II. God, by a continued work of providence, upholds and governs all things which he created.
1. As he is infinitely more perfect than they, and hath brought them into existence, he hath an undoubted right, and all-sufficient fitness, to uphold and govern them. Having infinite knowledge to discern all their qualities and connections,
—infinite wisdom to conduct them to their proper ends,
—infinite power to uphold and manage them, notwithstanding all their strength, mischievousness, jarring passions, instincts, or immediate aims,— infinite holiness and equity to prevent culpable partiality or impropriety in his conduct
,—infinite patience to bear with offenders, while it can be for his glory and their good,
—and omnipresence, rendering him equally near to each of them, he cannot but be infinitely fit for this work.
2. His own perfections require him to uphold and govern all his creatures. His independency requires him to hold all things in perpetual and immediate dependence on himself. His wisdom requires him to make all his creatures answer the ends for which he formed them. His goodness requires him never to forsake the work of his hands. Even his equity forbids, that they should be brought into being, and then left to shift for themselves.
3. Their very nature obliges them to a constant dependence on God. They cannot subsist a moment without new support from his infinite power, wisdom, and goodness. And having formed them to be receivers from, not givers to him, his providence must supply them according to their necessities, as far as his own glory, the chief end of their creation, can permit.
4. The regular motions of the heavenly bodies,
—the regular ebbing and flowing of the sea,
—the regular returns of day and night, summer and winter, seedtime and harvest,
—the periodical retirements of many animals to places suitable to the season, their sagacity in defending or 178 providing for themselves, and in forming their lodgings, hatching or nourishing their young,
—the near approaches of those animals which are useful to mankind, and retirement of hurtful ones into woods and deserts, deep or distant places of the sea;
—the multiplication of the more useful animals, while noxious ones, which are naturally more prolific, are not suffered to abound;
—the astonishing variety observable in animals, vegetables, and other things, seemingly similar;
—the amazing diversification of men's faces, voices, tempers, and forms of writing, taken as connected with the order and safety promoted by it;—the constant proportion of men and women answerable to their circumstances;—the frequent counterplotting of man's most sagacious projects, and defeating his most forcible and promising attempts;—the many miraculous counteractions of the ordinary laws of nature;—and a thousand other like actions, irrefragably manifest a Divine Providence managing the world.
5. The exact correspondence of thousands, I had almost said of every event, relative to persons, families, or nations, and especially relative to Christ and his church, with the predictions of Scripture, plainly demonstrate, that God, the predicter, hath the upholding and government of all things in his own hand.
6. The Scriptures no less plainly declare that God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, by the agency of his own will, upholds and governs all his creatures, John 5:17; Heb 1:3; Col 1:17; Job 33:4; Ps 104:30; Dan 4:34-35; Rom 11:36; Eph 1:11; Rev 4:11; Isa 41:4; Isa 45:5-6; Isa 46:4,10-13; Job 37:6; Job 12:9; Job 38-41; Ps 8-9; Ps 19:1-6; Ps 48; Ps 65-66; Ps 68; Ps 78; Ps 103-107; Ps 114; Ps 135-136; Ps 145-148; Ezek 9; Ezek 20; etc.
1. As he is infinitely more perfect than they, and hath brought them into existence, he hath an undoubted right, and all-sufficient fitness, to uphold and govern them. Having infinite knowledge to discern all their qualities and connections,
—infinite wisdom to conduct them to their proper ends,
—infinite power to uphold and manage them, notwithstanding all their strength, mischievousness, jarring passions, instincts, or immediate aims,— infinite holiness and equity to prevent culpable partiality or impropriety in his conduct
,—infinite patience to bear with offenders, while it can be for his glory and their good,
—and omnipresence, rendering him equally near to each of them, he cannot but be infinitely fit for this work.
2. His own perfections require him to uphold and govern all his creatures. His independency requires him to hold all things in perpetual and immediate dependence on himself. His wisdom requires him to make all his creatures answer the ends for which he formed them. His goodness requires him never to forsake the work of his hands. Even his equity forbids, that they should be brought into being, and then left to shift for themselves.
3. Their very nature obliges them to a constant dependence on God. They cannot subsist a moment without new support from his infinite power, wisdom, and goodness. And having formed them to be receivers from, not givers to him, his providence must supply them according to their necessities, as far as his own glory, the chief end of their creation, can permit.
4. The regular motions of the heavenly bodies,
—the regular ebbing and flowing of the sea,
—the regular returns of day and night, summer and winter, seedtime and harvest,
—the periodical retirements of many animals to places suitable to the season, their sagacity in defending or 178 providing for themselves, and in forming their lodgings, hatching or nourishing their young,
—the near approaches of those animals which are useful to mankind, and retirement of hurtful ones into woods and deserts, deep or distant places of the sea;
—the multiplication of the more useful animals, while noxious ones, which are naturally more prolific, are not suffered to abound;
—the astonishing variety observable in animals, vegetables, and other things, seemingly similar;
—the amazing diversification of men's faces, voices, tempers, and forms of writing, taken as connected with the order and safety promoted by it;—the constant proportion of men and women answerable to their circumstances;—the frequent counterplotting of man's most sagacious projects, and defeating his most forcible and promising attempts;—the many miraculous counteractions of the ordinary laws of nature;—and a thousand other like actions, irrefragably manifest a Divine Providence managing the world.
5. The exact correspondence of thousands, I had almost said of every event, relative to persons, families, or nations, and especially relative to Christ and his church, with the predictions of Scripture, plainly demonstrate, that God, the predicter, hath the upholding and government of all things in his own hand.
6. The Scriptures no less plainly declare that God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, by the agency of his own will, upholds and governs all his creatures, John 5:17; Heb 1:3; Col 1:17; Job 33:4; Ps 104:30; Dan 4:34-35; Rom 11:36; Eph 1:11; Rev 4:11; Isa 41:4; Isa 45:5-6; Isa 46:4,10-13; Job 37:6; Job 12:9; Job 38-41; Ps 8-9; Ps 19:1-6; Ps 48; Ps 65-66; Ps 68; Ps 78; Ps 103-107; Ps 114; Ps 135-136; Ps 145-148; Ezek 9; Ezek 20; etc.
