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God left the government of the creature to itself?

Answ. First: If God had left Adam to his own will, to perform the law of nature only (as

refer to the 23 ch. 1 Sam. 9, 12 ver. where David expresses his anxiety respecting what part the men of Keilah would act when Saul pursued him. He desires Abiathar the High Priest, to take the ephod in which were placed the Urim and Thumim, and to enquire at the mouth of God, whether they would deliver him and his men to the hands of Saul? The answer was, They will deliver thee, i. e. if he stayed there; but Divine Providence interposed, and by the discovery of things that would have taken place, did he not prevent it, rescued David once more from the hands of his enemy? I feel myself particularly interested in this branch of his divine knowledge. He sees every deep design of every foe. Who can tell how many deliverances they have been favored with from dangers unseen, therefore unknown? The enquiry with christians is not what would their enemies do unto them to gratify their insatiable malevolence? but, what is it they would not do ?—Ever remember that the "effect of all possible contingencies," are under the cognizance of Divine Knowledge, and under the control of Divine Power. He knows every thing

that

(as a beast) with a promise of reward, or a threat-
ning of punishment, much might have been;
therefore a beastly objection. But,

Secondly, God giving him a law, with a pro-
mise

that exists, because every thing exists in consequence of Divine volition. He willed them into existence, therefore they are. "Let there be light, and there was light." He found no more difficulty in the formation of the brightest angel, than in the construction of the wing of a fly; having made them all, he of necessity must know them all; there is no creature hid from his sight; neither is there any creature that is not manifest. Heb. iv. 13.

"He fix'd the end, 'ere time began,

"Of seraph, reptile, and of man.

The irrational as well as rational part of creation, are equally known in their number, and in all their wants; the cattle upon a thousand hills, all the fowls of the mountains are numbered by him. Ps. 1. 10, II. It was his knowledge that measured out for them that peculiar extent of the earth's surface for their habitation, and his goodness fertilized it, to bring forth in proper kind, and in sufficient quantity, food for them all; his care and goodness extend to them all, from the leviation that dries up" Jordan at a single draught," to the innumerable millions of

animal

*

mise of reward, and a threat of punishment, by this God manifested his power as a governor and a lawgiver.

Thirdly. Had not God left Adam to his own

will

animalcule that subsist upon the "effluvia emitted from a blade of grass." In this sense, the observation of the Poet is just :

"Think not Heaven partial in its care,

"The fur that warms a Monarch, once warm'd a Bear."

The length of their lives, as well as the life itself, together with the means of their support, are ascertained by his knowledge. The life of a sparrow shall no more be sacrificed without his knowledge, without his consent, without his appointment, than the life of the universe. Mat. x. 30.

"Who sees with equal eye, as God of all,
"A hero perish, or a sparrow fall,
"Atoms or systems into ruin hurl'd,

"And now a bubble burst, and now a world.” Inseparably connected with this is the prescience, or fore-knowledge of God, by which he has not only foreseen, but foreordained, that every creature that he hath formed, and every circumstance he hath appointed, (and there are no circumstances which he hath not appointed) shall be subservient to the grand end, God proposed

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will, his obedience could not properly been his

own.

Fourthly. Had not God left him to his own will, but had given him a promise to uphold, his

in all his works. As this doctrine is more immediately connected with another branch of our subject, we shall only refer to a few circumstances recorded in the word, where the pre-disposing property of the Divine Knowledge is demon

strated.

"God consigns every person and thing to its "proper use; worketh every thing agreeable to "his pre-determination; and accordingly sepe"rates one thing from another, so as to make "each thing answer its proper end." This pre-disposing property of the Divine knowledge appears in the following circumstances.

God had determined that his people should go down into Egypt; how was this to be effected ? by means, in all appearance, that would produce effects contrary to what were intended. The first step towards it was, Joseph was to have a mystic representation of his future greatness; this he, without any design related; but God had a design in it; it excited in his brethren envy and hatred, which induced them to form the horrid plan of murdering their own brother! God prevented it; they sold him into Egypt, but God wa

his fault in eating could not have been his own neither, but his that promised him assistance and did not; so that there was need that Adam should be left to his own will; for, if he obeyed,

he

with him; they were moved with envy; their wrath was made to praise the hidden footsteps of Almighty mercy. In Egypt, a variety of painful circumstances attended him, and a diabolical design, from very high authority, formed against his life, because he would not (being then under Divine influence) attempt to damn his soul for the fleeting gratification of a bestial passion Charged with a crime of the most malignant na ture, he was imprisoned, with an inflexible disposition on the part of the persons said to be injured, to inflict upon this fettered sheep, the most painful, the most dreadful punishment; confined to his cell, (but not a solitary one; this would have impeded the plan of God) unacquainted with the result of the mystery; his companions in misery dream; Joseph interprets their dreams; in due time Pharoah dreams; none could interpret the dream; Joseph was the man fixed upon, by God, and by Pharoah according to the will of God. Joseph interprets it; and in consequence of the knowledge found in him, and the impressive influence of the Divine power upon Pharoah's mind, from a prison he is exalted

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