ble with the Nature or Condition of Creatures, which owe their Existence wholly to the Will and Power of a fuperior Caufe. It is eafily conceivable that the felf-exiftent Jehovah, who existed neceffarily from everlasting, muft certainly exift to everlasting, by the intrinfic Excellency of his own most perfect Nature. But the Cafe is otherwife as to contingent Beings, who have the Source and Bafis of their Existence without them. As they did not exist originally and neceffarily of themfelves, but merely by the Will of the Creator, who willed that they should exist, and they existed accordingly; fo neither do they continue to exift of themselves, and by the mere Force and Virtue of their own Nature, but by the powerful Will of the fupreme original Caufe that gave them Being. It is true, that Machines which were contrived and formed by human Art, may subfift for a Time independently of the Man that formed them: Nor is this to be wondered at, fince the Matter or Substance out of which they were formed existed before, and did not owe its Being to the Artificer. But no Confequence can be drawn from this, to prove that, therefore, Things which owe their very Existence and Subftance entirely to the Will and Power of the firft Cause, may

afterwards continue to exift independently of the first Caufe. The Works of Mens Hands may fubfift at a Distance from the Hands which fashioned them: But the Creatures can never exift in an abfolute Separation from God, who is always most intimately and effentially prefent with his own Works; fo that it may be faid with the greatest Propriety, that in him they have their Being, as St. Paul expreffeth it, Acts xvii. 28. or, as he elfewhere fpeaks by him, or as it might be rendered, in him all Things confift. Col. i. 17.

That we may treat this Subject more distinctly, we may confider this Prefervati on of all Things, which is an eminent Act of Divine Providence, as extending,

First, To the whole inanimate Creation: Secondly, To all Things that have Life in their different Degrees, both to the inferior Brute Animals, and to the higher Orders of rational intellectual Beings.

First, God, by his conftant powerful Influence, upholdeth the inanimate Creation, this huge material Syftem, in all its Parts. As at the firft Formation of it, he put Things into a certain Order, fo it is by his Power and Wisdom that this Order and Conftitution of Things is maintained according to the first Establishment. Not only the greater heavenly Bodies are pre

ferved in their appointed Courses or Stations, but with regard to the leffer Bodies and Particles of Matter, the Laws of Motion and Gravitation, to which, by the divine Ordination, they are subject, continue the fame that they were from the Beginning, and produce the fame Effects in the fame Circumstances. Thus all Things in the material World proceed according to a fettled Rule or Method: This we are apt to pafs over, with a flight Regard, as a Thing of Course; whereas, it ought to engage our Admiration, and lead us to the Acknowledgment of a conftant fuperintending Providence. To this it is owing, that the Sun ftill ferveth for a Light by Day, and the Ordinances of the Moon and Stars for a Light by Night. Jer. xxxi. 35. and that the orderly Returns of Seasons are maintained, fo that Seed-time and Harveft, and Cold and Heat, and Summer and Winter, and Day and Night, do not cease. Gen. viii. 22. It is God that, by his powerful Influence, fuftaineth this huge terreftrial Globe which we inhabit, which bangeth upon nothing, as Job expreffeth it, Job xxvi. 7. By his Power, and according to his fettled Order it is, that the Earth ftill preferveth its Fertility, that the Minerals continue to be generated and ripened in its Bowels, and that the vegeC 4 table

table Kingdom flourisheth in all its Glory. As God faid at the first Creation, Let the Earth bring forth Grafs, the Herb yielding Seed, and the Fruit-tree yielding Fruit after his Kind, whofe Seed is in itfelf, upon the Earth. Gen. i. 11. fo, by his providential Concourse, and according to his Appointment, the Plants, the Herbs, the Trees, the Flowers in all their Tribes, and the various Kinds of Grain, fpring up from their several Seeds, and gradually grow up into Maturity. The Species of them are ftill continued and kept diftinct, and they uniformly preferve their feveral Virtues, their, diftinct Forms and Appearances, and bring forth their feveral Pro ductions in the appointed Seasons. When we thus behold the regular Course of Things in the World about us, we fhould raife our Thoughts to God, to whose conftant Care and Influence this is owing. If left to themselves without a prefiding Mind, we could have no Security for their continuing in Being, much lefs for their being maintained in their regular Order. It is the Power, Wisdom, and Influence of the first Cause ever prefent with his own Work, and leaving nothing to Chance or Caprice, that is the Foundation of all our Hopes. It is this that giveth us any

Security,

Security that the Sun or Moon fhall continue to shine, that the Stars fhall maintain their Courses or Stations, that the Air, the Sea, the Earth, and the Things which are therein, fhall preferve their Natures and proper Situations, and produce the feveral Effects, and anfwer the Ufes, to which they were originally defigned.

Secondly, God preferveth the Beings that have Life and Senfe, with their feveral Powers, Capacities, and Instincts. He upholdeth them by his providential Concourfe in that kind of Life, which according to his own Appointment, and the Order fettled by shimfelf in the Beginning, belongeth to them. And this holdeth good both of the inferior Brute Animals, and the higher Order of rational and intellectual Beings. And to this probably the Words of the Text have a special Reference; for what we render, thou preferveft them all, might be rendered, thou quickeneft them all, or, maintaineth them all in Life.

First, God preferveth and upholdeth the inferior Brute Animals in their feveral Species, which by a wonderful Provifion are fucceffively propagated according to eftablished Laws, and continue to be furnished in all Ages with the fame Organs, Powers, and Appetites, and the fame admirable Inftincts.

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