I need not repeat; and indeed he must be a very ignorant Man, who is not fenfible that there is a Knowledge which is too wonderful for him; which the Light of Nature cannot discover, and which God has not thought fit to reveal: And is it not reasonable in all fuch cases to say, That the Ways and Judgments of God are above our Knowledge; and to be contented to be ignorant of what we cannot know? This I am fure is the only Remedy that is left us, and the only way to rid our Minds of such perplexing Difficulties as are owing to our own unavoidable Ignorance of things.

This is fufficient to fhew you, That the Providence of God, not only as our Abfolute Lord, but as the Infinitely Wife Governor of the World, is and must be Unaccountable; and that this is a very reafonable Anfwer to the Difficulties of Providence; and the true Use of all is, not to ftrive with God, not to quarrel at his Providence, but to reverence his Unfearchable Judgments; to bear whatever he lays on us, with Patience and Submiffion, and to compose our Minds to a firm Truft and Dependance on him, in the most cross and threatning Events.

It is thought a great piece of Wit, to be able to ftart fome New Objections againft Provi. dence, and to find a great many faults in God's Government of the World: But befides the great Irreverence to God, did fuch Men believe a God, it is a certain proof of the most despicable Ignorance, That they are ignorant to fuch a degree, as not to know they are ignorant; for if they did, they would not dare to Judge and Cenfure Infinite Wisdom.

ФРИ СНАР.

CHAP. V

The Juftice and Righteoufnefs of Providence. Pa

THE

HE next Enquiry is, Concerning the Ju ftice of the Divine Providence. Justice and Righteoufnefs is effential to the Notion of a God, and therefore if God govern the World, he muft govern it Righteously: And this is the great and formidable Objection against Providence, That the World is not governed with Juftice and Righteoufnefs. And could this be evidently and convincingly proved, I would allow the Conclufion, That then God does not govern the World. But I challenge any Man, who understands what the Juftice of God's Government is, to charge the Divine Providence with any one plain and notorious Act of Injuftice; for the Truth is, the Ground of all these Objections, is an Ignorance of the Nature of God's Government, and of the Juftice of Providence; and when this is truly ftated, all fuch Objections will need no Anfwer.

Juftice is commonly divided into Commutative, and Diftributive Juftice: The first refpects Mens Rights and Properties; the fecond their Deserts; the firft confifts in giving every Man what is his own by fome Natural or Acquired Rights; the fecond confifts in Rewarding or Punishing Men, as the Nature and Quality of their Actions deferve. And upon both. these Accounts, fome Men impeach the Divine Providence.

1. Because it is too manifeft, that there is a great deal of Injuftice done in the World; that a great many Men are deprived of their Rights and Properties, by Fraud, Injustice, or open Violence; and therefore the World is not juftly and righteously governed; which they think, in the laft Iffue, muft reflect upon the Juftice and Righteousness of Providence, if God be the Supreme and Sovereign Lord of the World. zdly, That Rewards and Punishments are not justly and equally diftributed; that fome Bad Men are greatly rewarded, and fome Good Men greatly punished; which is not reconcilable with the Diftributive Juftice of Providence. Now the plaineft and fhorteft way of Anfwering these, and all fuch like Objections, is to confider, wherein the Juftice of Providence confifts; and what Juftice requires of God in the Government of this Lower World: For if God may govern the World very righteously, without doing what fome Men think Juftice requires him to do, and without hindring what they think Juftice requires him to hinder; this sa fufficient Vindication of the Justice of Providence, whatever other Objections they may make against it. And I fhall ftate this as plainy and briefly as I can.

1. Firft then, F fuppose I may take it for granted, That the Juftice of Providence does not confift in hindring all Acts of Injustice and Violence. There may be great' Violence and Injustice committed in the World, and yer God may govern the World with great Righteoufness: Which is no more than to fay, That Men may be very wicked and unjuft, and yet God be very juft. As for God's Permitting fo

much

much Evil to be committed, that is a greater Objection against the Holinefs, than against the Juftice of Providence, and fhall be particularly confidered under that Head; but the Juftice of Providence does not confift in hindring Men from Sinning, but in Punishing them when they do. Were it unjuft in God to fuffer Men to do any Injuftice, it would be but a very imperfect Kind of Juftice to punish them for it; for upon this Suppofition, the Juftice of punishing Sin, would be founded in the Inju ftice of permitting it; and God must be firft Unjuft in permitting Injuftice, before he can be Juft in punishing it. Which fhews how abfurd it would be, to charge the Providence of God with Injustice, because there are so many unjust Men, who do many unjuft Things.

2. For God may do that very juftly, which Men cannot do without great Injuftice; and therefore Men may be very unjust, and God very juft. As for Inftance: God may very justly take away any Man's Eftate, when no Man can do it without Injuftice: And the Cafe is the fame with refpect to Honour, and Power, and Life it felf; for God is the Supreme Lord and Proprietor of the World; we are all his, and all that we have is his. We may have a Right to our Lives and Liberties, Eftates, Honours, and Power, againff all Human Claims;; but we have no Right against God: He may give Riches, and Honours, and Power, to whom he pleafes, and take them away again when he fees fit, without being chargeable with any Injuftice For what he gives, and what he takes away, is his own; and may not he do what he will with his own?

There

There can be no Commutative Justice, in a ftrict and proper Senfe, where there is no Right but on one side; for he who has no Right, can fuffer no Wrong; and he in whom the whole Right is, can do no Wrong in giving, or taking away what is his own. And therefore Legal Rights and Properties, which are the Foundation of Commutative Juftice, can be no Objection against Providence; for no Creature has any Legal Property againft God. The Juftice of Providence does not relate to the Rights of Creatures, but to the Moral and Eternal Reasons of Things; it does not confift in Defending every Man in his Legal Rights, which is the Juftice of Human Governments; but in rewarding or punishing Men according as they deserve, or as may beft ferve the Wife Ends of God's Government in this World.

There feems to me to be no Occafion for that Difpute, de Jure Dei in Creaturas, what Right God has in Creatures; for there is no doubt but God has an Abfolute, Unlimited, Uncontroulable Right in all his Creatures; they, and all they have, are his, and at his Abfolute Difpofal; tho' it does not hence follow, that God may, without any Injuftice, make Creatures, on purpose to make them miferable: For tho' Creatures have no Natural Rights against God, yet the Juftice and Goodnefs of the Divine Nature, gives them a Moral Right to fuch Ufage as they fhall deferve. As for Inftance; That an Innocent Creature fhould not be miferable; and that those who deferve well, fhould not be ill used. But thefe Moral Rights concern Distributive Juftice, and refult from the Goodness and Juftice of the Divine Nature and Government, not from the Natural Rights of

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