Gods, who lived at a great Distance from them, and knew nothing concerning them.

And in the fame Manner this is represented in Scripture, That wicked Men would not believe that God faw, or heard, or took any notice of what they did; 64. Pfalm 5. They encourage themselves in an evil matter, they commune of laying fnares fecretly; they fay, Who shall fee them? 10. Pfalm 11. He hath faid in his heart, God bath forgotten, be bideth his face, he will never fee it. 94. Pfalm 7, 8, 9, 10. Yet they fay, The Lord fhall not fee, neither fhall the God of Jacob regard it. Understand ye brutish among the People, and ye fools when will ye be wife? He that planted the ear, fhall be not hear? And be that formed the eye, shall be not fee? He that chastiseth the Heathen, shall not be correct? And he that teacheth man knowledge, fhall not be know? The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity. So that thefe Men took it for granted, That if God did fee, and hear, and know what was done in the World, he would reward Men accordingly. And therefore the Providence of God is defcribed in Scripture, by his feeing and obferving the Actions of Men, 31. Job 4. Doth not be fee my ways, and count all my steps? 23 Pfal. 18, 19. Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; that is, to protect them, and to do good to them; as it follows, to deliver their fout from death, and to keep them alive in famine. And therefore when good Men pray for Help and Succour, they only beg God to fee and take notice of their Condition; 1 Lam. 11. See, O Lord, and confider, for I am become vile. 64. Ifa. 9. Behold, fee, we beseech thee, we are all thy people, Thus in Hezekiah's Prayer, Incline thine ear, O Lord, and hear, open thine eyes, O Lord, and fee, and hear

all

all the Words of Senacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God. And therefore God's feeing is made an Argument that he will reward, or punish, 10. Pfalm 14. Thou hast seen it, for thou beboldeft mifchief and fpite, to requite it with thy hand. And indeed it is not to be imagined, that a holy and juft God, who fees and obferves all the Good and Evil that is done in the World, fhould not reward the Good, and punish the Wicked; for there is no other Holy and Juft Being in the World, that has Authority to Reward and Punish, but would certainly do it. And if the Proof of a Divine Providence be refolved into God's knowing what is done in the World, the Dispute will be foon ended; for those who believe that there is a God, and that he is an Infinite, Omniprefent Mind, cannot doubt whether he fees and knows all Things. As the Pfalmist elegantly expreffes it, 139. Pfalm 1,

13. O Lord, thou hast Searched me and known · me. Thou knowest my down-fitting, and my up-rifing, thou understandeft my thought afar off: Thou compaffest my path, and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knoweft it altogether. Thou haft befet me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon

me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, it is too bigb, I cannot attain unto it. Whither fhall I go from thy Spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy Prefence? If I afcend up into Heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in bell, behold thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the Sea, even there fhall thy band lead me, and thy right hand fhall hold me: If I fay, furely the darkness fhall cover me, even the night shall be light about me; yea, the darkness bideth not from thee, but the night Shineth as the day; the darkness and the light are both B 4

alike

alike to thee; for thou haft poffeffed my reins, thou haft covered me in my mother's womb. How is it poffible, that an Omniprefent Mind fhould be ignorant of any Thing, or that the Maker of the World fhould not be prefent with all his Creatures; or that being prefent, and seeing all their Actions, he fhould be an idle and unconcerned Spectator?

4thly, For I think in the next place, it is paft all difpute, that he who made the World cannot be unconcerned for his Creatures. He hath implanted in moft Creatures a natural Care of their Offspring; and it is made an Argument of want of Understanding in the Ostrich, That she leaveth ber Eggs in the Earth, and warmeth them in the duft, and forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild Beaft may break them. She is hardened against ber young ones, as if they were not bers: Her labour is in vain without fear, because God bath deprived her of wisdom, neither bath be imparted to ber understanding, 39. Job 15, 16, 17. And can we think then, that an an infinitely wife Being, fhould be as unconcerned for the World, as the Ostrich is for her Eggs?

It is certain the Maker of the World is no fluggifh unactive Being; for to make a World is a Work of infinite Wisdom and Counfel, of Divine Art and Power; and not only to give Being to that which was not, is it felf an Act of excellent Goodness, but there are fo many legible Characters of a Divine Bounty and Goodness ftamped upon all the Works of Nature, that we muft conclude, the World was made by an infintely good Being; and it is impoffible that a wife and good Being, who is a pure Act, and perfect Life, can caft off the Care of his Creatures. Befides the Laws of God and Men, natural Affection will not fuffer Men to forget their Children,

Children, and though God has no Superior, his own Nature is a Law to himself.

and

Epicurum verbis reli quifle Deos, re fuftuliffe,

This is fufficient to fhew, how neceffarily the Belief of a God infers a Providence therefore no Philofophers, excepting Epicurus and his Sect, who acknowledged a Deity, ever denied a Providence; and Tully tells us, that he retained the Name of a God, but deftroyed De Nat. Deor. 1. 2. his Being.

:

The Stoick in Tully concludes a Providence from the Acknowledgment of a God And therefore tells us, That Providence fignifies the Providence of God: And thofe Philofophers made no fcruple of calling God Providence and Fate, and the Power of an Eternal and Perpetual Law. For indeed Mankind had no other Notion of a God, than that he is an Excellent and Perfect Being, who made, and who governs the World. This is the Notion which the Philofophers, who acknowledged a Deity, defended against Epicurus, and other Atheifts; this is the Notion of a God, which Atheifts oppose, the God whom they

De Nat. Deor. 1. 2.

Quo conceffo confitendum eft eorum Confilio mundum adminiftrari.

Providentia præcisè dicitur pro Providentia Deorum. Ibid.

Chryfippus Legis perpetua & æterne vim, quæ quafi dux vitæ, & Miniftra Officiorum fit, Jovem dicit effe, eandemque fatalem neceffitatem. Ibid. l. 1.

Aliquam excellentem effe & præftantem naturam, quæ hæc feciffet, moveret, regeret, gubernaret. Ibid.

fear, an Eternal Lord, who obferves, and takes notice of every thing, and thinks himfelf concerned in all the Affairs of the World. And therefore the Difpute, Whether there be a God or no, principally refolves it felf into this, Whether this World, and all things in it, is made and governed by Wisdom and Counsel, or by Chance, and a blind material Neceffity and Fate: Which proves, that the very Notion of God includes a Providence; or elfe either to prove or to overthrow the Doctrine of Providence, would neither prove, nor overthrow the Being of a God.

This, I am fure, is very plain, That the fame Arguments which prove the Being of a God, prove a Providence: If the beauty, variety, ufefulness, and wife contrivance of the Works of Nature, prove that the World was at first made by a wife and powerful Being; the contrivance and prefervation of all things, the regular Motions of the Heavens, the uniform Prcductions of Nature, prove the World is upheld, directed, and governed by the fame Omnipotent Wisdom and Counfel. As St. Paul tells us, The invifible things of God from the creation of the world, are clearly feen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal Power and Godhead, 1. Rom. 20. Hús, his Dominion and Sovereignty, or his governing Providence; this vifible World does not only prove an Eternal Power which made it, but a Sovereign Lord, who adminifters all the Affairs of it. And And 14. Acts 17. He proves the Being of God from his Providence; Nevertheless he left not himself without witnefs, in that he did good, and gave us rain from beaven, and fruitful feafons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. And 17. Acts 28. He proves,

that