which will carry us to Heaven, and keep us out of Hell.

Now if this be the Cafe, there cannot be fo great Evils in this World, but what may be good for us, and therefore may be an Expreffion of God's Goodness to us: For if Pain and Sickness, Poverty and Difgrace, wean us from this World, fubdue our Lufts, make us good Men, and qualify us for Eternal Rewards; tho' they are great Afflictions, yet they are very good, as the Way, tho' a rough and difficult Way, to Happiness.

That Profperity does oftentimes corrupt Mens Lives and Manners, make them proud, and. fenfual, regardless of God, and of Religion, and fo fond of this World, that they nevercare to think of another; and that Affliction and Adverfity has many times a quite contrary Effect, to make Men ferious and confiderate, to poffefs them with an Awe and Reverence of God, to correct and reform Bad Men, and to exercise the Graces and Virtues of the Good; both the Reason of Things, and the Experience of Mankind, may fatisfy us. That this is what God defigns, in thofe Afflictions and Sufferings he brings on Mankind, the Scripture every where affures us; and the Natural Conclufion from hence is, That Afflictions are not evil, nor any Objection against the Goodness of Providence: If they prove evil to us, it is our own Fault, for God defigns them for good. As the Apostle exprefly tells us, That all things work together for good to them that love God: And whom the Lord loveth be chasteneth, and Scourgeth every fon whom he receiveth. If ye endure chaftening, God dealeth with you as with Sons: For what Son is he, whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye

be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye baftards, and not fons, Heb. 21. 6, 7, 8.

This then must be our great Care, to rectify our Notions of Good and Evil, to withdraw our Minds from Senfe, and not to call every Thing good that is pleasant, nor every Thing evil that is afflicting. This Diftinction the Heathen Poet long fince obferved; and gives it as a Reason, and a very wife and good Reason it is, why we should entirely give up our felves to God, and leave him to chufe our Condition for us. Nam pro jucundis aptiffima quæque dabunt Dij. That tho' God will not always give us thofe Things which are most pleafant, he will give us what is most profitable for us. And if we judge of Good and Evil, not by Senfe, nor by external Appearances, but by that spiritual Good they do, or are intended to do us, in making us good Men here, and happy hereafter; Men may, if they fo please, as reasonably quarrel with the great Ease and Profperity which fo many enjoy, as with the Afflictions which others fuffer: For Profperity does oftner corrupt Mens Manners, and betray them to Sin and Folly, than Afflictions do: Good Men themfelves can hardly bear a Profperous State, nor refift the Temptations and Flatteries of Ease and Pleasure; whereas Affitions many times reform Bad Men, and make good Men better, as the Pfalmift himself owns ; It is good for me that I have been afflicted; for before I was afflicted, I went aftray, but fince I have learned to keep thy laws. And if both Profperity and Adyerfity may be either for our Good or Hurt, and when they are fo, we cannot always tell, we muft leave this to God, and commit our felves to his Care and Difci

pline, who knows us better than we know our felves, and knows what is best for us.

But this may feem to ftart a new and more difficult Objection; That if we must not judge of Good and Evil by external and fenfible Events, we can have no fenfible Proofs of the Goodness or Juftice of Providence. As we cannot object the external Evils and Calamities that are in the World against the Goodness of Providence; fo neither can we prove the Goodness of Providence from thofe external and fenfible Bleffings which God beftows upon Mankind: So that Religion gains nothing by this; it filences indeed the Objections againft Providence, but it also destroys the Proofs of a good and juft Providence. The Anfwer to this Objection. will give us a truer Notion and Understanding of the Goodness of Providence.

For though we cannot know Love or Hatred merely by external Events, yet this does not deftroy the natural Good or Evil of Things, nor the Juftice or Goodness of Providence, in doing good, or in fending his Plagues and Judgments on the World. Natural Good and Evil are the Inftruments and Methods of Difcipline; good Men are encouraged and rewarded in this World by fome external and natural Bleffings, and bad Men are reftrained and governed by fome natural Evils; and the Goodness and Juftice of God in doing good, and in punishing, make these external Bleffings and Punishments the Methods of Discipline; which could have no Efficacy in them either to encourage Good Men, or to reform the Wicked, but as they are the visible Significations of God's Favour or Difpleasure; and therefore fuch external Bleffings and Punishments are evident Proofs of the Good

nefs

nefs and Justice of Providence, or else they could not be the Methods of Discipline, nor have any moral Efficacy upon Mankind.

But yet when thefe Acts of Goodness or Juftice are made the Methods of Discipline, and not intended as the proper Rewards or Punishments of Vertue or Vice, they are not always confined to good or bad Men, and therefore are not certain and visible Marks of God's Love or Hatred.

It is an Act of Goodness in God to do good to the Evil, and to the Good: To the Good it is a mark of his Favour and an incitement to a more perfect Vertue; to the Evil, an expreffion of his Patience, and an invitation to Repentance; but when he is good both to the Evil and to the Good, the mere external Event can make no difference. The external Good may be the fame, and God is good to both, and intends good to both, but yet has not equal favour to both.

It is an Act of Juftice in God to punifh, and to correct Sin, and both good and bad Men many times feel the fame Severities; to correct and chaftise the Follies, and to quicken and inflame the Devotions of good Men; and to over-awe and terrify bad Men with the fenfe of God's Anger, and the Fears of Vengeance: This is to be Juft, and to be Good to both, as great Goodnefs and Justice as it is to reform bad Men, and to make good Men better; tho' the external Events of Providence in fuch Cafes make little diftinction between them: We fee in all these Inftances manifeft Proofs both of the Juftice and Goodness of God, though Profperity is not always a Bleffing, or Afflictions always Evil. They are always indeed in themfelves Natural

Goods

Goods and Evils, and therefore are the proper Exercise of a Natural Goodness and Juftice; but with respect to Moral Ends, to that influence they have upon the Direction and Government of our Lives, what is naturally Good, may prove a great Evil to us; and what is naturally Evil, may do us the greateft Good; and then we muft confefs, That the Goodnefs of Providence muft not be measured merely by the Natural Good or Evil of External Events, but by fuch a mixture and temperament of Good and Evil, as is beft fitted to govern Men in this World, and to make them happy in the next.

3dly, There is another Mistake about the Nature of Government, and what Goodness is required in the Government of the World. Now the Universal Lord and Sovereign of the World muft not only take care of particular Creatures, but of the good of the whole: And this in fome Cafes may make the greatest and most terrible Acts of Severity, fuch as are enough to affright and aftonish the World, Acts of the greateft Goodness and Mercy too; which will vindicate the Goodness of Providence, when God seems to be most severe, and to have forgot all Goodnefs and Compaffion. As to explain this in fome particular Cafes.

The good Government of the World requires the Defence and Protection of Mankind from violent and unjuft Oppreffions; and the most exemplary Vengeance executed upon fuch private or publick Oppreffors, is a great Act of Goodness, and a great Deliverance to the Oppreffed. Pfalm 136. the Pfalmift exhorts us, To give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever. And among other Expreffions

of