residence. No; although He is pleased to unveil Himself, and shine forth in all His glory more especially in the highest Heavens, yet He Himself is actually present in every part of His Kingdom, in one as well as another, and exerciseth His power in and over every thing that is in particular, as well as over all things that are in general; insomuch that no one thing did or ever can happen in the world without His immediate order or permission: as we may see in those things which seem to us to be mere contingencies, or to fall out by chance, as we say, as not seeing any necessary cause why they should so happen; yet to God there is no such thing, for He Himself concurs to the effecting of it. What can depend more upon chance and contingency than the decision of a matter by casting lots? And yet the wise man tells us, that "the lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing Prov.16.33. thereof is of the Lord;" and, therefore, when the land of Canaan was "divided by lot" among the tribes of Israel, God Himself is said to have divided it; for it was He that gave to every one His inheritance. Thus, when a man is Acts 13. 19. cleaving wood, and the head of his axe happens to fall off and kill his neighbour, this may be truly brought in chancemedley, and yet it is expressly said, that "God delivered Exod. 21. him" that was slain into the other's hand. Many instances Deut. 19. 5. of the like nature might be produced to prove it; but we need go no farther to make it plain and undeniable than to the words of our blessed Saviour, where He saith, "Are not Matt.10.29, two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall to the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered;" for, if every motion of every bird in the air be ordered, and every hair of every man's head be numbered by Almighty God, what can be, or move, or happen in the whole world without His special care and providence? Nothing, certainly; but we may, and ought most certainly, to conclude that He reigns over the world so as to order and dispose of every particular thing that happens in it according to His Own will and pleasure.

III. But whatsoever is according to God's will, be sure is good for His will is always consonant to His infinite wisdom, whereby He contrives all things for the best, in the best manner, and to the best end that can be; but the

13;

30.

CIV.

SERM. best end that can be, is His Own glory. This is that He propounded to Himself in the creation of the world: for He Prov. 16. 4." made all things for Himself;" that is, for the setting forth His Own glory: and to this end every thing He made did conduce in the highest manner that it was possible for it to do, and therefore was the best that it was possible for it to be. And hence, when He had finished the creation, it is Gen. 1. 31. said, that "God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good ;" that is, every thing was the best in its kind that could be, as contributing as much as it could to the manifestation of His glory, and therefore such as He would have it to be: and the same may be said of every thing that He still doth; it is all very good, as most effectually tending to the great end for which He doth it. It is true, there are many things happen in the world which we can assign no reason for, but wonder how and why they come to pass; but He that is the first and supreme cause of them most certainly designs some great good by them, and makes them as certainly to produce it; insomuch that if any one thing should happen otherwise than it doth, it would doubtless be much worse for the world, if it did not dissolve the whole fabric. But there is no fear of that; for it is as impossible that any thing should fall out otherwise than God would have it, as it is impossible for Him to do otherwise than well, Who being goodness itself, whatsoever He doth cannot but be well done; yea the best that it was possible for it to be and although we cannot dive into the secrets of Providence, nor understand the reasons of all the changes and chances which happen in the world, yet we must conclude in general that there is great and good reason for all and every one of them, in that they come from Him Whose works are all, like Himself, infinitely wise and good, Who never did nor can do a vain or ill thing; and therefore must be acknowledged to reign over the world both wisely and well; every thing that He doth being so wisely done that nothing can be wiser; every thing so well, that nothing can be better.

[Rom. 9. 15.]

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IV. Hence, also, it necessarily follows, that His reign is most perfectly just and righteous. It is true, "He hath mercy only on those on whom He will have mercy," but He

is just to all indifferently; never punishing any one more, nor rewarding any one less than he really deserves, but rather distributing His punishments so equally that none hath cause to complain, and His rewards so bountifully that every one hath cause to thank Him, and to say with David, "The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His Ps. 145. 17. works;" which holds good in all cases without any exception whatsoever; for, as Abraham said to Him," Shall not the Gen. 18. 25. Judge of all the earth do right?" Yes surely, He always doth that which is most strictly just and right; otherwise He would act contrary to His Own will and nature, which is the rule and standard of all justice and equity; so that He never did nor can do an unjust act and, therefore, whatsoever happens to any particular nation or person in the world, how hard soever or severe it may seem to our corrupt imaginations, yet we must conclude it to be highly just and equitable; as in the case of Job, of whom God Himself gave this testimony, that "he was a perfect and upright man, one [Job. 1. 1.] that feared God, and eschewed evil :" and yet, nevertheless, He suffered him to be deprived of all the comforts of this life in one day. And what did Job do? Did he censure God for it? No, but it is particularly observed of Him, that "in all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly:" Job. 1. 22. whereby it is intimated to us, that it is a very foolish thing indeed for any one to charge God with injustice for any thing He doth; and so certainly it is, it being as impossible for God to be unjust, as it is for Him not to be: and therefore He being so infinitely, so essentially just Himself, the great kingdom over which He reigneth must needs be governed according to the strictest rules of justice in every punctilio and circumstance relating to it.

But if so, what must we do, and the rest of mankind, who have all rebelled against this the universal Monarch of the world, and so have justly deserved the severest of His judgments to be inflicted upon us? How can we escape the hand of His justice, or avoid the punishments that are due unto us? Blessed be His Name, He Himself hath found out a way for it: for being equally wise and just, and merciful too, He by His infinite wisdom hath so contrived it, as to execute His justice upon our sins, and yet at the same time

SERM. shew mercy to our persons, or as the Psalmist words it,

CIV.

Ps. 99. 8.

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forgive us, although He take vengeance of our inventions." This is the great mystery revealed in the Gospel of Christ, which is as a court of equity, erected in this great Kingdom, on purpose to mitigate the rigour of the common law, by transferring the punishments our sins have deserved upon another, and His merits upon us for the pardon of them; by which means His justice may have its free course, and yet His mercy also be extended towards us.

:

For this Almighty and All-glorious Monarch of the world, having only one Son, begotten of His Own Essence from all eternity, and so of the same Divine Nature or Substance with Himself, He was pleased to send Him into this lower world to take the nature of man upon Him, and in it to suffer all the punishments that were due to the sins of mankind, even of all that partake of that nature which He assumed and in which He suffered; Who is therefore said to Heb. 2. 9. have "tasted death for every man." But He Who thus suffered being both God and man in one Person, although He suffered only in His human nature, yet that nature being at the same time united to His Divine Person, His said sufferings were really more and of greater value than the sufferings of all mankind could have been, although every man had undergone the punishment due to his sins to all eternity for all their sufferings, how many, how great, how long soever they were, could have been no more than the sufferings of finite creatures; whereas, those which He under went were the sufferings of a Person that is infinite, and therefore could not but be as much as the justice of God could require for the sins of all mankind: and therefore He 1 John 2.2. is said to be a " propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world;" that is, He, by the one oblation of Himself once offered, hath made so full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of all mankind, that God may now be justly propitious to them, or so merciful as to pardon their sins and receive them into His favour again, without any violation of His justice for, that being now fully satisfied by Christ's suffering in our nature, it cannot be violated by remitting the punishments which were due to our persons: but God

may justly acquit and discharge us from all our sins, and advance us to the same degree of honour and happiness, as He would have done if we had never offended Him. And hence it is that His government is so mild and gentle, so gracious and merciful, even to His rebellious subjects upon earth, which otherwise must all have died as they are born in sin, and so have been miserable for ever; whereas, now, there are none of them but who, by the means of what Christ hath done and suffered for them, may find so much mercy at the hands of God as to be absolved from all their sins and restored to the love and favour of God, and in Him enjoy a perpetual rest and felicity, the highest their nature is capable of. Neither doth He require any great matter of us in order to it, no more than what we may easily do; for all that He requires of us, is only "to repent and believe the [Mark 1. Gospel;" that is, to do what we can ourselves to leave off our 15.] former sins, and to put our whole trust and confidence in this our Almighty Saviour, for grace to live a new life, for God's acceptance of our sincere though imperfect endeavours to serve Him, for the pardon of all that we have done amiss, for God's receiving us into His favour here, and into the Kingdom of Heaven hereafter; all which, if we truly believe in Christ, He will most faithfully perform to us, according to the promises He hath made us to that purpose: insomuch, that upon the account of His merits and constant intercession for us, God is always ready to be propitious and merciful to us, and as kind and gracious as if He had never been offended with us. And, indeed, as no mercy would ever have been shewn to any man without Christ, so by Him there is no mercy whatsoever but any man upon the terms beforesaid may have it; Almighty God, for His sake, being so far reconciled to mankind, that all men receive some mercies at His hands, and some all they can desire. So that the government which He exerciseth over this lower part of His kingdom, even upon earth, is altogether as merciful, as it is just and righteous.

III. Having thus considered the extent of that kingdom over which the LORD reigneth, by what laws, and after what manner He reigneth over it; it will be easy to shew, what I promised in the last place, how the latter part of my