Vol. VII. Thirdly, and lastly, to apply this

Doctrine.

Ufe. First, If God be the first Caufe of all things, who did at first produce all Creatures, and does fince Preferve them and Govern them, and difpofeth of all their concernments, and orders all things that befal them, from hence let us learn,

1. With Humility and Thankfullness to own and acknowledge, and admire and blefs God as the Author and Original of our Being, as the Spring and Fountain of all the Bleffings and good things that we enjoy. If we do but confider what these words fignifie, that God is the firft Caufe of all things, we fhall fee great Reafon to own and acknowledge, to adore and praife him, and that with the greatest humility; because we have not given him any thing, but have received all

from

from him; he is the Caufe of all things, who did freely and of Vol. VIIhis own good will and pleasure communicate Beings to us, without any constraint or neceffity, but what his own goodness laid upon him, Rev. 4. 11. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power; for thou haft Created all things, and for thy pleaSure they are and were Created. We could not, before we were, deserve any thing from him, or move him by any Arguments, or importune him by intreaties to make us; but he freely gave us Being; and ever fince we depend upon him, and have been preferved by him, and cannot fubfift one moment without the continued influence of the Power and Goodness which firft called us out of nothing. He is the Author of all the good, and the Fountain of all thofe Bleffing, which for the prefent we enjoy, and for the future hope for.

When

Vol. VII.

When he made us at firft, he defigned us for Happinefs; and when we by our fin and wilful mafcarriage fell fhort of the Happiness which he defign'd us for, he fent his Son into the World for our recovery, and gave his life for the Ranfom of our Souls. He hath not only admitted us into a new Covenant, wherein he hath promised pardon, and eternal life to us; but he hath alfo purchased thefe Bleffings for us, by the most endearing price, the blood of his own Son,and hath faved us in fuch a manner as may justly aftonish us. Upon thefe Confiderations we fhould awaken our felves to the praife of God, and with the holy Pfalmift, call up our Spirits, and fummon all the Powers and Faculties of our Souls, to affist us in this Work,Pfal. 103. 1, 2, 3, 4. &c. Bless the Lord, O my Soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name; bless the Lord, O my Soul, and forget not all his benefits; who forgiveth all thy iniquities, who

healeth

healeth all thy difeafes, who redeemeth thy life from deftruction, who crowneth thee with loving kindness, and tender mercies; 'tis he that Satisfies our Souls with good things, and crowneth us with tender mercies, and loving hindness; that hath promifed Eternal Life and Happiness to us, and muft confer and bestow this upon us; Therefore our Souls and all that is within us fhould bless his holy name.

2. If God be the first Cause, that is, orders all things that-befall us, and by his Providence difpofeth of all our concernments, this fhould teach us with patience, and quietness, to fubmit to all Events, to all evils and afflictions, that come upon us, as being dif pofed by his wife Providence, and coming from him. We are apt to attribute all things to the next and immediate Agent, and to look no higher than Second Caufes; not confidering that all the motions of Natural Caufes are directly fubordinate to the firft Caufe, and

all

Vol. VII.

Ww

Vol. VII.

all the actions of free Creatures are under the Government of God's wife Providence, fo that nothing happens to us befides the defign and intention of God.

And methinks this is one particular Excellency of the ftyle of the Scripture above all other Books, that the conftant Phrase of the Sacred Dialect is to attribute all Events (excepting fins only) to God, fo that every one that reads it cannot but take notice, that it is wrote with a more attentive confideration of God than any other Book,, as appears by thofe frequent and exprefs acknowledgments of God as the Cause of all Events; fo that what in other Writers would be faid to be done by this or that Perfon, is afcribed to God. Therefore. it is fo often faid, that the Lord did this, and that, ftirr'd up fuch an Enemy, brought fuch a Judgment. And we fhall find that holy men in Scripture make excellent use of this confideration, to argue them. felves into patience and content

ednefs