in bringing every man to his particular situation in the community, antecedently to his own choice and conduct. Thus some find themselves called to govern, and are invested with authority; not through their own usurpation or circumvention, but in the regular course of human affairs, which cannot be altered without violent convulsions: and, unless the state of things be very bad, such changes rarely conduce to the common benefit. But, if we also remember that the Lord directs and determines all these contingencies, we shall readily perceive that rulers, in every settled form of government, (however it were at first established,) are appointed by him, and accountable to him.

It is indeed allowable and proper, by equitable precautions, to restrain men from abusing authority, on the same principle by which we obviate the danger of a famine or a pestilence: and, when such prudent limitations become a part of the established form of government, they are to be considered as "the ordinance of God," equally with the other constitutions to which they are united. But, in all ordinary cases at least, we are bound to submit to his authority, by obeying magistrates for his sake and to honour him, by shewing them all civil respect according to his word. This will become easy and pleasant to us, in proportion to the degree in which we reverence, love, and adore him, as our Sovereign Lord and most liberal Benefactor, to whom we are bound by every obligation to be obedient and submissive in all things.

The same reasoning is equally conclusive in respect of all the other subordinations in society, in domestic life, and in the church of God. Supe

riors, seniors, parents, husbands, masters, persons of eminent wisdom and piety, and faithful ministers, are entrusted with different proportions of the Lord's authority: He is obeyed, and honoured, when a scriptural deference, submission, and respect are rendered to them; the contrary conduct, in the inferior relation, is rebellion against both his providence and his commandment; and those speculations which militate against this regular subordination tend directly to "confusion and (6 every evil work."

VII. The Lord hath a right to superintend, alter, or suspend, as he sees good, those laws of nature,' which arise from the general operations of second causes. Many frivolous objections have been made to the scriptural doctrine of providence, and of the efficacy of prayer, in such things as depend on an established, and supposed inviolable connexion of causes and effects. But is it not most unreasonable to consider this general course of things as necessary and immutable? No doubt the Creator communicated and continues to every part of his work its peculiar powers, properties, and situation in the system; and superintends the whole with infinite wisdom and omnipotent energy.

No miracle is required, in order to determine the efficacy of second causes, in any particular manner, according to the wants and prayers of pious persons. It is not commonly thought to be any deviation from the general laws of nature, when one region is fertilized by moderate showers, another wasted with inundations, and a third visited with drought yet will any rational man pretend

that such events are not appointed and effected by the sovereign will and powerful operation of God himself? The same holds equally good in respect of earthquakes, pestilential diseases, hurricanes, and volcanoes; and even those events which may seem to be of less importance are regulated by the divine superintendence, in entire consistency with the laws of nature. Medicines are effectual, or unavailing; abundant increase rewards the husbandman's toil, or his crop and hopes are blasted together; and ten thousand similar cases occur, on which life or death, prosperity or adversity, comforts or corrections, deliverances or judgments, entirely depend: yet in none of them can we either perceive any miraculous interposition, or reasonably refuse to resolve them into the sovereign appointment and powerful operation of the Almighty.

Many bold objections have also been urged against the credibility of some events recorded in scripture, because they cannot be accounted for in consistency with these idolized laws of nature: whereas they are evidently mentioned as miraculous deviations from that settled course, effected by omnipotence, for the most important purposes. Why then should it be deemed incredible that "God should raise the dead?" or why should we question his power to deluge the whole earth? He who gave to matter those inexplicable powers, that we call attraction and gravitation, by which the whole mass of water is supposed to be retained in the ocean; could suspend them, in what measure he saw good, when he determined thus to execute vengeance on a rebellious race. I do not say that the deluge was effected in this way; but the hint

may shew that he can with infinite ease do those things which proud men have asserted to be impossible. The same may be said concerning any other miracle recorded in scripture: for unless the fact attested involves an undeniable contradiction, its contrariety to the known laws of nature only proves that the interposition of the God of nature was requisite to effect it; which cannot at all invalidate its credibility, when properly authenticated, and when the end proposed was worthy of such an interference.

Perhaps some readers may think that what I am about to add might have been spared; but whatever serves as a pretext for disregarding the scriptures, constitutes a poison congenial to our nature, and suited to our vitiated taste; and it is not amiss sometimes to shew the absurdity of the most able men, when they reject the oracles of God. In an age, therefore, in which sceptical objections of every kind are widely circulated in numerous pamphlets, retailed in almost all companies, and greedily imbibed by the inexperienced of every rank, I trust I shall at least be excused for introducing such a subject.

Some sceptics have gone so far as to affirm that miracles, instead of proving doctrines to be from God, are themselves absolutely incredible on any evidence whatsoever! Perhaps the ignorant presumption of man never yet produced any thing more extraordinary than this assertion. For in what part of the book of nature, or of reason, is it written in legible characters, that the great Creator cannot, or will not, make any alteration in the established course of nature? The argument they

adduce is briefly this: most men never saw miraeles performed; therefore those persons that say they have seen them are not to be credited, however unexceptionable their testimony in other respects may be. By such a mode of reasoning we may prove that there is no such country as China, and no such city as Constantinople? or that there never existed such a sceptic as Mr. Hume: for the most of men never saw them. To argue thus, in these instances, would only prove a man's folly. What then does it prove in the other case? It is indeed pretended that miracles are contrary to universal experience and observation: but this cam mean no more than the universal experience and observation of all those who never experienced and observed them. Thus the congelation of water into a solid mass of ice is contrary to the universal observation of all those inhabitants of Africa, who never witnessed such a transmutation: and accordingly some of them, (with a wisdom and modesty similar to those of European sceptics,) have declared that the persons who attested the congelation of lakes, rivers, and seas, in northern countries, were unworthy of the least credence.

Such ridiculous objections to scripture would never have been thought of, or published, nor could they ever have imposed on any reasonable being; if a secret aversion to revealed religion did not predispose the heart to entertain them favourably. In reality, miracles are extraordinary events that have been often counterfeited, (which evinces that some are real;) and therefore they require to be authenticated by clear and indisputable testimony: when this is done, they are equally credible with