and therefore hath made fuch Provifion, that, let what will come, all shall at last be to the Glory of his Goodness, and the Benefit of the World; but he did not order or decree whatfoever was to come to pafs. That which he decreed was, that, if Men did well improve thofe Talents he gave them, and ufed those Means he afforded them for being happy (of which Means Prayer is one, and a chief one), they should attain their End: If they did not, they should go without his Bleffing, and reap the Fruits of their Careleffnefs and Folly, in Mifery both here and hereafter. Taking now this to be the true State of the Matter, all the Difficulty, conceening the Needfulness or Efficacy of Prayer, or any other Means, doth perfectly vanish; for we fee from hence, that it is abfolutely neceffary, that we should pray, and ufe fuch other Means as GOD hath appointed; and, if we do use them, they will be available; if we do not, we fhall fuffer the Confequences of our Neglect.

But, in the Fourth and laft Place, fome would fay farther, That it is not fo doubtful a Matter, whether that Doctrine of GOD'S Decrees, as the Objection reprefents it, be true or no; for it is certain, that it is not true; For (fay they) how can that be true, which is attended with fuch a Train of Abfurdities and Blafphemy, as no Man of Senfe or Religion can poffibly own? If it be admitted, that God did from Eternity decree VOL. IV.

L

every

every Event and every Action that ever came to pafs, or was done in the World, and that they could not come to pafs, or be done, otherwife than they were, what will be the Confequences thereof, but fuch as thefe? That the Holy Bleffed GOD is the direct Cause, and the Author, of all the Sins, and Wickedneffes, and Villainies, that ever were committed, and of all the Mifery and Calamities that ever were fuffered in the World; that no Man is to be commended or praifed, or to be reproved and found fault with, for any thing that he doth; that there never are, nor can be, any fuch Things as Virtue and Vice, any fuch Things as Rewards or Punishments, among Men; which are Pofitions fo blafphemous, fo deftructive of all Religion, nay, of all human Society, that none can think of them without Horror.

But I proceed to the Fourth and last Objection that is brought against the Efficacy of Prayer; and it is urged by another Sort of Men, and goes upon another Hypothefis. It is of thofe that hold the Neceffity of all Events upon mechanical Principles. They believe the World to be a great Machine, and whatsoever comes to pafs therein is the Effect of thofe fixed and unalterable Laws of Motion which are eftablished in it; fo that whatsoever happens among Mankind hath a natural and a neceffary Caufe to produce it: And therefore however in common Speech we call thofe

Things

Things that are grateful to us, the Bleffings of GOD; or, if they be grievous to us, we call them the Punishments of GOD for our Sins ; yet they do and muft happen promifcuously and indifferently to the Good and to the Bad: And therefore to what Purpose is it to pray for the obtaining good Things, or removing evil Things from us, unlefs we can fuppofe, that, by our Prayers, we can ftop the Course of Nature, or prevail with God to stop it for our fakes?

This is the Objection, and two Things I have to fay in Anfwer to it.

Firft, Tho' it fhould be granted, that all outward Events owe their Production immediately to outward and neceffary Causes, and that GOD doth not interpofe in the Hindering or Furthering of them, but leaves fecond Causes to work according to their Nature; yet there is one whole Kind of Things, and thofe too, that either are, or ought to be, the great Matter of our Prayers, that the Objection doth not at all reach to; that is to fay, thofe that we call fpiritual Things; fuch are not only the Pardon of our Sins, and the Favour of God, but all the Perfections and Accomplishments of our Minds, Wisdom, and Virtue, and Holiness, and the Confequence thereof, Eternal Life. Thefe, I hope, cannot be called the Refults of neceflary outward Things, but are the Effects of God's Grace, and our own Endeavours. Thefe therefore, I

hope, it will be allowed, we may reasonably, and with Affurance of Succefs, pray for, notwithstanding any thing faid in the Objection to the contrary; becaufe, for the Attainment of these Things, we must be immediately obliged to the Divine Affistance, which cannot be had without Prayer; Prayer being the fame thing for the attaining this Affiftance and Influence, that opening our Eyes is for the receiving the Light of the Sun. Spiritual Things, then, we may and muft pray for; that is the First Thing.

But, Secondly, even for the outward Events that come to us in this World, such as Health or Sickness, Poverty or Riches, Peace or War, good or bad Weather, Plenty or Scarcity, and all the other good or evil Circumftances of Life, tho' it be acknowleged, that all these have natural Caufes, yet they have not fuch natural Caufes as are neceffary ones: They come to us in a natural Way, but they do not come to us in fuch a neceffary unavoidable Way, as the Objection fuppofeth. For here is the Thing: Granting, that God Almighty, in his Government of the World, doth not usually step out into extraordinary Actions beyond or above the Courfe of Nature, yet he hath fo contrived the Course of Nature, that fuch Events as we speak of may be hindered, or may be forwarded, may come to pass, or may not come to pass, may happen this way, or may happen another way, as Men

behave

behave themselves towards GOD, and as he fees best for them: And this without any Violence done to Nature, or without tranfgreffing the Laws of it: So that there is Room enough, abundantly enough, left both for our Endeavours, and our Prayers; and, accordingly as we use them, or not use them, fo fhall the Succefs and the Event prove. It is a great Mistake to think, that the Affairs of this outward World are managed wholly by mechanical Powers, or, which is the fame thing, by neceffary Causes; nay, the Wills and the Actions of Mankind have a mighty Influence upon them, as is vifible in most of these Things I mentioned, fuch as Health and Sickness, Riches and Poverty, Peace and War, Victories and Overthrows, and other fuch-like ; and nobody, I hope, will fay, that the Actions of Men are neceffary. But, befides, the Angels and feparate Spirits, who are in great Numbers every-where, and are the invifible Minifters of GOD's Providence; they likewife have a mighty Efficacy in producing the Events that come to pafs in the World; for they have not only an Influence over the Actions of Mankind, by fuggesting to their Minds, upon fuch and fuch Occafions, a thoufand Things, that perhaps they would otherwife never have thought on; but they have also a mighty Influence over thofe Powers of Nature, that feem to act moft neceffarily, I mean the Elements, as we call them, from whose

L 3

.