dom, to call all Nature in to fulfil the Pleasure of his Will, and yet to make it act in so easy and obvious a Manner. My Subject has led me to confider this Point a little Philofophically, and perhaps in Confequence a little obfcurely; though I endeavour'd to express myself with as much Plainnefs as the Nature of it will allow. But the great Goodness of God will discover itself more evidently and particularly, when we confider the large and glorious Effects which are produced by those Means and Inftruments of his Acting. And here the whole Earth is but one great Evidence of the Almighty's Goodness; He hath spread forth the Surface of the Ground with the Riches of Encrease, and fill'd it with the Fatnefs of Plenty. Abundance of Provifion hath He stored up in the Bowels of the Earth, to fupply all the Generations of Men with the Neceffaries and Comforts of wholefome and delightful Food: With useful, with an ornamental Variety doth the indulgent Goodness of God fpring up in the whole Earth, bringing forth Grafs for the Cattle, and green Herb for the Service

Service of Man : Wine to make glad the Heart of Man; Oil to make him a chear ful Countenance; and Bread to ftrengthen

Man's Heart: So beautiful are the Lillies of the Field, that even Solomon in all bis Glory was not arrayed like one of them: So grateful a Profpect do the Vallies of Corn afford, that they feem even to sport through the Glory of their Plenty, and laugh and fing in the Abundance of their Encrease Enlivening are the Odours which the Flowers fhed round about them: Delightful to the Tafte as well as neceffary for our Suftenance, are the Fruits, which are fo largely supplied in every Kind; highly ferviceable as well as pleafing is the conftant Succeffion of them in their feveral Seafons, not cloying and burthening us all at once with one full and general Harvest of the Fruits of the whole Year, but opening upon us one after another in a delightful Series of different Products; one Sort of Fruit bloffoming only, when another is haftening to Maturity, and when a third is full ripe and fit to gather. Thus gracious and benign is the Almigh

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ty to Mankind; thus largely did He feed us with the Plenty of his Goodness, and enrich us with the Overflowings of his Bounty: Thus wife is He in every Contrivance; thus good in every Execution of his Power: But to Man doth He particularly fhew his loving Kindnefs; other Creatures do likewife receive their Food from God; but it is Man, whofe Happiness is principally intended by the Fruits of the Earth.

IN this lower World Man is the Sovereign; to Him is given Dominion over the rest of this lower Creation, and to his Ufe all the other Parts of it are fubjected. The Inanimate World is utterly incapable of Happiness, but the Animate World is capable of Happiness in fuch Degrees as are proportioned to the Extent of their Faculties: And here the wife and good Providence of the Almighty has fo ordered it, that that Part of the Creation which can receive no Happiness, fhall adminifter to the Service and Happiness of that which can, and that they all contribute to the Good and Welfare of Man, the Lord and Go

vernour of the whole Earth. And thus it is, that abundance of the Produce of the Ground does only in confequence tend to his Service. The Beafts of the Land, the Fowls of the Air, and the Fishes of the Sea, all partake of the Almighty's Bounty; they find large Supplies of Food for their Subfiftence, and Conveniencies for their Habitations; they rejoice and folace themselves in the Plenty of their Provifions, yet finally for Man it is, that they receive thofe Provifions; they likewife minifter to our Neceffities, and contribute to our Satisfaction, and for our Service and Enlargement they are and were created.

BUT moreover, the good Providence of the Almighty difcovers itfelf moft eminently in the Room it leaves for the Art and Industry of Man to exert itself; wonderful indeed are the Productions of Nature, but not fo fpontaneous as to want no Affiftance; vaft Improvements may be and are made in the Management of the Soil, and the Care of the Plants; and this Care, this Management employs Mankind in a diligent and healthful ExVOL. I. ercife

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ercise upon them, whereby we may improve them into Bleffings; accordingly the Labour and Sweat of the Brow, which are the Confequences of the natural Barrenness of the Earth, are found in all respects beft fuited to the present Condition of Man, because the Bleffing of God generally goes along with the honeft Diligence of the Husbandman, and greatly encourages our Industry without diminishing the Honour of his own Providence; for we must not think, that the Fruitfulness of the Seafons is the neceffary, tho' God hath made it the natural, Confequences of our Labours: The leaft Reflection upon the Nature of things will carry our Thoughts up to that great Author of all Being, for every Production of the Earth, and convince us that every Inftance of the Almighty's Providence in the common Courfe of Nature is no other than a Train of Wonders, whereby He preferves his Creation.

WAS it not God that did at firft impregnate the Womb of the Earth with fuch Fecundity of Bleffings? Was it not the Almighty that call'd forth the pro