and the free and immutable counsel of his own will f, to the praise of the glory of his wifdom, power, juftice, goodness, and mercy g.

II. Although, in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the first cause, all things come to paf immutably and infallibly b: yet, by the same providence, he ordereth them to fall out, according to the nature of the second causes, either. necessarily, freely, or contingently i. III. God

correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know? v. 11. The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity,

ƒ Eph. i. 14. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predeftinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, Pfalm xxxiii. 10. The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect. v. 11. The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.

g Haiah Ixiii. 14. As a beast goeth down into the valley, the fpirit of the Lord caufed him to reft; so didst thou lead thy people, to make thy. Self a glorious name. Eph. iii. 10. To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places, might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. Rom. ix. 17. For the scripture faith unto Pharaoh, Even for this fam: purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, ad that my name might be declard If throughout all the earth. Gen. v 7. And God fent me before you't preserve you a posterity in the e't and to fave your lives by a gre liverance. Pfal, cxlv. 7. The abundantly utter the memoryofly monohy great goodness, and shall fino righteousnesss

II. h Aasii. 2. Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowlede of God, ye have taken, and by vicked hands have crucified and fla.

i Gen. viii. 2. While the earth remaineth, fel-time and harvest, and cold and eat, and summer and winter, and cy and night, shall not cease. Jer. xxi. 35. Thus faith the Lord, wich giveth the fun for a light by ty, and the ordinances of the me and of the stars for a light byght, which divideth the fea, whe the waves thereof roar; the Lord hofts is his name. Exod. And if a man lie not in xxi. 3

wait, ド
handhen I will appoint thee a
place hither he shall fice, With
Deusix. 5. As when a main goeth
intoe wood with his neighbour,

God deliver him into his

to

w wood, and his hand fetch et stroke with the ax to cut down tree, and the head flippeth from helve, and lighteth upon his ighbour that he die; he shall fiee to one of those cities, and live. Kings xxii. 28. And Micaiah faid, thou return at all in peace, the Lord hath not spoken by me. And he faid, Hearken, O people, every one of you. v. 34. And a certain man drew a venture, and

bow at a

smote the King of Ifrael between the joints of the harness: wherefore he laid unto the driver of his chariot,

is

Turn

III. God in his ordinary providence maketh use of means, t, yet is free to work without 1, above m, and against them at his pleasure n.

IV. The Alnighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God, fo far manifest themselves in his providence, that it extendeth itself even to the firit fall, and all other

Turn thine hand, and carry me out of the hoft, for lam wounded. Ifa. x. 6. I will fend lim against an hypocritical nation and against the people of my wrat will I give him a charge to take te spoil, and to take the prey, and o tread them down like the mireof the streets. v. 7. Howbeit, he naneth not so, neither doth his hearthink so, but it is in his heart to deroy, and cut off nations not a few.

III. k Acts xxvii. 31 Paul said to the centurion, and to t soldiers, Except these abide in ship, ye cannot be saved. v. 44. And the rest, some on boards, ancome on broken pieces of the ship: nd so it came to pass that they efsed all safe to land. Ifaiah Iv. 10For as the rain cometh down, and ti fuow from heaven, and returneth nothither, but watereth the earthand maketh it bring forth and bud,hat it may give feed to the fower, nd

fins

cy upon the house of Juda, and will save them by the Lord their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by fword, nor by battle, by horfes, nor by horse-men. Mat. iv. 4. But he answered and said, it is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Job xxxiv. 10. Therefore hearken unto me, ye men of understanding: far be it from God, that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity.

m Rom. iv. 19. And being not weak in faith, he confidered not his. own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb. v.. 20. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God: v. 21. And being fully perfuaded, that what he had promifed he was yable alfo to perform.

bread to the eater. v. 11. So shal word be that goeth forth out of n 2 Kings vi. 6. And the man of mouth: It shall not return unton God faid, Where fell it? And he void, but it shall accomplish tha bewed him the place. And he cut which I please, and it shall profpes town a stick, and caft it in thither, in the thing whereto I fent it. Hof. and the iron did fwim. Dan. iii. ii. 21. And it shall come to pass in w. And the princes, governors and that day, I will hear faith the Lord, stains, and the king's counsellors I will hear the heavens, and they ng gathered together, saw these

shall hear the earth. v. 22. And

the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and they shall hear Jezreel.

/ Hof. i. 7. But I will have mer

upon whose bodies the fire had nower, nor was an hair of their he hafinged, neither were their coats ched, nor the smell of fire had palupon them.

fins of angels and meno, and that not by a bare permission p, but such as hath joined with it a most wife and powerful bounding q, and otherwife ordering, and governing of them, in a manifold difpenfation, to his own holy ends r; yet so, as the finful

fmfulness thereof proceedeth only from the creature, and not from God, who, being most holy and righteous, neither is nor can be the author or approver of fin f

V. The most wise, righteous and gracious God doth oftentimes leave for a season his own children to manifold teinptations, and the corruptions of their own hearts, to chastise them for their former sins, or to discover unto them the hidden strength of corruption, and deceitfulness of their hearts, that they may be humbled t; and to raise them to a more close and constant dependance for their support upon himself, and to make them more watchful against all future occafions of fin, and for fundry other just and holy ends v.

tread them down like the mire of the Areets. v. 7. Howbeit, he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so, but it is in his heart to destroy, and cut of nations not a few. v. 12. Wherefore it sha'l come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion, and on Jerufalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Affyria, and the glory of his high looks.

James i. 13. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. v. 14. But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own luft, and enticed. v. 17. Every good gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. I John ii. 16. For all that is in the world, the luft of the flesh, and the left of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. Pfalm 1. 21. These things haft thou done, and I kept filence: thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will

VI. As

reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.

V. t 2 Chr. xxxii. 25. But Hezekiah rendered not again, according to the benefit done unto him: for his heart was lifted up; therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerufalem. v. 26. Notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart (both he and the inhabitants of Jerufalem) so that the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah. v. 23. Howbeit, in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who fent unto him to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart. xxiv. 1. And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Ifrael, and he moved David against them to say, Go number Ifrael and Judah.

VI. As for those wicked and ungodly men, whom God as a righteous judge, for former sins, doth blind and harden w, from them he not only withholdeth his grace, whereby they might have been enlightened in their understandings, and wrought upon in their hearts x; but sometimes also withdraweth the gifts which they had y, and exposeth them to fuch objects as their corruption makes occafion of fin z; and withal, gives them over