his own land Here was a prediction of death the kind of it and the place where and accordingly it was fulfilled as it is recorded in the 37 38 verses of the same Chapter 4. From the peculiar Prerogative of God as he is 1. the God of Mercies and so he hands Mercies to men 1. by their own deaths they are taken away from the evil to come God houseth them in Heaven before the black storms fall out on the earth See 2 King 22. 20. Isa 57. 1. 2. By the deaths of others who are thorns in the sides of his people the burning up of these thorns is a joyful bonfire So in 2 King 13. 22. Hazael oppressed Israel in ver 23. The Lord was gracious to them and had compassion on them c. Now how the Lord shews himself thus gracious and compassionate we have in v. 24. So Hazael the King of Syria died Thus the Lord is a God of Mercies even in the deaths of men But then 2. as the God of Judgment and so not only wrath but great wrath comes forth on the stage of the World in timing the deaths of persons The glorious terribleness of Justice is here seen as 1. when Providence suddenly snatcheth a man from his fancied Paradise Thou fool this night thy soul shall be required of thee c. Luke 12. 20. Death as Providence doth judicially time it hath a sting in its sting so in that Monarch who was slain in his Royal City by his own Sons and while at his devotions in the House of Nisâ—och his god Isa 37. 37 38. 2. When the deaths of many thousands are timed together The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth Psal 9. 16. We read of Seventy thousand men who dyed of the Plague in three days time 2 Sam. 24. 15. And in 1 King 20. 29. the children of Israel slew of the Syrians an hundred thousand foot-men in one day Now if there were not a Providence in the timing the deaths of persons the glory of Divine Justice would have its grave with the vast multitudes who fall by Famine Sword or Pestilence all which are the Lord's Arrows as the Prophet Gad informeth David in 2 Sam. 24 12 13. 5. From the success and non-success of means used in order to the proroguing or lengthning forth of life The preservatives of life are conservative of it no otherwise than as the Lord pleaseth This may be evidenc'd in three things 1. In the use of Medicinal means which sometimes very improbable to reason avail to the recovery of health and that though the person were mortally sick in the judgment of the most accurate Physicians There seemeth to be something of Providence by way of proportion to that Cure wrought on Hezekiah by the lump of Figs as Isa 38. 21. I acknowledg that Cure extraordinary and shall not dispute the question Whether the lump of Figs might not have something of natural tendency by way of cure This is that I contend for That Providence is very much seen if not in elevating improbable means in themselves considered in order to a cure yet in bringing to light such means which are improbable to mans reason though very proper for the recovery of the Patient who like Epaphroditus was sick nigh unto death but God had mercy on him Phil. 2. 27. And as the Lord's mercy and Providence is displayed in the raising of persons from the grave so no less may the hand of Providence be seen in rendering the means us'd for health succesless A Colledg of Physicians are Physicians of no value when and where the Lord the great Physician withdraws his manutenancy or succeeding hand of Providence witness this in Asa who had his Physicians but not his cure dye he must his disease lodgeth him in his grave 2 Chron. 16. 12 13. But 2 dly in the matter of Diet some Creatures have more of a restorative virtue than others and yet some are healthier fairer live longer with their Pults than others who eat their portion of the King's meat Dan. 1. 12 15. Whence is this the word doth plainly lesson Exod. 23. 25. He shall bless thy bread and thy water and I will take sickness away from thee And Mat. 4. 4. Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God Lastly In the greatest caution or circumspection men use to preserve themselves in dangers The King of Israel disguiseth himself and hath his Armour yet an Arrow finds its passage between the joynts of his Harness 1 King 22. On the other hand Jehosaphat who was in the same fight and in greater danger than King Abab is preserved It came to pass saith the Text when the Captains of the Charives saw Jehosaphat in his Royal Robes that they said It is the king of Israel therefore they compassed about him to fight but Jehosaphat cried out and the Lord helped him and God moved them to depart from him 2 Chron. 18. 31. 6 thly and lastly From the absurdity which would otherwise follow For if the timing of men's lives here in the world be not according to the bounds which the Lord sets then to whom shall the glory in point of preservation be attributed Shall men think themselves or acknowledg Fortune in contradistinction to Providence The Scripture otherwise teacheth Psal 31. 15. My times are in thy hand deliver me from the hand of mine enemies and from them that persecute me And Psal 68. 20. He that is our God is the God of salvation and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death In the next place it remains that some reply be made to the Objections which look and do but look the matter here asserted in the face and they are as followeth 1. Fifteen years are said to be added to the days of Hezekiah Isa 38. 5. Ans The addition there is no new Addition as it respects the Purpose of God it is rather a new Edition of the Purpose of God a discovery of what lay hid before and is now made manifest notwithstanding the contrary might be concluded in respect of the malignity of Hezekiah's disease To assert that there was a new Purpose of God because of the declaration of the Prophet there were to make a new God who is still the Ancient of days and with whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning as the Scripture affirms Him to be Dan. 7. 9. James 1. 17. 2. It may be objected That in Psal 55. 23. Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days Ans The days of men are considered according to the course of nature Psal 90. 10. The days of our years are threescore years and ten c. and according to the course of Divine Providence which holds an exact accord with the Purpose or Determination of God I know saith the Prophet to Amaziah that God hath determined to destroy thee because thou hast done this and hast not
hearkened unto my counsel 2 Chron. 25. 16. Men live not then half their days according to the probable course of Nature though they dye according to the number of days fore-known or determined by God 3. It may be objected That some are the cause of their own death and so dye before their time according to what is said Eccles 7. 17. Why shouldst thou dye before thy time Ans 1. The same will hold if it had strength as to others being the cause of the death of others as the Jews who killed Christ and yet this horrid fact of theirs was consistent with the stated time of Christ's Ministry on earth as was before proved John 7. 30. John 8. 20. John 13. 1. 2. However some are the cause of their own death yet not without the wise Providence of God either as righteously punishing them 1 Sam. 31. 4 2 Sam. 17. 23. or graciously chastizing them 1 Cor. 11. 30. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep So Josiah is in a sort accessory to his own death and yet he dyes in peace whilst he dyes in warr his death was but a sanctified flea-biting in comparison of the evil to come on his Kingdom he is removed from being a heart-broken Spectator of them and lives not to be the object of a barbarous and insulting Adversary's reproach and cruelty See 2 King 22. 20. with 2 Chron. 35. and 36 chap. Now from what hath been said as touching the extent of Divine Providence to the death of persons these four following Consectaries or Lessons may be commended 1. There is no reason to give way to anxious and disquieting thoughts from the consideration of difficulties dangers casualties which may attend our selves or those related to us in the way or calling in which God by his Providence engageth in according to his word warranting the way or calling There is an irregular fear and disquiet which leaps objectively from the black face of second causes into the hearts of men and women Our Saviour intimates so much in Mat. 10. 28. the disease there is Fears about the body and the cure of this disease is by going into the Shop of Divine Providence where a remedy may be had v. 29. the sweet and serious meditation on Divine Providence is the best Cordial under all fears and disquiets of this nature It comes to be the death of fears and disquiets which referrs to death There is a story of an Husbandman and Sea-man communing together The Husbandman asks the Sea-man Of what Civil Profession his Father was He replies A Sea-man as he was and so likewise was his Grandfather too The Husbandman enquires where his Father died Answer is made At Sea and so did his Grandfather too Hereupon saith the Husbandman Are you not afraid to go to Sea The Sea-man asks the Husbandman of what Profession was his Father and after his Grandfather and it being answered They were both Husbandmen he further asketh where they died Answer is made At home in their beds And are not you saith the Sea-man afraid to go to bed The application of this story is easie and needs not a screw 2. It 's wisdom then for persons to interest themselves in the God of Providence Happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psal 145. 15. there are two great encouragements to look after an interest in God as reconciled to the soul in and through Jesus Christ 1. None go with so strong a guard as they who have thus the Lord for their God Christ tells his Disciples that the very hairs of their head were all numbred Mat. 10. 30. 2. Whatever distresses Saints meet withal suppose a violent death they have a counterpoyson or remedy against the evil of the evils The Lord 's John Baptists lose their heads but not an hair they are then gainers when they seem to be losers There is enough by death to make amends for death Blessed are they which dye in the Lord c. Rev. 14. 13. 3. It may quiet the spirit when God takes away by death Friends Relations acquaintants These dye not at hap-hazzard The God of Wisdom placeth and displaceth persons in the World and all wisely and righteously If Children are with us like Jonah's Gourd for a night and then a Worm eats them to a withering There is no reason to quarrel with the Lord who hath variety of wise Ends in the Gourd-dispensation of this Nature We have reason to quarrel with our unreasonable quarrellings at the Lord 's bereaving us of Relations There was never a Marriage but a Funeral as consequent And yet doth not the Funeral of Relations usher in the Funerals of quietness and thankfulness to God for the loan of comfortable Relations so long If one lend us an hundred pounds for some years freely and after calls for it Is there ground for disquiet and fullenness as if so be there had been no courtesie at all for divers years How often do we forget our selves as men and much more as Christians in matters of this nature The Apostle Paul doth caution against irregular sorrow for death of persons 1 Thess 4. 13. and an excellent Illud quoque quâ justitiâ in omnibus rebus es necesse est te adjuvet cogitantem Non injuriam tibi factam quod talem fratrem amisisti sed beneficium datum quod tam diu pietate ejus tibi uti fruique licuit Seneca de consolatione ad Polybium Copy is left for us to write by when Death sets its cold hand on any of our friends 2 Sam. 12. 22 23. 4. What ground is here for a mortifi'd frame of spirit both to things and persons in the world Our days and the days of others will have their period We and others are like passengers in a Ship who whether they sit walk on the Decks or sleep in the Cabins are in motion towards the Haven The World is rather an Inn than an accustomed Home-Stall or Dwelling-house one generation passeth away and another cometh Eccles 1. 4. It 's folly then for the sons of men to be elbow-deep in the thick clay of the world as if so be they and their wealth their pomp and their pleasures were to abide here for ever Oh that what the Apostle Paul adviseth were engraven on the heart with a pen of Iron and the point of a Diamond But this I say brethren The time is short it remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they bad none and they that weep as though they wept not and they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not and they that buy as though they possessed not and they that use this world as not abusing it for the fashion of this world passeth away 1 Cor. 7. 29 30. 31. SECT 5. That the Providence of God extendeth to the meanest creatures and things trivial or of less moment in human apprehension comes in the last place to be insisted on and this
a break-neck fall at last 2 Chron. 25. 15 16. Pertinent for this purpose is that in Isa 6. 10. Make the heart of this people fat make their ears heavy c. and that in Isa 28. 13. The word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept precept upon precept line upon line line upon line here a little and there a little that they might go and fall backward and be broken and snared and taken And thus for the Arguments the Instructions follow 1. Take no encouragement to sin because God's Providence is righteously versant about sin Some there were in Paul's days who did fly-blow his Doctrine and pretend absurdities from thence Rom. 3. 8. On what hindg their corrupt reasoning did hang is intimated v. 5. The Apostle doth reply there as one well observeth Dr. Sclater 1. by way of caution I speak after or according to man that is not in mine own person as if I either approved or devised such a deduction 2. By way of detestation Gâ—… forbid that shews his abhorrency 3. By way of confutation else how shall God judg the world The manner of answer may in Logick seem absurd but is in Christianity the best that can bâ— shaped to deniers of Principles neither was it want of skill that made the Apostle deny the conclusion but wisdom rather to direct God's children how to carry themselves towards such as question undoubted Principles still hold evident truths yea though thou know not how to assayl doubts raised by men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth The direct answer is not here expressed by the Apostle partly for the cavil is so odious that it required rather detestation than answer partly because the answer was so obvious that any man might frame it See what it is the answer is on this manner That it followeth not because the illustration of God's glory flows not from our sins either by the nature of them or by the intention of the committer but by accident rather 2. Make not apologies and defences for sin comitted by way of reflection on the Providence of God There is an evil this way Adam saith The woman whom thou gavest me to be with me she gave me of the tree and I did eat Gen. 3. 12. Aaron doth little less than glance at Providence in giving a form to the Calf I said unto them saith he to Moses whosoever hath any gold let him break it off so they gave it me then I cast it into the fire and there came out this Calf Exod. 32. 24. 3. Eye the Providence of God in and about sin so as to admire love and thank him who is wonderfully gracious even when men are monstrously vicious Joseph did look through the villanies of his brethren to the All-wise Providence of God Gen. 50. 20. Peter who arraigns the Jews of Murder in Acts 2. 23. breaks forth into Doxology or large Encomion of the free-grace of God displayed in the death and resurrection of Christ whom the Jews had so barbarously murdered See 1 Pet. 1. 3 4. SECT 3. What is meant by Contingents here may be demanded by some of a weaker understanding I shall therefore premise a few things before I close in with the proof of the extent of Providence to these Contingents then in the general are such which according to their proper nature in themselves considered have an hability propensity or inclination to act this way or that and to fall out this way or that and may here be considered three ways 1. Contingents are considered 1. in equal balance so that the effect and consequent before it is is not determinable more one way than another 2. As having a propendulous and approaching propensity to one way more than another 2. Contingents are considered 1. in regard of natural things these may for distinction sake be termed Casual 2. In regard of voluntary Agents Thus the acts of the Will are accounted Contingent in respect of the different objects about which they are taken up and also in respect of one and the same object but as differently versant about it whether as willing or nilling 3. Contingents are considered as single or implicated so that there is a combination or conjunction of them as casual or voluntary or both An exemplification hereof is in Joseph his case there was an heap of Contingencies if we consider his Father 's sending him to his brethren or not sending him his brethren's so acting as they did or not so acting the Ismaelites passing by at that time or not passing by their buying him or not buying of him moreover it is said Joseph was cast into the pit and the pit was empty there was no water in it Gen. 37. 24. that there was a pit there nigh at hand and that this pit which was receptive of water and probably destinated for that end was now without water is all contingent Here we have a Chain of Contingencies some links whereof will contribute to the proof of the matter in hand in what now followeth both by way of argument and instruction First then the Scripture plainly asserts the extent of Providence to contingent matters Solomon who had made a deep search both into the works of Creation and Providence attesteth this and that 1. with respect to voluntary Contingents Prov. 16. 1. The preparations of the heart in man and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. Men think to bring forth this and that dish on the table and in this or that order but there is a wise controlling Providence Saepe apud se constituunt homines politici quid in confessu judicum ad milites ad populum apud principes dicturi sint sed responsionem linguae Deus pro sua Providentia temperat Exempla extant oratorum qui in magna frequentiâ hominum turpiter obmutuerunt Concionatores saepe rem aliquam diligenter meditantur postquam vero suggestum conscendunt omnium oculos in se conversos vident trepidant quae diligenter meditati sunt quemadmodum optarent proferre non possunt Mala etiam sibi dicendi homines proponunt sed nisi Deus justo judicio eos loqui permittat quod volunt nequaquam possunt Exemplo res crit manifesta Balaam ariolus corruptus pecuniâ regis Ammonitici devovere Israelitas statuerat sed velit nolit bona imprecari eis cogitur Quod de sermone dicitur multo magis de sactis est intelligendum Lavat Com. in locum such and such dishes come not on the table the Council-table or not in that order are they placed as was intended Again 2. with respect to Contingents natural or casual and so in the same Chapter it is said The lot is cast into the lap but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord v. 33. What is more contingent in it self than a Lot yet here is the disposing-hand of Providence seen Exemplifications there are for this in Achan the tribe of Judah
hath no reason to boast of to morrow for the morrow may bring forth the death of the Plot and the burial of the Plotter There are Contingencies which to man's apprehension at the first seem no otherwise than so many loose straws but with these straws artificially twisted together by the hand of Providence a Rope is made no less strong to bind than Chains and Fetters of Iron 3. There is great encouragement to live in dependance on God for provision and protection Contingent-dispensations are oftentimes the Saints Exchequer and Life-guard If one had ask'd a godly Israelite in the Wilderness saying Where is your food He must have answered Above in the Clouds a very high Cupboard out of the Children's reach but on the morrow it will be had out from thence Again if it had been said What if an Enemy shall fall on you It might have been replied That such a blow happened to the Egyptians behind as no need to fear them for one Forty years and such fears had fallen in upon the hearts of the Canaanites before them so that there 's little ground to be dismayed Thus through Providence the Egyptians Frenzy at the Red-sea and the Canaanites Palsey was the means of the Israelites safety 4. Take notice of Mercies conveyed on the wings of Contingent-dispensations In this Treasure-house are Mercies of all sorts The woman of Samaria happened to come in a good time to Jacob's Well where the Fountain of Life was open for her Joh. 4. 6 7. Ruth goes a gleaning and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging to Boaz as it is said Ruth 2 3. and from a Gleaner she becomes a Mistress in Boaz his Family to whom she married and at marriage hath the prayers of the good people in Bethlehem which prayers of her neighbours had a glorious issue no less than Grandfather to a King is born to the joy of Naomi Boaz Ruth and the rest of the people of Bethelehem See Ruth 4. 11. to the end SECT 4. That the Providence of God extendeth to the deaths of men may be illustrated 1. More generally 2. Particularly First In the general It appears from these and the like Arguments 1. God giveth life and no longer than he upholds life doth it last Thou saith Moses carriest them away as with a flood Psal 90. 5. The Jews went about to kill Paul yet their design was ineffectual as Paul giveth the reason saying Having therefore obtained help of God I continue unto this day Acts 26. 21 22. 2. If the Providence of God stoops to a Sparrow's falling on the ground why not to the grave of a Man and yet Sparrows are not long-liv'd birds as Naturalists observe they are birds of little value too To deny then the inference from Sparrows to Men is to asperse our Saviour's Logick for so is the scope of the Argument urged Mat. 10. 29. with 31. 3. Death is an Evil of smart and shall there be any evil in the City and the Lord hath not done it Amos 3. 6. 4. On the death of some persons the adversity of a whole Nation is ushered in that is a significant place of Scripture for this purpose in Lam. 4. 20. The breath of our nostrils the anointed of the Lord was taken in their pits of whom we said Vnder his shadow we shall live among the heathen And thus briefly in the general Secondly In the next place more particularly Consider the extent of Providence 1. To the Kinds of death 2. To the Timing of death First As for the Kinds of death they may be distinguisht thus 1. Natural as being affixt to nature since the fall of our first Parents Gen. 3. 19. By natural death here is understood the dissolution of man from Principles of Mortality within though there should not be any violence from without Thus some according to the Providential disposition of the Almighty come to the grave in a full age like as a shock of corn cometh in his season Job 5. 26. see for this Deut. 34. 5. Psal 90. 10. 2. Violent when the candle of life burns not out but is puft out and that by the hot breath of a raging Enemy or the sentencing-mouth of the Magistrate Job's servants were slain by the Chaldeans and Sabeans but not without the Providence of God as Job acknowledgeth chap. 1 15 17 21. Achan is stoned to death and yet glory is due to the Lord whom Achan had offended Josh 7. 19 25 26. 3. Casual which though it may be violent yet is here considered as not intended by men as Agents or Instruments God's Providence reacheth to Chance-medly The slaying of man accidentally is said to be God's delivering a man into the hand of the slayer see Exod. 21. 13. Deut. 19. 5. Secondly The timing of the deaths of men hath its reference to the Providence of God for as he sets bounds to the sea Job 38. 8. and hath determined the bounds of mens habitations Acts 17. 26. so he hath not left the lives of men boundless The truth of this will appear 1. From plain places of Scripture affirming so Job 7. 1. Is there not an appointed time to man upon the earth Are not his days like the days of an hireling Job 15. 5. Seeing his days are determined the number of his months are with thee thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass Eccles 1. 1 2. To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven a time to be born and a time to dye According here to Solomon's Divinity time or season for things fall under the Providence of God and particularly birth and death are in the front of the catalogue of the instances there which we are as one observeth to understand only according to the event what things fall out after God's appointment not the lawfulness or unlawfulness of them what things should be by God's commandment 2. From the reason rendered in Scripture why some are not sooner removed out of the world by the hands of violence notwithstanding promissory or rather comminatory probabilities John 7. 30. Then they sought to take him but no man laid hands on him because his hour was not yet come The same reason is repeated John 8. 20. Christ backs the same reason as solid and true when he said to his apprehenders When I was daily with you in the Temple ye stretched forth no hands against me but this is your hour and power of darkness Luk. 22. 53. 3. From the verity of God in timing the deaths of persons according to particular predictions So in Isa 7. 16. For before the child shall know to refuse the evil and chuse the good the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings Pekah the son of Remaliah was one of those Kings and his death is recorded 2 King 15. 30. It is said of the Assyrian Isa 37. 7. I will cause him to fall by the sword in
good Cause and a Divine Warrant to fight Benjamin and yet they were worsted and put to the rout Jacob had warrant to return to his Countrey a promise that God would deal well with him in that return Gen. 32. 9. and yet behold a Providence which seemingly clashed with the Promise Is this might Reason be ready enough to prompt Jacob in the ear to be dealt well with What! to have thy throat cut by Esau's Ruffians Here is a returning to thy Kindred indeed by returning to thy dust And yet Jacob's black cloud blows over and the Promise and the Providence do more sweetly kiss each other than the two Brethren do In the next place consider consider the Subject and so man is not much unlike Seneca's Harpesten who complained the room was dark when she was blind The light of Providence is not so taken in partly by reason of darkness in the understanding for we know but in part 1 Cor. 13. 9. and partly by reason of turbulent passions which being crossed in this or that dispensation do raise a sog or mist which cloud the understanding How is David transported on the death of Absalom 2 Sam. 18. 33. How doth Jonah's pride and passion hinder him from subscribing to the Wisdom and Mercy of God in sparing Niniveh see Jonah chap. 4. Men had need therefore watch against charming lusts and passions which otherwise will joyn their additional issue with the intrinsick darkness of the understanding and so like the Earth interpose between them and the light of Providence CHAP. II. 1. NO ground to throw by the observation of the Lord's Dispensations because our knowledg of them is not a comprehensive knowledg It is a dangerous inference from that of Peter speaking of Paul's Epistles in which are some things hard to be understood 2 Pet. 3. 16. to reject therefore the reading of the Sacred Scriptures The like inference here from the things hard to be understood in the course of God's Providence is of dangerous consequence What is said of the Scriptures how it is a River wherein the Elephant may swim and yet the Lamb may wade the same by way of proportion may be said as touching the Lord's Providential Dispensations some of which gravel the profoundest others are understood by the meanest for their instruction Haman's Councellors and his Wise Zeresh learn't a cautionary lesson in the School of Providence they bid him beware how he engage against a Mordecai a Child of Providence Esth 6. 13. The Apostle Paul informeth how there is a common Catechism of Providence for the World Rom. 1. 20. Moreover it may be well remembred here That some Dispensations of Providence which are dark for a time may after become light to the industrious and waiting Christian on his God When I thought to know this it was too painful for me until I went into the Sanctuary of God then understood I their end Psal 73. 16 17. Lastly Such mysteries and riddles of Providence the depth whereof we are not able to fathom yet by the light of God's word we are taught to subscribe unto and to rest contented by way of admiration where we cannot reach by way of comprehension Even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight Mat. 11. 26. 2. No reason for any mortal man to pride himself in his attainments Though a man be got up on the Mountain of Providence and others are in the Valley yet that man is far enough from touching the sky Two things may check pride upon the account of knowledg here 1. The Angels in Heaven may learn by the Providences of God on earth That Heavenly Academy admits of an addition of experimental knowledg see Eph. 3. 10. 1 Pet. 1. 12. No man therefore knows so much but he may know more and to be lifted up with high apprehension of man's apprehensions is so far from being wise as an Angel of God as that the man lies open to the condemnation of the Devil as the Apostle teacheth 1 Tim. 3. 6. But 2 dly he who hath an high conceit about his knowledg in Divine Dispensations may quickly be mistaken in matters and pay deer for his mistake We find how a good Prophet by a pretended Providence of an Angel's appearing is prevail'd on to do otherwise than he should have done and that to the loss of his life 1 King 13. 18 24. Though a man therefore have made more progress in the search of Word and Providence than others yet let him remember his knowledg is rather a twilight-one than Meridian and let him according to that in Psal 2. 11. serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling 3. From this learn to bid an hearty welcome to such means helps furtherances as God vouchsafeth for the better understanding of his dispensations This inference is rational from the premised Theses or Positions The Cripple needs his Crutches and no reason to throw them away till he can go without them There are two moving Considerations here 1. It is dis-ingenuous to do otherwise Shall God offer thee Spectacles for thy weak sight and wilt thou throw them against the wall or trample them under thy feet It was the aggravating sin of the Gentiles That they did imprison the notions of Providence which God had sent as guests into their hearts They held the truth in unrighteousness saith Paul Rom. 1. 18. Pharaoh had Moses and Aaron together with Catechising-Plagues and yet he continues as block-headed a King as ever sate upon Egypt's Throne and just it was with God that such a Block should float on the waters where Israel saw the great work which the Lord did upon him and his Egyptians Exod. 14. 31. 2. Herein is a display of Wisdom To use kindly these Guests I mean Hâ—lps and Furtherances for the better taking in of the mind of God in his Dispensations Abraham was no loser by entertaing the Angels as his Guests He learnt that in their company which otherwise he had been ignorant of Gen. 18. 17. It 's wisdom then to set open the window-leaves for Heaven's light to come in on our Understandings Whoso is wise and he shall understand these things prudent and he shall know them for the ways of the Lord are right and the just shall walk in them Hos 14. 9. OBSERVATION II. Gods Decree Will or Purpose is the original bottom or foundation of his Dispensations in the world CHAP. I. THE truth of this may be cleared on this wise 1. There are Allusions or Similitudes it Scripture which according to their proper scope and drift declare this In Psal 139. 16. In thy book all my members were written Jer. 18. 4. So he made it again another vessel a seemed good to the Potter to make it And it Zech. 6. 1. the Chariots there come out from between two Mountains This Text iâ— Et hic aptissime nobis pingitur consilium Dei quoniam antequam res in actum erumpant sunt quasi inclusae
the sons of men as shall after be spoken unto and the same Power of God is seen as it respects persons families in their particular Wilderness But 2. In point of Protection notwithstanding dangers It would fill a Volume to rehearse the many remarkable preservations which some have had whilst the Lord had wise Ends subordinate to his glory for their existence here in the world It may suffice that Christ points out the Power of God in preserving when he saith to his Disciples Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves Mat. 10. 16. What a notable draught have we of the Power of God in the rescue of Peter one of the Church's Bell-weathers from the Paw of that Lion Herod Acts 12. Neither Quaternions of Soldiers nor Chains nor Iron-gate shall hold him whom God will set free It is a truth God's Peters are immortal till their work be done CHAP. II. 1. THERE is no ground to be despondent or dejected in and under troubles Despondency of spirit is an evil of sin which steals in on parties under their evil of smart David said in his heart I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul 1 Sam. 27. 1. and yet Saul's day of death was then nearer and David lived to see the day for a confutation of his black imaginations for so is it recorded 2 Sam. 22. 1. And David spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies and out of the hand of Saul Let not the Christian then be sinking under his Saul like difficulties but ask his soul this question Can I find out an Omnipotent Distress If my Religion say nay and tell me there is but one Omnipotent in the World Why doth my dejected practice say yea or tacitly proclaim the contrary 2. Distrust not the truth of God's word as if the Lord could not be as good as his word for defect of Power 'T was Zachariah's fault that he look't too much to Second-causes and did not consider as he should the Power of God which had Nature though decayed at his beck Luke 18. 19 20. If therefore there be as great an unlikelihood of things spoken of in Scripture in point of being fulfilled as there was that Zachariah and Elizabeth being old should have a son yet give no way to cavilling-unbelief but take a view of matters in conjunction with the Power of God and so indeed we are taught in Scripture as in the case of the Jews who have lien in a forlorn estate for so many Centuries of years Rom. 11. 23. God is able to graff them in again And so likewise in the case of Antichrist Rev. 18. 8. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day death and mourning and famine and she shall be utterly burnt with fire for strong is the Lord who judgeth her And so in any other difficult case let that be remembred Gen. 18. 14. Is there any thing too hard for the Lord 3. Be encouraged to go on in such work as God calleth you unto in his Providence He that hath a God of Power to set him on work and pay him wages may take the more encouragement to follow his work If God be with Moses as he promiseth saying Certainly I will be with thee Exod. 3. 12. Moses may take heart notwithstanding all blocks in the way Heaven's Warrant will bear God's Moseses out notwithstanding all the fury of the sons of the earth and the sons of hell too See Josh 1. 6 7. Jer. 1. 17 18 19. Mat. 28. 19 20. Acts 18. 9 10. 4. Resolve on the exercise of faith more and more on the Power of God Let not so glorious a Jewel lye by without taking frequent views of it by the eye of Faith Consider two things 1. Hereby you glorifie God in giving him a due estimate of his Power A clear and full exemplification for this we have in Abraham who being not weak in faith considered not his own body now dead when he was about an hundred years old neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief but was strong in faith giving glory to God and being fully perswaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform Rom. 4. 19 20 21. 2. Hereby you consult your own good and quiet Had men more of Faith they would have less of disquiet Let not your hearts be troubled ye believe in God believe also in me was a word spoken in season by Christ for the calming of the hearts of his Disciples John 14. 1. If it be said here I question not the Power of God It may be replied 1. It is well if you do not as good as you have had their reflections on the Power of God Moses questions how Six hundred thousand foot-men should be provided for flesh for a Month in the Wilderness Numb 11. 21 22. God tells him saying Is the Lord's hand waxed short thou shalt see now whether my words shall come to pass unto thee or no v. 23. 2. Is there not a deceit of heart here God's Will is pretended but is not the Power of God questioned A reason to evidence this is thus Because when the distress is greater the party is the more disquieted Disquiet riseth with the difficulty The Israelites at the Red-sea were made up of unbelief Exod. 14 11 12. They might have considered that the Power of God which had made a passage through Pharaoh his stony heart for their egress from Egypt could make a passage for them through the Red-sea Martha is questioning the resurrection of her brother though Christ had said the word for the encouragement of faith and what is that which staggereth her faith it is because Lazarus had been dead four days see John 11. 39 40. 3. In reference to the Will of God about matters that there shall be no defect on God's part What he promiseth absolutely shall be made good what conditionally is made good likewise yea not only when the Condition is performed on our part but sometimes when failing on our part as in Martha her case Christ had told her If she believed she should see the glory of God displayed John 11. 40. yet she questioneth as v. 39. and Lazarus is raised v. 44. True then is that Heb. 10. 23. Faithful is he who hath promised OBSERVATION IX God never hath his Vacation-time though he may seem to do little or nothing sometimes in His administration of matters in the World CHAP. I. THAT Providence is not idle though it Deus nunquam feriatur Calv. seems to sit still will be evidenced 1. From positive assertions in Scripture So Prov. 15. 3. The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good Eyes here are attributed to God to note not only his knowledg of or inspection into the affairs of the World but his
world and we cannot well over-look a display of Providence on this wise and that in regard of 1. Instruments 2. Occasions 3. Means 4. Opportunities in point of bringing about things First As for Instruments the Lord is not confined to these If Thieves do not break in on Nabal and so become Instruments of divine wrath the Lord smites him that he dies 1 Sam. 25. 38. And if unlikely Agents for this or that work be brought forth on the stage yet nothing hinders as God is pleased to concurr but the effect is proportionable to a likely and promising cause of such an effect This may be seen in Spirituals and Politicals God saith the Apostle hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise 1 Cor. 1. 27. A little Maid is an Hand-maid indeed whereby a Naaman may come to the knowledg of the true God 2 King 5. 2 3. It is written of Mr. Peacock how that under his agonies of conscience when some Ministers asked him Whether they should pray for him He replied By no means do not so dishonour God as to pray for such a reprobate as I am But his young Pupil standing by said with tears in his eyes Certainly a reprobate could never be so tender of God's dishonour Which he well weighing was thereby comforted and restored when neither he with his Learning nor any other sons of the Prophets could prove sons of consolation to him Again in Politicals The Sacred History informs of the noble acts of Solomon though young and tender 1 Chron. 29. 1. with 1 Kings 3. 28. And of Josiah who was but eight years old when he began to reign 1 King 22. 1. Each of their green years were well made up by the Ancient of days as the Lord is termed Dan. 7. 9. The Fathers of Trent gave History of the Council of Trent lib. 2. p. 260. thanks to God when Henry the eighth was dead saying That it was a miracle that he had left a Son behind him of but Nine years old that he might not be able to tread in the Father's steps Thus these good Fathers for their gravity if not some of them for their levity according to the probable issue of their Doctrine in forbidding Marriage did soon shoot their bolt they might have held their pop a while and so have learnt this lesson truâ—r than their Canons That Edward the Child is more than a Child when Providence by him shall confront the Man of Sin Secondly Occasions for matters have not sometimes that influence by way of birthing-fâ—…th what in likelihood might be The Ephramites quarrel with Gideon for not calling them forth when he fought with the Midianites their sharp chiding recorded Judg. 8. 1 2. did not end in a bloody battel as it did at another time when the like contending had its closure in the death of Forty and two thousand of the swaggering Ephramites See Judg. 12. 1 6. Thirdly The Means for help are sometimes invisible unlikely and casual Ye shall not saith Elisha to the distressed Kings for lack of water see wind neither shall ye see rain yet that valley shall be filled with water that ye may drink both ye and your cattel and your beasts 2 Kings 3. 17. Or if the Means do appear yet they promise nothing to sense and reason Are not Abana and Pharphar rivers of Damâ—scus better than all the waters of Israel saith Nâ—…man may I not wash in them and be clean 2 King 5. 12. yet Jordans waters cleanse the Leper God works by what means he pleaseth Parties see a Jordan before them and sometimes see neither wind nor rain and yet have water a help a supply As that Woman reported of in the late Irish Rebellion who being driven into the Mountains her Milk was gone and her Child like to perish and then is found a Suck-bottle full of Milk by the good Providence of God Which teacheth us by such Experiments not to consine God to wind or rain or to warm breast-milk God can provide for his Children without these And little helps through gracious Providence become great ones Fourthly Opportunities for action take not accordingly as God in his Providence doth inhibit David in the night enters Saul's Camp finds Saul asleep he slays him not but brings away the Spear and the Cruse of water as testimonies of his loyalty 1 Sam. 27. 1. Ishbosheth's sleep cost him his head as was before exemplified There are like opportunities for action and yet not like consequent actions That of Christ is pertinent Mat. 26. 55. In that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me I sate daily with you teaching in the Temple and ye laid no hold on me CHAP. II. 1. BEWARE of slighting ordinary dispensations of Providence There is a foolish gaping after extraordinary ones God â—…a enim â—…mpositi 〈◊〉 ut 〈◊〉 quoâ—… 〈…〉 quaeâ—… reâ—… si 〈◊〉 litae â—…dieâ—iâ—t speâ—taculum dulcâ— fiat Hic itaq coetus astrorum quibus immensi corporis pulchrituâ—… distinguitur populum non convocat at cum aliquid ex moâ—… mutatum est omnium vultus in coelo est Sol spectatorem niâ— cum desicit non habet nemo observat Lunam nisi laborantem Soneca in lib. 7. quaest natur may justly suffer such to starve who list not to feed on the ordinary bread of Providence but are for the fine Manchet of Miraculous Displays The chief Priests Scribes and Elders said He saved others himself he cannot save if he be the King of Israel let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him Mat. 27. 42. Here is a flying to an extraordinary Providence or else no Faith no Christ and no Heaven Beware then of this Jewish leaven highly value what food God serves in on the ordinary Board-cloath of Providence as well as what is laid forth on a rich Diaper-one 2. There is little ground for the enemies â—… the Church to be confident and wickedly secure in their ways and designs against the Church What though there be not four Carpenters for the four Horns which have scattered Judah Israel and Jerusalem to allude to that in Zech. 1. 18 20. yet God knows how to â—…ay and to cast them out by the Carpenter's Boy A Jael with an Hammer and a Nâ—il shall fasten Lord-general Sisera so to the ground as that at her feet he bowed he fell he lay dâ—wn at her feet he bowed he fell where he bowed there he fell down dead Judg. 5. 26 27. 3. Bear up against unbelief or distrust of God under great distresses Say not O my case and the Church's case is sad indeed behold the ground is not a leight mold but thick heavy stubborn clay and withal very dry how shall it be broken up Where are the Oxen strong for the labour Say not so in way of unbelief The great God can moisten the earth provide the
and two Children which mocked the Prophet of the Lord 2 Kings 2. 23 24. Those new Colonies placed by the King of Assyria in the Cities of Samaria feared not the Lord therefore the Lord sent Lions amongst them which slew some of them 2 Kings 17. 24. Deborah and Barak in their song of Victory descant on this wise They fought from heaven the starrs in their courses fought against Sisera the river of Kishon swept them away that ancient river the river of Kishon O my soul thou hast trodden down strength Judg. 5. 20 21. 2. Other Creatures wherein they are defective in regard of annoyance by virtue comparatively to other Creatures may notwithstanding in regard of co-incident circumstances prove very afflictive Balaam's Asse was none of the wildest for the Asse said unto Balaam Am not I thine asse upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day Was I ever wont to do so unto thee And he said Nay Numb 22. 30. We have here the appeal of the Asse and the acknowledgment of the Master both accord in the truth of the premises and yet we find an harsh conclusion for she crusht Balaam's foot against the wall v. 25. So calm a Creature as Balaam's Asse at such a place where a wall being on this side and a wall on that side together with the Angel of the Lord standing in the path of the Vineyards v. 24. becomes a scourge to the Rider CHAP. II. 1. FROM the Creatures being made friends to us 1. Forget not whence it is that the Creatures smile on thee and do not frown It 's from the pleasure of their Lord or Master that these servants in the general and those of them which are of rough temper in particular do bespeak you fairly and run to and fro willingly to do you service I will says the Psalmist both lay me down in peace and sleep for thou Lord only makest me to dwell in safety Psal 4. 8. The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want Psal 23. 1. The Lord hears the heavens ere the corn wine and oyl hear Jezreel Hos 2. 21 22. 2. Labour to demean thy self in all godliness and honesty suitably to thy mercies There is good reason for such to serve God who have the Creatures as so many good servants to wait upon them There is an obligation on man to obey his God and the more his mercies are the stronger is the obligation He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God Micah 6. 8. 2. From the Creatures being Corrosives or Scourges one way or other 1. Observe How the sweetest Wine may become the sharpest Vinegar and this 1. With respect to Things 2. With respect to Persons 1. With respect to Things The good things of this life may be matter of affliction Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things therefore shalt thou serâ—e thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee in hunger and thirst and in nakedness and in the want of all things Deut. 28. 47 48. Hezekiah a good Prince yet what a thundering-message was sent him Behold the days come that all that is in thine house and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day shall be carried to Babylon nothing shall be left saith the Lord Isa 39. 6. 2. With respect to Persons as Magistrates Ecclesiastical Ministers Family-relations choice Friends or Acquaintants All these instead of Roses may become pricking-briers some way or other as may be instanced in 1. Magistrates who are the Ministers of God for good according to their institution Rom. 13. 4. these may be snatch't away by death to the grief of a People who sate under their refreshing-shadow Their deaths and burials become the resurrection of the Subjects sorrows Witness this in the case of good Josiah who dies and is buried and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him and Jeremiah lamented for him as is recorded 2 Chron. 35. 24 25. Or if they be not seized on by death they may prove the death or bane of a Nation by their follies Instances enough there are for this in Holy-Writ and History 2. Ecclesiastical Ministers become afflictive and that many ways When sins abound amongst a people pride barrenness under the means slighting Ministers and idolizing of them for these are sad extreams do with others sins provoke the Lord to afflict in and by Ministers Sometimes they are taken away by death John's Disciples had too high thoughts of their Master they began it seems to make a party against Christ himself John 3. 25 26. it 's observable ver 24. John was not yet cast into prison Afterward he was and beheaded too Sometimes though God continue them in the world yet he may make their tongues cleave to the root of their mouths They shall be dumb and not be reprovers as Ezek. 3. 26. The pipes shall be stopt and the Conduits in the Towns shall not run as formerly with that plenty of the Water of Life There is a time when the Prophets of the Lord are in their caves and not upon the house-top 1 King 18. 4. Again some may become afflictive by their slips falls apostacies Tertullian turn'd a Montanist and flies out against the Orthodox Scult Annal dec 1 p. 161. One Speicer in Germany was so powerful in preaching that Whores left the Stews and betook themselves to another course of living and yet after he return'd to the Tents of the Papists and miserably perisht Ibid. p. 269. It is said of Swenckfield who did beguile many with great swelling-words of illumination revelation deification of the inward and spiritual man that he had a well-meaning heart but a very irregular or erroneous head God is righteous as in the digging of a grave for some in the Vineyard and the binding of others hand and foot so in the permission of others to leap over the hedg of the Vinyard and to be be-wilder'd in wild and extravagant fancies and conceits See Acts 20. 30. 1 Cor. 3. with 2 Cor. 11. 13 14. 3. Family-relations become Gall and Wormwood 1. The Husband is sometimes a Nabal and folly is with him 1 Sam. 25. 25. or if he be otherwise his death gives life to the Wife's sorrows as 2 Kings 4. 1. Thy servant my husband said that Widow to Elisha is dead and thou knowest that thy servant did for the Lord and the Creditor is come to take to his my two sons for bond-men 2. The Wife if she be not more or less a chiding Zipporah Ezra 4. 25. a mocking-Michol 2 Sam. 6. 20. a sullen Vashti Esth 1. 12. or some otherway afflictive yet there was never a Marriage but there must be a Funeral and a vertuous beautiful Sarah must away out of an Abraham's sight Gen. 23. 4. 3.
the counsels of the hearts and then shall every man have praise of God To this of the Apostle add what Solomon hath as pertinent for a period here and oh that it might put a period to further deeds of darkness Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man for God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil Eccles 12. 13 14. OBSERVATION XXII PROVIDENCE runs parallel with the line of man's life Or Providence reacheth from the Grave of the Womb to the Womb of the Grave CHAP. I. AS there is a general inspection of God over all the Creatures as hath been before shewed so there is a more special over Man the Flower of the Creation next to Angels And this more special Inspection Care or Providence is co-extensive to the life of man which may be evidenced from the Scripture as followeth 1. It is plainly and positively asserted The Lord looketh from heaven he beholdeth all the sons of men from the place of his habitation He fashioneth their hearts alike he considereth all their works Psal 33. 13 14 15. To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven a time to be born and a time to dye c. Eccles 3. 1. See Mat. 10. 29 30 31. Coelum non est otiosum palatium sed Dei regia e quâ Imperium suum per omnes mundi partes cum summâ ratione sapientiâ exercet Mollerus 2. It 's acknowledged by the Lord's people in their addresses to him But thou art he that took me out of the womb thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mothers breast I was cast upon thee from the womb thou art my God from my mothers belly Psal 22. 9 10. O God thou hast taught me from my youth and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works now also when I am old and gray-headed O God forsake me not Psal 71. 17 18. 3. Otherwise that Principle of undoubted Verity In him we live and move and have our being Acts 17. 28. would expire before man breathe out his last If there be not a constant motion of Providence from life to death the sense must be In him we live not move not and have not our being 4. The Scripture descends particularly 1. To the Actions of man 2. To what befalls man and that by way of reference to the Providence of God First The Actions of man fall under a threefold consideration 1. As Natural as eating drinking walking talking sleeping these are subjected to the Providence of God They are like to make but a poor meal who have both mouths and meat if they find not grace in the eyes of the Lord. While the flesh was yet between the teeth of the Israelites yer it was chewed the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people Numb 11. 33. O Lord I know that the way of man is not in himself it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps Jer. 10. 23. But I will come shortly to you if the Lord will 1 Cor. 4. 19. The answer of the tongue is from the Lord Prov. 16. 1. On that night could not the King sleep Esth 6. 1. For so he giveth his beloved sleep Psal 137. 2. 2. As Civil or Political such are ploughing buying selling It is said of the Husbandman his God doth instruct him to discretion and doth teach him Isa 28. 26. The Apostle James reads to buyers and sellers a good and savoury lecture he willeth them to eye Providence for though they are Masters of their own Trade yet not Masters of their own Lives and what becomes of the intentional bargains then in a moment yea of what they have gotten through succeeding Providence when they are swept away by death which proves at times the death of their Wealth their Estates and Affairs lying raw and undigested and being left in the hands of Fools or Knaves See James 4. 13 14 15. 3. As Moral and that whether good or bad As for actions good no man unless he he forget himself to be a man will appropriate that to himself as a Fountain of which he is but a Cistern for who maketh thee to differ from another and what hast thou that thou didst not receive now if thou didst receive it why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it 1 Cor. 4. 7. See James 1. 17. And as for actions bad which are vulgarly so termed though Providence be not an author of them yet it is a spotless actor in and about them the foul acts in a man's lame-foot and yet lameness is not chargeable on the soul God is an holy God notwithstanding the displays of Providence in and about the Sins of men as hath elsewhere been discovered Secondly What befalls man is reducible to the Providence of God Not only the Honey but the Gall of man's life hath its being from Him I form the light and create darkness I make peace and create evil I the Lord do all these things Isa 45. 7. Job in that Doxology of his acknowledgeth this The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away Job 1. 21. CHAP. II. 1. LOOK back how Providence hath dealt with thee in time past Jacob did so as is left on record Gen. 48. Moses the Man of God in the book of Deuteronomy which may may be termed the book of Moses Farewel-Sermons preach't a Month before his death as some observe doth commend to the Israelites a survey of God's Providence towards them he willeth them particularly to take a view both of Mercies and Afflictions Thy raiment saith he waxed not old upon thee neither did thy foot swell these forty years thou shalt also consider in thine heart that as a man chasteneth his son so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee Deut. 8. 4 5. 2. Take encouragement for time to come to trust in God Some are miserably baffled with temptations for futurity How shall they do What may befall them and the like here is both an Antidote and a Remedy against this Disease Providence runs parallel with the line of life and this may quiet and compose the spirit if well thought on and improved But more particularly consider here three things 1. Providence is not tired It is a mighty Giant not wearied with half-racing Hast thou not known hast thou not heard that the everlasting God the Lord the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not neither is weary Isa 40. 28. 2. The experience of an hitherto-Providence may sweetly invite to wait on God for futurity So David reasoneth Thou art my Lamp O Lord and the Lord will lighten my darkness for by thee I have run thorow a troop by my God have I leaped over a wall 2 Sam. 22. 29 30. So Paul too 2 Cor. 1. 9 10. 3. The Promises are not empty breasts There is enough in them to keep faith
towards Heaven Twelfthly There are the sallies of Providence in regard of some glorious Discovery of God to the Soul by way of consolation Every day is not in this sense a Christian's gaudee-day Jacob had a golden dream indeed when in it Behold I am with thee and will keep thee saith the Lord to him Gen. 28. 15. That passage of signal Providence was never to be forgotten by Jacob it was of use to him thorow his whole life it was not an every-day's Providence though he had experience of God's Providence every day In 1 Kings 12. 9. God's appearing twice to Solomon is there taken notice of Paul was caught up into the third Heaven 2 Cor. 12. 2. I make no question but divers Saints of God have had somewhat like experience of God's out-goings towards their souls There are some high-days of Providence if I may so term them and oh that such high-days where and when they are may not puff up persons Lastly There are the sallies of Providence in regard of Death and that as they respect 1. The fore-running warning preparatory-intimations of Death Moses and Joshua sang sweetly like Swans before their death Christ observes that Providence in the woman's anointing his feet with ointment of Spikenard Let her alone said he to grumbling Judas against the day of my burying hath she kept this Joh. 12. 7. Memorable service of English-Generals under Sir John Norrice p. 46. It is recorded of Sir Anthony Wingfield slain at Brest in Britain in the year 1594 That at his last going into Britain he so disposed of his Estate as if he were never to return and the same day or day before his death took such order for his debts as if he had a presage of his end Some have fore-told the day of their death others have dropt such passages at times when no visible signs of death then as after have been better understood by their sorrowful Friends 2. These Death-sallies respect the kind of death The Lord takes some out of the world in way of Martyrdom as Stephen Acts 7. 59. James Acts 12. 2. Others dye a natural death and that notwithstanding all the attempts of men to the contrary This was Luther's case who dies in his bed do Emperor and Pope what they can to the contrary 3. These Death-fallies respect assistance against Satan then The Devil is busie then I have always saith a pious Divine observed Mr. John Barlow in his Ser. on Psal 73. 24. pag. 50. that when Satan most tempteth the truly religious they seldom recover that sickness he hath great skill to discover how nature is weakned and therefore taketh the fittest time for the purpose It 's reported of Mr. Pemble how the Tempter assaulted him by way of syllogism on his death-bed as was understood by Pemble's denying sometimes the Major other-whiles the Minor-Proposition Our Saviour Christ when the time of his Passion drew nigh said to his Apprehenders This is your hour and power of darkness Luke 22. 53. And what darts Satan shot at him in the bows of People Soldiers the Malefactor may be understood Luke 23. 34 to 40. As the temptations may be more than ordinary then so are the sallies of Providence in a way of assistance It is said in reference to Christ when the bitter Cup was in his hand there appeared an Angel from Heaven strengthning him Luke 22. 43. The Lord helps his people in shooting this gulph They will be out of gun-shot in a little time and Death will be the death of temptations The Sheep shall not be pluck't out of Christ's hand though Satan catch at them John 10. 28. 4. And lastly These Death-sallies respect Comforts at death which are dispenced after a more than ordinary sort to some as in Stephen's case Acts 7. 55. The learned and pious Rivet in his last hours seems to have had a turf of the Heavenly Inheritance a first-haâ—sel of Heaven a dawning of the joyful day of Eternity And thus far of the Sallies of Providence in regard of Death and other matters as hath been insisted on The Improvement of such Sallies follows CHAP. II. 1. OBSERVE and note well the Sallies of Providence If Gold-filings are with care paper'd up much more are the Wedges of Gold to be choicely laid up under Lock and Key It is observable how there is a note of attention or observation prefixt to the Narratives of the Sallies of Providence in the Sacred Scripture see Gen. 28. 12. Gen. 37. 15. 1 King 14. 10. 2 King 19. 7. Psal 78. 20. Acts 10. 19. 2. Be thankful to God for what share you have had in the signal Sallies of Providence on your behalf Hath Providence stept in for thy help holp up thy Cart when it was overturn'd or suddenly suppli'd thee with a firm Wheel for a broken one What remains now but the celebrating the Name of God with Halelujahs The Israelites had their Song for that Sally at the Red-sea Exod. 15. 1. We read of the Writing of Hezekiah King of Judah when he had been sick and was recovered of his sickness Isa 38. 9. Paul is affected with the Lord 's delivering him out of the mouth of the Lion 2 Tim. 4. 17. 3. Learn from the meditation of the Sallies of Providence to trust God both for thy self and Relations God's Saints have so done their faith in running backward hath fetch'd a leap forward So David in 1 Sam. 17. 37. So Paul 2 Tim. 4. 18. Abraham had an eye to the Sallies of Providence for his Son's marriage Gen. 24. 6 7. he useth the means sends his servant on a Nuptial-Embassie and so acquiesceth in God's Providence The Sallies of Providence on the behalf of Children are the best portion They who can leave little or nothing to Children yet if they leave them an interest in the Sallies of Divine Providence do leave them enough what is wanting one way these Sallies of Providence make up another way Oh that Parents therefore would take less care by taking more care less care for the Earth and more for Heaven The way to have things go well is for Parents and Children to have God for their God or to be reallly godly But of this in the next Meditation Nititur ergo Abraham promissione docet omnia gerenda esse in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fidei sive magnum sive exile appareat Sic nos quoque discamus Deo reddenda committenda esse omnia sive singularia sive usitata summa infima ut laetemur fortes simus in Domino omnem solicitudinem in eum projicientes Videtur res sordidâ— obscoena propemodum apparare filio nuptias sed in quanto pretio honore est in oculis Abrahae adeo ut non dubitet de Angelorum praesentia cura praesidio Lutâ— ad locum OBSERVATION XXIV PROVIDENCE hath its Courts in which the sons of men have their different stations CHAP. I. AS in the Temple of
old there were divers places appropriated to persons so in the great House of Providence some are the Children and have their lodgings others Servants and Scavengers who though they have some relation to the House yet are not members of the House comparatively with others There are three Courts or Circles in which men may be considered 1. There is the large and outmost Circle of common or general Providence Here all men the worst of men even the Pagan-Pagans may be placed The Lord maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust Mat. 5. 45. Nevertheless he left not himself without a witness in that he did good and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness saith Paul to the Paganish people at Lystra Acts 14. 17. 2. There is the intermediate Circle of special or limited Providence which respects members in common of the visible Church Unto the Jews were committed the Oracles of God Rom. 3. 2. they are called the children of the Kingdom inasmuch as God honoured them with his Worship and Ordinances Matth. 8. 12. 3. There is the inmost Circle of peculiar and singular Providence In this Circle are the Elect of God and Called of him in Christ Jesus The former Circle is a visible one this invisible the former of larger circumference than this later for many are called but few are chosen Mat. 22. 14. The Apostle Paul doth describe this by the notion of an house in which are vessels of divers sorts not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and of earth some to honour and some to dishonour 2 Tim. 2. 20. To what hath been said of these different Courts may be added what doth further appear from Rom. 2. where two things are observable 1. The different descriptions of parties there The Gentile is set forth in his colours v. 14 15. the Jew or formal Professor in his v. 17 28. the sincere Saint in his v. 28 29. 2. The different aggravation of sin there The Gentile's sin is aggravated in that he fights against the displays of a Deity in his Conscience which accuseth him v. 15. The Jew or Formalist hath his sin aggravated in that he oppugneth higher discoveries from Heaven v. 21 22 23 24. And consequently He who hath the highest Discoveries hath sin in that respect aggravated the more as in David his case 2 Sam. 12. compared with Psal 51. CHAP. II. 1. QUARREL not with God because all are not within the inmost Circle of Providence Corrupt Reason is ready to enter its plea against God as the Apostle intimates Rom. 9. 19. But whatever the pleas of Reason are yet they are without reason for reason it is that the discoveries of God in Scripture should be decisive in matters And here to silence Cavils there are Four things considerable 1. Is there ground to dispute with the Almighty for his not making all the Creatures of one or two specifical Kinds The Lord needed not direction from man in the creation of several sorts of creatures according as they are brought forth on the Stage of the World Gen. 1. His Will and Wisdom is to check man's Peevishness and Folly The Lord saith Solomon hath made all things for himself yea even the wicked for the day of evil Prov. 16. 4. It is true that the Lord hath not made the wicked as wicked by way of positive efficiency yet he hath consulted with the glory of his Justice in the wicked's existency and that by way of antecedent permission or permissive antecedency It is not from a defect of Power in God as if Stones could not be turned into Children unto Abraham as the Baptist asserts Mat. 3. 9. The Lord's Will is the Supream reason why the Creatures are different both in regard of their natural and moral consideration No reason is there then for man to cavil at the difference there is natural or moral amongst the Creatures 2. Hath mortal man without the least impeachment of cruelty a liberty to appoint such and such young beasts some for the Plough others for the Pail and others for the Shambles And shall it be deni'd to the Almighty if he shall appoint not all but some to obtain salvation by Jesus Christ 1 Thess 5. 9. There is unquestionably a distance by Myriads of Myriads between Man and an Infinite God That distance between Man and the Beasts is but as the Tenth thousand part of an Atom in comparison of the whole World yea not that in comparison of the other distance between Man and the Lord Jehovah To quarrel then at the Lord's Prerogative is for a man to allow that in himself which he will not on the other hand allow to his Maker and Soveraign Disposer 3. What if the Lord had wholly excluded men from his grace and favour and instead of them magnified his grace towards the lapsed Angels Had he been unjust cruel partial therefore No no and if so then it follows that he who might pass by all the sons of men without wrong done to them is not to be censured because he takes compassion only on some and the rest are hardned see Rom. 11. 5 7. 4. Men come not into the inmost Circle of Divine Providence because they cannot but because they will not A man is told That if he travel on in such a road his throat will be cut for there the Cut-throats are in ambush if this man will on his own perverse will is in fault A man is sick and this or that Remedy is prescribed and he will not make use of it he dies of the disease but the moral disease of his wilfulness may be rather termed the cause of his death This is the Sinner's case He is a resolv'd man for his own ways How long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity and the scorners delight in their scorning and fools hate knowledg Prov. 1. 22. And Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life To wave then disputes about the Lord's Purpose There is enough in man to apologize for God in regard of man 's not being within the inmost Circle for go to the Gentile who never heard of Jesus Christ and so by way of proportion make a judgment of the cases of others whose ears the joyful sound of the Gospel hath fill'd but their hearts are empty of grace or goodness and there will be no reason to multiply words without knowledg for what saith the great Apostle of the Gentiles Rom. 1. 21. Because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkned We have here the judgment of the great Doctor of the Gentiles who had taken cognizance of the matter and his decision will the better appear if a Comment which a learned man hath on this Text be alledged Doct.
founded on right Reason or general Experience Some make bold to bring forth the Decrees of the Starr-Chamber as touching the bent of men's minds the deaths of persons c. as if so be there were not a secret Council-Table within the be-spangled Canopy of Heaven There is little reason and less grace for men to be curiously searching after some Fopperies in Almanacks and this to the neglect of their Bibles which will never be out of date If men would search into the later as they do into the former they might read of an Esau and a Jacob twins-born but of a different character Gen. 25. 23. They might read of many thousands dying a violent death nigh one and the same time Judg. 8. 10. and if an Astrologer had been consulted is it likely that he had made such a difference as to Esau and Jacob and such an Harmony of the deaths of an Hundred and twenty thousand as the last Scripture mentions Again they might read that promotion cometh neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south Psal 75. 6. Furthermore they might read a Sacred insulting Irony Let now the astrologers the starr-gazers the monthly-prognosticators stand up and save thee from the things that shall come upon thee Isa 43. 13. Lastly They might peruse a Dehortatory Lesson Thus saith the Lord Learn not the way of the heathen and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven for the heathens are dismayed at them Jer. 10. 2. 2. There is another bastard Harmony in regard of particular blind Prophecies cast forth from Wizards and Witches the Oracles of the Devil There is in some a wicked Curiosity to know their Fortune as it is phrased If such would know their Fortune they might take a shorter and surer course by reading the 28 ch of Deuteronomy or if they like not so large a Discourse they may have it in short from Christ who tells them He that believeth not shall be damned Mark 16. 16. It is often a suspicious sign of hardness of heart and a judiciary deserting by the Lord when thus the Oracles of the Devil are in request with parties Seek me out said Saul to his servants a woman that hath a familiar spirit that I may go to her and enquire of her 1 Sam. 28. 7. and what got he but further sorrow and wo see ver 20. Perhaps it will be objected here by some That Prophecies so termed do fall out true and therefore why are they not to be look't after To this thred-bare Objection note the following Reply and that in divers particulars 1. Why are not things observed to fall out otherwise ordinarily Sciunt illi daemones quidem futura multa sed non omnia quippe quibus penitus consilium Dei scire non licet ideo solent responsa in ambiguos exitus temperare Lact. lib. 2. Instit cap. 15. An Astrologer or Star-peeper saith Luther is to be likened to one who selleth Dice and saith Behold here I have Dice that always run upon Twelve the rest of the fifty Casts upon 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11. Even thus it is with Astrologers When once or twice their Conceits and Fantasies do hit and happen then they cannot sufficiently extol and praise the Art but touching the other so oftentimes failing they are altogether still and silent Thus Luther And indeed it 's no wonder if sometimes that which is spoken and yet it may be in the general or in an ambiguous sense do thus or thus fall out Suppose divers in Israel had had recourse to Witches or others to enquire what weather should have been on the morrow when Samuel said Is it not wheat-harvest to day I will call unto the Lord and be shall send thunder and rain 1 Sam. 12 17. Perhaps none had hit right suppose one had amongst many for some kind of weather must be now this one speaks the truth but not truly having no ground but as the blind man shoots the Hare 2. Whether some kind of Predictions may have some influence by way of a kind of natural causality to bring about what is said A true Prophecy may have some influence in an ordinary way to further the accomplishment of it self so 2 King 9. the Prophecy there was the occasion at least for the Army-men to set up Jehu And so on the other hand some passages heeded may be inductive of the thing A man hath a strong conceit of death he is foretold so and this phancy may through Providence righteous Amen have its deadly operation 3. Satan can give notable intelligence to some who are his Oracles For Angeli in verbo Dei cognoscunt omnia antequam in re siant quae apud homines adhuc futura sunt Angeli jam revelante Deo noverunt praevaricatores Angeli etiam sanctitate amissa non tamen amiserunt vivxis creaturae Angelicae sensum triplici enim modo praescientiae acumine vigent scilicet subtilitate naturae experientiâ temporum revelatione superiorum potestatum Isid Hisp lib. 1. sent c. 12. 1. He is an Angel and so hath a deeper insight into matters Though there may be some crack in his natural intellectuals by his fall yet as an Angel he sees further into matters see 2 Sam. 14. 17. 2. He hath had long experience as to matters in the world He is an old Serpent Rev. 12. 9. 3. He can quickly take cognizance of the position of matters how things are in their precedent Causes both Natural and Moral Thus supposing that it was the Devil in Samuel's Mantle no wonder if he speaks as he doth for David was anointed Saul grows worse and worse and now the top-stone-Sinne was laid on namely his going to a Witch and a battel was at hand to be sought 4. The Devil hath a great stroak in matters brought about in the World He that is then an Agitator may the better be an Intelligencer See 1 King 22. 21 22. Job 1. 12. Satan could know what would befall Ahab and Job when he had a Commission or rather a Permission what to do 4. God hath wise Ends in the verification of what is sometimes foretold That place in Deut. 13. 1 2 3. is a full one for this purpose Providence forbears not to go the journey because Satan doth so probably guess and give it out yea Providence sets forward the rather for the trial of persons And therefore let that pertinent instruction be remembred Isa 8. 19 20. And when they shall say unto you Seek unto them that have familiar spirits and unto wizards that peep and that mutter should not a people seek unto their God for the living to the dead To the law and to the testimony if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them 3. There is a specious expected Harmony of Providence with Scriptures misunderstood It may be said here to some as Christ said Mat. 22. 29. Ye do
had as it were her neck on the block the lifted-up hands hold up the lifted-up Ax from falling down Esth 4. 16. Prayer was made without ceasing for Peter Acts 12. 5. the Lord sends an Angel who procures a timely Gaol-delivery v. 7 8 9 10. As God doth call forth prayer in such extremities for our extremities call upon us to call upon God so his goodness is seen in the answer made unto prayer which may further be a Load-stone to this duty under the like extremities It is said in Psal 102. 17. He will regard the prayer of the destitute and not despise their prayer O how oft have praying-ones had experience of God's regarding them when in respect of their extremities sense and reason might be ready to prompt as if the Lord had utterly rejected them I remember here a memorable story There happened to be a Famine in a Ship insomuch that the question was started about drawing lots who should be eaten one of note in the Ship and a pious man withal desired the rest That they might first seek to God by prayer before they resolved to enact so inhuman a Butchery and accordingly he made a prayer to God and whilst he was praying a Fish of some bigness was cast out of the sea upon the place where he was praying this Fish they divided and though it were but a short Commons for hungry ones yet it put a stop to a Flesh-dinner for that time but however the belly hath no ears hunger comes on and the old question about a bloody Flesh-meal is started The man who was their mouth to God in prayer wills them They might look up again to God having had experience of his gracious Providence in the Fish accordingly to prayer they go and whilst at prayer a Fowl of considerable bigness flies a-thwart the Ship-tackling and is entangled which they had and accordingly divided and before any further controversie did arise a Ship bears up towards them and their distressed case being communicated provision they had out of the Ship and that notwithstanding the Captain of the Ship had a particular grudg against the man of note in the other Ship and was resolved at first to play the Esau with this Jacob but yet did him no harm 5. To render His Wisdom and Power conspicuous and that not only to persons the immediate subjects of such relief but likewise to others in after-generations So for the Wisdom and Power of God there was more than a few drops of these at the Red-sea how often is that deliverance taken notice of and celebrated in the Sacred Scriptures The like may be said of the distress of the Lord's people in Esther's days What a glorious display was there of Power and Wisdom in that astonishing deliverance In Psal 102. we understand of the low and distressed case of persons there for the title of the Psalm is A prayer of the afflicted when he is overwhelmed and poureth out his complaint before the Lord And passages in the Psalm do imply distresses We have there doleful complaints and a tragical description of distress express mention made of Zion's stones and dust and now notwithstanding the sore distress of the Lord's people the Lord is not wanting for it is said ver 16. When the Lord will build up Zion he will appear in his glory that is he will exalt the glory of his Attributes particularly of his Power and Wisdom he hath both Power and Skill to gather the stones and dust and make a glorious building glorious to the eyes of those who shall take a view of all for this shall be written for the generation to come and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord ver 18. 6. To check the pride insultation and malicious resolutions of wicked ones Come say the Babylonians sing us one of the songs of Zion Psal 137. 3. God can in time let the Babylonian know there are those whom he can make use of to make the Babylonians howl who now call for singing one of the Lord's songs How were Pharaoh Haman Senacherih check't at a nick of time And not only in former times hath Providence been seen in giving a check but also in later days There is a very remarkable story of Magdeburge the Citizens whereof in Charles the Fifth's time Emperor of Germany stood out heroically notwithstanding the Emperor had born down with force the Protestants in all Germany only Magdeburge is like the Pelican in the wilderness and the Owl of the desart and the Sparrow alone on the house-top and though so yet how in the nick of time was Prince Maurice who besieged them wheeled about to be their friend and so makes Articles of Peace with them and with his Army falls in upon the Emperor who flies before him and after forsakes the Imperial Crown betaking himself to a retired life and so the Protestant Interest which was sore depressed hath its resurrection to the baffling of Popish expectations Hither or under this head may be referred that of the witnesses in Rev. 11. I wave debates as to parties slain and the time when whether at several times in several generations That which makes for the matter in hand is the Lord 's raising them notwithstanding their being slain and that to the shame and terror of their adversaries for so in v. 11. After three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entred into them and they stood upon their feet and great fear fell upon them which saw them That in Mie 7. 10. may here be accommodated as a good Comment on this place and pertinent to the matter in hand Then she that is mine enemy shall see it and shame shall cover her which said unto me Where is the Lord thy God Behold mine eyes shall behold her now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets Lastly To mention no more The Lord doth step in in the depth of misery to endear himself unto persons holpen and to engage their hearts the more unto him who doth exalt his mercy at such a season So in Exod. 15. 13. Thou in mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed And Psal 34 6. This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles And in Psal 116. The sorrows of death compassed me and the pains of hell gat hold upon me I found trouble and sorrow then I called upon the name of the Lord O Lord I beseech thee deliver my soul gracious is the Lord and righteous yea our God is merciful CHAP. II. 1. SEE folly and vanity 1. In regard of impatiency under evils 2. In regard of excursions or steppings aside from duty to the use of means for which men have no warrant There is folly both these ways The Israelites fell foul on Moses and Aaron because the door for egress out of Egypt was not opened at first knocking What though a double Lock seem to
they would read no farther So it is related in the first lesser Narrative inserted amongst Grynaeus Theological Theorems 2. In Temporals and here a Furtherance becomes an Hindrance as it respects 1. The being of life 2. The well-being 1. As for life it self the way taken to preserve it puts a period to it Physicians sometimes through an oversight and sometimes through the folly of the Patient or those about the Patient see the end of the Disease in the end of the Party It is observed how some who denied the Faith to save their lives have been killed notwithstanding In Sir John Temple in the History of the Irish Rebellion p. 109. the late Irish Rebellion divers of the Parish of Ganalley were drawn to a reconciliation with the Church of Rome and after the Priest told them they were in a good Faith and for fear they should fall from it and turn Hereticks he and the rest that were with him cut all their throats Henry the fourth of France is assâ—ssinated notwithstanding what course he took in tolerating the Jesuits for fear and in deserting the Reformed Religion Queen Elizabeth of England on the contrary outlives the treachery of Papists That passage of Christ Mat. 16. 25. is made good often to the letter of it and if not yet it contains encouragement enough to lose life for him who can pay the debt with interest 2. As for the well-being of life as Wealth Honour and the like the means used for these are successess oftentimes The Father of Constantine the Great disregarded the Weather-cock Courtiers who did manifest their will to leave their Religion to keep their Places of Honour The way some take to be rich is to become poor A fire consumeth the Tabernacles of Bribery Job 15. 34. Yea not only the well-being of life intended is disappointed but death it self is the issue of means used The way taken to rise is to fall and so to fall as never rise again till the Resurrection-day The Amalekite who expected reward lost his life 2 Sam. 1. 15. See further 2 Sam. 4. 9 10 11 12. CHAP. II. 1 BEWARE of irregular or undue Furtherances in matters Nothing more common in the World than for men to forget their duty towards God whilst they mind their own Worldly Interest So men get to their journeys end it matters not with them to mount the Horse of the Devil 's providing Lying Pâ—rjury Cruelty Theft Apostacy from Religion are the Shooing horns for men's designs and how the Building is like to be finish't where such stones are in the foundation and side-walls will be seen in time That in Hab. 2 12 13 14. may lesson men how the way taken to set the nest on high is in the issue to consult shame to the house in bringing it low and poor Spira cryed out saying I began to know the Divine Scriptures I knew the business of Justification and yet I set forward to deny all to the end I might save my life harmless from evils and leave what little fortunes I had to my children wherefore God hath chastised me and doth so heavily afflict and torment me my life my soul so as that no one ever felt greater torments and the Lord knows what will become of my children I believe my house will grow worse and worse every day and will so fall as that one stone shall not be left on another Thus the Author in the second Epistle writeth of him And it may lesson to beware of sin which quickly may become a Moth to the Estate a Consumption to the Body and gnawing Worm to Conscience 2. The less ground there is to fear the enemies of Religion who lay aside all modesty honesty and piety in their attempts against Religion These Spiders may be wrapt up in their own webs The way they take to further their Interest hinders it The train laid to blow up others doth at first or second hand mischief themselves Scultetus relates How the Command Nempe Deus omnipotens adversariorum consiliis operâ decretum opus suum mirabiliter peragebat In Annal. dec 2. p. 440. of the Bishop's Deputy at Geneva for the burning of the Bibles both of the French and German Translation the reproaches cast on those of Bearn being Gospellers and confederate with Geneva by Furbitus a Popish Doctor the Murther committed by Porterius the Bishop's Secretary who being seized on his Coffers brought to light deeds of darkness for suppressing the liberty of the City the detection in a nick of time of a Plot to deliver up the City so that many of the Popish party being conscious of their crimes left the City These with the like passages had an influence to shake quite off the Popish yoak there Thus the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands Higgaion Selah Psal 9. 16. 3. What need is there for men to acknowledg God in all their ways For Furtherances pitched on though free from obliquity yet prove Hindrances sometimes Whilst in an honest and prudent sort some labour to manage affairs with others instead of pleasing they do displease Luther found his mild Sleid. Com. lib. 6. p. 24. writing rather to exasperate than mitigate the spirits of Henry the Eighth of England Cardinal Cajetan George Duke of Saxony Erasmus of Roterdam There is an over-ruling Providence of God in turning the stream into what Channel he pleaseth It is recorded how one Oltacus having a Murderous Design would by all means speak with Lucullus who then was asleep at mid-day One Menedemus tells Oltacus That nothing was more to be regarded than the welfare of Lucullus and therefore he was not to be awakened Oltacus being jealous his treachery might be discovered fled and so Lucullus his mid-day-nap was preservative of his life Ishbosheth's laying himself down on his bed at noon was no such preservative but rather an inductive to his murder 2 Sam. 4. 5 6 7. Learn we then to be confident in nothing and to eye God dependently in every thing for he is the Soveraign Lord to whom belongs the issues of Furtherances according to His Infinite Wisdom OBSERVATION XLV There is a gradual process of Providence in bringing about of matters Or Providence works things by degrees CHAP. I. HOW the Lord brings about matters notwithstanding letts and turns Hindrances into Furtherances and Furtherances into Hindrances hath been shewed A further Observation as to the manner of God's working is here to be considered and that with respect 1. To Calamities or wrathful Dispensations 2. Mercies or smiling Dispensations And in each of these a gradual process is observable First To begin then with the first and that may be illustrated three ways 1. From Metaphorical and Allusive terms in Scriptures Metaphors are contract Similitudes and Scripture-Similitudes in regard of their proper scope do point out the truth of the thing whilst they paint it out In Hâ—s 5. 12. Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a
in regard of their Places are not to be Devils in regard of their Administrations Nehemiah did not as others before him because of the fear of the Lord Neh. 5. 15. Again Church-men are to mind their work Paul had his conversation in simplicity and godly sincerity 2 Cor. 1. 12. He was laborious in the Lord's vinyard 1 Cor. 15 10. He writ as well as preach't though a prisoner yet his pen is at liberty for the service of the Church Gal. 6. 11. he gives not off driving the Gospel-Nail one way when there was no driving of it another Lastly This concerns Parents Mâ—sters Children Servants to consider how they move in the Ark or Sphâ—re of their respective stations No place so mean but a person may glorifie God in it Obedience to God in the place where Providence hath fixed a person is better than Sacrifice out of it Luther hath in his Postils what illustrates the matter in hand with which I conclude this Section A certain Housholder hath a Wife Daughter Son Maid servant and Man-servant He commands his Man to harness the horses to bring home wood to plough and such like work He wills his Maid-servant to milk the Cows make Butter and such like To his Wife he commits the care of the Family and the ordering of provision To his daughter the distaff and the making of beds All these are the injunctions of one and the same Master But now if the Maid leaving her office and task required shall harness the horses and fetch home wood from the Copses and on the other hand the servant shall busie himself about the Cows and Milk-pails which is not his work and the Daughter leaving her Whorle instead of a Spinster shall become a Carter the Wife or Mother shall make the beds and handle the Distaff and forget her Cookery for the Family and moreover should they all say The Master hath commanded these things to be done this is the will of him who is lord of all May not this Housholder now and that deservedly too take a Cudgel and beat them all and from thence reply unto them Though this be my command yet I gave it not to every one to be so done but assigned every one his work which should have been followed SECT IX 9. HUSBAND well the signal Opportunities which Providence puts into thy hand for being serviceable for the Church of Christ Joseph by the Providence of God is advanced in the Corn-Countrey and he takes care then in time of Famine for his Father and Relations the Church then in Jacob his Family Gen. 45. 9 10 11. Nehemiah was no selfish Courtier he is affected with the sad case of his Countrey-men and prudently petitions the Persian-Monarch on the behalf of them Neh. 2. 5 6 7 8. Mordecai is plain with his Cousin Esther though now Queen Think not saith he with thy self that thou shalt escape in the king's house more than all the Jews for if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place but thou and thy fathers house shall be destroyed and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this Esth 4. 12 13. Onesiphorus lets not slip the opportunity of owning a Paul then when others were frighted with the noise of the Apostle's Chain He oft saith Paul refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain but when he was in Rome he sought me out very diligently and found me 2 Tim. 1. 16 17. Let it be our care then judiciously to observe and accordingly to improve the remarkable opportunities for doing good Nothing saith a Mr. Vines in Serm. 2 Sam. 3. 20. worthy man of our Israel more sads and dulls the heart when one comes to dye than his neglect of such opportunities which God's Providence or his own Place have put into his hand of receiving or doing good nor is there a sharper corrosive than the reflection upon those days and times that have passed over him malè aliud nihil agentem SECT X. LASTLY Live holily and thankfully the Providential Dispensations which have concentred or met in thy Person Family or Relations To this end consider the following Incentives 1. With what patheticalness or holy earnestness is the living of Providences pressed in Scripture See Deut 8. 6. with the precedent verses Josh 24. 14. 1 Sam. 12. 24. Ephes 2. 11 12 13. 2. The Law of Ingenuity requireth holiness and thankfulness for what God hath done in his Providence for men Thou saith David to God hast delivered my soul from death mine eyes from tears and my feet from falling I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living Psal 116. 8 9. See Luke 1. 74 75. 3. Sin otherwise is greatly aggravated The Lord may say for neglect of a responsable carriage towards his Dispensations as David of Nabal Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness 1 Sam. 25. 21. It is made an aggravation of Hezekiah's sin that he rendred not again according to the benefit done unto him for his heart was lifted up 2 Chron. 32. 25. 4. The thankful and holy living of Providences may invite the God of Providence to do more for persons If that had been too little for thee saith God by Nathan to David I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things 2 Sam. 12. 8. God hath a rich treasure of kindness he will not be a barren Wilderness to those who are a Carmel for holy fruitfulness I conclude all with that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 58. Therefore my beloved brethren be ye stedfast unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. FINIS