the same prison where the apostle Paul was, by whom he was begotten in hi bonds, through the ministry of the gospel to him, Philem. 10. And as the gospel is the ordinary means of conversion, how providentially are some persons brought under it, and converted by it, led by curiosity to hear it, or with a malignant spirit to scoff at it, oppose and persecute it; and ministers, how providentially are they directed to insist on such a subject, to say such things, and drop such expressions, and which, perhaps, they thought not of before, which, accompanied with a divine power, issue in conversion. Thus Austin, losing his subject, and digressing from it, fell upon the error of the Manichees, which proved the conversion of a great man of that heresy; and at most, ministers draw the bow at a venture; it is divine providence, in a gracious manner, directs the arrow of the word to the sinner's heart, where, through the power of divine grace, it does execution.

3. After conversion the providence of God appears, as well as before, in preserving his people from many evils and dangers; angels are ministering spirits to them, have the charge of them, encompass about them, and protect them, Psal. xci. 11. in providing for their temporal good, so that they shall want no good thing fitting and convenient for them; rather than they shall suffer want God will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the vallies. In directing them in all their ways; to take such steps as will be most for their good and the glory of God, Psal. xxxvii. 23. and in delivering them out of their afflictions, and causing all things to work together for their good; and in being their God and guide even unto death, Rom. viii. 28.

IV. The providence of God is concerned in all actions; in every thing that is done in the world, from the beginning to the end of it. God is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed, 1. Sam. ii. 3. not only are they known, considered and examined by him, but he has some way or other, or in some sense or another, a concern in them; all action is from motion, and all motion comes originally from the first Mover, who is God, in whom we live, and move, and have our being, Acts xvii. 28.

1. All natural actions, which are common or peculiar to every creature, as flying to the fowls of the air, swimming to fishes, walking to men and beasts; all muscular motion is of God; and is continued by his providence; by which we can move from place to place, rise, walk, run, &c. cat and drink, and do every action, and the several businesses of life.

2. All necessary actions; such as either arise from the necessity of nature, or are so by the ordination and appointment of God. Some are so by the necessity of nature; as waters naturally and necessarily descend and flow; and fire naturally and necessarily burns what is combustible, when put to it; and heavy things descend, and light things ascend; they necessarily move and act according to their nature, which is preserved in them by the providence of God; and that they are under the direction of providence, is clear, because

they are sometimes controuled by it: so the waters rose up and stood on an heap in the Red sea, and the river of Jordan, and made dry land for the Israelites to pass through. The nature of fire was so restrained in Nebuchadnezzar's furnace, that it did not so much as singe nor scent the cloaths of the three companions of Daniel, cast into it. There are other things that are necessary by the appointment of God, or must be, because he has appointed them; and, indeed, every thing is necessary in this sense, because he has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass; so for instance, the sufferings of Christ being by the determinate counsel of God, were necessary; hence those phrases, ought not Christ to suffer; the Son of man must suffer many things; so likewise offences must come, and heresies must be; they were necessary, by a necessity of immutability; that is, they must and do unchangeably come to pass in providence; but not by a necessity of coaction, or force, on those that are the authors of them, who do what they do most freely: as the crucifiers of Christ; men could not act more freely than they did; and as those by whom offences come, they give them freely, and are pleased when they are taken. Heretics form their corrupt schemes of doctrine with their whole hearts and will, and freely spread them; so that the divine determination, and providential bringing about of necessary actions, are consistent with the liberty of man's will. Hence,

3. All free and voluntary actions, which depend upon the free will of man are under the direction of the providence of God. The thoughts, purposes, schemes and determinations of the will of men, than which nothing is more free; yet these are under the influence of divine providence; A man's heart deviseth his way; forms schemes, which he purposes to execute: settles the method of the execution of them, according to his will; and chooses the way he proposes to walk in; But the Lord directeth his steps, and guides him in providence to take a quite different course; The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue are from the Lord; the thoughts of the heart, by which a man is prepared to speak his mind, are under a divine influence; as free as thought is, it is not exempt from the providence of God, which both directs and overrules it; and the answer the tongue is thereby prepared to give, is under the same influence and restraint; Balaam would willingly have given an answer to the wishes of Balak, in order to have got his money, but could not when he had devised what to say, and was just ready to open his mouth to curse Israel, God put another word into his mouth; and instead of cursing, he blessed Israel. What more free and arbitrary than the heart, mind, and will of a sovereign despotic prince; yet the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water, he turneth it whithersoever he will; as resolute and determined as it may be, it is in the hand of God; and it is in his power to turn it as easily as canals of water may be cut by a gardener to water his garden; or as the river Euphrates was cut by Cyrus, and its course diverted, and its waters drained; so that he could march his army into the midst of Babylon, through which So the cabinet-councils of princes in which they consult, debate, and

it ran.

speak their minds freely, are all overruled by the providence of God, to answer his own purposes;

4. All contingent actions, or such as are called chance-matters, these fall under the divine providence. What may seem more a contingency, or matter of chance, than the shooting of a bird flying, and fetching it to the ground? when the bow is drawn, or the piece presented and levelled, how uncertain is it whether it hits the bird or no? And yet One sparrow shall not fall on the ground, that is, be shot and drop on the ground, without your Father; without his knowledge, will, and providence, Matt. x. 29. and what is more contingent than the killing of a man unawares, as it is described, Deut. xix. 4, 5. and yet the providence of God is so far concerned in such an affair, that God is said to deliver such a man into the hand of his neighbour, Exod. xxi. 13. What we call accidental death, is providential: what can be thought more a chancematter than the casting of a lot, how it will issue? and yet the issue, which is of God, is certain; The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord, Prov. xvi. 33. The first lot mentioned in scripture is that which was cast on the account of Achan, who had stolen a Babylonish garment, and a wedge of Gold; to find out which, Joshua had recourse to a lot; this was cast first for the tribe the guilty person belonged to, and it fell on the tribe of Judah; then for the family of it, and it fell on the family of the Zarhites; and next for the houshold, and it fell upon the houshold of Zabdi; and then for the person, and it fell upon Achan; and in the whole process, how remarkable is the providence of God, which directed to the tribe, to the family, to the houshold, and to the guilty person; for that he was so, is certain from his own confession, Josh. vii. 16—20. The next lot was that which was cast for the division of the land of Canaan to the tribes of Israel; and which fell exactly agreeable to the prophecies of Jacob and Moses: thus for instance, it is suggested in both of them, that the tribe of Zebulun should have its situation by the sea, Gen. xlix. 13. Deut. xxxiii. 19. and by lot this situation was assigned unto it, Josh. xix. 11. The third lot we tead of was that cast by Saul, to find out the person that had sinned, on whose account no answer was returned by the Lord to an enquiry made; and Saul desired a perfect lot might be given between the people, and him and Jonathan; it was cast, and the people escaped; it was cast again and it fell on Jonathan, who had tasted honey that day, contrary to the charge and oath of Saul, 1 Sam. xiv. 40-43. Once more, Jonah fleeing from the presence of the Lord, took shipping at Joppa, for Tarshish, when a tempest arose and endangered the ship, and frighted the mariners, who supposed it was for some evil done by some among them, and therefore cast lots to find out the person, and the lot fell on Jonah. Now how careful and just was this disposition made in providence, that it might not fall upon any of the innocent mariners, but upon the guilty person; and for whom God in his providence had provided a fish to swallow him, when cast into the sea, Jonah i. 7-17.

v. All actions and things done in the world and among men, whether good

or evil, are under the direction of providence; or that is some way or other concerned in them.

Good actions. Those are of God, the fountain of all goodness; there is no good thing in fallen man naturally, and therefore no good thing comes out of him, nor is any good thing done by him; and without the grace of God, he can do nothing of that kind; neither think a good thought, nor do a good action, an action that is spiritually good; in this God is concerned; this is one branch of his gracious dealings in providence with men: and he does not only uphold them in their beings, whilst they are doing good; for this he does to wicked men, whilst they are doing evil things; nor does he only give them a law, which shews them that which is good, what is to be done, and what to be avoided, and what is the perfect and acceptable will of God; to love God and their neighbour; to do nothing injurious to the glory of the one, and the good of the other: nor does he barely make use of moral suasion by his ministers, to persuade with arguments taken from fear or love, from loss or profit, to avoid evil and do good, 2 Cor. v. 11. But God works efficaciously in the hearts to attend to the word spoken to them; he bends their wills, and inclines their hearts to that which is good, and gives them power and grace to effect it; he circumcises their hearts to love him, the Lord their God; he creates them anew in Christ, that they may be capable of performing good works; for though without him they can do nothing, yet through him strengthening them, they can do all things; he puts his Spirit within them, to enable them to walk in his statutes, and to keep his judgments and do them. But of this more, when we come to treat of the doctrine of efficacious Grace.

There are many evil things done in the world, in which the providence of God is concerned; and these are of two sorts, the evil of calamities, distress and afflictions, and the evil of sin.

vate.

1. The evils of calamities, &c. and these are either more public or more priMore public; such are the calamities and distresses on nations and kingdoms, and bodies of men, and which are never without the providence of God; I make peace and create evil; I the Lord do all these things, Isai. xlv. 7. when peace obtains and continues in state and kingdoms, it is God that makes peace in their borders; this is a blessing of his providence; and the evil which is set in contrast with it, said to be of his creating, is war, and this and all the calamities and distress that attend and follow it, are by the providence of God. In this sense are we to understand the prophets when he says, Shall there be evil in the city, and the Lord hath not done it? Amos iii. 6. he means any public calamity, affliction and distress; even cities themselves come to destruction and their memorial perishes with them: where is now Thebes with its hundred gates, and Babylon with its broad walls, and the famous Persepolis, and Jerusalem the joy of the whole earth? it cannot be thought that these cities came to destruction without the concern of providence therein: yea, where are the famous monarchies which made such a figure in the world, the Babylonian,

Persian, Grecian and Roman, of which the latter only has a name, and that is all? the fall of these, according to divine prediction, has been accomplished by divine providence. Under this head may be observed the judgments of God in the world, as the sword, famine, pestilence, earthquakes, &c. when the sword is drawn, it is God that gives it a charge, and appoints it against such a state and kingdom; and it cannot be sheathed again, and be at rest and quiet, until he gives a counter order in providence, Jer. xlvii. 6, 7. famine is one of God's arrows shot out of the bow of providence; wherever it is, it is of his calling for and sending, Amos iv. 6. Hag. i. 11. and pestilence is another of his arrows, an arrow which flies by day and walks in darkness, and wastes at noon-day by his order; concerning which he says, I will send or I have sent the pestilence among them, Jer. xxix. 17. Amos iv. 10. and who has foretold there shall be earthquakes in divers places, as have been in our times as well as others, and cannot be thought to be without the providence of God, Matt. xxiv. 7. There are、 other calamities and afflictions which are of a more private nature, and are either inflicted on wicked men by way of punishment for sin; Wherefore should a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? Lam. iii. 39. or they are inflicted on good men in love, and as fatherly corrections and chastizements; for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son that he receiveth, Heb. xii. 6. the affliction of good men is made an objection, though not justly, against the providence of God: this was the grand objection of Epicurus and his followers to divine providence, the only persons among the heathens that objected to it; because they observed that wicked men for the most part prosperous, and good men, or virtuous men, as they called them, were generally afflicted and distressed; and therefore they could not believe that God concerned himself with human affairs; and this has been a stumbling to good men, which they know not how well to reconcile to the justice of God, as it was to Asaph and Jeremiah, Psal. lxxiii. 2—14. Jer. xii. 1, 2. But it should be observed, that wicked men, though they prosper and abound in riches, and are not seemingly in trouble as other men, yet they are not so happy as they may be thought to be; for as our Lord says, A man's life, that is, the happiness of it, consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth, Luke xii. 15. Some have much, and have not a power to make use of it, either for their own comfort or the good of others; and where is the difference, than between having and not having it? others on the contrary are profuse and extravagant, and live very luxurious and debauched lives, and bring upon themselves painful or nauseous diseases, and distress of mind: so that they have neither ease of body nor peace of conscience, but racking pain and dreadful remorses; some, their abundance will not suffer them to sleep, either through fear of losing what they have by thieves, &c. or through care, contriving schemes to increase it; and some, envy seizes them and gnaws upon them, and they cannot enjoy themselves because a neighbour exceeds them in grandeur and wealth, It should be also observed that a good man, though afflicted, is not so unhappy