IV.

SER M. yond our Reach at laft, GoD will ftoop to our scanty Arm, will let it down and hand it to us; What we are not able of ourselves. to compass, he will, either by his own or fome other's Aid, communicate and supply.

That this is not beneath the Care and Concern of Heaven, the Revelations we receive from thence fufficiently inform us: The divine Wisdom that inhabits there declares of herself, that as Counsel, and found Wisdom, and Understanding, and Strength are her's, Prov. viii. 14. fo alfo is it fhe that finds out Knowledge of Workmanship, and witty Inventions, ver. 12. compared with Wifd. vii. 16. Accordingly all the Inftances of any superior Faculties in Men, which the Bible fets forth, are fet forth as Inftances not of what Men can do of themselves, but of what they can. do when GoD affifts them. That Solomon's Wisdom excelled the Wisdom of all the Children of the East, that he was wiser than all Men, that he spake Proverbs and Songs, and of Trees, and of Beafts, of Fowls, and of creeping Things, and of Fishes; is afcribed by the facred Text, which gives us an Account of it, to that exceeding Wisdom, and Underftanding, and Largeness of Heart, which GOD gave him, 1 Kings iv. 29-34.

But

IV.

it would be endless to branch out into Parti- S ER M. culars of this Sort: It may fuffice to say, that there is no Ability, no Occupation or Calling of Life, whether high or low, but in which GOD claims what Men do in it. And the fame Almighty Lord of Hofts, which declares, that he is for a Spirit of Judgment to him that fitteth in Judgment, and for Strength to them that turn the Battle to the Gate, Ifa. xxviii. 6. declares alfo, that it is he who inftructeth the Plowman to Difcretion, and teacheth him when to plow, and when to fow, and when to break the Clods of the Ground, ver. 24, 26. So that he that gives us the northern Iron and Steel for Ufe, directs and inftructs us in whatever Use we put them to; whether we turn them into PlowJhares, or Swords, into Pruning-Hooks, or Spears; whether we make them into Weapons for War, into Tools for Labour, or into Inftruments for Husbandry; which twolaft we are especially told the moft High bath ordained, Eccluf. vii. 15,

This perhaps you may think is making the Spirit of GOD too eafy and cheap; especially in an Age that is apt to fufpect almost every thing of Enthusiasm that fuppofes any Communication at all between Gop and Man. Grace,

SERM. Grace, in the Sense we have formerly used. IV. it, is, with high Names and Characters, now

become a Word of Mockery and Scorn. And Affiftances or Breathings from the Holy Ghoft (even in the Affairs of our Spiritual Life) are feldom Subjects now-a-days, except of Laughter and Ridicule. But of all the Judgments I have deserved for the Abuses I have offered to his Grace, may GOD for ever avert that from me, of reprefenting it as a Thing of Nought! May it always be my Care and great Concern to perfuade all with whom I am concerned, that there is a Holy Ghost, Acts xix. 2. and a Holy Ghost to be received; if not now in it's miraculous, yet in it's ordinary and more ufeful Powers.

But my School-fellows, I truft, don't want my Inftructions and Perfuafions here: -I would not think fo meanly of you, as to preach to you the PRINCIPLES of the Doctrine of Chrift; - Heb. vi. 1. I would rather hope, that with relation to your ghoftly and fpiritual Concerns, you have received, and felt, and experienced the Spirit, by the Earnest of it which GOD has given in your Hearts, Ephef. i. 22. and ver. 5.

All then that I have to do, all at least that my present Subject requires, is to prevail with

you

IV.

r

you not to think that the Affiftances vouch- SER M. fafed from Heaven are confined to your fpiritual Concerns alone;-but that if you encourage and are willing to accept them, they are ready to attend you, even in the Bufineffes of the present Life, in your Chambers and Studies, in your Warehouses and Shops.

To give you fenfible Demonstration of this -To point out to you where and when it was, that you received any fuch heavenly Impulse I am here fuppofing, the Nature of the Thing will not fuffer me to do. However, if you put the Question to me, and infift on an Answer ;-Let me ask again-When did your Studies or Affairs fucceed beyond your Expectations, or even beyond your Hopes and Wishes ?-Often, I hope, you will all reply. But perhaps you will add, that this. was owing to a lucky Hit, a happy Chance, or a fudden Thought.-But who is it (permit me to ask once more) that governs Chance, and infpires Thought? And if Thought and Chance defcend from Heaven ;-You may undervalue them if you please :—But I shall think them nobly born. To impute our Abilities and Succefs to human Chance alone is to conceive meaner Notions of what we are, and what we do, than ever

Heathens,

SER M. Heathens, with their poor, weak, and bar

IV.

ren Helps, ever entertained of old. It is true, with Heathens, when Things went well, Fortune always received the Praise; but then they exalted Fortune to the Skies: They did not reprefent her (as we do now) a fickle imaginary Phantom below, but reverenced and worshipped her as a Goddess that claimed a Seat or Throne amongst the Deities above. And fo far were they, in those ancient Times, from thinking that Providence had nothing to do with our worldly Affairs ; that they imagined that the different Abilities and Parts, which distinguished Men in such a Number of Callings, could never be the Gifts of a fingle God, but that there must be as many Patrons in Heaven, as there were Arts, and Profeffions, and Trades on Earth; canonizing (as I think I have fomewhere read) to the Number of thirty thousand in all: Gods enough to acquit them of affuming too much to themselves. They did not boaft of their own Sufficiency; but always to one or other of these afcribed the Praise for every remarkable Information or Light, even in the moft mechanical Trades *. And when a useful Secret has been difcovered, we * Vide Maxim. Tyr. Differt. 22.