of which there were great Numbers in the Defarts adjoining to the Land of Canaan. I will fend wild Beafts among you, which Shall rob you of your Children, and destroy your Cattle, and make you few in Number; and your Highways fhall be defolate. Lev. xxvi, 22. And in fuch Cafes it must be faid that the wild Beafts acted according to their Nature; but the Direction of them at fuch a Time, to this or that Part of the Country, and to fuch particular Perfons, was the Work of Providence for executing its wife and juft Purposes: On the contrary, it is promifed, that if they walked in his Statutes, he would rid evil Beafts out of the Land. Ver. 6. God can, when he feeth fit, reftrain their Fury, and over-rule their natural Instincts and Appetites. So the hungry Lions, contrary to their Nature. were reftrained from hurting Daniel, for God fent his Angel and shut their Mouths, as it is expreffed, Dan. vi. 22. Yet, immediately after, when his Accufers, with their, Wives and Children, were caft into the Den, the Lions fell upon them with the utmoft Fury, and brake all their Bones in Pieces before they came at the Bottom of the Den. Ver. 24. The Plagues of Egypt furnish remarkable Instances of God's making ufe of divers Kinds of living Creatures for executing his Judgments. F 4

And

And the Prophet Joel fpeaking of the Lo cufts, the Caterpillars, and other devouring Infects, reprefenteth them as a mighty Army fent by God in his righteous Judgments to lay waste the Land. See the first and fecond Chapters of Joel. It were easy to produce Inftances from the most credible Hiftorians, of great Devastations committed by the most inconfiderable Creatures, which have been Inftruments in the Hand of God for chastifing Nations*. With regard to particular Perfons, even in Cases that are ufually called Accidents, it may please God to make use of Brute Creatures for executing the Purposes of his Providence. Thus, e. g. if a Man be bitten by a Dog, or gored by a Bull, or thrown and killed by an Horse, though there is nothing in fuch Inftances but what is agreeable to the Course and Order of natural Caufes, yet the applying them at that Time, and to that particular Perfon, is to be regarded as under the Direction of God's most wise Providence, who hath all the Creatures at his Difpofal.

I fhall conclude with a few Reflections. First, What an amiable Idea should it give us of the Goodness and Benignity, the

See feveral Inftances of this kind collected by Bethart. Hieroz: Par. I. lib. 3. cap. 32, 34.

5

Kindness

Kindness and Condefcenfion of the fupreme univerfal Lord, that he exerciseth a conftant Care over the various Orders of the brutal Kind, the meaneft not excepted! He who humbleth himself in beholding the Things which are done in Heaven, doth not despise or overlook the least, the feemingly most despicable of all fenfitive Beings: He fo ordereth the inanimate World, that every Part of it affordeth Food, Habitation, or Entertainment, to fome Beings that haye Life. And if we had but a diftant View of all the innumerable Kinds of fenfitive Beings, and knew the Provifion made for them all according to their feveral Capacities, furely it would fill us with Astonishment, to confider the inexhaustible Benignity of the kind Parent of the Univerfe, who every where spreadeth Life and Enjoyment in unconceivably yarious Degrees. The wife Man obferves, that the righteous Man regardeth the Life of his Beaft. Prov. xii. 10. not for treating even the lower Orders of living Creatures with unneceffary Harfhnefs and Cruelty. And in this he is an Image of the fupreme Goodness. God is introduced as declaring, Every Beast of the Foreft is mine, and the Cattle upon a thousand Hills: I know all the Fowls of the Mountains; and the wild Beafts of the Field are mine.

He is

Pfal.

Pfal. 1. 10, II. They are all, even to the leaft of them, under his benign Care; and all this without Diftraction or Confufion And he ordereth it fo, that they have suitable Relishes of fenfitive Happiness, and are carried by the Attractions of Pleafure to perform thofe Actions which are moft neceffary for the Support of their Beings, for fupplying themselves with Food, for continuing their Kind, and taking Care of their Young: And, whether their Lives be longer or fhorter, they are furnished with Enjoyments proper for them whilst they live, and have not a Forefight of Death to make them uneafy; fo that, upon the whole, their Exiftence is an Advantage to them: And if fome of them prove Food to other Animals, there is nothing in this Conftitution that can justly be found fault with. For in this Cafe it must be faid, that as during the Time of their Lives, they have Enjoyments fuited to their Natures; fo the Kind of Death they fuffer, is generally lefs grievous and lingering, than if they died of themselves in the natural Way; and at the fame Time is rendered fubfervient to the maintaining the Lives of other Animals, and contributes to their Pleasure and Enjoyment. How fhould we, when we confider thefe Things, call upon the whole

Creation

Creation around us, to adore and bless the univerfal Lord, and fupreme Governor of the World! And fince the Brute Creatures are unable to do it of themselves, let us offer up a Tribute of Praise on their Account as well as our own, and lend them a Voice and Songs; a noble Specimen of which we have in the rapturous Strains of the devout Pfalmift in the 148th Pfalm, where he calls upon Beasts and all Cattle, creeping Things and flying Fowl, to praise the Lord.

Secondly, Another Reflection which may be made upon this Subject is, that if God governs and takes Care even of the inferior Brute Animals, this ought to strengthen our Faith with Relation to the Care he exerciseth towards Mankind, and should convince us, that all our Concernments and Affairs are, in a particular Manner, under the Superintendency of Divine Providence. This is what our Saviour hath especially in View, when he declares to his Difciples concerning the Sparrows, not one of them falleth to the Ground without your Father; or is forgotten before God: For he adds, Fear not therefore, ye are of more Value than many Sparrows. Mat. x. 29, 31. And to the fame Purpose, in his admirable Difcourse against anxious tormenting Cares and Solicitude, Mat. vi. Behold, faith he, the Fowls of the Air;

for