Will can be manifefted to Us only two Ways; Either by the Declarations, or by the Operations and Effects of it.

ift, As to the Declarative Part, God has been pleafed in favour to Mankind, to Encourage them in Piety and Obedience by Affurances and Promises, that he will Bless and Reward them for it ; Sometimes immediately from himself, as Ex. xix. 5. If ye will indeed Obey my Voice and Keep my Covenant, Then ye shall be a Peculiar Treasure unto Me. Which we find very frequently Confirmed to us, by those Holy Penmen, that have recorded to us the Dictates of his Will, and the Promises he has made to the Righte ous "To Adminifter Strength and "Comfort to their Weakness; To fup66 port and Relieve them in their Di"ftrefs; To Preferve them from, or "Protect them Under, Dangers and "Calamities To Blefs them in All "they had To Profper the Work "of their Hands To beat down "their Enemies before their Face, and "Deftroy all that Hated them." Thus Mofes Deut. vii. If Thou wilt hearken unto his Commandments, he will Love thee, and Bless thee, and Multiply thee, He will Blejs the Fruit of thy Womb and the Fruit of thy Land; Thy Corn and thy Wine and Thine I 4

Oyl;

Oyl; The Encreafe of thy Kine and the Flocks of thy Sheep Thou shalt be Bleffed above All People He will open the Treafures of Heaven upon you, to Give you Rain and Fruitful Seafons, &c. But David is above all exceedingly Copious upHe whofe Delight is in the Law of the Lord, his Leaf shall not wither; and look, whatsoever he doth, it The Eye of the Lord is upon them that Fear him, and upon them Pf.xxxiv. that put their Truft in his Mercy

Pf. i. 3.4. on this Subject

Pf. xxxiii.fball Profper

The

Angel of the Lord tarryeth round about them Pf. 84. that Fear him, and delivereth them -No Good Thing will he withold from them that Pf. xci. live a Godly Life- There fball No Evil befal him, neither fball any Plague come nigh his Dwelling But I muft forbear any more Particular Quotations, fince Gods Special Care and Protection of the Righteous, is the Doctrine that he Preaches in almost every Pfalm; This he speaks of as their Sanctuary in Time of Danger, their Sure Refuge in the Needful Time of Trouble. Though Enemies round about; nay, though All the Powers of Darkness, fhall band themselves together against the Tents of the Righteous, yet fhall they not Prevail. Stronger is He that is with them, then All that can be Against them. When Balaam found that the People of Ifrael were under the Im

mediate

mediate Bleffing of Heaven, he knew it was in vain for Him any longer to try his Magick Art upon them How fball I Curfe, (fays he) whom God has not Curfed? He hath Bleffed, and I cannot Re-Nu, xxiii. verse it.

But 2dly, God has not only Manifefted his Will, to Bless and Reward Piety and Obedience, by Declarations and Promises; But he has farther Manifefted his Will by Correfpondent Performance of those Promises. The Time would fail me to tell of Eminent Patriarchs and Prophets of Óld; Noah, Abraham, Ifaac, Jacob and Jofeph; Of Mofes, Job, Daniel, and Many more, who as they carefully and faithfully Serv'd God and Obeyed him, fo they were remarkable Examples of his Special Providential Care and Protection. But I will inftance particularly in David, who found fo great Changes in the Divine Favour and Affection, according as he Obferv'd or Neglected his Duty to God. Whilft he made the Law of God his Rule, God made him to Profper in All that he did: He was fafe with an handful of Men against all the Power of Saul: The Angels of the Lord encamped round about him; and all the Craft and Wilinefs of his Enemies were never able to hurt him. But when he

for

20.

forfook the Law of the Lord, and No longer took God to Counfel, Then it was that he fo mournfully bemoans himfelf as Deftitute and Forfaken.

But This was yet more remarkably the Cafe of the whole Jewish Nation, whom God had Promised to Blefs and Protect if they kept his Laws and Commandments; but if they would not Walk in his Laws, he would then abandon them, and give them up unto the Will of their Enemies: Accordingly Their Fortunes and Condition Ebb'd and Flow'd according to the Meafures of their Obedience; according as they put their Truft in Dead Idols, or in the Living God. So that for many Ages Their State was Nothing else but a Conftant Viciffitude, An Alternate Interchange of Bondages and Deliverances. *

Now from these Manifeftations of God's Will, his Declarations and Promifes and Correfpondent Difpenfations to Mankind, We may deduce our Conclufion, That God does favour Vertue and Pie

*Quamdiu Præceptis Salubribus obtemperârunt, de Paucis Innumeri facti; de Egentibus Divites; de Servientibus Reges; Modici Multos; Inermi Armatos, dum fugiunt, infequentes, Dei Juffu, et Elementis adnitentibus, obruerunt, Says Minucius Felix, Speaking. of the Jews.

ty,

ty, and ufually Crowns them with Bleffings, even in This World.

Tho indeed it may be Queftioned, Whither We may, on fo good Grounds, Rely on those Promises of Temporal Bleffings and Profperity, as the Jews might, who had Nothing befides, (I mean in full Light and View,) to encourage and animate their Obedience; whilft We have fo much Better and Nobler Motives to Ours. But This Confideration may afford us a Reason-. able Answer to That Expoftulation, Why God should oftimes more eminently and in a Miraculous Manner exert his Power for Their Defence and Security, than he is pleased to Do for Ours? With his own Right Hand would he fometimes Fight Their Battles, and difplay the Hofts of Heaven against their Adverfaries, and make Them in their Courfes, Fight against them. For Victory over their Enemies, and Peace and Plenty, and other Branches of Worldly Happiness, being directly Promised Them,to Engage them to Obedience,That Foundation was by all Means to be made Good to Them. But Our Kingdom is,like our Lords, Not of this World: it is a Future Happiness,a Heavenly Kingdom, that is promised Us to engage Our Obedience,to which we may be train'd up and Conducted, and perhaps more fafely,

with