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SERM. thefe Two thou hast chofen. And Thus likeXIII. wife in the words in the Text; it is the fù

preme Superintendency of Providence over all Events, which Solomon meant to eftablish, when he faith, Time and Chance happeneth to them All.

NEITHER is it, (as Some, with very weak Pretences to Reafon, have in this cafe been apt to Imagine;) it is not, I fay, merely in a pious manner of Expreffion, that the Scripture thus afcribes every Event to the Providence of God; but it is Strictly and philofophically true in Nature and Reason, that there is no fuch thing as Chance or Accident; it being evident that those words do not fignify any thing really exifting, any thing that is truly an Agent or the Caufe of any Event; but they fignify, merely mens Ignorance of the real and immediate Caufe. And This is fo True, that very many even of Those who have no Religion, nor any Senfe at all of the Providence of God; yet know very well, by the Light of their own natural Reason, that there neither is nor can be any fuch thing as Chance, that is, any fuch thing as an Effect without a Cause; And there

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therefore what Others afcribe to Chance, SER M. XIII. They afcribe to the operation of Neceffity or Fate. But Fate alfo is itself in reality as truly Nothing, as Chance is. Nor is there in Nature Any Other Efficient or proper Cause of any Event; (of any Event, I fay: For concerning Truths in Themselves effentially, eternally and invariably neceffary, I am not fpeaking: But of all the variable Events that happen in the Universe, there is and can be in Nature no other proper and efficient Caufe ;) but only the Free Will of rational and intelligent Creatures, acting within the Sphere of their limited Faculties; and the Supreme Power of God, directing, by his omniprefent Providence, (according to certain Wife Laws or Rules, established by, and entirely depending upon his own good pleasure,) the inanimate Motions of the whole material and unintelligent World.

2dly, FROM the words of the Text I observe, that the all-directing Providence of God, which governs the Universe; does not fuperintend only the Great Events in the World, the Fates of Nations and VOL. VI. King

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SER M.Kingdoms; fo that, without the direction XIII. of Providence, the strongest and most nu

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merous Armies are not victorious in Battle; but its Care extends, even to the Concerns of fingle Perfons; so that, without the Bleffing of God, neither Riches, nor Favour, nor any temporal Advantage, can certainly be obtained by any thing that Man can do: Nay, that even in matters of ftill fmaller moment, not fo much as a Race is gained by the Swift, without the hand of Providence directing the Event. When men obferve how Our Attention is diftracted with a multiplicity of Objects, and can very hardly be fixed on more than one thing at once; they are too careleffly apt to imagine, that Providence itself either cannot, or that 'tis beneath its Dignity to condescend, to interpofe in the numberless small events of Nature or Chance. But the Scripture tells us otherwife, and right Reafon alfo joins with it herein. For as Chance is nothing, fo Nature alfo is nothing but an empty word. Every Effect, every Event, muft have a real Caufe; muft proceed, immediately or mediately, from That which

which has a True Exiftence and Active SER M.

Power.

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And to an Omniprefent Mind, XIII. there is no more difficulty in attending to every thing at one and the fame Time, than to any one thing. Not only piously therefore, but even with the frictest and most philofophical Truth of expression, does the Scripture tell us, that God commandeth the Ravens, 1 Kings xvii. 4; that they are His directions, which even the Winds and the Seas obey; that he caufes His Sun to rife on the Evil and on the Good; that God prepared a Gourd, and a Worm to fmite it that it withered, Jonah iv. 7; that God feedeth the Fowls of the Air, Matt. vi. 26; and, without Him, not a Sparrow falls to the ground; ch.x. 29: Nay, that He clothes even the Lilies, and the grafs of the field, Matt. vi. 30; and, with Him, the very Hairs of our Head are All numbered.

'Tis true; All these things are plainly owing to Second Caufes. And fo likewife are all the greater Inftances mentioned by Solomon in the Text. "Tis as much according to the Course of Nature, that the Strong fhould fometimes lofe a Battle by Accident, as that they should generally gain

SERM.it by Strength; and that unforeseen Hin XIII. drances fhould fometimes cause the swifteft Runner to lofe the Race, as that Agility

and Nimbleness of Body fhould make him generally win it.

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3d OBSERVATION therefore is; that things being brought about according to the course of Nature by Second Caufes, is not at all inconfiftent with their being nevertheless justly and truly afcribed to the Providence of God. "Tis Time and Chance fays the Text, that happens to them All; that happens frequently to prevent all the Probabilities there mentioned. The wife man does not hereby mean, that they are prevented by Miracle: For then he would not have used the vulgar words, of Time and Chance. Nor does he mean on the contrary, that they are prevented by Blind and unintelligent Fate: For This would have been contrary to the whole Design of his Book, and of all the rest of the Scripture, as well as to common Reason: But his Meaning is; that the Providence of God, by means of natural Causes, which are all entirely of His appointment, and Inftruments only in His hand; does often,

for

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