A Difcoarfc upon Providence. Now ~y this Al~ighty ~rovidence, God over rules and f\vays all things to his own ~lory. The.re IS nothing come~ to pafs, but God bath hts ends in it, and will certatnly make hts own ends out of I t ; though the World fecm to nm at random and Affairs to be huddled to?,et~cr in blind Confution and rude Diforder; yet God fees and knows the Concatcnauon of all Caufes and Effects, and fo governs them that he makes a pcrf~fl: Harmony out of all thofe feeming Jarrings and Difcords: As you may obferve tt 111 the W hetl~ of a VVatch, though they all move with contrary Motions one to the other, yet they are ufdul and neccffary to make it go right: So is it in thefe inferiour things, che proceedings of Divine Providence arc all regular and orderly to his own ends, in all the thwartings and contrarietie; of fecond Caufes. VIe have this expreft in that myfterious Vifion, Ez..ek , 1 • 18, where the Providcnces of God are fet forth by the Emblem of a Wheel within a Wheel, one intcrfeCting an~ cr?ffing another; ye£ they arc defcribed to be full of Eyes round about. What IS th1~, but to denote unto us, that though Providences are as turning and unftable as Wheels; though they are as thwart and crofs as one Wheel within another, yet thefe \V heels are all nailed round with Eyes; God fees and chufes his way in the moft intricate and intangled Providences that are· and fa governs all things, that whilft each purfnes its owninclinationl they arc all ~verruled to promote his Glory. This is Providence, the two great parts of which are Pfefervation and Government; and the great eDd of both thefe the glory of the Almighty and All-wife God. And this is it which our Saviour fpeaks of when he tells the <jrnu, 1ohn 5· 17· My Father worketh hitherto (viz.. in preferving and governing his Creatures) and I work. Secondly, The fccond General propounded, was tc demonfl:ratc to you, That all things in the World arc governed l)y the Divine Providence. The old Philofophers among the H eatheus, had very diftCrent Notions concerning the Government of the World. Some held that all things were governed by an imperious and inevitable Fate, to which God himfelf was Subjed: So Chryjippus, and the Stoicks. Others thought that all was left to blind Chance, and whatfoever came to pafs here below was only cafual aud fortuitollS; fa the Epicureans: Others that tbe great God regarded only the more glorious Affairs of Heaven, but had committed the care of Earthly conccrnments unto inferionr Spirits, as 'bis under Officers and De.. puties : So moll: of the Platonifts, thought their Maftcr was Orthodox. Others, that God,s Providence reached only to the great and important Matters of this World, but that it was too much a difparagement to his infinite Majefty to look after the motion of every Straw and Feather, and to take care of every trivial and inconfiderable Occurrence in this World. So fpeaks Cicero in h~s Book de natura Dcorum, M11gna Dii, curant, parva negligunt. [vide Ari11ni Epi8tt. lib. 1. cap. l'l..] How much better is that moft excellent faying of St. .Auftin, Tu fie curas unumquemq; noflrum, ttmquam folum cures, 0.:... fie omnes tanquam fiizgulos, God takes as much care of every particular, as if each were an, and as much care of all, a.'i if all were but one particular. And to demonftrate this all-difpofing Providence ofGod, I !hall take two ways. Firft, From the confideration of the Nature and PerfeClion of the Deity. Secondly., From the contemplation of that Beauty and Order which we may ob· ferve in the World. It is moft necetrary that we fhould ~avc our Hearts well eftablilh'din the firm and unwavering belief ot this "{ruth., that whatfoever comes to pafs, be it Good ·or Evil, we may look up to the hand and difpofal of all, to God; and if it be Good, may acknowledge it with praifa; if Evil, bear it with patience; fince he difpenfeth both the one and the other ; the Good to reward us, and the Evil to try us. Now firft, To demonftrate it from the Being and Nature of God. This I !hall do in thefe following Propofitions, which I lhalllay down asfo many Steps and Gradations. Firft, That there is a God is undoubtedly clear by the light of Nacure. Never was there any People fa barbarous and ftupid, but did firmly aifent to this Truth withoutany other proof than the deep imprefs upon their Heart5, and the obferva· tion of vitible Obje8.:s, that t.here was a Deity. 'Tis neither a Problem of Reafon, nor yet ftriCtly an Article of Faith., but the unforced diCtate of every Man's natural Confcience; where Confcien~e is not violently perverted, and under the force of thofe Vices, whofe intereft it is that there ibould be no God. Never was there any
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