would have a Right to govern and order them, on the Account of the tranfcendent Excellency of his Nature; and no other could be fit, or have a Right to do it: Forafmuch as there is none like unto thee, O Lord, faith the Prophet, thou art great, and thy Name is great in Might: Who would not fear thee, thou King of Nations? For to thee doth it appertain: Forafmuch as among all the wife Men of the Nations, and in all their Kingdoms, there is none like unto thee. Jer. x. 6, 7. Because there is none like unto God in Might and Wisdom, therefore to him doth the Dominion appertain. He, and he alone, hath almighty Power, whereby he can do whatfoever he willeth, and is every Way able to execute all the Purposes of his Government. And his Understanding and Wisdom is infinite, whereby he knoweth, in every poffible Inftance, what is beft and fitteft to be done; and hath a perfect Knowledge, not only of all the Actions of all reasonable Beings, but of the most fecret Counfels and Intents of their Hearts, without which he might commit Mistakes in Government, and reward or punish Perfons or Actions that did not deferve it. The Eyes of the Lord are in every Place, bebolding the Evil and the Good. Prov. xv. 3. He is present to the whole Creation, and is therefore capable of feeing and ordering

every Thing with his own Eyes: Add to this, that he is of boundless Goodness and Benignity, and delighteth in the Happiness of his Creatures. The Lord is good to all; and his tender Mercies are over all his Works. Pfal. CXLV. 9. He is also a Being of impartial Righteousness and spotless Purity. Righteousness and Judgment are the Habitation, or, as it is rendered in the Margin, the Establishment of bis Throne. Pfal xcvii. 2. Taking all these Things in Conjunction, it appeareth, that God, and he alone, is qualified for the Government of the World; fo that if we were to wish for ourfelves, for our own Happiness, and that of all the Orders of Beings throughout the vaft Universe, we fhould be defirous that the univerfal Adminiftration of Things should be in the Hands of God. And there could not be a more unnatural or monftrous Thought, nothing that could poffibly argue greater Folly, as well as Depravity of Heart, than to wish that there were no Providence, or that God did not rule. If we could suppose it to be left to the free Vote and Election of all intelligent Beings, they must all concur in this as their unanimous Defire, if they followed the Dictates of Reason and Nature, that God fhould govern the World, and all Things that are therein, because it is for the univerfal

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verfal Good that it should be fo, and be cause no other is fit to govern it but he alone.

Thirdly, As to the Nature of God's Government of the World, it is, in the ftricteft and propereft Senfe, independent, fupreme, and abfolute, though at the fame Time most just and righteous. This ap peareth, if we confider what hath been already obferved, that his Right to Government dependeth, not upon the Confent of his Creatures, or upon any original Compact, but upon his Creation and Prefervation of all Things; in confequence of which, he hath an entire and abfolute Property and Dominion over them: and that he is also poffeffed of infinite Power and Perfection; and infinite Power and Perfection must, in the Nature of Things, have abfolute Sovereignty. He hath no Superior to control him, or give him Laws; no Counsellor to guide him: For who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his Counsellor hath taught him? Ifa, xl. 13. Nor is there any Tribunal to which he can be accountable; And that Power, above which there is no other, and beyond which there can be no Appeal, must be truly and properly abfolute. This cannot be said of any created Beings, however exalted they may appear to be. There is a Power

above them, and infinitely greater than theirs, that is able to limit and control them, and an higher Tribunal to which they are accountable. Hence the wife Man mentioneth it as a Confideration which should fupport us against the Oppreffion of earthly Princes or Magiftrates, that be that is higher than the highest, regardeth, and there be higher than they. Eccl. v. 8. God is faid to be the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. 1 Tim. vi. 15. and to be a great King above all Gods. Pfal. xcv. 3. The mightieft earthly Monarchs cannot be faid to be strictly abfolute and independent: For, as they all depend upon God, fo they all have fome Dependence upon their Fellow-creatures, and even upon their own Subjects; they need the Affiftance of their Inferiors; nor can they properly govern or execute their Laws by themselves. But God's Dominion and Sovereignty is independent as his Existence. His Authority is felf-derived, and centring in himself alone. As he is all-fufficient and felf-fufficient, fo he needeth no external Affiftance or Support for any Thing without him to maintain and establish his Government. And if he useth Inftruments in the Management or Adminiftration of it, it is not that he ftandeth in the leaft need of their Counsel or Affist

ance,

ance. Juftly therefore is he called, not only the bleed, but the only Potentate, 1 Tim vi. 15. because there is no other that is properly fupreme, and an absolute Potentate, but he alone.

This abfolute Sovereignty of God and of his Government, is frequently and strongly described in the holy Scriptures, and feemeth to be one Thing particularly intended here, when it is faid that the Lord hath eftablished bis Throne in the Heavens. To the fame Purpose it is declared, Pfal. cxv. 3. Our God is in Heaven, he hath done whatsoever he pleafed. We are affured, that all Things were created not only by him, but for him. Col. i. 16. and that for his Pleafure they are, and were created. Rev. iv. II. And as his good Pleasure was the Cause of their being made, fo according to his good Pleasure they are difpofed and governed: He is faid to work all Things according to the Counfel of his own Will. Eph. i. 11. He doeth all Things according to his own Will; but it is called the Counfel of his Will, to fignify, that though it is fovereign abfolute Will, it is not mere arbitrary unreasonable Will, but proceedeth upon the wifeft Reasons, always known to himself, though often hidden from us. Nebuchadnezzar, that haughty Monarch, was brought to fuch a Sense of God's abfo