o Spiritual. Per f eE1ion. and Thankfulnefs are infinite. The firft being and uninterrupted duration of the World is from the íàme powerful Caufe For nothing can make it felf when 'tis not, nor preferve it felf when 'tis. Some have revived that erroneous Opinion , That as a Clock form'd by an Artificer, and the Weights drawn up, regularly ftrikes the Hours, and continues its Mo- tion and Sound, in the abfence of the Artificer : So the perpetual concourfe of the Divine Providence is not necelfary for the fupport and operations of every Creature, but Nature may work of it felf, and turn the Wheels of all Things within its compafs. But the Inflance is defe&ive , there being an extream dif parity between the Work of an Artifi- cer, in forming a Clock, whole matter is independent upon him, and God's giv- ing the firft Being to the Creatures, with Powers to a& by his aaual concurrence : For every Creature is maintain'd by a fuccefíive continual produaion. Toaf- fe& us, confider, the preferver of Men brought us fafely into the World through the dark Valley of Death, where thou- fands are ftrangled in the birth. We are 111 46.3. born by him from the belly and carried from the womb. How compaffionate was his Goodnefs to us in our Infancy, the fate of wants and weaknefs, when we were
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