by whose Power we were created, under SER M. whofe Care and Government we are pre- X. ferved and fupported; in whofe prefence we walk perpetually, whofe eyes are upon all our Actions, and in whom we live and move and have our Being; without whom, not a Sparrow falls to the ground, or fo much as a hair of our head perishes; without whose direction no Evil can befal us, without whofe Permiffion no Power can hurt us, and who is able finally to make all things work together for good, to them that love and fear Him. This, and This only, if men would take care to live virtuously; (For to a vitious man there is No Comfort, neither in This life nor Another,) if men would take care to live virtuously, I fay, the Thought of God's governing the World is fuch a Confideration, as is fufficient to caufe to vanish all the tragical complaints of the Miseries and Vanity of Humane Life. For, though we could not conjecture at any Reason why he has made us thus; though we were not able to difcern any kind and gracious defigns, in the Afflictions that he lays upon us; though the ways of

SER M.Providence had been ftill more inextriX. cable than they are, and his Judgements

far more unfearchable than we now apprehend them to be; yet certainly infinite Wisdom and infinite Goodness, might well be trusted and relied upon, by any reasonable and confiderate Mind. That Power, which in the frame and conftruction of the natural World, has adjusted all things by Weight and Measure: That Power, which with exquifite artifice has made every thing in the exactest harmony and proportion, to confpire regularly and uniformly towards accomplishing the best and wisest Ends, in compleating the beautiful Order and Fabrick of the Material Univerfe That Power, might furely in his government of the moral World likewife, in his difpofing of intelligent and rational creatures, even though we could give no account at all of his ways, yet with the juftest reafon be believed to direct all things for the beft, and in order to bring about the nobleft and most excellent Ends. How much more, when, even in this fhort and dark State, our finite and narrow Understanding is able to difcern

many

pa

many wife and useful defigns in the fe-SER M. verest and mosft difficult difpenfations of X. his Providence, (as in the fequel of this difcourfe fhall be particularly shown;) how much more, I fay, in This cafe, have we reafon to fubmit, not only with tience and refignation, but even with joy and fatisfaction, to his good pleasure in all things; Firmly believing, that, as in the frame of nature, those things which by Atheistical Philofophers were anciently looked upon as arguments of Error and Defect, of want either of Knowledge or Goodness in the formation of the material World, are fince difcovered to be moft useful Contrivances, and Evidences of the moft perfect and confummate Wisdom; fo in the government of the rational and intelligent World, in the difpenfations of Providence towards Mankind, thofe very things, which by fome Philofophers of old were urged as Arguments of an Evil Principle, of a Mischievous Supreme Cause, co-ordinate and repugnant to God the Author of all Good; will, at the Great Day, (when the Reasons of things and the whole Counfel of God fhall be more perfectly

VOL. VI.

R

SER M. fectly difclofed,) appear all to be most Wife, and Gracious, and Good.

X.

DID our Afflictions come forth of the duft, and our troubles Spring out of the ground; Were there no other cause to produce them, no other Hand to direct them, no other Counsel to defign them, no other Power to over-rule and remove them; than the accidental concourfe of Senfelefs Atoms, than the fortuitous refults of unguided Matter and Motion, than the blind Effects of inevitable Fate, or the mere Jumbles of unintelligible Chance; it is plain there could be no rational Comfort and Support to a confiderate Mind, under the various Misfortunes and Calamities of Life. For what is the Hope of the Unbeliever, when God taketh away his Soul; I fhould fay, when Fate or Chance, taketh away his Soul? And on what ground can the Confidence of the Atheist rely? His Expectations at best are thin as a Spider's web; and his Hopes as the light Chaff, which the Wind fcattereth away from the Face of the Earth. His Profperity and Mirth can be but for a moment, and his Adverfity must of ne

ceffity

X.

ceffity terminate in Despair. For what Re-SER M. lief is to be expected from Fate or Chance, which has no Understanding? and what Support is that Man capable of in the days of Affliction, who does not believe things are guided by a wife hand, which can turn every thing finally to our Advantage? How weak, how empty a Satiffaction is it to be told that our Miseries arife from the Neceffity of Fate, and therefore that it is to no purpose not to be willing to fubmit to them! How fmall a Comfort is it, to confider that Others perhaps are miferable as well as we; and that therefore we have no greater reafon to complain, than they! How poor, how infipid a relief is it, to understand that it cannot be long before all the Miseries and Calamities of Life will have an End put to them by Death; if at the fame time our View be wholly bounded by that dark Profpect, and there be no Expectation beyond the Grave? And yet these are all the Comforts that Infidelity can afford, and all the Hopes of him that is without God in the world. In the moment of his

Profperity, he may

say with the Fool in

R 2.

the