A Difcoarfo apo11 Providenu. Providence of our Father, guiding and directing it to his own Ends. Bu1 concerning this difi:inCHon of permiffive, concurring and over-ruling Providence, I ihall have occafion to fpeak more hereafter. My work at prefcnt fhall be, Firft, To defcribe unto you what the Providence of God is in the general notion thereof. Secondly, To pn;>Ve tbata\1 Affairs and Occurrences in the World, are guided and governed by Divine Providence. Thirdly, To anfwcr fome puzling qucftions and doubts concerning the Provi.. dencc of God, and fome ObjeCtions that may be made againft it. Firft, Let us fee what Providence is. Take it in this difcription: Providence is an ACt of God, whereby according to his eternal and moft wife Council, he prcfervcs and governs all Things, . and diretl:s them all to their ends, bus: chiefly to his own glory. This Providence confifteth in two things, Prefervation, and Government of his Creatures. Firft, One remarkable AEI:: of the Providence of God is the prefervation of his. Creatures in their Beings: He preferves them, Firft, In their Species and Kind, by the conftant fuccellion of them one af~ tcr another ; fo •that though the individuals of them arc mortal and perilh~ yet the Species or Kind is immortal. There is no kind of Creature that was at firft made by God, but it ftill continuelh to this very Day, and Ihall fo do to the end of the Wprld. And truly, it is the wonderful Providence of God thus to perpetuate the Creation; that whereas we fee an inbred Enmiry in fome fans of Creatures againft others, yet his Wifdom. fo fways their mutual Antipathies, that none of them fhall ever prevail to a total Extirpation and De~ fhutl:ion of the other. · See0ndly, He prcfencs them Iikewife by his ProvidenCe in their individual and particular Bein~s, while they have a Room to fill up, and an Office to difcharge in the U niverfe. Each Fly and Worm, as well as Man (who is but the greater \Vorm of the two) bath a work to do in the World; and till that be finifu'd God fuftains its Being: Nor fuall the weakeft Creature be deftroy'd, within the prefixed time that God hath fet to its duration. There are none of us here alive this Day, but have abundant caufe thankfuily to acknowledge the powerful and rne:rciful Provi~ dencc of God in preferving us in, and refcuing us from many dangers and deaths 'tO which we ftood expofed. It is only his Vifitation that bath hitherto preH:rved our Spirits, and eo his never-failing Providence we owe it that fuch frail and fee~ hie Creatures» who are liable to be crufu'd before the Moth, liable to fa many Difeafes and Accidents, have yet a Name among the Living, and have not yet failed from off the face of the Earth. Secondly, As God preferves, fo he go\•erns all things by his Providence and this Government confifts in two things, direB:ion of the Creatures Actions, and difrribution of Rewards and Punifuments, accordinB to the Atl:ions of his rational Creatures. Firft, God by his governing Providence directs all the Atl:ions of his Creatures, yea, and by the fecret, but efii~tious illapfe and penetration of the Divine Influence, he powerfully fways and determines them which war he pleafcth. And from this part of his Providence, branch~th forth his permiflion of Evil Atl:ions; and his concurrence to Good, both by the affiftance of his common and likcwife of his fpecial Grace ; and laftly, his general influence into a \I the ACtions of our Lives ; a\I which we are inabled to perform by the Alqtighty Power of the Divine Providence, which as a£ firft it befrowed upon us natural Faculties; fo by a confrant concurrence doth excite and affift thofe Faculties to their refpetHve Operations. Secondly, God by bis governing Providence, difi:ributes Rewards and Punifh~ ment ac(ording ~o qu~ ACtions: .And this IJart of his _Proyidence is. oftentimes remarkable even 111 th1s prefent L1fe, when we fee retnbuuons of D1vine Mercy and Vengeance, fignally proportioned according to Mens demerits; but the more efpecial manifeftation and execution of it is commonly adjourned to the Life to come; and then all the feerning inequalities of God's difpenfations here will be fully.adjufted in the eternal Recompeuce of the Godly, and eternal Punifhment of the Wicked and Impenitent. Now
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