Discourses upon the Existence and Attributes of God

And not only the Spirit of Zerubbabel the Magistrate, and of Joshua the Priest, but the Spirit of all the people, from the highest to the meanest that attended him, were acted by God▪ to strengthen their hands, and promote ⟨p. 744⟩the work. Hag. 1.14. The Spirits of men, even in those works which are naturally desirable to them, as the Restoration of the City, and rebuilding of the Temple was to those Jews, are acted by God, as the sovereign over them, much more when the wheels of mens spirits are lifted up above their ordinary temper and motion. It was this Empire of God, good Nehemiah regarded, as that whence he was to hope for success; he did not assure himself so much of it, from the favour he had with the King, nor the reasonableness of his intended Petition, but the absolute power God had over the heart of that great Monarch: And therefore he supplicates the heavenly, before he petitioned the earthly Throne. Nehem. 2.4. So I prayed to the God of Heaven. The Heathens had some glance of this; 'tis an expression that Cicero hath some where, That the Roman Commonwealth was rather Governed by the Assistance of the supreme Divinity over the Hearts of Men, than by their own Counsels and Management. How often hath the feeble courage of men been heightened to such a pitch, as to stare death in the face, which before were damped with the least thought or glance of it? This is a fruit of Gods sovereign Dominion.

And not only the Spirit of Zerubbabel the Magistrate, and of Joshua the Priest, but the Spirit of all the people, from the highest to the meanest that attended him, were acted by God▪ to strengthen their hands, and promote ⟨p. 744⟩the work. Hag. 1.14. The Spirits of men, even in those works which are naturally desirable to them, as the Restauration of the City, and rebuilding of the Temple was to those Jews, are acted by God, as the soveraign over them, much more when the wheels of mens spirits are lifted up above their ordinary temper and motion. It was this Empire of God, good Nehemiah regarded, as that whence he was to hope for success; he did not assure himself so much of it, from the favour he had with the King, nor the reasonableness of his intended Petition, but the absolute power God had over the heart of that great Monarch: And therefore he supplicates the heavenly, before he petitioned the earthly Throne.