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contribute unto, and terminate in their great Happiness.

I fhall conclude this Difcourfe with obferving, that a due Confideration of God's Dominion and Sovereignty over the inanimate Creation may convince us, that when the Course of Things in the natural World is difpofed to our Comfort and Advantage, e. g. when we enjoy healthful and fruitful Seafons, and the like, it is our Duty to give God the Praife. And, on the other Hand, when Things have a contrary Afpect, we should reverence his Hand, and humble ourselves deeply before him. And

it

is very proper and reasonable for us, in all fuch Cafes, to apply to him by devout Prayer and Supplication. It is the Command of God by the Prophet, Afk ye of the Lord Rain in the Time of the latter Rain, fo the Lord shall make bright Clouds, and give them Showers of Rain, to every one Grafs in the Field. Zech. x. I.

And in the admirable Prayer which Solomon offered up at the Dedication of the Temple, particular Notice is taken of this: When Heaven is fhut up, and there is no Rainy becaufe they have finned against thee; if they pray towards this Place, and confefs thy Name, and turn from their Sin, when thou afflictest them: Then hear thou in Heaven, and forgive the Sin of thy Servants, and of thy People Ifrael,

Ifrael, that thou teach them the good Way wherein they should walk, and give Rain upon thy Land, which thou hast given to thy People for an Inheritance. 1 Kings viii. 35, 36. And, in the following Words, If there be in the Land Famine or Peftilence, Blafting or Mildew, they are directed to apply to God by Prayer and Repentance, that thefe Plagues may be removed. There is nothing in this but what is highly agreeable to Reason, and to the Practice of all Nations, among whom any Face of Religion hath been preserved. For though in fuch Cafes fecond Caufes are not to be excluded, yet they are still to be regarded as under the Direction and Superintendency of the fupreme Governor, who fo conducteth and over-ruleth them, as to carry on the Defigns of his moral Administration towards Mankind. When therefore we are taught in Scripture to regard humble Prayer, and a fincere Repentance, as proper Means for procuring Bleffings and averting Calamities; it must be acknowledged, that fuch a Conftitution is worthy of God, and is wifely fitted to keep up a Senfe of Religion, and of their abfolute Dependence upon God, on the Minds of Men. And God's having a gracious Regard to fuch Prayer and Repentance, fo as to confer those BlefAngs, and avert thofe Evils on the account

of

of it, is perfectly agreeable to the Scheme of his wife and righteous Providence, and is a remarkable Inftance of his adjusting natural Good and Evil to the Conftitution of the moral World. Prayer in fuch Cafes is a very proper Act of Homage to God, and a fignificant Expreffion of our Dependence. upon him, as well as tendeth to exercise and improve good and religious Affections and Difpofitions, that pious and devout Temper of Soul which becometh reafonable Creatures, towards the great and univerfal Lord of the Creation; to whom be Glory and Dominion for ever and ever, Amen.

God's

God's Government and Care as extending to the fenfitive Brute

Animals.

DISCOURSE IV.

MATT, X. 29.

Are not two Sparrows fold for a Farthing? And one of them fshall not fall to the Ground without your Father.

H

AVING confidered the whole in

animate Creation, this vaft material World, as under the conftant Direction and Superintendency of Divine Providence; I fhall now proceed to confider God's providential Care and Government as exercised towards the Brute Animals, which are endued with Life and Senfation, but have not a Prin

a Principle of Reason, nor are capable of moral Agency. And these are certainly of an higher and more valuable Kind than any Part of the inanimate Creation. Life in its lowest Notion, as including Selfmotion, and even the smallest Degree of Senfation, hath something in it more wonderful than the whole inanimate material World can furnish. There is an amazing Difplay of the Wisdom and Power of God in the Formation of fenfitive Beings, both in the Fabric of their Bodies, which is contrived and formed with a Skill that exceedeth all human Imagination, and in the feveral Powers, Appetites, and Instincts, which they are furnished with. And it is reasonable to believe that he that first formed them exercises conftant Care over them. How many different Species there may be of living Creatures which have Senfe and Perception, and yet are not moral Agents, difperfed throughout the feveral Regions of this vaft Univerfe, we cannot tell; but that there are various Kinds of them here on Earth we well know. The great Author of Nature feems to delight in diffufing Life every where: The whole Earth is full of Vitality; it is as it were one vaft Mafs or Collection of living Creatures; every Clod fwarms with Inhabitants. And what a noble Astonishment

fhould

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