SERM. vince and Prerogative of God, and are X. always built on a fecret Diftruft of his Providence.

Several express Commands there are in Scripture of the fame Import with that of the Text: Be careful for nothing Phil. iv. 6 (fays St. Paul); but in every Thing, by Prayer and Supplication, with Thanksgiving, let your Requests be made known unto God: Caft all your Care upon him (fays 1 Pet. v. 7 St. Peter) for he careth for you: Commit Pf. xxxvii.thy Way unto the Lord (fays good David) truft in him, and he shall bring it to pass. Can a Man transgress these Commands, without Guilt; or entertain any Degree of Anxiety without tranfgreffing them?

5.

Indeed, when we indulge our felves too far in these melancholy Presages, and pretend to see a great Way off, the Evils that fhall happen to us, we are guilty of Impiety on another Account; inafmuch as we proudly and arrogantly pretend to what doth not lye within the Compass of our Knowledge, and affect to partake with the Almighty in

one

Secret SER M.

one of his great Attributes. Things belong unto the Lord our God: X. He alone, who orders, and difpofes Deut. Futurities, can foresee them at a Di-xxix. 29. ftance: But Man is a fhort-fighted, and blind Creature; and never more blind, than when he pretends to fee farthest, and to fet up for Prophefying. It is the kind Design of God, to wrap up Things to come in Clouds and Darkness, left we fhould arrive at the Knowledge of that, which, when known, would certainly trouble us. The Scheme of fucceffive angry Providences, by which God must govern a wicked World, would be fo terrible and amazing a Sight, that, in Pity to us, God has fhortened and bounded our View. And what Madness, what Wickedness is it then, to pry curiously into those Arcana of Providence, which we can never find out, and which were hidden from us on Purpose that we might not find them out? Secret Things belong unto the Lord our God; but those that are reveal'd, belong unto us and to T

our :

SERM our Children: And one of these revealed X. Truths is, the wife Aphorifm of the Text, Take no Thought for the Mor

row.

That such Anxiety is Irreligious, will farther appear, if we confider it as built always. on a fecret Distrust of God's Goodness towards us, and perpetual Watchfulness over us It hath indeed fomewhat of the Nature of Infidelity; and therefore our Saviour applies himself to those who give way to it under this Compellation, O ye of little Faith! Did we repose an entire Confidence in God; were we thoroughly, perfuaded,. that he is as ready, as he is able, to do every Thing that is needful for us, and that, without his Permiffion and Appointment, no Snare can entrap us, no Calamity can crush us, no Evil can approach to hurt us; had we always upon our Minds, I fay, a deep and lively Sense of these Truths, it were impoffible that a Concern for future Events should much difquiet us; we fhould certainly, according to the Ad

vice of St. Peter, caft our Care upon SERM God, if we in good Earneft believed, X: that he cared for us. I do not fay, that fuch a Perfuafion would render us indifferent to all Events, and wholly unconcerned at the probable Approach of impending Dangers: But it would in good Meafure take off the Edge and Sting of our Forebodings; it would compofe and calm us into a patient Refignation of our felves to the divine Will and Appointment; it would make us hope the best that there is room to hope in every Cafe, and expect the worst that could happen with Tranquillity and Evenhefs.

By the Light of Nature we learn, God is infinitely wife and good: And what greater Security can we have, than to be under the Protection of infinite Wisdom and Goodness? Ought we in reason to disturb ourselves with an eager Defire of poffeffing what infinite Goodness fhall be pleafed to lay upon us? Do we not know, and feel, that we depend upon God, originally T 2

for

Acts xvii.

28.

SERM. for what we are, and every Moment for X. his continued Prefervation? That in him we live, move, and have our Being? And can we doubt, whether he, who gave us the greater Gift, Being it self, will afford us the Lefs, whatever is abfolutely requifite to our Well-being? The Argument is our Saviour's Matt. vi. Take no Thought (fays he) for your Life, what ye shall eat, nor yet for your Body what ye shall put on: Is not the Life more than Meat, and the Body than Rayment?

25.

ry

The fame plain Leffon we learn also from the Obfervation of God's perpetual Care and Providence over the feveral Ranks of lower and less noble Creatures, over the Birds of the Air, and the Beasts of the Field, and the vePlants that flourish on the Face of Pfal. civ. the Earth? Thefe all wait upon him, who giveth them their Meat in due Seafon. He feeds them within, and he clothes them without, either usefully, or fplendidly, as feemeth beft to him, his overflowing Bounty fupplies them with whatever is fuitable to their Natures,

27.