from his holy Heaven, with the Saving Strength of his Right hand.

Therefore let us chearfully own that God hath answer'd our Prayers, and never cease to offer them to him for the good Conduct of his Majefty's Counfels, the farther Succefs of his Victorious Arms, and the Preservation and Profperity of his Royal Perfon; that his Reign may be profperous, and his Days many; and that when he has finished Time, he may leave his Government upon Earth, to reign with Chrift in Heaven. Let the King Pfal. 21.1,2. joy in thy Strength, O Lord, and in thy Salvation let him greatly rejoice: for thou hast given him bis Heart's Defire, and hath not with-holden the Request of his Lips.

I now procced, in the fecond place, to offer fome Reasons why God Almighty by a special Providence do's fometimes deliver a good King and his People from the Plots of evil Men.

And 1. He does fo, that he may the more remarkably advance his own Glory, that all the Inhabitants in the World may fee what his Hand hath wrought. The Glory of God is the Supreme End of all his Difpenfations, but eminently fo in thofe fignal Deliverances, which can be afcrib'd to no other Caufe but a fpecial Providence of Heaven.

For if nothing elfe can claim a Share in our Deliverance, 'tis a horrid Alienation of the Divine Right, to with-hold any part of the Glory from God.

His Defign is to appropriate the entire Glory' of fpecial Providences to himself and one great Reafon of fuch eminent providential Appearances, is to render his Divine Attributes

the

the more illustrious in the World. For as one Star differs from another in Glory, fo a diftinguishing Salvation by a fpecial Providence differs from a common Protection, in that the former renders the Perfections of the Deity bright and flaming, while the latter doth but obfcurely discover them.

The one makes them confpicuous to every Eye, when the other feldom makes them fall under common Notice.

Now God by his fpecial Acts of Providence defigns to augment the Tribute of his Praife, and to advance his Honour fo high that all may fee it. Jehovah is jealous of his Honour, and cannot bear any Competitor; he will not give his Glory to another, nor his Praise to Graven Images.

For as his Wifdom, Goodness, Faithfulness and Power are eminently feen in National Deliverances by fpecial Acts of Divine Providence, fo in return for them he expects a large Revenue of Praife.

2. God delivers good Kings and their People by fuch special Acts of his Providence, that they may be the more deeply affected therewith, and the better relish the Deliverance wrought for them. What God has done in this late Deliverance, is to awaken all the Powers of the Rational part of Man, and to engage them intenfly in the Work of Praise.

Had God Almighty ftifled this Plot at first, and prevented its being drawn out to fo prodigious a Length, and fo near to Execution as it was, we fhould not have been fo affected with the Deliverance, as now when his fet time Pfal.102.13, to favour us was come.

C 4

14.

For

For 'tis most likely, that when furpriz'd with Salvation even on the Borders of Ruin, and the Confines of Death, we fhould best relish fo great a Mercy, and be deeply affected with fo fignal a Deliverance.

3. God delivers by fpecial Acts of his Providence, that he may cure the Remainders of his People's Infidelity, and engage them to trust in him for the future.

Tho our Character as Christian fignifies our John 14. 1. believing in the Father and the Son, and fome of us can fay, Lord we believe; yet we must also Mark 9.24. add, Help thou our Unbelief.

Who of us but finds a mixture of Infidelity within, that makes very strong Efforts against the Impreffions of Faith?

Now a feeming delay in the bringing about an expected Providence, does fuddenly occafion a mifconftruction of the Methods of Divine Love; and thereby a very steddy Believer is without much difficulty weaken'd and fhaken in his Confidence.

Nay, after the moft fignal Appearances of God, we are apt, like the Ifraelites, to call in question the Divine Goodness and Power, as the Pfalmift remarks; They faid, Can God furnish a Plai. 78.9. Table in the Wilderness? A very unreasonable Question, when God had done fo many marvelVer. 12. lous things for them in their Sight, in the Land of Egypt, in the Field of Zoan: Dividing the Sea, that the Waters stood as an Heap, leading them by a Cloud in the Day, and conducting them by a Ver. 16, Fiery Pillar in the Night. Yet notwithstanding all these aftonishing Inftances of Omnipotence and Love, they believ'd not in God, neither trusted Ver. 22, in his Salvation. They had confiderable remains of Unbelief, though they liv'd in an Age of

Ver. 15.

Miracles.

Miracles. And how apt the People of God have been in every Age to relapfe into Infidelity after his moft marvellous Appearances, has been too notorious and visible either to be cover'd or excufed.

Therefore one great End of God's condefcending to appear for our common Safety, is to cure this Distemper of our Minds, and to engage us steddily to trust in him for the future; that we may truft in the Lord, after having found that in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting Strength: A Strength that can never be wasted by Age, nor enfeebled by the Gates of Hell. For the Name of the Lord is a strong Tower, the Righteous run- Prov. 19.10. neth into it and is fafe. By the Name of God we must understand either God himself, or those Perfections of the Deity that are eminently display'd in the Government of the World, upon which we are entirely to lean, in expectation of Safety and Conduct, prefent and future; which we have good ground to hope for, if we make him the Object of our Truft, who has been the Cause of our Salvation. For they that truft in the Lord fhall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be Pfal. 125.1. removed, but abideth for ever.

But before I pass this Head, I would infinuate that we are not to trust in God, fo as to exclude the Use of Means. I would not have you imagine, that by trufting in God, I mean we are to fit ftill and do nothing; for tho we are not to trust in Chariots and in Horfes, and in a numerous Hoft, yet we have no reason to expect our Enemies Defeat without them, unless we were affured of it by fome extraordinary Revelation from God: for our Swords are not yet beat into Płow-fhears, nor our Spears into Pruninghooks; we are still to make ufe of Inftruments

of

of War, and to use the best Conduct that we can; yet after all, entirely to trust in our God, and to believe that he that has deliver'd, will ftill deliver and fave his People.

4. God is pleas'd thus to act, to convince his Enemies that he is not only Rector and Governour of the World in general, but that he do's by special Acts of Providence guard and defend his Church.

The fucceffive Events of Time are difpofed of by the Divine Order and Permiffion; and the most High ruleth in the Kingdoms of Men,

Dan. 4. 17.

There is not any thing in this lower World that is brought about by a blind inflexible Deftiny, (as fome Heathens fancied ;) or depends upon the Uncertainties of Chance, as others of 'em dream'd: for, fays the Pfalmift, The Lord Pfal.103.19. hath prepared his Throne in the Heavens, and his Kingdom ruleth over all. He is in the actual Exercise of an univerfal Dominion and Empire over Angels and Men. 'Tis not only the exalted Order of Seraphs, and those other bright Spirits above, that were never fullied by Sin, who are under the Conduct of God, but every Creature under Heaven is govern'd by the fame Lord. Indeed fome of the Heathens denied God's governing Providence in general, whilft others of 'em acknowledg'd it but in part; for tho they would own that he took care of the great Affairs of Kingdoms and Nations, yet they thought it unbecoming the infinite Perfections of a God, to give fo remarkable a Stoop, as to take notice of particular Perfons and Things. But we Chriftians, who are guided by a more certain Light, are well affur'd Prov. 5. 21. that the Ways of Man are before the Eyes of the

Magna Dii curant, par

va negli

gunt, Cic.

de Nat. Deor.

Lord,