gle fome few Years in the very Kingdom and Territories of Death; and to languifh under those mortal Wounds which they received with the first beginnings of Life.

Another great Evil is Poverty, which many Men bring upon themselves by Idleness, or Prodigality, and fome expensive Vices: It is not in every Man's Power by the greatest Prudence and Industry to make himself Rich; for time and chance happeneth to them all; but in ordinary Cafes Prudence and Industry, joined with a religious Regard for God and his Providence, will preferve a Man from the preffing Wants and Neceffities of Poverty. Others, who do not make themselves poor by their own Sins, are many times reduced to great Poverty by the Sins of other Men; by Injuftice, and Oppreffion, and Violence; by the Miferies and Calamities of War, which brings a thousand Evils with it ; which makes many helpless Widows and Orphans, deprives Men of their Patrons and Benefactors, drives others from their plentifulFortunes, to feek their Bread in a ftrange Land; plunders Poor and Rich; lays a flourishing Country defolate; puts a ftop to Trade, makes Provisions dear, and leaves no Work for the Poor.

Some others are reduced to Poverty more immediately by the Providence of God, without their own fault: Those who have no other Support but their daily Labour, are quickly pinched by a long and expenfive Sickness, or by the Infirmities of Age, or by the lofs of their Eyes, or Hands, or Legs; others are undone by Fire, or Shipwrecks, or the various Accidents of Trade, which the moft wary and cautious Men cannot escape;, but befides, that there are

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few of these in comparison with the Throngs and Crowds of Idle, Prodigal, Self-made Poor ; God has made Provifion for all fuch Cafes, that no Man fhall fuffer extream Want, by commanding the Rich efpecially, to fupply the Want of fuch Poor, who are properly God's Poor, or the Poor of God's making; and commanding this under the Penalty of their Eternal Salvation, and the Forfeiture of their own Eftates, if they prove unjuft and unfaithful Stewards: So that tho' God makes fome Men Poor, it is the fault of other Men if they fuffer Want. The Poverty they fuffer is owing to the Providence of God; the Wants and Miferies they fuffer, are owing to the Sins, to the Uncharitableness of Men: For though the World be unequally divided, of which more presently, yet there is enough to fupply the Wants of all the Creatures that are in it; and God never intended that any of his Creatures fhould want Neceffaries; that one Man's Plenty and Abundance fhould cause another Man to ftarve: And thus it is in moft of the other Miseries of Life; it is the Sin and the Folly of Mankind which makes them miferable, which is fo obvious to every one who will confider it, that I need not expatiate on every Particular. I believe there is no Man but will confefs, that were all Men Good and Vertuous, this World would be a very happy place; and if the Practice of moral and fociable Vertues would make Mankind happy, it is no hard matter to guess what it is that disturbs the Peace and Happiness of the World.

2. Let us now confider how unreafonable it is to reproach the Divine Providence with those Evils and Miferies which Mankind bring upon them

themselves. And laying down this as a Principle, That most Men make themselves miferable, it is very eafy to defend and juftify the Goodnefs of Providence.

For thefe Evils which Men complain of, are not justly chargeable upon Providence; and therefore are an unreasonable Objection against Providence. God does not bring those Evils upon Mankind, but Men bring them upon themselves. Suppofing the Nature of Things, and the Nature of Man to be what they now are, and that Men lived juft as they now do, there must be the fame Miferies in the World that there now are, though there were no Pro vidence. Though God did not interpofe in the Government of the World, yet Intemperance, Luxury, and Luft, would deftroy Mens Health; Sloth, and Prodigality, and expensive Vices would make Men Poor; Pride, Ambition, and Revenge, would make Quarrels, raise Wars, and bring all the Calamities of War upon the World; if there were no Providence, thus it muft be; for exceffive Eating and Drinking will opprefs Nature; and those who will take no honeft Pains to get Money, or will spend what they have upon their Lufts, muft be poor; and those who will quarrel and fight, muft take what follows; thefe Evils are not owing to Providence, because Providence does not bring them; no more than Providence makes Men wicked: Men make themselves wicked, and Wickedness makes them miferable; and we may as well charge the Providence of God with all the Wickedness of Men, as with thofe Miseries which their own Wickedness brings upon them.

Now fince most of those Evils which are in the World, are not juftly chargeable upon Providence, the Goodness of God is very visible in thofe very Evils and Calamities which Mankind fuffer. For,

1. God has in ordinary Cafes put it into every Man's Power to preferve himself from moft of the greatest Evils and Miseries of Life, even from all thofe which Men bring upon themfelves by their own Sins. What could be done more than this for a Reasonable Creature, to make it his own Choice, and to put it into his awn Power, whether he will be Happy or Miferable? God has, not only in his Laws, but in the Nature of Things, fet before us Life and Death, Happiness and Mifery: All Men fee what the vifible and natural Punishments of Sin are, and have a natural Averfion to those Evils, and may avoid them if they will; this is a plain Proof, not only of the Holiness of Providence, as I obferved before, in deterring Men from Sin by those natural Evils which attend it, but also of the Goodness of Providence, by fhewing Men a plain and natural Method, how to avoid the Miseries of Life, and to make themselves eafy and happy. Let the moft Sceptical Objector against Providence confider with himself, what God could have done more to prevent the Miseries of Mankind, without changing the Nature of Man, or the Nature of Things. To have laid a Neceffity upon Man, that he should never chufe, nor do any thing which will bring thefe Evils on him, had been to change his Nature, to destroy the free Exercise of his Reason, and the liberty of Choice; and yet Men cannot live as they do, and efcape these Miferies, unless all Nature be changed, We must have

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other kind of Bodies than we have, or our Meat and Drink must have other Vertues and Qualities, to bear the diforders and exceffes of Intemperance and Luft, without feeling the inconveniences of it. Fire muft not burn, nor Water drown, if Wine muft not inflame, nor a flood of indigefted Liquors extinguish the vital heat. The whole World must be a Paradise, and bring forth Fruit of it felf, and all things must be poffeffed in common, or the idle, flothful, prodigal Sinners must be poor. Our Bodies must be invulnerable and immortal, or there must be no Instruments of Death in the World; for Men, who quarrel, will fight, and kill one another. It is impoffible, as the World now is, to separate Sin and Mifery; but Men may avoid Mifery, if they please: And that is a very good World, and a good God that made fuch a World, and a good Providence which governs the World, wherein Men may make themselves happy, if they will.

2. Besides this, the Goodness of Providence is feen in hindering and preventing a great many more Evils and Miferies which the Sins and Lufts of Men would bring upon the World, were they not under the Reftraints and Government of Providence. No Man doubts, but there might be a great deal more Evil and Mifery in the World than there is, nor that many bad Men are inclined to do a great deal more hurt than they do; what is it then after all, that makes the World fo tolerable a place? If this be owing to the Providence of God, it is a great Argument of his Goodness, that he will not fuffer foolish Sinners to make themselves and others fo miferable as they would; that as many furious Phaetons as there are in the World, it is not yet

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