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SER M. its Rifing, and its Going down; and has difxx. pensed its Heat and Light in one regular and continued Courfe: illuminating and invigorating those Bodies that perform their feveral Motions round it, in a ftupendous and never failing Order. Particularly, the Place and Station of this vaft Body is fo ordered by this wife God, with refpect to this Earth we live on, that it is the immediate Cause of the greatest Benefits in Nature. If the Seasons fucceed one another in a conftant and never-interrupted Course; Autumn and Winter, Spring and Summer; if, by this means, the Earth is prepared to afford us its Riches, and doth accordingly bring forth its Increase, and all its Fruits, in due Seafon; if the Vapours are carried up on High, and then let fall in kindly and benign Showers to refresh the Earth, and fo circulate in a very beneficial and wonderful Manner; if Corn, and all the Fruits of the Earth, have in them what is proper to nourish, strengthen, and refresh the Bodies of Animals, to gratify their Appetites, to continue and add an Agreeablenefs to their Lives and if thefe Fruits, all in their proper Season, may be fo cultivated, as to offer Themfelves, in a regular yearly Course, to the Neceffities and Conveniencies, of Man : If the Air be fuch as he can live and breath in, adapted to his Lungs, and the Frame of his Body,

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Body; all this is owing to the Government SE R M. of Almighty God; his original and firft Decree xx. by which He confined all Things to the Places they are now in, and fixed them in their sent Relations and Proportions to one another; and particularly, to his planting the Sun, that immenfe Collection of Light and Heat, exactly where it might be most fubfervient to the Wants of that Part of his Creation to which He first ordained it to belong. All is owing to his Wisdom, who at firft faid, Let there be Light, Let the Earth bring forth her Increase; and who by his firft. Commands conftituted the Nature, the Properties, the Place, and the diftinct Office, of every Work of his Hands. These, and the like numberless Appearances, regular and orderly, are great and manifest Instances of the Providence, or Government, of God; and therefore may be faid to be implied in that Expreffion, The Lord reigneth; and are not only so many wonderful and agreeable Appearances, but, undeniable Demonstrations, that a most knowing, and powerful, and merciful Being prefides, and has always prefided and ruled, in the Universe.

But then, we muft obferve farther, that this God not only first conftituted all Things, what they are in their Nature, and allotted them their feveral Places, and affigned them E e

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SER M. their several Offices; but that He has reserved, in his own Hands, the Reins, to moderate and manage them as he fees fit: That He is not fo tied up to the ordinary Methods and Causes which he has established, but that He fometimes interpofes, and interrupts them, upon great and remarkable Occafions; and fhews that He can make the ordinary Courfe of Things yield to his great Defigns. Particularly, when He has a Religion to propagate in the World; a chofen People to deliver; a Nation to destroy; a false Religion to shame and confound; He reigns over Nature: and, as He is the God of it, He feems to go out of the ordinary Course He himself once fettled, to make the World of rational Creatures attend, and to raise their Thoughts towards Him, their Father and King. And this alfo may be supposed to be implied in the Government of God, as it respects the material and irrational Part of the World.

Let us now confider it, as it respects the rational and understanding Part of the Creation. And here it is plain, That, when he first endowed any Beings with Understanding, and a Faculty of Knowledge fuperior to other Animals; and gave them, by this Means, a Power of answering the higher Ends of his creating fuch Beings; of adorning the Station in which

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He should place them; and of imitating Him, SER M. whofe Existence and Providence They could xx. not but plainly discover: That, I fay, this very adorning Them with thefe Powers, and noble Qualifications, was one Inftance of his Government; and so was the placing them, Every One, in his proper Sphere of Action. And because all his Creatures, of the most excellent Sort, are of finite Understandings, and of limited Powers; and particularly, because many of these intelligent Beings, not only Men, but, as it is reprefented to us in the Holy Scriptures, Angels, or Beings of an higher Rank, have left their per Stations; and, inftead of carrying forward the Beauty of the Whole, and making themfelves fubfervient to the Designs of God, seem to have made it their Business to refift those Defigns; to interpofe in the Midst of his Government; to fcatter Wickednefs wherever they can; and by that to bring Disorder, and Mischief, and Confufion, into the World, by all the Arts and Methods they are Masters of; and even infolently to oppose his Purpofes, as far as They can: Therefore, it is a most agreeable Obfervation, That Almighty God can never be fuppofed to leave the World to the Management of these Beings of an inferior Rank; but to interpofe himself, either immediately, or by the faithful Ministers of

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SER M. his Will and Pleafure, to fhew that Power beXX. longs unto him; and that, though He has given

fome Measure of Understanding to inferiour Beings, yet he has not given them the Government of the World; nor put into their Hands the Disposal of the Fortunes of any of their Fellow-creatures.

He may permit wicked Spirits, and wicked Men, to plot, and contrive, and lay down their Schemes to Themselves, by which they hope to do Mischief in the World: He may permit them to go on in those wicked Thoughts, which their own evil and corrupted Natures fuggeft to them. But, whether they shall accomplish them, and bring them to Effect; whether they fhall fucceed, or be disappointed; is referved to Him, and remains in his Breast only. He often laughs at their wretched Contrivances, and has them in Derifion, and overthrows their whole Projects; and with one Nod, controlls their Malice, and checks their Designs. He often infatuates their Counfels; breaths Folly and Inconfiftency upon their Debates, and apparent Imprudence into all their Measures. And then, They work themselves into Ruine, and take the most effectual Courfe to bring on the Deftruction of their own main Purposes. He often permits their abominable Designs to come to the End which They themselves wish

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