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flections, and to ftrike us with an Awe of the divine Power. God fo ordereth the Seasons in their general Course, that there is fufficient Provifion made for Man and Beast; and he frequently fendeth great Plenty, fo as to produce that Appearance of Things which the Pfalmift fo beautifully defcribeth, Pfal. lxv. 9, 11, 12, 13. Thou vifiteft the Earth, and watereft it; thou greatly enricheft it with the River of God, which is full of Water; thou preparest them Corn, when thou haft fo provided for it.-Thou crownest the Year with thy Goodness; and thy Paths drop Fatnefs. They drop upon the Paftures of the Wilderness; and the little Hills rejoice on every Side. The Paftures are clothed with Flocks; the Vallies alfo are covered with Corn; they fhout for Joy, they alfo fing. But fometimes it is fo ordered, that there are great Droughts and Dearth. The Heaven is as -Iron, and the Earth Brafs, and the Rain of the Land is as Powder and Duft; fo that the Land doth not give her Encreafe, neither do the Trees of the Land yield their Fruit. Lev. xxvi. 19, 20. Deut. xxviii. 23, 24. In like Manner, there are frequently very healthful Seafons: At other Times there is a fickly Constitution of the Air, venemous Exhalations arise, or peftilential Contagions fpread a mortal Influence. In all thefe Cafes

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fecond Caufes may well be admitted; but these Causes are under the Government of a fovereign Providence, which disposeth and applieth them to wife and righteous Purposes. And accordingly thefe Things are actually made the Matter of the divine Promises and Threatnings to the Ifraelites in the Law of Mofes: See efpecially the 26th Chapter of Leviticus, and the 28th Chapter of Deuteronomy. And it appeareth, from the Accounts given us in Scripture of the History of that People, that these Promises and Threatnings were actually accomplished to them in the Event; and that the Course of natural Caufes was fo directed and over-ruled by Providence, as to reward them for their Obedience, and punish them for their Difobedience to the divine Laws. And fo it hath often been in God's Dealings with other Nations. And both Reafon and Religion teach us, in Things of this Nature, to raise our Views to the fupreme Difpofer, and to acknowledge and reverence a divine Agency.

In order to our having a right Notion of God's Government of the inanimate Creation, it is proper to observe,

First, That he ordinarily maketh use of it for answering his Purposes, without at all altering the ufual Courfe of Things. And

this is a manifest Proof of his great Wisdom, when we cannot fay that any Thing hath happened but what is natural, i. e. agreeable to the ordinary Powers and Properties of Things; yet the Time and Circumstances are fo conducted, as to produce great Events, and answer particular important Purposes. Thus the Winds have been fo ordered, that mighty Fleets have been scattered, or detained in Port; important Expeditions or Invafions have been prevented or forwarded; upon which, Events of great Confequence, and even the Fates of Kingdoms have depended. Innumerable Cafes happen, both of a public and a more private Nature, in which, though there is nothing in them that can be said to be contrary to the Order of Nature, yet they are directed and over-ruled to efpecial wife and important Ends. And the adjusting these Things to one another is not to be looked upon as a mere Contingency, or the Effect of Chance, but as the Work of a fovereign fuperintending Providence.

Secondly, Sometimes God may over-rule natural Causes contrary to their stated Course, as in the Cafe of what are called Miracles. Thus the Fire had no Power over the Bodies of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, nor finged fo much as an

Hair of their Heads, though it immediately confumed thofe that caft them into the Furnace. Dan. iii. 22, 27. The Waters of the Sea stood upright as an Heap, whilft the Ifraelites paffed, and were a Wall unto them on their right Hand, and on their left, but foon returned to their natural Courfe, and overwhelmed the Hoft of the Egyptians. Exod. xiv. 22, 28. xv. 8. But however extraordinary these Things may appear to us, they carry no greater Difficulty in them to the divine Power, than the continuing Things in their ordinary Course. It is indeed highly proper, that what are ufually called the Laws of Nature, and which are really the Ordinances of Divine Providence, fhould be generally maintained. Without such ftated Rules, and an established Course of Things, there could be no regular Study or Knowledge of Nature; no Men could tell what to do or what to expect, or how to make a Progrefs in any Art or Science, or in the Conduct of Life: nor would there be any Advantage of Experience; fince the fame Things might produce one Effect this Day, and, the next, a quite contrary one in the fame Circumftances. And yet, on the other Hand, there is no Neceffity of fuppofing that thefe Laws are fo conftantly and invariVOL. I.

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ably obferved and executed, and the natural Course of Things fo fixed, as never in any Inftance to be fufpended, or admit any the leaft Deviation. It is fufficient that thefe Laws, or this Courfe of Things, generally take Place. For this layeth a Foundation for an high Probability; and we may justly act and form Schemes upon fuch a Probability, though not amounting to an abfolute Certainty. It is a fufficient Security that we have an Afsurance that this Course fhall always take Effect, except where infinite Wisdom feeth fit for valuable Purposes to order it otherwise. But it would be an inexcufable Prefumption to affirm, that God, having established those Laws, and this Course of Nature, hath bound himself never to act otherwise than according to thofe Laws. There may be very good Reasons worthy of his great Wisdom, for his acting sometimes contrary to the ufual Order of Things; and, even in that Case, it may be justly said that thofe Things which appear most unusual and anomalous to us, are all comprehended within the general Plan of his univerfal Providence. They are not to be looked upon as mere fudden Expedients, unforefeen, and unthought of before, but are to be regarded as Parts of the original Scheme. The fame Wifdom which appointed or

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