their
full force and vigour by God, can do nothing themselves
without a new extrinsic determining motion from God, then
they seem to be no natural powers, for they cannot act by
nature if this be true. The fire don't burn by nature, for
though God preserves its nature it cannot burn without some
new co-operating power which is not in its nature. A man
don't reason and judge, choose and refuse, by nature ; for
though God preserve his natural powers and faculties of
understanding and will, yet he can neither understand nor
will unless he be moved, acted, determined by God. This
seems to make the world a mere apparition and empty
scene, which has nothing real. Whatever we see done in
the world is not done by creatures who seem to do it ; for
they are only acted like machines, nor from the internal
principles and powers of nature, but from external motion.
But God does every thing himself by an immediate power,
even all the contradictions and contrarieties we see in the
world.

This is a very great difficulty which I will not undertake
to determine one way or other ; but thus much I think
we may safely say, that if we will attribute any thing to
creatures, if we will allow that they ever act from a prin-
ciple of nature, we must confess that God co-operates only
to the natural power of action ; that is, that he only enables
them to act according to their natures, without changing,
influencing, determining their natures otherwise than these
powers would naturally act. For this is all that is neces-
sary to action when God has created the natural powers, and
this is all the co-operation that can belong to God as the
maker and preserver of all things.

Whatever is more than this, as I acknowledge there is a
great deal more that God does, it belongs to a governing,
not to a preserving providence. God does a great deal
more than merely co-operate with our natural powers
to perform natural actions, but this he does as a governor.

A PRESERVING PROVIDENCE. 27

not merely as a preserver, the not distinguishing of which
has occasioned great mistakes in the doctrine of Providence,
as to show this briefly.

God has endowed all creatures with such natural pow-
ers and virtues as may answer the end for which they
were made. He has made the sun to shine to enlighten
and refresh the world — the fire to burn, the earth to bring
forth all sorts of herbs, and grass, and corn, and fruit — the
vapours to ascend out of the earth to purge and fan the air
with winds, and to fall down again in fruitful showers —
every herb and flower and tree has its peculiar seeds to pro-
pagate its kind, as all living creatures have.

Now as it had been to little purpose for God to have
made a world without upholding it in being, for creatures
can no more preserve than they can make themselves ; so
it had been to as little. purpose to have endowed all crea-
tures with such virtues and powers as belong to their seve-
ral natures, without such a natural co-operation, whatever
that may be, as shall enable their natural powers to act and
to attain the ends of their natures ; and therefore God esta-
blished this natural concourse and co-operation to actuate
all the powers of nature, by a perpetual law, which is that
blessing God bestowed upon all creatures at the time of the
creation. For though this blessing, to increase and multiply,
and to replenish the sea and air and earth, which preserves
and invigorates the powers of nature, be expressed only of
living creatures, the fish, and fowls, and birds, and men, —
yet it equally belongs to the whole creation, as will be
easily granted, and makes nature regular and constant in all
its motions and productions.

But there are other acts belonging to God's government
even of the material world, as I shall show you more here-
after, as to direct the virtues and influences of nature, or to
suspend and restrain them — to make the earth fruitful or
barren, the air wholesome or pestilential — to withdraw the
dews and showers of heaven, or to give the former and
latter rain in its season — to cause it to rain upon one city
and not upon another, and so to temper the influences
of nature as to punish the wickedness or to reward the
obedience of mankind. These are acts of government,

28 A PRESERVING PROVIDENCE.

and of a quite different kind from actuating the powers of
nature to attain their ends, and to do what they were made
for.

Thus to consider the rational world, God has endowed
man with the natural faculties of understanding and will,
to judge and to choose for himself; and he preserves these
faculties, and gives them a natural power to act, to under-
stand, and will. But this natural co-operation of God can
extend no farther than to the natural power of acting, not
to any specifical acts. It does not improve any man's un-
derstanding, nor incline his judgment, nor determine his
choice : it makes no alteration in the powers of nature, but
only enables them to act according to their natures ; it is
only like winding up a clock, which puts it into motion, but
gives no new preternatural motions to it, but leaves its motions
to be guided by its own springs -and wheels. Whatever
this co-operation of God be, which is thought necessary
to actuate our natural faculties, it gives no new bias to
us, but leaves us perfectly in a state of nature, and only
enables us to do that which we should do of ourselves,
without any such co-operation of God, could we act with-
out it.

But in the government of mankind, God exercises a very
different power over the minds of men. He changes the
hearts and counsels of men, imprints new thoughts upon
their minds, claps a new bias upon their wills and affections.
The hearts of princes are in his hands, and he turneth them
as rivers of waters. He renews and sanctifies good men
by his Spirit ; enlightens their understandings, changes
their wills, inspires them with divine affections. He gives
up bad men to the impostures of wicked spirits, to their own
affected ignorance, blindness, inconsideration ; to the ob-
stinacy and perverseness of their own wills, and to the em-
pire of their lusts. Every one must perceive that this is a
very different thing from God's co-operation with our na-
tural faculties to will and to understand ; for that makes
no change in our natural understandings and wills, but
only enables them to act ; but this improves and heightens,
and regulates our faculties — enlarges our knowledge, and
rectifies our choice, and directs and governs our passions.

A PRESERVING PROVIDENCE. 29

And yet these things have not been well distinguished,
which has very much obscured and perplexed the doc-
trines both of Providence and Grace, as I shall now show
you.

For having thus briefly explained the difference between
a preserving and governing Providence, that this may not
be thought a more subtle than useful speculation, it will be
necessary to show you of what great use this is to answer
some of the greatest difficulties in the doctrine of Provi-
dence.

Now as the foundation of all, I shall ask but one thing
which every man must grant : that it becomes God to pre-
serve the creatures he has made, to uphold them in being,
and to actuate their natural powers as far as is necessary to
enable creatures to perform those natural actions which their
natures are fitted and made for. If it became the wisdom
and goodness of God to make creatures with such powers
and faculties of acting, it becomes him also to preserve their
beings and natures and powers of action. To make, is to
give a being and nature to that which was nothing ; to pre-
serve, is only to continue its being and to enable it to act
according to its nature ; and therefore we must either ap-
prove or disapprove of both alike.

Let us then lay down this as an acknowledged principle,
that we must not quarrel with the Providence of God for
any thing which is a mere act of preservation, not an act
of government. For to uphold the being, and nature, and
operations of all things is no fault, whatever evil conse-
quences may attend it ; and therefore those who have a
mind to quarrel at Providence, must find some fault, if they
can, in God's government of creatures, not in the acts
of preservation ; and this easily answers some of the
most difficult objections against Providence, as for in-
stance—

Since no creature can move, or act, or do any thing,
without the concourse and co-operation of God, some are
wonderfully puzzled to give an account why God should
co-operate with any creature in sinful actions — why God
should actuate men's understandings and wills, and their
other natural powers and faculties, when he certainly knows

3*

30 A PRESERVING PROVIDENCE.

that if he enables them to act, they will act wickedly, they
will choose that which is wicked, and will execute their
wicked designs — that if they have the exercise of their na-
tural powers, they will defile themselves with adultery, and
drunkenness, and theft, or murder, and all manner of wick-
edness : and how can a holy God co-operate in all the
wickedness which is committed? When men do wick-
edly by the power and co-operation of God, without which
they can do nothing, how does the sin come to be the
man's when the action is God's, as done by his immediate
power ?

I shall not trouble you with other answers, which are
commonly given to this difficulty ; for what I have now dis-
coursed, gives a plain and easy solution to it. For all this,
however it be represented, comes to no more than God's
preserving the natures of creatures, and actuating their
natural powers to perform the offices of nature ; and if this
be such a fault as entitles God to all the wickedness they
commit, the original fault is in making such creatures ; for
if it were no fault to make them, it can be no fault to pre-
serve their natures. Does it become the wisdom of God to
make creatures, who must act depend ently on himself, and
to deny them the natural powrers of acting, which is to un-
make them again ? And if this does not become the wisdom
of God, then it can be no fault in God to co-operate with
the natural powers of men, even in their sinful actions, nor
any more entitle God to their sins, than his making crea-
tures with such natural powers ; for to preserve their natures,
and to actuate their natural powers, is no more a cause ot
their sin, than to make such natures and such natural
powers.

To represent this as plainly as I can, let us suppose that
God had created man with a natural power to act without
needingsuch a perpetual concourse and co-operation to enable
him to act, would this charge God with the sins of men be-
cause they act, even when they sin, by a power derived
from him in their first creation ? If this makes God the
author of sin, then God cannot make a creature who is capa-
ble of sinning by the abuse of its natural powers, without
being the author of sin, wThich is too absurd for any think-

A PRESERVING PROVIDENCE. 31

ing man to say ; and yet if it does not, how does God's per-
petual concourse and co-operation with creatures to enable
them to act and to exert their natural powers make God
the author of sin ? for this is no more than a natural power
to act, and it makes no difference whether this natural
power be given once for all, as an inherent power in
creatures, or be supplied every minute, for both ways the
power is the same and equally derived from God. And
if the natural power of acting charges God with men's sins,
the charge lies equally against a creating and co-operating
power ; if it does not, God is no more chargeable with sin
for co-operating with men's natural powers in every action,
than he would be for creating such natural powers as could
act of themselves.

God's government of the world must be fitted to the na-
tures of the creatures which he has made, without denying
them the natural powers of action ; and therefore, while he
co-operates with creatures only to act according to the liberty
of their own natures, this is no fault in his government, nor
contributes any thing more to the sins of creatures than pre-
serving their natures, which as much becomes God as it did
to make them.

Thus some think it a great blemish to Providence that
adulterous mixtures prove fruitful, when increase and mul-
tiply \s an established decree from the first creation, and the
settled course and order of nature must not be reversed by
the sins of men. They may as well object against Provi-
dence that a man who steals his neighbour's grain and sows
it in his own land should have a plentiful crop the next year
from his stolen seed. And whatever opinion men may
have concerning the origination of the soul, whether it be
propagated ex traduce, or did pre-exist, or be immediately
created by God and infused into prepared matter, it makes
no difference in the case ; for when the order of nature is
settled and the blessing pronounced and established by the
divine decree, it does not unbecome God to preserve the
powers of nature to produce their natural effects. I am sure
there want not wise reasons in God's government of the
world why it should be so to restrain some men's lusts, and
to shame and punish others.

32 A PRESERVING PROVIDENCE.

Nay, I believe whoever considers this matter well, will
acknowledge that it goes a great way in answering the great-
est difficulty of all, viz. the eternal punishments of wicked
men in the next world.

The objection is not against God's punishing wicked men
in the next world ; for nobody pretends that this is un-
just for God to punish the wicked whether in this world or
in the next.

Nor is the objection against the nature of these punishments
— for indeed we do not distinctly know what they are, no
more than we know what the happiness of heaven is. Those
descriptions our Saviour gives of them, of lakes of fire
and brimstone, blackness of darkness, the worm that never
diet h f and the fire that never goeth out, prove that they are
very great, because these descriptions are intended to pre-
sent to us- very frightful and terrible images of the miseries
of the damned. But this is not the complaint neither, for
it is confessed that wicked men deserve to be very mise-
rable.

But the objection is against that vast disproportion be-
tween time and eternity. How it is reconcilable with the
divine justice to punish temporal sins with eternal miseries.
That when men can sin but for a very few years' they must
suffer for it for ever.

Now the difficulty of this seems in part to be owing to a
misstating the case. There is no proportion indeed between
time and eternity, and it is therefore difficult to conceive
that every momentary sin should, in its own nature, deserve
eternal punishments. But there is no difficulty to conceive
that an immortal sinner may, by some short and momentary
sins, sink himself into an irrecoverable state of misery, and
then he must be miserable as long as he continues to be ;
and if he can never die, he must be always miserable, and
may be so without any injustice in God. We do not here
consider the proportion between the continuance of the sin
and the punishment, between a short transient act and eter-
nal punishments ; for it is not the sin but the sinner that is
punished for his sin ; and therefore we must not ask how
long punishment a short sin deserves, but how long the sin-
ner deserves to be punished? and the answer to that is

A PRESERVING PROVIDENCE. 33

easy, as long as he is a sinner ; and therefore an immortal
sinner who can never die, and who will never cease to be
wicked, (which is the hopeless and irrecoverable state of
devils and damned spirits,) must always be miserable, and it
is just it should be so if it be just to punish sinners; and
there is nothing to quarrel with God for, as to the eternity
of punishments, unless it be that he does not annihilate im-
mortal spirits when they are become incurably wicked and
miserable. The justice of God is only concerned to pun-
ish sinners ; that their punishments are eternal is a necessary
consequence of their immortality, and this cannot be charged
on God unless it be a fault to make immortal creatures, and
to preserve and uphold immortal creatures in being, or to
punish sinners while they deserve punishment, that is while
they are sinners.

It may give some light to this matter to remove the scene
into this world. We see the punishment of sin in this world
bears no proportion to the time of committing it, but to the
lasting effects of the sin. One short, single act of lust may
not only leave a lasting reproach on men's names, but de-
stroy the health and ease of their bodies and the pleasure of
their lives for ever in this world ; and had men continued
immortal after the fall, these miserable effects must have
continued for ever, and then there had been a visible eternal
punishment for a very short transient sin, and yet no man
would have blamed the justice of God for it ; which shows
that a sin which is quickly committed may be eternally pun-
ished, and that very justly, too, when the effects of it are
incurable and the person immortal. And thus it is in a
great many other cases in this world where the effects of sin
last as long as the men last. And if this be the case of the
other world, and of the miseries and punishments of the
damned, as we certainly know in a great measure it is, that
their punishments are the natural effects and consequences
of their sins, there can be no objection against the eternity
of their punishments, but that God does not annihilate them ;
and how hard soever any man may think it to be, that a
sinner should be eternally miserable, I believe that no man
will venture to say that God ought in justice to annihilate
creatures whom he has made immortal, when by their own

34 A PRESERVING PROVIDENCE.

fault they must be eternally miserable if they live for ever.
To preserve and uphold creatures in being, is in itself con-
sidered what becomes the wise maker of all things, and I
am sure there can be no reason given to prove that God
ought to annihilate sinners to prevent their being miserable
for ever, but what will much more prove that God ought to
have withdrawn his natural concourse from his creatures, or
to have annihilated them to prevent their sinning ; or which
is the last result of all, as I have already observed, and the
only fault, if there be one, that he ought not to have made
an immortal creature who could sin, and be miserable for
ever.

I shall conclude this whole argument with some few in-
ferences.

1. If creatures must be preserved as well as made by
God, then the present continuance and preservation of all
things is a visible argument of the being of God. Some
men will not believe that God made the world, because
they did not see him make it. But they see a world pre-
served, when there is no one thing in the world more able
to preserve than to make itself. And who then is it that
preserves this world and all things in it ? This must be a
work of reason and wisdom as well as power, and the only
reasonable creature in this visible world is man ; and man
cannot preserve himself, and knows that he can preserve
nothing else — and therefore the preservation of all things
must be owing to some invisible cause whom we call GOD.

2. If we live, and move and have our being in God, we
are entirely his and owe all homage and obedience to him ;
for he did not only make us, but we have our constant de-
pendence on him — we live and subsist in him. Had he
only made us at first, that had given him a title to us for
ever ; but could we have lived without him when he had
made us, though it had not been a less fault, yet it had been
less foolish and absurd to have lived without any notice or
regard of him, as some ungrateful persons deal by their
friends and patrons when they have set them up in the
world and enabled them to live by themselves. But to for-
get that God in whom we live, who preserves and upholds
us in being every moment, is to affront a present benefactor

A PRESERVING PROVIDENCE. 35

if we value being ; and though we cannot tempt God by
this to let us fall into nothing, yet we shall make it just for
him to punish us, to preserve us in being, to feel the weight
of his wrath and vengeance, which is infinitely wTorse ; for
" happy had it been for such a man that he had never been
born."

3. For if he not only made but upholds and preserves us
in being, he must be our sovereign Lord and governor, for
no other has any original and absolute interest in us. We
are in his hands and none can take us out of them, nor touch
us but by his order. To give being and to preserve it is
the foundation of all other acts of government ; no other
being has a right to govern — no other power can govern.
He alone can give laws, can reward or punish, can govern
nature, can direct, overrule, control all other powers, for all
things are in his hands, and therefore he commands them
all.

4. And this may convince us how irresistible the divine
power is. For all the power of creatures is derived from
him and depends on him as light does on the sun, and
therefore they can have no power against him. And what
distraction then is it to provoke that Almighty God wdiom
we cannot resist ? Humble thyself, sinner, before thy ma-
ker, thy preserver, and thy judge ; obey his will, to whose
power thou must submit. Let him be thy fear and thy
dread ; thy only fear, for thou needest fear none else. All
power is his ; none can resist him, none can act without
him. He sets bounds to the raging of the sea, to the fury of
princes, to the madness of the people. Thou art safe in his
hands, safe in obedience to his will. But thou canst never
escape him, never fly from him, never defend thyself against
him, for thou livest in him.

5. This also proves that God must see and know all our
actions, for we live and move in him. He is always pre-
sent with us, privy to our most secret thoughts and counsels,
observes all our wanderings, sees us in all our retirements.
" There is no darkness nor shadow of death where the
workers of iniquity can hide themselves." This the Scrip-
ture in express words teaches, and the reason of the thing
speaks it. For if we cannot think, nor move, nor subsist

36 god's governing providence.

without God, he must be always intimately present with us,
which should possess us with a constant awe and reverence
of his pure and all-seeing eye.

CHAPTER III.

CONCERNING GOD's GOVERNING PROVIDENCE.

Next to Preservation, as that signifies God's upholding
all things in being, and preserving and actuating their
natural powers, we must consider God's government of the
world. For God is the supreme and sovereign Lord of the
world, " who doeth whatsoever pleaseth him both in heaven
and in earth;" and therefore the absolute government of all
things must be in his hands, or else something might be
done which he would not have done.

This all men grant in general words who own a Provi-
dence ; but when they come to particulars, there are so
many excepted cases which they will hardly allow God to
have any thing to do in, that they seem to mean little more
by God's government than a general inspection of human
affairs, his looking on to see the world govern itself; for
three parts of four of all that is done in the world they re-
solve into bare permission, as distinguished from an ordering
and disposing Providence ; and then it can signify no more
than that God does not hinder it. And if this be all, God
governs the world in such cases no more than men do.
The only difference is, that God can hinder when he don't;
but men don't hinder because they can't; but still not to
hinder does not signify to govern.

But rightly to understand this matter, the best way is to
consider how the Scripture represents it; and because there
are great variety of acts in the government of the world of
a very different consideration, I shall distinctly inquire into
God's government of causes, and his government of events.

I. God's government of causes. And we must consider
three sorts of causes, and what the Scripture attributes to

37

God with respect to each. 1. Natural causes. 2. Acci-
dental causes, or what we call chance, and accident, and
fortune. 3. Moral causes and free agents, or the govern-
ment of mankind.

1. Natural causes, or God's government of the natural
wTorld, of the heavens, and earth, and seas, and air, and all
things in them which move and act by a necessity of nature,
not by chance. Now the Scripture does not only attribute
to God all the virtues and powers of nature which belong
to creation, and to a preserving Providence, but the direc-
tion and government of all their natural influences to do
what God has a mind should be done. God does in some
measure govern the moral by the natural world. He
rewards or punishes men by a wholesome or pestilential air,
by fruitful or barren seasons. He hinders or promotes their
designs by winds and weather, by a forward or a backward
spring, and makes nature give laws to men, and sets bounds
to their passions and intrigues. To overthrow the most
powerful fleets and armies. To defeat the wisest counsels,
and to arbitrate the differences of princes, and the fate of
men and kingdoms. And if God govern men by nature,
he must govern nature too, for necessary causes cannot be
fitted to the government of free agents without the direction
and management of a Divine Providence, which guides,
exerts, or suspends the influences of nature with as great
freedom as men act. Men do not always deserve well or
ill; and if the kind or malign influences of nature must be
tempered to men's deserts, to punish them when they do
ill, and to reward them when they do well, natural causes,
which of themselves act necessarily without wisdom or
counsel, must be guided by a wise hand.

Thus reason tells us it must be if God govern the world,
and God challenges to himself this absolute and sovereign
empire over nature. God has bestowed different virtues
and powers on natural causes, and in ordinary cases makes
use of the powers of nature, and neither acfs without them
nor against the laws of nature, which makes some unthink-
ing men resolve all into nature wuthout a God or a Provi-
dence. Because excepting the case of miracles, which they
are not willing to believe, they see every thing else done

4.

38 god's governing providence.

by the powers of nature. And if it were not so, God had
made a world and made nature to no purpose to do every
thing himself by an immediate power, without making use
of the powers of nature. But the ordinary go-vernment of
nature does not signify to act without it or to overrule its
powers, but to steer and guide its motions to serve the wise
ends of his Providence in the government of mankind.

For as God does not usually act without nature, nor
against its laws, so neither does nature act by steady and
uniform motions without the direction of God. But while
every thing in the material world acts necessarily and exerts
its natural powers, God can temper, suspend, direct its in-
fluences without reversing the laws of nature. As, for
instance, fire and water, wind and rain, thunder and light-
ning, have their natural virtues and powers, and natural
causes, and God produces such effects as they are made to
produce by their natural powers. He warms us with fire —
invigorates the earth by the benign influences of the sun and
moon, and other stars and planets; refreshes and moistens it
with springs and fountains and rain from heaven — fans the
air with winds, and purges it with thunders and lightnings
and the like. But then when and where the rains shall fall
and the winds shall blow, and in wdiat measure and propor-
tion, times and seasons, natural causes shall give or with-
hold their influences, this God keeps in his own power, and
can govern without altering the standing laws of nature ;
and this is his government of natural causes in order to re-
ward or punish men as they shall deserve. Thus God
reasons with Job concerning his power and Providence :
Job xxxviii. 31 — 35 : " Canst thou bind the sweet in-
fluences of the Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion ? canst
thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season ? or canst thou
guide Arcturus with his sons? knowest thou the ordinances
of heaven ? canst thou set the dominion thereof on the earth ?
canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance
of waters may cover thee ? canst thou send lightnings, that
they may go, and say unto thee, here we are?" This is
above human power, but belongs to the government and
Providence of God. " Fire and hail, snow and vapour,
and stormy winds fulfil his word ;" Ps. cxlviii. 8. Some-

GOD'S GOVERNING PROVIDENCE. 39

times God restrains the influences of nature, " shuts up
heaven that it shall not rain:" 2 Chron. vii. 13. And at
other times he " calls to the clouds that abundance of water
may cover the earth." "He gives the former and the latter
rain in its season, and reserveth unto us the appointed weeks
of the harvest:" Jer. v. 24, as he promised to Israel,
Deut. xi. 14, 15: "I will give you the rain of your land
in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou
mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.
And I will send grass in thy field for thy cattle, that thou
mayest eat and be full." He prescribes in what proportions
it shall rain; Joel ii. 23, 24 : " Be glad then, ye children of
Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given
you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come
down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in
the first month." Nay, God appoints on what place it shall
rain, Ezek. xxxiv. 26 : " And I will make them and the places
round about my hill a blessing ; and I will cause the shower
to come down in his season, there shall be showers of bless-
ing." Amos iv. 7,8: " And also I have withholden the rain
from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest:
and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to
rain upon another city : one piece was rained upon, and the
piece whereupon it rained not withered. So two or three
cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they
were not satisfied."

It is impossible to give any tolerable account of such
texts as these, without confessing that God keeps the direc-
tion and government of natural causes in his own hands.
For particular effects, and all the changes of nature can
never be attributed to God unless the divine wisdom and
counsel determines natural causes to the producing such par-
ticular effects. Great part of the happiness or miseries of this
life is owing to the good or bad influences of natural causes.
That if God take care of mankind he must govern nature ;
and when he promises health and plenty, or threatens
pestilence and famine, how can he make good either if he
have not reserved to himself a sovereign power over nature ?

The sum is this, that all natural causes are under the im-
mediate and absolute government of Providence — that God

40

keeps the springs of nature in his own hands, and turns them
as he pleases. For mere matter, though it be endowed with
all the natural virtues and powers which necessarily produce
their natural effects, yet it having no wisdom and counsel
of its own, cannot serve the ends of a free agent without
being guided by a wise hand. And we see in a thousand
instances what an empire human art has over nature, not
by changing the nature of things which human art can never
do, but by such a skilful application of causes as will pro-
duce such effects as unguided, and, if I may so speak, un-
taught nature could never have produced. And if God have
subjected nature to human art, surely he has not exempted
it from his own guidance and power.

This shows how necessary it is that God, by an immediate
providence, should govern nature. For natural causes are
excellent instruments, but to make them useful they must
be directed by a skilful hand. And those various changes
which are in nature, especially in this sublunary world,
(which we are most acquainted with,) without any certain
and periodical returns, prove that it is not all mechanism ;
for mechanical motions are fixed and certain, and either al-
ways the same or regular and uniform in their changes.

It is of great use to us to understand this, which teaches
us what we may expect from God, and what we must at
tribute to him in the government of nature. We must not
expect in ordinary cases that God should reverse the laws
of nature for us. That if we leap into the fire it shall not
burn us — or into the water it shall not drown us. And by the
same reason the providence of God is not concerned to pre
serve us when we destroy ourselves by intemperance and
lust ; for God does not work miracles to deliver men from the
evil effects of their own wickedness and folly. But all the
kind influences of heaven which supply our wants, and fill
our hearts with food and gladness, are owing to that good
Providence which commands nature to yield her increase ;
and those disorders of nature which afflict the world with
famines, and pestilence and earthquakes, are the effects of
God's anger and displeasure, and are ordered by him for
the punishment of a wicked world. We must all believe
this, or confess that we mock God when we bless him for a

PROVIDENCE. 41

healthful air and fruitful seasons, or deprecate his anger
when we see the visible tokens of his vengeance in the dis-
orders of nature. For did not God immediately interpose
in the government of nature, there would be no reason to
beg his favour, or to deprecate his anger upon these ac-
counts.

2. Let us consider God's government of accidental causes,
or what we call chance and accident, which has a large em-
pire over human affairs. Not that chance and accident can
do any thing properly speaking, (for whatever is done has
some proper and natural cause which does it ;) but what
we call accidental causes, is rather such an accidental con-
currence of different causes, as produces unexpected and
undesigned effects; as when one man, by accident, loses a
purse of gold, and another man walking in the fields, with-
out any such expectation, by as great an accident finds it.
And how much of the good or evil that happens to us in
this world is owing to such undesigned, surprising, acci-
dental events, every man must know wTho has made any
observations on his own or other men's lives and fortunes.
The wise man observed this long since, Eccl. ix. 11 : "I
returned and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the
swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the
wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour
to men of skill ; but time and chance happeneth to them
all." Some unusual and casual events change the fortunes
of men, and disappoint the most proper and natural means
of success. What should conquer in a race but swiftness?
or win the battle but strength ? What should supply men's
wants and increase riches, but wisdom and understanding in
human affairs ? What more likely way to gain the favour of
princes and people, than a dexterous and skilful application
and address ? And yet the preacher observed, in his days,
and the observation holds good still, that it is not always
thus: time and chance, some favourable junctures, and un-
seen accidents, are more powerful than all human strength,
or art, or skill.

Now what an ill state were mankind in, did not a wise
and merciful hand govern what wTe call chance and fortune ?
How can God govern the world, or dispose of men's lives

4*

42 GOD^S GOVERNING PROVIDENCE.

and fortunes, without governing chance, all unseen, un-
known and surprising events, which disappoint the counsels
of the wise, and in a moment unavoidably change the whole
scene of human affairs ? Upon what little unexpected things
do the fortunes of men, of families, of whole kingdoms
turn ? And unless these little unexpected things are go-
verned by God, some of the greatest changes in the world
are exempted from his care and providence.

This is reason enough to believe that if God governs the
world, he governs chance and fortune ; that the most un-
expected events, how casual soever they appear to us, are
foreseen and ordered by God.

Such events as these are the properest objects of God's
care and government, because they are very great instru-
ments of Providence. Many times the greatest things are
done by them, and they are the most visible demonstration
of a superior wisdom and power which governs the world.
By these means, God disappoints the wisdom of the wise,
and defeats the power of the mighty; u frustrated! the tokens
of the liars, and maketh diviners mad ; turneth wise men
backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish:" Isa. xliv.
25. Did strength and wisdom always prevail, as in a great
measure they would, were it not for such unseen disappoint-
ments, mankind would take less notice of Providence> and
would have less reason to do it, since they would be the
more absolute masters of their own fortunes. A powerful
combination of sinners, managed by some crafty politicians,
would govern the world ; but the uncertain turnings and
changes of fortune keep mankind in awe, make the most
prosperous and powerful sinners fear an unseen vengeance.
and give security to good men against unseen evils, which
cannot befal them without the order and appointment of
God.

That there are a great many accidental and casual events
which happen to us all, and which are of great consequence
to the happiness or miseries of our lives, all men see and
feel. That we cannot defend ourselves from such unseen
events, which we know nothing of till we feel them, is
as manifest as that there are such events ; and what so pro-
perly belongs to the divine care, as that which we ourselves

43

can take no care of? The heathens made fortune a goddess,
and attributed the government of all things to her tvx*i
xvStpva, ftdvta. Whereby they only signified the government
of Providence in all casual and fortuitous events ; and if
Providence govern any thing, it must govern chance, which
governs almost all things else, and which none but God can
govern. As far as human prudence and foresight reach,
God expects we should take care of ourselves ; and if we
will not, he suffers us to reap the fruits of our own folly : but
when we cannot take care of ourselves, we have reason to
expect and hope, that God will take care of us. In other
cases human prudence and industry must concur with the
divine Providence : in matters of chance and accident
Providence must act alone and do all itself, for we know
nothing of it ; so that all the arguments for Providence dc
most strongly conclude for God's government of all casual
events.

And the Scripture does as expressly attribute all such
events to God, as any other acts of Providence and govern-
ment. In the law of Moses, when a man killed his neigh-
bour by accident, God is said to deliver him into his hands.
Exod. xxi, 12, 13 : " He that smiteth a man so that he die,
shall be surely put to death. And if a man lie not in wait,
but God deliver him into his hand, then I will appoint thee
a place whither he shall flee:" where "God's delivering
him into his hands," is opposed to him " that smiteth a man
so that he die," and "to him that comes presumptuously
upon his neighbour to slay him," (14th verse,) and therefore
signifies one who kills his neighbour by mere accident, as it
is explained in Deut. xix. 4, 5 : " And this is the case of
the slayer that shall flee thither," i. e. to the city of refuge.
" Whoso killeth his neighbour ignorantly, whom he hated
not in time past, — as when a man goeth into the wood
with his neighbour to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a
stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slip
peth fiom the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbour that
he die, — he shall flee unto one of the cities and live." What
can be more accidental than this ? And yet we are assured
that this is appointed by the divine Providence ; that God

44 god's governing providence.

delivers the man who is killed, into the hands of him that
killed him.

Is any thing more casual than a lot ? And yet Solomon
tells us, " the lot is cast into the lap, but the whole dis-
posing thereof is of the Lord," (Prov. xvi. 33 ;) which is not
confined to the case of lots, but to signify to us that nothing
is so casual and uncertain, as to be exempted from the
disposal of Providence. For what seems accidental to us,
is not chance, but Providence, — is ordered and appointed
by God to bring to pass what his own wisdom and counsel
has decreed ; as is very evident from some remarkable in-
stances of Providence which are recorded in Scripture.

By how many seeming accidents and casual events was
Joseph advanced to Pharaoh's throne ? His dreams, where-
by God foretold his advancement, made his brethren envious
at him, and watch some convenient opportunity to get rid
of him, and so confute his dreams. Jacob sends Joseph to
visit his brethren in the fields, where they were keeping
their sheep. This gave them an opportunity to execute
their revenge, and at first they intended to murder him ; but
the Ishmaelites accidentally passing by, they sold Joseph to
them, and they carried him into Egypt and sold him to Po-
tiphar. Potiphar's wife tempts him to uncleanness, and
being denied by Joseph, she accuses him to his lord, who
cast him into the king's prison. Whilst he was there, the
king's butler and baker were cast into the same prison, and
dreamed their several dreams, which Joseph expounded to
them, and the event verified his interpretation. The butler,
who was restored to his office, forgat Joseph, till two years
after, when Pharaoh dreamed a dream which none of the
wise men could interpret, and then Joseph was sent for,
and advanced to the highest place of dignity and power
next to Pharaoh. The years of famine brought Joseph's
brethren into Egypt to buy corn, where they bowed before
him, according to his dream. This occasioned the removal
of Jacob and his whole family into Egypt, where Joseph
placed them in the land of Goshen, by which means God
fulfilled what he had told Abraham: "Know of a surety
that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs,
dnd shall serve them ; and they shall afflict them four hun-

45

dred years:" Gen. xv. 13. How casual does all this ap-
pear to us! But no man will think that prophecies are
fulfilled by chance ; and therefore we must confess, that
what seems chance to us, was appointed by God.

Thus God intended to deliver Israel out of Egypt by the
hands of Moses. Moses was born at a time when the king
of Egypt had commanded that every son that was born to
the Israelites should be cast into the river. His mother hid
him three months, and not being able to conceal him any
longer, exposed him in an ark of bulrushes among the flags
by the river side. Pharaoh's daughter came down to wash
herself in the river, and finds the ark with the child in it —
puts him to his own mother to nurse, whereby he came to
know his own kindred and relations, and to be instructed in
the knowledge and worship of the God of Israel. After-
wards Pharaoh's daughter takes him home and breeds him
up as her own son, wdiereby he was instructed in all the
learning of Egypt, and in all the policies of Pharaoh's court,
which qualified him for government. When he was forty
years old, he had lived long enough in Pharaoh's court, and
God thought fit to remove him into better company, and to
accustom him to a more severe life ; and this was done by
as strange an accident. He slew an Egyptian in defence
of an oppressed Jew, and was betrayed by his own brethren,
and was forced to fly from Pharaoh to save his own life, till
the time was come for the deliverance of Israel, and then
God sent him back into Egypt to bring his people out from
thence with signs and wonders and a mighty hand.

Thus God had foretold Ahab by the prophet Micaiah, that
if he went up against Ramoth-GiWd, he should perish there,
and this was accomplished by a very great chance. For
" a certain man drew a bow at -i venture, and smote the
king between the joints of the harness," of which he died :
1 Kings xxii. 34. The blood which came from his wound
ran into the chariot, and " one washed the chariot in the
pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood ;" which
was a very casual thing, and little thought of by him who
did it, and yet fulfilled God's threatening against Ahab ;
" In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall
logs lick thy blood, even thine : ch. xxi. v. 19.

46

I shall add but one example more of this nature, and it is
a very remarkable one : God's deliverance of the Jews in
the days of Esther, from the wicked conspiracy of Haman.
This Hainan being advanced to great power and authority
by king Ahasuerus, took great offence at Mordecai the Jew,
who refused to reverence him as others did ; and for his
sake obtained a decree from the king to destroy all the Jews
in the provinces of his dominions. Mordecai sends to
queen Esther to go to the king, and to petition him about
this matter. This was a very hazardous attempt, it being
death by the law for any person, man or woman, to go to
the king without being called, unless the king held out his
golden sceptre to them. But the queen at last, after three
days, fasting, ventured her own life to save her people, and
obtained favour in the king's sight, who held out the golden
sceptre to her. All she requested at that time was, that the
king and Haman would come to the banquet which she had
prepared. And being then asked what her petition was,
with an assurance that it should be granted, she begged that
the king and Haman would come the next day also to her
banquet, and then she would declare it. Haman was much
exalted with the king's favour, and that queen Esther had
admitted none to banquet with the king but himself. But
still Mordecai, who refused to bow before him, was a great
grievance ; and by the advice of his friends he built a gal-
lows fifty cubits high, and resolved that night to beg of the
king that Mordecai might be hanged on it, and had he
come in time his petition had been certainly granted. But
it so happened that that very night the king could not sleep,
and he called for the book of the records of the chronicles,
and there they found written that Mordecai had discovered
the treason of two of the king's chamberlains against him ;
and finding, upon inquiry, that he had never been rewarded
for it, he resolved to do him honour, and made Haman, who
was at the door to beg that Mordecai might be hanged, his
minister in doing him honour. This prepared the king to
grant queen Esther's request, and hanged Haman upon the
gallows he had built for Mordecai, and preserved the Jews
from that destruction he had designed against them. And
thus it is almost in all the remarkable passages of Provi-

47

dence. There is so much appearance of chance and acci-
dent which has the greatest stroke in some wonderful events,
as may satisfy considering men that the world is governed
by a Divine wisdom and counsel, and an invisible power,
and that the immediate and visible causes have always the
least hand in it.

For can we think otherwise when we see as many visible
marks of wisdom, and goodness, and justice, in what we
call chance as in any other acts of Providence. Nay, when
the wisdom of Providence is principally seen in the govern-
ment of fortuitous events — when we see a world wisely
made, though we did not see it made, yet we conclude that
it was not made by chance, but by a wise being. And by
the same reason, when we see accidental events, nay, a
long incoherent series of accidents concur to the producing
the most admirable effects, we ought to conclude that there
is a wise invisible hand which governs chance, which of it-
self can do nothing wisely. When the lives and fortunes
of men, the fate of kingdoms and empires, the successes of
war, the changes of government, are so often determined
and brought about by the most visible accidents — when
chance defeats the wisest counsels and the greatest power —
when good men are rewarded and the church of God pre-
served by appearing chances — when bad men are punished
by chance, and the very chance whereby they are punished
carries the marks of their sins upon it, for which they are
punished — I say, can any man in such cases think that all this
is mere chance ? When how accidental soever the means
are, or appear to be, whereby such things are done, there
is no appearance at all of chance in the event. But the
changes and revolutions, the rewards and punishments of
chance, are all as wisely done as if there had been nothing
of chance and accident in it. This is the great security of
our lives, amidst all the uncertainties of fortune, that chance
itself cannot hurt us without a divine commission. This is
a sure foundation of faith, and hope, and trust in God, how
calamitous and desperate soever our external condition seems
to be, that God never wants means to help — that he has a
thousand unseen ways, a whole army of accidents and un-
expected events at command to disappoint such designs,

48 god's governing providence.

which no visible art or power can disappoint, and to save
those whom no visible power can save.

This is an undeniable reason for a perpetual awe and
reverence of God, and an entire submission to him, and a
devout acknowledgment of him in all our ways, that we
have no security but in his Providence and protection.
For whatever provision we can make against foreseen and
foreknown evils, we can never provide against chance.
That is wholly in God's hands, and no human wit or strength
can withstand it ; which may abate the pride and self-confi-
dence of men, and teach the rich, and great, and mighty, a
religious veneration of God, who can with so much ease
" pull down the mighty from their seat, and advance those
of low degree."

3. The next thing to be explained is God's government
of moral causes or free agents, that is, the government of
men considered as the instruments of Providence, which
God makes use of for the accomplishment of his own wise
counsels.

Most of the good or evil which happens to us in this
world is done by men. If God reward, or if he punish us,
usually men are his ministers in both, to execute his ven-
geance, or to dispense his blessings. And therefore God
must have as absolute a government over mankind, of all
their thoughts, and passions, and counsels, and actions, as
he has of the powers and influences of natural causes, or else
he cannot reward and punish when and as he pleases. If
men could hurt those whom God would bless and reward,
or do good to those whom God would punish, both good
and bad men might be happy or miserable in this world,
whether God would or not. Our fortunes would depend
upon the numbers and power of our friends or enemies,
upon the good or bad humours and inclinations of those
among whom we live, and Providence could not help us.

Now this is the great difficulty, howr God can exercise
such an absolute government over mankind, who are free
agents, without destroying the liberty and freedom of their
choice, which would destroy the nature of virtue and vice,
of rewards and punishments. The necessity of allowing
this, if we will acknowledge a Providence, and the plain

god's governing providence. 49

testimonies and examples of this absolute and uncontrollable
government which we find in Scripture, have made some
men deny the liberty of human actions, and represent man-
kind to be as mere machines as a watch or a clock, which
move as they are moved. And then they know not how to
bring religion and the moral differences of good and evil,
and the natural justice of rewards and punishments into their
scheme ; for nothing of all this can be reconciled with ab-
solute necessity and fate. Others, to avoid these difficulties,
are afraid of attributing too much to Providence, or have
such confused and perplexed notions about it, that there are
few cases wherein they can securely depend on God.

But I think this difficulty will be easily removed if we
distinguish between God's government of men, as reason-
able creatures and free agents, and his government of them
as the instruments of Providence. The first consider them
in their own private and natural capacity, the second in re-
lation to the rest of mankind, which makes a great difference
in the reason and in the acts of government.

Man, considered in his nature, is a reasonable creature
and free agent ; and therefore the proper government of man
consists in giving him laws, that he may know the difference
between good and evil, what he ought to choose and what
to refuse, and in annexing such rewards and punishments
to the observation or to the breach of these laws, as may
reasonably invite him to obedience, and deter him from sin;
and as this degenerate state requires, in laying such external
restraints on him, and affording him such internal assistances
of grace, as the divine wisdom sees proportioned to the
weakness and corruption of human nature : and when this
is done, it behooves God to leave him to his own choice,
and to reward or punish him as he deserves ; for a forced
virtue deserves no reward, and a necessity of sinning will
reasonably excuse from punishment. The nature of a rea-
sonable creature, of virtue and vice, of rewards and punish-
ments, represent it as very becoming the wisdom and jus-
tice of God, to leave every man to the freedom of his own
choice, to do good or evil, to deserve rewards or punish-
ments, as far as he himself is only concerned in it.

But when we consider man in society, the case is altered ;

5

50 god's governing providence.

for when the good or evil of their actions extends beyond
ihemse yes, to do good or hurt to other men, the Providence
of God becomes concerned either to hinder, or to permit
and order rt, as may best serve the wise ends of gov™
ment, as those other men who are like to be the better or the
worse for it have deserved well or ill of God. Though

£ h™L T a free agent' >'et we must not th'"k tilt

he has made such a creature as he himself cannot govern
&S& ' bUt ,hat G°d CM' When he Pleases! by an

ons an I STS " "**! hT$' a"d chai" UP *«' P<*"
s ons , and alter then- counsels. The only question is, When

Lesfont ^t0d,° th'S;,and "° man can q-st'°» the
ouiresif VnH P* g°°d S0Vemment of ^ world re-
SV^°d make, n° ™» good or bad, virtuous or
vie ons by a perpetual and irresistible force; for this con-
tradicts the nature of virtue and vice, which equires a free-
dom and liberty of choice; but God may, by* Secret and
ijresisfble influence upon men's minds, eveSe tibtm to
stra n If °f ^ **! haVe n° inclinati°» *° do, anTr £

h v dt " which dmg that *? W,h!ch °the,'wise "^ -ould
nave clone, which does not make them good men but make*

them the instruments of Providence hfdoing good to mtn ■

and God, who is the sovereign Lord of all°c,f ator ° may'
when he sees fit, press those men, if I may so speak 'to us
ZTff Wh° TUld n0t d° g°od "P°n eho^ice ThTs' shows
dele the1 l-sttaT ft ^^ °f graCe> "« ^

£££**?»£«££

than what s consistent with the freedom of choice and tht
^KffiT ; bUt *° ^-"-nt'of'So^e

*-* us then now more particularly consider how God go-

51

verns mankind, so as to make them the instruments and
ministers of his providence in the world. The methods of
the divine wisdom are infinite and unsearchable, and we
must not expect fully to comprehend all the secrets and
mysteries of God's government ; but something we may
know of this, enough to teach us to reverence God, and to
trust in him, and to vindicate his providence from the cavils
of ignorance and infidelity, which is as much as is useful
for us to know. And I shall reduce what I have to say to
two general heads: 1. The government of men's minds, of
their wills, their passions, and counsels : 2. The government
of their actions.

1. God's government of the minds of men, their wills,
and passions, and counsels ; for these are the great springs
of action, and as free a principle as the mind of man is, it
is not ungovernable ; it may be governed, and that without
an omnipotent power, against its own bias, and without
changing its inclinations ; and what may be done, certainly
God can do ; and when it is necessary to the ends of Provi-
dence, we may conclude he will do it. Let a man be
never so much bent upon any project, yet hope or fear,
some present great advantage or great inconvenience, the
powerful intercession of friends, a sudden change of circum-
stances, the improbability of success, the irreparable mischief
of a defeat, and a thousand other considerations, will divert
him from it ; and how easy is it for God to imprint such
thoughts upon men's minds with an irresistible vigour and
brightness, that it shall be no more in their power to do
what they had a mind to, than to resist all the charms of
riches and honours, than to leap into the fire, and to choose
misery and ruin.

That thus it is, the Scripture assures us: (Prov. xxi. 1.)
aThe king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers
of water ; he turneth it whithersoever he will." And if the
king's heart be in the hand of the Lord, wTe cannot doubt
but he hath all other men's hearts in his hand also, and
can turn and change them as he pleases. Thus, the wTise
man tells us, " A man's heart deviseth his way ; but the
Lord directeth his steps :" Prov. xvi. 9. Men consult and
advise what to do, but after all, God steers and directs them

52 god's governing providence.

which way he pleases; for though " there are many devices
in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that
shall stand," (Prov. xix. 21,) which made the wise man con-
clude, " Man's goings are of the Lord : how can a man then
understand his own way ?" Prov. xx. 24. That is, God has
such an absolute government of the hearts and actions of
men, when his providence is concerned in the event, that
no man can certainly know what he himself shall choose and
do ; for God can, in an instant, alter his mind, and make
him steer a very different course from what he intended.
As the prophet Jeremiah assures us, "I know that the way
of man is not in himself ; it is not in man that walketh to
direct his steps :" Jer. x. 23. And Solomon tells us some-
thing more strange than this : " The preparation of the heart
in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord ;"
(Prov. xvi. 1 ;) or as the Hebrew seems to signify, " the pre-
paration of the heart is from man ;" a man premeditates and
resolves what he will say ; but notwithstanding that, "the
answer of the tongue is of the Lord." When he comes to
speak, he shall say nothing but what God pleases. Which
sayings must not be expounded to a universal sense, that
it is always thus ; but that 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 man's ways please the
Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him :"
Prov. xvi. 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 Je-
rusalem, by which means their country was left without de-
fence, 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 :" Exod. xxxiv.
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: Gen. xx. 1, &c. Thus,

PROVIDENCE. 53

when Jacob 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 Jacob
either good or hurt : Gen. xxxi. 24. Such appearances
were very common in that age, though they seem very ex-
traordinary to us ; but God does the same thing still by
strong and lively impressions upon our minds — by suggest-
ing 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 unac-
countable 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 enforces the
impression.

Thus God in one moment turned the heart of Esau when
he came out in a great rage against his brother Jacob. 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 oft
the first opportunity he had to do it. And could it be ex-
pected that the present which Jacob sent him, which he
could have taken if he had pleased without receiving it as
a gift, and that the submission of Jacob 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 Ja-
cob after a whole night's wrestling with him in Penuel: Gen.
xxxii. xxxiii. And when God pleases, the weakest means
shall change the most sullen and obstinate resolutions.

Of the same nature of this is the story of David and Abi-
gail. 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 pacify him, who, by her presence and dutiful
and submissive behaviour and wise counsels, diverted him
from those bloody resolutions he had taken, as David him-
self acknowledges: "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,

5*

54

who sent thee this day to meet me : and blessed be thy ad-
vice, and blessed be thou, who hast kept me this day from
coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine
own hand :" 1 Sam. xxv. 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 showed 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. xxvi. xxvii.

Thus God confounded the good counsel of Ahithophel
by the advice of Hushai, which Absalom chose to follow.
And the text tells us this was from God, who had purposed
" to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that
he might bring evil upon Absalom :" 2 Sam. xvii. 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.

2. When God does not think fit to change and alter men's
w7ills 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 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 de-
signed may be disappointed, and the good which God in-
tended by it have its effect. And this is as absolute a go-
vernment over men's 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 further than as it is
subservient to the divine counsels: as to give some plain
examples of it.

Joseph's brethren being offended at his dreams and at
the peculiar kindness which their father Jacob showed him,
resolved to get rid of him ; but God intended to send him

55

into Egypt, to advance him to Pharaoh's throne, and to
transplant Jacob and his family thither. And therefore God
would not suffer them to slay him as they first intended, but
he suffered them to sell him to the Ishmaelites, who carried
him into Egypt, 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 Jerusalem with a powerful army, with an inten-
tion 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. " 0 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 mire in the
street." Thus far God gave him a commission ; that is,
thus far God intended to suffer his rage and pride to pro-
ceed. 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 upon Mount Zion and on Jeru-
salem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king
of Assyria, and the glory of his proud looks :" Isa. x. 5 —
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 disap-
points them; that when "they intend evil, and imagine a
mischievous device, they are not able to perform it:" Ps.
xxi. 11. Or he turns the evil upon their own heads : " the
heathen are sunk down into 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: Ps. ix. 15, 16.

56 god's governing providence.

Or he doubly disappoints their malice, not only by defeating
the evil they intended, but by turning it to the great advan-
tage of those it was intended against ; which was visible in
the case of Haman, whose malice against Mordecai, and all
the Jews for his sake, did not only prove his own ruin, but
the great advancement of Mordecai, and the glory and
triumph of the Jewish nation.

Having thus briefly shown what government God has both
of the heart 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 suffi-
cient 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 Provi-
dence. They do good out of temper and inclination, and
a habit and principle of virtue, and out of reverence to the
divine lawTs, and are ready to obey every extraordinary im-
pression 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 virtue in doing good ; and
while good is done by honest and virtuous means, there
can be no objection against Providence.

2. But as bad men are most difficultly 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

god's governing providence, 57

could not serve his own providence by the sins of* men with-
out being the cause of men's sins. For there is no colour
nor reasonable pretence of an objection against God's mak-
ing the sins of men serve wise and good ends, if he can do
this without having any hand in men's 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 execu-
tion. And when he sutlers them to proceed to action, he
either shamefully disappoints them, or serves some wise
and good end by what they wickedly do. And if Provi-
dence 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, (ex-
cepting 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 Pro-
vidence than to make bad men the ministers and execu-
tioners of a divine vengeance upon each other, which is one
great end God serves by the sins of men. I am sure that
it is for the great good of the world that God has the go-
vernment of bad men, that they cannot do so much hurt as
they would, and 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 ob-
servable in God's government both of the good and bad ac-
tions of men — that as in the government of natural causes

58 god's governing providence.

God directs where, and when, and in what proportion na-
ture 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 — chooses out such persons as they shall do good to,
and appoints what good they shall do, and in what mea-
sures 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 appli-
cation of the good or evil which men do to such particular
persons as God thinks fit to do good to, or to atflict and
punish, which is the most material and most necessary exer-
cise 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 for-
tunes 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 protection — what little reason we have to be
afraid of men whatever their power, how furious soever their
passions are — how vain it is to trust in men and to depend
on their favour, for they can neither do good nor hurt but
as they are directed by God, and therefore he alone must be
the supreme object of our fear and trust. " If God be for
us, who can be against us?" If we make him our enemy,
who can save us out of his hands? So that we have but
one thing to take care of, and we are safe : let us make God
our friend, and he will raise us up friends, and patrons, and
protectors — will deliver us out of the hands of our enemies,
or make our enemies to be at peace with us.

II. Having thus explained God's government of causes,
let us now consider his government of events. And I think
it will be easily granted me that if all those causes by which
all events are brought to pass are governed by God, God
must also have the absolute government of all events in his
own hands.

god's governing providence. 59

But the government of causes and events are of a very
different consideration, and to represent this as plainly and
familiarly as I can, I shall show you, 1. What I mean by
events, when I attribute the government of all events to God.
2. Wherein God's government of events consists. 3. The
difference between God's absolute government of all events,
and necessity and fate. 4. That the exercise of a particular
providence consists in the government of all events.

1. What I mean by events. Now every thing that is
done may in a large sense be called an event, and is in some
degree or other under the government of Providence as all
the actions of men are. But when I speak of God's go-
vernment of events, I mean only such events as are in Scrip-
ture called God's doings, as being ordered and appointed
by him ; that is to say, all the good or evil which happens
to private men, or to kingdoms and nations in this world.
Every thing that is done is not God's doing, for there is a
great deal of evil every day committed which God does not
order and appoint to be done, but has expressly forbid
the doing of it. But there is no good or evil which hap-
pens to any men, or to any society of men, but what God
orders and appoints for them : and this is God's government
of all events. This is the proper exercise of Providence, to
allot all men their fortunes and conditions in the world, to
dispense rewards and punishments, to take care that no man
shall receive either good or evil but from the hand and by
the appointment of God. This is the subject of all the dis-
putes about the justice and goodness and wisdom of Provi-
dence ; and all the objections against Providence necessarily
suppose that thus it is, or thus it ought to be if God govern
the world. For unless Providence be concerned to take
care that no men be happy or miserable but as they deserve,
which cannot be without the absolute government of all
events, the prosperity of bad men and the sufferings of the
good, the many miseries that are in the world, and the un-
certain changes and turnings of fortune, can be no objection
against Providence. And indeed, were not this the case,
Providence would be so insignificant a name that it would
not be worth the while to dispute for or against it. For a
Providence which neither can do us good or huit, or which

60

cannot always and in all cases do it, is worth nothing, or
worth no more than it can do good or hurt. And therefore
all the good or evil which does or can befall men or king-
doms, is in Scripture attributed to Providence, and promised
or threatened by God as men shall deserve either. Such as
length of days, or a sudden and untimely death, health or
sickness, honour or disgrace, riches or poverty, plenty or
famine, war or peace, the changing times and seasons, the
removing kings and setting up kings ; and with respect to such
events as these, whatever the immediate causes of them be,
God is said to do whatsoever pleaseth him.

2. But we shall better understand this by inquiring into
the nature of God's government. Now God's government
of events consists in ordering and appointing whatever good
or evil shall befall men. For according to the Scripture we
must attribute such a government to God as makes all these
events his will and doing ; and nothing can be his will and
doing but what he wills and orders.

Some men think it enough to say that God permits every
thing that is done, but will by no means allow that God
wills, and orders, and appoints it, which they are afraid will
charge the divine Providence with all the evil that is done
in the world ; and truly so it would did God order and ap-
point the evil to be done. But though God orders and
appoints what evils every man shall suffer, he orders and
appoints no man to do the evil; he only permits some men
to do mischief, and appoints who shall suffer by it, which is
the short resolution of this case. To attribute the evils
which some men suffer from other men's sins merely to
God's permission, is to destroy the government of Provi-
dence— for bare permission is not government, and those
evils which God permits, but does not order, cannot be
called his will and doing. And if this be the case of all the
evils we suffer from other men's sins, most of the evils
which men suffer befall them without God's will and ap-
pointment. And yet to attribute all the evil which men do
to God's order and appointment, is to destroy the holiness
of Providence. And therefore we must necessarily distin-
guish between the evils men do and the evils they suffer.
The first God permits and directs, the second he orders and

god's governing providence. 61

appoints. How God governs men's hearts and actions I
have already explained, and this is the place to consider
God's permission of evil, for permission relates to actions.
Men's own wicked hearts conceive and form wicked de-
signs, and they execute them by God's permission, but no
man suffers by them but by God's appointment. God's care
of his creatures requires that no man should suffer any thing
but what God orders for him ; and if such sufferings be just
and righteous, how wicked soever the causes be, it is no
reproach to Providence to order and appoint them. Sup-
pose a man have forfeited his life or estate, or reputation to
Providence, or though he have made no criminal forfeiture
of it, yet God sees fit for other wise reasons to remove him
out of the world or to reduce him to poverty and contempt.
Is it any fault in Providence to deliver such a man into the
hands of murderers, oppressors, slanderers, who are very
forward to execute such decrees when Providence takes off
the restraint and sets them at liberty to follow their own
lusts ? And when there are so many that deserve or need
these or such kind of punishments or corrections, and such
vast numbers of bad men who are ready every day to com-
mit such outrages, did not God restrain them, is it not very
visible how easily God can order and appoint such sufferings
for men without ordering or appointing any man's sins ? It
requires no more than to bring those whom God appoints
for suffering into the reach of such men, and to put them
into their power, and their own malice and wickedness will
do the rest. It is like exposing condemned malefactors to
wild beasts, whose nature and inclination is to devour;
and if God chains up bad men as we do wild beasts, that
they cannot touch any one but whom God delivers up to
them, and lets them loose only to execute his own just and
righteous judgment, can any thing be more honourable, to
Providence, or a greater security to mankind ?

To form an idea of this in our minds, let us suppose this
to be the case of an earthly prince, that he perfectly under-
stood all the deserts, and all the inclinations of his subjects,
and had such an invisible and' insensible authority over
them, that without giving them any directions, or letting
them know any thing of his intentions, or offering any vio-

6

62

lence to their own inclinations, he could determine them to
do that hurt which they had a mind to do to those, and to
those only, whom he intended to punish ; and to do the
good they are desirous to do, to those, and to those only,
whom he intends to reward : in case such a prince took care
that no man should suffer more from the wickedness of
others, than what he deserved, and the reasons of govern-
ment required, would any man charge such a prince with
all the wickedness that is committed in his kingdom, only
because he so wisely orders it, that some bad men sha^
execute his vengeance upon other bad men, and serve in-
stead of judge and jury, and executioners ? Nay, would
not every man say that this is the most perfect and absolute
form of government in the world ? Earthly princes indeed
cannot do this, but this is the government of God, who ac-
complishes his own wise counsels by the ministries of man.

And this may satisfy us in wrhat sense all the good and
all the evil that happens either to private men or to king-
doms and nations, is said to be God's will, and God's doing,
and what pleaseth him ; because no man or nation is rewarded
or punished but by God's order and appointment; that as
many good men as there are in the world who are ready to
do good to all they can, and as many bad men as there are
who are ready to do all the mischief they can, none of them
can do either good or hurt to any but to those whom God
has appointed for either, which makes God the absolute
Lord and Sovereign of the world, since whatever men in-
tend, all men's fortunes and conditions depend upon his
will.

And since God absolutely orders and appoints nothing
but the event, if the event be holy, just and good, that is,
if men be rewarded and punished according to their works,
as far as the justice and goodness of Providence is con-
cerned in this world, there can be no reasonable objection
against Providence; for by what wicked means soever men
be rewarded or punished, if the reward or punishment be
holy, just, and good, this vindicates the holiness, and justice,
and goodness of Providence : of which, more hereafter.
Let men's wickedness be to themselves, for that is their
own ; but that the wickedness of men isoverruled by an

63

invisible hand to accomplish wise and just decrees, that is
the glory of Providence.

And this suggests another evident reason why all the good
or evil that befalls men is called God's will and God's
doings, because, in a strict and proper sense, it is not man's
will nor man's doings. What is done is either what those
who did it never intended to do, or else serves such ends,
and is ordered by God for such ends, as those who did
it never thought of; which proves men to be only instru-
ments, but God the Supreme Disposer of all events. If we
must attribute all things that are done, either to God or
men, then what is not done by men, must be done by
God ; and men cannot be properly said to do what they
never intended ; and therefore whatever is either beyond
or contrary to what man intended, must either be attri-
buted to chance or to a Divine Providence. I observed
before, what different intentions God and men have in the
same actions — what is intended by men is their doing —
what is intended by God, is his doing, and wholly his
doing, when what God intended was not intended by men.
For this reason Joseph tells his brethren, that it was not
they, but God that sent him into Egypt, (Gen. xlv. 4 — 8,)
for they thought nothing of sending him into Egypt ; but
this was what God intended when he permitted them to sell
him to the Ishmaelites : this was their sin, as he adds, (Gen.
1. 20,) " But as for you, ye thought evil against me ;" but
the good that was done was wholly God's doings ; but
God meant it unto good. And thus it is in other cases,
which shows us what the Scripture calls God's doings.
The punishment of sinners, and those evils he brings on
them are God's doings but not the sins whereby they are
punished. The punishment of David's adultery by the in-
cest of Absalom was God's doing, but not Absalom's
incest. The sending Joseph into Egypt, and advancing him
into Pharaoh's throne, were God's doings ; but not the sin
of his brethren in selling him for a slave. And thus it is
throughout the Scripture : nothing is called God's will or
God's doing which has any moral evil in it: all wicked ac-
tions are men's own will and own doings, which God
permits for wise ends, but never orders or appoints; but

64

the good or evil which is done by men's sins, that is God's
doing. And I hope by this time you all know how to dis-
tinguish between God's government of men's actions, and
his government of events ; and then we may safely attribute
all events to God's order and appointment, without danger
of charging God with the sins of men, whereby such events
are brought to pass.

3. Let us now consider what difference there is between
God's absolute government of all events, and necessity and
fate ; for many men are very apt to confound these two. If
no good or evil befall any man, but what God orders and ap-
points for them, this they think sounds like fate and destiny
— that every man's fortune is written upon his forehead — and
that it is impossible for any man, by all his care, and indus-
try, and prudence, to make his condition better than what
God has decreed it to be in the irreversible rolls of fate.
And yet an unrelenting, immutable fate is so irreconcilable
with the liberty of human actions, with the nature of good
and evil, of rewards and punishments, that if we admit of
it, there is an end of all religion, of all virtuous endeavours,
of all great and generous attempts : it is to no purpose to
pray to God, or to trust in him, or to resist temptations, or
to be diligent in our business, or prudent and circumspect
in our actions ; for what will be, will be : or if any means
be to be used, that is no matter of our choice or care ; but
wTe shall do it as necessarily and mechanically as a watch
moves and points to the hour of the day ; for fate has, by
the same necessity, determined the means and the end, and
we can do no more nor less than fate has determined.

I shall not now trouble you with an account of the various
opinions of the ancient philosophers about fate, none of
whom ever dreamed of such a terrible fate as some Christians
have fancied, which reaches not only to this world, but to
all eternity. What I have already discoursed is sufficient
to vindicate the doctrine of Providence from the least impu-
tation of necessity and fate.

For, (1.) though God overrules the actions of men, to do
what he himself thinks fit to be done, yet he lays no neces-
sity upon human actions: men will and choose freely,
pursue their own interests and inclinations, just as they

65

would do as if there were no Providence to govern them ;
and while men act freely, it is certain there can be no abso-
lute fate. God, indeed, as you have already heard, some-
times hinders them from executing their wicked purposes,
and permits them to do no more hurt than what he can di-
rect to wise ends ; but no man is wicked, or does wickedly,
by necessity and fate. Though he may be restrained from
doing so much wickedness as he would, yet all the wicked-
ness he commits is his own free choice, even when it serves
such ends as he never thought of; and therefore he is and
acts like a free agent, notwithstanding the government of
Providence.

(2.) Though God determines all events, all the good and
evil that shall happen to men or nations, yet it is no more
nor no other than what they themselves have deserved ;
and therefore they are under no other fate than what they
themselves bring upon themselves by the good or bad use
of their own liberty ; that is, they are under no other fate
than to be rewarded when they do well, and to be punished
when they do ill : but this is the justice of Providence, not
the necessity of fate. Those who do ill, and deserve ill,
and suffer ill, might have done well, and have made them-
selves the favourites of Providence, and therefore are under
no greater necessity of suffering ill, than they were of doing-
ill. The reason why God keeps all events in his own
hands, is not because he has absolutely determined the fates
of all men, but that he may govern the world wisely and
justly, and reward and punish men according to their de-
serts, as far as the reasons of Providence require in this
world. Now while the liberty of human actions is secured,
and the events of Providence are not the execution of fatal,
absolute, and unconditional decrees, but acts of government
in the wise administration of justice, and dispensing rewards
and punishments, — how absolute soever God's government
be of all events, it is not necessity and fate, but a wise, and
just, and absolute government. This, indeed, is what some
of the wisest heathens called fate, and all that they meant
by the name of fate, that God had fixed it by an irreversible
decree, that good men should be rewarded and the wicked
punished ; and thus far we must all allow fate ; and Providence

6*

66

is only the minister and executioner of these fatal decrees ;
and to that end God keeps the government of all events in
his own hands. Now whether wTe say, that God determines
what good or evil shall befall men at the very time when
they deserve it, or that foreseeing wThat good or evil they
will do, and what they will deserve, did beforehand deter-
mine what good or evil should befall them, — this makes no
alteration at all in the state of the question ; for if all the
good or evil that befalls men, have respect to their deserts,
this is not fate, but a just and righteous judgment.

In a word, God's government of all events is indeed so
absolute and uncontrollable, that no good or evil can befall
any man, but what God pleases, what he orders and ap-
points for him ; and this is necessary to the good government
of the world and the care of all his creatures. But then God
orders no good or evil to befall any men, but what they de-
serve, and what the wise ends of his providence require ; and
this is not fate, but a wise and just government of the world.

4. That the exercise of a particular providence consists
in the government of all events.

I have often wondered at those philosophers who acknow-
ledged a providence, but would not acknowledge God's
particular care of all his creatures. Some confined his
providence to the heavens, but would not extend it to this
lower world ; and yet this world needs a providence as
much, and a great deal more, as being a scene of change
and corruption, of furious lusts and passions, which need
the restraints and government of Providence : no creatures
need God's care more than the inhabitants of this earth ;
and if he take care of any of his creatures, one would think
he should take most care of them who need it most.

Others, who would allow that the providence of God
reached this lower world, yet confined God's care to the
several kinds and species of beings, but would not extend
it to every individual ; as if God took care of logical terms,
of genus and species, but took no care of his own creatures,
which are all individuals ; or as if God could take care of
all his creatures, without tnking care of any particular crea-
ture; i. e. that he could take care of all his creatures, with-
out taking care of any one of them.

67

Thus they would allow God to take care of the great
affairs of kingdoms and commonwealths, but to have no re-
gard to particular men or families, unless they have made a
great figure in the world ; as if kingdoms and common-
wealths were not made up of particular men and particular
families ; or that God could take care of the whole, without
taking care of every part ; or as if there were any other
reason for taking care of the whole, but to take care of those
particulars which make the whole. To talk of a general pro-
vidence, without God's care and government of every par-
ticular creature, is manifestly unreasonable and absurd ; for
whatever reasons oblige us to own a providence, oblige us
to own a particular providence.

If creation be a reason why God should preserve and
take care of what he has made, this is a reason why he
should take care of every creature, because there is no crea-
ture but what he made ; and if the whole world consist of
particulars, it must be taken care of in the care of par-
ticulars ; 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 man-
kind ; for the whole is governed in the government of the
parts ; and mankind cannot be well governed, without the
wise government of every particular man.

I am sure that the objections against a particular Provi-
dence 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 per-
petual 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 though one man is below God's care, yet a king-
dom 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."

68 god's governing providence.

Now it is certain there can be no particular providence,
without God's government of all events ; for if any good or
evil happen to any man without God's order and appoint-
ment, 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 hap-
pens to every particular man be 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 re-
presents it, Matt. x. 29 — 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 numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more
value than many sparrows." Where God's particular pro-
vidence over all his creatures is expressed by his particular
care of all events, which extends even to the life of a spar-
row, 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 wor-
ship. For most of the acts of worship consider God not
merely as a universal cause, (could we form any notion of
a general providence without any care of particular crea-
tures or particular events,) but as our particular patron, pro-
tector, 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

SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE. 69

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 befall 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
hands, 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 deliv-
erance we receive, because we know not whether it came
from God ; and it is to no purpose to pray to God for par-
ticular 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 of religious worship are both reason-
able, necessary, and just. But of this, more hereafter.

CHAPTER IV.

CONCERNING THE SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE.

Having in the former chapter shown, that the govern-
ment of the divine Providence consists in overruling 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

I. 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 Go-
vernor. 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 doeth
according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the

70 SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE.

inhabitants of the earth." " Whatever the Lord pleased, that
did he in heaven and in earth, in the seas and all deep
places :" Dan. iv. 35 ; Ps. cxxxv. 6.

That the will of God is sovereign, and absolute, and un-
accountable, 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 what-
ever he will, can do whatever he will ; and that is the defi-
nition of a sovereign 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?"
Job ix. 4.

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 abso-
lute government; because the right he has in his creatures
is absolute and uncontrollable. No creature has such an
absolute power, and therefore no creature has such a sove-
reign and absolute will either; for how powerful soever any
man is, God is more powerful than he, and can call him to
an account ; and no power, no will, which can be checked
and controlled, and called to an account, is perfectly
absolute.

And as absolute power makes the divine providence ab-
solute and unaccountable, so does perfect and unerring wis-
dom; but for a different reason: absolute power has no
superior power to give laws to it, and to call it to an ac-
count: perfect and unerring wisdom has no superior wisdom
to take an account, or to judge of its actions; nothing can
judge of wisdom but wisdom, and an inferior cannot com-
prehend a superior wisdom, especially when there is such a
vast disproportion as there is between a finite and an in-
finite understanding, which must of necessity, in a thousand

SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE. 71

make "the judgments of God unsearchable,"
and "his ways past finding out." It neither becomes the
infinite wisdom of God in all cases to give an account of
his actions, nor the modesty of creatures to demand it, as
Elihu tells Job: "Why dost thou strive against him? for
he giveth not account of any of his matters." Job xxxiii. 13.

But both these are thought very grievous by some men.
They are terribly afraid of an absolute power which can do
what it pleases, and justify whatever it does by an absolute
and unaccountable will. Others are very uneasy that God
does anything without giving them the reason why he does
it ; and to be revenged of Providence, they will allow no-
thing to be wisely and justly done which they cannot com-
prehend. Every event which they cannot account for, they
make an objection against Providence ; and thus they may
easily object themselves into atheism or infidelity ; for they
can never want such objections, while infinite and unsearch-
able wisdom governs the world.

Here, then,- 1 shall lay the foundation of all, in justifying
the sovereignty of Providence, which will justify every thing
else. And I shall distinctly consider God's sovereign and
absolute power, and his unsearchable and unaccountable
wisdom.

1. Absolute power ; and the very naming absolute power
puts an end to the dispute about the extent of God's do-
minion over his creatures ; for absolute power has no limits,
and can have none ; and therefore absolute dominion extends
to all that absolute power can do. This is what mankind
are afraid of, who judge of God's absolute power by the ar-
bitrary and tyrannical government of some absolute mon-
archs. But true absolute power can do no wrong, cannot
injure and oppress its creatures ; but will do good and judge
righteously, defend the innocent, and punish the wicked.
If I can make it appear that this is the essential character of
absolute power, it will make us infinitely secure in the di-
vine Providence ; for all men must grant that the power of
God is absolute ; and if this absolute power govern the
world, the world must be very well and justly governed, if
absolute power can do nothing but what is just and good.
Now this is the natural notion which all mankind have of

72 SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE.

supreme and absolute power, which is the supreme and na-
tural Lord and Judge of the world. Thus Abraham reasoned
with God, and therein spake the sense of mankind : " Shall
not the Judge of all the earth do right ?" Gen. xviii. 25.
If absolute power could do wrong, there were no certain re-
dress of those wrongs and injuries which inferior powers do ;
for the last appeal must be to the greatest and most abso-
lute power, and if that will not certainly rectify the injuries
of inferior powers, but instead of that may do wrong itself,
we cannot certainly promise ourselves ever to have right
done us.

This shows how necessary it is, that absolute will and
power should be absolute rectitude and justice, if there be any
such thing as justice in nature. For absolute power is by
nature the last and supreme judge ; and the natural judge
of right and wrong must be natural justice and rectitude,
or else natural justice is a mere speculative notion, which
can never be reduced to practice. For there never can be
exact and perfect justice in the world, unless there be a
judge who is exact and perfect justice. And if absolute
will and power be not that judge, there can be none ; for
absolute power, if it be not absolutely and perfectly just, can
do wrong, whoever else judges right.

But besides this, it is demonstrable a priori^ that absolute
power must be absolute rectitude and justice.

(1.) Because all infinite perfections, how different soever
they are in our conceptions of them, are but one infinite
being, which is absolutely perfect ; and therefore in a being
absolutely perfect, one absolute perfection can never be di-
vided or separated from any other absolute perfection ; and
therefore absolute power can never be separated from abso-
lute justice. For to say any being is absolutely perfect,
(which is the most natural notion of God,) and yet that it
wants any absolute perfection, is a contradiction ; absolute
will and absolute government are the most perfect will and
most perfect government ; and that is the most perfect jus-
tice and goodness, if justice and goodness be any perfec-
tions.

We must not judge of the absolute will and absolute go-
vernment of God, by what we call absolute power in men

SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE. 73

go-
vernment. We find men apt to abuse their power, the more
absolute it is, into tyranny and oppression ; and this makes
some afraid that God's absolute will and power may use his
creatures very hardly also ; but the case is very different,
as different as the absolute power of men is from the absolute
power of God.

What we call absolute power in men, is not absolute
power, that is, it is not perfect power, it is not a power which
can do all things ; for there are infinite things which the
most absolute prince has not power to do ; and that is not
absolute perfect power which cannot do all things. Ab-
solute government among men, signifies only an uncontrol-
lable liberty to do all that it will and can do — a will which
is under no human restraints, which may will whatever it
pleases, and do whatever it wills, as far as it can, but has
not power to do all that it would. Now such an absolute
will as this, which has not all powder, maybe very wild and
extravagant, and far from willing always what is right and
just ; for such a will as this is no perfection ; and therefore
as it is separated from a truly absolute power, so it may be
separated from rectitude and justice. Nay, such a will is
not truly absolute, no more than its power; because there is
a will, as there is a power above it ; and no will is absolute
which has a superior will to control it and to give lawTs to
it; and yet God is higher than the highest, to whose sove-
reign will the most absolute princes are accountable, and
therefore are not absolute themselves. Now reason tells us
that a will which has a superior will and law, is not itself
unerring rectitude and justice, and therefore may deviate
from what is right and just, as experience tells us such ab-
solute wills very often do ; and when the will can choose
wrong, the power, which is the minister of such an erring
will, must do wrong also. But now reason tells us, that
the supreme will must be the supreme law, that is, perfect
and absolute justice, and therefore can no more will any
thing that is unjust, than justice itself can be unjust ; and if
this absolute and sovereign will be absolute pow7er, absolute
power must be perfectly just and good, as being inseparable
from perfect justice ; and therefore the absolute power of

7

74, SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE.

God can no more do any wrong, than his absolute will can
choose it.

(2.) Nay, if we do but consider the nature of truly abso-
lute power, which can do whatever it will, this alone may
satisfy us, that God, who is this supreme powerful Being,
can neither will nor do any wrong ; for if we consider things
well, we shall plainly see that though some degree of power
is required to enable men to do wrong, yet it is always want
of power which tempts them to do wrong.

There are two visible causes of all the injustice that is
committed in the world, and both of them are the effects of
weakness. 1. That men want power to do what they have
a mind to do, without doing some wrong and injury to
others. 2. That men are overpowered by their own pas-
sions to do what they ought not to do, and which they
would not do, had they the perfect government of themselves.

As for the first, is there any man in the world, who is not a
perfect brute, who does not wish that it were lawful for him
to do what he has a mind to, and that he might have what
he desires to have, without offering violence or injury to any-
body ? Would not a thief much rather choose to find a
treasure, than to take a purse upon the road? Would not
an ambitious and aspiring monarch rather choose that all
princes should resign their crowns to him, and all nations
become his subjects, than to be forced to win their crowns by
his sword, and to make bloody conquests with the lament-
able ravage and spoils of flourishing countries? Do not
men intend to supply some real or imaginary want in all
the injuries they do ? And does not this suppose weakness
and want of power, to want any thing else ? For is it pos-
sible for absolute power to want ? So impossible is it for
absolute power to do any injury.

He who is the sole Lord and proprietor of the world, (as
he is and must be, whose power is supreme and absolute,)
he whose all creatures are, and whose wisdom and power
can accomplish whatever he would have done, without
doing the least injustice, can never be tempted to injure his
own creatures, nor can ever want any thing which should
tempt him to do an injury ; and therefore absolute power
must be abs lute justice.

SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE. 75

Secondly, All the injuries that are done are owinc to the
lusts and passions o( men, which are the weaknesses even of
human nature, when they are not under I I or'

n. No man dees any injury but to >
passion ; and that is a weak and impotent mind when
sion reigns. Reason is the strength and vigour of the n
and a man who lives by reason, never does any injury but
through mistake, which is the weakness of rea
now absolute power is not an external adventitious tl
but is a powerful nature, and a powerful nature is all p
and there ran be no place for the. rule and empir
sion ; and if it be one passion or other which always does
the injury, absolute power, which is void of passion, can do
none.

Excepting a divine love, (which is the true image o( the
divine nature, and never does any injury, and ought not to
be reckoned among the passions.1) all our other passions are
effects of weakness, and are arguments of a weak, limited,
and confined nature.

Desire and hope prove that we want something which we
cannot certainly bestow upon ourselves ; tear is a see.se of
danger, which argues want of power to defend ourselves;
anger and revenge are a resentment of some injuries we
have received, and that argues want of power to suffer in-
juries ; hatred arid malice are but grater degrees of a
and revenge : and the greater they are, the grea
they argue of fear and danger, of injuries either expected or
received.

These are the passions which do all the mischief that is
done in the world ; and it is demonstrable, that absolute
power is not capable of these injurious passions, can neither
desire, nor hone, nor fear, can suffer no wants nor inj
nor have any sense or resentment of them . and

is no danger it should do any injury, it is acted by
call i and steady wisdom, which is un<
which never did ami never can do any injury. It i< -
some of these passions are in Scripture attributed
such as anger, fury, hatred, revenge : tor the S^ oaks

o\ God aner die manner of men ; but then all that this sig-
nifies is, that God will be as severe in his ; as ange.

76 SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE.

and revenge, though it is not passion in God, but a wise,
and cool, and equal justice, which punishes ; which may
be as severe as anger and revenge, but never partial or un-
just.

(3.) Nay, we may observe, that power itself is a great and
generous principle, and inspires men with great and noble
thoughts. Those whose power secures them from receiving
any hurt, are never tempted to do any. Power, which is
cruel, insolent, mischievous, is always conscious of its own
weakness and danger ; for it is commonly weakness and fear
which makes men cruel ; but a power which knows itself
out of danger, out of the reach of envy, and ill-will, is al-
ways a very generous adversary, never insults over a pros-
trate enemy ; for such great power makes all its enemies the
objects of pity or scorn, and then they cease to be the ob-
jects of revenge. And if power, that little power which
men have, gives them such a greatness of mind as sets them
above affronts, and resentments, and sense of injuries; if
this be so natural to power that it is always expected from
men in power that they should have a greatness and gene-
rosity of mind proportioned to their power ; that it is a re-
proach to them when it is not so, and makes them despised,
and scorned, and hated, with all their power ; what then
may we expect from the perfect and absolute power of God ?
We may fear his justice, but have no reason to fear his
power; justice will punish sinners, but his power will never
-oppress ; for that is below his power, that is too mean and
base a thing for perfect and absolute power to do : it is
thought a reproach for a great and powerful man to oppress,
much less then will the all-powerful God do so.

(4.) For to observe but one thing more; it is the glory
of power to do good, not to do hurt ; and if this be the
natural glory of power, it is its natural perfection too, and
the most natural exercise of it ; and therefore it is that
which perfect power will do. Its nature is to do good
but never to do hurt ; that if to punish were not to do
good, perfect and absolute power could not punish.

If we rightly consider things, we must confess that it is a
much greater power to do good than to do hurt ; to save,
than to destroy ; to make so excellent a creature as man is,

SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE. 77

and to maintain and preserve him in being, than to kill
him : in most cases it requires very little power to do hurt ;
every man, how weak and inconsiderable soever he is, has
a great deal of power to do hurt ; but there are very few
who can do much good ; and therefore it is plain that to do
good is the greater power, and therefore to do good must
be essential to the greatest power. It is certain, that to do
good is the most glorious power, because good is in itself a
beautiful, lovely, and glorious thing, but evil is very in-
glorious. All creatures love to receive good, they feel it,
they rejoice in it, they adore and praise their Maker and
great Benefactor, they live in him, they depend on him,
they fly to him to supply their wants, they take refuge and
sanctuary in his power, and think themselves safe under
his wings. And can there possibly be a more lovely idea
and representation of power than this? A power which
makes the world and all the creatures in it: which con-
trives their natures with all variety of art and wisdom, and
with very different capacities of happiness, according to the
different excellencies and perfections of their natures, and
provides for them all with a bounteous hand : this is great
and excellent powTer indeed, which gives being, and pre-
serves it, and provides daily for such infinite numbers and
variety of creatures as are in the wrorld ; this is the lovely
and charming idea of a God ; but an arbitrary, lawless
power, which tyrannizeth over creatures, which can do
what mischief it pleases, and delights to do it, is a very
terrible thing indeed, but not glorious; it is what all crea-
tures must fear, and hate, and fly from, not praise and
adore. So that if we will allow the most perfect and ab-
solute power to be the most glorious, as we must do if we
acknowledge powTer to be glorious, then the most absolute
power must be the most kind and beneficent thing in the
world ; for this is the glory of power, to do good.

Thus we see in what sense absolute will and power can
do no wrong, because the will and power of God, which is
the only absolute will and power, is absolute rectitude and
justice, and absolute goodness too. Absolute power can
do no wrong, because it can never will nor choose to do

7*

78 SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE.

any wrong ; not because power can make that just and
right which without such absolute power wTould have been
wrong; for no power can make right to be wrong, nor
wrong to be right. Good and evil, just and unjust, are of
an eternal and unchangeable nature, not made so by power,
but in their notion antecedent to power, and the natural
rule and measure of it. The will of God is eternal justice
and goodness, and therefore his will is the eternal rule of
justice and goodness ; and therefore in propriety of speech,
when we speak of God we can neither say that God wills
any thing because it is just and good, or that it is just and
good because God wills it, both which imply a distinction
between the will of God, and justice and goodness, which
in the divine nature are the same ; but since the imperfec-
tion of our understandings cannot admit one simple notion
and idea of an infinite mind, but must apprehend every
thing by distinct conceptions in God, as we do in creatures ;
it is more agreeable to the nature of things, to make good
and evil antecedent to the will of God, and the rule of his
will and choice, because this asserts the unchangeable na-
ture of good and evil, and the inflexible justice and holi-
ness of the Divine will, that God never can will any thing
but what is just and good, and never wills any thing for
any other reason, but because it is just and good ; whereas,
to make justice and goodness to depend wholly upon the
will of God, that therefore any thing is just and good be-
cause God wills it, supposes that justice and goodness have
no stable nature of their own, but may at any time change
its nature with the will of God; and it is impossible to
prove that the will of God cannot change as the wills of
men do, if it have no eternal and unchangeable rule, or be
not eternal and unchangeable justice and goodness itself.

When we speak of God after the manner of men, our
words must be expounded to the same sense, excepting
metaphorical and figurative expressions, as when they are
used of men ; now we all know what a vast difference there
is between these two expressions, when used of men. Such
a man always wills and chooses what is good and just ; and
he makes every thing good and just by willing it; the first
supposes a certain and invariable rule of good and evil : the

SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE. 79

second resolves the nature of good and just into arbitrary-
will and pleasure.

And it is the very same case, when we speak of God's
power, which is nothing else but the execution of his will.
God's absolute power can do nothing but what is just and
good ; but we must not therefore say, that absolute power
makes every thing it does, just and good ; as if power were
not regulated by justice and goodness, but were the rule of
it.

There is great reason curiously to distinguish in this mat-
ter, because there are a sort of Christians who attribute such
things to God as are irreconcilable with all the notions we
have of justice and goodness ; and think to silence all ob-
jections, and to justify all, by the sovereign dominion and
absolute power of God, which can do no wrong: but if it
be a wrong to creatures to be eternally miserable for no other
reason but the will and pleasure of God, I cannot but think
the absolute decrees of reprobation to be very unjust, and
the execution of such decrees to be doing wrong, how ab-
solute soever the power be that does it.

And I confess I cannot but wonder, that men who make
the glory of God the end of all his actions, (as certainly it
is, when rightly understood,) should attribute such things to
God as all the rest of mankind think very inglorious. That
when the truest and greatest glory of absolute power, as you
have already heard, is to do the greatest good, they should
think it sufficient to justify such actions as they have no other
way to prove good and just, merely by absolute power. The
glory of absolute power is to do what all the world acknow-
ledges to be good and just; and therefore absolute power
cannot prove those actions to be good and just, nor make
itself glorious, by doing such actions as mankind think very
infamous and unjust.

Let us then lay down this as the foundation of all, that
how unaccountable soever sovereign and absolute will and
power are, they neither can nor will do any wrong; for they
are nothing else but absolute and sovereign justice, and
goodness. We have no reason to be afraid of the absolute
power of God, no more than we have to be afraid of his ab
solute goodness. Absolute power is the only security we

80 SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE.

have against suffering wrong ; for it will do no wrong itself,
but will rectify all the wrongs which are done by inferior
powers, which none but a sovereign and absolute power can
do. The firm belief of this will give great relief and satis-
faction to our minds, under all the unaccountable passages
of Providence ; for though absolute power be always just
and good, yet its ways are sometimes past finding out.

2. Let us now consider, how unsearchable the wisdom
of Providence is, which " doth great things past finding
out, and wonders without number:" Job ix. 10. Which
may satisfy us, how impossible it is for such ignorant crea-
tures as we are, to comprehend all the wise reasons of provi-
dence ; and how impious it is to reproach and censure what
we do not and cannot understand.

We all know the history of Job, and the dispute between
him and his three friends. God exercised Job with very severe
and amazing sufferings for the trial of his virtue ; his friends
conclude from his great sufferings, that though his life were
visibly very innocent and virtuous, yet he had been a secret
hypocrite, because God did not use to punish good men, but
only the wicked in such a manner. On the other hand, Job
testifies his own innocence, and asserts more truly, that bad
men wrere many times very prosperous, and good men great
sufferers in this world, he complains very tragically of his
sufferings, and that he could not understand the reason why
God dealt thus with him ; and this seems to be Job's fault,
that he insisted too much on his own justification, and in-
stead of vindicating the divine Providence, seems to accuse
God of a causeless and unaccountable severity ; for which
Elihu so severely reproved him. At last, God answers Job
himself, as he had often desired he would : but instead of a
particular justification of his Providence, or of giving Job
the reasons for which he had thus afflicted him, he gives him
some sensible proofs of his own great and admirable wisdom
and power in the works of nature ; which Job was so far
from being able to imitate, that he could not understand how
they were done : the force of which argument is this, that
so weak and ignorant a creature as man is, ought not to
censure the divine Providence, how mysterioCis and unac-
countable soever it be ; when the very works of nature con-

SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE. 81

vince us, that God is infinitely wiser and more powerful than
we are : this should teach us great modesty, and humility to
adore the divine judgments, not to censure what we cannot
understand ; for the power and wisdom of God can do great
and excellent things, above our understandings.

" Vain man would be wise, though man be born like a
wild ass's colt:" Job xi. 12. They are impatient to think
that God should do any thing which they cannot understand,
and yet there is not any one thing in nature which they do
understand: and if we cannot understand the mysteries of na-
ture, why should we expect to understand all the unsearch-
able depths and mysteries of Providence ? If the wisdom
of God be unsearchable, why should we not allow his wis-
dom in governing the world, to be as unsearchable as his
wisdom in making it ? For an incomprehensible wisdom
will do incomprehensible things, whatever it employs itself
about ; and when we know, that if the world be governed
at all, it is governed by an infinite and incomprehensible
wisdom, there is no reason to wonder that there are many
events of providence which we cannot fathom, and much
less reason to deny a providence, because we cannot com-
prehend the reasons of all events.

But this is a matter of such vast consequence, to silence
the skeptical humour of the age, and to shame those trifling
and ridiculous pretences to wit and philosophy, in censuring
the wisdom and justice of Providence, that it deserves a more
particular discourse : for could we make men confess what all
modest, considering men must blush to deny, that the wisdom
of God is unsearchable ; this would put an end to all the
disputes about Providence, and teach us humbly to adore
and reverence that wisdom which we cannot comprehend.

And to prepare my way to give such full satisfaction in
this matter, as you may securely acquiesce in, without dis-
puting the reasons of Providence, or being tempted to deny
a Providence, when you meet with any difficulties too hard
for you, I shall show you how impossible it is that it should
be otherwise, both from the infinite wisdom of God, and our
own great ignorance of things, which makes the providence
of God in many cases, so much above our understandings,
that we are not capable of such knowledge.

82 SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE.

And first, I shall show you what reason we have securely
to acquiesce in the unsearchable wisdom of Providence, and
to trust God beyond our own knowledge, because we are.
certain that infinite wisdom can never err, or mistake, or do
wrong. Secondly, That the wisdom of Providence must be
as unsearchable and unaccountable to us, as the wisdom of
the creation. Thirdly, That the wise government of the
world requires secret and hidden methods of Providence ;
and therefore, at least in this present state, we ought not to
expect or desire a particular account or reason of all events.
Fourthly, That our ignorance of other matters, the knowledge
of which is absolutely necessary to understand the reasons of
Providence, makes us utterly incapable of such knowledge
in this state. Fifthly, I shall inquire in what cases this is a
reasonable answer to all difficulties, " That the judgments
of God are unsearchable, and his ways past finding out."

1. That infinite wisdom, how unsearchable and unac-
countable soever its ways are, can do no wrong. As I
observed before, that God's absolute power is absolute
rectitude and justice ; so all men must grant that infi-
nite and perfect wisdom is always in the right, for to be
in the wrong, is ignorance and mistake. If infinite wis-
dom will always judge, and choose, and act wisely, it is
then impossible that infinite wisdom should ever do wrong ;
for to do wrong is either not to judge, or not to choose
wisely. In Scripture, all kinds of wickedness is called
folly, and sinners fools, and to learn wisdom is prescribed
as the only remedy against vice ; " The fear of the Lord,
that is wisdom ; and to depart from evil, that is understand-
ing:" and the reason and nature of things prove it must be
so ; for all men who do wickedly must either mistake their
rule, or mistake their interest ; must either call vice virtue,
and virtue vice, or think to make themselves happy by being
wicked ; which is a stupid ignorance of the naiure and the
natural effects of the consequences of things. Now if all
wickedness be ignorance and folly, infinite and perfect wis-
dom must be perfect rectitude, justice, and goodness; it
can never do any wrong, because it can never be ignorant
of what is right.

And what greater security can creatures possibiy have, that

SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE. 83

in the last great issue of things they shall suffer no wrong, than
to know that they are under the care and government of in-
finite wisdom, that can do no wrong ? Infinite wisdom, in-
deed, is incomprehensible to a finite mind ; the methods of
it may seem intricate and perplexed to us, full of mystery
and surprising events, and thus it must be, while infinite
wisdom governs the world, which is so much above the
reach of our most improved and elevated thoughts ; but
would not any wise man rather choose to be governed by
such a perfect and excellent wisdom as can never mistake,
though it vastly exceed his understanding, than to be
governed by a being no wiser, or not much wiser than
himself, all whose counsels he can fathom and see to the
end of? The more perfect and excellent the wisdom is,
the less we can understand it, but the more safe we are un-
der its conduct : so absurd is it to complain, that we cannot
understand all the depths and secrets of Providence, that we
may as reasonably complain that an excellent and incompre-
hensible wisdom takes care of the world, and of all the crea-
tures that are in it.

While we know ourselves safe in the hands of infinite
wisdom, let us be contented that God should do such things
as we cannot understand the reason of. Are we ever the
less happy and perfect creatures because wTe know not how
God made us, how he formed and fashioned us in the womb,
and breathed into us the breath of life ? And what hurt is
it to us, if God preserve and govern the world, and take
care of all the creatures in it, by as unknown and incompre-
hensible a wisdom, as that which at first gave being to us?
We find ourselves wisely made, though we know not how
God made us ; and in the conclusion of all, we shall find
and feel ourselves very happy, if we follow God, and adhere
to him, though we may not understand the reasons of all
intermediate events, nor the several steps and advances of
Providence to make us happy.

It is great pride and as contemptible folly, to think that
if there be a God who is infinitely wise, he should not be
able to do things above our understanding, and to do them
very wisely too, though we do not understand them: let
men value their understandings ever so highly, and think

84 SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE.

scorn, that any thing should be above their knowledge, yet
it is certain that there are ten thousand things, both in the
works of nature and providence, which no man fully un-
derstands, and yet which bear the marks and signatures of
a most divine and admirable art and wisdom ; and since
whether we will or no we must confess our own ignorance,
why should we not be as well contented to allow that God
can do such things as are above our understanding, as that
there should be such things done, we know not how, nor
by whom ? Is it not a greater reproach to our understand-
ings, that blind chance should do such things as all our wit
and philosophy cannot comprehend, than to attribute such
events to the art and government of infinite wisdom? Which
is most reasonable, to attribute such works as are above our
understanding to the infinite wisdom of God, or to deny
that they had any wise cause because we cannot find out
the causes of them, though we can discern such wisdom in
them, as no human art or wisdom can imitate?

Indeed, the passion of admiration which is implanted in
all men, if it be not utterly vain, is a plain natural indica-
tion that there is something above our natural understandings
which we must admire, but cannot comprehend : for the
proper object of admiration is art and wisdom, a wisdom
vastly greater than our own ; and therefore if this natural
passion have a natural object, it is certain there is a wisdom
greater than our own, which no human understanding can
comprehend ; such a wisdom as doth " great and wondrous
things, and things past finding out."

The sum is this : infinite wisdom is and must be unac-
countable, her ways are unsearchable and past finding out,
and therefore we must be contented in many cases to be ig-
norant of the reasons of Providence ; and we have great
reason to be so, since we are so secure that infinite wisdom
will always act wisely, and consult the general good of the
world and the happiness of particular creatures, though by
methods secret and incomprehensible to us : which teaches
us not to deny or censure Providence, when we do not un-
derstand the reasons of it; but in an entire belief of the
wTisdom of God, quietly to submit to all events, and to adore
and reverence his judgments with an implicit faith.

SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE. 85

2. The better to satisfy us in a profound veneration of
the wisdom of Providence, even with respect to the most
unaccountable passages of it, we must consider that it is
impossible we should be able to comprehend it ; that we
cannot know more of God's governing the world than we do
of his making it : That the unsearchable wisdom of God's
works makes the wisdom of Providence unsearchable also.

This is supposed in God's answer to Job, when to make
him sensible how little he understood of the wise ends and
designs of Providence, he convinced him how ignorant he
was of the works of nature ; — chapters xxxviii. — xli. " Who
is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge ?
Gird up now thy loins like a man ; for I will demand of thee,
and answer thou me. Where wast thou when I laid the
foundations of the earth ? declare, if thou hast understand-
ing, who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest?
or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are
the foundations thereof fastened ? or who laid the cor-
ner-stone thereof? Who shut up the sea with doors, when
it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb ? Hast
thou commanded the morning since thy days ; and caused
the day-spring to know his place ? Where is the way
where light dwelleth ? and as for darkness, where is the
place thereof? — Hast thou entered into the treasures of
the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail?
hath the rain a father? and who hath begotten the drops
of the dew ? out of whose womb came the ice ? and the
hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?" By these
and such like questions, expressed in inimitable words, God
convinces Job how ignorant he was of the most common
and familiar works of nature : which made it great pre-
sumption in so ignorant a creature to censure the wisdom
of Providence. And the force of the argument does not
only consist in this, that the very works of nature convince
us that God is infinitely wiser than we are, and can do great
and excellent things which are above our understanding,
and therefore that we never ought to censure any thing that
God does, because he is so much wiser than we are, that
we are not competent judges of what he does, which is an
unanswerable argument to teach us the most profound re-

8

86 SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE.

verence and the most absolute resignation of ourselves to
God : but the force of this argument reaches farther, that
our ignorance of the works of nature is both the cause and
the proof of our great ignorance of the works of Providence.
For no being can know how to govern a world, who does
not know how to make it; and he who does not know how
to govern the world himself, is a very unfit judge of the
wisdom of Providence, for he can never know when the
world is well and wisely governed, because he does not
know what belongs to the government of the world.

The wise government of all creatures must be propor-
tioned to their natures ; and therefore without understand-
ing the philosophy of nature, the springs of motion, the
mutual dependence of causes and effects, what end things
are made for, and what uses they serve, we can never know
what is fit to be done, nor what can be done, or by what
means it is to be done ; and then can never tell when any
thing is done as it should be : we know not what the rules,
nor what the ends of God's government are, which makes
it impossible to judge of the wisdom of government : with-
out understanding the natures of things, we must of neces-
sity make as wild conjectures about Providence, as a blind
man does of light and colours. As for instance ; how is it
possible to talk a wise word about God's government of
mankind ; in what manner and by what means he turns
their hearts, directs and influences their counsels, suggests
thoughts to them, and foresees their thoughts, and how they
will determine themselves ; when we know so little of the
make and frame of our own minds ; where the spring of
thoughts is, and how we connect propositions and draw
consequences ; what the power of the will is ; how we de-
termine ourselves in different matters where the balance is
equal ? For though we feel all these powers in ourselves,
yet we know not whence they are, nor how they act.

And yet how many intricate questions are there, relating
to the disputes of Providence, which are wholly owing to
such nice philosophical speculations, which we know
nothing of, and yet which some men perplex themselves
with, and undertake very gravely to determine.

Such are the disputes about necessity and fate, prescience

SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE. 87

and predetermination, and the liberty of human actions;
which, as they are differently determined, make very dif-
ferent and contrary hypotheses of providence, and either
charge God with the sins of men, or acquit him from any
partnership in wickedness.

For all these questions at last resolve themselves into
this, — how the mind of man acts and determines itself?
Whether it be determined from abroad, from a necessary
train and series of fatal events, or from the decrees and pre-
determination or foreknowledge of God ? Or whether it be
a self-moving being, and determines itself from the princi-
ples of its own nature and its own free choice? Now, un-
less we understood the philosophy or the natural frame and
composition of our own minds, it is impossible to say any
thing to the purpose in this cause, any farther than our own
sense and feeling go, and that is on the side of liberty ; for
unless we be strangely imposed on, we feel ourselves free.
But this may satisfy us, that as to all the difficulties of
providence, which can be no other way resolved but by a
knowledge of nature, we must of necessity be as ignorant
of them as we are of the nature of things ; and therefore
our confessed ignorance of nature, is a good argument in
all such cases, to make us very modest in censuring Provi-
dence.

We know enough, both of the works of nature and of the
works of providence, to serve all the wise ends and pur-
poses of living, which is all that is useful for us to know,
and all that God intended we should know ; but the reasons
and causes of things belong only to that wisdom which can
make and govern a world. We know as much of provi-
dence as we do of nature ; and would men set bounds to
their inquiries here, which is as far as human understanding
can reach, we should hear very few objections against
providence.

Our ignorance of nature, and natural causes, and the
natural springs of motion, how things were made, and how
they act, and for what ends they were made, which in many
cases we do but very imperfectly guess at, — is a plain de-
monstration that we never ought to admit any difficulties in
nature as a sufficient objection against the being or the

88 SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE.

providence of God, in bar to all the moral evidence and
assurance we have of both.

We have all the moral evidence we can have for any-
thing, that God governs the world by a wise and holy, and
free providence; that he is not the author of sin; that our
wTills, at least as far as virtue and vice are concerned, are
under no foreign force and constraint, but choose, and re-
fuse, and determine themselves wTith a natural liberty. I
say we have undeniable evidence of this, from the wisdom,
justice, and holiness of the Divine nature, from the difference
between virtue and vice, and the nature of rewards and
punishments: these things are plain, and such as we can
understand, and such as we cannot deny with any fair ap-
pearance of reason ; but now all the arguments against
providence, and for necessity and fate, are mere philo-
sophical speculations, which men vainly pretend to, when
it is demonstrable they can know nothing of them. As for
instance, some tell us that it is not a wise and free Provi-
dence that governs the wrorld, but that all things come to
pass by a necessary chain of causes, which fatally determine
the will to choose and act as these causes move it. Now,
whether there be such a necessary chain of causes or not,
it is certain no man can know it, who does not as perfectly
understand this great machine of the world, and all its mo-
tions, as an artist does all the wheels in a watch or clock:
nor can any man know how7 such a chain of causes should
move and determine the mind of man, without understand-
ing the philosophy of human souls, how the will is moved,
how it is determined, or determines itself; whether, by the
constitution of its nature, it always necessarily chooses what
it chooses, or might have not chosen, or have chosen any
thing else. Now, whatever other men may do, I am sure I
know nothing of the philosophy of these matters, and there-
fore they do not concern me.

Others make God himself to be nothing else but necessity
and fate, who, by eternal and irreversible decrees, as ne-
cessary and essential to him as his own being, has deter-
mined whatever shall come to pass ; but no man can pretend
to know this, without an immediate vision, if I may so
speak, of the naked essence of God. His attributes and

SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE. 89

moral perfections give us no notice of such fatal decrees : his
wisdom, holiness, justice, goodness, contain nothing of fate
and necessity; and those who can see the very essence of
God to be fate, must be able to contemplate his pure essence,
and to know God after another manner than he ever yet
manifested himself to creatures, or, it may be, than it is
possible for God to show himself to creatures.

Others conclude the fatal necessity of all events, from
God's prescience ; for they say that God can foreknow
things only in his own decrees, and therefore if God fore-
knows all things, all things are decreed ; or, however, what
God foreknows will come to pass, wall certainly and neces-
sarily come to pass, and therefore all events are certain and
necessary, if they be all foreknown by God. But these are
conclusions which no man can be certain of, without pre-
tending perfectly to understand the nature of prescience, or
how God foreknows things to come ; for if God can fore-
know what he has not decreed, and can foreknow wThat
does not come to pass necessarily, then the prescience of
God does not infer a fatality of all events : and yet this may
be, for ought we know, unless we perfectly understand the
nature of prescience, and howT God foreknows things to
come, and then we may foreknow things ourselves. The
like may be said of God's concourse with his creatures in
all their actions, from whence they conclude that the will
of man in all its elections is determined by God, without
whose concourse it cannot act nor determine itself.

These are all nice philosophical speculations, which crea-
tures who are so ignorant of the natures of things can know
nothing of; and therefore they are not fit to be made argu-
ments for or against any thing.

The sum is this: that since we must confess ourselves so
very ignorant of the works of nature, without the knowledge
of which, in ten thousand instances, it is impossible to un-
derstand the wisdom of Providence, it is unreasonable and
absurd for us to demand an account of God's providences ;
but we ought to be satisfied, to leave God to govern the
world with the same sovereign and unaccountable wisdom
which at first gave being to all things.

3. That the wise government of the world requires se-

90 SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE.

cret and hidden methods of providence ; and therefore, at
least in this state, we ought not to expect or desire a par-
ticular account or reason of all events.

The wise man tells us, "It is the glory of God to conceal
a thing:" Prov. xxv. 2. It is the glory of the divine na-
ture, that it is incomprehensible by us; and it is the glory
of the Divine providence to be unsearchable ; and therefore
many of the ancient philosophers and poets forbid too
curious an inquiry into the nature or providence of God ;
and Sophronius gives a wise reason for it, because we are
all born of mortal parents, and therefore the perfect know-
ledge of an infinite immortal Being must be above us :
which is much the same reason thatZophar gives: " Vain man
would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass's colt :"
Job xi. 12. This is a knowledge too great for our birth,
if our natural capacities bear proportion to it ; for God
must be a very little being himself, could he be compre-
hended by such mean creatures.

But that which I at present intend, is only to show you
that the wise government of the world requires that the
divine counsels, that the events and reasons of Providence
should in a great measure be concealed from us ; and I
hope that is a satisfactory reason, why God should conceal
them, if he cannot so wisely govern the world without it.

I would desire those persons who are so apt to quarrel at
Providence, and to take it so very ill that God does any
thing which they do not presently understand, to sit down
and agree among themselves how they would have God
govern the world ; what it is that they would be pleased
with : but let them consider well of it beforehand, that upon
second thoughts they do not find more reason to quarrel at
their own ways and methods of governing the world, than
they now have to quarrel with Providence ; or that the rest
of mankind do not find more reason to quarrel with them,
than they have now to quarrel with God. As to give an
instance or two of this by way of essay. —

Some seem to be very much discontented at the unevenness
and uncertainty of all events ; that all things are in a per-
petual flux and motion ; that no man knoweth what a day
or an hour will bring forth: the instability of fortune which

SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE. Jl

gives and takes away, and every day shows a new face,
and opens new and surprising scenes, has been an old
complaint.

Well, then, would they have this rectified ? would they
have all the events of providence as constant, and regular,
and unchangeable, as the motions of the heavens, as the re-
turns of day and night, of winter and summer? and when
they see all things happen thus evenly and regularly, will
they then promise to believe a providence ? I mightily sus-
pect that they will be farther from believing a providence
then, than they are now. We see that the regular motions
of the heavens, and the uniform productions of nature,
which so seldom vary, that it is thought portentous and
ominous if they do, cannot convince them that God governs
the heavens and the earth, and all the works of nature, as
far as all their virtues and powers move and act uniformly,
by constant and unerring laws: and if the regular uniform-
ity of nature is not thought by these men a sufficient proof
of a providence, I doubt a constant and uniform round of
all events would be thought much less so. Those who now
resolve all the uncertain changes and revolutions that hap-
pen, into necessity and fate, would have more reason to do
so, did providence always show the same face and appear-
ances as the heavens do.

But can they tell what kind of uniformity and stability of
providence it is, would please them ? Would they have
all men's fortunes equal? That there should be no distinc-
tion between rich and poor, high and low, princes and
subjects, the honorable and the vile ? I believe few of them
would like such a levelling providence, which, as the state
of mankind now is, would destroy the good government of
the world, and most of the pleasures and conveniences of
life ; and yet, without this, the providence of God is not so
uniform towards men as it is toward beasts ; and those who
fare Avorse than others of the same nature with them, will
still complain.

If then providence must not deal alike by all men, do
they mean by the uniformity and stability of providence,
that men's fortunes, whatever they are, shall always be the
same ? That the rich and prosperous shall always be rich

92 SOVEREIGNTY OF ITxOYIDENCE.

and prosperous, and the poor always poor, and beggars and
slaves ? Unless these objectors be all rich and happy, I
doubt they will never agree to this ; for the poor and miser-
able must needs think it hard usage to be always poor,
without room for better hopes.

But such a stability of providence as this would destroy
the wise and just government of the world ; for how should
God restrain and punish wickedness, and reward and en-
courage virtue, if the rich must always be rich, and the
poor always poor? nay, how can the providence of God do
this, without making men virtuous and vicious too, by
necessity and fate ? When wantonness and prodigality, idle-
ness and folly, will spend or lose an estate ; and frugality,
prudence and diligence will get one. And when all men
in this world must not be equal, does it not more become
the wisdom and justice of Providence, that men's own vir-
tues and vices shall in a great measure make the distinction,
and carve out their own fortunes for them ?

So that when men complain of the uncertainty and insta-
bility of fortune, as they call it, they complain of they know
not what; and were it put to their own choice what to
have in the room of it, they would not know how to mend
the matter. The w7ise government of free agents, who so
often change themselves, requires very frequent, sudden,
surprising turns of providence, the reasons of which must
of necessity be as invisible to us as the thoughts of men's
hearts, and their most secret intrigues and counsels. Till we
can make men all move alike, as regularly and uniformly
as the heavenly bodies do, it is an absurd and unreasonable
complaint that providence does not act regularly, and that
the events of providence are not always the same.

Another great complaint against providence is, that good
men are not always rewarded, nor bad men punished ac-
cording to their deserts : that many bad men are prosperous
in this world, and some good men great sufferers : that <c all
things come alike to all : there is one event to the righteous,
and to the wicked ; to the good and to the clean, and to
the unclean ; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacri-
ficetb not : as is the good, so is the sinner ; and he that
gweareth-, as he that feareth an oath:" Eccl. ix. 2. This

SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE. 93

makes the events of providence very sudden, mysterious,
and unaccountable ; that no man knows what course to take
to make his life easy and prosperous ; for whether he be good
or wicked, he may be happy or miserable, as it happens.

As for the objection itself, I shall consider it more here-
after; but at present I will only ask these objectors, whether,
to remove these difficulties and uncertainties of providence,
and that they may the better understand the reasons of all
events, they do in good earnest desire, that God would re-
duce this matter to a certainty, by punishing all bad men,
and rewarding all good men in this world, according to their
deserts? If they do, I must tell them, as Christ told the
two brethren, who desired that they might sit one on his
right hand, and the other on his left, in his kingdom, — "Ye
ask ye know not what." They ask the most dangerous thing
that could possibly befall mankind ; and what they ask
would be ten thousand times a greater objection against
providence than what they complain of. Should every
sinner be punished in this world according to his deserts,
what man is there so just and innocent as to escape the Di-
vine vengeance? " If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquity,
O Lord, who shall stand !" Ps. cxxx. 3. Were every sin-
ner punished as he deserves, I doubt there would be no good
man left to be rewarded ; for where is the man that doth
good, and sinneth not? What room does this leave for pa-
tience or forbearance, for the repentance of sinners, for
God's pardoning grace and mercy. And what a terrible
providence is this ? How contrary to all the notions we
have of God, and his kind and gracious government of his
creatures.

I grant God may exercise great patience and long suffer-
ing towards sinners ; he may forgive the sins of true peni-
tents, and yet punish sinners, and reward good men, even
in this world ; these things are very reconcilable in God's
government of the world, for thus he does govern the world ;
but they are very irreconcilable with such a providence and
government as these men desire, which requires a present
and visible punishment of every sin, as soon as committed ;
and as present and visible a reward of every good action ;
for unless these punishments and rewards are present, all

94 SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE.

the time they are delayed bad men may be prosperous and
good men afflicted : which is their very objection against
providence ; which can never be removed, but by speedy
and visible executions, which leave no place for the patience
and forgiveness of God, or for the repentance of sinners :
and is it not much more desirable, for ever to be ignorant
of the reasons of providence, than to have such proofs and
demonstrations of providence as this ?

Let me desire these unthinking cavillers at providence, to
review their objection over again, and consider what is the
meaning of every word in it, and how upon second thoughts
they like it themselves.

That they may have a plain and certain reason of God's
judgments, they desire that no man may suffer any external
calamity, but only for sin ; and that every sinner may be
punished in this world according to his deserts ; and then
they wTill believe that there is a providence that governs
the world ; though it is better for the world that they should
continue infidels, than be thus convinced. Well, then, who
in the first place are these sinners whom they would have
punished ? Do they mean every one who does a wicked
action? or every impenitent and incorrigible sinner?

If every one who at any time does any wicked action
must be punished for it, then it is plain that no man can es-
cape ; then there is no place for repentance or forgiveness,
but a speedy vengeance must pursue the sinner; and God
knows, we are all sinners, and must all be punished ; and
if this removes one objection against providence, I am sure
it will very much increase another, from the many evils and
miseries that are in the world, which will be many more,
and much greater, if every sin must receive its just punish-
ment.

If they mean only, that impenitent and incorrigible sin-
ners must be punished, then they must allow that God may
spare a sinner a great while, and then very great sinners
may be prosperous a great while, and if they repent at last,
may finally escape the judgments of God; and then the
prosperity of sinners can never be an argument against
providence, unless they can prescribe to God just how long
and no longer he may justly spare sinners.

SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE. 95

It is an easy matter to complain of any thing, and to start
difficulties and objections, but it is impossible for the wit
of man to reduce providence to such a certainty as these
men desire. Though God govern the world by ever such
fixed and steady laws, we can never see it in external
events, so as to be able to assign a reason of all that good
and evil which happen to particular men.

For would they have God reward every good man, and
punish every wicked man, or reward and punish every man
for the good and evil that he does ? There is a great mix-
ture of good and bad in most men, that for different reasons
they may deserve both rewards and punishments; and
though God knows when it is fit to reward or punish such
men, yet it is impossible we should : and therefore whether
they be rewarded or punished, we can give no account of it.

There is also a great mixture of good and bad in most
actions : some very bad actions may not deserve punish-
ment, as being the effect of ignorance or surprise, or such
invincible temptations as human nature, without an extra-
ordinary measure of grace, cannot conquer ; and there are
a great many good actions which deserve no reward, as
being done by chance, besides the intention of the doer,
or done from a very bad principle, or for very bad ends.
Now we only see the good or evil that is in the action, and
human laws can punish or reward nothing but what is seen.

But I suppose you will not say that God ought to regard
nothing else but the material and visible action ; and then
it may be very wise and just in God neither to punish men
for very bad actions, nor to reward them for very good ac-
tions ; and this is another uncertainty of events, which men
ignorantly complain of.

Thus some men are guilty of a great many secret sins, or
do a great many good actions, which no man knows of, but
only God, and their own consciences ; and when God visi-
bly rewards or punishes men for the secret good or evil they
have done, the reasons of such rewards or punishments must
be unknown to us, because the good or evil for which they
are rewarded or punished is unknown.

All these things make the reasons and events of provi-
dence very uncertain and unaccountable to us ; and yet we

96 SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE.

see there may be very wise reasons for them, which we can-
not understand, and which no man in his wits would desire
should be understood.

For would you desire that every sin you commit should
be immediately punished, without any time to repent, with-
out any hope of mercy ? Would you have God reward and
punish as human laws do, to consider only what is done,
without making any allowances for ignorance or surprise, or
without taking any notice of the principles or ends of our
actions ? Would you have a casement into every man's
breast, or have all their secret sins or virtues wTritten upon
their foreheads, that every man may be as perfectly known
to all the world as he is to himself? If you do not desire
this, you must be contented to be ignorant of the reasons of
Providence, of those good and evil events which happen to
men ; wby God punishes one man, and spares or rewards
another; why he does not punish those whom we judge to
deserve punishment, nor reward those whom we think
worthy of a reward. God has wise reasons for all this, but
we cannot understand them, and it is happy for us all that
they are not understood.

This shows how absurd it is for us to demand a reason,
and to complain that we cannot give a reason of all the
events of providence. And I shall only observe this by the
wray, that if men would in other cases take the same course
that I have done in this, they would quickly perceive how
vain and senseless all their objections against providence
are ; that is, whatever they object against providence, let
them turn the other side of it, and try whether that would
be better : let them consider how they would have what they
call the defects and blemishes of providence rectified, and
whether it would be more for the wise and happy govern-
ment of the world, if it were so. I dare challenge the
greatest pretenders to wit and reason, to give any one in-
stance of this nature, to name any one thing which they
quarrel at, which they know how to mend ; and if the world
be so wisely ordered already, that those who complain most
cannot tell how any thing could be better done, it is ridicu-
lous and impudent to find fault — which are no hard words
in such a cause as this.

SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE. 97

But this is not all I intend, merely to show that this is an
unreasonable objection against providence, that the events
of it are many times very uncertain, hidden and mysterious,
and such as we cannot give the particular reasons of; but
likewise to satisfy you, that the wise government of man-
kind requires it should be so, and to represent to you the
great and excellent advantages of it.

Now I suppose you will all grant that what is most for
the glory of God, for the advancement of true piety, and the
restraints of wickedness, is the wisest way of governing the
world. And if you will grant this, I doubt not but I shall
presently satisfy you that the wise government of the world
requires secret and hidden methods of providence, such un-
certain and surprising events, as at least we can give no
account of, till it comes to its last and concluding issue.

(1.) For what is there that excites in us a greater admira-
tion of God, than to see great and glorious things brought
to pass by a long and winding labyrinth of surprising and
perplexed events, which we know nothing of, nor whither
they tend, till we see where they end? Mankind never
greatly admire what is plain and obvious, and every man's
thought, because there is nothing in it which shows any ex-
traordinary contrivance ; but when unexpected events are
brought to pass by unsuspected means, and yet designed
and directed by a steady and unerring counsel — when great
things are done by such means as have no natural causality
to produce such events, and therefore can give no notice
nor the least suspicion of what is a-doing — when our very
fears are turned into triumphs, and that which seemed to
threaten us with some great evils, is made the instrument
of some great and surprising blessings — when bad men are
ensnared in their own counsels, and fall into the pit which
they have dug for others — when God turns their curses into
blessings, and saves good men by the ministry of those who
intended their ruin: — these, I say, and such like events, of
which there are numerous instances both in sacred and pro-
fane story, and which our own observation may furnish us
with fresh examples of, justly give us great and admiring
thoughts of the Divine wisdom — a wisdom which is to be
reverenced and feared, as well as praised ; for who would

9

98 SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE.

not fear that God, "who is wise in heart, as well as mighty
in strength ? Who hath resisted his will, and prospered ?"

(2.) The uncertain events of providence, that good and
evil are promiscuously dispensed — that God does not al-
ways visibly reward the good, nor punish the wicked,
though he signally rewards some good men, and as remark-
ably punishes some wicked men, — is the wisest method of
governing mankind. That some good^men are visibly re-
warded in this world, is a just encouragement to good men
to expect the protection and blessing of God in doing good.
That some bad men are made examples of a just and terri-
ble vengeance, is a warning to all bad men to reverence the
judgments of God, and to stand in awe of him : and that
some bad men are spared, nay, are externally happy, is a
good reason for men to repent, and to hope for pardon and
forgiveness from so patient and merciful a God.

The essential difference between good and evil, the hopes
and fears of natural conscience, the promises and threaten-
ings of Scripture, and the Scripture examples of those mi-
raculous deliverances which God has wrought for his peo-
ple, and the miraculous destruction he has brought upon
their enemies, are a plain proof that even the external pros-
perity of good men, is a mark of God's favour to them ; and
the external sufferings and calamities of bad men, the effects
of his anger and vengeance ; and then, though all good men
are not so visibly rewarded in this world, nor all bad men
punished, yet since no good men are excepted from God's
promises, nor any bad men from his threatenings, the re-
wards of some good men are a reason for all good men to
hope, and the judgments executed upon some bad men are
a reason for all bad men to fear.

And this is better accommodated to the nature of man,
who is a free agent, than if God should visibly punish all
bad men and reward all good men in this world, because it
offers less force and violence to men, and leaves them more
to the government of their own free choice. Should God
make such a visible difference between ail good and bad
men in this world, that all good men should be prosperous
and happy, and all bad men miserable, there would be no
more choice left to men, whether they would be good or

SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE. 99

bad, than whether they would spend their lives in health or
sickness, in riches or poverty, in honour or disgrace ; but
where the event is not certain, there is room left for wise
consideration, for hopes and fears, which are the natural
springs of a free choice.

And besides this, that all good men are not rewarded,
nor all bad men punished in this world, gives us a truer un-
derstanding of the nature of present things, and reasonable
expectations of greater rewards and punishments hereafter.
We should be too apt to think that the enjoyments of this
life were the best and greatest things, and the peculiar mark
of God's favour, did none but good men share in them ; and
were they the portion of all good men, we should grow
very fond of this world, and little think of another, or of
exercising such divine virtues as are fitted to that state ;
nay, we should want the best moral argument for another
life, that all good men are not rewarded, nor all bad men
punished in this world, which gives a reasonable expecta-
tion of another life.

But when we see bad men prosperous as well as the
good, and good men suffer as hard things as any bad men
do, this convinces us that neither the blessings nor the suf-
ferings of this life are the final rewards or punishments of
good or bad men — that God has greater blessings reserved
for good men, and greater miseries for the wicked, which is
a greater incitement to a divine and heavenly virtue, and a
greater restraint to wickedness, than any present rewards or
punishments can be. So that this uncertainty of events
which some men complain of, and which we can seldom
give a reasonable account of when we come to particular
cases and particular persons, is so far from being a defect in
providence, that it is the wisest method of governing man-
kind, both considered as a free agent and as an immortal
creature, who must live in another world, when he removes
out of this.

(3.) This uncertainty of all events, is the trial and ex-
ercise of many admirable graces and virtues, which there
would be no place for, with respect to this world, were the
events and reasons of providence known and certain : such
as faith, and hope, and trust, and dependence on God,

100

SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE.

which there would be little use of in this world, were all
good men immediately rewarded ; for they all respect ab-
sent, unseen, unknown events. Difficulties and sufferings,
which in Scripture are called temptations, are the trials of
virtue : when we serve God without any prospect of a pre-
sent reward; and trust in him, and depend on him, when
we are forsaken of all other hopes ; when we say with Job,
" Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him ;" or with the
prophet Habakkuk, iii. 17, 18: "Although the fig-tree
shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines ; the
labour of the olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no
meat ; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall
be no herd in the stalls ; yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will
joy in the God of my salvation." And yet if we knew in
all cases the particular reasons of providence, and what the
end and conclusion of them would be, they would be no
trials of our faith and submission to God : the faith and pa-
tience of Job was wronderful, but the greatest difficulty in
all he suffered was, that he could not possibly understand
what God meant and intended, in bringing all those calami-
ties on him ; but had he known that this was only a trial of
his patience and virtue, and that God would reward these
sufferings with a very long and prosperous life, with a new
increase of children, and new additions of riches and ho-
nour, this had been no difficulty, no trial, any more than the
smart of his present sufferings ; but Job knew nothing of all
this, and therefore did great glory to God, and made him-
self an admirable example of faith and patience to the world ;
and God made him as great an example of the rewards of
faith and patience. Were the events of providence as con-
stant, regular, and certain, and the reasons of all evenls
as known and visible as some men would have them, and
complain that they are not, there would be no exercise of
some of the greatest virtues of the Christian life, which do
most honour to God, and are the greatest ornaments and
perfections of human nature : whicfi evidently proves, that
the uncertainty and obscurity of the events of providence,
that we know not what shall be, nor in many cases the rea-
sons of what we see, is necessary to the wise government

SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE. 10 1.

of mankind, and therefore is no defect, but the beauty and
perfection of Providence.

4. We are necessarily ignorant of a great many things,
without the knowledge of which, it is impossible for us to
understand the reasons of providence ; and therefore we
ought no more to complain that we are ignorant of the rea-
sons of providence, than we do of our ignorance of other
matters, without the knowledge of which, the reasons of
providence cannot be known ; as to name some few of them :

(1.) We are very ignorant of men, as I observed before:
we know not their hearts, and thoughts, and counsels, we
see little of their private conversation, we cannot look into
their closets and secret retirements ; and unless we knew
better what men are, it is impossible wre should understand
the reasons of God's providence towards them. Now though,
as to external appearances, there is some truth in this ob-
jection, that bad men are oftentimes very prosperous, and
good men afflicted in this world; yet I doubt not but when
this objection is applied to the prosperity or affliction of
particular men, where it is once applied right, it is a hun-
dred times applied wrong; especially as to the sufferings of
good men ; for wTe very often take those for good men, who
are not so, and who many times pluck off their disguise
themselves, and convince the world that they are not so ;
and yet if any misfortune or adversity befall such men before
they are known, we are apt to wonder that God should
afflict such good men as they are, and think it a great diffi-
culty in providence ; when they themselves know that they
deserve all that they suffer, and a great deal more.

Nay, I believe there is not a good man in the world who
knows himself, and impartially observes his own thoughts,
and passions, and actions, but knows a reason why God
at any time afflicts him ; how he has deserved it, and
how he wants it, and can justify the greatest severities
of providence towards himself: I am sure all the good
men in Scripture do so, excepting Job ; they frequently
confess and bewail their sins, and acknowledge the justice
and mercy of God in what they surfer ; and as for Job, all
that he insists on, is to justify his own uprightness and in-
tegrity ; that ho was no secret hypocrite, as his friends un-

9*

102 SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE.

charitably accused him ; that he knew nothing so bad of
himself as to deserve such amazing sufferings as God had
brought on him : and, indeed. Job's case was very peculiar;
and it appeared, in the conclusion, that God did not punish
him for some unknown wickedness, but to exercise his
faith and patience, and to make him a glorious and tri-
umphant example of a firm adherence to God under the
severest trials.

Now when there is no good man in the world, who upon
his own account can charge God with afflicting him beyond
what his sins deserve, or the state of his soul requires, we
have reason to think that there is very little truth in this ob-
jection; that did we know other good men as well as we
know ourselves, we should as well understand the reason
why God afflicts them, as why he afflicts us ; and if there
be a wise and just reason for the sufferings of good men,
whatever their sufferings are, they can be no objection
against providence.

And it is very often seen that some men are thought
wicked as wrongfully and ignorantly as others are thought
good. It is a very little matter that will give men a bad
character in a censorious world ; a different opinion in reli-
gion or some external modes of worship ; nay, different in-
terests and state factions ; nay, some private quarrels and
animosities will make some men paint each other as black
as hell can make them, and then quarrel with Heaven if it
do not revenge their quarrels and execute that vengeance
which they doom each other to.

And as for others, who with more reason are thought bad
men, as guilty of known immoralities, yet they may have a
great deal of good in them, many generous qualities and
social virtues, which may make them very useful men in a
commonwealth ; and they may do so much good as in the
opinion of mankind may deserve some temporal rewards,
as may deserve public trusts and public honours : and it is
very hard to reproach Providence with the prosperity of
such men, which we ourselves think well bestowed, not-
withstanding their other vices. And other bad men may
have some secret and latent principles of virtue which
deserve to be cherished, and when this is God alone knows ;

SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE. 103

but if we knew it, we should have no reason to quarrel
with the kindness and patience of God to such men, which
is intended to lead them to repentance. And as for profli-
gate sinners, who are at open defiance with God, it is seldom
seen but that some remarkable vengeance at one time or
other overtakes them, and vindicates the justice of provi-
dence in their confusion. So easy were it to justify the
providence of God, both towards good and bad men, did we
sufficiently know men. And our ignorance of men makes
it a very foolish and absurd objection; for if instead of an-
swering it we should deny the truth of the objection, they
have no way to prove it. Should we assert that all good
men are rewarded, and all bad men punished, who deserve
to be rewarded or punished in this world, they have no way
to disprove this but by plain matter of fact ; by showing
some good men afflicted who deserve a reward, and some
bad men prosperous who deserve to be punished. Now
this they can never do without pretending to know what is
in man, to see their inside, to be acquainted with all their
secrets : in a word, to know men as God knows them. For
though some men are afflicted whom we think good men,
and it may be are so, and some bad men are prosperous,
yet there may be such a mixture of evil and good in these
good and bad men, which we cannot see, as may make it
very wise and Justin God to afflict these good men, and to
prosper the wicked ; and since we cannot possibly know
these things, it becomes us to be very modest in censuring
providence.

(2.) We are in most cases very ignorant also of the
counsels and designs of Providence ; we seldom know in
any measure what God is doing in the wTorld, and then it is
impossible for us to understand the admirable wisdom of all
those intermediate events, which tend to unknown ends.
In the best contrived plot there will always be some scenes
full of nothing but mystery and confusion till the end ex-
plains them, and then we admire the skill and art of the
poet.

- Now the great obscurities and difficulties of providence
are in such intermediate events, before we know what God
intends by them. As to give an instance or two of it.

104 SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE.

Had we heard no more of Joseph but that he was sold by
his brethren into Egypt, and there falsely accused by a
wanton mistress and cast into prison, we should have
thought that God had dealt very hardly with him ; but
when we understand that all this was the way to Pharaoh's
throne, there is no man but would be contented to be a
Joseph.

Thus the story of Job's afflictions strike terror and aston-
ishment into all that hear them. Job himself knew nc\
what account to give of his sufferings, and his friends gave
a very bad one, by falsely and uncharitably accusing Job of
some unknown wickedness, to vindicate God's severity to-
wards him ; and we should have been as much puzzled with
it to this day, had we not been acquainted with the reason
of Job's sufferings, and with that long and great prosperity
wherewith God rewarded his faith and patience ; and now
no man thinks the sufferings of Job any difficulty in provi-
dence, much less any objection against it.

Thus it is with reference to single men, when we see
only a scene or two of their lives, we may meet with such
prosperous or adverse events as we cannot account for; but
could we see from the beginning to the end, in most cases
the Divine providence would justify itself.

But then the hidden and mysterious designs of Providence
relating to churches and kingdoms which comprehend so
many great and wonderful revolutions ; the translations of
empires ; the removing the gospel from one country, and
planting churches in others where there were none before ;
the increase and flourishing state of religion in one age, and
its great declension and almost total eclipse in another;
those surprising changes which may be observed in the
genius, tempers, and inclinations of princes and people in
several ages; the unaccountable beginnings of war, and
the as unaccountable successes, and unaccountable end of
it; the long prosperity of persecuting tyrants, and their
sudden fall: these, and such like events, must needs be
very obscure and unknown to us, who know not what God
aims at in all this, nor what designs he is carrying on.

The designs of Providence many times reach from one
age to another ; nay, do not come to perfection in many

SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE. 105

ages ; and yet have all a mutual dependence and relation to
each other, and are subservient to some last great end.
The prophecies of Daniel, and the revelations of St. John,
as mysterious books as they are, and as difficult as it is to
apply the several parts of them to their particular events,
yet this much is plain in them, that there is a long series
and chain of events which reach from age to age, with infi-
nite turnings and variety of wisdom, directed by a steady
and unerring counsel to some unknown but glorious conclu-
sion. And when the divine counsels are so deep and mys-
terious and so far out of our sight — when we see so little a
part of what God does, and know not what end God aims
at in it, how impossible is it that wre should understand the
reason of particular events? Had wre a certain and parti-
cular history of what God has already done, and could we
certainly understand the prophecies of what is still to be
done in every age and in all succeeding ages ; that we could
have one view of providence from beginning to the end, we
should be more competent judges of the wisdom, beauty,
and justice of providence. But when our accounts of what
is past are so imperfect and uncertain, and our knowledge
of what is to come much more imperfect than of what is
past — when we know so little of our own age, of our own
country, of our own neighbourhood, it is as impossible to
understand the reasons of providence, as it is to understand
the wise contrivance and design of a comedy by reading
one act, or it may be but one scene of that act.

This is certain, that we can never understand the reasons
of providence without understanding the counsels of God,
and for what end every thing is designed. For every thing
is well or ill contrived as it serves the end for which it is
intended ; and therefore we may as reasonably pretend to
understand all the secret counsels of God, as all the reasons
of providence. This very reason St. Paul gives why the
providence of God is so unsearchable, Rom. xi. 33, 34:
" 0 the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and know-
ledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his
ways past finding out! for who hath known the mind of the
Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?"

(3.) We are very ignorant also of the state of the

106 SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE.

other world, and while we are so, it is impossible that we
should be able thoroughly to comprehend the reason of
God's providence in this world.

It is a vain thing to talk of providence without taking the
other world into the account. Were there no other life af-
ter this, it were not worth the while to dispute whether there
be a providence or not ; for whether there be or be not a
providence, things are as they are ; and if death put an end
to us, it is of no great consequence which is truest. The
only reason why some men so zealously dispute against a
providence, is because they are unwilling to believe there
is a God or another world ; and the reason why we so zeal-
ously contend for a providence, is to support ourselves
against all cross events, with the care and protection of a
wise and good God at present, and with the hopes of a more
blessed and happy life hereafter. So that in truth this dis-
pute is not intended so much against providence, as against
the being of God and another life ; and therefore both
these must be taken into the account when they make their
objections against providence, or all their arguments signify
nothing. As for instance —

It is enough for them to say, and to prove too, that there
are such difficulties of providence (for the difficulties of pro-
vidence are their great objection) as no man can give a rea-
sonable account of, but that there are such difficulties as in-
finite wisdom itself cannot account for; for though there
may be many difficulties which we cannot particularly an-
swer, (as all wise men acknowledge that there are,) yet un-
less they can positively prove that infinite wisdom itself can-
not answer these difficulties, the world may still be governed
by an infinitely wise Being ; and it is demonstrable that they
can never prove this ; for nothing less than infinite wisdom
can tell what infinite wisdom knows, and what difficulties it
can answer ; which shows how vain all these arguments
against providence are, which at last resolve themselves in-
to the ignorance of human understandings, that there is no
providence, because we see such things done in the world
whi <h, for aught we know, infinite wisdom can give very
wise reasons for, but we cannot.

Thus to come to the business in hand : It is not enough

SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE. 107

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 difficul-
ties 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 rea-
sons 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 rela-
tion to the next world, it will give a general answer to all
difficulties of providence, and give us satisfactory reasons
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 irregular-
ities 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 eccentric
motions of providence. It is certain this may be so, and
no man can prove it cannot be so ; and if we had no
other evidence for it, the reason and nature of things, upon
the supposition of the other world, make 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 eter-
nally 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

108 SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE.

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 tor-
mented in flames, and hear him beg only for a drop of wa-
ter to cool his tongue ; could they see Lazarus in Abraham's
bosom, no longer begging an alms, but entertained 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 provi-
dence ? 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 dis-
cipline 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 pa-
tience 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 virtues ; 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 difficul-
ties 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
wrorld ; and therefore when an atheist disputes with a Chris-
tian against providence, if he will say any thing to the pur-
pose, he must dispute against providence, upon the suppo

SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE. 109

sition of another life, and prove that the eternal rewards and
punishments of the next world cannot vindicate the wis-
dom 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 ot
the other world, that it is impossible for us to give a particu-
lar reason of every passage of providence, which relates to
the next world.

I say, which relates to the next world, which are the
greatest difficulties of all good men. The belief of another
life will answer all the difficulties of providence which con-
cern 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 ourselves 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 pro-
vidence with respect to this life, but the whole difficulty of
it relates to the next life. That since all men have immor-
tal souls, and must be happy or miserable for ever, God
should for so many ages suffer the whole world, excepting
the Jews, to live in ignorance and in Pagan idolatry and su-
perstition ; 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 Mohammedans ;
nay, that so little a part of the Christian world retains 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

10

110 SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE.

verily persuaded, 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 judge nothing of it. Men must be
very much inclined to quarrel with God, who will raise ob-
jections 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 wTorld, since the Scrip-
ture 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 the igno-
rant heathens shall suffer the same condemnation which
Christ has threatened against wilful infidels and wicked
Christians ; and then it may well be thought a great diffi-
culty, 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 ourselves, 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 can-
not answer.

Whatever difficulties immediately relate to the state of
the other world, we must be contented should remain diffi-
culties till we go thither ; for we know so little in particu-
lar about the other world, that it is impossible we should
be able either to satisfy ourselves or others in such matters ■

SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE. Ill

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 shown 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 an account of all the wise designs of his pro-
vidence, 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 txrthis 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 show them particularly that if
God govern the world wisely, there are a thousand tilings
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.

5. Let us now inquire 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 inquiry, that no man may pre-
sume 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 wTorld, 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 repro-
bation, on which a great many other such like unaccount-
able doctrines depend — that God created the far greatest

112 SOVEREIGNTY OF TROVIDENCE.

part of mankind on purpose to make them eternally miser-
able ; or at least, as others state it, that he ordered and de-
creed, or which is the same thing, effectually permitted the
sin and fall of Adam, that he might glorify his mercy in
choosing some few out of the corrupted mass of mankind to
be vessels of glory, and glorify his justice in the eternal
punishment of all others, even of reprobated infants, as in-
volved in the guilt of Adam's sin. Now thus far, I con-
fess, 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 wTe have of just and
good.

But though we readily confess that the ways and judg-
ments 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 wTill 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 gen-
eral 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 sour grapes, and the
children's teeth are set on edge," (ver. 2 :) that is, that the
children are punished for the sins of their fathers. How un-
reasonable 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 die," (ver. 4:) 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 he beget a wicked son, his son shall surely die ; and if
this wicked son beget a just and righteous son, he shall
live — " The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father,

SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE. 113

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." (ver. 20.)
That if the wicked man turn from his wickedness, he shall
live, and if the righteous man turn from his righteousness,
he shall die ; and appeals to them to judge whether this be
not equal — " Yet ye say, the way of the Lord is not equal.
Hear now, 0 house of Israel ; are not my ways equal ? are
not your ways unequal?" (ver. 25, 29.)

This plainly proves that all the administrations of Provi-
dence are very just and equal, and that to attribute any
thing to God which contradicts the common notions of jus-
tice and righteousness, is a very great reproach to him, and
is thought so by God himself. And therefore when the
prophet Jeremiah 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, 0 Lord, when I
plead with thee, yet let me talk of thy judgments : where-
fore doth the way of the wicked prosper ? wherefore are all
they happy that deal very treacherously?" Jer. xii. 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, (though such a
providence itself would be a great difficulty,) there could be
no difficulties in providence, if God were not, by the holi-
ness 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 re-
concile 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
thin£ just it wills.

The difficulty and unsearchableness of providence con-

10*

114 SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE.

sists not in the rules of providence, but in the events — not
in reconciling the rules of providence to the common no-
tions 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 though 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 —

Though 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 pros-
perous, 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 sove-
reign 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
though 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 threatened the Jews, 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 pro-
verb, which all men acknowledged to be unjust, God de-
clared his abhorrence of it: — " What mean ye, that ye use
this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, the fathers
have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on
edge ?" Ezek. xviii. 2. As if children who had never
eaten sour 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

SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE. 115

yet be punished for their fathers' sins. This appears mani-
festly unjust, and God himself rejects it as a reproach to his
providence ; and how difficult soever some passages of pro-
vidence may be, we must own no rules of providence which
are manifestly unjust.

Thus it is too certain, that much the greatest part of man-
kind 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 cre-
ated 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, be-
cause 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 unsearch-
able, incomprehensible, unaccountable, is no reason to at-
tribute any thing to God, which, when reduced into ab-
stracted 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 provi-
dence with injustice merely because we do not understand
the reasons of them. The general notions and rules of jus-
tice 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, notwith-
standing such events as we cannot understand the reasons
of: but an unaccountable will which acts by no rules of jus-
tice, as far as we can understand what justice means, can
give no reasonable satisfaction to any man ; for it is no rea-
son 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

116 SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE.

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 dif-
ficulties. But if we wTill grant him that God acts by such
rules as all men who judge impartially, according to the
natural notions and the natural sense which wTe have of jus-
tice, 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 wall 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 no-
tion of the goodness and justice of God, and then we 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 just and good God,
without having any natural notion what his justice and good-
ness is. But instead of that should we have such natural
notions of justice and goodness as (if we believe wThat 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 un-
erring 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 w-hat
cases this is a reasonable answTer 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 intrinsic or essential evil in them. Whatever we see
done in the world, if it be possible to imagine any cases or

SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE. 117

circumstances wherein such a thing may be wisely and
justly done, we have reason to believe that the infinite wis-
dom of God had wise and just reasons for doing it, though
we know not what they are. For is it not great perverse-
ness to charge God with doing such things unjustly, as it
is possible might be done for wise and just reasons ? And
vet I challenge all the atheists in the world, to name me
any one thing which ever God did, that could not possibly,
in any 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 circum-
stances of time, or place, or person, and the like : and
therefore when we see any thing happen, which, as far as
w7e apprehend the case, seems a difficulty in providence, if
altering the case would answer the difficulty, it is only sup-
posing that God sees the case to be otherwise than we ap-
prehend 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 rea-
sonable 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 provi-
dence relate to the good or evil that happen to private men,
or to public societies, to kingdoms and commonwealths, such
as the length or shortness of our lives, health or sickness,
poverty or riches, honour or disgrace, famine, sword and
pestilence ; or on the contrary, blessings of plenty, peace,
and a wholesome 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 rea-
sons for lengthening some men's 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 will

118 SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE.

say, such good or evil events may be wrongly 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, though w7e
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, though 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 pro-
vidence. 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 he's.

(2.) The unsearchable wisdom of God is a reasonable sa-
tisfaction 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, infinite as it is, confines itself 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 " ac-
cording to his will, according to the good pleasure of his
will, according to his good pleasure ;" which always relates
to such prerogative acts, and signifies to us, that we must

SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE. 119

seek no farther for the reasons of such things than the sove-
reign will of God ; as a sovereign prince, while he keeps
within the legal exercise of his prerogative, needs give no
other account of it, but that it is his will and pleasure.

But there are some men who will not be so civil to God
as they are to a sovereign prince, to take his sole will and
good pleasure for a satisfactory reason of any thing; but quar-
rel about these prerogative acts, and ask a great many foolish
questions, and make a great many impertinent objections,
even against the exercise of a free and sovereign goodness.

Now in truth this is to deny God the rights of a sovereign,
to demand a reason of him beyond his own will for the acts
of pure sovereignty. But yet I will grant these men, that
though in all such cases we must ask no other reason but
the mere will of God, yet God never does any thing for
mere will and pleasure, in the sense that some men do, but
has always wise and hidden reasons, which wTe cannot com-
prehend. And though they will not allow the unsearchable
wisdom of God a just satisfaction to other objections, yet
methinks wThere they ought to demand no other reason but
the will of God, it should abundantly satisfy them to know,
that though this will of God is sovereign and unaccounta-
ble, it is always guided by infinite and infallible wisdom.

That you may the better understand this, I shall give
you some instances of it, in the prerogative acts of good-
ness and justice. Goodness indeed is essential to the no-
tion of a God ; but yet there are some sovereign acts of
goodness which no creature could challenge from God,
which God might not have done, and yet have been very
good ; and why God exercises such free and prerogative
acts of goodness, must be resolved wholly into the good
pleasure of his own will. This is the account the Scripture
gives us, of that mysterious goodness in the redemption of
the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, which is therefore every-
where in Scripture called " grace," and "free grace," and
" the love of God," and " the will of God ;" as Christ tells
that " he came not to do his own will, but the will of him
that sent him." And the whole economy of our redemp-
tion is called " the purpose of him who w7orketh all things
according to the counsel of his own will." And thus is

120 SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE.

every part of our redemption, as our new birth — "of his
own will he hath begotten us." The gifts of the Holy
Ghost were bestowed upon the apostles " according to his
own will ;" Heb. ii. 4. " God worketh in us both to will
and to do, of his good pleasure ;" Phil. ii. 13. All which
signifies no more but this, that these are such prerogative
acts of goodness, as we must seek for no other reason of,
but the sovereign will and good pleasure of God.

Now in such sovereign acts of goodness as these, the
time, and manner, and other circumstances, and the rules
and methods of administration, are all perfectly free and
voluntary, wdiere God has not bound up himself by cove-
nant and promise ; and therefore we must satisfy ourselves
that God has very wise reasons for what he does, but must
not critically examine whether every thing be done in the
best manner that wTe can think of, wThich would put an end
to a great many foolish inquiries, writh which men perplex
themselves and disparage the mysteries of our salvation ; as,
why God sent Christ into the world for the salvation of
mankind ? wmether there were no other possible way to save
sinners, or whether this were absolutely the best ? why God
sent Christ so late into the world, in the last days, when it
grew near its end, and so many generations of men had per-
ished in ignorance and wickedness, before his appearance ?
why so great a part of the world to this day has never heard
of Christ? and a great many other such like questions as these,
to all which it is sufficient to reply, that our redemption by
Christ is an act of sovereign grace, and therefore we must
inquire no farther than the will of God. Had God never
sent Christ into the world, nor preached the gospel to any
one nation, we should have had no reason to complain; for
he did not owe such a Saviour to sinners : and therefore we
have less reason to complain of the time of his coming into
the wTorld, and that his gospel is not universally received
by mankind. Sovereign grace is free and unaccountable,
and we need not doubt but that such a stupendous good-
ness is administered by as unsearchable wisdom ; and it is
reasonable for us to acquiesce in the belief of God's unerring
wisdom, especially in such cases where we have no right to
inquire beyond his will. When we receive all from God

SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE. 121

without his owing us any thing, it is a good answer St.
Paul gives — " Who hath first given unto him, and it shall
be recompensed to him again ; for of him, and through him,
and to him, are all things ; to whom be glory for ever.
Amen." Rom. xi. 35, 36.

Thus the divine justice requires, that God should punish
obstinate and incorrigible sinners ; but then he executes
justice with a free and sovereign authority, that is, he is not
confined to time, and place, and manner of punishing sin-
ners, as the inferior ministers of justice are ; but when men
have made themselves " vessels of wrath fitted for destruc-
tion," then God may punish sooner or later, publicly or pri-
vately, and in what manner he pleases, without giving any
other reason for it but his own will. God has more reason
of punishing sinners in this world, than merely to take ven-
geance of their sins, and therefore he punishes them in such
a manner as may best serve the ends of his providence, as
may most advance his own name and glory, and do most
good in the world. Thus God tells Pharaoh, " for this
cause have I raised thee up ;" that is, either advanced thee
to the throne, or preserved thy life thus long in the midst
of all the plagues I have brought upon thy land, " for to
show in thee my power, and that my name may be declared
throughout all the earth ;" (Exod. ix. 16 :) that is, to take
such a remarkable vengeance on thee, as may make all the
earth confess my glory.

Would men but allow God the authority of a sovereign,
who can spare and reprieve, nay, pardon in this world,
without the imputation of injustice, it would answer all the
cavilling objections against providence, which relate to the
punishments of bad men. God might then be allowed to
execute speedy vengeance upon some sinners, and to delay
the punishment of others, and to suffer them to be prosper-
ous for a great while, without giving any other reason for it
than his own will and pleasure. God hath always wise
reasons for these things, though we do not always know
them ; but if the sovereignty of God will justify all this
without any other reason, much more ought we to be satis-
fied with what God does, when we know that he executes

11

122 SOVEREIGNTY OF PROVIDENCE.

judgment, and restrains and punishes wickedness, and go-
verns bad men with unsearchable wisdom.

3. That the ways of God are unsearchable, is a reasona-
ble answer to all difficulties which concern such matters as
we must confess to be above our understanding. I have
already given you a great many instances of this nature,
which I need not repeat ; and indeed he must be a very ig-
norant man, who is not sensible that there is a knowledge
which is too wonderful for him, which the light of nature
cannot discover, and which God has not thought fit to re-
veal. And is it not reasonable in all such cases to say, that
the ways and judgments of God are above our knowledge,
and to be contented to be ignorant of what we cannot
know? This, I am sure, is the only remedy that is left us,
and the only way to rid our minds of such perplexing diffi-
culties as are owing to our own unavoidable ignorance of
things.

This is sufficient to show you, that the providence of
God, not only as our absolute Lord, but as the infinitely
wise governor of the world, is and must be unaccountable,
and that this is a very reasonable answer to the difficulties
of providence ; and the true use of all is, not to strive with
God, not to quarrel at his providence, but to reverence his
unsearchable judgments — to bear whatever he lays on us,
with patience and submission, and to compose our minds to
a firm trust and dependence on him, in the most cross and
threatening events.

It is thought a great piece of w7it to be able to start some
new objections against providence, and to find a great many
faults in God's government of the world. But besides the
great irreverence to God, did such men believe a God, it
is a certain proof of the most despicable ignorance, that they
are ignorant to such a degree as not to know they are ig-
norant: for if they did, they would not dare to judge and
censure infinite wisdom.

JUSTICE OF PROVIDENCE. 123

CHAPTER V.

THE JUSTICE AND RIGHTEOUSNESS OF PROVIDENCE.

The next inquiry is, concerning the justice of the Divine
providence. Justice and righteousness are essential to the
notion of a God, and therefore if God govern the world, he
must govern it righteously ; and this is the great and for-
midable objection against providence, that the world is not
governed with justice and righteousness: and could this be
evidently and convincingly proved, I would allow the con-
clusion, that then God does not govern the world. But I
challenge any man who understands what the justice of
God's government is, to charge the Divine providence with
any one plain and notorious act of injustice ; for the truth
is, the ground of all these objections is an ignorance of the
nature of God's government and of the justice of provi-
dence ; and when this is truly stated, all such objections
will need no answer.

Justice is commonly divided into commutative and dis-
tributive justice ; the first respects men's rights and proper-
ties, the second their deserts ; the first consists in giving
every man what is his own by some natural or acquired
rights ; the second consists in rewarding or punishing men,
as the nature and quality of their actions deserve. And
upon both these accounts, some men impeach the Divine
providence.

First, Because it is too manifest that there is a great
deal of injustice done in the world ; that a great many men
are deprived of their rights and properties by fraud, injus-
tice or open violence ; and therefore the world is not justly
and righteously governed ; which they think in the last
issue must reflect upon the justice and righteousness of pro-
vidence ; if God be the supreme and sovereign Lord of die
world.

Secondly, That rewards and punishments are not justly
and equally distributed ; that some bad men are greatly re-
warded, and some good men greatly punished ; which is

124 JUSTICE OF PROVIDENCE.

not reconcilable with the distributive justice of providence.
Now the plainest and shortest way of answering these and
all such-like objections, is to consider wherein the justice
of providence consists, and what justice requires of God in
the government of this lower world : for if God may govern
the world very righteously, without doing what some men
think justice requires him to do, and without hindering
what they think justice requires him to hinder, this is a suf-
ficient vindication of the justice of providence, whatever
other objections they may make against it : and I shall state
this as plainly and briefly as I can.

1. First, then, I suppose I may take it for granted, that
the justice of providence does not consist in hindering all
acts of injustice and violence. There may be great vio-
lence and injustice committed in the world, and yet God
may govern the world with great righteousness : which is
no more than to say, that men may be very wicked and un-
just, and yet God be very just. As for God's permitting so
much evil to be committed, that is a greater objection against
the holiness than against the justice of providence, and shall
be particularly considered under that head ; but the justice
of providence does not consist in hindering men from sin-
ning, but in punishing them when they do. Were it unjust
in God to suffer men to do any injustice, it would be but a
very imperfect kind of justice to punish them for it ; for
upon this supposition, the justice of punishing sin would be
founded in the injustice of permitting it; and God must
be first unjust in permitting injustice, before he can be just
in punishing it. Which shows how absurd it would be, to
charge the providence of God with injustice, because there
are so many unjust men, who do many unjust things.

2. For God may do that very justly, which men cannot
do without great injustice ; and therefore men may be very
unjust and God very just: as for instance ; God may very
justly take away any man's estate, when no man can do it
without injustice ; and the case is the same with respect to
honour and power, and life itself; for God is the supreme
Lord and Proprietor of the world ; we are all his, and all
that we have is his ; we have a right to our lives and liber-
ties, estates, honours, and power, against all human claims;

JUSTICE OF PROVIDENCE. 125

but we have no right against God ; he may give riches, and
honours, and power, to whom he pleases, and take them
away again when he sees fit, without being chargeable with
any injustice ; for what he gives and what he takes away, are
his own ; and " may not he do what he will with his own?"

There can be no commutative justice in a strict and pro-
per sense, where there is no right but on one side ; for he
who has no right can suiTer no wrong ; and he in whom the
whole right is, can do no wrong in giving -or taking away
what is his own : and therefore legal rights and properties,
which are the foundation of commutative justice, can be no
objection against providence, for no creature has any legal
property against God. The justice of providence does not
relate to the rights of creatures, but to the moral and eternal
reasons of things ; it does not consist in defending every
man in his legal rights, which is the justice of human go-
vernments, but in rewarding or punishing men according as
they deserve, or as may best serve the wise ends of God's
government in this world.

There seems to me to be no occasion for that dispute de
jure Dei in creaturas, "what right God has in creatures ;"
for there is no doubt but God has an absolute, unlimited;
uncontrollable right in all his creatures ; they and all they
have are his, and at his absolute disposal : though it does
not hence follow, that God may without any injustice make
creatures on purpose to make thetn miserable : for though
creatures have no natural rights against God, yet the justice
and goodness of the Divine nature give them a moral right
to such usage as they shall deserve : as, for instance, that an
innocent creature should not be miserable, and that those
who deserve well should not be ill used. But these moral
rights concern distributive justice, and result from the good-
ness and justice of the divine nature and government, not
from the natural rights of creatures. We are absolutely at
the will and disposal of God, as slaves and vassals are at
the will of their lord ; but our security is, that God can will
nothing but what is wise, and just, and good.

3. From hence it evidently' follows, that in our disputes
about the justice of providence, we must confine our inqui-
ries to distributive justice ; that is, we must not barely consider

11*

126 JUSTICE OF PROVIDENCE.

what men have, or what they lose, or what they suffer, nor
what the immediate and visible causes of all this are, whether
just or unjust ; but we must consider what proportion there is
between their condition and their moral deserts; or whether
they enjoy or suffer any thing which will not serve the wise
and just ends of God's government. If men are put into
such a condition as they have neither deserved nor can
make any good use of, or which does not make them instru-
ments of the divine providence to serve some wise and good
ends, by what means soever they come into such a condi-
tion, it reflects upon the w7isdom and justice of God, who
has the supreme disposal of all events, and by a sovereign
authority allots all men their several portions and stations
in the world : but let men's condition be what it will, whe-
ther they be rich or poor, happy or miserable, advanced or
ruined by injustice, oppression, and violence, if this be
what they deserved, what they are fit for, what the wise
government of the wTorld requires, it can be no blemish to
providence, which directs and governs all things with wis-
dom and justice.

So that it is no objection against the justice of providence
to say that there are a great many miserable people in the
world, and a great deal of injustice daily committed in it ;
unless you can prove that any of these miserable people
ought not, for wise and just reasons, to suffer such miseries ;
or that any suffer by injustice what they ought not to suffer:
for if, notwithstanding all the miseries that are in the world,
and all the wickedness that is committed in it, no man suf-
fers any thing but what he deserves, or what God may
wisely and justly inflict on him, this abundantly vindicates
the wisdom and justice of providence.
_ 4. But for the better understanding of this, we must con-
sider more particularly the nature of God's justice and what
acts of justice the government of this world requires, and
how it differs from the justice of human governments; the
confounding of which has occasioned most of the objections
against the justice of providence.

(1.) To consider the nature and exercise of God's justice :
for though the general notion of justice be the same, whether
we speak of the justice of God or men, yet the particular

JUSTICE OF PROVIDENCE. 127

acts of justice vary, as they do even among men, according
as their rights and authority differ. Justice signifies to give
to every man what is his own, and to take nothing from
any man but what is our own ; to serve ourselves of other
men, and to reward or punish them as their actions deserve,
and as our authority will justify: so that the particular ex-
pressions of justice and righteousness, as exercised by dif-
ferent persons, differ as much as the circumstances of men's
fortune and conditions, relations, authority, and power differ:
for when two men do the same thing, it may be done very
justly by one, and very unjustly by the other, because one
may have a right and authority to do it, and the other have
none ; as a prince or judge may very justly execute a crimi-
nal, and confiscate his estate, which a private man cannot
justly do.

Now if the difference between a private man and a magis-
trate, between a prince and a subject, makes such a vast
difference in the particular acts and exercise of justice and
righteousness, as they respect such different states ; that
vast disproportion which is between God and creatures,
must make a much greater difference ; that though the gen-
eral notion of justice and righteousness is the same, both
with respect to God and men, yet God may do that very
justly, which men cannot justly do : as a prince may exer-
cise some acts of justice, which a private man must not do.

I shall at present only instance in God's absolute domi-
nion and sovereignty, and show you in some plain cases
what a vast difference this makes between the justice of
God and the justice of men. Now God's absolute domi-
nion gives him right and authority to do whatever is consist-
ent with wisdom and goodness ; for absolute dominion is
absolute authority, and absolute authority makes every thing
just which is wise and good. A limited authority has a
rule, and must not do what is wise and good, against its
rule of right. No man must take away that which is
another's, and which he has no authority to take away,
whatever wise and good ends he can serve by it. Though
it were never so apparent that it would be a great kindness
to the man himself to take away great part of his estate,
which he uses ill to oppress his neighbours, and to make

128 JUSTICE OF PROVIDENCE.

himself a beast ; though he does not deserve the estate he
has, nay, deserves to lose it; though we could bestow it
upon men who deserve and would use it better, or could
employ it to excellent uses, for the service of God, and of
his church, or for the relief of the poor. All these wise and
good purposes would justify no man who invades another's
rights without a just authority. But had any prince such
an absolute authority over the estates of all his subjects, that
he could give or take them away as he pleased, then such
reasons as these would justify the exercise of such a sovereign
will and power in transferring estates and properties, and all
men would allow it to be very just and righteous. Now this
is the case wTith respect to God, as I observed before ; for he
is the sole Lord and proprietor of the world, and therefore
no other bounds can be set to the just exercise of his autho-
rity but to do what is wise and good. He may give or take,
away any man's estate, or honour, or power, whenever he
can serve any wise, or just, or good ends by it ; for they
are all but several trusts ; we are but God's stewards, and
must give an account of our stewardship : and if we do not
use our riches and honours well, or when he has no longer
any use of us, he has as absolute authority to lay us aside,
as a lord has to change his steward when he pleases.

Thus God is the absolute Lord of all men. We are all
his creatures, and are in his hands as clay in the hands of
the potter, and therefore he may deal with us as he pleases,
and may serve the ends of his own glory and providence of
us, as far as his own wisdom and goodness will direct.
Thus, for instance, we think it very unjust in human go-
vernments to punish a virtuous and innocent man, to strip
him of his estate or honours, to afflict his body, to expose
him to public scorn, and confine him to a noisome prison,
and at last to take away his life with exquisite pains and
torments. But the sovereign authority of God extends to
all this, when he can serve his own glory, and the wise
ends of his grace and providence by it, without doing any
real injury to his creatures. The wisdom of God requires
that there should be very great and excellent reasons foi
doing this ; and the goodness of God requires that such
good men should be greatly supported undsr their suffer--

JUSTICE OF PROVIDENCE. 129

ings, and greatly rewarded for them ; but then the sove-
reignty of God gives him authority to use the services of his
creatures, in doing or suffering his will.

This was the case with Job, whom God exercised with
great sufferings, to make him an eminent example of faith
and patience. But we know what was the end of Job, and
how greatly God rewarded his sufferings ; though Job him-
self, while he was under his sufferings, knew not what other
account to give of them, but to resolve all into the sovereign
will and pleasure of God. " The Lord gave, and the Lord
hath taken away, and blessed be the name of the Lord."
And, " Shall we receive good at the hands of God, and
shall we not receive evil ?" which indeed is answer enough
to all such cases, while we have an implicit faith in the
wisdom and goodness of Providence.

Thus God dealt with Joseph, made him the instrument
of transplanting his father and all his family into Egypt, and
rewarded his sufferings by advancing him to Pharaoh's
throne.

Nay, thus God dealt with Christ himself, who, as man,
was perfect and innocent ; " who did no evil, neither was
any guile found in his mouth ; who went about doing
good," and was obedient to his Father's will in all things.
And yet him God delivered into the hands of sinners, to
suffer an ignominious and painful death, for the redemption
of the world. And the sovereignty of God will justify the
greatest sufferings of the most innocent men, when they
serve such admirable ends, and are so greatly rewarded.

And thus God hath dealt with some of the best men that
ever lived in the world. Witness the sufferings of prophets,
and of other good men under the old testament, and of the
apostles and martyrs of Christ, who have trod in the steps
of their Lord, who have suffered with him that they might
be glorified together. I know not what the sovereignty of
God signifies, if he may not serve the wTise ends of his grace
and providence, even by the sufferings of his creatures,
when such sufferings, how uneasy and grievous soever they
are at present, shall turn to their much greater good ; when
they shall be so greatly rewarded, that good men them-
selves shall think the reward an abundant recompense for

130 JUSTICE OF PROVIDENCE.

their sufferings, and glory in those very sufferings which
will have so great a reward.

Thus let us consider God as the supreme and absolute
judge of the world. Now a sovereign and absolute judge
must do that which is just, but he is tied up by no rules or
formalities of law, as inferior ministers of justice are ; if he
reward the good, and punish the wicked, he may do it at
what time and in what manner he pleases ; he is under no
rule but his own sovereign will and wisdom. When men
have deserved punishment, he may spare them as long, or
execute vengeance on them as soon as he sees fit ; for he is
the absolute judge of time and place, and other circum-
stances of executing judgment. This prerogative all sove-
reign princes challenge, and it is indeed an inseparable right
of sovereignty.

So that it is no reasonable objection against the justice of
providence, that God does not immediately reward all great
and virtuous actions, nor immediately punish wickedness ;
for a sovereign justice is under no obligation to do this. All
that we can expect from divine justice is, that good men
shall be rewarded, and the wicked punished ; and that
whenever God does reward or punish, good men shall have
no reason to complain that their reward was delayed ; nor
bad men to glory in the long delays of punishment ; but the
greatness of the rewards or punishments shall recompense for
all delays, for then God is just in rewarding good men, and
punishing the wicked, how long soever he delay either.
Sovereign justice is not confined to time ; and when the
sufferings of good men who deserve a reward, and the pros-
perity of bad men who deserve punishment, and the delays
of both are taken into the account, God is very just and
righteous, how long soever he delay to reward or punish.

From what I have now discoursed concerning the sove-
reignty of the divine justice, you may easily observe that all
the objections against the justice of providence, have no
other foundation but our ignorance of the nature of God's
justice ; we measure the justice of providence by the rules
of justice among men, without considering that God is the
sovereign Lord of the world, and therefore has a right and
authority superior to men, and therefore a superior justice too.

JUSTICE OF PROVIDENCE. 131

It is unjust for men to deprive one another of their just
and legal rights, and therefore they think this is a reflection
on the justice of providence too, when men suffer wrongful-
ly ; but no man has any right against God, who is the sole pro-
prietor of the world ; and therefore he may give, and he
may take away, he may set up and pull down, and do what-
soever pleaseth him, both in heaven and in earth.

It is unjust for men to afflict and oppress the innocent and
virtuous, or to encourage and prosper the wicked ; and there-
fore they complain against providence too, when good men
suffer and the wicked are prosperous; but God has an abso-
lute right to the services of all his creatures, both of good and
bad men ; and if he can serve the wise ends of his grace
and providence by the sufferings of good men, or by the
prosperity of the wicked ; and when he has no farther use
of their services, rewards or punishes them according as
they deserve ; the sovereignty of God will justify the pre-
sent sufferings of good men and prosperity of the wicked ;
and their final rewards and punishments will vindicate his
justice.

(2.) But for a fuller vindication of the justice of provi-
dence, we must consider the nature of God's government of
this lower world, and what acts of justice the present go-
vernment of the world requires. The justice of government
must be proportioned to the nature and ends of government:
for all acts of justice are not proper at all times, and it is no
reproach to the justice of providence, if God do not exercise
such acts of justice as are not proper for the present state
of the world; for justice is rectitude, and what is not right
and fit in such a state of things, is not just.

The great objection against the justice of providence is,
that all good men are not rewarded, nor all bad men pun-
ished according to their deserts in this world. But this is no
objection against the Divine justice to those who believe
that there is another world, where all good men shall be re-
warded and all wicked men punished ; for if all good and
bad men shall be finally rewarded and punished according
to their works, this is a sufficient vindication of the justice
of God.

And as for the justice of providence, though every good

132 JUSTICE OF PROVIDENCE.

man is not rewarded, nor every bad man punished in this
world, this is no reasonable objection if the state of this
world will not admit of such a strict and exact justice. Now
not to take notice at present of what is commonly said upon
this occasion, and what I have formerly discoursed more
largely, that this world is not the place of judgment, but a
state of trial, probation and discipline, where good men
many times suffer, not so much in punishment of their sins,
as to exercise their faith and patience, and to brighten their
virtues, and to prepare them for greater rewards ; and bad
men are prosperous, to lead them to repentance, or to
make them instruments of the Divine providence in chastising
the wickedness of other men, or the more remarkable ex-
amples of the Divine justice and vengeance in their final
ruin.

I say, not to take notice of these things now, I shall only
observe, that the justice of providence is nothing else but
the justice of government, which in the nature of the thing
must be distinguished from the justice of the final judg-
ment..

Now to govern the world, does not signify to destroy it,
but to uphold and preserve it, and to continue a succession
of men in it, and to keep it in as good order as the present
state of things will admit. The providence of God is that
provident care which he takes of all his creatures, while he
thinks fit to preserve this present frame of the world ; but to
destroy the world, is not properly an act of providence, but
of judgment; and yet, if we consider the corrupt and de-
generate state of the world, did the justice of providence re-
quire God to punish all bad men according to their deserts,
he must destroy far the greatest part of mankind in every
age. This earth would soon be little better than a desolate
wilderness, if none but good men were suffered to live in it :
but this kind of justice God has renounced ever since the
universal deluge. He then indeed exercised such a terri-
ble justice and vengeance, as some men think can be the
only proof of a providence ; he destroyed the whole world
by water, excepting Noah and his sons, whom he preserved
in the ark ; but he promised that he would never do so
again, notwithstanding the great wickedness of mankmdi

JUSTICE OF PROVIDENCE. 133

" 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. While
the earth remaineth, seed time, and harvest, and cold, and
heat, and summer, and winter, and day, and night, shall
not cease." Gen. viii. 21, 22. So that God will no more
destroy the world, nor all the wicked inhabitants of it, till
the day of judgment; and then it is certain all wicked
men cannot be punished according to their deserts in this
world.

The justice of providence then does not consist in rooting
all bad men out of the world, or in making them all misera-
ble in it, or in rewarding all good men with temporal fe-
licity ; which, considering the present state of the world,
cannot be done without constant miracles, and the visible
interposition of a Divine power ; for when bad men are so
much the greater numbers, they will have the greatest share
and interest in this world. But the care of providence is to
govern bad men, and to protect the good ; to restrain and
govern the lusts and passions of bad men ; to make them the
instruments and executioners of his just vengeance on one
another ; and to make some of them in every age notorious
examples of his justice, to keep the world in awe, and to
awaken in them a due sense and reverence of the Divine
power ; and to correct and chastise the miscarriages of good
men, and to exercise their graces and virtues. The justice
of providence consists in this, not that all good men shall
be prosperous in this world, and all bad men miserable,
but that notwithstanding all the wickedness that is in the
world, the world is kept in tolerable order, and is a tolerable
place to live in ; and that bad men are as often punished,
and good men as often rewarded, as the government of this
world requires ; that no man suffers any thing but what he
deserves, and what God sees good for him, if he will make
a wise use of it ; and that how prosperous soever bad men
are, there are few of them who go out of the world without
some marks and tokens of a divine vengeance, though not
always so remarkable as to be observed by the world.

The sum is this. God is very just in his government of
12

134 JUSTICE OF PROVIDENCE.

the world ; but the government of the world does not re-
quire the same acts of justice that the final judgment of man-
kind does. And if we do but consider the nature of the di
vine justice, which is the justice of a sovereign and absolute
Lord, and the difference between the justice of providence
and of the final judgment, that is, between God's governing
and judging the world, we shall easily answer all the ob-
jections against the justice of providence.

This I take to be a full and true account of the justice of pro-
vidence, and to agree very exactly with the actual adminis-
tration 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 are 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 de-
fend all men's 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 righteous-
ness of God is represented in Scripture by loving righteous-
ness, and favouring a righteous cause. Thus Ps. xi. 7 : —
" The righteous Lord loveth righteousness, and his counte-
nance 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. Ps. xxxv. 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 thyself, and awake to my judgment, even
to my cause, my God, and my Lord. Judge me, 6 God,
according to thy righteousness, and let them not rejoice over
me. Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion toge-
ther, that rejoice at my hurt. Let them be clothed with

JUSTICE OF PROVIDENCE. 135

shame and dishonour, that magnify themselves against me.
Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my right-
eous cause ; yea, let them say continually, Let the Lord be
magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his ser-
vant." v. 23, 24, 26, 27: " The Lord shall judge the
people : judge me, 0 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." Ps. vii. 8, &c.
Where the righteousness of the Lord, for which the Psalmist
praises him, is his judging and defending a righteous cause.
Thus in Ps. ix. 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 op-
pressed, 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 expressly 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 righteous 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 op-
pressed ; 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 wTongfully his enemies? Ps.
lxix. 4. "That his enemies were lively and strong; and
they that hated him wrongfully were multiplied." Ps.
xxxiiii. 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 t
how long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in

136 JUSTICE OF PROVIDENCE.

my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted
over me? Ps. xiii. 1, 2. The thirty-seventh Psalm is a
plain proof, that wicked men were very prosperous in those
days, though they are threatened with final destruction.
And to the same purpose the seventy-third Psalm gives us a
large description of the prosperity and pride of bad men,
many of whom spend their lives and end their days prosper-
ously : " I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the pros-
perity 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 increase 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 righteous-
ness of God, and his care of righteous men, and his abhor-
rence 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 sup-
pose the Psalmist so inconsistent with himself, as in the same
breath to complain 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 nobody 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 in-
nocent cause; for if he did, there could be no innocent op-
pressed man to be relieved, nor any oppressor to be pun-
ished. And if it be consistent with the justice and right-
eousness 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 *

JUSTICE OF PROVIDENCE. ] ?p

It 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 right-
eousness and hate iniquity ; and therefore, though the Di-
vine justice is superior to all human rights, and his autho-
rity 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 settled by human laws, it is
the rule of righteousness to us, to give to every man that
which is his own; and it is the justice of government to
punish those who invade another's rights ; and this is that
justice which the righteous Lord loves in men, and the vio-
lation of which he hates.

So that the justice of the Divine nature makes God love
righteousness and justice, and hate all injustice and oppres-
sion ; and the justice of providence requires that God should
punish injustice and violence, and protect the just and in-
nocent, as far as the nature and ends of God's government
of the world require ; and this the Scripture everywhere
declares that God will do : that he is angry with the wicked
every day ; that he is a refuge and sanctuary, and strong
tower and rock of defence to just and righteous men. Not
that every particular bad man, who does unjust things, shall
be immediately punished for his injustice, nor that every
man who has a just and righteous cause shall be protected
from the violence and injustice of the wicked ; (for the ex-
perience of all the world proves that this never was done,
and therefore this cannot be the meaning of the promises
and threatenings of Scripture;) but there is enough meant
by it to vindicate the justice of providence in this world, to
be a support to good men, and a terror to the wicked.

(1.) For first, it signifies that in the ordinary course of
providence, where there is nothing but the justice or injus-
tice of the cause to be considered, God will favour a just
and righteous cause. There may be other wise reasons why
God may suffer a just cause to be oppressed, and injustice
to be prosperous ; and we ought to believe that there are
always wise reasons for it, when God does suffer this, be-

12*

138 JUSTICE OF PROVIDENCE.

cause we certainly know that God is no favourer of injus-
tice ; but he who has a just cause may for other reasons de-
serve to be punished, and then God may justly punish him
by unjust oppressors ; and thus injustice may be prosper-
ous, and justice oppressed ; but where the other sins and
demerits of the man do not forfeit God's protection of a just
cause, the Divine providence will make a visible distinction
between just and unjust.

(2.) And therefore no man can promise himself the Di-
vine protection, but only when his cause is just and right.
Which is the reason why the Psalmist, as you have already
heard so often, pleads his own innocence and integrity, and
the righteousness of his cause to move God to save and de-
fend him. For God has promised his protection upon no
other terms; and whenever injustice prospers, it is not in
favour to the unjust man, or his unjust cause, but in punish-
ment to others whom God thinks fit to correct and chastise
by such injustice. Though wickedness may prosper for a
while, there is no way to obtain the Divine favour and pro-
tection, but by doing good ; for a righteous God can have
no favour for an unjust cause, and therefore if we believe
that God governs the world, we must expect his protection
only in the ways of righteousness, and this will give us a
secure hope and dependence on God, " that we shall not
be ashamed, while we have respect unto all his command-
ments."

(3.) And for the same reason, though injustice may pros-
per for a time, no unjust man can be secure from a Divine
vengeance. God does not always punish bad men as soon
as they deserve it; but some times he does, and he is al-
ways angry with them, and therefore they are always in dan-
ger. "God is angry with the wicked every day; if he turn
not he will whet his sword, he hath bent his bow, and made
it ready, he hath also prepared for him the instruments of
death, he hath ordained his arrows against the persecutors."
Ps. vii. 11—13.

(4.) And therefore, though every particular good man be
not rewarded, nor every bad man punished in this world,
yet the Divine providence furnishes us with numerous ex-
amples of justice, both in the protection and defence of good

JUSTICE OF PROVIDENCE. 139

men, and in the punishment of the wicked. This is so no-
toriously-known, that no man can deny it, that besides the
ordinary miseries and calamities of sinners, which are the
natural and necessary effects and rewards of their sins, and
make them the scorn and the pity of mankind, God does
very often execute very remarkable judgments upon remark-
able sinners, which bear the evident tokens and characters
of a divine vengeance on them, and does appear as won-
derfully for the preservation of just and good men in a right-
eous cause. Both sacred and profane story, and our own
observation, may furnish us with many examples of both
kinds, which are sufficient to vindicate the justice of provi-
dence, and the truth of those promises and threatenings which
are made in Scripture.

2. The better to understand that account the Scripture
gives us of the justice of providence, I observe that the pro-
tection and defence of providence is never promised in
Scripture merely to a just and righteous cause, but only to
just, and righteous, and good men. This is not commonly
observed ; and yet, as soon as it is named, it is so evident
that it needs no proof, and the consequence of it is very con-
siderable.

We cannot indeed separate a just and righteous man from
a righteous cause ; for as far as he is engaged in an unjust
cause, he is an unjust man. But if the Divine protection be
promised to the righteous man, not to the righteous cause,
then a righteous cause may be oppressed, when the man
has no right to God's protection, without any impeachment
either of the righteousness or justice of God — which showTs
the difference, as I observed before, between the justice of
providence and the justice of human governments. The
justice of human governments considers men's rights — the
justice of providence considers their moral deserts. Human
justice defends bad men in their just rights — the divine jus
tice, which is supreme and absolute, has no regard to human
rights, wThen the men deserve to be punished. For God
challenges to himself such an absolute right and propriety
in all things, as to give or take them away when he pleases.
And therefore he threatens Israel by the prophet Hosea, that
since they had served Baal with the corn, and wine, and

140 JUSTICE OF PROVIDENCE

oil, and silver and gold, which he gave them, " Therefore
will I return and take away my corn in the time thereof,
and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my
wool and my flax, given to cover her nakedness :" Hos. ii.
8, 9.

The twenty-sixth chapter of Leviticus contains the pro-
mises and threatenings to Israel, and the condition of both
is, their keeping or transgressing his laws, and statutes, and
commandments : if they observed his laws, he would bestow
all good things on them ; if they transgressed his laws, he
would take them all away, without any regard to their rights
or properties. Among other judgments, he threatens them
to deliver them into the hands of their enemies, who should
oppress them in their own land, or carry them captive into
strange countries. This destroyed all their rights and pro-
perties at once. And yet I suppose no man will say, that
the Philistines, 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 Jerusalem, and carried
the Jews 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 right-
eous 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.

3. We may observe also in Scripture, that notwithstand-
ing the justice of providence, and God's love to righteous-
ness 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 virtues, 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

JUSTICE OF PROVIDENCE. 141

whom the Lord loveth he chasten eth, and seourgeth every son
whom he receiveth. He corrects us for our profit, that we
may be partakers of his holiness :" Heb. xii. 7 — 9. Very-
good men may fall into such great sins as may deserve a
severe correction, not only to give them a greater abhor-
rence of their sins, and make them more watchful for the
future, but to be an example to others. And in such cases
repentance itself, 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
murder. 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 punish-
ments of the wicked, when God, after a long patience,
awakes to judgment, are usually for their final ruin and de-
struction.

Thus good men may have many secret failings and mis-
carriages, 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 cor-
rected, unknown.

Other good men suffer for u 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 virtue.
All this is very reconcilable with God's love of righteous-
ness 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.

4. 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

142 JUSTICE OF PROVIDENCE.

deserve punishment, but sometimes waits patiently for their
return ; sometimes uses them as the instruments of his jus-
tice to punish other bad men, or to correct the miscarriages
and to exercise the graces and virtues of good men. And
when he has finished what he had to do by them, reserves
them for a more public 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 persecu-
tors of the Christian faith.

Thus have I shown you, wherein the justice of provi-
dence 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 provi-
dence.

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.

HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE. 143

CHAPTER VI.

THE HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE.

The next inquiry is concerning the holiness of providence ;
for God is a holy being, as holiness is opposed to all im-
purity and wickedness ; and such as God's nature is, such
his government must be, and therefore the Psalmist, (Ps.
cxlv. 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, Ps. v. 4 — 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 no objec-
tions, and such as some men think inexplicable difficulties
against the holiness of providence. And therefore my de-
sign at present is to set this in as clear a light as I can ; and
to that end I shall inquire,

1. What the holiness of God requires of him in the go-
vernment of the wTorld.

2. What it does not require of him. And,

3. What is inconsistent and irreconcilable with the holi-
ness of providence.

And if God govern 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 governor 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

144 HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE.

of virtue, 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 govern-
ment 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 undenled law, converting the
soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, and giveth wis-
dom unto the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right,
and rejoice 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:" Ps. xix. 7 — 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 is an undeniable argu-
ment 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 hi*
providence and government, unless he govern the world
contrary to his own nature and will. Nay, laws themselves
ire not only the rule of obedience to subjects, but of go-
vernment 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 cannot ; and
therefore the laws he gives to us are the rules of his own
providence. And then the holiness of his laws proves 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 virtue,
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 threatenings which he has de-

HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE. 145

noimced 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 threatenings if they do
not see the execution of them ; and the promises and
threatenings 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
virtue, 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 abund-
antly enough to discourage wickedness ; for it is visible
enough how many miseries there are in the world — so
many and so great as are commonly thought a reproach to
providence. But if they be the just recompense of sin, they
are only an argument of the justice and holiness of provi-
dence.

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 him-
self and all his posterity, and such a curse upon the earth
as has entailed labour and sorrow on us.

As for many other miseries and calamities of life, they
are visibly owing to our own, or to other men's 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 char-
itable, did they love one another as themselves ? Perfect
virtue is not only an innocent and harmless, but a very

13

146 HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE.

beneficial thing. It does no hurt, but all the good it can,
both to itself 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 provi-
dence, 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 expecta-
tion of a secure state of rest and happiness, while either
they themselves, or other men with whom they must of ne-
cessity converse, or have something to do, are wicked.

For you must remember that I am not now vindicating
the justice, but the holiness of providence ; and therefore it
is no objection against what I have now said, that many
times virtuous and innocent men suffer very greatly by the
violence and injustice of the wicked. Though this may be
an objection against the justice of providence, which I have
already accounted for, yet it is no objection against the holi-
ness of providence, but a great justification of it ; for the
more effectual care God has taken to give all mankind an
abhorrence of wickedness, both in themselves and others,
the more undeniable proof it is of the holiness of God's go-
vernment ; and this is more effectually done by the evils
which we suffer from other men's 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 men's sins. When they lose their own
estates by injustice and violence, or their good names by
reproaches and defamations, or are injured in the chastity
of their wives and daughters by other men's 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 restraint upon men's lusts; for did not all mankind
suffer by one another's sins, I doubt neither good nor bad
raen would be so zealously concerned to punish and suppress

HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE. 147

vice ; and therefore the Divine providence could not have
taken a more effectual course to discourage wickedness than
to make all mankind sensible of the evil of sin, by making
them all, at one time or other, feel the evil of sin, in what
they suffer by their own or other men's sins. For were all
men convinced, (and it is strange that their own sense and
feeling will not convince them,) that all the evils and mis-
eries of life are owing to sin, and that it is impossible to be
happy without reforming themselves and others as far as
they can, what more powerful argument could providence
offer to us to reform the world ?

There is another sort of calamities, and very terrible ones
too, which those who believe a providence can attribute to
nothing else but the just judgment and vengeance of God
upon a wicked world : such as plague, and pestilence, and
famine, deluges, and earthquakes, which destroy cities and
countries ; and more ordinary accidents, when they act in
such an extraordinary manner, as if they were directed and
guided by an unseen hand.

A great many such instances are recorded in Scripture
and expressly ascribed to the judgment of God. God has
threatened such judgments in Scripture, and therefore when
we see them executed, we must conclude that they are in-
flicted by God as the just punishment of sin. Nay, those
very evils and miseries which we suffer by other men's sins
are in Scripture attributed to God, who has the supreme dis-
posal of all events.

For, as I observed before, it is not sufficient proof thaf
these judgments are not ordered by God, that we can find
some immediate causes for them ; that some of them are
owing to natural causes, others to men, others to some sur-
prising, or it may be usual accidents ; for whoever believes
a Divine providence, does not therefore believe that God
does every thing immediately by his own power, without the
ministry of any second causes, either natural or free agents,
or what we call accidents ; but he is only obliged to believe
that God governs all second causes to produce such effects
as he sees fit; that all nature moves at God's command;
that " fire and hail, snow and vapours, wind and storm, ful-
fil his word," Ps. cxlviii. 8 ; that both good an 1 bad men

148 HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE.

are under his government, and the ministers of his provi-
dence ; and that what seems perfect chance to us, is di-
rected by his wisdom and counsel ; and then whatever evils
we suffer, and whatever the immediate cause of them be, we
must ascribe them all to God ; especially when the same kind
of judgments which had the same kind of immediate causes,
are attributed to God in Scripture, it is reason enough for us,
whenever such judgments befall us, to ascribe them to the
providence of God.

But I need not dispute here, whether all those evils and
calamities which befall sinners are ordered and appointed by
God ; for till they can prove a priori, by direct and positive
arguments, that there is no God, nor a providence, (which
none of our modern atheists pretend to do,) while they dis-
pute only by way of objection, they must prove that things
are not so ordered as they ought to have been ordered, did
God govern the world ; and if we can prove that they are,
their objection is answered. Now with respect to my pre-
sent argument, to vindicate the holiness of providence, it is
plain beyond all contradiction, that things are so ordered for
the discouragement of wickedness and the encouragement
of virtue, as if they had been so ordered on purpose by the
greatest wisdom, and the most perfect holiness; and there-
fore we have reason to believe, that they were so ordered by
a wise and holy providence.

As far then as to command and encourage all holiness and
virtue, and to forbid and discourage all wickedness and
vice, is a proof of the holiness of providence, I hope that I
have sufficiently cleared this point ; and I must desire you
to observe, that these are direct and positive proofs, such as
every man may understand, and cannot avoid the evidence
of, and therefore are not to be shaken by every difficulty
objected against them : for our knowledge is so imperfect
that there is nothing almost which we so certainly know,
but is liable to such objections as we cannot easily and satis-
factorily answer ; but one plain positive proof is a better
reason to believe any thing than a hundred objections
against it are not to believe it ; because since it is confessed
on all hands, that our knowledge is very imperfect, it is no
reason to disbelieve what we do know, and what we are as

HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE. 149

certain of, as we can be of any thing, because there are
some things relating to the same subject which we do not
know ; and therefore, unless the objection be as positive and
evident as the proof is, (and I am sure there are no such ob-
jections against the holiness of providence,) we may very
reasonably acknowledge that there are difficulties which we
do not understand, and yet may very reasonably believe on
as we did.

(2.) Let us now consider, wThat the holiness of God's
providence and government does not require of him : and I
shall name one thing which some men make a great objec-
tion against providence, viz. that there is so much sin and
wickedness daily committed in the world. Now if the be-
ing of sin in the world, or if the wickedness of men were
irreconcilable with the holiness of providence, this were an
unanswerable objection against it ; for it cannot be denied,
but that mankind are very wicked. But what consequence
is there in this ; that God cannot be holy, nor his providence
holy, because men are wicked ? We may as well prove
that there is no God, because there is a devil. Such con-
ceits as these tempted some ancient heretics to assert two
principles, a good and a bad God, because they thought,
that if there were but one God, and he very good, there
could be no such thing as evil in the world.

But would any man think this a good argument against
the holiness of a prince and his government, that he has
many wicked subjects ? and how then do the sins of men
come to be an argument against the holiness of providence ?

To state this in a few words : when we speak of God's
permitting sin, we either mean the internal or the external
acts of sin.

(1.) The internal act of sin, which is nothing else but the
choice of the will: when men choose that which is wicked,
and fully resolve and purpose, as they have opportunity, to
do it. This is the sin, this makes us guilty before God,
who knows our hearts, though human laws can take no cog-
nisance of it; as our Saviour tells us, " He thatlooketh up-
on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with
her already in his heart." He who intends, and resolves

13*

150 HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE.

it, and wants nothing hut an opportunity to commit adul-
tery, is an adulterer.

If God then must not permit sin, he must not suffer men
to will and to choose any thing that is wicked, for this is the
sin — herein the immorality of the act consists. Consider
then what the meaning of this is, that God must not leave
men to the liberty of their own choice, but must always
overrule their minds by an irresistible power, to choose that
which is good and to refuse the evil. But will any one say,
that this is to govern men like men ? Is this the natural
government of free agents, to take away their liberty and
freedom of choice ? Does government signify destroying
the nature of those creatures which are to be governed ?
Does this become God, to make a free agent, and to govern
him by necessity and force ?

This, I confess, is a certain way to keep sin out of the
world, but it thrusts holiness out of the world too ; for
where there is no liberty of choice, there can be neither
moral good nor evil ; and this wTould be a more reasonable
objection against the holiness of providence, that it banishes
holiness out of the world.

I grant that God governs the minds of men as well as
their external actions ; directs and influences their counsels ;
suggests wise thoughts to them ; excites good men to great
and virtuous actions, and lays invisible restraints upon the
lusts and passions of bad men ; turns their hearts ; changes
their counsels, and diverts them from ill-laid designs, espe-
cially when they have no external restraints on them, and
the pursuing such counsel would be very hurtful to the
world, or to the church of God. Nay, I deny not but in
such cases God may, by an irresistible power and influence,
govern the minds of men, not to make them good, but to
make them the instruments of providence in doing such
good as they have no inclination to do, and to chain up their
passions that they may not do that hurt which they intended
to do, as I have shown at large above.

And I see nothing in this which unbecomes the wise
and sovereign Lord of the wTorld ; sometimes by an imme-
diate power to govern the minds, as well as the bodies of

HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE. 151

men, that they shall no more be able to will and choose than
they are to do what they themselves please. For though
God has made man a reasonable creature, and free agent, he
has not wholly put him out of his own power, but that when
he sees fit he can lay invisible restraints upon him, or clap
a counter-bias upon his mind, which shall lead him contrary
to the natural tendency of his own will and lusts. Thus
it is in the natural world : — Though God has endowed all
creatures with natural virtues and qualities, and in the ordi-
nary course of his providence suffers them to produce their
natural effects, yet he has reserved to himself a sovereign
authority over nature, to reverse its laws, or suspend its in-
fluences by an immediate and supernatural power. And 1
see no reason wThy God may not do this in the moral, as
well as in the natural wTorld, when the good government of
the world requires it.

But though God may thus sometimes by a supernatural
power influence the minds of men, and chain up their lusts
and passions, yet this is not the natural government of man-
kind, considered as free agents ; and it would no more be-
come God always to overrule men's wills in this manner,
than it would always to overpower nature, and to govern the
natural world, not by its natural virtues and powers, but by
constant miracles.

And if the ordinary and natural government of mankind,
considered as reasonable and free agents, requires that God
should leave men to the liberty and freedom of their own
choice, which is the only thing that can be judged, and that
is capable of rewards and punishments, then it is no rea-
sonable objection against the holiness of providence, that
God permits men to choose wickedly; that he does not
always, by an irresistible and sovereign powrer, hinder the
internal acts of sin ; especially when wre consider that God
gives men all those internal assistances of his grace, and lays
all those internal restraints upon their lusts and passions,
which are consistent with the liberty of human actions.
Though we know not in what manner the Holy Spirit works
upon the minds of men, yet this we know, if we believe the
gospel of our Saviour, that " God worketh in us both to will
and to do, of his own good pleasure :" that "he gives his Holy

152 HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE.

Spirit to those who ask him," to be a principle of a spiritual
life in them. And bad men themselves, if they will but
confess what they feel, must tell you what smugglings they
find in their own minds, before they can yield to the temp-
tations of sin — how, in some cases, especially at their first
entrance upon a sinful course of life, natural modesty, in
others natural pity and compassion, in others a natural great-
ness and generosity of mind, gives check to them — how at
first they blush at the thoughts of any wickedness, and are
reproached by their own consciences for it — how they trem-
ble at the thought of a future judgment, or some present
vengeance to overtake them ; and can never sin securely
till they have laughed away the thoughts of God, and of
another world. Such care God has taken to make sin un-
easy to the minds of men, and to reconcile them to the love
of virtue, and after all, if they will be wicked, (as free
agents may be if they will,) this can be no blemish to the
holiness of providence, because it is no fault of providence
to leave free agents to the freedom of their own choice.

(2.) As for the external acts of sin, it must be confessed
that God permits a great deal of wickedness to be actually
committed ; such as thefts, murders, adulteries, perjuries,
and the like. Now this requires a different consideration,
for in human governments this is thought a great miscarriage,
to suffer any wickedness to be actually committed, which
we can hinder the commission of. No man would be thought
innocent, much less a prince, who should see a man mur-
dered, a virgin defloured, a robbery, or any other villanies
committed, without interposing to hinder the commission
of such wickedness, when it was in his power to do it.
And how then can we vindicate the holiness of providence,
which sees and observes, and could easily hinder the com-
mission of such wickedness as it daily permits? Nowt rightly
to understand this matter we must consider,

First, That God cannot always, by an immediate power,
hinder the actual commission of sin, without a perpetual
violation of the order of nature, and therefore this does not
properly belong to an ordinary providence which is the go-
vernment of all creatures according to their natures. We
know indeed, that when Jeroboam in great anger stretched

HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE. 153

out his hand against the prophet who cried against the altar
at Bethel, his hand immediately dried up so that he could
not pull it in again : 1 Kings, xiii. 4. And that when Uz-
ziah would have usurped the priest's office to burn incense,
he was immediately smitten with leprosy: 2 Chron. xxvi. 19.
And there is no other way but this, for God by an immediate
power to hinder the actual commission of sin, to take away
men's lives, or their natural powers of acting, which may
be of great use sometimes when God sees fit to work mira-
cles, but ought to be as rare as miracles are ; for such a way
as this of hindering sin would quickly put an end to the
world, or to the commerce and conversation of it, and is
properly to judge the world, not to govern it.

Secondly, And therefore, though God does take care to
prevent a great deal of wickedness, which men intend and
resolve to commit, and watch for opportunities of commit-
ting, yet he does it not by an immediate supernatural power,
but in human ways ; and for this reason commands us, not
only to do no wickedness ourselves, but by our advice, and
counsels, and reproofs, authority and power, to hinder other
men from doing wickedly. And this is one way whereby
God hinders the actual commission of many sins, by oblig-
ing us to hinder the commission of them as much as we can ;
which shows how men are obliged to hinder the commis-
sion of those sins which God is not obliged by an immediate
and supernatural power to hinder.

Thirdly, To be sure, for God to permit the actual com-
mission of sin, can be no greater blemish to the holiness of
providence than to permit men to conceive sin in their hearts ;
for therein the moral evil consists when the will chooses and
consents to it. The external action may be a natural, po-
litical or economical evil, but the moral evil is in the will
and choice. And therefore the permitting or hindering the
external commission of sin does not so properly concern the
holiness as the justice and goodness of providence ; for to
hinder the actual commission of sin does not prevent the
guilt of sin, for the man has the guilt of those sins which he
would, but could not commit. But it hinders that mischief
which the actual commission of sin would have done to other

154 HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE.

men, by murdering their persons, or defiling their wives, or
robbing them of their estates and good names.

Fourthly, And therefore there may be wise reasons for
God to permit the external commission of many sins, as
acts of judgment and vengeance on other sinners, or as acts
of correction and discipline on good men. For since God
very rarely punishes bad men, or corrects good men by an
immediate power, and yet punishments or corrections are
the proper exercise of providence, it cannot unbecome God
to make the sins of some the corrections and punishments
of others. That it is so, is so visible that I need not prove
it, for few men suffer any great evils, but from other men's
sins ; and if God take care, as most certainly he does, to
direct the evil which men's sins do, to light upon those who
deserve to suffer by them, it is a mighty vindication of the
wisdom and justice of providence, and a sufficient reason
why God should permit the external commission of sin.

Fifthly, Especially considering how many wise and good
ends God can serve by permitting sin, as to render sin itself
infamous and hateful by the great mischief it does in the
world — to expose the sinner himself to shame and punish-
ment, which both deters other men from sin, and contri-
butes very much to reform the sinner. Nay, many times
God brings about great and excellent designs by the sins of
men, both for the advancement of his own glory, and the
good of mankind, of which many instances may be given
were it needful ; which is no excuse for men's sins, nor any
reason why God should order and overrule men by his pro-
vidence to commit such sins, but is a very justifiable reason
why God should permit the actual commission of sin, when
he can bring good out of evil, and serve the wise ends of
his providence by it.

Sixthly, And therefore lastly, God does hinder the actual
commission of sin as often as he sees fit to hinder the evil
and mischief which such sins will do, as I have already ob-
served. Sometimes he very remarkably disappoints wicked
designs from taking effect, as it was in the case of Haman
and Mordecai, when the Jews were devoted to destruction:
and we have as many instances of this nature as we have
discoveries of plots and treasons against the lives of princes,

HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE. 155

and the peace of church and state, or private designs against
the lives and fortunes of private men ; and how much un-
known wickedness the Divine providence every day pre-
vents we cannot tell ; but all the wickedness mankind would
commit, but cannot, must be attributed to the restraints and
prevention of providence. And then I doubt not but every
bad man can give a great many instances of such disappoint-
ments which he himself has met with. That as much evil
as there is committed in the world, yet, considering the
great wickedness and degeneracy of mankind, we have rea-
son to believe that God hinders a hundred times more than
he permits. And considering the wisdom and justice of
providence, it becomes us to think that God never permits
the actual commission of any sin, but he orders it for some
wise and good ends. And this I hope is sufficient to vin-
dicate the holiness of providence, notwithstanding so much
wickedness as is daily committed.

(3.) The Divine providence is not justly chargeable with
any thing that is utterly inconsistent or irreconcilable with
the holiness of government.

Now since the permission of sin is very reconcilable with
the holiness of providence, there can be no other reasonable
objection against it, unless we could prove by plain and un-
deniable evidence that God is the cause and author of sin.
And this indeed would prove that God does not govern the
world with holiness, if he had any proper efficiency in the
sins of men ; that is, did God tempt men to sin, or by any
secret influences and impulses incline and even compel them
to sin.

But the least thought and imagination of this is a very
great blasphemy, and the greater and more unpardonable
the blasphemy, because there is no temptation to suspect
any such thing of God. There is no way of knowing this
but either by our own sense and experience, or by reason,
or by revelation.

As for our own sense and experience, this can prove no-
thing : for no man finds any other force or impulse but from
his own lusts and sinful inclinations : " Every man is
tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and en-
ticed :" James i. 14. Those who charge God with inclining

156 HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE.

men's hearts to wickedness, confess that this is done by
such secret influences as no man can distinguish from the
workings of his own mind, which is plainly to confess that
they cannot tell by their own sense and feeling that they are
thus moved and inclined by God, but only charge their sins
on God to excuse themselves. Every man feels what it is
that tempts him, his love of riches, of pleasures, or honours;
and that the temptation and impulse is weaker or stronger
in proportion to his fondness and passion for these tempting
objects ; but yet he feels himself at liberty to choose and
determine himself, and finds a principle within him which
resists and opposes his compliance with the temptation as
contrary to the will and law of God, and the dictates of
right reason, and that for which God will punish him. And
is there any reason for men to charge their sins upon God,
when the only thing that gives check to them and makes
sin uneasy, is the conviction of their owm consciences, that
it is what God has forbid, and what he will punish. This
I think is no evidence of God's tempting and inclining men
to sin, that he has imprinted on our minds such a natural
sense of his abhorrence of all evil, and such a natural awe
and dread of his justice, that while we preserve this sense
strong and vigorous, no temptation can fasten on us.

If we appeal to reason, the reason of mankind proves tnat
God does not, and cannot tempt, incline, and overrule men
to choose or to act any wickedness ; for this is a direct con-
tradiction to the holiness and purity of his nature, and the
justice of his providence. All mankind believe God to be
perfect holiness, which is essential to the very notion of a
God ; and reason tells us, that such a pure and holy being
cannot be the author of sin. Now were it possible to vin-
dicate the justice of providence in the punishment of sin
did men sin by divine impulses, or by necessity and fate.

And the Scripture teaches this in express words : " Let
no man say, when he is tempted, I am tempted of God ; for
God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any
man ;" Jas. i. 13. And all the laws, and promises and
threatenings, exhortations, reproofs and passionate expostu-
lations, which we meet with in Scripture, if they mean any
thing sincere, do necessarily suppose that men sin freely,

HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE. 157

and that God is so far from inclining and tempting men to
sin, that he does all that becomes a wise and holy being to
restrain and deter them from it.

Now when we have such direct and positive proofs that
God is not and cannot be the author of sin, it is certain that
wre can have no direct and positive proof that he is, nor is
any such proof pretended ; and then some remote and un-
certain consequences, which are owing to our ignorance or
confused and imperfect notions of things, or to some obscure
expressions of Scripture, are not, and ought not to be thought
sufficient to disprove a direct and positive evidence — no
more than the difficulties about the nature of motion are a
just reason to deny that there is any motion, w7hen we daily
see and feel ourselves and the whole world move. And
yet such kind of difficulties as these is all that is pretended
to charge the providence of God with the sins of men — the
most material of which I intend at this time to examine.

1. One, and that the most plausible pretence to destroy
the liberty of human actions, and to charge the sins of men
upon God, is his prescience and foreknowledge of all future
events. That God does foreknow things to come, is gene-
rally acknowledged by heathens, Jews and Christians ; and
prophecy is a plain demonstration of it, for he that can fore-
tell things to come, must foreknoAv them.

Now from hence they thus argue : what is certainly fore-
known, must certainly be ; and what is thus certain, is ne-
cessary; and therefore, if all future events are certain, as
being certainly foreknown, then all things, even all the sins
of men, are owing to necessity and fate ; and then God,
who is the author of this necessity and fate, must be the
cause and author of men's sins too.

Now, in answer to this, I readily grant that nothing can
be certainly foreknown, but what will certainly be ; but then
I deny that nothing will certainly be, but what has a neces-
sary cause ; for we see ten thousand effects of free or con-
tingent causes, which certainly are, though they might never
have been ; for whatever is, certainly is ; and whatever cer-
tainly is now, was certainly, though not necessarily, future
a thousand years ago. That man understands very little,
who knows not the difference between the necessity and the

14

158 HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE.

certainty of an event. No event is necessary, but that which
has a necessary cause, as the rising and setting of the sun;
but every event is certain, which will certainly be, though
it be produced by a cause which acts freely, and might do
otherwise if it pleased, as all the free actions of men are, —
some of which, though done with the greatest freedom, may
be as certain, and as certainly known, as the rising of the
sun. Now if that which is done freely, may be certain, and
that which is certain, may be certainly known, then the cer-
tainty of God's foreknowledge only proves the certainty,
but not the necessity of the event ; and then God may fore-
know all events, and yet lay no necessity on mankind to do
any thing that is wicked.

In the nature of the thing, foreknowledge lays no greater
necessity upon that which is foreknown, than knowledge
does upon that which is known ; for foreknowledge is
nothing but knowledge, and knowledge is not the cause of
the thing which is known, much less the necessary cause of
it. We certainly know at what time the sun will rise and
set every day in the year, but our knowledge is not the
cause of the sun's rising or setting : nay, in many cases, in
proportion to our knowledge of men, we may with great
certainty foretell what they will do, and how they wTill behave
themselves in such or such circumstances ; and did we per-
fectly know them, we should rarely, if ever, mistake ; for
though men act freely, they do not act arbitrarily, but there is
always some bias upon their minds, which inclines and
draws them ; and the more confirmed habits men have
of virtue or vice, the more certainly and steadily they act,
and the more certainly we may know them, without making
them either virtuous or vicious.

Now could we certainly know what all men would do,
before they do it, yet it is evident that this would neither
make nor prove them to be necessary agents. And there-
fore, though the perfection of the Divine knowledge is such
as to know our thoughts afar off, before we think them,
yet this does not make us think such thoughts nor do such
actions.

How God can foreknow things to come, even such events
as depend upon the most free and contingent causes, we

HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE. 159

cannot tell ; but it is not incredible that infinite knowledge
should do this, when wise men, whose knowledge is so very
imperfect, can with such great probability, and 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 prescience is owing to the perfection of his knowledge,
then it is certain that it neither makes nor proves any fatal ne-
cessity of events. If we say, indeed, as some men do, that
God foreknows all things, because he has absolutely decreed
whatever should come to pass ; this, I grant, does infer a fatal
necessity ; and yet in this case it is not God's foreknow-
ledge, but his decree, which creates the necessity. All things,
upon this supposition, are necessary, not because God fore-
knows 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 fore-
knowing them : but if this were the truth of the case,
God's prescience, considered only as foreknowing, would be
no greater perfection of knowledge than men have, who can
certainly foreknow what they certainly intend to do, and it
seems God can do no more. But thus much we learn from
these men's 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 foreknowledge
does not make them necessary. And therefore we cannot
prove the necessity of all events from God's foreknowledge,
till we have first proved that God can foreknow nothing but
what is necessary : that is in truth, that there is no such per-
fection as prescience 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 prescience,
than it is prescience in us to know what we intend to do to-
morrow, or that the sun will rise to-morrow. But that
God's foreknowledge is not owTing to a necessity of the
event, and therefore cannot prove any such necessity, is evi-
dent from hence, that the Scripture, which attributes this fore-
knowledge to God, does also assert the liberty of human
actions, charges men's sins and final ruin on themselves,
sets before them life and death, blessing and cursing, as I

160 HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE.

observed before : now how difficult soever it may be to re-
concile prescience 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 fore-
know 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 prescience to prove the necessity of
human actions, and consequently to charge men's sins upon
God, must be fallacious and deceitful, because the Scripture
teaches the foreknowledge of God, and yet charges the guilt
of men's sins upon themselves : and if we believe the Scrip-
ture, we must believe both these ; and then we must con-
fess, that prescience does not destroy liberty.

2. 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 there-
fore, at least in such cases, he must decree men's sins too.
We have a famous example of this in the crucifixion of our
Saviour ; — never was there a more wicked action commit-
ted, and yet St. Peter tells the Jews, that this was the effect
of God's counsels and decrees : " Him, being delivered by the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken,
and by wucked hands have crucified and slain." Acts ii. 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 cruci-
fy him and slay him, by the determinate counsel and fore-
knowledge of God?" This is not said ; but he was "de-
livered," that is, put into their power, " by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge 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 u fore-
knowledge of God." The will or counsel of God, which
he had foreordained and predetermined, the porta} Kpoapiopivij
was, that Christ should die, an expiatory sacrifice for the

HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE. 131

sins of the world, which was a work of such stupendous
wisdom, goodness, holiness, and justice, that nothing could
more become God than such counsels and decrees. But then
by his infinite prescience and foreknowledge he saw by what
means this would be done, if he thought fit to permit
it ; viz. by the treachery of Judas, 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
or that the Scribes and Pharisees, 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 unbe-
coming 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 wrise 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 wre know it may be; and thus the
Scripture assures us it is.

3. 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 ex-
pound 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 itself,
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 con-

14*

162 HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE.

sequence, prove the contrary. And supposing then that we
could give no tolerable account of such texts, is it not
more reasonable to conclude that it is only our ignorance
of the eastern language and phrase, which makes them ob-
scure and difficult to us, than to expound them to such a
sense as contradicts all the rest of the Bible?

But I do not intend this for an answer, or as some will
call it, an evasion, but shall consider these texts particularly.
And the first place relates to God's hardening of Pharaoh's
heart, that he should not let the people of Israel go, not-
withstanding all the signs and wonders which Moses wrought
in Egypt ; (Ex. iv. 21,) where God expressly tells Moses that
he would " harden Pharaoh's heart ;" and in the story itself
it is several times expressed, that " God did harden Pha-
raoh's heart ;" and he who hardens the heart seems to be
the efficient cause of all those sins which such a hard heart
commits.

Now rightly to understand this, which has given so much
trouble to divines, there are many things to be considered.

Hardness of heart is a metaphorical expression, and sig-
nifies such a firmness and obstinacy of temper or resolution
as will yield to no motives or persuasions, that will no more
receive any impressions than a hard and impenetrable rock.
And therefore to harden the heart is to give it such a stiff-
ness and obstinacy as will not yield. But then there are
several ways of hardening men's hearts, and some of them
very innocent and holy, as well as just; and before we
charge the Divine providence upon this account, we must
know in what way God hardens. Immediately to infuse into
men's hearts an unrelenting hardness and obstinacy in a sin-
ful course, is inconsistent with the holiness of providence,
and would, in the most proper sense, make God the author
of sin ; but, though God says he would harden Pharaoh,
he does not say that he would infuse hardness into Pha-
raoh's heart.

For we may observe that men who have first hardened
themselves, take the most innocent occasions to grow
harder ; nay, are hardened by such usage as would either
break or soften other men. And those who treat them in
such a manner as their wicked hearts abuse to harden them-

HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE. 163

selves, may be said to harden them, as in common speech
we charge those with undoing and hardening their children
and servants, who have spoiled them by too much indul-
gence or by too great severity ; and this is the account that
Origen gives of it. And indeed when men are said to
harden themselves, as Pharaoh is often said "to harden his
own heart," and yet God is said to harden them, there can
be no other account given of it but this, that men take oc
casion from what God does — take occasion where no occa-
sion was given, to harden themselves ; as St. Paul observes
the Jews did, from God's patience and long-suffering, Rom.
fi. 4, 5 : " Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness
and forbearance and long-suffering ; not knowing that the
goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance ;" i. e. should
lead thee to repentance, not harden thee in sin, though it
have another effect through thy own wickedness. "But
after thy hardness and impenitent heart," growest more
hard and impenitent by God's forbearance, " and treasurest
up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and the reve-
lation of the righteous judgment of God." And thus God
hardened Pharaoh, and thus Pharaoh took occasion to
harden himself from those judgments which ought to have
softened him ; and God, foreseeing that this would be the
effect of it, says, I will harden Pharaoh's heart ; not, I will
infuse hardness into him, but I will do such things as I cer-
tainly know his hard and wicked heart will improve into
new occasions and new degrees of hardness. For it is no
reason either for God or men to forbear doing what wisdom,
and justice, and goodness, direct to be done, because
hardened sinners will harden themselves the more by it.
And that this is the truth of the case, appears from the
whole story.

That which hardened Pharaoh, and made him so resolved
not to part with Israel, was the great advantage which he
made of their service and bondage, which made him impa-
tient to think of sending away a people which were so use-
ful to him. To conquer this obstinate humour, God sends
Moses to deliver " Israel with mighty arm and outstretched
hand." Moses wrought such mighty wonders, and in-
flicted such miraculous and terrible judgments on Egypt, as

164 HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE.

any one would have thought the most proper means not to
have hardened, but to have broken and subdued the most
hardened hearts ; but this had a contrary effect upon a
hardened Pharaoh, and it is visible what it was tnat hard-
ened him — not the true God, but his god, interest.

Some of these signs and wonders were imitated by the
magicians, as turning their rods into serpents, and water
into blood, and bringing frogs upon the land ; and upon
this he hardened his heart, though the plague of frogs was
so Grievous that it made him somewhat relent, and promise
to let the people go and sacrifice unto the Lord, if the frogs
might be removed ; but then God's goodness in removing
this plague hardened him, as it is expressly observed, that
"when Pharaoh saw there was respite, he hardened his
heart:" Exod. viii. 15. And thus it was in the succeeding
judgments : while any judgment was upon him, he yielded,
and promised fair to let the people go : — that had any one
of these judgments continued on him till he had parted
with Israel, he had certainly sent them away long before ;
but when he sawT one judgment removed after another, he
thought there would be an end of them at last, and it were
better to endure a while than to part w'ith Israel : and thus
God hardened his heart, and he hardened his own heart, till
the death of all the first-born put him, and his servants, and
all the people, into such a terrible fright that they were
glad to get rid of Israel, to save their own lives.

And to complete all, God still hardened Pharaoh's heart
to pursue after Israel, that he might overthrow him and all
his host in the Red Sea ; and for that end, " God led the
people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red
Sea, that Pharaoh might say, They are entangled in the land,
the wilderness hath shut them in : and it was told the king
of Egypt that the people fled : and the heart of Pharaoh
and of his servants was turned against the people, and they
said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go
from serving us?" Exod. xiii. 17; xiv. 3 — 5. The report
of their flying, and the apprehension of their being entangled
in the wilderness, made Pharaoh and his servants quickly
forget what they had suffered in Egypt, and think of nothing
but the loss of the service of Israel, which hardened them to

HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE. 165

a new pursuit, and was ordered by God to that end, that
" he might be honoured upon Pharaoh and upon all his host."
This is the account the Scripture gives us of God's hard-
ening of Pharaoh's heart, which contains nothing that un-
becomes a wise and a holy Being. For though it can never
become a holy God to infuse hardness into men's hearts,
yet when men have hardened themselves, and will abuse
all the wise methods of providence to harden themselves,
and are now ripe for destruction, it very much becomes a
just and righteous God to exercise them with such provi-
dences as he knows will still harden them, till they make
themselves such infamous examples of wickedness as may
deserve a more glorious and exemplary vengeance, — which
is another thing to be considered in the case of Pharaoh,
and very necessary to the full understanding of this difficult
case of God's hardening of men's hearts.

God had peremptorily decreed not only to deliver Israel,
but to punish Egypt, both king and people, for the cruel
oppression of Israel. And therefore he might, without any
more solemnity, have destroyed Pharaoh, his people and
land, and have carried Israel out of Egypt with a mighty
hand. But when they had deserved to be punished and
destroyed, and God had resolved to punish them, the man-
ner of their punishment was at the free disposal of the
Divine wisdom ; and therefore he chose to punish them in
such a way as might make the glory and power of the God
of Israel known to the world. And this is the very account
which God himself gives, why he took such a course with
Pharaoh as he foresaw would harden and confirm him in his
resolutions of not parting with Israel, when he could have
forced him, at the expense of fewer miracles, to have sent
them away if he had so pleased. "I will harden Pha-
raoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the
land of Egypt. But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you,
that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine
armies, and my people the children of Israel, out of the
land of Egypt by great judgments. And the Egyptians
shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch forth my
hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from
among them:" Exod. vii. 3 — 5. The same thing he tells

166 HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE.

Pharaoh : "I will at this time send all my plagues upon
thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people ;
that thou may est know that there is none like me in all the
earth. For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may
smite thee and thy people with pestilence ; and thou shalt
be cut off* from the earth. And in very deed for this cause
have I raised thee up," have all this time preserved thee,
and not cut thee off, " for to show in thee my power ; and
that my name may be declared throughout all the earth :"
Exod. ix. 14 — 16. And this reason God gives why he hard-
ened Pharaoh's heart to pursue Israel : "I will be honoured
upon Pharaoh and upon all his host, that the Egyptians may
know that I am the Lord :" Exod. xiv. 4. This is diligently
to be observed to vindicate the holiness and justice of provi-
dence. For though God infuses no hardness into men's
hearts, yet if he exercise them with such providences as he
foresees will harden them, and does this with an intention
and design to harden them, this signifies his will to harden
them, and such a moral efficiency in using hardening provi-
dences, as will as certainly harden them, as if he had in-
fused hardness into them. And this makes little difference,
whether God hardens men by external providences, or by
an internal operation on their minds, when he intends such
providences to harden them, and knows that they will effec-
tually do it.

Now I readily grant that though God inffised no hardness
into Pharaoh's heart, nor did any thing which unbecomes a
holy God to do, yet he did intend to harden him, and did
intend to harden him on purpose to multiply his judgments
on Egypt, and to destroy him and all his host in the Red
Sea ; for this is so plainly expressed that we cannot deny it.
Nay, I readily grant that the providence of God would be
justly chargeable with men's sins, did he, without any
respect to the merit and desert of the persons, by such in-
sensible methods, betray them into sin with an intention to
harden them ; for what man is there of such a firm and con-
stant virtue, as to be able to resist all temptations which a
long series of providences, chosen and directed for that
purpose by a Divine wisdom, could bring him into ?

But yet when men have sinned themselves into such a

HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE. 167

hardened state as to deserve to be destroyed, and when
God is so far provoked by their sins as to resolve to destroy
them, it becomes the wisdom and the justice of God, with-
out any impeachment of his holiness, to harden men by ex-
ternal events and appearances ; not in sin, which can never
become a holy God, but in such ruinous courses as their
own wicked hearts betray them to, and as will bring inevi-
table ruin on them. And this is the true resolution of this
case : —

1. That God never hardens any men till they have de-
served to be destroyed, and he is resolved to destroy them.

2. That then he does not harden them in sin, but in
such ruinous counsels as their own sins betray them to.

3. That all this is done, not by the natural or moral
efficacy, but by their own wicked abuse of the Divine pro-
vidence.

4. To complete all, when God has thus determined to
destroy any person or people, he many times inflicts on them
a penal blindness and infatuation, not to see the things
which concern their peace.

These four particulars contain a full and easy account of
this perplexed doctrine of God's hardening men's hearts,
and therefore I shall speak distinctly, but briefly to them.

1. That God never hardens men till they have deserved
to be destroyed, and he is resolved to destroy them. This
must be laid down as the foundation of all ; for by what
means soever God hardens men, how innocent soever they
may appear, if he intends to harden them, not because they
deserve it and he has determined to destroy them, but only
that they may deserve to be destroyed, and that he may
with some fair appearance of justice destroy them, it would
be impossible to satisfy equal and impartial judges of the
holiness of providence. But if men have hardened them-
selves in sin beyond all the ordinary methods of recovery,
and have so provoked a good and merciful God that he
gives them over to ruin and destruction, then by what
means soever they are hardened, which are not directly sin-
ful, there can be no just reason to question either the justice,
or goodness, or holiness of God upon this account. For
w7hen men have sinned to that degree as to deserve imme-

168 HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE.

diate destruction, and to provoke God to pass a final
sentence on them, God may either immediately destroy them,
or keep them in that hardened state, like condemned male-
factors reserved in chains for a more public and solemn
execution. And this is all that is meant by God's hardening
men, and this all mankind must allow to be just and holy.

This was the case of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, who
had so grievously oppressed Israel that God was resolved
to punish them for it. And therefore he sent Moses to in
flict a great many miraculous judgments on them, not in
tending thereby to convince Pharaoh, who had hardened
himself against the power of miracles to convince him, and
whom he had resolved to destroy, but only to lay Egypt
waste, and to take a signal vengeance upon that cruel per
secutor, by overthrowing him and his host in the Red Sea.
And therefore he so ordered the execution of these judg-
ments, that the hardened heart of Pharaoh should grow
more hardened by them.

Thus when God had determined to cut off Ahab, as his
grievous sins had long before deserved, he intended to
harden him to go up to Ramoth-Gilead, and fall there : and for
that purpose suffered a lying spirit to enter into his prophets,
to encourage the king in that fatal expedition ; and as God
had foretold, they did prevail against Micaiah, the prophet
of the Lord, who plainly told him, that he should fall in it:
1 Kings, xxii.

Thus when God was so provoked with the sins of Judah,
that he had resolved to deliver them into the hands of the
Chaldeans, who should destroy their city and temple, and
carry them captive to Babylon, he pronounced this harden-
ing sentence on them : " Go, and tell this people, hear ye
indeed, but understand not ; and see ye indeed, but per-
ceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make
their ears heavy, and shut their eyes ; lest they see with
their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with
their heart, and convert, and be healed." What this means
ye shall hear more hereafter ; all that I observe at present
is, that this sentence was not pronounced against them, till
God had resolved to carry them into captivity, and to lay
their city and country desolate, as the prophet tells us in the

HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE. 169

next verse. " Then, said I, Lord, how long? And he an-
swered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and
the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate :"
Isaiah vi. 9 — 11.

And this was the state of the Jews in our Saviour's days,
when God had determined the final destruction of the Jewish
nation, their city, temple, and polity, for their great sin in
crucifying their Messias, as Christ tells us, Matthew xxiii.
37 — 39 : " 0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the-
prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how
often would I have gathered thy children together, even as
a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would
not ! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I
say unto you, ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall
say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."
Luke xix. 41 — 44 : "And when he was come near, he be-
held the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known,
even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong
unto thy peace ! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For
the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast
a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee
in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground,
and thy children within thee ; and they shall not leave in
thee one stone upon another ; because thou knowest not the
time of thy visitation."

Now with respect to this final sentence which God had
pronounced against them, though he delayed the execution
of it for forty years, St. Paul applies to them the case of a
hardened Pharaoh, whom God spared also a great while, as
he did them, though he had determined to destroy him by
a signal overthrow ; " to show his power, and that his name
might be declared throughout all the earth." And there
was no reason to quarrel with God, though he delayed to
destroy them for some years after he had determined to de-
stroy them, to make them also a more remarkable example
of a just vengeance, and more glorious power. " What if
God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power
known, endureth with much long-suffering the vessels of
wrath, fitted for destruction?" That is, delays for many
years the execution of those whom he has decreed to destroy

15

170 HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE.

for their great sins, by an irreversible sentence : for such
only are " the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction ;" Rom.
ix. 17, 22. And, for the same reason, he applies to them
the prophecy of Isaiah, concerning the judicial blindness and
deafness of the Jewish nation, when God had determined to
deliver them into the hands of the king of Babylon, which
was a prophesy of them also, and received its full accom-
plishment in the final destruction of Jerusalem by the Ro-
mans : Acts xxviii. 26, 27. So that it is plain from all these
examples, (and I know no example in all the Scripture to
the contrary,) that God never hardens men, till he has first
determined to punish or to destroy them. And I shall only
add, that this hardening, which is the effect of God's decree
to punish, or to destroy, relates only to some temporal evils
and calamities which God intends to bring on them, not to
the eternal miseries of the next world. God is never said
to harden any men, that he may eternally damn them, that
is wholly owing to their own hard and impenitent hearts ;
but God does sometimes harden men, in order to take a
more exemplary vengeance on them in this world, which
serves the wise ends of providence, and makes his power
and glory known.

2. This will more evidently appear, if we consider that
God is never said to harden any men in sin, but he only
hardens and confirms them in such ruinous counsels as will
bring that destruction on them, which God has ordained
and determined for them. They harden themselves in sin,
and make it wise and just for God to punish or destroy
them ; and when God resolves to do so, then sometimes he
hardens them in such courses as will bring a terrible ven-
geance on them.

I need instance only in the case of Pharaoh, which is the
most express text we have for God's hardening men. Now
what did God harden Pharaoh in ? Did he harden him
against believing Moses and those miracles which he
wrought in the name and by the power of the God of Is-
rael ? No such matter ; there is no such thing said ; but he
hardened him not to let the people go.

Pharaoh hardened himself against believing Moses and
the miracles he wrought, against owning and submitting to

HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE. 171

the power arid sovereign authority of the God of Israel ;
though when he felt the judgments inflicted on him, they
were so uneasy as to make him relent, and to promise to
send Israel away. But his great concernment was how to
keep Israel, and to get rid of these plagues ; and his firm
resolution was never to part with Israel as long as he had
any hopes that he might keep them safely. Now, though it
was indeed a very great evil to disbelieve Moses, and to dis-
obey God's command, attested and confirmed by miracles;
yet, separated from this, it was no moral evil not to part
with Israel, who had now been the subjects of Egypt for
above two hundred years. And therefore when the dispute
was not about believing and obeying God and Moses, which
Pharaoh had no regard to, but only whether he should let
Israel go to avoid these plagues which he suffered for their
sake. Though God did not harden him in his infidelity and
disobedience, yet he did harden him against parting with
Israel: that is, he hardened him not in sin, for the infidelity
and disobedience, which was the only sinfulness of it, was
wholly his own. But he hardened him in the most ruinous
counsel he could possibly have taken, which would bring
new plagues on Es>;ypt, and end in his own final ruin.

This was the case of Ahab ; God did resolve to send him
to Ramoth-Gilead to fall there, and suffered a lying spirit to
enter into the mouths of his prophets, and to harden him in
that expedition against, the prophetic threatenings of Micaiah
— that all things considered, it may be said that God per-
suaded, and that God hardened Ahab to go to Ramoth-Gilead.
Now suppose this, yet it is not to harden him in sin ; for it
was no sin to go to fight against Ramoth-Gilead ; but it was
only to harden him in a dangerous attempt, and which God
intended should be fatal to him.

A great many instances of this nature may be given, where
God hardens men in such courses as shall and are intended
by God to prove either a very sore punishment to them, or
their utter ruin. But no one instance can be given of God's
persuading, or tempting, or hardening men in any thing,
which is in its own nature evil. And were this well con-
sidered, it would answer and shame a great many ignorant
objections against providence.

172 HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE.

3. But we must farther observe, that when God does thus
harden men in ruinous counsels, on purpose to punish or to
destroy them, he does nothing which has either any natural
or moral efficacy to harden them ; but by their own wicked-
ness they abuse the providence of God to harden themselves.
This I have particularly shown in the case of Pharaoh ; those
signs and wonders which God wrought in Egypt, and that
undeniable proof that they were sent by God, in that they
were inflicted and removed at the word of Moses, and the
goodness of God in removing one judgment after another at
his request, would have convinced and softened other men,
but hardened him.

St. Paul tells us, that the natural end and use of God's
patience and long-suffering is to lead us to repentance ; and
therefore when it hardens some men in sinful and destructive
courses, as we too often see it does, there is no reason to
charge this on the patience of God, but on the wickedness
of men.

God permitted a lying spirit to enter into Ahab's prophets
to persuade him to go against Ramoth-Gilead ; and though
God might very justly have left him in the hands of those
false prophets of his own making and choosing, yet he sends
his own prophet, Micaiah, whom all Israel knew to be the
Lord's prophet, to assure hirn, that if he went against Ra-
moth-Gilead, he should perish there. And therefore, God
did not deceive Ahab, but he deceived himself, by prefer-
ring the prophets of Baal before the Lord's prophet, which
was owing to his own wicked, idolatrous heart.

God never deceives or hardens any men by the external
events and appearances of providence, but those whose own
lusts and wicked hearts deceive and harden them. There
is always enough, even in those providences which
men abuse to harden themselves, to have reclaimed and
softened them, if they would have made a wise use of it
And when men have sinned themselves into such a hard
ened state as to forfeit the protection of providence, God may
do what is wise, and just, and holy, though he knows thai
they will abuse it to their own ruin, and intends to bring
ruin on them by it. And it is a glorious vindication of the
wisdom, and goodness, and holiness of God, when all the

HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE. 173

world shall see, that such men's ruin is wholly owing to
themselves, to their wicked abuse of all those wise and gra-
cious methods which would have reclaimed and saved them,
if they would have been reclaimed and saved.

4. To understand the full and comprehensive notion of
God's hardening men, we must observe farther, that when
God has been so far provoked as to resolve the final de-
struction of any person, or people, he many times inflicts on
them a judicial blindness and infatuation, which betrays them
to such foolish counsels as must inevitably prove their ruin.
That God many times does this, the Scripture witnesseth —
" He leadeth counsellors away spoiled, and maketh the
judges fools. He remdveth away the speech of the trusty,"
(in whose counsels men used to confide,)" andtaketh away
the understanding of the aged. He taketh away the heart
of the chief of the people of the earth, and causeth them to
wTander in a wilderness, where there is no way." That is,
entangles and perplexes their counsels. " They grope in
the dark without light, and he maketh them to stagger like
a drunken man :" to reel from one resolution to another, in
great uncertainty what to do : Job xii. 17, 20, 24, 25. Thus
Isaiah xix. 11, 12, 13, 14: " Surely the princes of Zoan
are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is
become brutish. How say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son
of the wise, the son of ancient kings ? Where are they ?
where are thy wise men ? and let them tell thee now, and let
them know what the Lord of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt.
The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph
are deceived ; they have also seduced Egypt, even they
that are the stay of the tribes thereof. The Lord hath min-
gled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof, and they have
caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken
man staggereth in his vomit."

We have a plain example of this in Absalom, whom God
resolved to punish for his rebellion against David, his king
and father. David had prayed that God would turn " the
counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness," and accordingly God
so ordered it as to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel by
the advice of Hushai. And the reason of it is given : "for
the Lord had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahi-

15*

174 HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE.

thophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring evil upon
Absalom." 2 Sam. xvii. 14.

This makes men as hard as they are blind : they mistake
their true interest, flatter themselves with vain hopes, run
themselves into the most apparent and inevitable dangers,
without seeing them themselves, though everybody else sees
them. And something of this nature we must own in Pha-
raoh's case ; for without such an infatuation, it is impossible
to conceive that he should have persisted so long in his re-
solution not to part with Israel, though it were to the utter
ruin and desolation of his country, much less that he should
have pursued them into the Red Sea, whose fluid walls
threatened him with immediate destruction.

And this I take to be the blindness which God threatens
against Judah. Isaiah vi. 9, 10: "Go and tell this peo-
ple,— hear ye indeed, but understand not ; and see ye in-
deed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat,
and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes ; lest they
see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand
with their heart, and convert and be healed." For here is
a double blindness taken notice of in the text — one which
they brought upon themselves, another which God threatens
to inflict on them. " They did hear, but not understand ;
they did see, but not perceive :" that is, they stop their own
ears, and shut their own eyes, against all the admonitions
and reproofs of God's prophets ; for thus our Saviour ex-
pounds it, as their own act, and wilful, voluntary blindness.
Matt. xiii. 14, 15. "And in them is fulfilled the prophecy
of Isaiah," (for a prophecy it was, as it concerned the Jews
in our Saviour's days, though it was a description of the
actual deafness and blindness of the Jews in the prophet's
days,) " which saith, by hearing ye shall hear and shall not
understand, and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive.
For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are
dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed ; lest at any
time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their
ears, and understand with their heart, and should be con-
verted, and I should heal them." And thus St. Paul repre-
sents it, Acts xxviii. 26, 27.

This is their sinful blindness and deafness, which is

HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE. 175

wholly owing to themselves, and for the punishment of
which God threatens them with a penal and judicial blind-
ness. For when God commands the prophet "to make
their heart fat, and their ears heavy, and to shut their eyes,"
it can signify nothing else but his passing a final decree and
sentence of blindness and deafness on them : not such a
blindness as should betray them to and harden them in sin ;
(God may leave men in such a state of blindness, when
they have wilfully blinded and hardened themselves, but
he never inflicts it,) but such a blindness as would betray
them into that ruin and destruction which God has so justly
decreed for them. For this blindness and deafness which
were inflicted on them in the prophet's days, were in order
to their captivity in Babylon, and the destruction of their
city and temple by the Chaldeans : that, in .our Saviour's
days, was in order to their final destruction by the Romans.
And our Saviour tells us what kind of blindness was inflicted
on them ; that the u things belonging to their peace," which
would preserve their nation from being destroyed, " were now
hid from their eyes :" Luke xix.42. And the story verifies this ;
for certainly never was there a greater infatuation upon any
people, than upon the Jews at both times, who forced both
the Chaldeans and Romans to destroy them, whether they
would or not, and when they intended no such thing. And
many examples there are of such a judicial blindness and
infatuation in every age of the world. There are seldom any
great and remarkable calamities which befall any persons,
especially nations, but by-standers see how they undo
themselves by their own stupid wilfulness and folly, as
has been long since observed: — Quos per dere vult Jupiter,
prius demented : " that God first blinds and infatuates
those whom he intends to destroy." And this is what
the Scripture means by hardening men's hearts, and blind-
ing their eyes, as I hope appears from what I have now
discoursed ; and no man has any reason to quarrel either
with the justice or holiness of God upon this account.
But we have all great reason to take warning by these
examples, lest we provoke God so long by our sins, by our
own wilful blindness and hardness, that he inflict this judi-
cial blindness on us, that he shut our eyes not to see the

176 HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE.

things that belong to our peace ; of which we have so many-
sad symptoms already among us, that it is time to take warn-
ing. Nothing can be more just, than for God to harden
those men to their own ruin, who harden themselves against
his fear. So to blind those who will not see nor regard
their duty, as to mistake their interest too. And the only
way to prevent such a judicial hardness and infatuation, is
to reverence God, to have a respect to all his command-
ments : in the first place to take care of our duty, and then
to commit our ways unto the Lord, in a secure dependence
on his providence.

There are several other texts of Scripture alleged to this
purpose, to charge God with the sins of men ; but they will
receive a shorter answer — as :

2. Those texts which ascribe what is done by the sinc,
of men to God's doing. But the answer to this is plair ;
for God can and does bring to pass a great many wise and
holy designs by the sins of men, without being the author
of their sins ; and it is only the event which is attributed to
God, not the sin whereby such events are brought to pass.
This will appear at the first view, by considering some of
these texts.

Joseph's brethren sold him to the Ishmaelites, who carried
him into Egypt, where God advanced him to Pharaoh's
throne. Joseph tells his brethren, that though they sold
him, it was God that sent him before them into Egypt, to
preserve their lives : — " So now it was not you that sent ine
hither, but God :" Gen. xlv. 5, 7, 8. Joseph does not say
that it was from God that his brethren sold him : this was
their own act, and all the wickedness of it was their own ;
but it was God who sent him into Egypt, which his brethren
never thought of, nor intended, their only concern being to
get rid of him : and when God did that, which they never
intended to do, that may well be said to be God's doings,
who permitted their wickedness, and made use of it to ac-
complish his own wise counsels ; as he tells his brethren —
" As for you, ye thought evil against me, but God meant it
unto good, to bring to pass as it is this day to save much
people alive :" Gen. 1. 20.

When Job was plundered by the Sabeans and Chaldeans,

HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE. 177

he attributes it to God : — " The Lord gave, and the Lord
hath taken away:" Job i. 21. And so must all men say,
who believe a providence, that all the good or evil that hap-
pens to us in this world, whoever be the immediate instru-
ments of it, is ordered and disposed by God. But Job does
not, therefore, attribute the wickedness of the Sabeans and
Chaldeans to God ; as if God could not govern and over-
rule the wickedness of men and devils, without being the
author of their wickedness.

When David had committed that great sin, in defiling
Uriah's wife, and contriving his murder, God threatens him
by the prophet Nathan, " I will raise up evil against thee
out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before
thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall
lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. For thou didst
it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and be-
fore the sun ;" 2 Sam. xii. 11, 12 ; which we know Absa-
lom accordingly did, by the advice of Ahithophel : chap.
xvi. 20, &c.

Now that God did inflict this punishment upon David is
plain from the text ; but that he either instigated Ahitho-
phel to give this counsel, or Absalom to take it, is not said;
and if God could inflict this punishment on David without
having any hand in the sin, it is no reflection on the holiness
of providence. All that God expressly says he would do
in the case was to put David's wives into Absalom's power;
" I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them
unto thy neighbour ;" and then foretells what the effect of
this would be, and what he intended to permit for his pun-
ishment ; " he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this
sun." There was no evil in so ordering the matter, that
when David fled he should leave his wives behind him,
which put them in Absalom's power ; and then God foresaw
what counsel Ahithophel would give, and how ready Absa-
lom would be to take it, unless he hindered it, which he
decreed not to do in punishment of David's adultery. And
thus to order the permission for such an end, though it has
nothing of the guilt of the sin, yet entitles God to the event,
considered as a punishment ; upon which account God may
be said to " do this before all Israel, and before the sun,"

178 HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE.

Thus when Shimei cursed David, as he fled from Jerusa
lera, David takes notice of God's hand in it, and would not
suffer Abishai to cut him off; " let hirn curse, because the
Lord hath said unto him, curse David :" 2 Sara. xvi. 10.
But every one sees that this must be a figurative expression,
for it is not true in the literal sense. God never commanded
Shimei to curse David, nor did David believe in a literal
sense that he did, for then he would not have imputed the
guilt of it to him. Whereas, we know, though he had sworn
to Shimei at his return, when he came to meet him, that he
would not put him to death, yet he left it in his dying charge
to Solomon, " not to hold him guiltless :" 1 Kings ii. 8, 9.
But when David said, " the Lord hath bidden him curse,"
all that he meant by it, or could mean by it, is no more but
this, that the sad calamity which the providence of God had
brought on him by the rebellion of his son Absalom, had
given free scope to Shimei's old and inveterate hatred of
him, and as effectually let loose his reviling tongue as if God
had in express words commanded him to curse David; and
therefore he patiently submits to this as part of his punish-
ment, and a very inconsiderable part when compared with
the rebellion of his son Absalom, which gave this confidence
to Shimei to curse his king. "Behold my son, which come
forth of my bowels, seeketh my life ; how much more now
may this Benjamite do it ?" v. 10. This is no more than what
David elsewhere complains of, that God had made him the
song of the drunkards. For bad men will take all the ad-
vantages which the providence of God gives them, to re-
proach, and scorn, and persecute the good. There needs no
other command for this, but a fair opportunity to do it.

Some object God's giving power to Satan, first over the
goods, and then over the body of Job, excepting his life.
And God's permitting a lying spirit to enter into Ahab's
prophets to persuade him to go up to Ramoth-Gilead. But
wherein the objection lies, I cannot tell ; for I suppose that
they will not say that God, by permitting the devil to hurt
and to deceive, made him a malicious and lying spirit.
Those are very unreasonable objectors, who will not allow
God to make use of the ministry of wicked spirits to wise
and good ends, without charging him with their sins too.

HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE. 179

But God himself tells us, that when a prophet is deceived,
he hath deceived him ; now how is it reconcilable with the
holiness of his nature or providence to deceive ? Ezek.
xiv. 9 : " And if the prophet be deceived, when he hath
spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet, and
I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him
from the midst of my people Israel."

Now to this it is commonly answered, that God permits a
lying spirit to possess such prophets, as he did in the case
of Ahab ; for he only speaks here of the prophets of Baal,
such prophets as he would cut off for their lying prophecies;
and how does it unbecome God to give up the worshippers
of evil spirits, their priests and prophets, to be inspired and
deceived by them ? No true worshipper of God was under
any temptation to be deceived by them, because they were
not the prophets of God ; and God had always his own pro-
phet among them, to warn them against such lying prophe-
cies ; nay, it was the fault of these prophets, that they were
deceived themselves; for they did know that they did not
receive their prophecies from the Lord, but from the heathen
idols, or that they were their own inventions ; and when
they chose to worship strange gods, and to consult their
oracles, or to divine out of their own hearts, they chose to
be deceived ; and therefore God threatens — " They shall
bear the punishment of their iniquity ; the punishment of the
prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh
unto him :" Ezek. xiv. 10. We have a large account of
these prophets, and severe judgments denounced against
them, Ezek. xiii., who are said " to prophesy out of their
own hearts," and to " follow their own spirits," when they
" had seen nothing ;" to " see a vain vision," and " speak
a lying divination ;" and sometimes to attribute it to God
too, they say: "The Lord seeth it, albeit I have not
spoken."

Now this character the prophet Ezekiel gives of these ly-
ing prophets, inclines me to a very different sense of these
words, which seems plain and easy ; not that God deceived
them to prophesy lies, but that God deceived them in the
event : they deceived themselves into " vain visions ;" either
by giving themselves over to idolatry, which betrayed them

180 HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE.

to the delusions of wicked spirits; or by heating their imagi-
nations into enthusiastic frenzies, and prophesying their own
hopes and politic guesses, which is called, "prophesying
out of their own hearts," and "following their own spirits;"
and then God deceived all their hopes and expectations,
by bringing those evils on them, which they with great as-
surance and confidence said, should never come. And the
words plainly favour this sense: God does not say, " If a
prophet be deceived to speak a thing, I the Lord have de-
ceived him ;" but " if a prophet be deceived when he hath
spoken a thing" — that is, if the event does not answer his
prediction — "I have deceived him," or confuted his vain,
lying prophecy. And how would God deceive him? That
immediately follows, "I will stretch out my hand upon him,
and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel :
and they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity," both
prophets and people. This did effectually deceive them,
as being a terrible confutation of their prophecies, and what
God expressly threatened : " Because they have seduced
my people, saying, Peace, and there was no peace :" Ezek.
xiii. 8 — 10. This is what God attributes to himself, as his
peculiar prerogative and glory, that it is " He that frustrateth
the tokens of the seers, and maketh diviners mad ;" by de-
ceiving them in the events of things, and confuting their
prophecies by his judgments ; Isaiah xliv. 25 ; as he ex-
pressly threatened against these lying prophets and diviners:
Micah iii. 5 — 7, which is a plain comment upon this text.

As for what is objected about David's numbering the
people, it is hardly worth naming ; 2 Sam. xxiv. 1, it is
said, "The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and
he moved David against them, to say, Go, number the peo-
ple." But in 1 Chron. xxi. 1, it is expressly said, " That
Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to num-
ber Israel." From whence we learn in what sense this is
attributed to God, when Satan was the immediate tempter;
only because God, in anger against Israel, suffered Satan to
tempt David to number them.

But that is more considerable that is objected from St.
Paul concerning the heathens, whom God delivered up to
all manner of wickedness, in punishment of their idolatry.

HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE. 181

" They changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an
image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and to
four-footed beasts, and creeping things ; wherefore God
also gave them up to uncleanness, through the lusts of their
own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between them-
selves And for this cause God gave them up to vile

affections And even as they did not like to retain God

in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate
mind, to do those things which are not convenient, being
filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, cov-
etousness, &c." Now is not this a reflection on the holi-
ness of God, that because men are guilty of one sin, he
delivers them up to all other sins ? For can a holy God
punish sin with sin ? Can he, who hates all wickedness,
contribute any thing to make men more wicked than other-
wise they would be ?

But in answer to this, we need only consider what is
meant by God's " giving them up to all uncleanness," and
"to a reprobate mind;" which signifies no positive act of God,
but only his leaving them in the power and management of
those evil spirits whom they idolatrously worshipped. For
most of these vices to which God is said to give them up,
were the necessary effects of their idolatry — were the sacred
rites and mysteries of their religious worship ; and if they
would worship such gods, they must worship them as they
would be worshipped. And this corrupted the lives and
manners of men, and destroyed all the notions of good and
evil, and then they were prepared for any wickedness which
their own vicious inclinations and the circumstances of their
condition and fortune, or those wicked spirits, could tempt
them to. This very account we find in the book of Wisdom,
where we have such another catalogue of vices as the apos-
tle here gives us, charged upon their idolatry, as the natural
effects of it : Wisdom xiv. 22, &c.

Now if men will worship such gods as delight in unclean-
ness and impurity, and all manner of wickedness, and who
will be worshipped with the most infamous vices, to the
utmost reproach and contempt of human nature, there is no
avoiding it, but that their religion must corrupt their lives ;

16

182 HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE.

they give themselves up to the worship of evil spirits, and
God leaves them in their hands ; for who should have the
government of them, but the gods they worship ? They
reproach the Divine nature by vile and sensible representa-
tions, and God gives them up to vile affections, to dishonour
their own natures. They corrupt the natural notions they
have of God, and God gives them up to a reprobate mind,
not to distinguish between good and evil.

The devil had erected a kingdom of darkness in the
world, and God thought fit for some time to permit it, till
he sent his own Son "to destroy the works of the devil ;"
and those who gave themselves up to idolatry became his
slaves and vassals, for he is " the prince of the power of
the air, the spirit that ruleth in the children of disobedi-
ence." And this is God's giving them up to vile affections,
his casting them out of his protection, when they had first
renounced him, and giving them up to the power of wicked
spirits, to whom they had given themselves.

So that here is no other objection against the holiness of
God, but that there is a devil who is a very impure spirit,
and affects Divine honours to be " the god of this world ;','
and that God suffers him to govern those who worship him,
and to seduce them into all the wickedness of a diabolical
nature. And yet that barbarous tyranny which the devil
exercised over his votaries ; that impure, flagitious worship
which he instituted, and that excess of wickedness where-
with he corrupted the lives of men was the most effectual
way to convince mankind what sort of gods they worshipped,
and did make the wiser heathens ashamed of their gods and
of their worship ; and as learning and civility increased,
they reformed their wrorship, and allegorized away their
gods, which disposed them for the more ready reception of
that holy religion which the Son of God preached to the
world. Wickedness is its own punishment, and many
times proves its own cure ; and God could not have inflicted
a more just punishment upon the idolatrous world than to
deliver them up to the tyranny of those wicked spirits whom
they worshipped ; and there was not a more likely way to
convince men of their fatal error than those inhuman and
impious rites of worship, and that excess of* wickedness

HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE. 183

which their idolatry betrayed them to, which was enough
to make human nature start and fly back.

The like objection is made from the antichristian state ;
the appearance of the man of sin, " whose coming is after
the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying
wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in
them that perish ; because they received not the love of the
truth, that they might be saved : and for this cause God
shall send them strong delusions, that they should believe a
lie : that they all might be damned who believe not the truth,
but had pleasure in unrighteousness :" 2 Thess. ii. 9 — 12.

Now what can be more just than this, for God to suffer
the devil to blind those men who will not see ? To deceive
those " with signs and lying wonders, and all deceivable-
ness of unrighteousness," who " do not love the truth, but
have pleasure in unrighteousness ;" who endeavour to de-
ceive themselves, and desire to be deceived. For this is
all that is meant by " sending them strong delusions to be-
lieve a lie ;" that God suffers the man of sin to erect his
kingdom, " after the working of Satan, with all power and
signs and lying wonders." "When men are in love with
their sins, and therefore do not love the truth because it
discovers and reproves their sins, they are out of the pro-
tection of God's grace, and are delivered up to the cheats
and impostures of crafty men, or of wicked spirits. This is
the rule and method of God's grace ; he forces truth on no
man, but those who love the truth shall find it. Those
" who cry after knowledge, and lift up their voice for un-
derstanding; who seek her as silver, and search for her as
for hid treasures ; they shall understand the fear of the Lord,
and find the knowledge of God :" Prov. ii. 2 — 5. But if
men wilfully shut their own eyes against the light, God suf-
fers the " god of this world" to blind them, as St. Paul
teaches ; 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4 : " But if our gospel be hid, it is
hid in them that are lost ; in whom the god of this world
hath blinded the eyes of them which believe not, lest the
light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of
God, should shine unto them." Which should make us all
afraid of prejudice and the love of this world, which bar up

184 HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE.

the mind against truth, and by degrees betray us to a judi-
cial blindness.

There are some other texts which do indeed attribute the
supreme disposal of all human actions to God, but without
charging his providence with men's sins. Pro v. xvi. 9 :
" A man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth
his steps." xix. 21: " There are many devices in a man's
heart, nevertheless the counsel of the Lord that shall stand."
xx. 24: "Man's goings are of the Lord — how then can a
man understand his own ways ?" The meaning of which
is, that men advise, and deliberate, and choose freely, what
they intend to do, but when they come to action, they can
do nothing, they can bring nothing to pass, but what God
will. God can change their counsels, or can disappoint them
when they are ripe for action, or can make what they do
serve quite another end than what they intended. Now
this only proves what I have already observed, that the
issues and events of all things are in God's hands, as they
must be, if he governs the world. Men may choose what
they please, but they shall do only what God sees fit, and
what he orders for wise ends. God does not act immedi-
ately, but makes use of natural causes, or of the ministries
of men, both good and bad men. Men choose and act
freely, and pursue their own designs and imaginations, and
therefore the moral good or evil of the action is their own ;
and God does as freely, with unsearchable wisdom, overrule
all events, which are therefore God's doing as well as men's,
being directed by him to serve the wise ends of providence,
in rewarding or punishing men or nations as they deserve.

Thus I have, as briefly as I could, examined most of those
texts which have been thought to attribute to God some
kind of causality and efficiency in the sins of men ; and I
hope have made it appear, that there is no such thing in-
tended in them. And for the conclusion of this argument
concerning the holiness of providence, I shall only add
some few practical inferences by way of application.

1. Not to attribute our own or other men's sins to God.
" Let no man say, when he is tempted, I am tempted of
God ; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth
he any man. But every man is tempted, when he is drawn

HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE. 185

away of his own lust, and enticed :" Jas. i. 13, 14. This
is absolutely necessary to be observed ; for without it there
is an end of all religion. If God can influence men's
minds to wicked purposes and counsels, it is impossible he
should hate wickedness, or be so holy as many holy men
are, who would no more incline or tempt other men to sin
than they would sin themselves. And who will hate sin,
or think that God will love him ever the less for being a
sinner, who believes this ? If God wants the sins of men
to accomplish his own counsels, they must either be very
unholy counsels, which cannot be accomplished without the
sins of men, or he must be a weak or unskilful being, which
is downright blasphemy ; for a wise and powerful being can
do whatever is wise and holy, without the sins of men. It
is excellent wisdom indeed, when men do and will sin, for
God to accomplish his own wise and gracious counsels by
their sins ; but to incline, or tempt, or overrule, or deter-
mine men to sin, on purpose to serve himself by their sins,
this would be a just impeachment, both of his holiness, his
wisdom, and his power ; and a God, who is neither holy,
wise, nor powerful, would be no very fit object of religious
worship.

To say that God decrees the sins of men for his own
glory, to magnify his mercy and justice, in saving some few,
and in condemning the greatest part of mankind to eternal
miseries, is so senseless a representation both of the glory,
of the mercy, and of the justice of God, as destroys the very
notion of all.

For if man be a mere machine, who moves as he is
moved, how can he deserve either well or ill ? Necessity
destroys the very notion of virtue or vice, both of which
suppose a free choice and election ; and if there be no
virtue nor vice, there can be no rewards nor punishments ;
and then there is no place either for justice or mercy ; and
then God can neither glorify his mercy, nor his justice in
forgiving sins, or in punishing the sinner. How can any
man who believes that he is overruled by God to do all the
evil he does, ever be a true penitent, or heartily beg God's
pardon, or reverence his judgments, or endeavour to do
better ? All religion is founded in this persuasion, that God

16*

186 HOLINESS OF PROVIDENCE.

hates every thing that is wicked ; for if there be no essential
difference between good and evil, there is no pretence for
religion ; and if God makes none, there is none ; and if he
can be the author of what is evil as well as of what is good,
he makes no difference between them.

2. The holiness of providence teacheth us never to do any
evil to serve providence, under pretext of doing some great
good by it, which we think may be acceptable to God.
God never needs the sins of men, and can never approve
them, whatever good ends they are intended to serve. God
indeed does many times bring good out of evil, but he
allows no man "to do evil, that good may come." This
St. Paul rejects with the greatest abhorrence, and tells us
that such men's " damnation is just," (Rom. iii. 8 :) for it
is the greatest contradiction in the world to do evil in order
to do good ; for how can a man, who can for any reason be
persuaded to do evil, be a hearty and zealous lover of good-
ness? It is certain that he who does any evil, does not
heartily love that goodness to which the evil he does is op-
posed ; and he who does not heartily love all goodness, is a
hearty lover of none : there is no reconciling good and evil,
no more than you can reconcile contradictions ; a good man
will love and do that which is good, and an evil man will
do that which is evil ; and though the Divine wisdom can
bring good out of evil, yet evil is not, and cannot be the
cause of good, no more than darkness can be the natural
cause of light ; and therefore a good design can never
justify a bad action : for that bad actions should do good, is
contrary to the nature of bad actions ; and whatever men
may intend, I am sure that no man can alter the nature of
things, and therefore can never justify himself in doing evil
that good may come.

It is certain a wise and holy God requires no such thing
of us ; and though he very often brings about great and ad-
mirable designs by men's sins, yet no man knows how to
do it, nor knows when God will do it ; nor did ever any
man who ventured upon sin in order to do some greater
good, ever do the good he intended, though many times he
runs himself into more and greater sins than ever he
intended.

GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE. 187

Nay, I dare boldly say that no man ever deliberately ven-
tured upon a known sin to do some greater good by it, but
there was always some base worldly interest at the bottom,
coloured over with a pretence of doing good, either to de-
ceive the world or sometimes to deceive their own con-
sciences. The church of Rome, among whom there are
those who teach and practise this doctrine, are an unde-
niable example of it, and we have had too many sad
examples of it nearer home.

This seems to me one reason why those prophecies which
concern future ages are generally so obscure that no man
knows when or how they shall be fulfilled, that no man may
be tempted to any sin to serve providence, and to fulfil
prophecies. As obscure as these prophecies are, yet we
see some heated enthusiasts very forward to venture on any
thing to fulfil prophecies, to pull down Antichrist, to set up
the kingdom of Christ, especially when they hope to set up
themselves with him : but God conceals times and seasons
from us ; and though he many times fulfils prophecies by
the sins of men, yet he allows no man to sin to fulfil pro-
phecies ; and therefore never lets us know when nor by
what means prophecies shall be fulfilled. Let us lay down
this as a certain principle, that God needs not our sins ; and
that we can never please him by doing evil, whatever the
event be : he makes use of the sins of men to serve his
providence, but he will punish them for their sins.

CHAPTER VII.

THE GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE.

The next inquiry is concerning the goodness of provi-
dence : though methinks it is a more proper subject for our
devout meditations than for our inquiries ; for we need not
look far to seek for proofs and demonstrations of the Divine
goodness. " The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord :"
we see, and feel., and taste it every day ; we owe our being,

188 GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE.

our preservation, and all the comforts of our lives to it.
There is not so mean nor so miserable a creature in this
world, but can bear its testimony to the Divine goodness :
nay, if you would pardon the harshness of the expression, I
would venture to say that the goodness of God is one of the
greatest plagues and torments of hell ; I mean the remem-
brance of God's goodness, and their wicked and ungrateful
abuse of it. This is that worm that never dieth, those sharp
reflections men make on their ingratitude and folly, in
making themselves miserable by affronting that goodness
which would have made them happy.

Whatever other objections some wanton and sporting
wits make against providence, one would think it impossi-
ble that any man who lives in this world and feels what he
enjoys himself, and sees what a bountiful provision is made
for all creatures, should question the goodness of providence
by which "he lives, moves, and has his being." We
should think him an extraordinary benefactor who did the
thousandth part for us of what God does ; and should not
challenge his goodness, though he did some things which
we did not like, or did not understand ; but atheism is
founded in ingratitude ; and unless God humour them, as
well as do them good, he is no God for them. Nay, I can-
not but observe here the perverse as well as the ungrateful
temper of atheists ; when they dispute against the justice of
providence, then God is much too good for them ; though
he gives us examples enough of his severity against sin, yet
his patience and long-suffering to some few prosperous sin-
ners is thought a sufficient argument that God is not just,
or that he does not govern the world. When they dispute
against the goodness of providence, then God is not good
enough for them : though they see innumerable instances of
goodness in the government of the world, yet this is not
owing to a good God, but to good fortune, because they
think they see some of the careless and irregular strokes of
chance and fortune intermixed with it in the many evils and
calamities of life. Now it is impossible for God himself to
answer these two objections to the satisfaction of these men ;
and that I think is a sufficient answer to them both. For
should God vindicate his justice to the satisfaction of these

GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE. 189

men, by punishing in this world every sin that is committed
according to its desert, there would be very little room for
the exercise of goodness: if every man must suffer as much
as he sins, the very best men will be great sufferers ; much
greater sufferers than any of them now are, though their
sufferings are made another objection against providence ;
and there will be as many formidable examples of misery,
as there are atheists and profligate sinners, and this would
be an unanswerable objection against the goodness of provi-
dence ; for, how good soever God might be, if he must
punish every sin, he has no opportunity to show his good-
ness. And, on the other hand, should God be as these
men would have him ; that is, that to prove himself good
he should not inflict any evils or calamities on men, what-
ever their sins or provocations are ; that, whereas God
planted paradise only for man in innocence, the whole
world should be now a paradise, though there is not an in-
nocent man in it ; this would be as unanswerable an objec-
tion against the justice of providence : so that these men
have taken care always to have an objection against provi-
dence; for according to their notions of justice and good-
ness, God cannot be both ; which is a certain demonstration
that they mistake the true notion of justice and goodness ;
they are both great and excellent virtues ; both are essential
to the idea of God ; both are necessary to the good govern-
ment of the world ; and therefore both of them must be very
consistent and reconcilable with each other, both in notion
and practice.

I have already vindicated the justice of God's providence ;
and there is no great difficulty in vindicating his goodness,
the objections against which are founded in plain and evi-
dent mistakes, and therefore will receive an easy answer.
And I shall first consider what the mistakes are, and then
particularly answer the objections.

1. As for the first, the mistakes either relate to the
nature of God's goodness, or to the nature of good and
evil, or to the goodness of providence and government.

1. The mistake concerning God's goodness: and the
fundamental mistake is this, that men consider the goodness
of God absolutely without relation to the nature, quality, or

190 GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE.

desert of the subjects who are to receive good. They con-
template goodness in its abstracted idea and notion ; and
whatever they conceive belongs to the most perfect good-
ness that they expect from God in the government of this
world ; and if they do not find it, they conclude that the
world is not governed by a good providence. As for
instance —

It is certainly an act of the most perfect goodness to
make all creatures happy ; not to suffer any miseries to enter
into the world : that there be nothing to deface the beauty,
or to disturb the harmony of it ; no lamentable sights nor
doleful complaints to move our pity, nor to terrify us with
the melancholy presages of our own sufferings, nor to make
frightful impressions on us of a severe and inexorable deity.
Could they see such a world as this they would thankfully
own the Divine goodness, and securely rejoice in it. But
this world wherein we live gives us a very different pros-
pect ; we see a great many miserable people, and feel a
great many miseries ourselves, and many times expect and
fear a great many more. And how unlike is this world to
wThat we should have imagined the world to have been had
w7e never seen it, but only heard of a world made and go-
verned by infinite and perfect goodness? Indeed, all the
objections against the goodness of providence do ultimately
resolve into this : that the world is not so happy as a good
God can make it, and therefore a good providence does not
govern the world, and a plain answer to this will enable
any man to answer all the rest.

And the answer to this is short and plain : that infinite
and perfect goodness will do all the good which can be
wisely done, but not all the good which men may expect
from infinite goodness. For the external exercise of good-
ness must not bear proportion to the infinite fulness of the
Divine nature, but to the state, condition, and capacities of
creatures ; and therefore we must not measure the goodness
of providence merely by external events, which may some-
times be very calamitous, but by that proportion such events
bear to the state and deserts of mankind, or of particular
men in this world. The best man in the world does not
think himself bound to do all the good he can to every one

GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE. 191

he meets ; he will make a difference between a child and a
servant, between a friend and an enemy, between a good
and a bad man, and much more must a good prince and a
good magistrate do so, and much more must God, who is
the supreme and sovereign Lord of the world.

We shall better understand this, if we view man in his
several states, and observe how the Divine goodness suits
itself to those different states.

The Divine goodness made the world and made man ;
and hence we may take our estimate what the goodness of
God is, and what it can and will do when goodness freely
exerts itself, without any external impediment to set bounds
to it.

And if we believe the history of the creation, the Divine
goodness displayed itself in a most beautiful and glorious
scene. The new-made world, and the new-created man,
were as perfect and happy as the perfect ideas of their na-
tures in the Divine mind. This was the world which God
made ; such a happy world as it became perfect goodness to
make ; and hence we learn what the goodness of God is,
and what it would always do; for when the Divine goodness
made the world, he made it what he would have it be.

But man did not continue what God had made him. He
sinned, and by sin brought death and misery into the world.
And, therefore, though we do not now see such a happy
state of things, we must not hence conclude that the world
is not governed by perfect goodness; but that a perfect
state of ease and happiness in this world does neither be-
come the providence of God, nor is good for sinners; and
we have reason to conclude this, not only because God
made innocent man happy, but because he has prepared a
much greater happiness for good men in the next world :
which shows that the change is not in God, but in men.
He made man happy at first, and he will make good men
perfectly happy hereafter. But though he be always the
same, as good now as he was when he first made the world,
and as he will be when he shall reward all good men in the
resurrection of the just ; yet the degenerate state of man-
kind requires such a mixture of good and evil as we now
see, and feel, and complain of in this world.

192 GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE.

For it is a very different case to see goodness acting
alone, and pursuing its own gracious inclinations, and to
see it limited and confined by justice, which must be the
case when mankind are sinners. For then goodness cannot
do what is absolutely best, but what is best in such cases ;
and when goodness and justice are reconcilable, as they
are in a probation state, there wisdom must prescribe the
temperament.

Justice requires the punishment of sinners, but goodness
is inclined to spare; and wisdom judges when and in what
manner it is fit to punish or to spare. An incurable sinner
is the object of strict and rigorous justice ; a corrigible sin-
ner is the object both of justice and goodness; his sin de-
serves correction and punishment; but that he is corrigible
makes him the object of patience and discipline. And this
we must suppose to be the difference between the case of
apostate angels and of fallen man, and therefore justice im-
mediately seized on those apostate spirits ; but God in infi-
nite goodness promised a Saviour to mankind.

This makes the present state of mankind in this world to
be a state of trial and discipline — to reclaim and reform sin-
ners by the various methods of grace and providence ; and
this changes both the very notion and exercises of God's
goodness and justice in this world ; for we must expect no
more of either than what a state of trial and discipline will
allow.

The not considering this distinction between absolute
goodness and justice, and the goodness and justice of dis-
cipline, has been the occasion of all those objections which
have been made both against the goodness and justice of
providence.

We must confess that the world is not so happy as per-
fect, and absolute, and unconfined goodness could make it.
Nor are all sinners so miserable as strict and absolute justice
could make them. But this signifies no more than that
heaven and hell are not in this world, as no man ever pre-
tended they were. And yet strict and rigorous justice, and
perfect and absolute goodness, wherever they are exercised,
must make hell and heaven. But this life is a middle state
between both, and as men behave themselves here, so they

GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE. 193

shall have their portions either in heaven or hell: and there-
fore the goodness and justice of God in this world is of a
different nature from that goodness or justice which is exer-
cised in heaven or hell, proportioned to the state of disci-
pline and trial in this life.

Goodness indeed has the predominant government, and
justice is only the minister of goodness in this world, as it
must be in a state of discipline, when corrections as well as
favours are intended for good. To put man in a state of
probation and trial to recover that immortality he had lost,
wTas an act of great goodness ; and whatever severe methods
are used to reform sinners, is as great an expression of
goodness as it is to force and to compel them to be happy;
as it is to cut off a hand or a leg to preserve life. And if
we will allow this world to be a state of trial and discipline
for another world, and wisely consider, not what pure,
simple, and absolute goodness, but wThat the goodness of
discipline, requires, it will give us an easy answTer to all the
objections against the goodness of providence.

(1.) As first, the goodness of God in a state of discipline
will not admit of a complete and perfect happiness in this
wTorld ; for that is no state of discipline. Good men them-
selves, wrere they as happy in this world as they could wish,
would not be very fond of another world, nor learn those
mortifying and self-denying virtues which are necessary to
prepare them for a spiritual life : and bad men would grow
more in love with this world, and sin on without check or
control : the miseries and afflictions of this life wTean good
men from this world, and lay great restraints upon bad men;
which justifies both the wisdom and goodness of God in
those many miseries which mankind suffer.

(2.) But yet the goodness of God, in a state of discipline,
requires that this world should be so tolerable a place as
to make life desirable ; his own glory is concerned in this ;
for no man would believe that the world was made, or is
governed by a good God, were there no visible and sensible
testimonies of a kind and good providence : but though
God cursed the earth for the sin of man, yet he has not de-
faced the characters of his own wisdom and goodness, but
-till "the invisible things of God, from the creation of the

17

194 GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE.

world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that
are made, even his eternal power and Godhead," Rom.i. 20;
and in the most degenerate state of mankind, "God left not
himself without a witness, giving them rain from heaven,
and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and glad-
ness." What dreadful apprehensions would this give man-
kind of God, were this world nothing else but a scene of
trouble and misery? What encouragement would this be
to sinners to repent and reform ? What hopes could they
reasonably conceive of pardon and forgiveness, had they no
experience of God's goodness and patience towards sinners?
W7hat place would there be for the exercise of moral or
Christian virtues, of faith, and hope, and trust in God, of
self-denial, and a contempt of this world, were not this
world a very tolerably happy place, though a changeable
scene ? A state of discipline must neither be a state of
perfect happiness, nor misery, but an interchangeable scene
of very agreeable pleasures and tolerable evils, sufficient to
exercise the virtues, and to correct the vices of mankind :
and this I take the state of this life to be ; so happy, that
few men are so miserable as to be weary of it ; and yet so
intermixed with troubles, as to exercise the virtues of good
men, and to correct the wicked : and this is what becomes
the goodness of God to do for us in a state of discipline.

(3.) The goodness of God seems to require, that in such a
mixed and changeable scene, there should be some remark-
able difference made between the good and the bad; for
the design of Providence, in a state of trial, is to encourage
virtue, and to deter men from sin ; and, therefore, there
ought to be such a visible difference made as may be suffi-
cient, if men will wusely consider things, to encourage good
men, and to restrain the wicked.

I do not mean that all good men should be happy and
prosperous, and all bad men miserable, as to their external
fortune; for a state of discipline will not allow this; all
good men cannot bear a prosperous fortune, and some bad
men may grow better by it, or may be fit instruments of
Providence ; and such a visible distinction between all good
and bad men belongs to the day of judgment, not to a state
of trial, and therefore we see this is not done ; and bad

GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE. 195

men, who have the least reason to complain of it, make it
an objection against providence.

But though providence many times seems to make little
difference between good and bad men, as to external events,
yet God very often takes care to expound his providences,
which makes a very sensible difference between them.

Natural conscience is one of God's interpreters of pro-
vidence, which terrifies bad men with a sense of guilt,
when they suffer, and threatens them with a more terrible
vengeance, but supports good men under their sufferings
wTith better hopes; that bad men suffer like malefactors, with
rage, and fear, and despair ; good men with patience, and
submission, and joyful expectations of a reward.

All the promises of Scripture are made to good men ; and
all the threatenings of it denounced against bad men ; and
this expounds providence ; for this assures good men that
all the good they receive is the effect of God's care and
goodness to them ; and that the evils they suffer are either
his fatherly correction, or the trial and exercise of their vir-
tues ; but that the prosperity of bad men is only the effect
of God's patience, or to make them instruments of his
providence ; and that their sufferings are the punishment of
their sins, and the forerunners of future vengeance, except
they repent. And when we know this, it makes a vast
difference between the prosperity and the sufferings of good
and bad men ; and because this is not always visible in ex-
ternal events, God has taken care to reveal it to us.

But God has made this very visible in most of the ordi-
nary calamities of life, which are the natural effects of sin;
of intemperance, luxury, lust, pride, passion, covetousness,
idleness, and prodigality ; most of those evils which bad
men suffer, are owing to such vices, and all these good men
escape ; and sometimes their virtues advance them to riches
and honours, and when they do not, yet they make them
contented and pleased : but when wickedness makes men
great, it commonly makes them a mark for envy, and ad-
vances them to tumble them down.

Nay, though the Divine providence does not always make
a difference between good and bad men, as to their exter-
nal fortunes, yet sometimes God makes a very remarkable

196 GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE.

difference between them : gives such signal demonstrations
of his anger against bad men, and of his care and protec-
tion of the good, that it forces men to acknowledge —
" Verily there is a reward for the righteous; verily he is a
God that judgeth in the earth:" Ps. lviii. 11. And a few
such examples as these (though both sacred and profane
story furnish us with very many) are sufficient to make as
visible a distinction between the good and the bad, as the
providence of God in this world requires.

(4.) But yet the goodness of providence, in a state of dis-
cipline, will not allow of greater evils and calamities than
are necessary to the good government of the world : for this
is a state of discipline and government, not of judgment.
Good men must suffer no more than what will increase their
virtue, not prove a temptation to sin : " The rod of the
wicked must not always rest on the lot of the righteous,
lest he also put forth his hand unto iniquity." The suffer-
ings of bad men, who are in a curable state, must be only
proportioned to their cure, unless the evil of the example
requires a severer punishment to warn other sinners. As
for hardened and incorrigible sinners, the goodness of God
is not concerned for them, but he may serve his providence
on them as he pleases ; either by making them the ministers
of his justice, to execute such a terrible vengeance on the
world as none but such hardened sinners would execute ;
or by making them the lasting monuments of his own ven-
geance, as he did a hardened and incorrigible Pharaoh : for
this is for the great good of the world, and a state of dis-
cipline requires such examples ; and such sinners are fit to
be made examples of: and all such severities as these are
very reconcilable with the goodness of God in a state of
discipline.

(5.) The goodness of God in a state of discipline not
only allows but requires great patience, long-suffering, and
goodness, to sinners : for this is necessary to reclaim sin-
ners, to give them time for repentance, and to invite and
encourage them to repent by all the arts and methods of
goodness, as well as to overawe them by judgments and
severities. Promises are as necessary to reform sinners as
threatenings ; for hope is as powerful a principle as fear ;

GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE. 197

and love and goodness work more kindly upon ingenuous
minds, and melt those whom judgments cannot bow nor
break. Thus a kind parent deals with a prodigal son, tries
him with kindness as well as severity ; and thus God deals
with sinners. He is good to the evil and to the good, and
maketh his sun to shine, and his rain to fall, upon the just
and upon the unjust : and this is such goodness as is proper
only for a state of discipline.

(6.) The goodness of God, even in a state of discipline,
requires that there should be a great deal more good than
evil in the world ; for since goodness governs the world,
even in this state, the good must be predominant, that not-
withstanding all the evils and calamities there are, it may
still be very visible that the world is governed by a good
God. That this is so, I think I need not prove, for we all
see and feel it. The evils that are in the wrorld bear no
proportion at all to the good : there are some few examples
of miserable people, but the generality of mankind are very
happy ; and even these miserable people have great allays
of their miseries, and if wTe take an estimate of their whole
lives, have a much greater share of good than evil.

The judgments of God are sometimes very terrible, but
they come but seldom : for a year's plague or famine, wTe
enjoy some ages of health and plenty. And the ruins and
desolations of war are recompensed and forgot by a more
lasting and flourishing peace. But the goodness of God
moves in a constant and uniform round, visits all parts and
corners of the earth, as the sun does with its light and heat :
that considering how little mankind deserve from God in
this corrupt and degenerate state, how highly they provoke
him every day, and how constantly and universally he does
good to them, instead of complaining of the many evils
that are in the world, we have reason to admire the patience
and goodness of God to sinners.

This I take to be a true account of the nature and exer-
cise of God's goodness, as it respects a state of discipline ;
and so it must be considered in the government of this
world ; and then all the objections against the goodness of
providence vanish of themselves: though this world be not
so happy as perfect and absolute goodness can make it, yet.

17*

198 GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE.

God abounds in all the expressions of goodness which a
state of trial and discipline will allow, which is all that we
can reasonably expect, and all that God can wisely do for
us in this state.

2. Especially if we consider, in the next place, what
the true notion of good and evil is in a state of discipline ;
for this is another occasion of most objections against the
goodness of providence ; that men consider human nature
absolutely, and appeal to their senses for the notions and
differences of good and evil, without any regard to the pre-
sent state of human nature ; that is, by good and evil, they
mean only natural good and evil; such as pleasure or pain,
a state of ease and rest, or of trouble, and labour, and diffi-
culty, riches or poverty, honour or disgrace, and measure
the goodness of providence by the natural good or evil that
is in the world ; if mankind and particular men be happy
and prosperous, then God does good, and they will acknow-
ledge that providence is good ; if they be afflicted, this is
very evil, and therefore an objection against the goodness
of providence. But does not every man know the differ-
ence between the good of the end and the good of the
. means? The end is happiness, which is the good of nature,
and therefore whatever is the happiness, or any part of the
happiness of man, is the good of nature ; the good of the
means is that which is good to make men happy ; and the
more effectual it is to promote our happiness, the greater
good it is, though it may be a great natural evil ; and what-
ever will hinder or destroy our happiness is a great evil,
though it may be a great natural good. In all such cases,
things are good or evil with respect to their end, or to their
natural or moral consequences : when we are in health, that
is good food which is pleasant and wholesome, and will
preserve health ; but the same diet may be very hurtful and
fatal when we are sick. Indulgence or severity to children
is either good or evil, in proportion to their tempers and
inclinations, as it is apt either to corrupt their manners, or to
train them up to piety and virtue. And therefore, when we
speak of discipline and government, which is the true notion
of God's providence in this world, we must not consider so
much what is naturally good and evil, as what the state of

GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE. 199

those is who are the subjects of discipline, and what is good
for them in such a state ; for how many natural evils soever
there are in the world, the evils of afflictions and judgments,
of plague, and famine, and sword, if such severities be
good for mankind, it is as great an argument of the good-
ness of providence to inflict them, as it is for a parent, or a
prince, to reclaim and reform his children, or his subjects,
by great severities : and an easy and prosperous state, when
the wickedness of mankind requires severe restraints, is no
more an act of kindness and goodness, than the fond indul-
gence of parents is to disobedient children.

So that this takes away the very foundation of this objec-
tion against the goodness of providence. The principal
objection is, that there are a great many evils and miseries
in the world. We grant it ; but then we say, that God is
very good in it, and that these natural evils, though they
are grievous, are not evils to us, because they are, and are
intended, for our good. We can neither prove nor disprove
the goodness of providence merely by external events, espe-
cially with respect to particular men. For prosperity is not
always good for us, nor is affliction always for our hurt;
God may make some men prosperous in his anger, and
chastise others in great love and goodness ; and this I take
to be the meaning of the wise man, Eccl. ix. 1, 2: "No
man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before
them ; for all things come alike to all ; there is one event
to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good, and to
the clean, and to the unclean ; to him that sacrificeth, and
to him that sacrificeth not; as is the good, so is the sinner ;
and he that sweareth as he that feareth an oath ;" which
does not signify that the Divine providence makes no dis-
tinction between good and bad men ; for God does love
good men and hate the wicked, and his providence makes
a great difference between them, though this difference is
not always visible in external events. For when the same
event happens to both, whether it be a natural good or evil,
it may be an act of favour to good men, and of judgment
to the wicked. For external prosperity or adversity in a
state of discipline, may either be good or evil ; and may be
good for one, when at the same time it is e\ il to another.

200 GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE.

And therefore the providence of God may make a difference,
when the external event makes none. The wise man con-
fesses, "this is an evil among all things that are done under
the sun, that there is one event unto all." Bad men, who
look no further than external events, make a very bad use
of it, and conclude that God makes no difference when they
see none made. And thus "the heart of the sons of men
is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live,
and after that they go to the dead :" Eccl. ix. 3. But those
who consider wisely see no reason from external events,
from such a promiscuous distribution of good and evil,
either to deny a providence, or the goodness and justice of
providence ; since good and evil in this state are not the
things themselves, but in the end for which they are in-
tended, and which they serve.

It is of great consequence rightly to understand this mat-
ter, to give us a firm persuasion of the goodness of God,
even when he corrects and punishes, and to cure our dis-
content at the prosperity of the wicked. And therefore I
shall briefly represent to you the state of mankind in this
world, and what is good in such a state.

Man has sinned, and man must die. But God has, in his
infinite goodness to mankind, sent down his own Son into
the world to save sinners, who by death hath destroyed him
who had the power of death, that is the devil, and hath
brought life and immortality to light by the gospel. This
removes trie scene of happiness from this wTorld to the next,
and makes this present life only a state of probation for
eternity. If we obey the laws of our Saviour, and imitate
his example, he has promised to raise us again, when our
dead bodies are putrefied in the grave, into immortal life.
But he has threatened all the miseries of an eternal death
against incorrigible sinners ; so that the greatest good that
God or man can do for us in this world is by all the wise
methods of discipline and government, to prepare us for the
happiness of the next, and to preserve us from those eternal
miseries which will be the portion of sinners. Though
there are thousands of foolish sinners who never consider
this, yet all mankind agree that that is best for us in this
world which will make us eternally happy in the next ; and

GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE. 201

that is a very great evil which will betray us to eternal
miseries. There are a great many infidels who believe
neither a heaven nor a hell ; but yet these very infidels are
not so void of common sense as to deny, supposing there
were a heaven and a hell, that to be the best condition for
us in this world, whatever it be upon other accounts, which
will carry us to heaven, and keep us out of hell.

Now, if this be the case, there cannot be so great evils in
this world but what may be good for us, and therefore may
be an expression of God's goodness to us. For if pain and
sickness, poverty and disgrace, wean us from this world,
subdue our lusts, make us good men, and qualify us for
eternal rewards, though they are great afflictions, yet they
are very good as the way, though a rough and difficult way,
to happiness.

That prosperity does sometimes corrupt men's lives and
manners, make them proud and sensual, regardless of God
and of religion, and so fond of this world that they never
care to think of another ; and that affliction 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 virtues 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 everywhere assures us,
and the natural conclusion from hence is, that afflictions are
not evil, nor any objection against the goodness of provi-
dence. If they prove evil to us, it is our own fault, for
God designs them for good. As the apostle 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 chas-
tisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards,
and not sons:" Heb. xii. 6 — 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

202 GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE.

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
ourselves to God, and leave him to choose our condition
for us. liJVam pro jucundis aptissima quceque dobunt Dii."
"That though God will not always give us those things
wThich are most pleasant, he will give us what is most pro-
fitable for us " And if we judge of good and evil, not by
sense nor 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 oftener corrupt men's manners, and be-
tray 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, ourselves 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 ob-
jection : 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 reli-
gion gains nothing by this. It silences indeed the objec-
tions 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 good-
ness of providence.

For though we cannot knew love or hatred merely bv

GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE. 203

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
method of discipline. Good men are encouraged and re-
warded 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 punish-
ments the methods of discipline ; which could have no
efficacy in them either to encourage good men, or 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 good-
ness 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 virtue 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 virtue; 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 overawe
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, though the external
events of providence in such cases make little distinction
between them : we see in all these instances manifest proofs

204 GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE.

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 influ-
ence 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.

3. There is another mistake about the nature of govern-
ment, 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 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 affright and astonish the world, acts of the greatest good-
ness 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 oppres-
sions ; and the most exemplary vengeance executed upon
such private or public oppressors is a great act of goodness
and a great deliverance to the oppressed. Ps. cxxxvi. the
Psalmist exhorts us, to " give thanks unto the Lord, for he
is good, for his mercy endureth for ever." And among
other expressions of the divine goodness and mercy, he men-
tions 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,

GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE. 205

but overthrew 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 good-
ness of providence. For there are few bad men who suf-
fer any remarkable vengeance but that their sufferings are a
great kindness and deliverance to others, and it may be to
the public, 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 judg-
ment, unto thee, O Lord, will I sing." Ps. ci. 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 public 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 execution of vengeance,
and justifies the patience and long-suffering of God to sin-
ners.

If such examples in any measure reform the world, as
God intends they should, it makes this world a much hap-
pier place ; for the better men are, the less hurt, and the
more good they will do ; and the less evil there is commit-
ted 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 commit-
ted in the world after such terrible warnings as these, God
may exercise great patience and forbearance towards sin-
ners, without the least blemish to his holiness or justice : for
such frightful executions convince the world of God's
justice ; and when God has publicly vindicated the honour
of his justice, he may try gentler methods, and glorify his
mercy and patience towards sinners : and thus God pun-
ishes, that he may spare ; is sometimes very terrible in his
judgments, to prevent the necessity of striking often, that

18

206 GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE.

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 sin-
ners as long as this world lasts, and is a public and standing
confutation of atheism ; of such " scoffers assay, Where is
the promise 01 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, with-
out 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 con-
futed 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 threatened, 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 iii. 5 — 7. Such des-
tructions 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 ex-
ample of a Divine vengeance against all uncleanness and
unnatural lusts. As St. Jude 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 ven-
geance of eternal fire." — 7th verse.

Thus the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, which
was attended with the most terrible circumstances that we
ever met 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 ter-

GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE. 207

rible 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 an'l defend the innocent, and reclaim other offend-
ers, 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 sin-
ners, 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 pro-
vidence. Thus it was in the four empires which preyed
upon each other, and were at last swallowed up by the Ro-
man powers ; though they made great destructions in the
world, yet they carried learning and civility into barbarous
countries, that the general state of the world was much the
better for it, and mankind the better disposed to receive the
gospel, which then began to be preached by Christ .and his
apostles.

But this is enough to satisfy us, what little reason there is
to impeach the goodness of providence, upon account of
those many evils which mankind suffer : if we consider what
the goodness of God requires of him, and what is good for
us in a state of discipline, and what is necessary to the good
government of the world, neither our own, nor other men's
sufferings, will tempt us to question the goodness of provi-
dence.

I proceed now particularly to examine those objections
which are made against the goodness of providence : which
are reduced to these two —

1. The many miseries which are in the world.

2. God's unequal care of his creatures, or the unequal

208 GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE.

distribution of good and evil, both as to particular men and
public societies.

What I have already said contains a sufficient answer to
all this; bat it will not be amiss for our more abundant satis-
faction, to consider some things more largely and parricu-
larly.

I. I shall begin with the many miseries of human life.
Now this objection relates either to the being of any mise-
ries in the world, or to the number, nature, and quality of
them.

1. As for the first ; some will not allow God to be good,
while there are any miseries in the world : — for, say they, a
good God should not suffer any miseries to enter into the
world : this I observed and answered before ; that the good-
ness of providence must bear proportion to the nature, qua-
lities, and deserts of creatures ; and since man, who was
created innocent and happy, forfeited his original happiness
by sin, we must now consider, not what absolute, uncon-
fined goodness would do ; but what becomes a state of dis-
cipline ; what is good for sinners, and for a corrupt and
degenerate world: and this will abundantly justify the good-
ness of providence in all the evils which mankind suffer, as
you have already heard.

But this will not satisfy some men ; for their great quarrel
is, that God made such a creature as could sin, and be
miserable ; that is, that God created angels and men ; that
he endowed them with reason and understanding, and a
liberty of choice ; for such creatures as can choose may
choose wrong. But this is not an objection against the
goodness of providence, but against the goodness of the
creation ; and if it proves any thing, it proves that God
ought not to have made the world ; for if goodness would
not allow him to make a reasonable creature, who might
make himself miserable ; wisdom would not allow him to
make a world without any reasonable creatures in it.

I confess I am at a great loss to know how they would
lay their objection so as to bear upon the goodness of God,
and what they intend by it when they have done. For let
us consider wherein creating goodness consists.

Does the goodness of a maker require any more of him

GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE. 209

than to make all things according to perfect and excellent
ideas, and to make them as perfect as their ideas are?
What is it then that they find fault with in God's making
angels and men ? Is not the idea of a reasonable being and
a free agent the idea of an excellent and happy creature ?
Are there any greater perfections than knowledge, and wis-
dom, and understanding, and liberty of choice ? Is there
any happiness like the happiness of a reasonable nature ?
Nay, is there any thing that deserves the name of happiness
besides this? Will you call senseless matter, nay, will you
call beasts happy ? And is the only idea of a happy nature
in the world a reasonable objection against creating good-
ness ?

If then there be no fault to be found in the idea of a rea-
sonable creature, wras there any defect in the workmanship ?
Did not God make men and angels as perfect as their ideas?
and give them all the happiness which belonged to their
natures ? If he did not, this would have been a great fault
in their creation; if he did, creating goodness has done all
that belonged to it to do.

But I would gladly know whence they have this notion
of creating goodness, that it must make no creature which
can make itself miserable ? Justice is as essential to the
notion of a God as goodness ; and yet it is impossible that
justice should belong to the idea of God, if it were irrecon-
cilable with the Divine goodness to make such creatures
who may deserve well or ill. For justice respects merit,
and consists in rewards and punishments. And if the good-
ness of God will not suffer him to make a creature which
shall deserve either to be rewarded or punished, goodness
and justice cannot both of them belong to the idea of a God.

But what pretence is there for any man to say that because
the devil and his angels fell from their first happy state,
therefore God was not good in creating the angelical nature?
or because so many men sin and make themselves misera-
ble, therefore God is not good in creating man? when there
are so many myriads of blessed angels and saints eternally
happy in the vision and fruition of God, and those who are
not so are miserable only by their own fault. Not to have
made a happy nature, had been a just blemish to the Divine

18*

210 GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE.

goodness — to make happy creatures, though they make
themselves miserable, is none ; no more than it is to make
a free agent, who alone is capable of happiness, and who
alone can make himself miserable. None but a reasonable
nature is capable of any great happiness ; and to make a
reasonable creature without liberty of choice, and conse-
quently without a possibility of sinning and being miserable,
is a contradiction. For what does reason serve for but to
direct our choice ? And indeed all the pleasures of virtue,
which are the greatest. pleasures of human nature, result
from this liberty, that we choose well when we might have
chosen ill. And if it becomes a good God to make a happy
nature, it becomes him to make a reasonable and free
agent, though many such creatures may make themselves
miserable.

But suppose we could not answer this objection, that God
has made such creatures as both could and do make them-
selves miserable, what is it they intend by it ? Would they
prove that God did not make the world, because he made
angels and men, some of wThom have made themselves
devils? Those who are saints and angels still shall answer
this objection, when any man has confidence enough seri-
ously to make it. Or would they prove that God does not
govern the world with goodness and justice, because he
has made such creatures, as by the good or ill use of their
liberty, make themselves the subjects of both ? There is no
other necessary answer to that, but only to ask, what place
there could be for a governing Providence, were there no
creatures who could deserve well or ill ?

But this is enough in answer to an objection which no
considering man would seriously make. The more consi-
derable objection relates to the many evils and miseries that
are in the world ; and the only objection which, if it were
true, could have any weight in it is, that the miseries of this
life are so many, so great, and so universal, that they over-
balance the pleasures and comforts of it ; that a wise man
would rather choose not to be, than to live in this world.
And though the generality of mankind are of another mind,
and therefore need no answer to this, yet they think they
have the Scripture on their side. For the wise man, Eccl.

GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE. 211

iv. 2, 3, tells us: "Wherefore I praised the dead, which
are already dead, more than the living which are yet alive:
Yea, better is he than both they, who hath not yet been,
who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun."

This at first view looks like a very sharp satire upon hu-
man life — that it is better to die than to live — and that not
to live at all is better than either. And were this univer-
sally true, it were a vain thing to think of vindicating the
goodness of Providence in the government of this world,
which has nothing good or desirable in it. That this is not
the meaning of the words we may certainly conclude from
those many promises which are made to good men in this
life, and God would not promise good men what is worth
nothing.

But the explication of this text will contribute very
much to the understanding of this whole matter ; and there-
fore I shall

1. Show you that this is not universally true, nor intended
so to be understood by the wise man, that it is better to die,
or not to be, than it is to live.

2. Show you in what sense the wise man meant this, viz.,
with respect to the many miseries and calamities which some
ages of the world, and which some men in all ages are ex-
posed to ; and how this also is to be understood.

(1.) That this is not universally true ; that it is better to
die, or not to be born, than it is to live. This, I confess,
was taught by some of the ancient philosophers and poets
in too general terms : that the first best thing is not to be
born ; and the next to die quickly. But nobody believed
them, for most men felt it otherwise ; that " light is sweet,
and it is a pleasant thing for the eyes to behold the sun :"
Eccl. xi. 7. There is a sense indeed wherein this may be
true. If we acknowledge that this life in its greatest glory
and perfection is the most imperfect state that a reasonable
soul can live in, as most certainly it is, then those philoso-
phers who did believe that the souls of men lived and acted
before they were born into this world, and were thrust into
these bodies in punishment for what they had done amiss
in a former state, had reason to say, that the best thing is
not to be born ; for upon this supposition, it is best for them

212 GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE.

to continue in that state of happiness, and not to come into
this world. And if, when they die, they return to their
original state of happiness, the next best thing for them is
to die quickly ; and it is most probable that this was their
secret meaning in it. For if we only consider the advan-
tages and disadvantages of life, in ordinary cases life is very
desirable ; so desirable that it makes death the king of
terrors.

It would be a great reproach to the wisdom and goodness
of Providence were this life so contemptible, or so calami-
tous a state, that it were more desirable not to be, than to
live in this world. But no man yet ever made life an ob-
jection against Providence, though we know they do the
miseries and calamities of life. Men may make themselves
miserable without any reproach to Providence, and most of
the miseries that are in the world are owing to men's own
fault or folly. But had God made life itself so contemptible
or miserable a state as to be worse than not being, this had
been an unanswerable objection.

I am sure we are very ungrateful to Almighty God, if we
do not acknowledge that bountiful provision which he has
made for the happiness of mankind in this world. For
what is wanting on God's part to make man as happy as
he can be here? We want no sense which is useful to life,
we want no objects to gratify those senses; and which is
very considerable, the most useful, and necessary, and de-
lightful objects, are most common, and such as mankind
pretty equally share in. There is not such a mighty differ-
ence, as some men imagine, between the poor and the rich:
in pomp, and show, and opinion, there is a great deal, but
little as to the true pleasures and satisfactions of life : they
enjoy the same earth, and air, and heavens; hunger and
thirst make the poor man's meat and drink as pleasant and
refreshing as all the varieties which cover a rich man's table;
and the labour of a poor man is more healthful, and many
times more pleasant too than the ease and softness of the
rich ; to be sure much more easy than the cares and solici-
tudes, the pride and ambition, discontents, and envyings,
and emulations, which commonly attend an exalted fortune.

These indeed at best are but mean pleasures, the plea

GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE. 213

sures of sense, which are the lowest pleasures a reasonable
soul is capable of; but yet they are so entertaining, that
the generality of mankind think it worth living to enjoy
them, nay, most men know little of any other pleasures but
these ; and as philosophically as some may despise the body
and all its pleasures in words; there are but a very few who
can live above the body, and all its pleasures, while they
live in it. But how mean soever these pleasures be, it is
certain they make mankind, notwithstanding all the common
allays they meet with, not only patient of living, but desi-
rous to live.

And yet there are more noble and divine pleasures which
men may enjoy in this world ; such as gratify the nobler
faculties of the soul — the pleasures of wisdom and know-
ledge, of virtue and religion; to know and worship God,
to contemplate the art, and beauty, and perfection of his
works, and to do good to men. These indeed are pleasures
that do not make us very fond of this body, nor of this
world ; for they do not arise from the body, nor are they
confined to this world. We have reason to hope, that
when we get loose from these bodies, our intellectual facul-
ties will be vastly improved ; that we shall know God after
another manner than we now do ; and discover new and
brighter glories, wThich are concealed from mortal eyes ; but
yet the pleasures of knowledge, and wisdom, and religion,
in this world, are very great and ravishing, and therefore
we either do, or may enjoy at present such pleasures as
make life very desirable : were there no other, nor happier
state after this, yet it were very desirable to come into this
world, and live as long as we can here, to enjoy the plea-
sures and satisfactions which may be enjoyed in this life :
and though we know there is a happier life after this, yet
there is so much to be enjoyed in this world as generally
makes even good men very well contented to stay here as
long as God pleases.

(2.) But still we must confess, that though men may live
very happily in this world, yet there may be such a state of
things, as, if we only compare the sensible advantages and
disadvantages of life, may make death much more desirable

214 GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE.

than life. " I praised the dead, which are already dead,
more than the living, which are yet alive."

For the understanding of which, we must consider that
this is one of those sayings which must not be strictly and
philosophically examined, nor stretched to the utmost sense
the words will bear ; it has some truth, and something of
figure and rhetoric in it, as many of our common and pro-
verbial speeches have, which must be expounded to a quali-
fied sense.

We must observe, then, that the design of this whole
book of Ecclesiastes is not to put us out of conceit with
life, but to cure our vain expectations of a complete and
perfect happiness in this world ; to convince us that there
is no such thing to be found in mere external enjoyments,
which are nothing but " vanity and vexation of spirit."
And the end of all this is, not to make us weary of life, but
to teach us to moderate our love to present things, and to
seek for happiness in the practice of virtue, in the know-
ledge and love of God, and in the hopes of a better life :
for this is the application of all. " Let us hear the conclu-
sion of the whole matter; fear God and keep his command-
ments, for this is the whole duty of man." Not only his
duty, but his happiness too ; " For God shall bring every
work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be
good, or whether it be evil:" Eccl. xii. 13, 14.

Among other arguments to prove how vain it is to expect
a complete happiness in this world, the wise man instances
the many oppressions and sufferings which men are liable to,
and which sometimes befall them, which may be so sore and
grievous, and make life so uneasy and troublesome, as may
tempt men, who only consult their own sensible satisfaction,
to prefer death before life : and this seems to be all that the
wise man means, that we may live in such a troublesome
and tempestuous state of things, that the mere external en-
joyments of this life cannot recompense the troubles of it ;
for this is all that his design required him to prove, the
vanity of all external enjoyments. And if ever the case be
such, that a wise man would choose rather to leave this
world, and to leave all these enjoyments behind him, than
to endure the troubles and calamities wherewith they are

GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE. 215

attended, they are vain indeed. But this does not prove
that a wise man ought to despise life for the troubles of it,
that he should choose to run out of the world to be eased
of its troubles : or that a wise man, notwithstanding all these
troubles, cannot make himself easy and happy in it ; and
consequently it does not prove that a wise man, in such
cases, should prefer death before life, though it may reason-
ably enough cure his fondness for life, and make him wel-
come death whenever God pleases to send it. Let us then
briefly consider these things. And,

1. Let us take a view of those troubles and disorders
which may make a wise man willing to part with all the
external enjoyments and pleasures of life to be rid of the
troubles of it, and make him think those men happy wrho
are escaped out of this world, or are not yet come into it.

King Solomon the Preacher gives us two accounts of
this ; the first before, the second immediately after this text.
In the first verse he tells us : " So I returned and considered
all the oppressions that are done under the sun, and beheld
the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no com-
forter ; and on the side of their oppressors there was power,
but they had no comforter." And hence he concludes,
" Wherefore I praised the dead that are already dead, more
than the living who are yet alive." Which signifies the
public oppressions either of the supreme power, or of sub-
ordinate magistrates. The second relates to private factions,
envyings, emulations, which many times make life as un-
easy as the public miscarriages of government. " Again, I
considered all travel, and every right work, that for this a
man is envied of his neighbour : This is also vanity and
vexation of spirit :" Eccl. iv. 4. These two contain most
of those evils in them which disturb and distract human life ;
but I shall not discourse this matter according to rules of art
and method, but shall beg leave to give you a short view
of such a state of things as might make a man, who consults
only his own ease, very contented to slip out of the world
and to leave foolish mortals to end the scuffle as well as
they can.

When a kingdom is in a strong convulsion, assaulted by
powerful enemies abroad, and divided by busy and restless

216 GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE.

factions at home ; when men live in perpetual fear and sus-
pense, know not what to call their own, nor how long they
shall enjoy it ; when some men think themselves bound in
conscience to ruin themselves, their country, and their reli-
gion ; others will sacrifice their country, and consequently
themselves too, to private ambitions, resentments, or revenge ;
and try their fortune over again in some new changes and
revolutions of government. When such public disputes as
these influence all inferior societies, and, as sometimes they
have done, corrupt public justice, dissolve the most intimate
friendships, make conversation uneasy or dangerous, set
every man's sword, or which is almost as fatal, every man's
tongue against his brother ; when no man's fame, no man's
life is secure ; but a slandering tongue may blast one, and
a perjured tongue destroy the other ; when zeal and faction
make characters of men, dispose of life, of honour, of estates,
and religion itself serves for little else but to inspire men
w7ith zeal and faction : when we cannot live in the world
without seeing, or hearing, or feeling ten thousand villanies
that are committed in it, wrhat should make any man fond
of life ? Why should we not come to good old Simeon's
Nunc demittis, " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart
in peace." Siich a troublesome state of things in this world
must needs make all considering men think of a better, and
as glad to get out of this as a mariner is to recover the ha-
ven after a violent storm at sea. Thus I say it must be,
if we consider only the present advantages or disadvantages
of life ; for perpetual fears and cares, strife, and contention,
oppression, injustice, defamation, &c, destroy the ease and
security of life, and the freedom and pleasure of conversa-
tion, without which all the other pleasures of life are very
tasteless.

And here I cannot but bewail the folly and distraction of
mankind, who are fond of life, and impatiently thirst after
happiness, but will not suffer either themselves or others to
live and to be happy. Who bite and devour each other,
and by their ungoverned passions raise such hurricanes in
the world, that there is no ease, nor rest, nor happiness to
be found but in a grave, or in a charnel-house: "Where
the wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary be

GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE. 217

at rest, where the prisoners rest together ; they hear not the
voice of the oppressor, the small and the great are there,
and the servant is free from his master:" Job iii. 17 — 19.

Did men consider what it is to live and to be happy, it
would convince them that there is nothing in this world
wrorth purchasing with eternal discontents, envyings, emu-
lations, jealousies, fears, with doing all the mischiefs and
injuries we can, and with suffering all the injuries which
others can do ; nay, indeed it is wonderful to me, that men's
own sense and feeling, if they will not be at the pains to
reason the matter, do not convince them of this. To live
is not merely to be, but to be happy ; and to be happy does
not signify merely to have, but to enjoy ; and to enjoy, re-
quires an easy, serene, undisturbed mind, which can relish
what it has, and extract its true pleasure and satisfaction.
The security of life, the easiness and freedom of conversa-
tion, when we fear no spies upon our words and actions, no
malicious eye, no slandering tongue ; when our lives are
spent in the exchange of good offices, in the endearments
and caresses of friendship, or at least in mutual civilities
and respects ; this is to live, and to be happy. A very
little of what is external will make such a state as this happy,
which all the power and all the riches of the world cannot
do ; when to get or keep it, divides the hearts and the in-
terests of men, ferments their passions, destroys friendships,
and all mutual trust and confidence, cantons and crumbles
human societies into parties and factions, and animates them
with a bitter zeal and rage, to reproach and vilify, supplant
and undermine each other ; if this be to be happy, or the
way to happiness in this world, it is time to seek for happi-
ness out of it.

2. And yet this is no reason for a wise and good man to
despise or abhor life, much less to force his passage out of
this world. There is no difficulty in persuading the gene-
rality of mankind to live, notwithstanding all the troubles
and calamities they meet with. The love of life is natural
and strong, and reconciles men to great miseries before they
desire that death should ease them. Self-murder is so un-
natural a sin, that it is, now-a-days, thought reason enough
to prove any man distracted ; we have too many sad exam-

19

218 GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE.

pies what a disturbed imagination will do, if that must pass
for natural distraction ; but we seldom or never hear, that
mere external sufferings, how severe soever, tempt men to
kill themselves. The Stoicks themselves, whose principle
it was to break their prison when they found themselves un-
easy, very rarely put it into practice : nature was too strong
for their philosophy ; and though their philosophy allowed
them to die when they pleased, nature taught them to live
as long as they could ; and we see that they seldom thought
themselves miserable enough to die.

There is no danger then of frightening men out of this
world by the troubles and calamities of it ; that I need not
concern myself with such fears, but yet without contradict-
ing Solomon, to vindicate the providence of God, and to
support and encourage good men, I shall briefly show you
that it is very desirable for a good man to live on, and that
a wise and good man may live very happily, notwithstand-
ing all the troubles and difficulties which he may, and some-
times must encounter in this world. For difficulties are a
glorious scene of virtue, and such a virtue as can conquer
difficulties has its rewards, its pleasures and satisfactions,
even in this life.

It is very necessary that good men should live in very
bad times, not only to reprieve a wicked world, that God
may not utterly destroy it, as he once did in the days of
Noah, when all flesh had corrupted its ways ; but also to
season human conversation, to give check to wickedness,
and to revive the practice of virtue by some great and bright
examples, and to redress those violences and injuries which
are done under the sun ; at least to struggle and contend
with a corrupt age, which will put some stop to the grow-
ing evil, and scatter such seeds of virtue as will spring up
in time. It is an argument of God's care of the world, that
antidotes grow in the neighbourhood of poisons ; that the
most degenerate ages have some excellent men, who seem
to be made on purpose for such a time, to stem the torrent,
and to give some ease to the miseries of mankind : and
would it become such men, when the world so much needs
them, to get out of it if they could ? to choose the quiet
and silent retirement of woods and deserts, or of the grave,

GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE. 219

to avoid the trouble of serving God, or doing good to men?
Great minds cannot do this ; virtue is made for difficulties,
and grows stronger and brighter for such trials ; it lays a
mighty obligation on mankind to serve the public good
with labour and danger ; to purchase the ease, and liberty,
and security of their country at the price of their own ease,
and the utmost hazard of their lives and fortunes; to oppose
'a hardened, laborious, and unwrearied virtue against zeal
and faction, and not, like Issachar, to crouch between two
burdens, and cry, rest is good. And it is a mighty plea-
sure to a virtuous mind to feel its own strength, to contend
with difficulties, as far as virtue and prudence direct, with
an unbroken mind ; it is always pleasant to do good, but
yet it has the sweeter relish the dearer we pay for it. This
is a pleasure above all the ease and luxury of the world ; it
not only sweetens all the troubles of life, but turns them into
triumphs ; to endeavour to bear up a sinking world, though
he should at last be crushed in the ruins of it, will make
the very ruins he sinks under, an illustrious monument of
his virtue : to do all that a wise and good man ought to
do, without regard to his own ease, to save a sinking church
and state, will make him fall with pleasure, and perpetuate
his memory with honour; for in spite of envy and detraction,
virtue will always be honourable in the grave. But I cannot
enlarge on these things, and therefore shall give you the re-
sult of all I have said in two or three observations.

(1.) That though the troubles and calamities which wTe
often meet with in this world do not prove life to be a con-
temptible state, or worse than not being, yet they do prove
life to be a very imperfect state : that the mere sensual plea-
sures and advantages of life, together w7ith these great allays,
are but vanity and vexation of spirit. Wise men see that
there can be no complete happiness in this world, and that
it is vain to expect it ; for how can this wTorld make us
happy, which, though it has its pleasures, has its troubles,
and cares, and disappointments too ; is an insecure and
mutable state, exposed to chance and accident, to the lusts
and passions of men ; is always checkered with prosperous
and adverse events ; has always a mixture of good and evil,
and many times the evil is the prevailing ingredient. And

220 GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE.

therefore, though the natural love of life, and the many
sweets and comforts of it, reconcile very miserable people to
living-, yet a wise man sees no reason to be fond of this
state, much less to dream of perfect and lasting happiness
in it.

(2.) The many troubles we are exposed to, plainly prove
that there is no happiness to be had in this wrorld, but in the
practice of virtue. It was a vain brag of the Stoics, that vir-
tue alone could make a man happy ; that their wise man could
be perfectly happy in Phalaris's bull; for virtue is not meat
and drink and clothes, cannot cure bodily pain and sick-
ness, nor satisfy the appetites and desires of the body; and
while a wrise man lives in a mortal body, he must feel the
wants and pains of it; and to be in want and pain is not
happiness. But yet thus much is certainly true, that nothing
can make a man happy in this world without the practice
of virtue ; and that when we must encounter the troubles
and difficulties of life, nothing can give us any degree of
ease and satisfaction but the practice of virtue. We may
meet with such troubles as will sour all our other enjoy-
ments, and make them unable to bear up our spirits, which
sink under their own weight, under the disorders of their
own passions : are tormented with fears, with disappoint-
ments, with envy, with rage ; and when they cannot bear
themselves, can bear nothing else, nor relish their wonted
pleasures: but you have already heard, that virtue has its
proper pleasures in the greatest difficulties ; inspires us with
prudent counsels to disentangle ourselves ; animates us with
courage and bravery to resist the evil, or to bear it ; sweetens
our labours with the satisfaction of great and generous ac-
tions for the public good ; keeps our own passions under
government, and triumphs over an adverse fortune, by rais-
ing the mind above it. By such helps as these a good man
may enjoy some competent measure of ease and satisfaction
in the worst condition ; but when such troubles surprise a
mind unarmed and unfortified with virtue, unable to resist
and unable to bear, we may then with great truth and rea-
son apply this text to him : u I praised the dead who are
already dead, more than the living, who are yet alive."
Were the state of this world always easy and prosperous

GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE. 221

there would be little need of passive virtues, though virtue
in general is always necessary to make men happy ; but all
men must be sensible how necessary passive and suffering
virtues are for an inconstant, troublesome and suffering state,
which is always in some degree the state of this world ; and
that will convince those who will consider it, how necessary
the practice of virtue is to make men happy.

(3.) Though the troubles of this life are no reason why a
good man should hasten his escape out of this world before
his time, yet they are a very good reason to make him con-
tented to leave this world, whenever God calls him out of it.
For though virtue will sweeten labours and difficulties, yet
no man would choose always to live in a state of war. Ease
and rest are very pleasant and refreshing after labour ; though
a prince be glorious in the field, covered with dust and
sweat, and sprinkled with the blood of his enemies, yet the
triumphs of a secure and quiet throne are greater and more
desirable. And this makes the grave too in some degree
acceptable after the toils and labours of virtue, that " there
the weary are at rest ;" especially since this rest is not a
state of insensibility ; for all the labours and difficulties of a
virtuous life a e infinitely to be preferred before the ease and
rest of knowing, and feeling, and being sensible of nothing,
which is the rest of a stone, and of things without life, not
the rest of a man. But " they rest from their labours, and
their works follow them ;" they rest in a peaceful and secure
enjoyment of endless happiness ; they rest from all the la-
bours of virtue and enjoy its rewards.

This is a sufficient justification of providence with respect
to the present evils and calamities of life ; for it is what ex-
actly becomes the goodness of providence in this world ;
such a mixed state of good and evil, as may wean us from
the tempting vanities of this life, and convince us that there
is no perfect happiness to be found here, which is necessary to
raise our hearts above this world, and to set our affections
upon things above, which is an eternal state of perfect ease
and rest : and since religion and virtue are necessary to our
future happiness, nothing can be better for us than such a
state of things as shall make virtue necessary to our present
happiness ; and since we must leave this world, and death

19*

222 GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE.

is the king of terrors, whatever reconciles us to death, and
makes it easy, may be reckoned one of the greatest pleasures
and securities of human life.

2. In answer to this objection against the goodness of
providence from those many evils and calamities that are in
the world, we must consider, that most of the evils of hu-
man life are owing to men's own wickedness and folly, and
it is very unreasonable to make those evils an objection
against providence, which men wilfully bring upon them-
selves. Thus the wise man long since stated this question :
" The foolishness of man perverteth his ways, and his heart
fretteth against the Lord:" Prov. xix. 3. Men make them-
selves miserable, and then reproach the Divine providence
with their miseries : and therefore I shall briefly show you,
that mankind undo themselves ; and that the evils which
men bring upon themselves are no reasonable objection
against the goodness of providence.

(1.) The first is a very proper subject for a satire against
the folly and wickedness of mankind, but needs no proof.
If we take a survey of the many miseries of human life, and
resolve them into their immediate and natural causes, we
shall find, that most men take great care io leave very
little for God to do in the p mishment of wi ,kedness in this
world.

There are but two visible causes of all the miseries that are
in the world ; either the disorders of nature or the wicked-
ness of men: by the disorders of nature I mean, unseason-
able weather, earthquakes, excessive heat or cold, great
droughts, or immoderate rains, thunders, lightnings, storms
and tempests, which occasion famines and plagues, great
sickness, or a great mortality ; these may very reasonably be
attributed to the more immediate hand of God, who directs
and governs nature ; but besides that, in such cases, the visi-
ble corruption of mankind justifies such severities ; how
rarely do these happen, and how few suffer by them, in
comparison with those many and constant evils which the
wickedness of men every day bring upon themselves and
others. For most of the other evils and calamities of life
are visibly owing to men's sins. Bodily sickness, sharp and
painful distempers, which shorten men's lives, or make them

GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE. 223

miserable, are the common effects of intemperance, luxury,
or wantonness; children inherit the diseases of their parents,
and come into the world only to cry and die, or to struggle
some few years in the very kingdom and territories of death ;
and to languish under those mortal wounds which they re-
ceived with the first beginnings of life.

Another great evil is poverty, which many men bring up-
on themselves by idleness, or prodigality, and some expen-
sive vices. It is not in every man's power by the greatest
prudence and industry to make himself rich ; for " time and
chance" happeneth to them all ; but in ordinary cases, pru-
dence and industry, joined with religious regard for God
and his providence, will preserve a man from the pressing
wants and necessities of poverty. Others, who do not make
themselves poor by their own sins, are many times reduced
to great poverty by the sins of other men ; by injustice, and
oppression, and violence ; by the miseries and calamities of
war, which brings a thousand evils with it ; which makes
many helpless widows and orphans, deprives men of their
patrons and benefactors, drives others from their plentiful
fortunes, to seek their bread in a strange land ; plunders
poor and rich ; lays a flourishing country desolate ; puts a
stop to trade ; makes provisions dear, and leaves no work
for the poor.

Some others are reduced to poverty more immediately by
the providence of God, without their own fault : those who
have no other support but their daily labour, are quickly
pinched by a long and expensive sickness, or by the infir-
mities of age, or by the loss of their eyes, or hands, or legs;
others are undone by fire or shipwrecks, or the various ac-
cidents of trade, which the most wary and cautious men
cannot escape, but besides, that there are few of these in
comparison with the throngs and crowds of idle, prodigal,
self-made poor ; God has made provision for all such cases,
that no man shall suffer extreme want, by commanding the
rich, especially, to supply the wants of such poor, who are
properly God's poor, or the poor of God's making ; and
commanding this under the penalty of their eternal salvation,
and the forfeiture of their own estates, if they prove unjust
and unfaithful stewards : so that though God makes some

224 GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE.

men poor, it is the fault of other men if they suffer want.
The poverty they suffer is owing to the providence of God;
the wants and miseries they suffer, are owing to the sins, to
the uncharilableness of men : for though the world be un-
equally divided, of which more presently, yet there is
enough to suppl}^ the wants of all the creatures that are in
it ; and God never intended that any of his creatures should
want necessaries; that one man's plenty and abundance
should cause another man to starve : and thus it is in most
of the other miseries of life ; it is the sin and the folly of
mankind which makes them miserable, which is so obvious
to every one who will consider it, that I need not expatiate
on every particular. I believe there is no man but will con-
fess that were all men good and virtuous, this world would
be a very happy place ; and if the practice of moral and so-
ciable virtues would make mankind happy, it is no hard
matter to guess what it is that disturbs the peace and happi-
ness of the world.

(2.) Let us now consider how unreasonable it is to re-
proach the Divine providence with those evils and miseries
which mankind bring upon themselves. And laying down
this as a principle, that most men make themselves miserable,
it is very easy to defend and justify the goodness of provi-
dence.

For these evils which men complain of are not justly
chargeable upon providence, and therefore are an unreason-
able objection against providence. God does not bring
these evils upon mankind, but men bring them upon them-
selves. Supposing the nature of things and the nature of
man to be what they now are, and that men lived just as
they now do, there must be the same miseries in the world
that there now are, though there were no providence.
Though God did not interpose in the government of the
world, yet intemperance, luxury, and lust, would destroy
men's health ; sloth, and prodigality, and expensive vices,
would make men poor ; pride, ambition, and revenge,
would make quarrels, raise wars, and bring all the calami-
ties of war upon the world ; if there were no providence,
thus it must be ; for excessive eating and drinking will op-
press nature ; and those who will take no honest pains to

GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE. 225

get money, or will spend what they have upon their lusts,
must be poor ; and those who will quarrel and fight must
take what follows ; these evils are not owing to providence,
because providence does not bring them, no more than
providence makes men wicked : men make themselves
wicked, and wickedness makes them miserable ; and we
may as wrell charge the providence of God with all the
wickedness of men, as with those miseries which their own
wickedness brings upon them.

Now since most of those evils which are in the world
are not justly chargeable upon providence, the goodness
of God is very visible in those very evils and calamities
which mankind surfer. For,

(1.) God has, in ordinary cases, put it into every man's
power to preserve himself from most of the greatest evils
and miseries of life, even from all those which men bring
upon themselves by their own sins. What could be done
more than this for a reasonable creature, to make it his own
choice, and to put it into his own power whether he will be
happy or miserable ? God has, not only in his laws, but in
the nature of things, set before us life and death, happiness
and misery: all men see what the visible and natural
punishments of sin are, and have a natural aversion to those
evils, and may avoid them if they will ; this is a plain
proof, not only of the holiness of providence, as I observed
before, in deterring men from sin by those natural evils
which attend it, but also of the goodness of providence, by
showing men a plain and natural method, how to avoid the
miseries of life, and to make themselves easy and happy.
Let the most skeptical objector against providence consider
with himself, what God could have done more to prevent
the miseries of mankind, without changing the nature of
man, or the nature of things. To have laid a necessity upon
man, that he should never choose, nor do any thing which
will bring these evils on him, had been to change his na-
ture, to destroy the free exercise of his reason, and the
liberty of choice ; and yet men cannot live as they do, and
escape these miseries, unless all nature be changed. We
must have other kind of bodies than we have, or our meat
and drink must have other virtues and qualities, to bear the

226 GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE.

disorders and excesses of intemperance and lust, without
feeling the inconveniences of it. Fire must not burn, nor
water drown, if wine must not inflame, nor a flood of in-
digested liquors extinguish the vital heat. The whole world
must be a paradise, and bring forth fruit of itself, and all
things must be possessed in common, or the idle, slothful,
prodigal sinners must be poor. Our bodies must be invul-
nerable and immortal, or there must be no instruments of
death in the world ; or men who quarrel will fight and kill
one another. It is impossible, as the world now is, to
separate sin and misery ; but men may avoid misery if they
please : and that is a very good world, and a good God
that made such a world, and a good providence which
governs the world, wherein men may make themselves
happy if they will.

(2.) Besides this, the goodness of providence is seen in
hindering and preventing a great many more evils and
miseries which the sins and lusts of men would bring upon
the world, were they not under the restraints and govern-
ment of providence. No man doubts but there might be a
great deal more evil and misery in the world than there is,
nor that many bad men are inclined to do a great deal more
hurt than they do. What is it then, after all, that makes
the world so tolerable a place ? If this be owing to the
providence of God, it is a great argument of his goodness,
that he will not suffer foolish sinners to make themselves
and others so miserable as they would ; that as many furious
Phaetons as there are in the world, it is not yet all in flames ;
but the moral, as well as the natural world, has its tempe-
rate, as well as torrid zones: — and what shall we attribute
this to, if we do not attribute it to providence ? To what
else can we ascribe our deliverance from those unseen
snares which were laid for us, and which we knew nothing
of, till we had escaped ; nay, which, it may be, we know
nothing of to this day? How many wicked designs prove
abortive ? how many secret plots are discovered, when ripe
for execution ? how often does God put a hook into the nos-
trils of the proudest tyrants, and by some cross accidents,
or by weak and contemptible means, breaks their power
and humbles them to the dust ? Sacred and profane his-

GOODNESS OF PROVIDEiNCE. 227

tories are full of such examples, which can be attributed to
nothing else but a Divine providence, which sets bounds to
the waves of the sea, and to the rage and pride of men.
The Scripture teaches us to ascribe our deliverance from all
the evils we escape, as well as all the good we enjoy, to a
Divine providence ; and then we must acknowledge, that
the Divine providence prevents all that evil which bad men
would do, but cannot; and who knows how much this is?
who knows how much evil bad men would do, had they no
restraint? that we have much more reason to adore the
Divine goodness for restraining the lusts and passions of
men, which prevents an universal deluge of misery, than
complain that he suffers so many miseries to afflict the
wrorld.

(3.) Especially if we consider, in the next place, that
God permits bad men to do no more hurt and mischief than
what he overrules to wise and good purposes. For God
many times serves the wise ends of his providence by the
wickedness of men, to punish the wicked and to chastise
the good ; to exercise the graces and virtues of good men,
or to give terrible examples of his vengeance on the wicked ;
and all this, how severe soever it may be, proves the good-
ness of providence, because it is for the general good of
the world, that bad men should be punished, suppressed,
destroyed, and that good men should be made better, and
become great and eminent examples of faith and patience.
Whatever evils and miseries there are in the world, if there
be no more than the good government of the world requires
— if no man suffers any more than wmat he deserves, or
than wThat will do himself good, if he wisely improves it,
or will do others good, if they will either take warning by
his sufferings or imitate his virtues — all this is not only re-
concilable with the goodness of providence, but is an
eminent instance of it ; for to do good is an expression of'
goodness, though the ways of doing it may be very severe.

This is a sufficient justification of providence, even as
to those evils which God himself immediately inflicts upon
the world, that he inflicts no more nor greater evils than
what are for the good government of the world, as I have
observed before ; but it is much more so with reference to

228 GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE.

those evils which men bring upon themselves ; for is it not
wonderful goodness in God to defend us from ourselves, to
qualify the malignity of our own sins, to suffer us to do
ourselves no more hurt than what he can turn into great
good to us, if we consider our ways and learn wisdom by
the things which we suffer ? So to restrain bad men, that
they shall hurt nobody but those whom God thinks fit to
punish, or to correct, or to exercise with some severities ;
and that they shall do no more hurt, nor hurt any longer
than the Divine wisdom sees useful to these ends ?

Let us then briefly review this objection and answer; and
setting aside the consideration of God and his providence,
let us suppose it to be the case of a father. And, I hope,
what we ourselves would allow to be a reasonable defence
of earthly parents, will be thought a good justification of
God and his providence.

Suppose then a father has several children, whom he pro-
vides very bountifully for, and sends them abroad into the
world in such hopeful circumstances that if they will be
frugal, diligent, and virtuous, they may live happily and in-
crease their fortunes. Should such children turn prodigals,
and waste their estates in rioting and luxury, destroy their
health, and suffer all the miseries of sickness and pover-
ty,— would any man blame their good father for this, and
would not such a good» man think himself much injured,
should he be accused of unkindness and severity to his
children, only because, after all the kindness he could show
them, they have made themselves miserable? especially if
we suppose 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
cannot 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 thev

GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE. 229

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.

3. 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 men's 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 suffer-
ings and calamities of life, but 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 ourselves
under them, to possess our souls in patience, and to rejoice
in hope, though wTe 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 wras 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 mise-
rable, whose mind is easy and cheerful, full of great hopes,
and supported with divine joys. But the disorders of our
passions make us miserable, and make us sink under exter-
nal sufferings. An immoderate love of this wTorkt, 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

20

230 GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE.

people, such unsufferable evils, which a wise and a good
man cannot only bear, but modestly despise. It is this that
terrifies us with the least approach of danger, distracts us
with fear, and care, and solicitude, and with all the imagi-
nary 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 divine vengeance, and a terrible
presage of the endless miseries in 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,
wThile they can suffer, and be happy; not perfectly and com-
pletely happy, which admits of no sufferings, but such a
degree of self-enjoyment, as reconciles external sufferings
with inward peace, contentment, patience, hope; which are
the happiness of a suffering state, and a much greater hap-
piness 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 exter-
nal 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. Prov.
xviii. 14, " The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, but
a wounded spirit who can bear?" And if all that God in-
flicts on us may be borne, our misery is owing to ourselves.
But I have so particularly discoursed this upon another occa-
sion, that I shall enlarge no farther on it.

II. 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 jus-
tice, and an universal goodness, and such the goodness of
providence must be.

GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE. 231

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,
wmose 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 happi-
ness 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 sub-
jects nor servants; for no man will choose 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 men's fortunes be
as necessary as government, that is a sufficient justification
of providence, for human societies cannot subsist without it.

2. And yet it is a very great mistake to think, that the
happiness of men differs as much as their fortunes do ; that
a prince is as much happier as he is greater than his sub-
jects ; for all the world knows that happiness is not entailed
on riches, and power, and secular honours; as they have
their advantages, so they have very troublesome and sour
allays; and it may be, upon a true estimate of things, as
different a show and appearance as men make in the world,
they are pretty equal as to true enjoyments. There is very
little difference in eating and drinking, while we have
wherewithal to satisfy nature ; for appetite makes every thing
delicious ; and the hard labour of the poor man is much

232 GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE.

more tolerable than gout and stone, and those sharp or
languishing diseases, which so commonly attend the softness
and luxury of the rich ; and as for opinion and fancy itself,
which creates the greatest difference, every rank of men
make a scene among themselves, and every man finds
something to value himself upon : that, it may be, there is
nothing wherein all mankind are so equal, as in self-love,
and self-flattery, and a value for themselves ; that though
there are many who would change fortunes with others,
there are few that would change themselves ; and the dif-
ference of fortune is very inconsiderable, while every man is
so well satisfied with himself.

3. This inequality of fortunes is for the great good of all
ranks of men, and serves a great many wise ends of provi-
dence. It makes some men industrious, to provide for them-
selves and families ; it inspires others with emulation to
raise their fortunes; it gives life and spirit to the world, and
makes it a busy scene of action, to keep what they have,
and m<-ke new acquisitions; to excel their equals and rival
those above them ; and though through the folly and wicked-
ness of men this occasions a great deal of mischief, yet the
world would be a very dull place without it, there would be
no encouragement, no reward for virtue ; providence itself
would have very little to do ; for the visible rewards of
virtue, and punishment of wickedness, are in the change of
men's fortunes ; when industry, prudence, and virtue, ad-
vance men of a low condition to the greatest places of trust
and honour, or at least to a plentiful and splendid station ;
and prodigality, luxury, and impiety bring misery, poverty
and contempt upon rich and noble families; such revolu-
tions as these are great examples of the wisdom and justice
of providence ; and therefore the inequality of men's fortunes
is so far from being an objection against providence, that
there could be little visible exercise either of the goodness or
justice of providence without it.

I cannot without some indignation reflect upon the base-
ness and ingratitude of mankind, who live and move, and
have their being in God ; who know how little they deserve
of him, and feel every day how many blessings they receive
from him, and yet seem never better pleased than when

WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE. 233

they can find or ignorantly invent some plausible pretence
to reproach his goodness ; the sense of all mankind confutes
such objections ; and I should not have thought it worth
the while to answer them, were it not a great satisfaction
and of great use to contemplate the Divine goodness even
on the darkest side of providence : which will teach us a
patient and thankful submission to God under all our suffer-
ings, enable us to bear them, and direct us how to prevent
or remove them ; and give us a more transporting admira-
tion of the Divine goodness, when we see it, like the sun,
break through the blackest clouds. If the goodness of God
conquers the sins, the perverseness of mankind, and shines
through all those miseries which foolish sinners every day
bring upon themselves ; how good is God when his good-
ness flows with an undisturbed, uninterrupted current!

CHAPTER VIII.

THE WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE.

The unsearchableness of the Divine wisdom, as I ob-
served above, (Chap. IV.) is a very good reason why we
should not judge or censure such mysterious passages of
providence as we cannot comprehend ; but yet it becomes
us to take notice of, and to admire that wonderful wisdom
which is visible in the government of mankind. We can-
not " by searching find out God," we cannot " find out the
Almighty unto perfection : It is as high as heaven ; what
canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?
the measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader
than the sea :" Job xi. 7 — 9. But though we cannot dis-
cover all the w7isdom of providence, no more than we can
the wisdom of creation, yet we may discover enough to
satisfy us that the world is governed as well as made with
infinite wisdom : when we contemplate God, it is like losing
ourselves in a boundless prospect, where we see a great
many glories and beauties, but cannot see to the end of it*

20*

234 WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE.

We may discover admirable and surprising wisdom in that
little we see of providence, as I have already briefly observed
upon several occasions ; but we know so little of what has
been done in the world; and by what means it was done,
and what ends it served, that it is no wonder if we have as
imperfect a view of the wisdom of providence as we have
of the history of the wTorld. But yet whoever diligently
applies his mind to the study of providence, will see reason
to admire a great many events which careless observers
make objections against providence ; which will be of such
great use to confirm us in the belief of a providence, and to
give us a profound veneration of the Divine wisdom, that I
shall venture to make some little essay of this nature, which
though I am sensible must fall infinitely short of the dignity
of the subject, yet will suggest some very useful thoughts,
and show us the most delightful and profitable way of
studying histories and providence. And to do this in the
best manner I can, I shall

I. Consider some great events recorded in Scripture,
which are as it were the hinges of providence whereon the
various scenes of providence turned.

II. I shall take notice of some other visible marks and
characters of wisdom in the more common events of provi-
dence, especially such as are made objections against pro-
vidence.

I. Some great events recorded in Scripture, which gave
a new face of things to the wTorld, and opened new scenes
of providence.

The state of innocence wherein man was created was a
state of perfect happiness. There was no death, no sick-
ness, no labour, or sorrow ; but the. fali of man made a very
great change in this visible creation ; man himself became
mortal, and was condemned to an industrious and laborious
life; according to that sentence, "cursed is the ground for
thy sake ; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy
life ; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee ; and
thou shalt eat the herb of the field : in the sweat of thy face
shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground ; for
out of it wast thou taken : for dust thou art, and unto dust
thou shalt return :" Gen. iii. 17 — 19.

WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE. 235

This was a very severe sentence, which deprived man of
immortality, and of the easy and happy life of paradise :
condemned him to labour and sorrow while he lived, and
then to return unto dust ; and yet the wisdom as well as
justice of providence is very visible in it; it was not fit
that when man had sinned he should be immortal in this
world : and an industrious and laborious life is the best and
happiest state for fallen man, as I have elsewhere shown at
large.

We know little more than this of the antediluvian world,
till we hear of the general corruption of mankind, that "the
earth was filled with violence, for all flesh had corrupted
his way upon the earth ; insomuch that " it repented the
Lord that he had made man upon the earth, and it grieved
him at his heart:" Gen. vi. This was so universal a cor-
ruption, that there was but one righteous family left, only
Noah and his three sons; and therefore God resolved to
sweep them all away with a universal deluge, excepting
that one righteous family whom he preserved in the ark,
which he appointed Noah to prepare for that purpose.

The* Justice of this no man can dispute ; for if all flesh
corrupt its ways, God may as justly destroy a whole world
of sinners, as he can punish or cut off any one single sin-
ner. But that which I am now concerned for, is to show
the wonderful wisdom of providence in the destruction of
the old world by a deluge of water ; and rightly to under-
stand this, we must consider the several circumstances of
the story, and what God intended by it.

Now though that wicked generation of men deserved to
be destroyed, yet God did not intend to put a final end to
this world, nor to cut off the whole race of all mankind,
but to raise a new generation of men from a righteous seed ;
and to make the destruction of the old world a standing
warning and a visible lesson of righteousness to the new.
And a few observations will satisfy us, that nothing could
be more wisely designed for this purpose.

1. Let us consider the wisdom of providence in de-
stroying the old world without the utter destruction of
mankind. It was too soon to put a final end to the world
which he had so lately made, without reproaching his own
wisdom in making it. There had been very little of the

236 WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE.

wisdom of government yet seen, but one act, and that con-
cluding in all disorder and confusion ; and had God left off
here, and put a final end to the race of mankind, it had
been but a very ill spectacle to the angelical world, to see
a whole species of reasonable beings so soon destroyed.
The old serpent, who deceived our first parents, would have
gloried in his victory, that he had utterly spoiled and ruined
the best part of this visible creation, and even forced God
to destroy the most excellent creature he had made on
earth. But God had threatened the serpent, that the seed
of the woman should break his head, and therefore the
whole posterity of Eve must not be destroyed, but a right-
eous seed must be preserved to new-people the world.

But, besides this, the destruction of the old world being
intended as a warning to the new, it was necessary there
should be some living witnesses, both of the destruction and
the resurrection of the world, to assure their posterity of
what they had seen, and to preserve the memory of it to all
generations. Of which more presently.

2. The wisdom of God was very visible in delaying so
terrible an execution till there was no remedy. To destroy
a world carries great horror with it, and makes a frightful
representation of God, if it be not qualified with all the
most tender and softening circumstances. And I cannot
think of any thing that can justify providence in it, (except-
ing the last judgment, when the Divine wisdom thinks fit
to put a final end to this world,) but the irrecoverable state
of mankind, and the absolute necessity of some new
methods of reforming the world.

And therefore God delayed the destruction of the old
world, till all flesh had corrupted his ways, and there was
but one righteous family left, which must be in danger of
being corrupted too by the universal wickedness of the age.
However, it is certain that though Noah might have pre-
served his own integrity, and have taught his own family
the fear and worship of God, yet he could do no good upon
1he rest of the world : he was a preacher of righteousness,
but his sermons had no effect. It is generally concluded by
the ancients, that he was a hundred years in building the
ark, and all this while he gave visible warning to them of
the approaching deluge. Now when it was impossible, by

WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE. 237

any ordinary means, to put a stop to the wickedness of
mankind, what remained but to destroy that corrupt and
incurable generation, and to preserve righteous Noah and
his sons, to propagate a new generation of men, and to
train them up in the fear and worship of God ? Had he
delayed a little longer, the whole world might have been
corrupt, without one righteous man in it ; and then he must
either have maintained and preserved a world of atheists
and profligate sinners, or must have destroyed them all.
But it more became the Divine wisdom, when religion was
reduced to one family, to defer vengeance no longer, while
he had one righteous family to save, to preserve the race of
mankind, and to restore lost piety and virtue to the world.

3. The wisdom of providence in destroying the old
world is very visible in the manner of doing it.

(1.) For it was a miraculous and supernatural destruc-
tion, and therefore an undeniable evidence of the power and
providence of God. There are no visible causes in nature
to do this, and therefore it must be done by a power superior
to nature.

Some men think it sufficient to disparage the Mosaieal
account of the deluge, if they can prove the natural impos-
sibility of it ; and others, who profess to believe the story,
think themselves much concerned to give a philosophical
account of it, without having recourse to miracles and a
supernatural power, which they say unbecomes philoso-
phers. But if it unbecomes philosophers to believe miracles,
I doubt they will think it very much below them to be
Christians, which no man can be who does not believe
miracles : and if they will allow of miracles in any case,
methinks they should make no scruple to attribute the de-
struction of the world to a miraculous and supernatural
power.

The comfort is, the truth of the story does not depend
upon any philosophical hypothesis. We do not believe the
whole world was drowned, because we can tell by what na-
tural causes it might be drowned, but because Moses has
recorded it in his writings, who, we know, wTas divinely
inspired. And we know also, that there has been no satis-
factory account given yet, from the principles of nature and
philosophy, how the whole world could be drowned ; at

238 WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE.

least, none that will agree with the Mosaical history, either
of the creation or of the deluge, and it is better to have no
account, than such an account as confutes Moses, could any
such be given ; for this confutes, or at least discredits the
story itself, for which we have no authentic authority, when
the authority of Moses is lost. But indeed it is no service
to religion to seek after natural causes for the destruction of
the world, any more than it is to resolve the making of the
world into natural causes ; for it is great good nature in men
to own a God, if they can make and destroy a world with-
out him : there can be no such thing as natural causes, till
the world is made, and every thing endowed with its na-
tural virtues and powers, and united into a regular frame,
with a mutual dependence and connection ; and therefore it
is a vain thing to talk of making the world by natural
causes, when it is demonstrable that there can be no natural
causes till the world is made. And it is as certain, that
nature must move unnaturally, and be put into an universal
disorder, before the world can be destroyed ; for while na-
tural causes keep their natural course, they will preserve,
not destroy the world ; and therefore the destruction of the
world is not owing to natural causes, but to preternatural
disorders ; and what philosophy can give an account of
that? What can-put nature into such an universal disorder,
but the same Divine power which put it into order, and
gave laws tP it ?

And this is what God intended in the destruction of the
old world, to give a visible and lasting proof of his being
and providence to the new, by such a miraculous deluge as
could be attributed to no other cause but a Divine ven-
geance.

That universal corruption of mankind would persuade us,
that the very belief and notion of a God was lost among
them ; or if it be hard to conceive how that should be, when
the world, by computation, was not seventeen hundred
years old, and Lamech, Noah's father, lived fifty years with
Adam himself, that it seems impossible that the tradition of
God's creating the world should have been lost in so short
a time ; yet at least they could have no sense of God's
justice and providence ; they could not believe that God
took any notice of their actions, or would execute such a

WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE. 239

terrible vengeance on them for their sins. We do not read
of any one act of judgment which God exercised before the
flood ; and it is not improbable that his sparing Cain, when
he had killed his brother Abel, might encourage them with
hopes of impunity, whatever wickedness they committed.
And therefore the Divine wisdom saw it necessary to put an
end to the old, and begin the newT world with a visible demon-
stration of his power and justice, to teach men the fear, and re-
verence,and worship of that God who not only made the wTorld,
but has once destroyed it, and therefore can destroy it again,
with all its w7icked inhabitants, whenever he pleases.

Now to make this alasting proof of God's power and justice,
it must be evident beyond all contradiction, that it was God's
doing, and therefore it was necessary that God should de-
stroy the world in so miraculous a manner as could be attri-
buted to no other cause ; for it is the true spirit of atheism
and infidelity to attribute nothing to God which they can
ascribe to any visible cause.

Had all mankind, excepting Noah and his sons, been de-
stroyed by plague, or famine, or wild beasts, though such a
general destruction would have convinced wise and reasona-
ble men that the hand and the vengeance of God was in it ;
yet if we may judge of the rest of mankind by the wonderful
improvements in wit and philosophy which our modern
atheists have made, they would think scorn to attribute plague
or famine, or such like evil accidents, to God, though all man-
kind were destroyed by them. But wThen they hear of a world
drowned, and know not where to find water to drown it with-
out a miraculous dissolution of nature, they must either
laugh at the story, which men in their wits cannot well do,
or they must believe a God and a providence. But whatever
shift the infidels of our age may make to disbelieve the uni-
versal deluge, it must be confessed that it was a very wise and
most effectual means to convince that new generation of men,
while the uncorrupted tradition of the deluge was preserved.

(2.) The wisdom of the Divine providence w7as seen
in destroying that wucked generation of men, without de-
stroying the earth. God did not intend to put a final end
to the race of mankind, but the earth was to be again inha-
bited by a new generation ; and a deluge of waters was
best fitted to this purpose, which did no hurt to the earth

240 WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE.

when it was dried up again, but rather moistened and im-
pregnated it with new seeds and principles of life.

There are but two ways we know of to destroy this earth,
either by water or fire. It has already been destroyed by water,
and will be destroyed by fire. And it is enough to satisfy any
man that this is not accident, but a wise design, to consider
that a deluge of water was made use of to purge and reform
the world, but fire is reserved for the final destruction of it.
Whereas, had this order been inverted, as it might have been
had it been mere chance, it is evident that the earth could
neither have been preserved from fire, nor utterly destroyed
by water, without a perpetual deluge. A deluge of water does
not destroy the earth, nor make it uninhabitable after the
deluge ceases ; but fire destroys the frame and constitution
of it, and melts all into one confused mass. There is some
defence against a deluge: Noah and his sons were pre-
served in the ark, to people the new world. But there is no
defence against flames ; the whole earth and all the wicked
inhabitants of it, must burn together. And this is one wise
reason why God chose to drown the world, not to burn it,
because the end of all things was not yet come.

(3.) There is great variety of wisdom to be observed
in God's preserving Noah and his sons in the ark from per-
ishing by the water.

For, first, as I observed before, this was very necessary to
preserve the race of mankind to new-people the world,
which much more became the Divine wisdom, than to have
created man anew. " When all flesh had corrupted his
ways," it became God to try new methods of reforming the
world ; for this opens new and surprising scenes of provi-
dence, and displays such a multifarious wisdom in the go-
vernment of mankind, as is much more wonderful than the
creation of a new world would be. But had God destroyed
the whole race of men, and created a new man to inhabit
the new world, this would have argued some defect in the
first creation : for there can be no pretence for destroying
man to make him again, but a design to make him better —
to correct that in a second trial which experience had dis-
covered to be faulty in the first. But though the wisdom
of government will admit of various trials and experiments,
the wisdom of creation will not. The government of free

WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE. 241

agents must be accommodated to their natures and disposi-
tions, not only to what God made them, but to what they
make themselves. And therefore the methods of govern-
ment must change, as men change themselves ; but the na-
tures of all things are made only by God, and if there be
any fault in them, it is chargeable upon Divine wisdom.
And to make man, and destroy him, and make him again,
would argue a great fault somewhere.

Secondly. I observed also before, that to make the de-
struction of the old world of any use to propagate religion
and piety in the new, it was necessary that some inhabitants
of the old world should survive the deluge, to be witnesses
of that terrible destruction.

Had no man survived, though God should have created
man anew, that new generation of men could have known
nothing of the deluge, but by revelation. Whereas God in-
tended a sensible proof of his power and providence, which
mankind wanted.

Besides that revelation which we may suppose God made
to Adam of the creation of the world, and his own sense
that he himself was but just then made, and was the first
and the only man upon the earth, there are such visible
marks of a Divine wisdom and power in the frame of the
world, as one would think should be sufficient to convince
men that the world was made, and is preserved and go-
verned by God. And yet because no man saw the world
made, neither reason nor revelation can persuade some men
that God made the world. And is it reasonable then to
think, that when there are no remaining signs of a deluge left,
the belief of a deluge should for any long time have prevailed
in the world without any living witnesses who saw the de-
luge, though we should suppose God to have revealed it to
new-created man ? No man could see the creation of the
world, because the world must be made before man was
made to live in it. But though no man saw the world made,
there were some who saw the destruction which the deluge
made, which was as visible a proof of the Divine power,
and a much greater proof of a justand righteous providence.
No man who believes that God destroyed the old world with
a deluge of water, can doubt whether God made the world
and governs it ; and for this the new world had the testimony

21

242 WISDOM OF TROVIDENCE.

of eye-witnesses, which is as sensible a proof of a God and
a providence as we can possibly have.

Thirdly. The preservation of Noah and his sons in the
ark, was an evident proof, that this deluge was sent by God :
God forewarned Noah of it a hundred years before it came,
and commanded him to prepare an ark, and gave him di-
rections how to make it. Thus much is certain, that Noah
did know of it beforehand, and prepared an ark, which
remained as a visible testimony of the flood to future gene-
rations. Now there being no natural causes of the flood,
there could be no natural prognostics of it. Our Saviour
nimself observes, that there were not the least symptoms of
any such thing, till Noah entered into the ark ; and there-
fore Noah had no other way of knowing this, but by revela-
tion ; and it was so incredible a thing in itself, that the rest
of mankind would not believe him, though he warned them
of it, and they saw that he believed it himself, by his pre-
paring an ark for his own safety. And if we believe the ac-
count that Moses gives of it, that some of all sorts of living
creatures, both the beasts of the field and the fowls of the
air, were preserved with Noah in the ark, (as we must believe,
if we believe the universal deluge, unless we will say, that
God new-made all living creatures after the flood,) what ac-
count can be given of this, that some of all sorts, in such
numbers as God had appointed, and had prepared reception
for, should come of their own accord to Noah, when he was
ready to enter into the ark, had they not been led thither
by a Divine hand ?

Fourthly. The preservation of Noah and his sons in the
ark did not only prove that the deluge was sent by God,
but was a plain evidence for what reason God sent such a.
terrible judgment, viz. to put an end to that wicked gene-
ration of men, and to new-people the world with a righteous
seed. This reason God gave to Noah, and the nature of
the thing speaks it. For when all the wicked inhabitants
of the world were destroyed, and not one escaped the
deluge, but only that one righteous family, which had
escaped the corruptions of the age too, and that preserved
by the peculiar order and direction of God, this is a visible
judgment upon all the wicked of the earth, and makes a
visible distinction between good and bad men. When such

WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE. 243

evils and calamities befall the world, as may be resolved
into natural or moral causes, as plagues, and famines, and
wars, fires, and earthquakes ; and it may be good and bad
men share pretty equally in the public misfortunes ; atheists
and infidels will not allow these evils to be inflicted by
God, much less to be the punishment of sin, when they
make no visible distinction between the good and the bad ;
but the universal deluge was both a supernatural and a dis-
tinguishing judgment ; none but God could destroy the earth,
and none but the wicked were destroyed ; and therefore
this is an undeniable, demonstration of the justice and right-
eousness of God, that he hates wickedness, and will punish
wicked men.

There are some other marks of excellent wisdom in the
universal deluge, which I shall only name, because, though
they are worth observing, yet they are of less moment as to
my present design.

As the deluge was to be a lasting proof of a just provi-
dence to the new world, and, as you have heard, was upon
all accounts admirably fitted to that purpose, so we may
reasonably suppose that when it came, it convinced that
wicked generation of men and brought them to repentance,
which it gave them some time for ; and though it could not
save them in this world, who knows but that a sudden re-
pentance, upon such a sudden conviction, might obtain
mercy for them in the next? Noah was a preacher of
righteousness: he had often reproved them for their sins,
and threatened them with a deluge, but they would not be-
lieve him, though they saw him preparing the ark ; but
when they saw the flood come, they knew then the 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
am 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.

244

WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE.

/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 man-
kind by plague, or thunder from heaven, or some other sud-
den 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 carcasses ? 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 ani beautiful world— nothing to disturb his imagina-
tion, 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 de-
stroyed 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.

T° 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 provi-
dence, and with a religious awe of his justice and power,
lo this end, he destroyed the old world with a deluge of
water, and preserved Noah and his sons in the ark— which

WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE. 245

had all the advantages imaginable to deter men from sin,
which brought a deluge upon the old world — and to en-
courage the practice of true piety and virtue, 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 sin-
ners: when " all flesh had corrupted his ways," God de-
stroyed 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 reason-
able 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 virtue,
that God may distinguish them also when he comes to judg-
ment, which an universal corruption of manners shows to
be very near; and it is a dangerous thing to sin with a mul-
titude, 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:" Matt. xxiv. 37 — 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 an one as
themselves ;" but their judgment all this while " neither
slumbers nor sleeps:" Ps. 1. 21. There maybe the greatest
calm and the serenest days before the most terrible earth-
quakes; and the longer God has kept silence, the more rea-
son have we to expect a severe and surprising vengeance,
which makes the Psalmist's advice in such cases very sea-
sonable : " Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear
you in pieces, and there be none to deliver:" Ps. 1. 22.

And who would be afraid or be ashamed of Noah's sin-
gularity, to be good alone, and to be the single example of
piety and virtue, that remembers that he alone, with his
three sons, was 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.

21*

246 WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE.

saw they would, but ^solved to u] ^ ^^

the \Mio e eaiia succeeded, the whole world

fl°Letusthen consider what course God took to prevent

:r,e soGthatXhS co^not understand one another's
S -"ad by this means, « scattered them abroad from

found hem work to do, forced them upon the invention of

g nious arts, and, by 'the benefit of trad, .and c - ce,

made everv country, which was not wanting to ltsel , a lime

wofld, and every part to enjoy all the pleasures and advan-

WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE. 247

tages of the whole: I say, besides this, it was the most likely
way that could be used at that time,. to prevent the univer-
sal corruption of mankind. For,

( 1 . ) This separated the families of Shem and Japheth, from
the family of Ham, where the infection was already begun;
and would have spread apace by the advantage of power
and empire. When Cain had slain his brother Abel, God
sent him away out of Adam's family, that his presence and
example might do no hurt; and if by "the daughters of
men," in Gen. vi., we understand, as some good expositors
do, those who descended of Cain ; and by " the sons of
God," the posterity of Seth, in whose family the worship
of the true God was preserved, we may observe, that Moses
dates the general corruption of mankind from the union of
these two families ; when " the sons of God saw the daugh-
ters of men, that they were fair, and took them wives of all
which they chose." And had the universal empire been
established in the family of Ham, and the posterity of Shem
and Japheth been brought into subjection to them, as they
must in a short time have been, what less could have been
expected from such a union and government, but another
antediluvian corruption of all flesh?

This dispersion then was necessary to prevent a general
corruption ; but we see in the example of Cain, that a mere
local separation is no security, for they may come together
again, as the sons of God and the daughters of men in pro-
cess of time did. — And, therefore,

(2.) The most lasting dispersion and separation is by a
confusion of languages, which hinders all intercourse and
communication ; at least till there be a remedy found against
it by learning each other's language, which was a work of
time, and was never likely to be so general as to be the
means of a common intercourse. This effectually divided
them at first, and would always keep nations divided, till
foreign arms should give new laws, and a new language to
a conquered people.

(3.) I observe farther, that the more divisions of lan-
guages were made, and the greater the dispersion was, the
greater security was it against a general corruption ; which
is a reason not only for separating the family of Ham from
the families of Shem and Japheth, but for separating them

248 WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE.

from each other, and dividing them into smaller bodies : for
the more divisions there are, whatever part were infected,
the less could the corruption spread, when there was no
communication between them.

(4.) This also divided mankind into several little inde-
pendent monarchies, under the government of the heads of
their several families; which kept all mankind under a
stricter government, than if the whole world had been one
great empire, which would have proved a tyrannical domi-
nation, but could have taken little care of the manners of
subjects ; especially if the government itself was corrupt, the
whole wrorld must be corrupt with it. But wmen so many
distinct societies were formed, this gave them distinct inte-
rests, and made their laws and customs, the very humour
and genius of the people, so different from each other, as
would keep them distinct : and this wTould necessarily occa-
sion mutual emulations and jealousies to rival their neigh-
bours in riches and power; and this cannot be done without
wise laws, and a strict discipline, and the encouragement of
labour and industry, of liberal arts, and all social virtues, and
the suppression of such vices as weaken government, and
emasculate men's spirits : this effect, we know, in a great mea-
sure it had, as we learn from the earliest accounts of the Gre-
cian commonwealths, where we meet with so many excellent
laws, and such great examples of frugality, temperance, for-
titude, and a generous love of their country, which may in a
great measure be attributed to their mutual emulations, which
taught them prudence and justice at home and abroad, and
forced on them the exercise of many civil and military virtues.

It had indeed been more for the peace and quiet of the
world that all mankind had been but one people, without
divided interests and governments: but such a profound
state of ease is apt to loosen the reins of government, and to
corrupt men's minds with sloth and luxury ; and therefore is
no more fit for a corrupt and degenerate state, than it would
have been, that the earth should have brought forth fruit
of itself without human labour and industry. But jea-
lousies and emulations, the necessity of defending them-
selves against potent neighbours, or the ambition to equal,
or to outdo them, restrains public vices, and is a spur to

virtue. 'AyartJj 5' "pij^Sf fipo-toi,ci.

WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE. 249

It is true, this is the occasion of many miseries to man-
kind, of all the calamities and desolations of war, and there-
fore we must consider,

(5.) That this is so far from being an objection against
providence, while God keeps the sword in his own hand,
that it is an admirable instrument of government, and a sig-
nal demonstration of the Divine wisdom.

God had promised, that " he would not again any more
smite every living thing, as he had done." Gen. viii. 21.
And yet mankind could not be governed without some re-
straints and punishments ; and it did not become God to
punish men and nations as often as they deserved it by an
immediate hand ; and what then could be more wisely de-
signed, than so to order it, that if men and nations were
wicked, they should scourge and punish one another ?

By this means God can chastise two wicked nations by
each other's swords, without destroying either : he can so
lessen their numbers and exhaust their treasures, and impo-
verish their countries, as to force them to peace, and to re-
duce them to a laborious and frugal life, which will cure the
wantonness and luxury of plenty and ease.

If a nation be grown incurably wicked, he can by this
means destroy them, without embroiling the rest of the
world ; he can carry them captive into foreign countries, or
make them slaves at home, and subject them to the yoke of
a conqueror, who shall correct them and teach them better.

In a word, the dispersion of mankind by the confusion
of languages, which divided them into distinct societies,
kingdoms and commonwealths, opened a new scene of pro-
vidence, with all the variety of wisdom in the government of
the world. The judgment itself was miraculous, and as
plain an evidence of the divine power, as the deluge itself;
for to new-form a mind, to erase all its old ideas of words
and sounds, and to imprint new ones on it in an instant,
shows such a superior power over nature, as none but the
Author of nature has; and they must have been very stupid,
if this did not renew and fix the impression of a Divine
power and providence. But the dispersion which this con-
fusion of languages occasioned, and the division of mankind
into distinct societies, made the exercise of many moral,
civil, and military virtues, as necessary as their own pros-

250 WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE.

perity and preservation ; and if this had not so universal an
effect as might have been expected, yet it prevented an
universal corruption, and had a good effect in many coun-
tries, and by turns in most ; that the world never wanted
examples of states and kingdoms which increased and flou-
rished under a prudent and virtuous government, nor of the
ruin of flourishing states by idleness, luxury, injustice, op-
pression, which weakened and divided them at home, and
made them an easy prey to their provoked, or to their am-
bitious neighbours.

But though the state of the world, as to some moral vir-
tues, and good order and government, was much bettered
by this means, yet mankind generally declined to idolatry ;
that the knowledge and worship of the one supreme God
was in danger of being utterly lost, and the lives of men
to be corrupted by the impure and filthy rites and myste-
ries of their religion. This required a new and more effec-
tual remedy, and brings me to consider a new and won-
derful design of the Divine wisdom for reforming the
world : I mean his choosing Abraham and his posterity
to be his peculiar people, whom he would govern in so
visible a manner that all the world might know and fear
the God of Israel.

This is a large argument and full of mysterious wisdom ;
but my principal intention at present is to consider it with
relation to the rest of mankind, and how wisely it was de-
signed by God to give some check to idolatry, to preserve
the worship of the true God, at least in Israel, from whence
in time it might be restored again, when lost in the rest of
the world.

It has, I confess, a very strange appearance at first, that
God should reject, or at least neglect all the rest of mankind,
and choose but one family out of all the world to place his
name among them; "Is God the God of the Jews only?
Is he not also of the Gentiles?" Rom. iii. 29. This the
vain-glorious Jew imagined, who despised the rest of the
world, as reprobated by God. But the apostle abhors the
thoughts of it, "yes, of the Gentiles also:" and St. Peter
was at length convinced by a vision, that " God was no
respecter of persons ; but in every nation he that feareth him,
and worketh righteousness, is accepted by him :" Acts x.

WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE. 251

34, 35. Thus it was from the beginning, though the Jews
did not think so : and the apostles themselves at first could
not easily be persuaded of it. And yet how could any man
entertain honourable thoughts of God, who could conceive
him so partial in his favours as to confine the peculiar ex-
pressions of his love to one nation, without any appearing
concernment what became of the rest of mankind ? But if
this was, and was intended by God, for the general good
of the world, and was admirably fitted to cure idolatry, and
to restore the worship of the one supreme God, it gives us
a new and more glorious prospect of the wisdom of provi-
dence. And to represent this as advantageously as I can,
I shall first give you a general view of this admirable design
of the Divine wisdom, which will enable us the better to
understand, and to give a more intelligible and sensible ac-
count of the various providences of God towards Israel.

Now we must consider the world at that time as overrun
with idolatry, as we may easily conclude when Abraham's
family is charged with it. As Joshua told the people of Is-
rael at Shechem : " Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, your
fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even
Terah the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor, and
they served other gods :" Joshua xxiv. 2.

Now all men must confess, that it became the Divine
wisdom to restore and preserve the faith and worship of the
one supreme God, and to keep it alive in the world, that it
might in time, though by slow degrees, prevail over idolatry
and the kingdom of darkness, and reduce mankind to their
natural obedience and subjection to God. And since expe-
rience had proved, that neither the creation of the world,
nor the universal deluge, nor the confusion of languages,
could preserve the belief of one supreme God, the maker
and governor of the world. But the new world was as uni-
versally overrun with polytheism and idolatry, as the old
world was with violence : and that the very dispersion of
mankind, and their division into distinct kingdoms and so-
cieties, which was a good remedy against some other immo-
ralities, had probably occasioned a multiplicity of gods,
while every nation desired a god, as well as a king of their
own, to protect and defend them. I say this shows what
absolute necessity there was that the Divine wisdom should

252 WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE.

find out .some more effectual and lasting means to convince
the world of the power and providence of one supreme God.
What other effectual means God might have chosen for this
purpose, does not belong to us to inquire ; but it becomes
us very much to contemplate the Divine wisdom in that
method which he did take to reclaim the world.

Now the way God took was this. He chose Abraham
and his posterity for his peculiar people, whom he governed
in as visible a manner as any temporal prince governs his
subjects: he forbade them to own any other God besides
himself, and separated them from the rest of the world by
peculiar laws and ceremonies of wrorship, to secure them
from the idolatrous practices of their neighbours : he made
himself known and distinguished himself from all other
country gods, by the name of the God of Israel, the God of
Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob ; not that he was only the
God of that nation, as other nations had their peculiar gods,
but the God of the whole world, though he was knowm and
worshipped only in Israel ; and by this name he triumphed
over all the heathen gods, and wrought such signs and
wonders as might have convinced all men, if they would
have been convinced, that there was no God, but the
God of Israel ; none like him, none that could be com-
pared to him.

Consider, then, what more sensible proof the world could
possibly have of one supreme God, and of a sovereign pro-
vidence, than to see a whole nation worshipping this one
supreme God ; which at least would not suffer them to be
wholly ignorant of such a Being, but was a just reason to
examine their natural notions of a Deity, and the pretences
of their several gods. Especially when they see this nation
planted in a particular country allotted them by their God ;
and the old wicked inhabitants destroyed, and driven out
from before them by such a series of miracles as were an
undeniable evidence of such a Divine power, as all the gods
of these countries were not able to oppose. And that this
nation received their laws both for worship, and polity, and
conversation, immediately from God, wTere governed by
men appointed by God, and directed in all great affairs by
Divine oracles and prophets, with such a certainty of event
as never failed : that while they adhered to the worship of

WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE. 253

this one supreme God, they were always prosperous, as he
promised they should be ; but when they declined to idola-
try, and worshipped the gods of the countries round about
them, then they were either oppressed by their enemies at
home, or carried captive into foreign countries. This was
a visible proof, that there was a God in Israel, and such a
God as would admit of no other gods, nor allow them to
worship any other, but punished them severely whenever
they did ; and all their other gods could not help them, nor
deliver them out of his hands.

This gave sufficient notice to the world of the glory and
power of the God of Israel ; but some will still be apt to
ask, why God did not as sensibly manifest himself to all the
rest of the world, as he did to Israel ? why he had not his
oracles and prophets in other nations ? and they may, if they
please, as reasonably ask, why he does not immediately in-
spire every particular man with a supernatural knowledge,
and force the belief of his being and providence upon their
minds? Or why he did not, by a miraculous power, con-
vert the old wicked world, but destroyed them all, and pre-
served only that one righteous family, which had escaped
the general corruption ?

For much like this was the state of mankind with respect
to idolatry, when God called Abraham out of Ur of the
Chaldees : there was not one nation left that worshipped the
one supreme God, and him only — nay, not one family ; for
Terah, Abraham's father, was an idolater, and probably all
the rest of the family, excepting Abraham ; for though he
is not expressly excepted in the text, yet neither is he ne-
cessarily included ; and God's commanding him to leave
his country, and his kindred, and his father's house, and his
ready compliance with this command, are reasons to believe
that he was the only person in the family who had preserved
himself from all idolatrous worship. However, it appears
that he was a man of that extraordinary piety and virtue,
and so easily curable if he had been an idolater, that God
thought him the fittest person to reveal himself to, and to
begin a new reformation of the world. And therefore, as
in the days of Noah, God destroyed all that wicked gene-
ration of men by the flood, and only preserved Noah and
his sons to new-people the earth, and to instil the seeds and

22

254 WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE.

principles of piety and virtue into their posterity ; so the
new woiid being now universally corrupted by idolatry, and
God having promised Noah never again to destroy every
living thing, as he had done, he takes another course, and
in a manner creates a new people to be the worshippers of
the one true God, and in them to make his own glory and
power known to the world ; and chose Abraham, a man of
admirable faith and piety, to be the father of his new people,
which should descend from his loins in his old age, not by
the mere powers of nature, but by faith in God's promise.
Heb. xi. 11, 12.

The plain state, then, of the case is this. When that
new generation of men had universally corrupted themselves
with idolatry, notwithstanding all the means God had used
to possess them with a lasting sense of his being and provi-
dence, God gives them up to their wilful blindness, and
leaves them to the cheats and impostures of those wicked
spirits whom they had made their gods, till he could recover
them from this apostasy by such methods as were agreeable
to human nature, and became the Divine wisdom. The
most effectual way to do this, was to establish his worship
in some one nation, which should be a visible proof, both
of the unity of the godhead and of a Divine providence ;
and because there was no such nation then in the world, he
made a nation on purpose, and allotted them a country to
dwell in, and signalized them by extraordinary providences,
as the worshippers of the one supreme God. This was a
kind of a new beginning of the world, which did not put
an end to the idolatrous world, as Noah's flood put an end
to that wicked generation, but yet did propagate a new gene-
ration of men in it, who should in time put an end to that
universal idolatry, and make a new world of it.

And this is a new advance the Divine wisdom made to-
wards the recovery of mankind. When Adam had sinned,
he and his whole posterity became mortal, and were con-
demned to a laborious life, that in the sweat of their brows
they should eat their bread — which was the best preserva-
tive against the temptations of ease, and sloth, and luxury.
When, notwithstanding this, " all flesh had corrupted his
ways," God destroyed that wicked generation with an uni-
versal deluge, and thereby gave a signal demonstration of

WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE. 255

his power and justice to the new world. When this new
generation of men grew corrupt, God confounded their lan-
guage, and dispersed them over the face of the whole earth,
and formed them into distinct bodies and societies, which
prevented a general corruption of manners, taught them
civil justice and many moral virtues, which were necessary
to the support and defence of human societies ; but when
they all declined to idolatry, which would endanger a new
and universal corruption of manners, by those impure cere-
monies with which wicked spirits would choose to be wor-
shipped, some new and more effectual means were to be used
to cure this evil. The universal deluge, and the confusion
of languages, had so abundantly convinced them of a Di-
vine power and providence, that there was no such creature
as an atheist known among them, till their ridiculous idola-
tries in worshipping the meanest creatures, and viler men,
with ludicrous or abominable rites, tempted some men of
wit and thought rather to own no God, than such gods as
the heathens worshipped. But though these extraordinary
events were a manifest proof of a Divine power and provi-
dence, yet it seems they were not thought so express and
direct a proof of the unity of the godhead, at least not a
sufficient argument against the worship of inferior deities,
whom they supposed intrusted with the immediate care of
particular countries. And how could God give a more
sensible demonstration to the world, that he would not allow
the paying divine honour to any but himself, than by raising
up a new people, distinguished and separated from all the
rest of the world, by the sole worship of the one supreme
God, and owned by him for his peculiar people, by as dis-
tinguishing providences ; for this not only proves a Divine
power and providence, but that there is but one God whom
we ought to worship.

And this may satisfy us, that God is not so partial in his
favours, as to prefer one nation before all the rest of man-
kind ; for they were no nation nor people when God chose
them ; for God entered into covenant with Abraham and
his seed, when there was none but himself: but when all
the rest of the world were idolaters, God promised to mul-
tiply Abraham's seed into a great nation, and to make them
his own peculiar people ; that is, he made a new people

256 WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE.

and nation, in great kindness to mankind, to preserve the
knowledge and worship of the one supreme God, and by
degrees to extirpate idolatry out of the world.

But besides this, it was one of the peculiar privileges of
the Jews, " that to them were committed the oracles of
God :" Rom. hi. 2. And it is certain, it was for the great
good of the world, that these divine oracles, a system of
laws, both for religious worship and civil conversation,
should be deposited somewhere ; for their idolatry did every
day corrupt the manners of men, and was likely in time to
destroy all the natural notions of good and evil ; which
made a written lawT necessary, from whence men might
learn their duty whenever they pleased ; and it is evident
these laws could be given to no other people but the Jews,
who alone acknowledged and worshipped the one supreme
God ; for it is not to be conceived, that God should give
laws to idolaters, who did not own and worship him for
their God, or that they should receive laws from him. And
though these laws were immediately given only to the Jews,
because there was no other nation at that time which owned
and worshipped the one supreme God, yet as the knowledge
and worship of God prevailed in the world, so these laws
would be of more universal use, as we see it is even to this
day. Nay, even while idolatry prevailed, the writings of
Moses and the prophets very much reformed the Pagan
philosophy, gave them better notions of God and of reli-
gious worship, and more divine rules of life, as is visible
in the philosophy of Pythagoras and Plato, wTho are gene-
rally thought to have learned some of their best notions
from conversations with Jewish priests. But yet the ques-
tion is not, what use the world did make of this? but, what
use they might have made of it? And whether, as the
slate of the world then was, anything could be more wisely
designed, than to preserve the knowledge and worship of
the one true God, and a system of divine laws, in a nation
raised up on purpose to season the world, and to preserve
it from an universal apostacy.

But God had a more glorious design than all this, in en-
tering into covenant with Abraham, and choosing his seed
for his peculiar people. He had promised that " the seed
of the woman should break the serpent's head ;" which

WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE. 257

contains the promise of the Messias, who, in the fulness of
time was to appear in the world to destroy the works of the
devil. And this is the covenant which God made with
Abraham, "that in his seed all the nations of the earth
should be blessed." It was not fitting that the Messias and
Saviour of the world should descend from idolaters, and
that when he came into the world he should find no wor-
shippers of the one supreme God in it ; and therefore God
entered into covenant with Abraham, who seems to have
been the only man of that age who was free from idolatry,
and promises to multiply his seed, and to preserve his name
and worship among them, and that the Messias should de-
scend from his loins.

And if we consider what necessary preparations were
required for the coming of the Messias, and for his recep-
tion in the world when he should appear, it will satisfy us
how wisely this was designed by God. The appearance of
the Son of God in the world was very surprising; and it
could not be thought that any one who made such pre-
tences should find credit, unless the world had beforehand
been prepared to expect him, and had some infallible marks
and characters whereby to know him when he came. And
this was the principal end of all the types, and figures, and
prophecies of the law, to contain the promises and predic-
tions of the Messias, and the characters whereby to know him.

The temple itself and the whole temple worship were
little more than types and figures of Christ, of his incarna-
tion, or living among men in an earthly tabernacle, of his
priesthood and sacrifice, his death, and resurrection, and
ascension into heaven, there to intercede for us at God's
right hand, as the high priest entered once a year into the
holy of holies. Now this could not have been done, had
not the one supreme God had a temple, and priesthood, and
sacrifices on earth : that is, a people peculiarly devoted to
his worship and service ; for the temples, and priests, and
sacrifices of idols could not be types of the Son of God, who
came to confound all the Pagan gods and their idolatrous
worship. Thus there could have been no prophecies of
Christ, had there been no prophets of the true God ; and
these prophecies would have met with little credit had they
been found in idols' temples. So that God's choosing the

22"

258 WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE.

posterity of Abraham for his peculiar people, was not only
necessary to preserve the knowledge and worship of the one
true God in the world, but also to receive and to convey
down to future ages, with an unquestionable authority, all
the types and prophecies of the Messias.

This gives us a general view of the Divine wisdom in that
covenant God made with Abraham and his posterity ; and
this will enable us to discover the wonderful wisdom of all
the various dispensations of the Divine providence towards
the Jewish nation ; wThich will be both so useful and enter-
taining a meditation, that I cannot pass it over without some
short remarks.

Now God having chosen the posterity of Abraham to be
his peculiar people, on purpose to make them a visible con-
futation of idolatry, and to establish and propagate the
knowledge and worship of the one supreme God in the
world, in order to effect this, four things were manifestly
necessary.

(1.) That it should be visible to all that knew them, that
God had chosen Israel for his peculiar people.

(2.) That it should be as visible that the God of Israel
is the one supreme God, the Maker and sovereign Lord of
the whole world.

(3.) That the worship of the one supreme God should
be preserved entire among them ; or that if they did decline
to idolatry, they should be visibly punished for it.

(4.) That the fame of this people, and of their God,
should by degrees be known over all the earth.

Now not to take notice of the mystical reasons of God's
providences towards Israel, which is a very large and nice
argument, and not so proper to my present design ; if most
of the remarkable providences wherewith they were exer-
cised, did manifestly serve some one or more of these ends,
we have a visible reason of them, not only sufficient to justify
providence, but to give us a ravishing prospect of the Di-
vine wisdom.

I shall begin with the removal of Jacob and his family
into Egypt, the occasion of which is well known, but the
reason of it is not so wTell considered. For it may »eem
strange that when God had promised Abraham to bestow
the land of Canaan on his posterity for an inheritance, he

WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE. 259

should remove them out of the land of Canaan into Egypt,
there to continue many years under grievous oppression,
before he thought fit to deliver them, and to give them pos-
session of the promised land.

But to understand the wise design of this, we must re-
member that God was to give a visible demonstration to the
world that he had chosen Israel for his peculiar people, and
given them the land of Canaan for their inheritance ; and it
was not so agreeable to this design that they should increase
insensibly in Canaan, and by degrees dispossess the old in-
habitants; for there had been nothing singular and remark-
able in this, and therefore they were to be a great nation
before God so publicly and visibly owned them for his
people, and visibly bestowed an inheritance on them ; and
it was necessary they should have some place to increase
and multiply in, till God thought fit to transplant them into
the promised land. For this purpose God chose the land of
Egypt, and sent Joseph beforehand thither, and advanced
him to Pharaoh's throne to prepare a reception for them.
And a very quiet and easy retreat they found there for many
years till Joseph was dead, and all the good offices he had
done both for king and people forgot, and the prodigious
increase of Israel made the kings of Egypt jealous of their
numbers and power. And then they began to oppress that
people with hard labour and cruel bondage, till the time
appointed for their deliverance was come.

This oppression of Israel may seem a very severe provi-
dence ; but there were some very wise ends it served.

(1.) To make the people willing to leave Egypt, where
they suffered such hard bondage ; for whoever observes
how ready they were upon all occasions to talk of returning
into Egypt, how they longed after the onions and garlick,
and flesh-pots of Egypt, notwithstanding all the hardships
they suffered there, will be apt to think that had they en-
joyed ease and prosperity, all the miracles which Moses
wrought would no more have persuaded Israel to have left
Egypt than they could persuade Pharaoh to let them go.

(2.) The advantage Pharaoh made of the service of Israel
made him obstinately resolve not to part with them ; and his
cruel oppression made it very just for God to punish him,
and all Egypt with him, and this occasioned all those signs

260 WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE.

and wonders which God wrought in Egypt by the hands of
Moses, whereby he visibly owned Israel for his people, and
made his own power and glory known.

(3.) The great proneness of Israel to idolatry, even when
God had delivered them out of Egypt, is too plain a proof
that they had learnt the Egyptian idolatries wdiile they lived
there ; the golden calf being, as some learned men not
without reason conclude, an imitation of the Egyptian Apis.
And this made it very just for God to punish the Egyptian
idolatry with an Egyptian bondage ; especially considering
that this was the most likely wray to give check to their
idolatry, and to make them hate the Egyptian gods like their
Egyptian task-masters, and to remember the God of their
fathers, and his promise and covenant to bestow the land of
Canaan on them.

(4.) The oppression of Israel in Egypt w*as an effectual
means to keep them a distinct and separate people. This
was absolutely necessary, when God had chosen them for
his peculiar people, that they should be preserved from incor-
porating with any other people. And this God took early care
of, by placing them by themselves in the land of Goshen,
where they grew up into a distinct body from Egypt, which
made Pharaoh so jealous of them when they began to mul-
tiply. And that made him oppress them, and that oppression
preserved the distinction which a kind and friendly usage
might in time have destroyed. For it is rarely seen that
two people can live amicably together in the same country,
and under the same prince, without mingling and incorpo-
rating with each other, till they forget all distinction betwreen
nations and families.

These are wise reasons why God suffered the hard bond-
age of Israel in Egypt ; and those mighty signs and wonders
which God wrought in Egypt, were the most effectual means
both to convince the Israelites of God's peculiar care of them,
and to convince the world, that Israel was God's peculiar
people, and that the God of Israel was the supreme Lord and
governor of the world. This account God himself gives of
it: Exod. vi. 6 — 8 : " Wherefore say unto the children of
Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under

the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will take you to

me for a people, and I will be to you a God : And ye shall

WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE. 261

know that I am the Lord your God which bringeth you out
from under the burdens of the Egyptians." And as for the
Egyptians, God tells Moses, " I will harden Pharaoh's heart,
and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.
But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay
my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine armies, and my
people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by
great judgments. And the Egyptians shall know that I am
the Lord, when I stretch forth my hand upon Egypt, and
bring out the children of Israel from among them :" Exod.
vii. 3 — 5.

This is the first time we read of such signs and wonders
as these, and probably they are the first miracles of this na-
ture that ever were wrought ; and it becomes us to contem-
plate the wisdom of providence in it, for the wisdom of
miracles, and the surprise and wonder of them, are two very
different things. Miracles offer violence to the order of na-
ture, and would be no commendation of the wisdom of pro-
vidence should we consider them as causes, not as signs. It
would be a reproach to the wisdom of providence to say, that
God wrought all those miracles in Egypt, because he could
not have punished the Egyptians, nor have delivered Israel
without them. For it would argue a great defect in the or-
dinary methods of government, if God could not at anytime
save good men, and punish and destroy the wicked, without
a miracle. God can do whatever he pleases by the wise
direction and government of natural and moral causes, and
therefore does not work miracles because he needs them to
supply the defects of natural powers, but to bear testimony
to his own being and providence, and to give authority to his
ministers and prophets ; and we must learn the wisdom of
this from the state and condition of the world at that time.

Mankind were at that time so far from being atheists that
they would worship any thing, the meanest and most con-
temptible creatures, rather than have no god; and they were
so sensible how much they stood in need of a Divine provi-
dence, that one god would not serve them, but they wanted
as many gods, not only as there were nations, but as they had
wants to supply. This was a great corruption of the light of
nature, and those notions of one supreme God imprinted on
theirmindsj and proclaimed by the whole visible creation j

262 WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE.

but yet was so universal and prevailing, that their wisest
philosophers, who had better notions of the Deity, were not
able to resist the torrent, and durst not openly oppose the wor-
ship of those country gods, for fear of a popular rage and fury.

Now when neither the light of nature, nor the works of
creation, and of a common providence, could secure the be-
lief and worship of the one supreme God, what remained but
for God to make some more sensible manifestation of himself
to the world? and let any man consider what more effectual
way could have been taken to convince men of the Divine
powrer and providence than by miracles, especially such
miracles as are for the deliverance and protection of good
men and the punishment and overthrow of the wTicked.

When the corruption of mankind is such that they will not
learn from nature, there is no way of teaching them but by
something which is supernatural. And when the beautiful,
and regular, and uniform order of nature will not convince
men that there is a God, at least not that there is one supreme
God, who made and wTho governs this world, miracles will.
Those who will not believe that the world was made, or had
any wise and intelligent cause, must confess that miracles
have a cause, because they see them produced ; and that that
cause is not nature, because they see them produced wuthout
any natural cause, or against the laws of nature ; nor chance
and accident, because they are done at the command of a
free agent, at the word of a man ; as all the signs and won-
ders in Egypt wTere wTrought at the word of Moses, whose
word had no natural virtue and efficacy in it to wTork win-
ders. And therefore miracles certainly prove, that there is
an invisible, intelligent cause, who, if he did not make the
world, could have made it if he had pleased. For whoever can
in any one instance act without or against nature, can create
nature too. For to do any thing wThich nature cannot do, is
in that particular to make nature ; and he who can make na-
ture in one instance, can do so in all ; and this is a good rea-
son to believe that the wTorld wras made, when wTe know that
there is a cause that can make the world. And that superior
power he exercises over nature proves that he both can and
does govern the world ; for he has the supreme and absolute
government of nature, who can, when he pleases, give new
powers to it, or suspend and reverse its laws.

WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE. 263

So that miracles are a supernatural proof of a Divine power
and providence ; and no man who believes, that there ever
was a true miracle wrought, can be an atheist; and therefore
it is no wonder that atheists are such professed enemies to
the belief of miracles ; but it is a great wonder that they can
persuade themselves to reject all those authentic relations we
have of miracles, both from the law of Moses, and from the
gospel of Christ, which are the most credible histories in the
world, [if we look upon them as no more than histories,] and
have obtained the most universal belief. Especially this is
very unaccountable in those men who pretend to deism, to
acknowledge a God who made the world : for cannot that
God who made the world, and made nature, act without, or
above, or against nature, when he pleases ? And may it not
become the Divine wisdom and goodness to do this, when
it is necessary for the more abundant conviction of mankind,
who are sunk into atheism or idolatry? When signs ar 1 won-
ders are necessary to awaken men into the sense and belief
of God and his providence, which was the case in the days
of Moses ; or to give authority to prophets to declare and
reveal the will of God to men, which was a reason for mi-
racles as long as God thought fit to make any new and public
revelations of his will ; when it is reasonable and credible,
that God, who can, when he pleases, should sometimes work
miracles, as it is that he should take care to preserve the know-
ledge of himself and his will, and to restore it when it is lost ;
or to make such new discoveries of his grace, as the fallen
state of mankind requires ; when, I say, the thing itself is so
credible, and so worthy of God, what reasonable pretence can
there be for rejecting miracles, for which we have the autho-
rity of the best-attested history in the world ?

But atheism was not the disease of that age, wThich had run
into the other extreme of polytheism and idolatry ; and, there-
fore, though miracles do prove the being and providence of
God, the miracles of Moses were principally intended to
prove the glory and power of the God of Israel ; that the God
of Israel is the one supreme God, and that he had chosen
Israel for his peculiar people ; and this he did by doing such
things as no other God could do ; such as made the Egyp-
tian magicians confess that it was "the finger of God;"
(Exod. viii. 1,) and what more effectual way could be taken

264 WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE.

to convince the world of one supreme God than such visi-
ble demonstrations of an absolute and sovereign power supe-
rior to all ? Those who worshipped a plurality of gods,
either had no notion of one supreme God, whose power
ruleth over all; or if they had, yet they believed that this
supreme God had committed the care and government of
mankind to inferior deities, whom they therefore worshipped
with divine honours, as the disposers of their lives and for-
tunes; and either paid no worship to the supreme God,
which was the more general practice ; or worshipped their
country gods together with him, and that with the most fre-
quent, most solemn, and pompous worship. Now such
great and wonderful works as these, which none of their
country gods could do, was an evident proof that there wTas
a power, and therefore a God above them all, whom all
mankind ought to fear and worship. This convinced Nebu-
chadnezzar of the power of the God of Israel, when he had
delivered Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the fiery
furnace ; he made a decree, " That every people, nation,
and language which spake amiss against the God of Shad-
rach, Meshach, and Abednego, 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:" Dan. iii. 29.
Thus when God had delivered Daniel from the lion's den,
Darius made a decree, " That in every dominion of his king-
dom men should tremble and fear before the God of Daniel:
For he is the living God, and steadfast for ever, and his
kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his domi-
nion shall be even unto the end. He delivereth and rescu-
eth, and worketh signs and wonders in heaven, and in
earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the
lions:" Dan. iii. 26, 27.

Both these kings were convinced by these great and won-
derful works, that the God of Israel was the supreme 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 wor-
ship to be paid him, much less did they forbid the worship
of any other gods.

But a little consideration would have carried them farther,

WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE. 265

for these mighty works, which proved a power superior to
all gods, proved a sovereign providence too ; that this su-
preme God had not so committed the government of the
world to any ministers or inferior deities, but that he reserved
the supreme 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 re-
puted 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 doest thou?"
Dan. iv. 34, 35. This cut off all reasonable pretences of
paying Divine worship to their country gods; 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 reason-
able to conclude this, when they saw that this supreme God
would not suffer Israel, whom he had chosen for his pecu-
liar 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 wTas made evident to Nebuchadnezzar and Da-
rius wThen 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 shows the strange power of preju-
dice 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 pro-
vidence, both with respect to the removal of Israel out of the
land of Canaan into Egypt, and the hard bondage they suf-
fered there ; and their deliverance out of Egypt with a mighty
hand and outstretched arm, with signs, and wonders, and
miracles. Let us now follow' them into the wilderness.

God having chosen Israel for his peculiar people, and de-
livered them out of Egypt before he showed 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

23

266 WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE.

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 con-
versation of all other people, and upon all accounts a fit place
both to instruct and try them. I do not intend, as I said be-
fore, to inquire into the mystical reasons of those various pro-
vidences 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
tinctured wTiththe idolatries, and had learnt the corrupt man-
ners of that people, and had all the meanness and stupidity
and perverseness of humour that a state of servitude and bond-
age is apt to create ; of which we have too many visible in-
stances 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 formi-
dable solemnities in an audible voice from Mount Sinai —
wrhich, Moses tells them, was such a thing as was never
known before, u 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 ?"
Deut. iv. 32, 33. And the use Moses makes of it is very
natural, to confirm them in the belief and worship of the
one supreme God. "Unto thee it was showed, 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 showed 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 :" Deut.iv. 35, 36,39.
For what can convince men that there is one supreme 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? Nuraa pretended to receive his laws from

WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE. 267

the goddess iEgeria, as some other lawgivers pretended to
do the like — but no man knew any thing of it but them-
selves. But here a whole nation heard God speak to them,
and saw such an 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's 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
cover the mountain — had heard the thunder and the trumpet
— and, at last, a voice delivering the law with an inimitable
terror and majesty, — what would they then have thought of
this ? or what farther evidence would they have desired that
it was God who spoke to them ? This could be no dream,
nor melancholy apparition, or disturbed fancy ; for they had.
timely notice of it three days before, and were commanded
to. sanctify themselves to meet their God : and if a whole
nation had been imposed on after such fair warning, it had
been as great a prodigy and miracle as the appearance on
Mount Sinai, and would have argued some divine and super-
natural infatuation, and that would have proved a God.

This, then, was as visible a demonstration as could be
given of the presence, and power, and majesty of God, who
rejected all other gods from any share in his worship, and
declares himself to be the maker of heaven and earth ; fori
am sure that the wit of man cannot invent a more effectual
conviction than this.

Let us then consider the wisdom of providence in this,
both with respect to the Israelites and to the rest of mankind.

"He that cometh to God, must believe that he is, and that
he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." And
therefore, when God intended to restore his own worship
again in the world, and to make Israel a pattern and example
of it to the rest of mankind, it was necessary to give them as
visible and ocular a demonstration of the power and glory
of God as it was possible for creatures to have. When the
whole world was overrun with idolatry, and the Israelites
themselves so strongly inclined to it, nothing less than such
an appearance from Mount Sinai was likely to establish the

268 WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE.

faith and worship of the one supreme God — and we see that
this itself could very hardly do it ; for immediately after they
had heard God speak to them, while Moses was in the Mount,
they made them a golden calf and worshipped it; and as
soon as they mingled with any other people they joined in
their idolatrous worship — a sad example of which we have
seen in their worship of Baal-Peor : Numb. xxv. But this
was the highest evidence God could then give them of his
power and glory, and it did in time prevail ; and in them all
mankind who know their story have a visible demonstra-
tion of one supreme God.

But not to insist on every particular, which wrould be end-
less, it may seem strange that when God brought Israel out
of Egypt to give them possession of the promised land, he
should make them wander in the wilderness forty years, till
all that generation of men wThich came out of Egypt were
dead, excepting Joshua and Caleb. The apostle to the
Hebrews gives us the general account of this matter, Heb.
iii. 7, to the end, which resolves it into their idolatry and in-
fidelity. " Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith, To-day if ye
will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provo-
cation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness : when your
fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty
years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and
said, They do always err in their heart: and they have not
knowTn my ways. So I sware in my wTrath, They shall not
enter into my rest." Which he makes an admonition to
Christians, " Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you
an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God ;"
that is, in forsaking the true God, and declining to idolatry,
as the Israelites in the wilderness did. "And to whom
sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them
that believed not ? So we see that they could not enter in
because of unbelief."

The plain state of the case is this: that generation of men
which came out of Egypt, and remembered the customs and
practices of that people, were so strangely addicted to idol-
atry, that all the signs and wonders they saw in Egypt, in
the Red Sea, and in the wilderness, could not perfectly cure
them ; but whenever they had opportunity, they joined them-
selves to the heathen gods, ate of their sacrifices, and bowed

WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE. 269

themselves before them ; that had these men gone into
Canaan, which was then a land of idolaters, they would
certainly have worshipped their gods instead of destroying
them, and have mingled themselves with the people of the
land, and have learned their manners. For they who so
often tempted God, and disobeyed Moses while they were in
the wilderness, in expectation of the promised land, what
would they have done had they been once possessed of it ?
So that to have given that generation of men possession of
Canaan, would not have answered God's original design in
choosing Israel for his peculiar people ; for in all likelihood
they would have proved a nation of idolaters, like the other
nations round about them. And therefore God deferred the
final accomplishment of his promise till that generation was
all dead, and a new generation sprung up which knew not
Egypt, nor had conversed with idolatrous nations, but had
seen the wonders of God in the wilderness, and had learnt
his statutes and judgments, and were sufficiently warned by
the example of their fathers, whose carcasses fell in the wil-
derness, to fear and reverence the Lord Jehovah, and to make
him their trust. This is the very account the Scripture gives
of it; and thus accordingly it proved ; for that new genera-
tion of men were never charged with idolatry. But we are
expressly told, that " Israel served the Lord all the days of
Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua,
and which had known all the works of the Lord, that he had
done for Israel :" Josh. xxiv. 31.

All this, we see, was designed by God with admirable
wisdom to make his own glory and power known, and to
publish his choice of Israel for his peculiar people, and to
prepare them for himself, and to establish his name and wor-
ship among them. And now God had made them fit inhabit-
ants of the land of promise, without any longer delay he
gives them the actual possession of it ; and therefore let us
now follow them into the land of Canaan.

The history of the wars of Canaan is sufficiently known,
which presents us with new wonders and miracles not inferior
to those which God wrought in Egypt and in the Red Sea ;
for God so visibly fought the battles of Israel, that they and
all the world might know that it was he that gave them pos-
session of that good land, and drove out those wicked in-

23*

270 WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE.

habitants before them — which declared his glory, and made
his power known. And what I have already discoursed
concerning the wonders and miracles in Egypt is equally
applicable to this, and I need add no more. Let us then
consider Israel in possession of the land of promise ; and there
are but two things more I shall observe in the Jewish history
till the coming of our Saviour,

(1.) Their frequent relapses into idolatry, for which they
were as frequently and severely punished.

(2.) Their captivities and dispersions among the nations,
whereby God made himself and his laws more universally
known in the world.

(1.) As for the first, nothing could be more directly con-
trary to God's original intention in choosing the posterity of
Abraham for his peculiar people, than their falling into idola-
try ; and yet God foresaw that this they would do, and
threatens to punish them severely when they did — which is
the subject of Moses' prophetic song. Deut. xxxii. And
the whole history of the Jewish nation may satisfy us that
though God spared them many times when they were guilty
of other great sins, yet they never fell into idolatry but ven-
geance soon pursued them, and they were either oppressed
by their enemies at home, or carried captive into foreign
countries. When Joshua wTas dead, and all that generation
which Joshua led into Canaan, " there arose another gene-
ration after them, that knew not the Lord, nor yet the works
which he had done for Israel ;" and they soon declined to
idolatry, "and served Baalim: they forsook the Lord, and
served Baal and Ashtaroth:" Judges ii. 10 — 12, &c. And
what follows gives us a summary account of God's dealings
with them all the time of the judges. " And the anger of
the Lord was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into
the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them
into the hands of their enemies round about them. Whither-
soever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them
for evil, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn
unto them : and they were greatly distressed. Nevertheless
the Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the
hand of those that spoiled them. And yet they would not
hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after
other gods, and bowed themselves unto them : they turned

WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE. 271

quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying
the commandments of the Lord ; but they did not so. And
when the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was
with the judge, and delivered them out of the hands of their
enemies all the days of the judge : for it repented the Lord
because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed
them and vexed them. And it came to pass when the judge
was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more
than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and
to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own
doings, nor from their stubborn way."

For this reason, as it follows in the text, God resolved
" not to drive out any from before them of the nations which
Joshua left when he died." God had promised " to put
out those nations by little and little, not consume them at
once, lest the beasts of the field should increase upon them."
Deut. vii. 22. But, withal, Joshua assured them, that " if
they did in any wise go back," that is, relapse into idolatry,
" and cleave unto the remnant of those nations, even those
which remain among you," which Joshua has not driven
out, " know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no
more drive out any of these nations from before you ; but
theyshall.be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in
your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off
this good land which the Lord your God hath given you."
Joshua xxiii. 12, 13. And thus accordingly God dealt with
them ; for he left " the five lords of the Philistines, and all
the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites, that
dwelt in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-Hermon, unto
the entering in of Hamath, and they were to prove Israel by
them, to know whether they would hearken unto the com-
mandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers
by the hand of Moses." Judges iii. 1, 4.

This was a wise provision God made to correct and punish
Israel, whenever they should decline to idolatry ; for these
idolatrous nations, who still lived among them, or round
about them, were not more ready to tempt them to idolatry,
than they were to oppress and afflict them, when God thought
fit to chastise Israel. The whole book of Judges is a mani-
fest proof of this ; and the story is so well known that I need
not insist on particulars. Let us then briefly contemplate

272 WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE.

the wisdom of providence in those severe judgments God
executed on Israel for their frequent idolatries. God had
chosen Israel for his peculiar people, to be the worshippers
of the one supreme God, and a visible confutation of the
heathen idolatries ; but their great propensity to idolatry,
after all the signs and wonders which God wrought in Egypt,
and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness, and in giving
them possession of the promised land, did threaten the final
apostasy of Israel, which would have defeated God's wise
and gracious design in choosing them for his peculiar peo-
ple. For had they turned idolaters like the rest of the na-
tions, the worship of the one supreme God had been totally
lost in the world.

To prevent this, God never suffered their idolatries for
any long time to escape unpunished ; and if we would under-
stand the true reason of this, we must not consider these
judgments merely as the punishment of their idolatries, but
as the wise methods of providence to preserve his own wor-
ship among them notwithstanding their idolatrous inclina-
tions, and to make his name, and power, and glory known
to the world.

The whole world were idolaters ; but God did not punish
other nations for their idolatry, as he did Israel ; which
shows, that the punishment of Israel was not merely for the
punishment of idolatry, but for the cure of it. For God
having chosen Israel for his peculiar people, the world was
to learn from them, from their examples, and from their re-
wards and punishments, the knowledge and worship of
the one supreme God. And could there be a more sensible
confutation of idolatry, than to see a nation which had been
visibly consecrated to the worship of the one supreme God,
as visibly punished, whenever they declined to idolatry?

That new generation which sprung up after the days of
Joshua, who had not seen God's wonders in Egypt and in
the wilderness, nor knowTn the wars of Canaan, soon forgot
the God of their fathers, and wanted some new experiments of
God's power and presence among them ; and whenever they
declined to idolatry, God took care they should not want
them, though they paid very dear for them ; for he delivered
them into the hands of their enemies, and brought many
evils on them, till they should remember the God of tfieir

WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE. 273

fathers. This account God himself gives of it, Deut. xxxi.
16, 17: "And the Lord said unto Moses, behold thou shalt
sleep with thy fathers, and this people will rise up, and go
a whoring after the gods of the strangers, whither they go to
be amongst them, and will forsake me, and break my cove-
nant which I have made with them. Then my anger shall
be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them,
and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be de-
voured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them, so
that they will say in that day, are not these evils come upon
us because the Lord our God is not amongst us ?" This the
Psalmist tells us was the effect of such judgments, though
not always so lasting as it ought to have been. " When he
slew them, then they sought him, and returned and inquired
early after God ; and they remembered that God was their
rock, and the high God their redeemer :" Ps. lxxviii. 34, 35.
By these means God made them sensible of his justice and
power, and reclaimed them from their idolatries, and re-
stored his own worship among them ; for they certainly knew,
by the threatenings of their own law, for what reasons they
were thus punished. And indeed their own experience was
sufficient to satisfy them in this ; for they no sooner forsook
the God of their fathers, and worshipped other gods, but
they were oppressed by their enemies ; and when they re-
pented of their idolatries and returned to God, he raised up
saviours and deliverers who vanquished their enemies, and
restored them to liberty and peace. Especially since those
wonderful deliverances which God wrought for them by the
hands of their judges, gave that generation of men which
knew not the wars of Canaan new and visible proofs of
God's power and presence among them. And we know not
what effect this discipline had ; it did not wholly prevent
their idolatries, which they were prone to, when the memory
of such judgments were worn out by a long peace and pros-
perity ; but then the repetition of such judgments, as they
repeated their provocations, joined with the admonitions of
their prophets, whom God raised up in several ages, did
generally bring them to repentance, and restore the worship
of God amongst them ; till at last the ten tribes grew incu-
rable, and were therefore utterly rejected by God, and car-
ried into a perpetual captivity, never to return more into

274 WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE.

their own land. And Judah, who would not take warning
by the punishment of Israel, was carried captive into Baby-
lon for seventy years ; which so perfectly cured their idola-
try that we hear no more complaints of that after their return
from captivity.

And this answered God's design with respect to the rest
of the world, as much as if they had never been guilty of
idolatry. For notwithstanding their several relapses into
idolatry, it was well known that Israel was consecrated to
the worship of the Lord Jehovah ; and when the nations
round about were witnesses of God's judgments against
Israel when they forsook the Lord their God, and of their
happy and prosperous state while they kept his covenant, it
was a convincing proof of the power and justice of the God
of Israel, especially when they should see the ten tribes
utterly rooted out for their idolatry, and Judah carried cap-
tive into Babylon, and the city and temple of Jerusalem de-
stroyed, and the land laid waste and desolate without inha-
bitants; the justice and power of God in driving them out
of their land would then be as much taken notice of as his
wonderful providence in delivering them out of Egypt, and
placing them in that good land, was. As God himself tells
Solomon in answer to his prayer at the dedication of the
temple, 2 Chron. vii. 19 — 22: "But if ye turn away and
forsake my statutes and my commandments which I have
set before you, and shall go and serve other gods and wor-
ship them ; then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my
land which I have given them ; and this house which I have
sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will
make it to be a proverb, and a by-word among all nations ;
and this house which is high, shall be an astonishment to
every one that passeth by it, so that he shall say, why hath
the Lord done thus unto this land, and unto this house?
And it shall be answered, because they forsook the Lord
God of their fathers, which brought them forth out of the
land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped
them, and served them ; therefore hath he brought all this
evil upon them."

For we must observe, that God had as well chosen the
land of Canaan to be the seat of his worship, as Israel to be
his worshippers : and the inheritance of the land of Canaan

"WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE. 275

was bestowed on them in virtue of God's covenant to be
their God, and they to be his people ; that is, that they
should worship no other gods besides him ; and the breach
of covenant on their part by declining to idolatry was a for-
feiture of their right to the promised land ; and a proper
punishment of it was, either oppression at home, which
made them servants and strangers in their own land, or cap-
tivity in foreign countries. And this was so publicly known,
that when any such evils befell Israel, the nations round
about were able to give the reason of it, " because they for-
sook the Lord God of their fathers." So that the very op-
pression and captivity of Israel published the supreme power
and glory of the God of Israel, who is a jealous God, and
will admit of no partners in worship. But when his own
people " forsake him, and serve strange gods in the land"
which he had given them and separated to his own wor-
ship, he makes them " serve strangers in a land which is
not theirs:" Jer. v. 19.

(2.) These captivities and dispersions of Israel, especial-
ly the long captivity of Judah in Babylon, served other ends
besides the punishment and the cure of their idolatry ; for
into what country soever they were carried captive, they
carried the knowledge of the God of Israel along with them.

While they lived at home in their own country, and had
little commerce with any other people, the very name of
Israel was known only to their neighbours ; and the God of
Israel could be knowm no farther than Israel was. But when
they were carried captive to Babylon, and dispersed through
all the provinces of that vast empire, this spread the know-
ledge of God too, who by many wonderful providences
owned these captives for his people, and made the heathens
see and confess his glory and power.

But the better to understand this, we must consider that
wise preparation God made for it in those great revolutions
of state and empires which began about this time.

To prevent the general corruption of mankind, as I ob-
served before, God confounded their languages, and there-
by separated them from each other, and formed them into
several distinct independent societies and kingdoms ; wThich
was an effectual means to prevent the spreading of the in-
fection, and to force them to the practice of a great many

276 WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE.

moral and political virtues. But when the whole world was
corrupted by idolatry, and God saw a proper season to be-
gin a reformation, to make the cure more easy and univer-
sal, it was necessary to establish a more general communi-
cation among mankind, which is the most effectual means
to spread a wholesome as well as a pestilential contagion.
And since commerce and traffic 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, con-
veyed the knowledge of all memorable actions into all parts
of the empire.

Now in the beginning of these great empires, (for though
the Assyrian monarchy began long before, yet Nebuchad-
nezzar was the golden head of that image which represent-
ed the four monarchies,) God carried Judah captive into
Babylon, and thereby made himself known to be the su-
preme and sovereign Lord of the world, over all the Ba-
bylonish empire.

The first occasion God took to make himself known in
Babylon, was Nebuchadnezzar's dream, which he had for-
got ; and none of the magicians, or astrologers, or sorcerers,
or Chaldeans, could show the king his dream, much less
tell him the interpretation of it ; but Daniel did both ; which
made Nebuchadnezzar acknowledge to Daniel, u 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 could st reveal this
secret:" Dan. ii. 47. And this advanced Daniel to great
authority, for the king" made him ruler over the whole pro-
vince 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 Baby-
lon, who had the greatest influence upon others, to propa-
gate 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 Jews, 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 Abednego, shall be cut in pieces,

WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE. 277

and their house shall be made a dunghill, because there is
no other God that can deliver after this sort :" Dan. iii. 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 faith in him, as any Jew could have made. Dan. iv.

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 handwriting on the wall, which, as Daniel expounded it,
and the event that very night confirmed, foretold the imme-
diate 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 : Dan. v. And
though his advancement by Belshazzar, who made him the
third ruler in the kingdom, was but of a very short continu-
ance, 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
lions' den ; for which reason Darius made a decree, " That
in every dominion of his kingdom, men fear and tremble
before the God of Daniel :" Dan. vi. 25—27. So that by
the captivity of Judah, God made himself known over all
the Babylonian and Persian monarchy ; and this disposed
Cyrus, the seventy years of their captivity being accom-
plished, to give them liberty to return into their own coun-
try, and to publish a decree for the rebuilding of the city
and temple of Jerusalem.

But still to preserve the knowledge of God among them,
the Divine providence so ordered it that when all had liber-
ty to return, great numbers stayed behind in Babylon, where
they freely professed and exercised their religion ; which,
together with the civil dependence of the Jewish state on
the Persian monarchy, preserved a constant correspondence

24

278 WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE.

and intercourse between them ; and that preserved the
knowledge of the Jews, and of their God.

The Grecian empire, which put an end to the Persian,
made the God of the Jews still more known to the world.
Alexander the Great came to Jerusalem, treated the Jews
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
Jews, especially into Syria and Egypt. Ptolemy, the king
of Egypt, having surprised Jerusalem, carried great numbers
of them into Egypt ; and having entertained a kind opinion
of them there, employed them in his armies and garrisons,
and made them citizens of Alexandria. His son, Ptolemy
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 Jerusalem, 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 Judea.

And to let pass a great many other things, which contri-
buted very much to propagate the knowledge of the God of
Israel in the world — to complete all, the power and oppres-
sions of the Assyrian monarchs forced the Jews to pray the
alliance and assistance of the Romans, which ended, as such
powerful alliances very often do, in their subjection to the
Roman powers, who first governed them by kings and te-
trarchs, and at last reduced them into a Roman province.
And thus the Jews, and their God, and their religion, be-
came known over all the Roman empire. These four suc-
cessive monarchies did gradually increase and spread the
knowledge of one supreme 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 :"
Dan. ii. 44.

For the better to understand this, we must observe, that
though the knowledge of God made no public reformation
of the Pagan idolatries, yet it greatly disposed men to receive

WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE. 279

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 philoso-
phers of those ages, though they still worshipped their coun-
try gods : it gave them some obscure knowledge of the Jew-
ish prophecies concerning the kingdom of the Messias, 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 re-
form nations, yet we have reason to believe that it made a
great many private converts, who secretly forsook the idola-
tries of their countries, and worshipped the only true God.
It is reasonable to think that 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 satisfy
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 Jerusalem great num-
bers, not only of Jews, but of proselytes out of every na-
tion: " Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwell-
ers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and Cappadocia, in
Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in
the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome,
Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians :" Acts ii. 9 — 11.
Whether these were circumcised or uncircumcised proselytes
is not said ; but proselytes they were out of all these nations,
who came up at the feast to worship at Jerusalem ; from
whence we learn that the dispersion of the Jews into all na-
tions made great numbers of proselytes, who either under-
took the observation of the Mosaical law by circumcision,
and became Jews, or at least renounced all the heathen idol-
atries, 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 proselytes ; and if we believe some
learned men, there is frequent mention made of them in
Scripture under the name of " worshipping Greeks, and de-
vout men, and those which feared God." When St. Paul
preached at Thessalonica, there consorted with Paul and
Silas " of the devout Greeks a great multitude :" Acts xvii.
4. The very name of Greeks proved them to be Gentiles,

280 WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE.

not Jews, who are always distinguished from each other ;
and that they were asPopivot,, 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 Jewish synagogue sufficiently proves it : for
no Gentiles resorted thither but those who worshipped the
God of Israel. Of this number was Lydia, (Acts xvi. 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; (Acts x. 2,) and the eunuch, (Acts viii.
27-,) and almost in every place where St. Paul preached the
gospel, we find great numbers of these worshipping Gen-
tiles; at Thessalonica and Philippi, as you have seen: at
Corinth, (Acts xviii. 4,) at Antioch of Pisidia, (Acts xiii. 43,)
and we have reason to conclude that thus it was in other
places, wrhich shows what a great effect the dispersion of
the Jews into all these countries had in making proselytes,
some to the Jewish religion, but many more to the worship of
the God of Israel, which prepared them to receive the gospel
when it was preached to them. For they were the worship-
pers of the true God, and were instructed in the law and the
prophets, as appears from their frequenting the Jewish syna-
gogues, 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 Jews themselves ; for they had all the prepa-
rations for Christianity which the Jews 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 ; Acts xiii. 48 :
" As many as were ordained to eternal life, believed ;" of
these devout and worshipping Gentiles, that they were
tstwyfiivot,, ready disposed and prepared to receive the doc-
trine of eternal life by Christ Jesus.

And thus we are come to the days of Christ, whose ap-
pearance 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

* Mr. Joseph Mede's third discourse on Acts xvii. 4.

WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE. 281

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 shown, God took the
wisest methods that the condition of mankind at that time
would allow to reform the world. And if Christ appeared
at such a time, as the Divine wisdom saw most fit and pro-
per 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 completing and stupendous act of grace
and love. God had promised our first parents immediately
upon the fall, that " the seed of the woman should bruise the
serpent's head ;" and by virtue 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 incar-
nation 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 w7orld 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 u all flesh had corrupted his ways," and there was
"but one righteous family left, the only probable means of
restoring piety and virtue to the world, was to destroy all
that wTicked 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 in-
fection, and to force on them the practice of many moral
and civil virtues.

24*

282 WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE.

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 supreme
God in the world : he gave them his laws, committed to
them the types and prophecies of the Messias, and punished
them very severely when they worshipped any other gods —
sent them into captivity, and by various providences scat-
tered them almost over the face of the whole earth, and
thereby propagated the knowledge of himself and of his
laws, and the prophecies of the Messias — made numerous
proselytes to the worship of the one supreme God, and
" made ready a people prepared for the Lord," and then
Christ came. And whatever sooner time you fix on for the
appearance of Christ, you will find it either before God had
tried all other methods for reforming the world, or before the
world was prepared for the receiving of Christ.

And having thus, in the best manner I could, represented
to you the wonderful wisdom of providence, from the begin-
ning of the world to the appearance of Christ in the flesh,
in some of the most remarkable events which have hap-
pened, I shall here break off; for though the wisdom of
providence is not less wonderful in those various events
which have happened to the Christian church, yet that is
so large a subject, and the accounts of many things so im-
perfect or doubtful, that I shall leave it to men of greater
leisure, and better skill and judgment in secular and eccle-
siastical history. But, I hope, that the imperfect account I
have now given, will teach you to reverence, not to censure
the wisdom of providence ; for if we, who understand so
little of God's ways, can see such excellent wisdom in them,
what unsearchable depths and mysteries of wisdom are
there which we cannot discover !

But yet, to complete the Jewish history as far as the
Scripture account goes, it will be necessary to take notice
of the final destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, which
put an end to their state and government, and dispersed
them into so many different countries ; for it seems very
surprising, that God should cast off his people, who were
in covenant with him, and to whom the promises of the
Messias were peculiarly made, so soon after the appearance
of the Messias in the world.

WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE. 283

And therefore, to vindicate both the truth and faithfulness
of God's promise to Abraham, and the wisdom of his pro-
vidence in the final overthrow and dispersion of the Jewish
nation, we must distinguish, as St. Paul frequently does,
especially in Rom. ix., between the carnal and the spiritual
seed of Abraham — the children of the flesh and the children
of the promise — those who descended from Abraham by
carnal generation, and those who were the children of Abra-
ham by faith in Christ Jesus. Gal. iii. 26, 29.

The carnal posterity of Abraham were chosen by God for
his peculiar people, to preserve his own name and worship
among them ; and for this purpose they were to be a distinct
nation, separated from the rest of the world, and had the
land of Canaan given them to live in ; and they were to
continue so till the coming of the Messias, according to Ja-
cob's prophecy : " The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,
nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come,
and to him shall the gathering of the people be :" Gen.xlix.10.

But the blessings of the Messias were promised only to
the spiritual seed of Abraham, as St. Paul proves. Rom. ix.;
Gal. iii. That is, to all those, whether Jews or Gentiles,
who believe in Christ Jesus ; for Christ was the true pro-
mised seed, and in Christ are all the promises of God, yea
and amen ; and therefore nothing but faith in Christ can en-
title us to the promise of Abraham, as the apostle, in these
places, confirms by several arguments, which I cannot
now insist on.

Now if we thus distinguish between Abraham's carnal
and spiritual seed, and those promises which belong to
Abraham's carnal posterity, and those which peculiarly be-
long to his spiritual seed, there will appear no great diffi-
culty in God's destroying the city and temple of Jerusalem,
and dispersing the Jews into all parts of the earth.

God had accomplished what he intended by the carnal
posterity of Abraham ; that is, he had preserved and pro-
pagated the knowledge of the one true God in the world,
and prepared men to receive Christ when he should be
preached to them ; and now Christ was come, the spiritual
covenant took place, which was not confined to Abraham's
carnal posterity, but extended to all that believed in Christ
ail the world over. So that God had no longer any one

284 WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE.

nation for his peculiar people; but those only were his peculiar
people, whatever* nation they were of, who believed in Jesus.

The Jews then, considered as Abraham's carnal posterity,
were God's peculiar people no longer; nor did God's pro-
mise oblige him to preserve them a distinct nation any
longer ; and therefore the Divine providence might now as
justly destroy them as any other nation, if they deserved it,
and certainly the crucifixion of their Messias, and their ob-
stinate infidelity, did deserve it. And when they had thus
justly deserved a final excision, the Divine wisdom had ad-
mirable ends to serve by it.

This gave a glorious testimony to Christ and his religion
in that terrible vengeance which befell his murderers, which
Christ himself had so expressly and punctually foretold, that
no man who knew what he had foretold with so many par-
ticular circumstances, could be ignorant why Jerusalem
was destroyed.

The obstinate infidelity of the Jews, who blasphemed
the name, and persecuted the disciples of Christ, did in
some degree hinder the progress of the gospel among the
Gentiles; but the destruction of Jerusalem, and the miracu-
lous preservation of the Christians, was so visible a testi-
mony to Christianity, and delivered the Christian church
from such bitter and implacable enemies, that the gospel
had a freer passage, and prevailed mightily in the world.

And the dispersion of the Jews into all countries, as be-
fore it spread the knowledge of the one true God, so now
it made them unwilling witnesses to Christianity, as being
the visible triumph of the crucified Jesus.

In a word, when all mankind were idolaters, God chose
the posterity of Abraham, and multiplied them into a great
nation, to preserve and propagate the knowledge and wor-
ship of the one supreme God, and to prepare men to receive
the gospel, which would in time extirpate all pagan idol-
atries. When Christ was come, and the gospel preached to
the world, God rejected that nation for their infidelity, and
by that means gave a freer passage to the gospel among the
Gentiles ; and St. Paul intimates that the time will come,
when the sincere faith and exemplary piety of the Christian
church shall contribute as much to the conversion of the
Jews as they formerly did to the conversion of the Gentiles ;

WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE. 285

for this seems to be the sum of the apostle's reasoning, with
which I shall conclude this argument, Rom. xi. 30, &c. :
" For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet now
have obtained mercy through their unbelief; even so have
these also now not believed, that through your mercy they
also may obtain mercy ; for God had concluded them all in
unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. 0 the depth
of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God !
how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past
finding out !"

II. Let us now consider the wisdom of providence in
some more common and ordinary events, especially such as
are made objections against providence. I have already
upon other occasions taken notice of several things of this
nature ; but it will give us a more transporting sense of the
Divine wisdom to see as much of it as we can in one view.

In general, whoever considers what it is to govern a world,
and to take care of all the creatures that are in it, must con-
fess it to be a work of infinite and incomprehensible wisdom.

The Epicureans for this reason rejected a providence, be-
cause they thought it too much trouble for their gods, full of
care, solicitude, and distraction, to observe all that is done
in the world ; and to overrule and determine all events as
wisdom, justice, and goodness should direct, and indeed
nothing less than an infinite mind can do this, which sees
all things at one view, judges infallibly at first sight, and
orders all things with a powerful thought.

But my chief design at present is to show you the wisdom
of providence in some particular cases, which either are not
sufficiently observed, or not rightly understood.

Some of the great objections against providence are the
troublesome and tempestuous state of this world ; the un-
certainty of all events ; the fickleness and inconstancy of
human affairs ; the promiscuous dispensation of the good
and evil things of this life, both to good and to bad men : and
I have already vindicated, not only the justice and goodness,
but the wisdom of God upon these accounts ; by showing
what wise ends God serves by them, and what a wise use
we may make by such providences. And therefore the
principal thing that I shall insist on, shall be some of those
wise methods God uses in rewards and punishments : wherein

286 WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE.

the great wisdom of government consists : And I shall briefly
mention some few.

1. That God rewards and punishes men in their posterity.
This is so plainly taught in Scripture that it will admit of no
dispute ; though some men venture to dispute the justice, at
least of one part of it, that God should " visit the sins of the
fathers upon the children;" which the Jews objected against
God in that profane proverb, " the fathers have eaten sour
grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge," (Ezek.
xviii. 2;) and by the answer God there makes, we may learn
in what sense God threatens to punish the posterity of bad
men, and to reward the posterity of good men, for their fa-
thers' sakes ; which does not extend to the other world,
where every man shall be judged according to his own
works, and " the soul that sinneth it shall die ;" and as to
this world, where we may allow more to the sovereignty of
providence without impeaching the Divine justice ; yet God
assures us that a righteous son shall not be punished merely
because he had a wicked father ; nor a wicked son be rewarded
merely because he had a righteous father; for thus much the
words must signify, if they relate to this life, as they cer-
tainly do, as well as to a future state.

Now if neither a righteous son shall suffer for the wicked-
ness of his father, nor a wicked son receive the rewards of
his father's virtue, this can afford no pretence to impeach
the justice of providence; but it gives occasion to inquire
what sense God is said to visit the sins of the fathers upon
their children, and to bless and prosper the posterity of good
men for their sakes.

(1.) As for the first: if God does not punish a righteous
son for the sins of his father, then "to visit the iniquities of
the father upon the children," must be confined to such
children only as inherit the vices, and imitate the wicked-
ness of their parents : that is, God has threatened to punish
the wicked children of wicked parents.

This, you will say, has nothing extraordinary in it ; for
God has threatened to punish all wicked men, whatever their
parents are ; and if they are punished only because they are
wicked, how is this "to visit the iniquities of their fathers on
them ?" But the answer of this seems as obvious as the ob-
jection— that the wicked children of wicked parents shall be

WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE. 287

more certainly and more severely punished than other bad
men ordinarily are.

First. As for the certainty of their punishment. We know
a great many bad men very often escape the Divine ven-
geance in this world, for all wicked men are not punished
here as their wickedness deserves. The justice of the Divine
providence, as I have already observed, does not require a
sudden and hasty execution. Bad men may be prosperous
many years, and be severely punished at last ; or may be
prosperous all their lives, and go down to their graves in
peace, and only answer for their wickedness in the next
world. But then God threatens that a more speedy ven-
geance shall overtake their posterity if they are wicked ; that
God will then remember that they are the wicked children
of wicked parents, and not exercise the same patience and
long-suffering to them. And this is in a proper sense to
" visit the iniquities of their fathers on them" — for, though
they are punished only for their own sins, yet the iniquities
of their fathers are the reason why God punishes them in
this world for their sins, and makes them the examples of his
justice, while other men as wicked as themselves escape.

Secondly. As for the severity of their punishments. No man
shall be punished more than his own sins deserve ; but yet the
wicked children of wicked parents may be, and very often
are, punished more severely than any other wicked men.

God does not punish all bad men alike, for the punish-
ments of this life are more properly acts of discipline than
acts of judgment, and therefore are not proportioned to the
nature of the crime, but to the circumstances and condition
of the person, and to the wise ends of government ; and if
the wicked children of wicked parents are punished, though
for their own sins, yet the more severely for their fathers'
sake; this is to bear the iniquity of their fathers. To under-
stand this, we must observe that the Scripture takes notice
of a certain " measure of iniquity," which is filling up from
one generation to another, till at last it makes a nation or
family ripe for destruction ; and although those persons on
whom this final vengeance falls suffer no more than their
own personal sins deserved, yet, because the sins of former
generations, which they equal or outdo, make it time for
God utterly to destroy them. The punishments due to the

288 WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE.

sins of many ages and generations are all said to fall upon
them. This account our Saviour gives of the destruction
of Jerusalem, Matt, xxiii. 29 — 36 : " Wo unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites ! because ye build the tombs of
the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and
say, if we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not
have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the
children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then

the measure of your fathers. Wherefore, behold, I send

unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes; and some
of them shall ye kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye
scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city
to city : that upon you may come all the righteous blood
shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto
the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew be-
tween the temple and the altar." God may wait with pa-
tience upon a wicked nation, or a wicked family ; but when
they sin on from one generation to another, it all aggravates
the account ; and when God sees it time to punish, makes
the punishment very severe or final.

(2.) The righteous posterity of good men are rewarded
also for their fathers' sake ; for "he showeth mercy to thou-
sands of them that love him, and keep his commandments."

A wicked son may receive a great many temporal blessings
from God, for the sake of a righteous father ; for it is evident
from Scripture that God shows great favour, and exercises
great patience to bad men, for the sake of the good. But
the promise is made only to the righteous seed of good men;
for though it does not unbecome the Divine goodness to show
favour to bad men, especially when it is for the sake of the
righteous, which makes it the reward and encouragement
of virtue ; yet it does not seem fitting to make any general
promise of favour to them, which would be an encourage-
ment of vice.

The righteous seed then of good men shall be blessed; but
so shall the righteous seed of wicked men be, and what pecu-
liar privilege is this to the good ? I answer, wThen God pro-
mises to bless the righteous posterity of good men, if it con-
tain any thing peculiar which God has not so expressly
promised to other good men, it must signify a <p-ore certain

WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE. 289

and a more lasting prosperity in this world. All good men
are not prosperous in this world, nor has God anywhere
promised that they shall be so, no more than all wicked men
are visibly punished here ; but as God visits the iniquities of
the fathers upon their children, by executing a more speedy
vengeance on the wicked children of wicked parents ; so the
righteous children of righteous parents shall be more cer-
tainly prosperous than other good men ; and the more unin-
terrupted successions there are of such righteous parents and
righteous children, the deeper root they shall take, and be
" like a tree planted by the rivers of waters, that bringeth
forth his fruit in his season ; his leaf also shall not wither,
and whatsoever he doth shall prosper:" Ps. i. 3.

This may suffice for a short representation of this case; and
as it is thus stated it is manifest that there is no injustice in it.
Let us then consider what w7ise ends it serves, both with
respect to parents and to children, and to the justification
of providence.

(1.) As to parents. If they have any natural affection to
their children, this is a very powerful argument to restrain
them from vice, and to excite them to virtue. Most of the
labour and toil which men undergo is for the sake of their
children, to provide for them while they live, and to leave
them in easy and happy circumstances when they die — to
raise and perpetuate a family, and to secure them as far as it
is possible from all adverse events. But how successful so-
ever bad men may be in raising an estate, they build upon a
sandy foundation, and leave a very perishing inheritance to
their children ; especially if they raise an estate by injustice
and oppression, by defrauding God and the poor of their
portions, which many times makes it moulder away in the
hands even of a righteous heir. The more prosperous a
wicked man is, the more likely is his posterity to be miser-
able, if he propagate his vices to them ; for God will at one
time or other reckon with families as well as men. And
that will be a terrible account, when " the wickedness
of his father shall be remembered before the Lord, and the
sin of his mother shall not be blotted out:" Ps. cix. 14

And what an encouragement is this to good men, though
they themselves should be unfortunate in the world, to know
that their posterity shall reap the rewards of their virtue—

290 WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE.

that if their children should be wicked, there is some reason
to hope that they may be more gently used, and it may be
receive many temporal blessings for their sakes. But if they
be righteous, they shall then take root, and flourish in the
earth ; that the little which the righteous man hath right-
eously got, shall prove a better, a more lasting and increasing
inheritance than the riches of many wicked ; and that a
liberal charity, which some men think is to defraud their
children, shall prove like seed sown in the earth, which
repays all with a plentiful harvest.

It is certain, were this firmly believed and well consi-
dered, it would lay the greatest obligation in the world, both
on bad and good men, to take care of the religious and vir-
tuous education of their children. The only way wicked men
have to cut off the entail of misery from their families, and to
secure their children from that vengeance which their own
sins have deserved, is to train them up in piety and virtue;
and the only way good men have to entitle their children to
those temporal blessings wherewith God thinks fit to reward
their virtues upon their posterity, which is the best inherit-
ance they can leave them, is to make them good. The
wicked children of wicked parents have their own and their
father's sins to hasten and increase their punishments ; and the
righteous children of righteous parents have their own and their
father's virtues to secure and to augment their rewards.

(2.) As for children. What greater obligation than this
could be laid on them to avoid the evil examples and to
imitate the virtues of their parents ? The wickedness of their
fathers makes it more dangerous for them to be wicked ; for
when wickedness is entailed, the punishment of wickedness
is entailed too; and the longer judgment has been delayed
the nearer it is, and the more severe it is like to be. The
wicked son of a wicked father cannot promise himself to
escape so well as his father did, because his father's sins,
which he imitates, calls for a more speedy vengeance on him:
either to put a stop to wickedness, or to root out a wicked
family, and to pull down the leprous house. But what an
encouragement is it to the children of righteous parents to
imitate their virtues, that they may inherit all the blessings
of their fathers ? We think it a great advantage for children
to inherit the fruit of their parent's industry, but to inherit

WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE. 291

the rewards of their virtues is much greater; and this none
but virtuous children can do. A prodigal son may inherit
the estate of an industrious father, but cannot keep it ; but
a wicked son of a virtuous father forfeits his inheritance.

And though some good men meet with very little, or with
no reward in this world, nay, suffer very severely for their
virtue ; this is no discouragement to their children, but gives
them reasonable hopes to expect the more: for an exemplary
virtue shall have its reward at one time or other, even in
this world ; and if the father had it not, the son, and the
son's son through all the line of a virtuous succession, shall;
when good men suffer or miss of the rewards of virtue in
this world, they have the greater rewards in heaven, and
their children on earth.

To reward good men, and to punish the wicked in their
posterity, better answers the wise ends of providence in this
world than the personal rewards and punishments of every
particular good and bad man. I have already observed that
there are very wise reasons why some bad men should be
prosperous, and some good men afflicted in this world ; and
since this world is not the place of judgment, the Divine
wisdom does not require that every good or bad man should
be rewarded according to his works ; but yet the wisdom and
justice of providence does require that virtue should be re-
warded, and vice punished, and that in such degrees, and in
such a manner, as shall lay all reasonable restraints on the
lusts and vices of men, and encourage their virtues. Now
virtue is rewarded and vice punished, when it is rewarded
or punished, if not in the persons, yet in the posterity of
good or bad men ; which leaves room for the trial of the faith
and patience of good men, and for the exercise of God's
goodness and patience to sinners, and for the ministries of
bad men in the service of providence, and yet very effectu-
ally discourages wickedness, and encourages virtue.

2. Another instance of the wisdom of providence is, that
God very often punishes sin with sin, and many times wiih
sins of the same kind. Our daily observations may furnish
us with examples enough of it which are visible and publicly
known ; and it may be, there are few sinners but know some
which concern themselves, which the rest of the world does
not know. Thus God punished the murder and adultery of

292 WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE.

David, with the incest and rebellion of his son Absalom;
and thus oppression is often punished with oppression,
adultery with adultery, murder with murder, and wicked
men are made plagues and scourges to each other.

And God thinks it no dishonour to the holiness of his
providence to attribute all such retribution to himself; for
God can serve the wise ends of his providence by the sins
of men, without contributing to their sins; and it is certain
there is not a fitter punishment in the world for sinners than
to suffer the evils they do ; that is, to be punished by the
very sins which they commit.

Nothing more sensibly convinces them of a just provi-
dence than this; nothing can give them a more just abhor-
rence of their sins, than to feel the evils and mischiefs of
them ; nothing can more awaken and rouse their consciences
than to suffer the evils which they have done. And one
would reasonably think nothing should make them more
afraid to do any evil which they are unwilling to suffer : so
that nothing could better serve the wise ends of providence
to convince men of a Divine nemesis and vengeance, to give
them an abhorrence of their sins, and to make them afraid
to commit them.

3. Another instance of the wisdom of providence, is in
so often disappointing both our hopes and fears. When we
are in the greatest expectation of some great good, either
we are disappointed in what we expected, or if we have
what we wished for, it does not answer our expectations ;
we find ourselves deceived in our enjoyments, and that it
had been better for us if we had been without them.
And when we are terrified with the apprehensions of some
great evil which is just ready to fall on us, either the evil
does not come as we feared, or it proves no evil, but a very
great good to us. This is so often every man's case, that I
need only appeal to your own observations for the proof of it.

Now what more effectual way could God take to convince
us that we live in the dark, and know not what is good for
ourselves ; that wTe disturb our minds with vain hopes and
with as vain fears ; that it becomes us to leave all to God,
and to depend securely on his providence, who overrules
all things with a sovereign will: that this is the only way to
be easy and safe ; to choose nothing for ourselves, not to

WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE. 293

prescribe to providence, but to do our duty, and then
quietly expect what God will do.

Is it possible there should be a happier temper of mind
than this ? more honorable for God or more secure for our-
selves? Does any thing more become creatures? Is there
any more perfect act of religion, than to depend entirely on
God, without hopes or fears, in a perfect resignation to his
will, with a full assurance of his protection ? And could
providence more effectually convince us of this, than to let
us see, by every day's experience, how apt we are to be
mistaken, and to choose ill for ourselves; that our wishes
and desires, were they answered, would very often undo us ;
and that we are saved and made happy by what we feared?
and why then should we desire, why should we fear any
longer ? let us do our duty, and mind our own business,
and leave God to take care of the world, and allot our
portion in it.

4. We may observe also, that God very often defers the
deliverance of good men, and the punishment of the wicked,
to the utmost extremity.

When wicked tyrants and oppressors are at the height of
their pride and glory, and good men are reduced to a hope-
less state, beyond the visible relief of any human power.
This was the case of Israel in Egypt, when God sent Moses
to deliver them with a mighty hand, and an outstretched
arm. This was several times their case in the days of the
Judges, when they were oppressed by their enemies, and
God raised up saviours and deliverers for them. Thus it
was in the days of Hezekiah, when God in one night de-
stroyed the mighty army of the Assyrians. Thus it was in
Queen Esther's days, when that wicked Haman had con-
spired the destruction of the Jewish nation. And there
wTant not examples of it in Christian story. Never was there
a fiercer persecution of Christians, than when God advanced
Constantine to the throne, 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 giv-
ing 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

25*

294 WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE.

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-
not 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 wTarns them not to trust
in vain words, crying, " the temple of the Lord, the tem-
ple of the Lord" — for God will purge his own house, and
no external relation or privileges shall secure us from ven-
geance, 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 succours, 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 surprising and unexpected
deliverances inflame their devotions, make their praises and
thanksgivings more hearty and sincere, wThich gives great
glory to God, and betters their own minds.

5. The sudden revolutions of the world, and the various
and unexpected changes of men's fortunes, which is thought
one great calamity of human life, is intended by God to in-
struct us in some necessary and excellent parts of w7isdom.

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 politic foresight of events. Our rule can
never deceive us ; what is just, and right, and true, is always
safe ; but our politics may, for things may not go as we expect.

WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE. 295

The various changes of men's 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 mo-
desty of conversation is always safe, but pride and insolence
may create us enemies, wTho 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 reli-
gious and civil conversation, and this I take to be a mani-
fest proof of the wisdom of providence.

6. 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:" Ps. xxxvii. 23, 24. Thus Ps. xciv.
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: " Unless
the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in
silence. When I said my foot slippeth, thy mercy, 0 Lord,
held me up :" verses 17, 18. An example of this ye have
in Isaiah, xxvii. : " 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, ac-
cording 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 w7ind." 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.

296 DUTIES WE OWE TO PP EVIDENCE.

CHAPTER I? .

CONCERNING THE DUTIES WHICH WE ">WE TO PROVIDENCE.

I have now finished what I intends I with relation to the
nature and justification of providence , and all that remains
is to explain and enforce those C nes which we owe to
providence.

Natural religion is founded o\> the belief of a God and
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 teat made the world, and takes
care of all the creatures '.hat 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
supreme object of our love, and fear, and reverence, and
hope, and trust, and of all those religious and devout affec-
tions which are due to our Maker and sovereign Lord.

This is so plain that it is enough to name it ; but the na-
ture and extent of those duties which we owe to providence
deserves a more particular consideration.

As to instance in some of the chief —

I. 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 sovereign will and appoint-
ment. 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
Df 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 par-
ticular events ; without which particular application the gene-
ral belief of a providence will and can have no effect upon us.

The Psalmist complains of those wicked men, " who re-
gard not the works of the Lord, nor the operation of hia
hands :" Ps. xxviii. 5. And a great many such there are,

DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE. 297

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 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 pur-
poses of religion, we must not content ourselves 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 us
rich ; if wTe lose our estates by injustice and oppression, we
must acknowledge, as Job 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 befalls 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 ourselves in all events in
the first place to take notice of God and his providence,
which will teach us how to behave ourselves in all circum-
stances, and how to make the best and wisest use of what-
ever happens ; and it was necessary to premise this, for it is
vain to teach men their duty to providence till they have
learned to attribute all particular events to the providence
of God, and to live under a constant sense and regard of it.

298 DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE.

II. 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 anything
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 sovereign authority and dominion of God requires
this of us ; for we are his, and he may dispose of our con-
dition 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 wTisdom 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 sovereign
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
choose for ourselves.

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 choose ; but to submit, is to make our
wills, and desires, and fears, and aversions, and natural pas-

DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE. 299

sions 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 griev-
ous 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 com-
plain 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 borne, 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 dutiful 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 is
possible, let this cup pass from me."

The truth is, the greater our fears, and sorrows and aver-
sions are, the greater 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 our faith,
and is a more glorious victory over self, to make our fears
and aversions submit to the Divine will ; for the more what
we suffer is against our 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 pro-
foundest 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 a great weakness of mind and disor-

300 DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE.

ders of passions under their sufferings ; who are very impa-
tient 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 ex-
tinguish the sense and affections of nature, to reconcile us to
pain, or to make all things indifferent to us ; and while there
is anything that we love, it will be grievous to part with it;
and while there is anything that we fear, it will be grievous
to suffer it. Religion will rectify our opinion 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 honour-
ably 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 Job's behaviour:
u 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 Job
sinned not, nor charged God foolishly:" Job i. 21, 22.
And the prophet David was an example of the like submis-
sion : " I was dumb, I opened not my mouth because thou
didst it :" Ps. ix. 39. 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:"
viii. 10.

To reproach and revile providence, to fret against God,
or as Job's wife advised him, to curse God, to be weary of

DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE. 301

his government, and impatient to think that we cannot re-
sist, 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 outrageous against what God does, and so impa-
tiently angry with God for doing it, only want power to stay
his hand and 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 choose
sufferings, for suffering is a natural evil, and therefore not
the object of a free choice ; yet men may choose suffering
against the natural bias and inclination of their own wills in
subjection to the will of God. Of this our Saviour is a great
example, who expressed 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 suffer-
ing : " For no affliction is for the present joyous but griev-
ous :" but yet a will that is subject to God, will deny itself,
and choose that God's will should take place. And this is
our submission to the will of God in suffering, that howso-
ever uneasy 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
choose sufferings, yet we choose that the will of God should
be done, though it be to suffer.

Another act of submission to God, is when we wait pa-
tiently on God till he think fit to deliver us ; when notwith-
standing all we suffer, our hope, and trust, and dependence
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 fa-
ther ; 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?" Kings ii. 6, 33. But never was there a
greater expression of submission than that of Job : " Though
he slay me, yet will I trust in him : — he also shall be my
salvation, for a hypocrite shall not come before him :" Job
xiii. 15, 16. This the Psalmist has fully expressed : Ps*

26

302 DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE.

xxvii. 13, 14 : " I had fainted unless I had believed to see
the goodness of the Lord in the land of the 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
dim, 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 pa-
tiently and diligently as a servant does the commands of his
lord, as it is elegantly represented in Ps. cxxiii. 1,2: " Un-
to thee lift I up mine eyes, 0 thou that dwellest in the hea-
vens! Behold as the eyes of servants look unto 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, un-
der all the evils and calamities of life how severe soever, and
if we would make this submission easy and cheerful, we
must possess our souls with a firm persuasion of the wisdom
and goodness of God : we must not look upon him as a
mere sovereign and arbitrary lord, for to submit to mere ar-
bitrary will and power is, and will be very grievous ; but
we must represent God to our minds, under a more lovely
and charming character, as the Universal Parent, who has
a tender and compassionate regard for all his creatures :
" Who does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of
men, who corrects us for our profit, that we may be par-
takers of his holiness ;" and proportions the severity of
his discipline, either to the ends of public government or
to our spiritual wants. Such an idea of providence as this
will reconcile us even to sufferings, when we know they are
good for us, and intended for our good. WThen we know
that it is a kind hand which strikes, we shall kiss the rod
and submit to correction with as equal a mind, as we do to
the prescription of a physician, how severe soever the me-
thods of cure are. Were our minds thoroughly possessed
with this belief, how easy it would make us under some of
the severest trials. Nothing, indeed, can make pain easy,
for that is a matter of sense ; but a good persuasion of the
providence of God will fortify our minds to bear it ; ati

DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE. 303

that is much the same thing whether our pains be less, or
our minds stronger. But as for other afflictions, which de-
pend very much upon opinion, and afflict us more or less
as we apprehend them, a firm belief of the wisdom and
goodness of God, who inflicts them on us, will in a great
measure cure the pain and trouble of them.

We have, it may be, lost some part of our estates, a dear
friend, or near relation ; a child, it may be an only child ;
but all these are uncertain comforts ; and when the case is
doubtful whether it be good for us or not, we ought in all
reason to acquiesce in the Divine will, and conclude that is
best for us which God does ; because he is infinitely wiser
than we are, and more concerned for our happiness, if we
will make a wise use of his providence, than we ourselves are.

Nay, this will teach us an implicit faith in God beyond
our own prospect of things ; though we can no more guess
the reasons of our sufferings than Job could, yet while we
believe God to be wise and good, we are secure. A wise
God can never mistake, and a good God will consult our
happiness, and that is reason enough in the most difficult and
perplexed cases to submit patiently to providence.

2. There is a submission also due to the will of God,
with respect to the several states, conditions, and relations
of life, which the Divine providence hath placed us in. We
can no more choose our own state and condition of life, than
we can choose when and where to be born, what our parents
shall be, how they shall educate us and dispose of us in this
world, what success we shall have, what friends or what
enemies we shall meet with, what changes and revolutions
we shall see, either in our private fortunes or in public
affairs. Nothing of all this is at our own choice, and there-
fore whatever our circumstances are, any further than it is
our own fault, they are not imputable to us.

Now since we cannot choose our own fortune, nor order
events as we please, the only submission we can owe to God
in such cases, is humbly to acquiesce in what God does, and
faithfully to discharge the duties which belong to that state,
and condition, and circumstances of life which the provi-
dence of God has placed us in.

This is to submit to the providential wTill of God, to sub-
mit to the disposals of providence ; and to submit to God's

304

DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE.

disposal is to act in that sphere and station which providence
assigns us, and to comply with the laws of it. And thus
the providence of God, though it be not the rule of our
actions, yet may change our duty, and must do so, as it
changes our condition ; for every condition and relation
having peculiar duties belonging to it, our duty must change
as our condition does. The duties of princes and subjects,
of magistrates and private men, of a low and mean, and of
an exalted and plentiful fortune, of parents and children, of
masters and servants, are of a very different nature ; ami as
these relations change, our duty must change with them ; and
when we conform ourselves to our condition, we submit to
providence, which gives us no new rules of life, but may
impose new duties on us, by putting us into a new state.

This ought to be carefully considered, because there are
dangerous extremes on both sides. Some think the visible
appearances of providence are sufficient to alter our duty
without changing our state and relations ; that the successes
of providence will justify such actions, as neither the laws
of God nor men will justify ; and that to serve providence
when a fair opportunity is put into their hands, they may
dispense with the most known and unquestionable duties.
Others have such a just abhorrence of this, which overturns
all human and Divine laws, that they run into the contrary
extreme ; and for fear of allowing that providence can change
our duty, and alter the nature of good and evil, they will not
allow that providence can so much as change our relations
and state of life, and with such a change of our condition,
change our duty. For no man can deny, but that if our con-
dition and relations are changed, our duty must change too.

To give a plain example of this. When Saul pursued
David, and God delivered Saul into David's hands while
he was asleep in the cave, " the men of David said unto him,
behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee, behold I
will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest
do to him as it shall seem good to thee." Here is an argu •
ment from providence to justify David's killing Saul, whom
God had so wonderfully delivered into his hands. But
David did not think that providence would justify him
against a Divine law ; providence gave him an opportunity
to kill Saul, but the Divine law forbade him to take it ; for

DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE. 305

Saul was his king still, and he was his subject. And there-
fore " he said unto his men, the Lord forbid that I should do
this thing unto my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch
forth my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord's anointed,"
1 Sam. xxiv. 4, 6. The same answer David gave to Abishai,
when he found Saul the second time sleeping in the trench,
" and Abishai said to David, God hath delivered thine enemy
into thine hand this day ; now therefore let me smite him, I
pray thee, with the spear, even to the earth at once, and I
will not smite him the second time. And David said to
Abishai, destroy him not ; for who can stretch forth his hand
against the Lord's anointed, and be guiltless?" 1 Sam.
xxvi. 8, 9. Providence had not unkinged Saul, nor made
David king ; that is, it had not altered the relation, and
therefore could not absolve him from the duties of his rela-
tion, from those duties which a subject owes to his prince,
and therefore could not justify the killing him.

This shows that the Divine providence cannot alter the
rules of action without altering our condition, and relations,
and circumstances of life ; and where it does so it must of
necessity change our duty ; for different relations and con-
ditions require different duties. When a man of a servant
becomes a master, or of a subject a prince, his duties and
obligations must change with his relations, for such relative
duties are annexed to relations, and belong to particular
persons, only as invested with such relations ; and as the
person changes his relations, so the duties he owes, and the
duties which are owing to him, must change likewise.

It is a vain pretence in this case to set up the laws of God
against our submission to providence ; for we do not oppose
the providence of God against his laws. The laws of God
prescribe us the rules of our duty in all conditions and cir-
cumstances of life ; the providence of God chooses our con-
dition for us, and that directs us what laws we are to ob-
serve, what duties we owe, and to whom. So that there is
and can be no dispute about the rules of duty ; the duties
of all conditions and relations are fixed and certain ; the only
dispute that can be is this, whether, when our conditions
and relations are changed, they are changed by God ? and
whether we must submit to the providence of God in such
a change, by what means soever such a change is brought

26*

306 DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE.

about ? If all the private and public changes of men's state
and condition are directed and governed by God, and are
his will and doings, as I have already proved ; if we must
submit to providence, we must submit to that state and con-
dition which providence places us in ; for there is no other
way of submitting to providence.

And since we cannot choose our own fortune, much less
govern kingdoms and empires, since God keeps all these
events in his own hands, it would be very hard, if we must
not submit to the condition which Providence chooses for
us ; that when God allots us our condition, it should be un-
lawful for us to do what our condition requires to be done.
For if 'vjr present condition and circumstances of life do not
determine our duty, it is impossible ever to know what our
duty is.

But there are some material questions concerning our sub-
mission to providence, with respect to our several states and
conditions of life, which deserve to be considered.

(1.) As, first, whether it be consistent with our submission
to providence, to endeavour to better our fortune, and to
change our state of life. Now this there can be no doubt
of in general, though I fear many men are to blame in it.
Submission to providence does not forbid a poor man to en-
rich himself, when he can do it by honest and prudent arts;
for though God allots every man his portion in the world,
yet he has reserved to himself a liberty of changing men's
fortunes as they deserve, and as he sees fit. That it often
is so, experience tells us. We see men rise from low and
mean beginnings to great riches, and honour, and power:
and since God has not forbid any man to advance his fortune
by honest means, submission to providence does not stake a
man down to the low and mean beginnings of life. This is
the present reward and encouragement of diligence, pru-
dence, and virtue ; that "the diligent hand maketh rich; that a
man who is diligent in his business shall stand before princes,
and shall not stand before mean men. That the merchandise
of wisdom is better than the merchandise of silver, and the
gain thereof than fine gold: that length of days is in her right
hand, and in her left riches and honours:" Prov. hi. 14, 16.
Providence gives us many examples of this nature to encou-
rage all men's industry and virtue, which, whether it advances

DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE. 307

their fortunes or no, will make their lives easy and happy,
and better their minds, and make them useful to the world,
and a credit to a low fortune; which maybe better for them
than to change their station. Nay, sometimes we see men
of a noble and sprightly genius come into the world in such
mean circumstances, that they can hardly peep above the
horizon ; but by degrees they ascend, and grow brighter,
and shine with a meridian lustre, as if their obscure begin-
nings were intended on purpose to inspirit the lower end of
the world, and to show what industry and virtue can do.

But though submission to providence does not hinder us
from using all honest endeavours to better our fortune, yet it
makes us easy and contented in low fortune, patient of dis-
appointments, and not envious at the better success and
greater prosperity of others, especially of those who are our
equals. All which signifies no more than quietly and sub-
missively to suffer God to dispose of our own and other
men's fortunes as he pleases. We may like some other con-
dition better than our own, but submission to providence
will make us easy and contented with what we have because
it is God's will, and what he orders for us, and if we be-
lieve well of God, we must believe that it is good for us.
We may endeavour to increase our estate and get a little
higher in the world; but if our endeavours want success, we
must take it patiently, and wait God's time, and be contented
to tarry where we are, if he does not think fit to advance us;
and not repine if he advance others before and above us ;
for it is God's will to advance them, and it is not his will to
advance us, and he has wise reasons for both, and we ought
to acquiesce in his will with an implicit faith.

We may endeavour to better our fortune, but we must
not force ourselves upwards, must not be restless in our de-
sires : must use no base or wicked arts to make ourselves
great. This is not to submit to God, but to carve out our
own fortune, without any reverence to the laws and to the
providence of God. Nothing will content such men but to
be rich and great, and they will boggle at nothing that will
make them so : God sometimes suffers such men to prosper,
but they do not prosper in submission to providence; but if
I may so speak, they commit a rape upon providence ; and
providence deals with them accordingly, and makes them

308 DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE.

the sport of fortune. When they have taken a great leap it
tosses them ^jp, and keeps them hovering a while in the air,
and then slings them down into irrecoverable and unpitied
ruin. Though no men can advance them whether God will
or no, because all events are in God's hands; yet when men
advance themselves by sin, the means of their advancement
is their own, not the will of God ; but submission to provi-
dence requires us quietly and contentedly to keep our station
till God sees fit to advance us, at his own time, and in his
own wTay.

(2.) What submission is due to God in the changes of
our fortune and condition, and that whether it be from low
to high, or from high to low.

As for the first, there are few men who find any difficulty
in submitting to providence, when it advances them to a
higher station ; but some few such there are, who love their
ease and retirement, and the conversation of their friends,
and the security of a private life, before noisy greatness and
the endless fatigues of public ministries ; w'ho had rather enjoy
themselves, and be masters of their own time, and thoughts,
and actions, than to be admired and flattered slaves, to be
envied by some, to be courted by others, to be servants to
all ; to be exposed to censorious tongues, to the frowns of
princes, to the emulations of their equals, and to all the
changes and vicissitudes of fortune. It is not often that men
of this temper are in any great danger of such troublesome
honours; there are enough that snatch them before they are
offered, to secure those wrho have no mind to have them ; but
sometimes this does happen, and then it is matter of duty
and conscience for men to sacrifice their own ease and pri-
vate satisfactions to the service of God and of their country.
And it would be as great a fault obstinately to decline such
services as the providence of God calls them to, as it is vanity
and ambition to affect them ; for God has a right to the ser-
vices of all his creatures, and may employ them in what sta-
tion he pleases. Then we may certainly conclude that pro-
vidence chooses our station for us, wThen it is what we did
not, and would not choose for ourselves.

Secondly. But the greater and more common difficulty is in
submitting to the other change, from a high to a low fortune.
There are many who suffer such a change as this, though

DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE. 309

most of them may thank their own lusts and vices for it ; but
there are very few who submit to it. I do not only mean
that they do not bear such a change of fortune with that pa-
tience and submission which is due to the Divine will, when
this change is manifestly owing to providence, and not to
their own fault ; but that they will not submit to their con-
dition, that they will not submit to be poor, when the pro-
vidence of God has made them so. Some men, if they meet
wTith misfortunes, will be sure to make their creditors pay for
it, and be their own carvers too, and raise an estate out of
forced and knavish compositions. Others, though they are
very poor, will not submit to the state of poverty, will not
bring their minds to their condition ; they cannot stoop to
the mean and frugal and industrious life of poverty. They
have always lived well and easily, and they expect to live
still as they have lived, and to be maintained according to
their quality, and the figure they have formerly made in the
world. They cannot work, but to beg they are not ashamed,
though a truly great mind would prefer the meanest employ-
ment before it ; for that is no dishonour to any man to live by
his own industry, when the providence of God has brought
him low. All that I have now to say is only this, that when
men are reduced to poverty, submission to providence re-
quires that they should submit to their condition, imitate the
humility, and modesty, frugality, and industry of poor men, and
not expect to live still as rich men do; for charity was never
intended for the rich, nor to excuse the industry of the poor.
There is indeed great regard to be had to the honour of
men's birth and character. Those who have any humanity
must needs be very tenderly and compassionately affected
to see men of great honour reduced to want, or forced to
mean and servile employments to supply their wants ; and
we owe so much to the modesty of human nature, and to a
sense of honour, to be as ready to defend some men from
meanness as others from want; but yet submission to provi-
dence requires all men to comply with their condition, as far
as their rank and character, and the rules of decency will
permit : That a man has been once rich is no reason why
he should not work, or find out some honest, though mean
way of living when he grows poor. This is certain, those
who do not submit to the condition which providence has

310 DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE.

put them into, and behave themselves as that condition re-
quires, do not submit to providence ; and therefore if provi-
dence makes us poor, we must consider, not how we lived
when we were rich, but how it becomes a poor man to live.

Thirdly. There is another very material question, how far
we must submit to providence ; but the answer is very plain.
We must submit as far as the condition providence puts us
into requires our submission. Providence creates no new
duty, but by putting us into new circumstances; and what
the circumstances we are in make our duty, that is our sub-
mission to providence, and we owe no other submission.

As for instance : If a thief breaks open my house, or robs
me upon the road, submission to providence does not hinder
me from pursuing and taking him, and recovering my own
of him, and bringing him to punishment, if I can; for my
being robbed lays no obligation upon me patiently to lose
what is unjustly taken away, if I have any honest way left
of recovering it ; nor of suffering such a criminal to escape,
if I can bring him to punishment. And thus it is in all the
injuries we receive from men; though we must own the
Divine providence in whatever we suffer, yet submission to
providence requires no more of us than wThat the laws of
God and men require in such circumstances, and therefore
allows us to right ourselves, as far as the laws of God and
the laws of men, if they be just and equal, will allow us.
But if the providence of God should put us into the hands
of our enemies, and make it necessary to contract with them
for our lives and liberties, we must humbly submit to pro-
vidence, which brought us into this necessity, and religiously
observe our contracts, how disadvantageous soever they are;
because providence has now altered our condition, and
brought us under new obligations.

This is the usual way whereby God brings about the great
changes and revolutions of the world, by such power as
forces a compliance, and translates kingdoms and empires;
and though nothing is more grievous than unjust force, yet
nature teaches men to submit, when they cannot resist, and
power will absolve us from all former obligations, unless in
such cases as we are expressly commanded by God not to
submit to power, though we sacrifice our lives for it ; and I
know no such case, but the true worship of God, and the

DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE. 311

profession, of our faith in Christ. We may defend ourselves
against private injuries, as far as law and justice will defend
us ; we may resist unjust and usurping powers, as long a?
we can resist; but the providence of God, which governs the
world, makes it lawful to submit when we cannot resist; and
when by such submissions new kingdoms are erected, and
we are become the subjects of new powers, then providence
has changed our relations, and made it our duty to submit.

Fourthly. There is another inquiry also of great moment,
how our submission to providence, under all our suffering
and changes of fortune, requires us to behave ourselves to-
wards men, who are the causes and instruments of such
misfortunes. For if it be the will of God that we should
suffer such things, why should we be angry with the men who
do them? why should we punish them? why should we re-
venge ourselves of them? when they only execute the Divine
counsels, and do what God saw fit that we should suffer.
Does not Joseph thus excuse his brethren for selling him
into Egypt, that it was God who sent him thither: and does
not David for this reason forbear his revenge on Shimei,
"Let him curse, for God hath said unto him, Curse David!"

But the answer to this is short and plain, that God's over-
ruling men's wickedness to serve wise and good ends, does
not excuse their wickedness, nor excuse them from the just
punishment of their wickedness; the sin is their own, though
it be wisely ordered by God for our trial or correction; but
the wise government of God makes no change in the nature
of men's actions, nor in their deserts: God himself will
punish their wickedness, though he serves wise ends by it,
and has commanded men to do so ; for no man sins by the will
of God, though no man suffers any thing but by God's will.

But yet submission to providence will greatly mitigate our
resentments, and calm our passions, and keep them within
the bounds of reason and religion. When we consider, that
whatever we suffer is appointed for us by God ; that how
wicked soever men are, we can suffer nothing by their
wickedness, but what God for wise reasons sees fit we should
suffer ; this will satisfy us that we are more concerned with
God than with men ; that though men be the rod wherewith
we are scourged, it is God that strikes ; and a reverence for

312 DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE.

trie Divine judgments will make us take less notice of the
instruments of our sufferings.

In short, submission to providence leaves us nothing to be
angry with men for, but their own wickedness; that we
suffer, though we suffer by their wickedness, yet it is not so
much their doings as God's, who orders these sufferings for
us, and without whose order and appointment no man can
hurt us ; and therefore we must not be angry with men for
our sufferings, but reverence God. Whatever their personal
hatred, or malice, or revenge be, how much soever they
intend or desire to do us hurt, we may securely despise them,
as out of their reach, for we are in the hands of God: and
if our sufferings are not owing to men, any otherwise than
as instruments in God's hands, why should we be angry
with men for what we suffer ? Why should we revenge our
sufferings on them, when we suffer by the will of God ?
We may be angry at their wickedness, and at their ill-will to
us, but humbly submit to our suffering, as the will of God.

Now I need not say, how this will calm and temper our
passions, because it leaves so little of self in our anger and
resentments ; let men be as angry with wickedness as they
please, and punish it as it deserves, this is a virtuous anger,
and never transports men to excess; it is self-love which
inflames our anger and sharpens our revenge ; not that such
wickedness is committed, but that we are the sufferers by
it; for men are never so angry in another man's cause as
they are in their own, though the wickedness, the affront,
the injury is the same; but personal injuries and affronts
are most provoking ; that is, we love ourselves more than
we hate wickedness, when our anger is excessive.

But now if men have nothing to do with us, nor we with
them, as to the case of suffering ; if all this be ordered and
appointed by God, here is little room for personal resent-
ments; for that we suffer by their wickedness, is God's
doings, and therefore we have nothing to be angry with
them for, but that they are wicked; and then though our own
sufferings will give us a greater sense and abhorrence of their
wickedness, and make us more personally concerned to
punish it; yet our passions will be more gentle and easy, the
more we attribute our sufferings to God, and the less to men.

III. Another duty we owe to providence, is an entire trust

DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE. 31 3

and dependence on God. The stale of a creature is all de-
pendence ; and faith, and hope, and trust, are the virtues of
a dependent state, and can in reason have no other object
but that Being on whom we depend, the great Creator and
Governor of the world, " in whom we live, move, and have
our being." All other dependencies are vain, because none
else can help us; but God has all events in his hands, he can
help us if he pleases; and he will help us if we trust in him.

The Scripture abounds with exhortations to trust in God;
with promises to those who do trust in him ; with examples
of God's care and protection of those good men who make
him their only hope and trust; but yet the duty itself needs
some explication, and therefore I shall consider the nature
of this hope and trust, and what are the various acts of it,
or wherein the exercise of it consists.

(1.) The nature of this faith, and hope, and trust in the
Divine providence. What it is to hope, and trust, and de-
pend on God, or men, we all know and feel ; but the ques-
tion is, what it is we must trust God for, and how far we
must depend on him ? For must we believe, that God will
do every thing for us which we trust in him to do ? If,
suppose we have a child or a friend dangerously sick, must
we firmly believe that God will spare their lives, and restore
their health, if wTe trust in him to do it ? Must a merchant
confidently expect a safe and advantageous voyage, if he
trust in God for it ? Has God anywhere promised to give
us whatever we trust in him for? Or does the nature and
reason of providence infer any such thing ? And yet what
does trust in God signify, if we must not depend on him
for those good things wThich we want, and desire, and trust
him for ? What do all the promises made to hope and
trust in God signify, if they give us no security that we
shall obtain our desires of God ? Nay, indeed, how can
any man hope and trust in God, when he has no assurance
that he shall obtain what he hopes for ? I doubt not but
such thoughts as these make most men so distrustful of pro-
vidence, that though they talk of trusting in God, they trust
in him without hope, or any comfortable expectations, un-
less they have some more visible assurances to rely on.
This makes most men's hopes ebb and flow, as their external
circumstances change ; if they are prosperous.; and have

27

314 DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE.

great numbers of friends, and have their enemies at their
feet, then they are full of hope, and can trust securely in
God, when they have the means of helping themselves in
their own hands, and see nobody that can hurt them ; but
if their condition be perplexed and calamitous, and they
see no prospect of human relief, their spirits sink, and as
much as they talk of providence, and trusting in God, they
find no support in it.

To understand this aright, wherein the glory of God, and
our own peace and security is so nearly concerned, we must
consider, that our faith, and hope, and trust in God, must
either rely on the word and promise of God, or on the ge-
neral belief and assurance of his care of us, and of the
goodness and justice of his providence; as to trust in men,
is either to trust their promise or their friendship.

(1.) As for the first, we may and ought securely to rely
on the promises of God, as far as they reach, for " he who
hath promised is able also to perform." But then we must
have a care of expounding temporal promises to a larger
sense than God intended, or than providence ordinarily
makes good, which calls the truth of God, or his providence,
into question, and discourages our faith and trust in God,
when we see events not to answer God's promises nor our
expectations.

To state this matter plainly, we must proceed by degrees,
and distinguish between the promises made to states and
kingdoms, and to private and single men, or rather to men
in their private and single capacities.

Most of the temporal promises under the law of Moses
concerned the public state of the Jewish church and nation;
that if they walked in the laws and statutes of God, he would
bless them with great plenty and peace, or give them vic-
tory over their enemies: " That he would have respect un-
to them, and make them fruitful, and multiply them, and
establish his covenant with them :" Lev. xxvi. — which are
public and national blessings ; and though there is a great
difference between the Jewish and Christian church, with
respect to temporal promises, yet there does not seem to be
any great difference between a Christian nation and the Jew-
ish state. When a nation has embraced Christianity, and
the church is incorporated into the state, and true religion

DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE. 315

and virtue are encouraged, and vice suppressed, such a re-
ligious nation has a title to all the national blessings which
God promised to the Jewish nation, if they observed his
laws ; for Solomon's observation is universally true, " That
righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is the reproach of
any people :" and excepting what was typical in the Jewish
state, there is much the same reason for God to protect and
bless a religious Christian nation : viz. for the public en-
couragement of religion, and for the reward of a national
piety and virtue ; and therefore as the Christian church in-
herits all those spiritual blessings which were typified in the
Jewish church ; so a Christian nation succeeds to all those
temporal promises which were made to the Jewish state, or
else all these promises of the law would be of no use to us now.

So that these national promises we may securely rely on
as to their utmost extent and signification ; and I am satis-
fied there cannot be one example given, wherein these pro-
mises have failed : God has oftentimes suffered a wicked
nation to be prosperous to scourge their wicked neighbours,
but he never suffers a truly righteous and religious nation
to be oppressed.

Now the largest and most comprehensive promises in
Scripture are of this nature, such as concern the public state
of kingdoms and nations : but even in the most flourishing
state of the Jewish church, the case of particular men was
very different ; some bad men were prosperous, and good
men afflicted ; and therefore those promises which concern
good men in their private and single capacities, must be
more cautiously expounded to a more restrained and limited
sense, accommodated to the different states and conditions
of good men in this world, and to their different attainments
in virtue. As for example :

When Solomon tells us of wisdom, " Length of days is
in her right hand, and in her left riches and honour:"
Prov. iii. 16 — will any man expound this to signify, that all
wise men, who are truly religious and prudent, shall live to
old age, and attain to riches and honours ? Did God then
intend that there should be no different ranks and degrees
of men in the world ? that there should be no poor men as
well as rich ? or did he intend that no poor men should be
wise ? Wisdom indeed will advance a prince to great riches

SJ6 DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE.

and honour, as Solomon tells us his father David instructed
him : "He taught me also, and said unto me, let thine
heart retain my words, keep my commandments, and live.
Get wisdom, get understanding : forget her not : neither de-
cline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and
she shall preserve thee ; love her, and she shall keep thee.
Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore, get wisdom : and
with all thy getting, get understanding. Exalt her, and she
shall promote thee ; she shall bring thee to honour when thou
dost embrace her ; she shall give to thine head an ornament
of grace, a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee :"
Prov. iv. 4, 9. This was the best advice that could be given
to a young prince to make him rich and great ; for religious
wisdom will certainly advance him beyond all the politics
of Machiavel ; and if Solomon, in imitation of his father
David, directs his instructions to his children, and particu-
larly to that son who was to inherit his throne, as he himself
seems to intimate, (verses 1 — 3,) we must not conclude, that
because he tells his son that wisdom will make him a glori-
ous prince, that therefore wisdom will advance all men to
riches and honour : wisdom will give a lustre even to po-
verty itself, and sometimes advances the poor to riches and
honours, and increases the riches and honours of the rich
and honourable ; but we must not always expect this, much
less pretend a promise for it ; for there always were, and
always will be, poor wise men.

Thus, when the wise man tells us, that " the hand of the
diligent maketh rich," Prov. x. 4 ; and, "seestthou a man
diligent in his business, he shall stand before kings ; he shall
not stand before mean men:" Prov. xxii. 29; no man can
think that the meaning is, that every diligent man shall be
rich ; for there are such mean employments as can never
raise an estate by the greatest industry ; much less can we
think, that diligence in such mean employments shall make
men known to princes ; or that all diligent men, whatever
their employment or profession be, shall serve kings. This
is impossible in the nature of the thing, and therefore can-
not be the meaning of these promises. And yet such kind
of promises as these signify a great deal for the encourage-
ment of wisdom, and industry, and virtue ; not that every
wise, and prudent, and diligent man shall be rich and

DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE. 317

honourable, but that every man shall find the rewards of re-
ligion and virtue proportioned to his capacities and state of
life : and that this is God's way of promoting men when he
advances them in favour, in good will to them ; and there-
fore this is the only way wherein we must expect the bless-
ing 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 :" Heb.
xiii. 5. That he will always take care of them as a father
takes care of his children. That though 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 argu-
ments, Matt. vi. 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 clothed ? (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 right-
eousness, 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 clothe them, either by blessing their
ordinary prudence and industry, or when that fails, by ex-
traordinary 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 :"
(Rom. viii. 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

27*

313 DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE.

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 itself 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 extraor-
dinary 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 incon-
veniences and sufferings ; and therefore, for our farther secu-
rity, 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 pro-
mises 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 particu-
larly trust in God for our daily provisions, for our preserva-
tion from any present evils which threaten us, — for the suc-
cess 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 therefor 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
11 particular trust in God signify a firm belief and persuasion
that God will do that particular thing which I rely and de
pend on him for ; for no man can have any reason to believe
this, or in this sense to trust in God without an express pro-
mise or some private revelation. Now it is certain, there

DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE. 319

are no such particular promises which we can with any rea-
son apply to ourselves, contained in Scripture ; and private
enthusiasms are a dangerous pretence — the dreams of self-
love, and the visions of a heated imagination.

I grant, that under the law there were such particular pro-
mises 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 Joshua,
and the Judges ; and in after ages God did the same thing,
either by his oracle of Urim 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 ourselves 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 virtue, 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 his promise, does honour to
his truth and faithfulness ; but to trust God to choose our
condition for us — to do for us either what we desire or what
he likes better, argues such an entire dependence on God,
and an absolute resignation to his will, with a perfect assur-
ance of his wisdom and goodness, that it is impossible a
creature can express a greater veneration for the Divine per-
fections. I am sure we do not think, that any man does us
so much honour by taking our word for what we expressly
promise to do for him, as that man does who commits all

320 DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE.

his concernments with a secure confidence to our disposal,
without knowing what we intend to do.

But for a more particular explication of this, let us con-
sider what this trust in God signifies, and what security it
gives us.

(1.) What this trust in God signifies ; since it does not
signify an assurance that God will do what we desire, what
is the meaning of it ? Now this signifies,

(1.) That all the good we hope for or expect, wTe expect
from God alone ; that we have no other reliances and de-
pendencies but only on God, though we justly value the
kindness of our friends, and the patronage and protection of
princes and powerful favourites, and thank God when he
raises up such friends and patrons to us, yet our entire trust
and hope are in God ; that since we know that all events
are in God's hands, we are sure none can help us but by
God's appointment, and we desire to be at the disposal of
none but God ; and therefore in Scripture, our trust in God
is always opposed to our trust in men, in princes, in human
counsels, policy or strength. "It is better to trust in the
Lord than to put confidence in man ; it is better to trust in
the Lord, than to put confidence in princes :" Ps. cxviii.
8, 9. " Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed — he
wrill hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength
of his right hand. Some trust in chariots, and some in
horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our
God : they are brought down and fallen, but we are risen
and stand upright:" Ps. xx. 6 — 8. AH wise men are
greatly satisfied and pleased to see the probable means and
instruments of their safety and defence, because God ordina-
rily works by means ; but good men know that they are but
instruments in God's hands, and no wise man puts his trust
in the instruments, be they ever so good, but in the work-
man. Thus much our trust in God must necessarily signify,
that we have no reliance but only on God, who is the su-
preme Disposer of all things ; that we depend as entirely on
him, as if there were no second and intermediate causes,
which are to be employed and used, but not to be the final
objects of our trust.

2. Our trust in God signifies our absolute dependence
on the wisdom, power, and goodness of God to take care

DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE. 321

of us; it is committing ourselves to God, putting ourselves
absolutely into his hands, with a full persuasion that he will
do what we desire, or do what shall be better for us ; that
he will answer our requests, or deny them with greater wis-
dom and goodness than he could grant them.

All men must grant that this is a perfect trust in God, and
such a trust and dependence as we owe to providence ; for
if God govern the world, and take care of all his creatures
with infinite wisdom and goodness, does it not become all
reasonable creatures to give up themselves securely to the
government of providence ? If we believe that infinite wis-
dom and goodness takes care of us, what need we know any
more ? Would we desire any thing else, or can we wish for
any thing better than what infinite wisdom and goodness can
do for us ? or wTould we have any thing which infinite wis-
dom and goodness does not think fit to give us ?

This indeed does not give us that security which some
men desire, that we shall never suffer those particular evils
which we fear, and which we see coming upon us ; or that
we shall obtain some other blessings which we are passion-
ately fond of; but it gives us a much better security than
this, that we shall have always what is good for us ; which
is more than we can promise ourselves, should God always
grant our own desires.

This gives us a most profound rest and peace of mind,
delivers us from all careful and solicitous thoughts for times
to come, which are many times more terrible than the evils
we fear ; it teaches us to do our duty with the best prudence
and industry we can ; but to leave all events to God's dis-
posal ; to make known our requests to God, and " to cast
all our care upon him, for he careth for us." It will not
make us wholly unconcerned and indifferent whatever hap-
pens, because the natures of things are not equal or alike
indifferent. Riches and poverty, health or sickness, honour
or disgrace, war or peace, plenty or famine, cannot be alike
indifferent to any man wTho has his senses about him ; but it
will make us quiet and patient under all events, and help us
to bear the most adverse fortune with such an unbroken
greatness of mind as is natural to a firm and steadfast hope
and trust in God. This is properly to trust providence, not
to trust that God will do every thing for us which we desire,

322 DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE.

which is to command and govern, or at least to direct pro-
vidence, not to trust it; but to live securely under the care
and protection of God, without disturbing ourselves with
unknown and future events, in a confident assurance that
we are safe and happy in God's hands.

2. Though our trust in God does not signify an absolute
security what God will do for us, yet it is the most certain
way to obtain whatever we wisely and reasonably desire of
God. When we trust in God he reserves to himself a
liberty to judge whether it be good for us ; but if what we
desire be good for us, our trust and dependence on God will
engage providence on our side.

Trust in God refers our cause to him to judge for us, and
to do wThat he sees fit ; and we have God's word and pro-
mise for it, that if we do trust in him he will take care of
us, that we shall want nothing that is good, and shall be de-
livered from all evil; Ps. xxxi. 21, 22: "O how plen-
tiful is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that
fear thee, and that thou hast prepared for them that put their
trust in thee before the sons of men ; thou shalt hide them
privily by thy own presence, from the provoking of all men ;
thou shalt keep them secretly in thy tabernacle from the
strife of tongues." Thus, Ps. xxxvii. 40, 41 : " The
salvation of the righteous cometh of the Lord, who is also
their strength in the time of trouble. And the Lord shall
stand by them and save them, he shall deliver them from the
ungodly, and shall save them because they put their trust in
him." The whole ninety-first Psalm is so plain and full a
proof of this that I need name no more. To trust in God is
called " dwelling in the secret place of the Most High," or
under the "defence" and protection of "the Most High."
That is, such a man puts himself under God's protection,
and he that does so, " shall abide under the shadow of the
Almighty;" that is, "he shall defend thee under his wings,
and thou shalt be safe under his feathers ; his faithfulness
and truth shall be thy shield and buckler." And the Psalm-
ist particularly reckons up most of the evils which are inci-
dent to human life, and promises security against them all ;
" Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge,
even the Most High, thy habitation, there shall no evil befall
thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling."

DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE. 323

This Psalm indeed is a prophecy of our Saviour, and in the
height and latitude of the expressions is applicable only to
him, but yet it gives a general security to all who trust in
God, of protection from all evil. This no man can promise
himself, who does not trust in God ; for how is providence
concerned for them who expect nothing from it ? Nay, this
is a reason why such men should be disappointed and fall into
misery, to convince them that God does govern the world,
and that no human strength or policy can save them. But
trust in God makes us the subjects and the care of provi-
dence ; for if God does govern the world, none so much de-
serve his protection as those who commit themselves to his
care. A good man will not deceive or forsake those who
depend on him, much less will a good God.

IV. Another duty we owe to providence, is prayer: to
ask of God all those blessings and mercies which we need.
The universal practice of all nations who owned a God, and
that natural impulse all men find to seek to God in their dis-
tress, show what the sense of nature is ; but yet some of the
ancient philosophers were much puzzled how to reconcile
prayer with their notions of necessity and fate ; and indeed,
were providence nothing else but a necessary chain of
causes or fixed and immutable decrees, there wTould be no
great encouragement to pray to God, who, upon this suppo-
sition, cannot help us, no more than he can alter destiny and
fate. But if God governs the world with as great liberty
and freedom as a wise and good man governs his family,
or a prince governs his kingdom, there is as much reason
to pray to God as to offer up our petitions to our parents
or to our prince ; for if w7e must receive all from God, what
imaginable reason is there that we should not ask every
thing of him.

But it will be necessary to discourse this matter more
particularly ; for we live in an age wherein men are very apt
to reason themselves out of all religion, and to form such
notions of God and his providence as makes it needless,
nay, absurd to worship him.

The apostle tells us, that " he that cometh to God, must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him," Heb. xi. 6. No man can be a devout
worshipper of God, who does not believe that there is a God

324 DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE.

to worship, and that this God does take care of mankind,
and that he has a peculiar favour for those who worship
him ; that he is " a re warder of them that diligently seek
him :" for if God neither take any care of us, or take no
more care of those who worship him, than of those who do
not, there is no just reason can be given why any man
should worship him. But the apostle in this supposes, that
to believe there is a God, and that he governs the world,
and that we shall be the better for worshipping him, is a
reasonable foundation for religious worship ; and therefore
such notions of God and his providence as allow no peculiar
rewards and benefits to worshippers, are certainly false, how
philosophical soever they may appear, and impious too, be-
cause they shut all religious worship out of the world.

And yet some men can by no means understand for what
reason they should pray to God : they comply with the su-
perstitious customs of the country to avoid scandal and
public censure, but think they might as well let it alone, as
for any advantage they hope for by their prayers : and I am
very much of their mind that they had as good not be present
at prayers as not to pray ; for no man can pray to any advan-
tage who despises prayer. It will therefore be highly neces-
sary plainly to state this matter, and to show you,

That the belief of a Divine providence lays the strongest
obligation on us to pray to God.

The Scripture proofs of this are so plain, that they cannot
be avoided ; and so well known that I need not at large
repeat them. There is no duty we are more frequently com-
manded, none we are more earnestly exhorted to, than to
pray to God ; we have the examples of all good men for it,
and of Christ himself, who spent whole nights in prayer ;
and we have the encouragements of as express promises as
any in Scripture, that if we pray to God, he will hear and
answer us ; which is all the encouragement we can desire for
our prayers. As the Psalmist speaks: " 0 thou that nearest
prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come :" Ps. lxv. 2. To thee
they shall pray, because thou hearest prayer. " For thou,
Lord, art good, and ready to forgive ; and plenteous in mercy
unto all them that call upon thee. In the day of my trouble
I will call upon thee : for thou wilt answer me :" Ps. lxxxvi.
5, 7. " The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him,

DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE. 325

to all that call upon him in truth. He will fulfil the desire
of them that fear him : he will also hear their cry, and will
save them :" Ps. cxlv. 18, 19. But nothing can be moie
express than our Saviour's promise, " 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 :" Matt. vii. 7, 8.

And what great things are attributed in Scripture to the
power of prayer? St. James assures us that " the effectual
fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much ;" and
proves it from the example of Elias, who was " a man subject
to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it
might not rain : and it rained not on the earth by the space of
three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the
heavens gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit :"
James v. 17, 18. And all those wonders which the apostle
to the Hebrews attributes to faith, belongs to this prayer of
faith. Heb. xi. 32 — 34. For this reason Jacob's name was
changed into Israel, when he wrestled all night with the
angel and would not let him go till he had blessed him :
" Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel : for
as a prince hast thou power with God and men, and hast
prevailed:" Gen. xxxii. 28.

One would think that this were abundantly sufficient to
convince all men of the duty, necessity, and advantages of
prayer ; for if God govern the world, and we must expect
his blessing and protection only in answer to our prayers ;
if he himself makes prayer the necessary condition of our
receiving, it is vain to dispute the philosophy of it, for we
must ask if we will receive. We can receive of none but
God, and he has promised to give to none but those who ask :
and therefore, though we may receive many good things
without asking, as God does both to the evil and to the good,
yet we can never be secure that we shall receive ; and the
good things we do receive without asking, seldom prove
blessings to us, and as seldom lasting.

But to satisfy these men, if it be possible, in the reason-
ableness and necessity of this duty, and to give them a true
notion of prayer, let us briefly consider their objections against
it. And the sum of all is this, that they cannot conceive

28

326 DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE.

how our prayers should signify any thing with God, or obtain
any blessings for us, which he would not have bestowed on
us without our asking. To be good and virtuous they will
allow is necessary to entitle us to the favour and protection
of Providence ; and there is reason to believe that God wall
do good to good men, whether they ask or not ; but they
cannot see for what wise ends prayer serves, or how it should
be any reason for God to give. Does not God know our
wants before we ask ? or does he need to be informed by our
prayers what we would have him do for us? Are not our
wants, and his own essential goodness a sufficient motive
for him to give ? Or does he want to be entreated and im-
portuned ? which would argue a want of goodness. In
short, can God be moved and changed by our prayers to
alter his counsels, to do that good for us which otherwise he
would not have done, or to divert those evils which he in-
tended to have brought on us ? which represents God as
changeable as man, and derogates from the immutability of
his nature and counsels.

Now in answer to this, let us consider in the first place
whether these objections do not prove too much ? that is,
whether they do not equally destroy the reasonableness of
making any prayers or petitions to men as well as to God ?

There is a great difference indeed upon this account, that
good men may be ignorant of our wants, and may need to
be informed. But is this the only reason of our asking ; to
inform men of our wants ? Does any good man think him-
self bound, though he know our wants, to supply them with-
out our asking ? Do we think it any diminution to any man's
goodness, that he will not give unless he be asked ? Good
men, indeed, do a great many good offices without being
asked, and so does a good God ; but in most cases they think
it very reasonable to be asked, and that it is pride and sto-
mach not to ask, and that is reason enough not to give. It
does not become some men to ask, when it may become
others to give ; for it requires some interest, and some pre-
tence to favour and kindness to have a right to ask ; but all
men expect that those who depend on them, and know that
they may have for asking, should ask for what they want.
Parents expect this from their children, and a prince from
his subjects, and will see their wants, and let them want on

DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE. 327

till they think fit to ask : and if wise and good men expect
this from their dependents, a wise and good God may as
reasonably expect this from his creatures, who have their
whole dependence on him : for let any man show me the
difference ; if it be consistent with wisdom and goodness to
expect to be asked, why may not a wise and good God ex-
pect this, as well as a wise and good man ?

Thus as changeable as men are in their wills, and counsels,
and passions, do we use to charge any man with fickleness
and inconstancy only because he gives when he is asked, and
will not give when he is not asked ? that is, does it prove
any man to be mutable to change only as a wise and immu-
table rule requires him to change ? Such uniform and regu-
lar changes as these prove an immutability of counsels ; and
if this be the standing rule of providence, it argues no more
change in God to give when we ask, and not to give when
v>'e do not ask, than it is to punish a man when he is wicked,
and to reward him when he is good.

The passions and affections of human nature are the most
fickle and inconstant things ; and when they move mechani-
cally by external and sensible impressions, either against
reason or at least without it, they betray men to that uneven-
ness and uncertainty in all their actions, as disparages both
their wisdom and goodness ; for when they do good by such
blind impulses, and strong and heady passions, they do good
by chance ; and another torrent of different passions may do
as much hurt.

But yet it is no disparagement to the immutability of wis-
dom and goodness, to be moved by passions when reason
and not mere sense moves them; for reason is an even and
steady mover. To say that a man's passions and affections
are moved by reason to do that which he never intended to
have done without that reason, does not unbecome the wisest
and best man in the world; and therefore to say that a good
man is moved by prayers, and entreaties, and complaints,
to pity and compassion, and to do good, contrary to his
former intentions and inclinations, is no reproach to him.

Nor is it any reproach to the Divine nature and providence
to say, that God is moved by our prayers and entreaties to
do that for us which otherwise he would not have done; for
it neither uiAbecomes God nor men to be moved by reason.

328 DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE.

We live in a critical age, which will not allow us to speak
intelligibly of God, because we want words sufficiently to
distinguish between the motions and actions of the Divine
mind, and the passions of creatures. Our conceptions of the
Divine nature are very imperfect, and so must our words
necessarily be, and therefore unless you will venture the
censure of some men, who conceal their atheism under a
religious silence and veneration, and will not allow any
thing to be said or thought of God, for fear of thinking and
speaking dishonourably of him, you must not say that God
hears or sees, because he has no bodily ears or eyes; or that
there are any such affections in God as love or hatred, joy
or sorrow, anger or repentance, pity and compassion, be-
cause 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
m 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 human passions. It is impossible to con-
ceive a mind without wisdom and knowledge, or to conceive
wisdom and knowledge without an intellectual approbation
and abhorrence; for perfect wisdom must approve and dis-
approve; and the several ways of approving or disapproving
constitute the several passions and affections of the soul, and

DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE. 329

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 show mercy
and kindness. Thus the Scripture represents it ; and with-
out such a representation as this, there can be no reason nor
foundation for prayer.

Not to show 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 threatened to
destroy, of which we have a famous example in the interces-
sion of Moses for Israel, when they had made the golden
calf and worshipped it; (Exod. xxxii. 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." Psal.
cvi. 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 cer-
tainly expect from God.

Our Saviour promises, Matt. vii. 7 — 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 are 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 com-
parison 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 serpent2 It' you then

28*

330 DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE.

being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children
how much more shall your Father winch 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 friend to borrow some
bread of him when he was in bed, which was so unseason-
able a time, as made it troublesome and uneasy; but though
mere friendship could not prevail with him to do it, impor-
tunity did, Luke xi. 5, &c, and by the parable of the im
portunate widow, and the unjust judge, who, though 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, though
he bear long with them?" Luke xviii. 2, &c. If impor-
tunity will prevail, where neither friendship, nor the love
of justice will prevail, how much more will it prevail wiAi
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 wre may cer-
tainly 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 in-
terest, 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 under-
stand 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, sor-
row 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 con-
stant dependence on him, and be sensible that all we receive
is his gift ; to lay restraints upon men's ungoverned lusts

DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE. 331

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 ourselves and
all our concernments to him. I say, in all conditions, be-
cause God has the supreme and sovereign disposal of all.
There are too many who think, that when all things are
prosperous, when they have goods laid up for many years,
when they have powerful friends, and their enemies at their
feet, that there is no great need then to pray to God, be-
cause they do not want him. The Psalmist himself was
tempted by a prosperous fortune to great security: " In my
prosperity I said, I shall never be moved." But God
quickly convinced him, that his security did not consist in
external supports, but in the Divine favour: — "Lord, by
thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong;
thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled." Ps. xxx.
6, 7. No man is safe but in God's protection: there are a
thousand unseen accidents and surprising events, which
may disappoint all other hope and confidence ; but " they
that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot
be removed, but abideth for ever: as the mountains are
round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his
people, henceforth for ever and ever." Ps. cxxv. 1, 2.

Others think it to as little purpose to pray, when their con-
dition is desperate and hopeless; when they cannot see how
God can save them without a miracle, and miracles they
must not hope for. But what is it that God cannot do, who
has all nature at his command? We must not indeed ex-
pect miracles; but he who has the absolute government of
the natural and moral world can do what he pleases with-
out miracles. Nothing is impossible to God, and nothing is
impossible to him that believes, who prays to God in faith
•and hope.

Nay, the example of our Saviour teacheth us something
more than this; that though we were as certain that God

332

DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE.

would not deliver us from what we fear, as he was that it
was appointed for him, by God's immutable decree and coun
sel,to die upon the cross; yet it is not in vain to pray as he
did : " O my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from
me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt." And the
apostle to the Hebrews tells us, that though God did not de-
liver him from death, yet he heard and answered his prayers.
" Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers
and supplications, with strong crying and tears, unto him that
was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he
feared :" Heb. v. 7. That is, though God did not deliver
him from death, he delivered him from his fears, sent an an-
gel to comfort him, and enabled him to endure the pain, and
to despise the shame of the cross. And though God should
in like manner afflict us, or we should have great reason to
believe he will do so ; yet, if in answrer to our prayers and
cries, he should pull out the sting of afflictions, and swTeeten
them with divine comforts, and some unexpected allays, and
give us courage and patience to bear them, it is equivalent
to a deliverance, and usually better for us than to have been
delivered ; for when God inflicts such punishments on us,
even when he mercifully hears our prayers and cries, we may
be sure that he intends it for some great good to us; and to
reap the benefits of afflictions, without feeling the sting of
them, is belter than to be delivered from them: this is to be
"heard in what we fear."

This may satisfy us as to the necessity and obligation of
this duty of prayer, and what great reason and encourage-
ment we have in all conditions to pray to God. But we
must remember, that praise and thanksgiving are as essential
a part of the divine worship, and as much due to God's care
and providence over us, as prayer is.

I need not enlarge on this, because all mankind acknow-
ledge it a duty to praise our benefactors, which is only to
acknowledge from whom we have received the good things
we have. And if God be the giver of all good things to us,
can we do less than acknowledge that we receive all from
God ? — The whole book of Psalms is full of examples of this
kind ; and there is so little need to prove this to be a duty,
that every man who is sensible of any kindness that is done
him, can no more avoid thanking his benefactor, than rejoic-

DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE. 333

ing in the benefit he has received. It is not only matter of
duty but of necessity, to do it, till men have put off human
nature, and lost the sensations of it.

We must not indeed conceive so meanly of God, as if he
were charmed with the praises of his creatures, as some vain
men are with popular applause. A wise man is above this
— much more God. A man who knows himself, thinks nei-
ther the better nor worse of himself for popular praise or
reproach. Praise is due to virtue ; but if it miss of it, the
world may suffer by it, not the virtuous man, if he have that
command of his passions and resentments as a wise and good
man ought to have. Praise is nothing else but the good
opinion of other men concerning us, and reproach their ill
opinion ; and if they be mistaken in their opinions, they
make us neither better nor worse, unless we make ourselves
so — but the world may suffer by it ; for a good man, when
he is unjustly reproached, though he may support himself
with a sense of his innocence and virtue, yet he loses the
pleasure and freedom of conversation, the authority of his
example and counsels, and many advantages and opportu-
nities of doing good.

To apply this to God : I need not prove that so glorious
and perfect a being is infinitely above our praises ; that we
can add nothing to him by our most triumphant hymns and
hallelujahs, any otherwise than as he sees it infinitely rea-
sonable and congruous for the happiness of creatures, and a
great instrument of providence that they should praise him;
God suffers nothing by it, if we refuse to praise him; but we
do, and the world does ; and he has no other satisfaction in
it than to see his creatures do what becomes them, and what
will make them happy.

All the blessings we receive from God, especially such as
concern this life, lose their true taste and relish without praise.
To contemplate and adore the Divine wisdom and goodness
which encompasses the whole creation, and dispenses his
favours with a liberal hand, is a more transporting pleasure
than all the enjoyments of the world can give us. Here is
a noble exercise of love, and joy, and admiration, which are
the most delightful passions of the soul, and as far above the
pleasures of sense as a man excels a beast. This makes us
feel ourselves happy, not only in what we at present have,

334 DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE.

which, if we look no farther than intermediate causes, is very
uncertain : but in a secure prospect of happiness while we
adhere to God. A soul which is ravished with the praises
of God, and possessed with a lively sense of his goodness,
can fear no evil, is out of the reach of solicitous cares; is
contented in every condition as allotted him by God ; nay,
is patient under sufferings themselves, which are the correc-
tions or discipline of a kind father: he considers how much
good he receives from God, and how far it exceeds all the
evils he suffers ; and therefore he has reason to bless God
still, as Job did : for " shall we receive good from God, and
shall we not receive evil ?" especially when the good we
receive proves the very evils we suffer to be, good, because
they are inflicted by a good God.

All these graces and virtues are owing to the belief of a
Divine providence, and cannot be had without it; they be-
long to that submission to God, and trust in his providence,
which I have already explained; but it is praise and thanks-
giving which awaken that vigorous sense of God, which ex-
ercises all these virtues, and gives us the ease and satisfac-
tion of them.

Thus, when God loses his praise, we lose the ease and
security of our lives : but this is not all ; for the world also
in a great measure loses the benefit and advantage of God's
government, which as much disappoints the wise designs
of providence.

Not to own our benefactor is to lose the sense of our de-
pendence, which makes all the goodness of God lost on sin
ners; for the goodness of God cannot affect any man, cannot
lead him to repentance, can be no reason nor encouragement
to virtue^ if it be not owned.

This spoils the very blessings which God bestows on us,
which we shall never use to our own happiness, without
owning and praising the giver of them. He who remem-
bers that he receives all from God, and is affected with the
divine goodness and bounty in giving, will use the good
things he receives according to the mind and intention of
the giver; and this is the only way to enjoy the benefit of
the gift.

God does not give men riches merely to look on, or to
imprison, or to spend on their lusts ; nor advance them to

DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE. 335

honours to make them proud and insolent ; nor give them
a large portion of this world to make them forget the next ;
he who is thankful to God for all his. blessings, cannot do
this ; for this is the highest ingratitude, to affront and pro-
voke God with the abuse of what he gives ; and he who
does thus, loses the blessing, though he has the gift. A
covetous man is never the better for his riches, because he
cannot use them ; and a voluptuous man is much the worse,
because he uses them to his own hurt. When high places
and dignities make men proud and insolent, it forfeits the
honour of them ; and he who forgets, and by forgetting
loses the next world, has a very hard purchase of this.

Nay, such men do not only disappoint God's goodness to
themselves, but frustrate the gracious designs of his provi-
dence in making them the instruments and ministers of his
goodness to others. For those who take no notice of the
Divine providence, but are very unthankful to God for what
they have, are so far from doing any good, that they do
great mischief to others, as well as to themselves.

Those who are sensible that they receive all from God,
and are thankful for it, remember that they are but God's
stewards, which is a great honour, but a great trust too, and
requires faithfulness ; in thankfulness to God, who has so
liberally provided for them, they think themselves bound to
imitate his goodness, to supply the wants, and undertake
the patronage of those who want their help, and in the
judgment of prudence and charity deserve it.

But an unthankful man has no more regard to his fellow
creatures than he has to God : a covetous man, who will not
supply his own wants, to be sure will not relieve the wants
of others ; and if a voluptuous man does any kindness, the
receivers pay dear for it ; for he makes them the partners or
instruments of his lusts. A rich sinner helps to debauch a
whole neighbourhood, and a powerful sinner to oppress
them ; and the daily experience of the world tells us what
mischief riches, and honour, and power, do in the hands of
wicked and unthankful men.

This I think may satisfy any considering man in the ab-
solute necessity of praise and thanksgiving, which is not
only such an acknowledgment of the Divine glory as be-

336 DUTIES WE OWE TO PROVIDENCE.

comes creatures, but is necessary to our own happiness, to
our wise improvement of the blessings of God, and to the
good government of the world ; and all men must confess,
that this is a wise and just reason for God to recall his
gifts, to take away what he had given to unthankful men,
and to give them no more, not only because they disowTn
their benefactor, but because they abuse all that he gives
them to their own, and to other men's hurt. All that he
gives is lost on them. He loses the praise, and they them-
selves, and everybody else the comfort and advantage of it.
And thus I have finished this discourse of providence ;
whereby I hope it will appear, that there are great reasons
to believe a providence, that the objections against it are
ignorant mistakes, and that nothing tends so much to the
ease, and comfort, and good government of our lives, as to
acknowledge God to be the supreme sovereign Lord of the
world.

THE END.

STEREOTYPED BY L. JOHNSON AND CO.;
PHILADELPHIA.

&

RUG 2 9 1930