JOHN V. 17. My Father worketh hitherto, and 1 Hat is, altho' he refted upon the Seventh Day from the Works of Creation, yet he is ftill working continually, and doing good every Day. I. What Work doth he Work? He preferves, infpects, governs, and dif pofeth all Things. 1. He preferveth all Things. 1. That he does fo, appears, 1. From Scripture, Neb. ix. 6. Heb. i. 3. Acts xvii, 25, 28. 2. From Reafon. 1. He is the firft Caufe of all Things, now as well as he was at firft, and therefore all other Caufes and Things must need depend upon him. 2. As great Power is required to our Prefervation as was at firft to the Creation of all Things; for Prefervatio nihil aliud eft quam continuata Creatio. Again, No finite Power can preserve all Things, for it self, being but a Creature, needs Prefervation. An independent Creature is a Contradiction. Hence fhould not God fupport us in our Beings, we fhould fall down to nothing, Fob vi. 9. Creatoris omnipotentia eft caufa fubfiftendi omni creatura: quæ virtus fi ab iis que condidit regendis aliquando ceffaret, fimul omnium rerum Species & natura concideret. Aug. II. How II. How doth God preferve all Things? 1. Immediately from himfelf: As the Angels, Sun, and fixed Stars, Apoc. iv. 11. Kai da' To nad by dainting. 2. Mediately, as all other Creatures in Heaven and Earth, by fecondary Caufes, who with himfelf concurs. Which he preferves thus; partly, 1. By Propagation of the Kind or Species, whereby all Creatures, even of the fhorteft Continuance, fucceffively are preferved to the End of the World, Gen. vii. 3 Pfal. xxxvi. 6. 2. By Continuation and maintaining of Individuals. 1. Giving them fuch Food as he hath appointed for their Nourishment and Subfiftence, Pfal. civ. 27, 28, 29, 30. Pfal. cxlv. 15, 16. Pfal. cxlvii. 8, 9. Matt. xxvi, 16. 2. Giving a Bleffing to it; that fo it may preferve them, Matt. iv. 4. Deut. viii. 3, 4. Dan. i. 12, 13, 15. 1 Reg, xix. 6,7, 8. Mark vi. 38, 42. Hof. ii. 21, 22. 3. He infpects, takes notice of, and obferves every Thing that is done, or that is in the World. 1. All Things whatsoever, whether in Heaven or in Earth. He knows all the Stars,Pfal. cxlvii. 4. Isa. xl. 26. The Number of the Sands; the Weight of all the Mountains, Ifa. xl. 12. The Hairs of every Man's Head, Matt. x. 38. A&ts xxvii. 34. 2. He takes particular Notice of every Thing that is done by Mankind, Pfal. xiv. 2. Pfal. xxxiii. 13, 14, 15. Particularly he takes fpecial Notice of, 1. Your Thoughts and Imaginations, all and every one of them, Gen. vi. 5. Jer. iv. 14. Pfal. cxxxix. 2. and therefore he inspects all your Purposes, Defigns, and Opinions. 2. Your Hearts and Affections, Prov. xxiv. 12. c. xxi. 2. Defires, Ezek. xxxiii. 31. Love, John v. 42. John xxi. 17. 3. Your Words, Pfal. cxxxix. 4. Matt. xii. 36. 4. Your Actions, Pfal. cxxxix. 2, 3, 4. Apoc. ii. 2, 9: 5. Hence he takes fpecial Notice of all and every Sin you commit, Pfal. Ivi. 8. Pfal. 1. 17, 18, 21. Apoc. ii. 14. 2 Reg. v. 26. 6. Your Repentance of them, fo as to count the very Tears you fhed for them;Pfal. lvi. 8. Fer. viii. 6. 7. Your good Works, Gen.xviii. 19. Ifa. xxxviii. 3. Matt. XXV. 34. Apoc. xiv. 13. III. He rules and governs all Things; fo that there is nothing falls out in the World, without his Will and Pleasure, either effecting, or elfe permitting it. 1. Not only the greateft and nobleft Parts of the Creation, but the leaft, the vileft, the moft defpicable Things that be, are fubject to his Will, and wholly governed by his Providence; The young Ravens, Pfal. cxlvii. 9. It It was an Heathen, Cicero, that faid, Dii magna curant, parva negligunt. A Chriftian muft believe, that God takes Care of the one as well as the other: For he created all. But doth God take Care for Oxen? 1 Cor. ix. 9. Yes. Where St. Paul only faith, that the Law, Deut. XXV. 4. is fo to be understood, that it ought to mind us of our Duty to all fuch whofe Ministry we use, especially the Minifters of the Gofpel. If of Oxen, much more of Men, much more of his own Ministers. 2. All natural Things too. It is he that caufeth the Sun to rife, and the Rain to come down, Matt. v. 45. That causeth the Grafs to grow, Pfal. cxlvii. 8.; Pfal. civ. 13, 14, 15. That caufeth the Snow, Hail, Thunder, Winds, and every Thing in the Air, Pfal. cxlvii. 16, 17. Jer. x. 13. Job xxxvii. 10, 11, 12. That maketh the Ground fruitful, Deut. xi. 12.' That gives both Hearing and Deafness, Sight and Blindness, Exod. iv. II. That giveth Children or with-holdeth them, that encreaseth Families or diminisheth them, as he fees good, Gen. XXX. 2. Deut. X. 22. 3. All fuch Things as are contingent and accidental in refpect of us, are yet ordered and governed by God, even Lots themselves, Prov. xvi. 33. So Achan, Joshua vii. 16, 17, 18. Jonathan, 1 Sam. xiv. 41, 42r Matthias, Acts i. 24, 26. Hopbni and Phineas, tho' flain in Battel, 1 Sam. iv. 11. yet are faid to be flain by the Lord, I Sam. ii, 25. A Man A Man drew a Bow at a venture, and flew Abak, 1 Reg. xxii. 34. yet it was from the Lord, as Michaiab the Prophet faw, ver. 17. 28. So if a Man kill another by Chance-medley, it is of the Lord, Exod. xxi. 13. Deut. xix. 4, 5. 4. All voluntary Things too, even fuch as are done by the Choice and Confent, and Freewill of Men, is ftill governed by God; who inclines and bends our Hearts as he fees good, tho' ftill fo that we act freely of our felves too, Prov. xxi. 1. Pfal. cxix. 36. 1 Reg. viii. 58. A&ts xvi. 14. 2 Sam. xvii. 14 USE. 1. Acknowledge God in every Thing that happens in the World, Jac, iv. 13, 14. Proverbs iii. 6. 2. Pray to him alone for all true Grace and Virtue, as to the only Fountain of it; and depend upon him alone for it. Queft. If God thus governs the World, how comès it to pafs that there is so much Sin and Wickedness in it? 1. God, if he would, could have fo ordered it, that no Sin fhould ever have been committed; for he could have prevented it at firft, or can ftill do it, or annihilate all Sinners, that they fhall never fin more. 2. Though he permits Sin, he is not the Cause or Author of it, Fac. i. 13, 14. That is Blafphemy, yea, a Contradiction. 3. Though |