pendeth upon him for its Existence. What Use it may please him to make of inferior Spirits in moving and governing the material System, we cannot tell; but this we are fure of, that they all act in Subordination to him, and under his fovereign Direction, and that he ftill hath the whole in his own Hands, and is as immediately present to every Part of it, as if he made use of no Inftrument at all.

This abfolute Dominion of God over the material and inanimate World, and his making use of it to answer his most wife Purposes, is frequently reprefented in Scripture in a strong and noble Manner of Expreffion. This is what the Pfalmift fignifieth in the Words which I have chofen for the Subject of this Difcourfe, Whatsoever the Lord pleafed, that did he in Heaven, and in Earth, in the Seas, and in all deep Places. And then it follows: He caufeth the Vapours to afcend from the Ends of the Earth; be maketh Lightnings for the Rain; he bringeth the Wind out of his Treafuries. Pfal. cxix. 91. fpeaking of the Frame of Heaven and Earth, he faith, They continue this Day according to thine Ordinances: for all are thy Servants, i. e. all Things in the World serve thy Purposes, and execute thy Pleasure. Hence God is reprefented as iffuing out his Word and Commandment even to the inanimate Creation. Pfal. cxlvii.

15. He fendeth forth his Commandment upon Earth; his Word runneth very fwiftly. And then it is added: He giveth Snow like Wool; he fcattereth the Hoar-froft like Afbes. Or, as Elihu expreffeth it, He faith to the Snow, Be thou upon the Earth; likewife to the fmall Rain, and to the great Rain of his Strength. Job xxxvii. 6. And Ver. 12, 13. the Cloud is faid to be turned about by his Counfels, that they, i. e. the Snow, Rain, Meteors of which he had been speaking, may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the Face of the World in the Earth: He caufeth it to come, whether for Correction, or for his Land, or for Mercy.

The inanimate Creation is itself incapable of Perception and Enjoyment. It cannot, therefore, be fuppofed to be ordained merely for its own Sake, but to ferve the Ufes of fenfitive, perceptive Beings; and efpecially to anfwer the Purpofes of God's moral Administration towards reasonable Creatures, particularly towards Mankind. It is in this Light that we are chiefly to confider God's Government of the inanimate material World, and to this it is that the Scripture principally directeth our Views.

As God perfectly knew from the Beginning all the Caufes and Effects of Things in the natural World; fo, upon Suppofition of his alfo fore-knowing the free Actions

of

of moral Agents, which Reafon, as well as Scripture, leads us to acknowledge, it was not difficult for him to adjust the one to the other, so as to make up one great and universal Plan of Government, which is fucceffively executed in the proper Seafons; and indeed none could exercise a perfect Government over the moral Part of the Creation, but one who had alfo the material System under his Direction and Influence, and could manage it according to his Will.

Whilft Man continued in his State of Innocence, God in his Providence fuited the Conftitution of Things in the natural World to that State; which Conftitution would no doubt have continued, if Man had continued in his original Purity. But when he fell, and Sin entered into the World, God ordered it fo in his most wise governing Providence, that the State of Things in the natural World, the Conftitution of the Earth and Air, as well as Body of Man, fuffered an Alteration which bore the Tokens of the divine Displeasure against Sin. And yet, as Man is still continued here on Earth in a State of Trial and Discipline, there are many Things in the ordinary Courfe that plainly fhew God's great Goodness and Patience, and Forbearance towards him; the Design of which is to train him up in a Meetness

for

for a better World, where the whole Face of Nature shall be so ordered, as to be fuited to a State of confummate Holiness and Virtue.

When all Flesh had corrupted his Way, and the Earth was full of Wickedness and Violence, God in his Providence fo difpofed Things in the natural World, as to bring in the Flood upon that ungodly Race. And at another Time, as the Lord of Nature, he poured forth a fiery Tempest from Heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah, and the neighbouring Cities, which kindling the combustible Materials which abounded in that fulphureous Soil, brought a dreadful Ruin upon them, as a juft Punishment for their abominable Wickedness.. And not only in fuch extraordinary Cafes, but when Things feem to go on in their ufual Way, God in his Providence fo governeth the natural World, and difpofeth the Course of material Caufes, as to correfpond with, and fulfil his Intentions towards Mankind, whether of Judgment or of Mercy. According to the Scripture, all these Things execute the Orders of his Providence. The Lightnings are reprefented, by a noble Figure, as faying unto him, Here we are, i. e. as offering themfelves like Servants to wait his Directions, and fulfil his Commands. Job xxxviii. 35. When those nitrous, fulphureous Particles

are

are gathered together in the Air, which, according to the Course of Things which God hath established, produce the dreadful Roar of Thunder, and Blaze of Lightnings, they are fo governed as to serve the Ends of his Providence, and to produce those Effects which it is his Intention they fhould produce. Stormy Wind is faid to fulfil bis Word. Pfal. cxlviii. 8. The Winds are for the most part fo ordered by Divine Providence, as to be of great Ufe and Benefit; but they are fometimes made to blow in furious Tempefts, and are Inftruments in the Hand of God for executing his righteous Judgments upon Men. In like Manner, when God feeth fit to order it fo, the Materials which are prepared in the Bowels of the Earth meet together in such a Manner as to produce violent Concuffions and Earthquakes there. They fometimes break forth into dreadful Eruptions, which spread Defolation far and wide; at other Times they are fo governed as to do little more than threaten and terrify. Of this were the alarming Shocks that were felt in the neighbouring Kingdom, which, if carried to an higher Degree, might have produced the most difmal Effects, but were happily fo moderated, that they seem to have been defigned only to ferve for Warnings to awaken us to serious Re

flections,