things b, from the greatest even to the least c, by his most wise and holy providenced, according to his infallible foreknowledgee, and the free and immutable counsel of his own willf, to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, goodnefs, and mercyg. II. Al right hand of the Majesty on high. ye are of more value than many spar Dan. iv. 34. And at the end of the days, I Nebuchadnezzar lift up nine eyes unto heaven, and mine. understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlafting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. v. 35. And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What dost thou? Pfal. cxxxv. 6. Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven and in earth, in the feas, and all deep places. Acts xvii. 25. Neither is worshipped with mens hands, as though he needed any thing, feeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; v. 26. And hath made of one blood, all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation: v. 28. For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have faid, For we are alfo his off-fpring. Job. xxxviii, xxxix, xl, xli. chapters. Matth. x. 29. Are not two sparrows fold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without our Father. v. 30. But the very hairs of your head are all numbred. v. 31. Fear ye not therefore, rows. d Prov. xv. 3. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. Pfal. civ. 24. O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom haft thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. Pfal. cxlv. 17. The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works. • Acts xv. 18. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. Pfal. xciv. 8. Understand, ye brutish among ng the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wife? v. 9. He that planted the ear, fhall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see? v. 10. He that chaf tiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know? V. II. The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity. f Eph. i. 14. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. Pfal. xxxiii. 10 The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect. v. 11. The counfel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. g Ifaiah 1xiii. 14. As a beast goeth down into the valley, the spirit of the Lord caused him to rest: so didst thou lead thy people, to make thyfelf II. Although, in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the first cause, all things come to pass immutably and infalliblyh: yet, by the same providence, he ordereth them to fall out, according to the nature of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently i. III. God in his ordinary providence maketh use of means A, self a glorious name. Eph. iii. 10. To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places, might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. Rom. ix. 17. For the fcripture faith unto Pharaoh, Even for this fame purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Gen. xlv. 7. And God fent me before you, to preferve you a posterity in the earth, and to fave your lives by a great deliverance. Pfal. cxlv. 7. They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall fing of thy righteousness. II. h Acts ii. 23. Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and flain. i Gen. viii. 22. While the earth remaineth, feed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease. Jer. xxxi. 35. Thus faith the Lord, which giveth the fun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the fea, when the waves thereof roar; the Lord of hofts is his name. Exod. xxi. 31. And if a man ly not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand; then I will appoint thee a place whether he shall flee. With Deut. xix, 5. As when a man goeth into the yet wood with his neighbour, to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a ftroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head flippeth from the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbour that he die; he shall flee unto one of those cities, and live. 1 Kings xxii, 28. And Micaiah faid, If thou return at all in peace, the Lord hath not spoken by me. And he faid, Hearken, O people, every one of you. v. 34. And a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Ifrael between the joints of the harness: wherefore he faid unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand, and carry me out of the hoft, for I am wounded. Ifa. x. 6. I will fend him against an hypocritical nation; and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge to take the fpoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. v. 7. Howbeit, he meaneth not fo, neither doth his heart think so, but it is in his heart to destroy, and cut off nations not a few. III. Acts xxvii. 31. Paul faid to the centurion, and to the foldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved. v. 44. And the rest, fome on boards, and fome on broken pieces of the ship: and so it came to pass that they escaped all fafe to land. Ifaiah lv. 10. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give feed to the fower, and bread to the eater: V. 11. So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall profper in the thing whereto I sent it. Hof. . 21. And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, faith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth, v. 22. and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and they shall hear Jezreel. yet is free to work without/, abovem, and against them at his pleasuren. IV. The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God, so far manifest themselves in his providence, that it extendeth itself even to the first fall, and all other fins of angels and meno, and that not by a bare permiffion p, fionp, but such as hath joined with it a most wife and powerful bounding q, and otherwise ordering, and governing of them, in a manifold difpenfation, to his own holy endsr: yet so, as the sinfulness thereof proceedeth only from the creature, and not from God, who, being most holy and righteous, neither is nor can be the author or approver of fin/. 1 Hof. i. 7. But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will fave them by the Lord their God, and will not fave them by bow, nor by fword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horfemen. Matt. iv. 4. But he answered and faid, it is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Job xxxiv. 10. Therefore hearken unto me, ye men of understanding: far be it from God, that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity. m Rom. iv. 19. And being not weak in faith, he confidered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb. v. 20. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was trong in faith, giving glory to God: v. 21. And being fully perfuaded, that what he had promised, he was able also to perform. n 2 Kings vi. 6. And the man of God said, Where fell it? And he shewed him the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast it in thither, and the iron did swim. Dan. iii. 27. And the princes, governors and captains, and the kings counsellors being gathered together, faw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head finged, neither were their coats changed, nor the fmell of fire had passed on them. I' IV. Rom. xi. 32. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. v. 33. O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways paft finding out! v. 34. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counseller? 2 Sam. xxiv. I And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Ifrael, and he moved David against them, to fay, Gonumber Ifrael and Judah. With 1 Chr. xxi. 1. And Satan stood up against Ifrael, and provoked David to number Ifrael. 1 Kings xxii. 22. And the Lord faid unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he faid, Thou shalt perfuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so. v. 23. Now therefore behold, the a Lord Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee. 1 Chr. x. 4. Then faid Saul to his armour-bearer, Draw thy fword, and thrust me thro' therewith; left these uncircumcifed come, and abuse me. But his armour-bearer would not, for he was fore afraid. So Saul took a fword, and fell upon it. v. 13. So Saul died, for his tranfgreffion which he committed against the Lord, even against the word of the Lord, which he kept not, and alfo for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it; v. 14. and enquired not of the Lord: therefore he flew him, and turned the kingdom unto David the fon of Jeffe. 2 Sam. xvi. 10. And the king faid, What have I to do with you, ye fons of Zeruiah? so let him curse, because the Lord hath faid unto him, Curse David. Who fhall then say, Wherefore haft thou done fo? Acts ii. 23. Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and flain. Acts iv. 27. For of a truth, against thy holy child Jefus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Ifrael were gathered together, v. 28. for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. V. The fuffered all nations to walk in their own ways. q Pfal. lxxvi. 10. Surely the wrath of man fhall praise thee: the remainder of wrath fhalt thou restrain. 2 Kings xix. 28. Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest. Gen. 1. 20. But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to fave much people alive. Ifaiah x. 6. I will fend him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. v. 7. Howbeit, he meaneth not fo, neither doth his heart think so, but it is in his heart to destroy, and cut off nations not a few. v. 12. Wherefore it thall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion, and on Jerufalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Aflyria, and the glory of his high looks. / James i. 13. Let no man fay when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. v. 14. But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his p Acts xiv. 16. Who in times past own luft, and enticed. v. 17. Every good V. The most wife, righteous and gracious God doth oftentimes leave for a feason his own children to manifold temptations, and the corruption of their own hearts, to chastise them for their former fins, or to discover unto them the hidden strength of corruption, and deceitfulness of their hearts, that they may be humbled t; and to raise them to a more close and conftant dependence for their support upon himself, and to make them more watchful against all future occafions of fin, and for fundry other just and holy endsv. good gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. 1 John ii. 16. For all that is in the world, the luft of the flesh, and the luit of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. Pfalm 1. 21. These things hast thou done, and I kept filence: thou thoughtest that I was altogether fuch an one as thyfelf: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. V.2 Chr. xxxii. 25. But Hezekiah rendered not again, according to the benefit done unto him: for his heart was lifted up; therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerufalem. v. 26. Notwithstanding, Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart (both he and the inhabitants of Jerufalem) fo that the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah. v. 31. Howbeit, in the business of the ambaffadors of the princes of Babylon, who fent unto him to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart. 2 Sam. xxiv. 1. And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Ifrael, and he moved David against VI. As them to say, Go number Ifrael and Judah. v 2 Cor. xii. 7. And lest I should be exalted above measure, through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. v. 8. For this thing I befought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. v. 9. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Moft gladly therefore will I, rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Pfal. lxxiii. throughout. + Pfal.lxxvii. 1. I cried unto God with my voice: even unto God with my voice, and he gave ear unto me. v. 10. And I faid, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. v. 12. I will meditate also of all thy works, and talk of thy doings. (Read the intermediate verses in the Bible.) Mark xiv. from the 66. v. to the end, with John xxi. 15. So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He faith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He faith unto him, Feed my lambs. v. 16. He faith to him again the |