than the fowls 1. In respect of kind 2. In respect of gifts above them natural supernatural 3. In respect of his rule and soveraignty over them 4. In respect of his use and end above them Dr Th. Taylor Serm. on Mat. 6.26 Moses his face did shine in his fasting day and Daniel and the three children having lived ten dayes upon pulse and water appeared fairer in their countenances and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the Kings meat Dan. 1.15 Besides God will help his people in their greatest extremities as he did the sons of Jacob when they gazed one upon another God will either supply his peoples wants or take them away before the sharpnesse of extremity cometh It is rare to see the godly fall into those pinching wants that the wicked meet with Therefore David saith from his own experience He never saw the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread Psal 37.25 He that giveth to beasts their food will not suffer his children to starve He that provideth meat for the fowls will much more provide for his own children Mat. 6.26 And if Gods children want this or that yet shall they want nothing that is good for them Psalm 34.10 CHAP. XXVII Sect. 1. Quest 2. Whether Gods Providence be immutable answered affirmatively Quest. 2 I Shall in the second place enquire Whether Gods Providence be immutatable and unchangeable I answer affirmativè that it is Resp. Deus decrevit quis dissolvet for God and all his Decrees are unchangable Malac. 3.6 I am God and change not therefore the sons of Jacob are not consumed My counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure Isa 26.10 With God there is no variableness nor shadow of turning Jam. 1.17 it is a metaphor that seemeth to be taken from the Sunne who is sometimes nearer to the Earth and sometime farther from the Earth who sometime sets a larger course and sometime a shorter cut yea who sometime shineth out clearly and sometime hideth himself under a cloud and according to the diversities of his aspects and influences Tempus ab aevo esse jubes stabilìsque manens das cuncta maneri Boet. de consolat Philos l. 3. he affecteth well or ill these sublunary and inferiour bodies But God is capable of no such alterations whether we consider his Nature his essential Properties or his Will In regard of them all he is Sempèr idem always the same his is was and will be is all one he is the same at this present that he was at the beginning and will be the same for ever that he is at this instant and this must needs be so For being a simple entire Essence void of all mixture and composition he is free from those qualities that accompany compounded bodies viz. generation corruption augmencation diminution and all manner of alteration and for the immutability of his Will he tells us Transibunt Coeli i. e. in melius mutabuntur Hieron in Psal 102. Et erunt Caeli novi nòn substantiâ sed quâ—litacibus renovati Aug. That as he hath purposed it shall stand and as he hath consulted it shall come to passe Jer. 14.24 And our Saviour saith Till Heaven and Earth pass away one jot and tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law till all be fullfilled Matth. 5.18 whereby our Saviour Christ doth not mean that either Heaven and Earth shall one day be destroyed in regard of their substance by fire any more than they were by water 2 Pet. 3.6 Rom. 8.21 nor yet then when they be changed in regard of their qualities when there shall be new Heavens and new Earth wherein dwelleth righteousness that is I suppose when God shall alter and change the state of his Church as it shall seem to dwell in a new world that then there shall be a dissolution or alteration of the moral Law It 's certain that the use of Arts and tongues interpretations expositions and all knowledge of the Law and other things gotten by these means shall then cease and have an end For when that which it perfect is come that which is unperfect shall be done away 1 Cor. 13.8 10. but for the substance of the moral Law it is indissoluble immutable and unalterable and sooner shall the frame and fabrick of Heaven and Earth fail and the world become a second Chaos then it be destroyed The grass withereth the flower fadeth but the word of the Lord endureth for ever Object Is the will of God unchangeable may it not be said that under the Law God would be worshipped by Ceremonies and under the Gospel he will not so be worshipped therefore the will of God is changed Mutatio rerum seu effectuum nòn valet ad mutationem causarum variis temporibus mutantur opera Agricolae nòn ideò mutatur ipsa Ars agriculturae August Resp. I answer That the change of things or effects makes nothing to the change of causes An Husbandman at one time useth one piece of Husbandry another while he useth another sometime tilling sometime sowing sometime dunging and sometime reaping at several times the works of the Husbandman are changed and yet the Art of Husbandry it self is not changed God doth not now under the Gospel govern his Church in the same manner as he did under the Law in the Churches infancy then he allured them with temporal promises whereby notwithstanding were signified spiritual and eternal Yet no alteration in God but he dealeth like a wise Father who useth one manner of Discipline to his children being young and tender and another manner of carriage being grown up yet his love and mind is still one and the same towards them Sect. 2. IN respect of the first cause all things come to passe by an immutable necessity but in respect of second causes some things come to pass necessarily others contingently That is necessary that must be thus and thus and cannot be otherwise than it is that which is contingent is that which before it is done may be done or not be done or at least after this or that manner Necessity is either from an internal principle and the nature and form of the thing as the Sunne necessarily shineth the fire necessarily burneth every living creature dieth and is dissolved A man is a reasonable creature and a man not regenerate sinneth For this he hath from Nature depraved and corrupted or else Necessity is from some external Necessitas est modus agendi ordinatus in rebus naturalibus Verron Physic l. 1. c. 5. inevitable impulsive cause as the Elect cannot perish but the cause is not in themselves but in Gods purpose which appointed Christ to be their Saviour So Christ was necessarily to die at the age he died not by necessity of Nature for he might have lived many years longer but by necessity of God's Decree yea and also that he should die the death he did die Sometime
may be harmless Argum. 6 The last Argument is drawn from the consideration of the fragility and mutability of all outward things if we read sacred and prophane Stories we shall see the truth hereof abundantly Nebuchadnezzar that lofty Prince would mount up to Heaven and set his Throne among the Stars and God tumbleth him down making him to eat grass with the Oxen Dan 4 34 35. and for divers years to lead a life in bruitishness and when his understanding and diâ—â—ity is restored to him he acknowledgeth Gods Providence and his Soveraignty over him Belshazzar in the midst of great feasting and jollity heareth the great Clock strike his hour and seeth a mans hand in the Wall drawing a dreadfull sentence against him Caesar is massacred in the midst of the Senate and Valerian the Roman Emperour becometh a footstep for Sapor King of Persia to mount on Horseback the proud Bajazet is carried about in a Cage by Tamerlane Munst Cosm in Germ. p. 299 We read likewise of Henry the fourth Emperour of Germany a valiant Prince that after victory gotten by him in fifty two pitcht Battels he was deposed in his old age and brought to that necessity that he made suit to be a Prebendary in the Church of Spire which he had built which was denied him whereupon it is said he brake forth into those words of lamenting Job Have pity upon me O my friends for the hand of God hath touched me And Procopius tells us of Geliver Prince of the Vandals brought to that misery Prâ—cop de bello Gothico that he wrote to a Friend of his to send him a Harp a Spunge and a Loaf a Harp for his solace a Spunge to dry up his tears and a Loaf to staunch his hunger Sr Rich. Barckl de summo bono One saith of unstable fortune as it is commonly called Hos premit hosque levat hos dejicit erigit illos Cogit in varios homines descendere casus Heidfield Sphinx Philos Sesostris that proud King was aptly taught the uncertainty of earthly enjoyments by the example of four Kings whom when he had taken them prisoners he caused to draw him in a Chariot in which action one of the Kings turned his face alwayes backward and being demanded the cause he answered as he beheld the Wheels of the Chariot the same that was on high did on a suddain come down below and thereby he called to mind the unstable condition of men which answer caused Sesostris to use them more mildly and courteously aftrewards In this world we have no certain nor sure estate no abiding City in a perishing world though the earth be so established by Gods Word that it abideth for ever yet all things on the face thereof do evanish by changes A serious and frequent meditation of change is a good way to make our estate certain CHAP. VI. The definition of Providence the parts of it THus having proved that there is a Providence I shall in the next place shew what it is and what be the parts thereof Definit of Provid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg Nyssen lib de Provident Providence is Gods wise perpetuall and unchangeable disposing and governing of all things that are or come to pass as well in the Heavens as in the earth and not only those things that concern man but also those things that are put below him As God made all things wonderfully at the first so with no less admiration doth he govern sustain and take the care of them even to this day My Father worketh hitherto c. The eyes of all wait upon thee or look unto thee saith the Psalmist and thou givest them their meat in due season thou openest thine hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing Psal 145.15 16. It is a most absurd thing Theod. in 10. Serm. de Prov. Providentia est perpetuum immutabile rerum universarum regnum administratio Szegedin loc com de Provid saith Theodoret to say that God created all things but that he hath no care of the things which he hath made and that his Creature as a Boat destitute of a Steersman is with contrary winds tossed to and fro and knockt and crackt upon shelves and rocks God is a great Housholder all Creatures are in his Family and there is no Creature in this great Family neglected the little Ant and the creeping Worm have their allowance of God as well as man he never gave life to any Creature but he alloweth a convenient maintenance for it he made all things by his Word and by his Word and blessing in the means of their life are they upheld Now the Providence of God is composed of three heads Knowledge Disposition and Government 1. Knowledge he seeth and considereth all things his Science is infinite and incomprehensible he most distinctly beholdeth all things which have been are shall be and may be in their proper essence which is the efficient finall exemplar and fundamentall cause of them The eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the whole earth 2 Chron. 16 9. which knowledge of his thus in Verse expresseth Homer The Suns clear light Homer Which neer'theless to pierce Th' earths entrals hath no might Nor Sea with his weak rayes But th' worlds Creatour great All things survayes From forth his dwelling Seat Earths Mass doth not withstand Nor dark night letts but he Things present and to come And past at once doth see Hereof it is called by the Grecians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basting Catec de Provident that is a power whereby things are foreknown and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereby the same are foreordained and ruled as one noteth God knoweth all things simply together by one act and not successively Heb. 4.13 Mat. 7.23 God is simplex actus and as he most perfectly knoweth himself 1 Cor. 1.10 so also he knoweth all other things besides himself Gen. 1.31 Rom. 11.36 This is called by Aristotle and Anaxagoras intellectus purus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab α privativa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fugio quia illam nihil fugit Chrysip In this respect did Chrysippus call providence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ignorant of nothing God hath not only a generall and common but a proper and peculiar yea and that a perfect knowledge of every thing and by this distinct knowledge he knoweth singular things to come even contingent for to him their first cause they are necessary though in respect of second causes contingent The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good and if it were not so God would have only the bare title of governing the world and the thing it self should belong to second causes even as among men many things are done in the names of Kings and Princes and said to be done by their command when in the mean time what they are and how they are managed because
man fly he is in worse case than he was before as for instance Thou retainest to some great man in the world thereby to make him thy friend and thou supposest thy self secure and yet for all that there are such uncertainties in the world and the falls of great men are so common that when thou hast gotten thee such a refuge thou hast a great deal more cause to fear than thou hadst before but they are not only secure but blessed that put their trust in God Psal 2. ult Sect. 3. Of Gods delivering his people out of afflictions of the divers wayes God useth in their deliverance and how they are more than conquerours in afflictions shewed in five things When Godfrey of Bovillon besieged Jerusalem the Sultan having taught Pigeons to carry messages dispatched one of them with a letter which she bare under her wings to give advice to the besieged but by providence a Hawk seizing on her over the Christian army took her and made her to let fall what she carried to inform ours of the enemies designs Paul Aemil. l. 4. NOw as God doth by his providence preserve his people in afflictions so he doth deliver them out of afflictions Thou hast enlarged me or set me at liberty when I was in distresse saith David Psal 4.1 He shall pluck my feet out of the net saith he Psal 25.14 Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers the snare is broken and we are escaped Psal 124.7 Many are the troubles of the righteous but the Lord delivereth him out of them all Psal 34.19 As God is the authour of afflictions so he is the moderatour and remover of them He casteth down and he comforteth 1 Sam. 2.6 7. After two dayes saith the Prophet he will revive us and the third day he will raise us up and we shall live in his sight Hos 6.1 2. Though God afflict and correct his children for a time yet he will find a time likewise to comfort and deliver them Those words of the Prophet are by divers diversly expounded 1. The opinion of the Jewish Rabbines Some of the Jewes by the first day understand the time that the old Israelites their fathers were in bondage in Aegypt whereof we may read at large in the eleven first Chapters of Exodus and by the second day their captivity in Babylon and Assyria the one whereof viz. the carrying of Israel into Assyria hapned in the ninth year of Hoshea sonne of Elah King of Israel who is taken with his people and carried away by Salmanesar 2 Kings 17.6 The other in the eleventh year of Zedekiah King of Judah who likewise was taken and carried away with his people by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon 2 King 25. in which captivities the poor people seemed destitute and desolate like dead men buried and quite forgotten but the third day say they the Messiah shall deliver them and restore them to their former or greater glory But we Christians know that though Christ were a King yet his Kingdome was not of this world as he told Pilate Joh. 18.36 and that the deliverances he bestoweth on his people are not temporal for the most part This Jewish conceit therefore is more subtil than sound more witty than weighty 2. Others by the first day understand the time after the building of Solomon's Temple during which they often sustained many troubles being sometime besieged by their enemies by forreign wars and sometime falling soul among themselves by civil differences and dissentions and at last they are carried captive in Babylon By the second day they understand the time of their return from Babylon by commission from King Cyrus under the conduct of Zerubbabel Ezra 1. and after the building of their second Temple during which time they endured many hot assaults and bitter battails and at last have their City taken and Temple utterly ruinated and destroyed by the Romans And by the third day they understand the deliverance that the Messiah should bestow upon them which if they would expound of a spiritual deliverance of all the faithfull among them from the service of sin and Satan we would go with them but because they dream or rather dote of a temporal deliverance which shall never be leaving God's word we must leave them 3. Others by these two dayes understand a short time Brevi redinte grabit nos Tremel ad loc a certain time being put for an uncertain So David tells us His anger endureth but for a moment but in his favour is life weeping or heavinesse may endure for a night but joy will come in the morning Psal 30.5 4. Most of the Ancients make it a plain Prophecy and Prediction of Christ's Passion and Resurrection or of his two-fold Estates viz. of Humiliation on Earth and Glorification in Heaven Doroth. Episco Tyr. in vit Os◠Prophet as Dorotheus an old Bishop of Tyrus who lived in the dayes of Constantine the Great in his Epitome of the Life and Death of this Prophet tells us So likewise Bernard applieth this place of this Prophet to Christ and his members affirming That as he had so they must have their three several dayes Bern. Serm. in Resur Christ 1. The first was Dies crucis in mundo the day of his Crosse in the world 2. The second Dies quietis in Sepulchro his resting day in the grave 3. The third Dies Gloriae in Coelo the day of his Glory in Heaven Or to put the two dayes together as the Prophet doth the two dayes or whole time of his life was a Tragedy of trouble then the third day he rested in peace for a little space and then rose to eternal glory Thus divers of our Modern Writers affirm these things to belong to Christ Luther Zanch. ad loc Praecipuè principalitèr chiefly and principally because they had in him perfectum complementum and yet they may be referred to all Christians because they likewise be verified of them who shall have their two days of trouble here in this life as Matth. 16.24 Luke 9.23 Acts 14.22 2 Tim. 3.12 Heb. 12.6 Then a time of ease and rest at the end of the second day when death cometh Revel 14.13 and a joyfull resurrection to eternal glory the third day viz. at the end of the world when the Saints shall be delivered from all their troubles But the deliverances God vouchsafeth to his Saints in this life are divers 1. Sometime he delivereth them immediately by his own powerfull hand and stretched out arm without either Angel or man as he delivered Israel from Pharaoh and his host Mr Foxe tells us of one George Crow Fox Act. and Monum p. 1805. who being in danger at Sea cast out whatsoever he had reserving his Testament with which he was taken up and miraculously saved thus God preserved Paul from receiving any harm by the Viper that fastened upon his hand in the Isle Melita or
a man shall say Verily there is a reward for the righteous doubtless there is a God that judgeth in the earth Psal 58.10 11. Heaven Earth and Sea saith one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Niceph Gregor l. 7 do fight against a wicked man as a fugitive from Providence and a disturber of justice 3. In respect of the measure of them Reward Babylon as she hath rewarded you and double unto her double according to her works in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double Revel 18.6 By this it appeareth that whereas other Princes rule in the midst of their Subjects the Lord ruleth in the midst of his enemies Psal 110.2 And this maketh much for the comfort of the people of God that the Lord in his severest judgements executed upon his enemies is alwayes mindfull of his love and mercy towards them The Lord doth on purpose sink the vessels of wrath that he may waft over and safely transport the vessels of mercy to the haven he usually makes way for the saving his children by the ruine of his enemies The Lord is known by the judgements which he executeth the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands Higgaion Selah Psa 9.16 Rem valdè medirandam Junius ad loc The wonderfull events which the superstitious attribute to Saints and Idols the Polititians to their plots some to their own worth others to the means and extraordinary concurrence of second causes and the ignorant to Chance and Fortune the Penmen of the holy Scriptures do ever ascribe to the Lord they held it their best analyticks to resolve all such effects into their first principle Dr Prideaux Lect. in Psal 9.16 as a learned Divine of ours hath well noted CHAP. XXVI Quest 1. How God governeth all things whether immediately by himself or mediately by second causes answered in two Theses An Objection answered Quest 1. IT will not now be impertinent to enquire How God governeth all things viz. whether immediately by himself or mediately by second causes Resp. I answer That God disposeth of his Decrees both in regard of his fore-knowledge and purpose immediately by himself and so taketh care of all things but concerning the execution of this Decree ordinarily he doth it by means So then for resolving this doubt we must consider two Theses or Positions The first is Thes 1. Mornay Trunesse of Christ Relig. That Providence in God is immediately from God in respect whereof the ancient Philosophers led onely by the Moon-light of Nature called the Godhead it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is God or Providence because the one cannot be imagined without the other therefore he governeth and taketh care for all things immediately in himself and without means God immediately by himself worketh all in all and governeth all things by a certain general influx which some call the general power of God by which every creature being preserved and moved by God acteth and worketh according to its own nature thus the Sunne shineth fire warmeth the Heavens are in continual motion living creatures generate and bring forth Men have understanding and make choice of this refuse that they speak move act c. In him we live move and have our being and by him all things are moved in him do they consist he supporteth all things by the words of his power Thes 2. The second Position is That God executeth this Decree and governeth some time Greg. Nazianzen calleth those works of God quae suprà leges naturae ac facultarum hominum facit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dei potentias quas nos mentis intelligentia nunquà m consequi possumus 1. Without means that we may know he is not by necessity tied to them but at pleasure freely useth them and that he can at his pleasure effect his purpose without them and that his children may not distrust nor be too much cast down when they want them and that men may think God is not idle and that nothing falls out by Fortune as they say Thus the Lord raineth down Manna from Heaven enough to suffice the whole Camp of Israel that the people should go out and gather that which is sufficient for every day Exod. 16.4 If the fields should fail and the whole Earth grow barren yet can the Lord nourish his people and send food to nourish those that trust in him God is not tied to ordinary means nor our maintenance to the fruits of the Earth he findeth meat for the Ravens and they bring bread and flesh morning and evening to the Prophet Elijah by the brook Cherith 1 Reg. 17.5 and this was done by God's command I have commanded the Ravens to feed thee there vers 4. So when he fled from Jezabel an Angel provideth a Cake for him baken upon the coals and a cruse of water at his head and he did eat and drink and went in the strength of that meat fourty days and fourty nights unto Horeb the Mount of God 1 Reg. 19.8 A little oil shall continue running till many vessels be full when he pleaseth 2 Reg. 4.4 To this purpose our Saviour propoundeth a Question to his Disciples When I sent you forth without purse and scrip and shoes lacked ye any thing and they said nothing Luk. 22.35 They that are at God's finding find no inconveniences therein but by his blessing he maketh what ever he gives them be it little or much sufficient for them 2. God ordinarily in his government of the world worketh by means I say ordinarily because extraordinarily sometime he worketh without means sometimes against means God useth the Ministry of second causes both natural and voluntary either men or Angels Pemble de provident which are the most excellent Instruments of providence in governing the world Though the Decree of God be unchangeable yet means must be used God will have what he purposeth effected even by his enemies against themselves He causeth Pharaoh's daughter to bring up Moses to deliver his people from their bondage God provideth a friend for his Prophets to feed them with bread and water by fifties in a Cave he raiseth up an Obadiah in the Court of wicked Ahab as in Pharaoh's Court he had a Joseph to provide for Jacob and his family in a time of famine God provideth a fish to set Jonah safe on the shore Those means which God hath appointed if rightly used by us shall be sufficient for us however they seem to us though Abana and Pharpar be better than the River of Jordan 2 Reg 5.14 yet Jordan shall do the deed if God by his Prophet speak the word Object But are not the Godly subject to many outward wants as well as the wicked and doth not the Wise man tell us That all these things come alike to all both to the good and the bad Resp. Misery sits not so heavy upon the Godly as upon the ungodly Man is better