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us. Such a Power as this, which is the Author and Parent of fo much Good to Mankind, is in the highest degree Excellent and even Adorable; for if we measure the value of any Thing by its usefulness, there can never be afcrib'd Honour and Glory enough to that Power, which cannot be otherwise employ'd than in doing good; well therefore might the Pfalmift cry out in a grateful Extafie, I will love thee, O Lord, my Strength for to proceed yet ĥ farther.

'Tis the excellent Attribute, the power of God, which governs the World, and that cures and adjusts all the disorders in it; for fince so much wickedness abounds among Men were not his Arm and his Eye every where, the Lufts and Paffions of Men could carry all before them, and Pride and Might, Infolence and Power,would be the only standards of Right and Wrong; but now the God who dwelleth on high, is Mightier than the most Mighty of his Creatures: He fits in Heaven and will laugh them to Scorn, and as he beholds mifchief, fo he can and will requite it. For, fays the Apostle, he knoweth how to deliver the Righteous T from

from Trouble, and to preferve the Unjust 'till the Day of Judgment, to be Punished;

and fince there can want no Illuftration of the Worth and Excellence of that Attribute, which regulates all the motions of the Univerfe, and chains up the Paffions of Man, and even the Malice of Devils from doing any hurt: If to create the World was fo excellent a Work,to direct and manage all the parts of it, is yet made fo, and yet without the aid and concurrence of an Almighty Power and Providence, the glorious Palace we now live in, with com. fort and pleasure, would be but an unhofpitable Wilderness, or a frightful Den of Savages.

I proceed then to fhew, as the fum of my fecond general Head, the utter incapacity of all created Beings, to afford Man any safety or fecurity in the courfe of their Lives and Actions. Could we hope for any infallible Succours, under the wants and miferies of Life, from any Beings beneath the Almighty one, God himself? the Angels are the Creatures that would best anfwer fuch an Expectation, for they are call'd Miniftring Spirits, and we have

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a good Warrant to believe they are appointed as the tutelar Guardians of the inward and outward State of good, Men. But if these good Spirits protect or affift us, 'tis by a Power and Influence deriv'd from God, fo that though they may deserve our Praife, they cannot demand our Prayers for the good they do us: But then if these bleffed Agents cannot of themfelves, relieve or fecure us, much less can Man, the next Being in order too, but yet created many Degrees below them; for his Nature being finite and limited, so are all the Faculties that belong to it; and upon the remoteft furvey, we fhall find Mankind labouring under a threefold Defect, as to any protection or fecurity they can afford one another, viz. the want of Knowledge,of Power, and Opportunity; all thefe are requifite Mediums towards the relief and fuccour of the common Wants and Miferies that abound in the World; and Knowledge is fo in the very first place, for if we do not know, that our Brother is afflicted or in Danger, or what methods of Cure to ufe when the Cafe is our own, what Comfort or Support can we poffibly lend to the

Diftreffes on either fide? But now there is no Man living knows any thing of the one thoufandth part of the Calamities which abound in every corner of the World, and those who see or feel them, know fo little of their caufes and rife, that they are totally uncapable to apply the Remedy; this is a piece of Art referv'd for God alone, who because he fees all Men, does therefore fully know their wants and sufferings; and because he mixes with and pervades all Things, can therefore cure and remove them at his Pleasure. But were the Knowledge of Man lefs confin'd and scanty than his, his Power is infinitely fhort of Omnipotence; and therefore but a poor fhelter for diftreis'd Nature to depend upon. We cannot but obferve that the State of Man is liable to be difturb'd and ruffled by every petty Accident. The Thief fhall Steal, or the Fire confume, or fome hidden Canker eat up its Subftance, before he is aware; for could he defend or protect himself against thefe Violences, we may easily believe he would not be wanting to his own Security; then what help or affistance can we lend to the publick Disasters

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of whole States and Kingdoms? If God refolve to deftroy Sodom, what Force or Stratagem fhall be able to preferve it? And when he commands the Sword to destroy, or the Peftilence to devour, can any Art or Power on Earth divert the Sentence, or remove the Scourge? We find indeed a set of Worthies, in the old Teftament, who for the fignal Deliverances wrought by them, had the Honour to be styl'd, what God is in the Text, the Saviours of their Country; but they held their Title in Gods Right, and David and Joshua had fought, and Samuel and Jeptha councel'd in vain, had not God profper'd both their Arms and Councils for the good and rescue of his People. Thus, when Phinehas pray'd and the Plague ceas'd, 'twas not the Prayer which ftop'd the Peftilence, but God's Bleffing upon it; and all the Good which is done by the beft,the wifeft,and the most powerful Men on Earth, is by the direct Agency of Providence, which entrusts them as Inftruments to ferve her Ends: Well therefore might the Pfalmift forbid us to put any trust in Princes, for there is no help in them. And we have the fame Reafon to take noT 5 tice

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