General Obfervations concerning God's providential Government towards Mankind.

DISCOURSE VII.

PSALM ciii. 19.

The Lord hath prepared his Throne in the Heavens; and his Kingdom ruleth over all,

T

HESE Words of the Pfalmift make a noble Representation of the Greatness and univerfal Extent of the divine Dominion; but they feem to have a fpecial Reference to God's Government of the rational moral Part of the Creation. The principal of these, as far as we have

any

any Notion of them, are Angels and Men. Some Obfervations have been made upon the Government of Divine Providence with regard to the Angels. Let us now confider the Government of God as exercifed towards Mankind, which is that Part of the divine Administration in which we are more immediately concerned, and which it most nearly importeth us to

know.

Man is undoubtedly the most excellent of all God's Works in this lower vifible Part of the Creation; the only Being here on Earth capable of knowing and contemplating his Maker, of obeying and adoring him, and rejoicing in a Senfe of his Favour and Approbation. The Wisdom,

Power, and Goodness of God is eminently confpicuous in the wonderful Frame of his Body, but especially in the noble Faculties of his Soul, whereby he is vaftly fuperior to the Brutes, and is capable of rifing in his Affections and Views beyond Things prefent, and fenfible to Things spiritual and eternal, to the fupreme, the infinite Good; which fhews that he was defigned for a fublime Felicity. And can it then be thought, that Providence, which extendeth its Care even to the inferior Animals, neglecteth Man, the principal Inhabitant of this lower World, and to whom all the

other

other Claffes of Beings here on Earth are fubfervient and fubordinate? Surely we have great Reason to think that the most wife and powerful and benevolent Lord and Parent of the Universe, whofe Kingdom ruleth over all, doth in a special Manner exercise his Government and Care towards the human Race.

I shall first make some general Obfervations concerning the Nature and Methods of God's providential Administrations towards Mankind: And then fhall proceed more diftinctly to confider the Influence and Agency of Divine Providence as extending both to Communities and to particular Perfons, to the Hearts and Thoughts of all Men, to their outward Actions, and to the Events which befal them.

With regard to the Nature and Methods of God's providential Administrations towards Mankind, it is proper to observe in general,

First, That as Men are moral Agents, fo God governeth them as fuch, and confequently hath given them a Law to be the Rule of their Conduct. That Man is a moral Agent is as evident as it is that he is a reasonable Creature, or that he is capa ble of Virtue and Vice, of Praise and Blame. And whatever fome Perfons may dispute in Speculation, moral or free A

gency

gency is what all Men are intimately confcious of. The felf-condemning and selfapproving Reflections of every Man's own Heart and Confcience plainly fhew it to be fo. God hath not only given Man a Body, and animal Perceptions, whereby he is nearly connected with the material World, and is capable of fenfitive Delights, but he hath given him a higher Principle of Reafon and Understanding to direct him what is right and fit to be done, a selfdetermining, and felf-reflecting Power, whereby he is capable of governing his Appetites and Paffions, of choofing and acting for himself, and of paffing a Judgment upon his own Actions. The human Conftitution is an admirable Effect of the divine Wisdom; and God's having made Men Creatures of fuch a Kind, i. e. moral Agents, is a demonftrative Proof that he will govern them in fuch a Way as is fit for moral Agents to be governed, viz. by giving them Laws enforced by proper Motives, to direct and engage them to their Duty, in fuch a Manner as is confiftent with Liberty and Free-agency.

That there is a Law which all Mankind are placed under, a little Reflection may convince us. This is ufually called the Law of Nature, and hath a real Foundation in the very Nature and Relations of

Things,

Things. Thus if we confider the Nature of God,and the Relation between him and us, It is manifeft that we owe him the highest Love, Reverence, Affiance, Adoration, and Obedience. From the kind and focial Affections implanted in our Hearts, and the Relation we bear to one another, it may be fairly concluded, that we are defigned to exercise Juftice, Charity, Benevolence, and Fidelity. And if we duly confider the Conftitution of our own Nature, as confifting of Flesh and Spirit, it should make us fenfible that we are obliged to fhun all Intemperance and Excefs, and by the Exercife of Patience, Temperance, Prudence, and Fortitude, to keep our Appetites and Paffions in a regular Subjection to the Government of right Reason; and that it is our Duty to afpire after progreffive Improvements in Knowledge and Virtue, as that in which the true Perfection of our Nature doth confift. There is nothing in all this but what will appear to a Mind that is not corrupted and depraved with vicious Prejudices, to be fit and right, and founded in the very Nature of Things: and whatsoever clearly appeareth from the Nature and Relations of Things to be fit and right for reasonable Creatures to perform, we may be fure it is the Will of God they should per

form;