Others argue against this Doctrine more impertinently, That if God had numbered our Days, and prefcrib'd our Life its Bounds, it is in vain to take fo much Pains, and make so much ado about our Bodies diftemper'd with Sicknefs; and that it is to little Purpofe to adminifter any Remedy to them, or to pray for the Recovery of their Health. In like manner, fuch may affirm, that it is to no purpose to eat or drink, and to hinder mad Perfons from cafting themselves down a Precipice, or from fwallowing Poyfon, because they shall live neither more nor less than God has ordain'd from all Eternity. This Objection may feem very plaufible at the firft, altho' it be most abfurd, and fo foolish, that it must needs proceed from great Ignorance or Malice. For it is not to be doubted, that when any one aims at an End, he defigns and fuppofes by Confequence to attain unto it, by the ordinary Means. For Example, God hath appointed in his eternal Council to preferve Jacob and his Family from that Famine which raged the Space of Seven Years: In order to that End he fends Jofeph into Egypt, to gather up Provifion the feven Years of Plenty. Ifaiab the Prophet had told Hezekiah from God, that he should live the Space of fifteen Years more; therefore he commanded him to apply to this Prince's Sores and Boils a Lump of dried Figs. God had promised to David that he fhould be King over the House of Ifrael; to confirm this Promife, he had been anointed with Oil, by the Prophet Samuel. This Promise don't hinder him from seeking the Means to preferve himself from Saul's unjuft Perfecution. And when Nathan tells him, that God had promifed to establish his Pofterity upon his Throne after him, this don't stop his Prayers, or cool his Devotion; on the contrary, it was that which quicken'd him the more, and inflamed his Soul with Love and Thankfulness to God; therefore he expreffeth himself in this manner, O Lord of Hofts, God of Ifrael, thou haft revealed to thy Servant, fayıng, I will build thee an Houfe, there

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fore bath thy Servant found in bis Heart to pray this Prayer unto thee, &c. 2 Sam. vii.

Our Lord Jefus Christ knew for certain all that should happen to him; nevertheless we find him spending the Days and Nights in Prayer; and when his Life was in danger, he neglected not the lawful and harmlefs Means. He told his Apoftles, Are not two Sparrows fold for a Farthing? and one of them shall not fall to the Ground without your Father; but the very Hairs of your Head are numbred. This Confideration hinders him not from commanding them, that when they are persecuted in one City, they fhould fly to another.

God had appointed to fave St. Paul's Life, and the Lives of all theCompany; therefore he reveal'd it to him by an Angel; nevertheless, when he faw the Mariners feek to escape, he told theCenturion, If these don't stay in the Ship, you cannot be faved, Acts xxvii. In fhort, the Means and Causes are subordinate to theEnd, in fuch Manner, that it is mere Folly and Extravagancy to of fer to divide them, or suppose them to be contrary.

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It is without Reason that some bring the History of King Afa against this undoubted Truth. They affirm, that this Prince was reproved for feeking to the Phyficians in his Sickness. These are the Words of the holy Scripture; Afa in the thirty ninth Year of bis Reign was difeafed in bis Feet, until his Difeafe was exceeding great; yet in bis Difeafe be fought not to the Lord, but to the Phyficians, 2 Chron. i. The Spirit of God blames not this Prince because he defired the Affiftance of Physicians, but because he neglected to feek Help of God, or to implore his Aid in the Day of his Distress. He that is fick may as freely take Phyfick, as he that is well may eat and drink, yet we must not altogether repose our Confidence and Trust upon the Remedies, but rather upon God, who fends both Sickness and Health, As Man doth not live by Bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the Mouth of God; fo it is not by the Phyfick alone that a Patient is cured of his Diftemper, but by the Bleffing and Power of him

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who gives the Wound, and binds it up; who ftrikes and heals when he pleafeth, Job v. Therefore as we ought never to eat or drink before we pray to God to vouchsafe his Bleffing upon our Meat and Drink, that he may grant to them the Virtue of recruiting the decayed Strength of our Bodies: Likewife we fhould never take any Phyfick, without lifting up our Hands to God for a Bleffing, that the Remedy may have the Strength to expel our Difeafe. All God's Creatures are good, when they are received with Thanksgiving, for they are fanctified by the Word of God, and by Prayer, 1 Tim. iv.

Take notice here how much fuch Perfons are to be blamed, who when they lament for the Lofs of their Friends or Kindred, instead of looking up to Heaven, look down upon Earth, and confider nothing but the exterior Cause of their Grief; instead of adoring, with all Humility, the wife Providence of God that difposes of all worldly Events, and appoints the meaneft Circumstances: They fret and murmur, they delight to nourish in their Minds Difpleasure, which confumes them; and break forth into many needless Complaints, which ferve but to open their Wounds, and to render them more miferable. If he had not been in fuch Place, if he had not been engaged in fuch a Way, if fuch a Physician had not been called, or if another had been fent; if this, or that had not been done, if this Phyfick had not been administered to him, if lefs or more Blood had been taken from him, if he had been fuffered to eat more Meat, or if lefs had been given, my Brother or my Sifter, my Wife, my Child, or my Hufband had been yet alive. It may be, thou art mistaken, Friend, the Disease could not be cur'd but by a Miracle; but when it should be otherwise, we must nevertheless lift up our Eyes to God, and acknowledge his Finger with all refpect: For ofttimes he blinds the Phyficians, fo that they cannot understand the Nature of the Disease, and fuffers them to apply Remedies contrary to the Distemper. As God threatens

threatens to take away the Staff of Bread, that is to fay, the nourishing Strength and Virtue of the Bread, Lev. xxvi. Likewife he takes away his Bleffing from the most sovereign Remedies, and renders them altogether ufelefs. It is thus with all the other Accidents that happen to us, and that bring us to our Graves. For when it pleaseth him to remove any Body out of the World, he suffers him to fhut his Eyes to all the Light of Reafon and Prudence, and to caft himself headlong into the most apparent Danger. As when he defigned to destroy Abfalom, and to cut him off, he caufed him to be led away by evil Counfel, and difappointed the difcreet and prudent Advice of Ahitophel. Therefore fince God hath appointed orfore ordain'd before Man's Creation, the Time and Manner of his Death; at what Hour, in what Place, and by what Means foever God calls away our Friends, or strikes at our Perfon, it is always our Duty to poffefs our Souls with Patience, and not to fuffer the leaft repining or defpairing Word to proceed out of our Mouths.

If Death fuddenly fnatch away thy deareft Children, or thy most intimate Friends, complain not of its Inhumanity. Remember that it puts in Execution the Decrees of God's everlasting Will, and that it carries with it a Commiffion fealed with the Signet of the living God. Adore therefore with all Humility the Supreme Monarch of Heaven and Earth, and fay to him as David, with a profound Submiffion, Lord, I held myTongue, and faid nothing, because it was thy doing, Pfal. xxxix.

I do not wish thee to have a Heart of Flint, without natural Affection. Piety and Religion are not barbarous, they deprive us not of our Bowels; the Affection that thou beareft thy Children is not difpleafing to the Father of Mercies, if it be but well governed, and do not exceed the natural Bounds. It is lawful for thee to be fenfible of thy Griefs, to weep for their Diftempers, and to pray for theRecovery of their Health. But when God hath difpofed of them, and received them into his eternal Reft, thou must stop

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all thy Sight, wipe all thy Tears, and fay, as David did after the Death of his beloved Child, We shall go to them, but they shall not come to us, 2 Sam. xiii.

Do they die of a violent Death? Stop not thy Confideration at the evil Blafts that have carried them away, but lift up thy Mind to the great God that draws these Winds out of his Treafuries; and being armed with a holy Conftancy, fay, with the patient Job, The Lord gave, and the Lord taketh away, bleffed be the Name of the Lord. I am but a weak Inftrument which God hath employ'd to put them into the World; but he is their King, their Father, their Creator; he is alfo their Saviour and Redeemer. Now it is both juft and reasonable that God fhould difpofe of his Subjects, of his Children, of his Workmanship, and of thofe whom he hath redeemed with his precious Blood.

The Master of a Family gathers at his Pleasure the Flowers and Fruits of his Garden; fometimes he cuts off the Buds, fometimes he suffers them to bloffom, fometimes he gathers the green Fruit, fometimes he ftays till it be ripe; and fhall not Almighty God have the Liberty to difpofe at his Will, of all that grows in his own Territories? The Mafter of the Family hath not created the Trees and Plants that are at his Command; but God hath made and fashioned with his Almighty Hand, all his Children, and all the Men in the World. Our Flowers wither and fpoil in a Moment, and our Fruits are foon rotten, and become unprofitable, notwithstanding all our Care and Skill to preferve them; but the Flowers that God cuts or pulls off, he tranfplants into his heavenly Garden, and gives them a perfect and divine Luftre and Glory, that never fades; and the greeneft Fruits that he gathers, he preferves for all Eternity in unspeakable Sweetnefs.

Doth this Death draw near to threaten thy Perfon, when it hath dispatch'd thy deareft Friends? Be not frighted at its Appearance; for it is not able to anticipate a Moment, the Hour appointed by the Wisdom

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