God hath helped therefore he can Isa. 59. 1. His hand is not shortned i. e. he hath as much power and ability as formerly 2. Unbelief objects against the Will of God and questions whether he will now be gracious though he hath formerly been so But after so many experiences of his readiness to help what room for doubting remains Thus Paul reasoned from the experience of what he had done to what he would do 2 Cor. 1. 10. and so did David 1 Sam. 17. 36. Indeed if a man had never experienced the goodness of God to him it were not so heinous a sin to question his willingness to do him good but what place is left after such frequent tryals It gives great encouragement to faith as it answers the objections of unbelief drawn from the subject Now these Objections are of two sorts also 1. Such as are drawn from our great unworthiness How saith Unbelief can so sinful and vile a creature expect that ever God should do this or that for me 'T is true we find he did great things for Abraham Isaac Jacob Moses c. but these were men of eminent holiness men that obeyed God and denyed themselves for him and lived more in a day to his glory than ever I did all my dayes Well but what signifies all this to a soul that under all its sensible vileness and unworthiness hath tasted the goodness of God as well as they As unworthy as I am God hath been good to me notwithstanding his mercy appeared first to me when I was worse than I am now both in conditJon and dispositJon and therefore I will still expect the continuance of his goodness to me though I deserve it not If when we were EnemJes we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son how much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life Rom. 5. 10. 2. Such as are drawn from the extremity of our present condition if troubles or dangers grow to an height and we see nothing but ruine and misery in the eye of reason before us now umbelief becomes importune and troubleâ—ome to the soul now where are thy prayers â—hy hopes yea where is now thy God But all this is easily put by and avoided by â—onsulting our experiences in former cases This is not the first time I have been in these straits â—or the first time I have had the same doubts and despondencies and yet God hath carried me â—hrough all Psal. 77. 7 8 9 c. This is it that suffers not a Christian to unravel all his hopes in an hour of temptation O how useful are these â—hings to the people of God! The Fifth Motive THe Recognition of former Providences will minister to your souls continual matter of praise and thanksgiving which is the very employment of the Angels in Heaven and the sweetest part of our lives on Earth See Psal. 61. 7 8. If God will prepare Mercy and Truth for David he will prepare Praises for â—is God and that daily So Psal. 71. 6. By thee have I been holden up from the womb thou art he that took me out of my Mothers bowels there Mercies from the beginning are recognized My praise shall be continually of thee there the natural result of those recognitions is expressed There be five things belonging to the praise of God and all of them have relation to his Providences exercised about us 1. A careful Observation of the Mercles we receive from him Isa. 41. 17 18 19 20. This is fundamental to all praise God cannot â—e glorified for the mercies we never noted 2. A faithful Remembrance of the favour received Psal. 103. 2. Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits Hence the Lord brands the Ingratitude of his people Psal. 106. 13. They soon forgat his works 3. A due Appreciation and Valuation of every Providence that doth us good 1 Sam. 12. 24. That Providence that fed them in the Wilderness with Manna was a most remarkable Providence to them but they not valuing it at its worth God had not that praise for it which he expected Numb 11. 6. 4. The Excitation of all the faculties and powers of the soul in the acknowledgement oâ— these mercies to us Thus David Psal. 103. 1â— Bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within mâ— bless his holy name Soul-praise is the very souâ— of praise this is the fat and marrow of that thank-offering 5. A suitable Retribution for the mercies received This David was careful about Psal. 116. 1. And the Lord taxes good HezekJah for the neglect of it 2 Chron. 32. 24 25. This consists in a full and hearty resignation of all to him that we have received by Providence from him and in our willingness actually to part with all for him when he shall remand it Thus you see how all the ingredients to praise have respect to Providences But more particularly I will shew you that as all the ingredients of praise have respect to Providence so all the motives and Arguments obliging and engaging souls to praise are found therein also To this end consider how the mercy and goodness of God is exhibited by Providence to excite our thankfulness 1. That the goodness and mercy of God is let out upon his people in his Providences about them and this is the very root of praise It is not so much the possession that Providence gives us of such or such comforts as the goodness and kindness of God in the dispensing of them that engages a gracious soul to praise Psal. 63. 3. Because thy loving kindness is better than life my lips shall praise thee To give maintain and preserve our life are choice acts of Providences but to do all this in a way of grace and loving-kindness this is far better than the gifts themselves life is but the shadow of death without it this is the mercy that crowns all other mercies Psal. 103. 4. It 's this a sanctified soul desires God would manifest in every Providence about him Psal. 17. 7. and what is our praising of God else but our shewing forth that loving-kindness which he sheweth us in his Providences Psal. 92. 1 2. 2. As the loving-kindness of God manifested in Providences is a motive to praise so the free and undeserved savours of God dispensed by the hand of Providence oblige the soul to praise This was the consideration that melted David's heart into a thankful praising frame even the consideration of the free and undeserved favours cast in upon him by Providence 2 Sam. 7. 18. What am I O Lord God and what is my Fathers house that thou hast brought me hitherto i. e. raised me by Providence from a mean condition to all this dignity from following the Ewes to feed Jacob his people Psal. 78. 70 71. O this is it that engages thankfulness Gen. 32. 10. 3. As the freeness of mercies dispensed by Providence engageth praise so the Multitudes of mercies
purging and cleansing not that they can purge us from sin in their own vertue and power for if so those that have most afflictions would have most grace also but it is in the vertue of Christ's blood and God's blessing upon afflictive Providences that they purge us from sin A Cross without a Crist never did any man good Now in God's afflictive Providences for sin there are many things that tend to the purging of it For 1. Such rebukes of Providence discover the displeasure of God against us the Lord frowns upon us in those Providences Our father is angry and these are the tokens of it and nothing works more to the melting of a gracious hearâ— than this Must not the heart of a Child melt and break whil'st the father is angry O this is more bitter to our Spirits than all the smart and anguish of the affliction can be to our flesh See Psal. 38. 1 2 3. O Lord rebuke me not in thy wrath neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure for thine arrows stick fast in me and thine band presseth me sore There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin 2. By these rebukes of sin the evil of sin is discovered more sensibly to us and we are made to see more clearly the evil of it in these glasses of affliction which Providence at such times sets before us than formerly we ever saw Jer. 2. 19. Thine own wickedness shall correct thee and thy backslidings shall reprove thee know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God and that my fear is not in thee saith the Lord of Hosts O the Gall and Wormwood that we taste in it under God's rebukes for it 3. Providence blasts and frustrates all sinful projects to the people of God whoever thrives in them they shall not Isa. 30. 1 2 3 4 5. And this also convinces them of the folly that is in sin and makes them cleave to the way of simplicity and integrity Holiness is promoted in the soul by cautioning and warning the soul against sin for time to come Job 34. 31 I have born chastisement I will not offend any more O happy Providences how smart soever that make the soul for ever aâ—raid of sin surely such rods are well bestow'd This gives God his end and if ever we sorrowed after a godly sort in the day of our troubles it will work this carefulness 2 Cor. 7. 11. Behold this self same thing that ye sorrowed after a godly sort what carefulness it wrought in you c. O if ever a man have been under a sanctified rod which hath shewed him the evil of sin and kindly humbled him for it and a temptation should again sollicite him to the same evil Why thinks he what a madness is it for me to buy repentance at so dear a rate Have I not smarted enough already You may as well ask me whether I will run again into the â—ire after I have been already scorcht in it To conclude Providences do greatly improve and promote holiness by drawing the Soul into the presence of God and giving it the opportunity and occasion of much communion with him Comfortable Providences will do this they will melt a man's heart in love to the God of his mercies and so pain his bowels that he shall not be quiet till he have found a place to pour out his Soul in thankfulness to the Lord. 2 Sam. 7. 18. Afflictive Providences will drive us to the feet of God and there make us to judge and condemn our selves And all this hath an excellent use to destroy sin and promote holiness in the Soul The Tenth Motive LAstly The ConsideratJon and study of Providence will be of singular use to us in a dying hour Hereby we treasure up that which will singularly sweeten our death to us and greatly assist our faith in the last encounter You find when Jacob dyed what reflections he had upon the dealings of God with him in the various Providences of his life See Gen. 4. 8. 3 7 15 16. In like manner you â—ind Joshua recording the Providences of God when at the brink of the grave they were the subject of his dying discourse Josh. 24. And I cannot but think it a sweet close to the life of any Christian It must needs sweeten a death-bed to recount there the several remarkable passages of God's care and love to us from our beginning to that day to reflect upon the mercies that went along with us all the way when we are come to the end of it O Christians treasure up these instances for such a time as that is that you may go out of the world blessing God for all the goodness and truth he hath performed to you all your life long Now the meditations of these things must needs be of great use in that day if you consider the following particulars The time of Death is the time when Souls are usually most violently assaulted by Satan with horrid temptations and black suggestions We may say of that â—igurative as it 's said of the natural Serpent nunquam nisi morJens producitur in longum He never exerts his utmost rage till the last encounter and then his great design is to perswade the Saints that God loves them not hath no care nor regard for them nor their cryes though they pray for ease and cry for sparing mercy they see none comes He handles them with as much roughness and severity as other men yea many of the vilest and most dissolute wretches endure less torments and are more gently handled than they Psal. 73. 4. there are no bands in their death when as thou must go through a long lane of sickness to the grave and endure many deaths in one But what credit can these plausible tales of Satan obtain with a Christian who hath been treasuring up all his life long the memorJals of God's tender regard both to his wants and prayers and that hath careâ—ully remarked the evident returns of his prayers and gracious condescensions of God to him â—rom his beginning to that moment In this case his saith is mightily assisted by thousands of experiences which back and encourage it and will not suffer the soul to give up so easily a truth which he hath so often sensibly felt and tasted I am sure saith he God hath had a tender fatherly care of me ever since I became his he never failed me yet in any former strait and I cannot believe he will do so now I know his love is like himself unchangeable Job 13. 1. having loved his own which were in the world he loved them unto the end for this God is our God for ever and ever he will be our guide even unto death Psal. 48. 14. Did he love me in my youth and will he cast me off in my decrepit age O
happiness in the world to come This performance of Providence for you doth very much concern your present comfort in this world All the rooms in this great house are not alike pleasant and commodious for the Inhabitants of it You read Psal. 74. 20. of the dark places of the Earth which are full of the habitatJonr of cruelty and many such dismal places are found in the habitable Earth What a vast tract of the world lies as a waste Wilderness Suppose your Mothers had brought you forth in America among the Salvage IndJans who herd together as brute beasts are scorched with heat and starved with cold being naked destitute and defenceless How poor miserable and unprovided of Earthly comforts and accommodations are many Millions of the Inhabitants of this world What mercies do you enjoy in respect of the amaenity fertility temperature and civility of the place of your habitation What is it but a Garden inclosed out of a Wilderness I may without partiality or vanity say God hath even upon temporal accounts provided you with one of the healthfullest pleasantest and in all respects the best furnished room in all the great house of this world Hear what our own Chronicler saith of it It is the fortunate Island the Paradise of pleasure the Garden of God whose Valleys are like Eden whose Hills are as Lebanon whose Springs are as Pisgah whose Rivers are as Jordan whose Wall is the Ocean and whose Defence is the Lord Jehovah You are here provided of necessary and comfortable accommodations for your bodies that a great part of the world are unacquainted with It is not with the poorest among us as it is said to be with the poor RussJans whose poverty pinches and bites with such sharp teeth that their pooâ— cry at the doors Give me and cut me give me and kill me Say not The barbarous Nations in this excel you that they possess the Mines of Silver and Gold which it may be you think enough to salve all other inconveniences of life Alas poor Creatures better had it been for them if their Countrey had brought forth Bryers and Thorns instead of Gold Silver and precJous stones for this hath been the occasion of ruining all their other comforts in this world this hath invited their cruel avaritious enemies among them under whose servitude they groan and dye without mercy and thousands of them have chosen death rather than life on the terms they enjoyed it And why might not your lot have fallen there as well as where it is Are not they made of the same clay and endowed with as good a nature as your selves O what a distinction hath Divine Mercy made where Nature made none Consider ungrateful man thou mightest have fallen into some of those Regions where a tainted air frequently cloyes the jaws of death where the Inhabitants differ very little from the Beasts in the manner of their living but God hath provided for thee and given the poorest among us far better accommodations of life than the greatest among them are ordinarily provided with O what hath Providence done for you But all that I have said is very inconsiderable in compaâ—ison with the spiritual mercJes and advantages you here enjoy for your souls Oh this is such an advantageous cast of Providence for you as obliges you to a thankful acknowledgement of it to all Eternity For let us here make but a few suppositions in the case before us and the glory of Providence will shine like a Sun-beam full in your faces 1. Suppose it had been your Lot to have fallen in any of those vast Continents possessed by Pagans and Heathens at this day who bow down to the Stock of a Tree and worship the Host of Heaven This is the case of Millions and Millions of Millions for Pagan Idolaâ—â—rs as that searching Scholar Mr. Briâ—â—wood informs us do not only fill the circumference of nine hundred miles in Europe but almost the one half of Africa more than the half of AsJa and almost the whole of America Oh how deplorable had thy case been if a Pagan Idolatress had brought thee forth and Idolatry had been suckt in with thy Mothers milk then in all probability thou hadst been at this day worshipping Devils and posting with full speed in the direct road to Damnation for these are the people of Gods wrath Jer. 10. 25. Pour out thy fury upon the Heathen that know theâ— not and upon the familJes that call not upon thy name How dreadful is that imprecation against them â—sal 97. 7. which takes hold of them and all that 's theirs Confounded be all they that serve graven Images that boast themselves of Idols 2. Or suppose your Lot had fallen among Mahometans who next to Pagans spread over the greatest tract of the Earth for though ArabJa bred that unclean Bird yet it was not that Cage that could long contain him for not only the ArabJans but the PersJans Turks and Tartars do all bow down their backs under that grand Impostor This poison hath dispersed it self through the veins of AsJa over a great part of Africk even the Circumference of seven thousand miles and stops not there but hath tainted a considerable part of Europe also Had your Lot fallen here O what unhappy men and women had you been notwithstanding the natural amenity and pleasantness of your native soil You had then adored a grand Impostor and dyed in a fools Paradise Instead of Gods lively Oracles you had been as they now are deceived to your eternal ruine with such fond mad and wild dreams as whoso considers would think the Authors had more need of manacles and fetters than arguments or sober answers 3. Or if neither of these had been your Lot but you had been emptied by the womb of Nature into this little spot of the Earth which is ChristJanized by profession but nevertheless for the most part over-run by Popish Idolatry and AntichristJan delusions what unhappy men and women had you been had you suckt a Popish breast For this people are to be the subjects of the VJals of Gods wrath to be poured out successively upon them as you may read Rev. 16. and the Scriptures in round and plain language tell us what their fate must be 2 Thess. 2. 11 12. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusJon that they should belJeve a lye that they all mighâ— be damned who belJeved not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness Nay you might have fallen into the same Land in which your habitation now is and yet have had no advantage by it as to salvation if he that chose the bounds of your habitations had not also graciously determined the times for you Acts 17. 26. For 4. Suppose your Lot had fallen where it is during the Pagan State of England who for many hundred years were gross and vile idolaters Thick darkness over-spread the people of this Island and as in other Countreys the
makes at our souls is a truth as manifest as the light that shineth This is included in that promise 1 Cor. 10. 13. God will with the temptatJon make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it Providence gives an out-let for the souls escape when it is shut up into the dangerous straits of Temptation There are two eminent wayes whereby the force and efficacacy of temptation is broken in believers One is by the operation of internal grace Gal. 5. 17. The Spirit lusteth against the flesh so that ye cannot do the things that ye would i. e. Sanctification gives sin a miscarrying womb after it hath conceived in the soul. The other way is by the external working of Providence and of this I am here engaged to speak The Providence of God is the great Obex and hinderance to a world of sin which else would break forth like an overflowing flood from our corrupt natures It prevents abundance of sin which else wicked men would commit Gen. 19. 11. The Sodomites were greedily pursuing their lusts God providentially hinders it by smiting them blind Jeroboam intends to smite the Prophet Providence interpos'd and wither'd his arm 1 Kings 13. 4. Thus you see when wicked men have contrived and are ready to execute their wickedness Providence claps on its manacles that their hands cannot perform their enterprises as it is Job 5. 12. And so much corruption there remains in good men that they would certainly plunge themselves under much more guilt than they do if Providence did not take greater care of them than they do of themselves for though they make conscience of keeping themselves and daily watch their hearts and wayes yet such is the deceitfulness of sin that if Providence did not lay blocks in their way it would more frequently than it doth entangle and defile them And this it doth divers wayes 1. Sometimes by stirring up others to interpose with seasonable counsels which effectually disswade them from prosecuting an evil design Thus Abigail meets David in the nick of time and disswades him from his evil purpose 1 Sam. 25. 34. And I find it recorded as on another account was noted before of that holy man Mr. Dod that being late at night in his Study he was strongly moved though at an unseasonable hour to visit a Gentleman of his acquaintance and not knowing what might be the design of Providence therein he obeyed and went when he came to the house after a â—ew knocks at the door the Gentleman himself came to him and askt him whether he had any business to him Mr. Dod answered no but that he could not be quiet till he had seen him O Sir reply'd the Gentleman you are sent of God at this hour for just now and with that takes the Halter out of his pokcet I was going to destroy my self And thus was the mischief prevented 2. Sometimes by hindering the Means and Instruments whereby the Evil it self is prevented Thus when good Jehosaphat had joyned himself with that wicked King AhazJah to build Ships at EzJon-Gaber to go to Tarshish God prevents the design by breaking the Ships with a storm as you read 2 Chron. 20. 35 36 37. We find also in the Life of Mr. Bolton written by Mr. Bagshaw That whilst he was in Oxford he had familiar acquaintance with Mr. Anderton a good Scholar but a strong Papist who knowing Mr. Bolton's good parts and perceiving that he was in some outward wants took this advantage and used many arguments to perswade him to be reconciled to the Church of Rome and to go over with him to the English Seminary assuring him he should be furnished with all necessaries and have gold enough Mr. Bolton being at that time poor in mind and purse accepted the motion and a day and place was appointed in Lancashire where they should meet and take shipping and be gone but Mr. Anderton came not and so he escaped the share 3. Sometimes by laying some strong affliction upon the body to prevent a worse evil And this is the meaning of Hosea 2. 6. I will hedge up her way with thorns Thus Basil was a long time exercised with a violent head-ach which as he observed was used by Providence to prevent Lust. Paul had a thorn in the flesh a messenger of Satan sent to busset him and this affliction whatever it was was ordained to prevent pride in him 2 Cor. 12. 7. 4. Sometimes sin is prevented in the Saints by the better information of their minds at the Sacred Oracles of God Thus when sinful motions began to rise in David's mind from the prosperity of the wicked and his own afflicted state and grew to that height that he began to think all he had done in the way of religion was little better than lost labour he is set right again and the temptation dissolved by going into the Sanctuary where God shewed him how to take new measures of persons and things to judge them by their ends and issues not their present appearances Psal. 73. 12 13 17. 5. And sometimes the Providence of God prevents the sins of his people by removing them out of the way of Temptations by death In which sense we may understand that Text Isa. 57. 1. The Righteous is taken away from the Evil to come the evil of Sin as well as Sufferings When the Lord sees his people low spirited and not able to grapple with strong tryals and temptations which are drawing on it is with respect to them a merciful Providence to be disbanded by death and set out of harms way Now consider and admire the Providence of God O ye Saints who hath had more care of your souls than ever ye had of them Had not the Providence of God thus wrought for you in a way of prevention it may be you had this day been so many Magor Missabibs How was the heart of David melted under that preventing Providence fore-mentioned in 1 Sam. 25. 34. He blesses the Lord the Instrument and the Counsel by which his soul was preserved from sin Do but seriously bethink your selves of a few particulars about this case As 1. How your corrupt natures have often impetuously hurried you on towards sin so that all the inherent grace you had could not withstand its force if Providence had not prevented it in some such method as you have heard Jam. 1. 14. Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lusts and enticed You found your selves but feathers in the wind of temptation 2. How near you have been brought to the brink of sin and yet saved by a merciful hand of Providence May you not say with him in Prov. 5. 14. I was almost in the midst of all evil or as Psal. 73. 2. My feet were almost gone my steps had well nigh slidden O merciful Providence that stept in so opportunely to your relief 3. How many have been suffered to fall by the hand of Temptations to
that afflictions work in another way upon gracious hearts to restrain them from sin or warn them against sin thâ—n they do upon others It is not so much the smart of the rod which they feel as the tokens of Gods displeasure which affrights and scares them Job 10. 17. Thous renewest thy witnesses against me c. and this is that which principally affects them See Psal. 6. 1. O Lord rebuke me not in thine anger neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure and Jer. 10. 24. O Lord correct me but with judgement not in thine anger lest thou bring me to nothing and surely this is no low and common argument 2. Notwithstanding this double sence of Gods command and preventive afflictions yet sin is too hard for the best of men their corruptions carry them through all to sin And when it is so not only doth the Spirit work internally but Providence also works externally in order to their reductJon The wayes of sin are not only made bitter unto them by the remorse of Conscience but by those afflictive rods upon the outward man with which God also follows it and in both these respects I find that place expounded Eccles. 10. 8. Whoso breaketh an hedge a Serpent shall bite him If as some expound it the hedge be the Law of God then the Serpent is the remorse of Conscience and the sharp teeth of afflictJon which he shall quickly feel if he be one that belongs to God The design and aim of these afflictive Providences is to purge and cleanse them from that pollution into which temptations have plunged them Isa. 27. 9. By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away his sin To the same purpose is that place Psal. 119. 67. Before I was afflicted I went astray but now have I kept thy word These afflictions have the same use and end to our souls that frosty weather hath upon those clothes that are laid a bleaching they alter the hue and make it whiter which seems to be the allusion in those words Dan. 11. 35. And some of them of understanding shall fall to try them and to purge and to make them white And here it may be querJed Upon what account afflictions are said to purge away the iniquities of the Saints Is it not unwarrantable and very dishonourable to Christ to attribute that to affliction which is the peculiar honour of his blood It is confessed that the blood of Christ is the only Lavatory or Fountain opened for sin and that no afflictions how many or strong or continual soever they be can in themselves purge away the pollution of sin as we see in wicked men who are afflicted and afflicted and again afflicted and yet nevertheless sinful and the Torments of Hell how extream universal and continual soever they are yet shall never fetch out the stain of one sin But yet this hinders not but that a sanctiâ—ied affliction may in the efficacy and vertue of Christs blood produce such blessed effects upon the soul. Though a Cross without a Christ never did any man good yet thousands have been beholden to the Cross as it hath wrought in the vertue of his death for their good And this is the case of those souls that this discourse is concerned about 3. We find the best hearts if God bestow any comfortable enjoyment upon them too apâ— to be over-heated in their affections towards it and to be too much taken up with these outward comforts This also sheweth the great power and strength of corruption in the people of God and must by some means or other be mortiâ—ied in them This was the case of HezekJah his heart was too much affected with his treasures so that he could not hide a vain-glorious temper as you find Isa. 39. 2. and so good David Psal. 30. 7. he thought his Mountain i.e. his Kingdom and the splendour and glory of his present state had stood so fast that it should never be moved The same good man how did he let out his heart and affections upon his beautiful Son Absalom as appears by the doleful lamentation he made at his death prizing him above his own life which was a thousand times more worth than he So Jonah when God raised up a Gourd for him to shelter him from the Sun how excessively was he taken with it and was exceedingly glad of it But will God suffer things to lye thus Shall the Creature puâ—â—oin and draw away our affections from him No this is our corruption and God will purge it And to this end he sends forth Providence to smite those Creatures on which our affections are either inordinately or excessively let out or else to turn them into rods and smite us by them â—s HezekJah too much puâ—â—ed up with his full Exchequer Why those very BabylonJans to whom he boasted of it shall empty it and make a prey of it Isa. 39. 6. Is David hugging himself in a fond conceit of the stability of his Earthly Splendor Lo how soon God beclouds all Psal. 30. 7. Is Absalom doted on and crept too far into his good Fathers heart this shall be the Son of his sorrow that shall seek after his Fathers life Is Jonah so transported with his Gourd God will prepare a Worm to smite it Jonah 4. 6 7. How many Husbands Wives and Children hath Providence smitten upon this very account It might have spared them longer if they had been loved more regularly and moderately This hath blasted many an Estate and hopeful project and it is a merciful dispensation for our good 4. The strength of our unmortified Corruption shews it self in our pride and the swelling vanity of our hearts when we have a name and esteem among men when we are applauded and honoured when we are admired for any gift or excellency that is in us this draws forth the pride of the heart and shews the vanity that is in it So you read Prov. 27. 21. As the â—ining pot for silver and the â—urnace for gold so is a man to his praise i.e. as the â—ornace will discover what dross is in the metal when it is melted so will praise and commendations discover what pride is in the heart of him that receives them This made a good man say He that praises me wounds me And which is more strange this corruption may be felt in the heart even when the last breath is ready to expire It was the saying of one of the German Divines when those about him recounted for his encouragement the many services he had done for God auferte ignem saith he adhuc enim paleas habeo Take away the sire for there is still the chaff of pride in me To crucifie this corruption Providence takes off the bridle of restraint from ungodly men and sometimes permits them to traduce the names of Gods servants as Shimei did David's Yea they shall fall into disesteem among their
God and his love under your afflictions 2 Sam. 7. 14. Oh what sensible ease and relief ensues how light is your burden compared with what it was before The Word tells us that there is no such way to improve our Estates as to lay them out with a cheerful liberality for God and that our withholding our hands when God and duty calls to distribute will not be for our advantage See Prov. 11. 25. Isa. 32. 8. Prov. 19. 17. Prov. 11. 24. Consult Providence now and you shall find it in all respects according to the report of the Word O how true is the Scripture testimony herein There are many thousand Witnesses now living that can set their seals to both parts of this proposition What men save as they count saving with one hand Providence scatters by another hand and what they scatter abroad with a liberal hand and single eye for God is surely repay'd to them or theirs Never did any man lose by distributing for God He that lends to the poor foeneratur Domino as some expound that Text puts his money to interest to the Lord. Some have observed how Providence hath doubled all they have laid out for God in wayes unexpected to them The Word assures us that the best expedient for a man to settle his own interest in the consciences and affections of men is to direct his wayes so as to please the Lord Prov. 16. 7. and doth not Providence confirm it This the three Jews found by experience Dan. 3. 28 29. and so did DanJel chap. 6. v. 20 21 22. This kept up John's reputation in the conscience of Herod Mark 6. 20. So it fell out when ConstantJus made that exploratory decree those that were conscientious were preferred and those that changed their religion expelled Never did any man lose at last by his fidelity The written Word tells us that the best expedient to inward peace and tranquillity of mind under puzzling and distracting troubles is to commit our selves and our case to the Lord so you read Psal. 37. 5 6 7. and Prov. 16. 3. And as you have read in the Word so you have found it in your own Experience Oh what a burden is off your shoulders when you have resigned the case to Godâ— Then doth Providence issue your affairs comfortably for you The difficulty is soon over when the heart is brought to this Thus you see how Scriptures are fulfilled by Providence in these few Instances I have given of it Compare them in all other cases and you shall find the same for all the lines of Providence lead from the Scripture and return thither again and do most visibly begin and end there The Fourth Direction IN all your reviews and observations of Providence be sure that you â—ye God as the Author or orderer of them all Prov. 3. 6. In all the comfortable Providences of your lives â—ye God as the Author or donor of them Remember he is the father of mercJes that begets every mercy for you 2 Cor. 1. 3. The God of all comfort without whose order no mercy or comfort can come to your hands And think it not enough thus to acknowledge him in a general way but when you receive mercies take special notice of the following particulars 1. Eye the Care of God for you 1 Pet. 5. 7. He careth for you Your Father knows you have need of these things Matth. 6. 32. It is but to acquaint him what you want and your wants are supplyed Phil. 4. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 torture not your selves about it you have a Father that cares for you 2. Eye the Wisdom of God in the way of dispensing his mercies to you how suitably they are ordered to your condition and how seasonably When one comfort is cut off and removed another is raised up in its room Thus Isaac was comforted in Rebecka after his Mothers deaâ—h Gen. 24. 67. 3. Eye the free Grace of God in them yea see riches of Grace in every bequest of comfort to so vile and unworthy creatures as you are See your selves over-topt by the least of all your mercies Gen. 32. 10. I am not worthy of the least said Jacob. 4. Eye the Condescension of God to your requests for those mercies Psal. 34. 6. This is the sweetest bit in any enjoyment in which a man can sensibly relish the return and answer of his Prayers and greatly inflames the souls love to God Psal. 116. 1. 5. Eye the Design and end of God in all your comforts Know that it is not sent to satisfie the cravings of your sensual appetite but to quicken and enable you for a more cheerful discharge of your duty Deut. 28. 47. 6. Eye the Way and Method in which your mercies are conveyed to you They all slow to you through the blood of Christ and Covenant of grace 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. Mercies derive their sweetness from the Channel through which they run to us 7. Eye the Distinguishing goodness of God in all the comfortable enjoyments of your lives How many thousand better than you are denyed those Comforts See Heb. 11. 37. 8. Eye them all as comforts appointed to refresh you in your way to far better and greater mercies than themselves The best mercies are still reserved till last and all these are introductive to better In all the Sad and Afflictive Providences that befall you Eye God as the Author and orderer of them also So he represents himself to us Jer. 18. 11. Behold I create evil and devise a device against you And Amos 3. 6. Is there evil in the City and the Lord hath not done it More particularly Set before you the Soveraignty of God Eye him as a Being infinitely superiour to you at whose pleasure you and all you have is Psal. 115. 3. which is the most conclusive reason and argument of submission Psal. 46. 10. For if we and all we have proceeded from his Will how equal is it that we be resigned up to it It is not many years agone since we were not and when it pleased him to bring us upon the Stage of action we had no liberty of indenting with him on what â—erms we would come into the world or refuse to be except we might have our being on such terms as we desired His Soveraignty is gloriously displayed in his Eternal Decrees and temporal Providences He might have put you into what rank of Creatures he pleased He might have made you the most despicable Creatures Worms or Toads or if men the most vile abject and miserable among men and when you had run through all the miseries of this life have damned you to Eternity made you miserable for ever and all this without any wrong to you And shall not this quiet us under the common afflictions of this life Set the Grace and Goodness of God before you in all afflictive Providences O see him passing by you in the cloudy and dark day proclaiming his Name the
heaped this way upon us strongly oblige the soul to thankfulness Thus David comes before the Lord encompassed with a multitude of mercies to praise him Psal. 5. 7. We have our loads of mercies and that every day Psalm 68. 19. O what a rich heap will the mercies of one day make being laid together 4. As the multitudes of mercies dispensed by Providence oblige to praise so the tenderness of Gods mercy manifested in his Providence leaves the soul under a strong obligation to thankfulness We see what tender resentments the Lord hath of all our wants straits and burdens Psalm 103. 13. Like as a Father pitJeth his Children so the Lord pitJeth them that fear him He is full of bowels as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in James 5. 11. signifies Yea there are not only bowels of compassion in our God but the tenderness of bowels like those of a Mother to her sucking child Isa. 49. 15. He feels all our pains as if the apple of his eye were touched Zech. 2. 8. and all this is discovered to his people in the way of his Providences with them Psal. 111. 2 3 4. O who of all the Children of God hath not often found this in his Providences And who can see it and not be filled with thankfulness All these are so many bands clapt by Providence upon the soul to oblige it to a liâ—e of praise Hence it is that the prayers of the Saints are so full of thanksgivings upon these accounts 't is sweet to recount them to the Lord in prayer to lye at this feet in an holy astonishment at his gracious condescensions to poor worms The Sixth Motive THe due observatJon of Providence will endear Jesus Christ every day more and more to your souls Christ is the Channel of grace and mercy through him are all the dâ—cursus recursus gratiarum all the streams of mercy that â—low from God to us and all the returns of praise from us to God 1 Cor. 3. 21 22. All things are ours upon no other title but our being his Now there be six things in Providence that are exceedingly endearing of the Lord Jesus Christ to his people and these are the most sweet and delicious parts of all our enjoyments The purchase of all those mercies which Providences convey to us is by his own blood for not only spiritual and eternal mercies but even all our temporal ones are the acquisition of his blood Look as sin forfeited all so Christ restored all these mercies again to us by his death Sin had so shut up the womb of mercy that had not Christ made an attonement by his death it could never have brought forth one mercy to all eternity for us It is with him that God freely gives us all things Rom. 8. 32. Heaven it self and all things needful to bring us thither among which is principally included the Tutelage and Aid of Divine Providence so that whatever good we receive from the hand of Providence we must put it upon the score of Christs blood and when we receive it we may say 'T is the price of blood 'T is a mercy rising up out of the death of Christ It cost him dear though it come to me freely It 's sweet in the possessJon but costly in the acquisitJon Now this is a most endearing consideration did Christ dye that these mercies might live Did he pay his invaluable blood to purchase these comforts that I possess O what transcendent matchless love was the love of Christ You have known Parents that have laid out all their stock of money to purchase Estates for their Children but when did you hear of any that spent the whole stock and treasure of their blood to make a purchase for them If the life of Christ had not been so afflictive and sad to him ours could not have been so sweet and comfortable to us 't is through his poverty we are enriched 2 Cor. 8. 9. These sweet mercies that are born of Providence every day are the fruits of the travel of his soul. The sanctification of all is by our union with Christ 't is by vertue of our union with his person that we enjoy the sanctified gifts and blessings of Providence All these are mercies additional to that great mercy CHRIST Matth. 6. 33. they are given with him as in Rom. 8. 32. this is the Tenure by which we hold them 1 Cor. 3. 21 22 23. Look what we lost in Adam is restored again with Advantage in Christ immediately upon the fall that curse Gen. 2. 17. seized upon all the miserable posterity of Adam and upon all their comforts outward as well as inward and this still lyes heavy upon them All that Providence doth for them that are Christless is but to feed so many poor condemned wretches till the sentence they are under be executed upon them it is indeed bountiful and open-handed to many of them and fills them with Earthly comforts but not one special sanctified mercy is to be found among all their enjoyments these gifts of Providence do but deceive defile and destroy them through their own corruptions and for want of union with Christ Prov. 1. 32. The prosperity of fools shall destroy them But when a man is once in Christ then all Providences are sanctified and sweet Tit. 1. 15. Vnto the pure all things are pure A little that a righteous man hath is better than the treasures of many wicked Psal. 37. 16. Now Christ becomes an head of Influence as well as of DominJon and in all things he consults the good of his own members Eph. 1. 22. The dispensation of all our comforts and mercies is by his direction and appointment It 's true the Angels are employed in the Kingdom of Providence they move the wheels i. e. are instrumental in all the revolutions in this lower world but still they receive directions and orders from Christ as you may see in that admirable Scheme of Providences Ezek. 1. 25 26 c. Now what an endearing meditation is this What ever Creature be instrumental for any good to you it 's your Lord Jesus Christ that gave the orders and commands to that Creature to do it and without it they could have done nothing for you It 's your head in Heaven that consults your peace and comfort on Earth these be the fruits of his care for you So in the prevention and restraints of evil 't is he that bridles in the wrath of Devils and men he holds the reins in his own hands Rev. 2. 10. 'T was the care of Christ over his poor Sheep at Damascus that stopt the raging Adversary who was upon the way designing to destroy them Acts. 9. The continuatJon of all your mercies and comforts outward as well as inward is the fruit of his Intercession in Heaven for you For look as the offering up of the Lamb of God a Sacrifice for sin opened the door of mercy at first so his
God saith the Psalmist 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. At death the Saints are engaged in the last and one of the most eminent works of faith even the committing themselves into the hands of God when we are lanching forth into that vast Eternity and entring into that new state which will make so great a change upon us in a moment In this Christ sets us a pattern Luke 23. 46. Father into thy hands I commend my spirit and having said thus he gave up the Ghost So Stephen at his death Lord Jesus receive my spirit and immediately fell asleep Act. 7. 59. There be two signal and remarkable acts of faith both exceedingly difficult viz. its first act and its last The first is a great venture that it makes of it self upon Christ and the last is a great venture too to cast it self into the Ocean of Eternity upon the credit of a Promise But yet I know the first adventure of the Soul upon Christ is much more difficult than the last adventure upon death and that which makes it so is in great measure the manifold recorded experiences that the Soul hath been gathering up from the day of its espousals to Christ unto its dying which is in a sense its marriage day Oh with what encouragement may a Soul throw himself into the arms of that God with whom he hath so long conversed and walked in this world Whose visits have been sweet and frequent with whom the soul hath contracted so intimate acquaintance in this world whom it hath committed all its affairs to formerly and still â—ound him a faithful God and now hath no reason to doubt but it shall find him so in this last distress and exigence also At death the people of God receive the last mercies that ever they shall receive in this world by the hand of Providence and are immediately to make up their Accounts with God â—or all the mercies that ever they received from his hand What can be more suitable therefore to a dying person than to recount with himself the mercies of his whole life the manifold receipts of favour for which he is to reckon with God speedily and how shall this be done without a due and serious observation and recording of them now I know there are thousands of mercies forgotten by the best of Christians a memory of brass cannot contain them And I know also that Jesus Christ must make up the Account for us or it will never pass with God yet it is our duty to keep the Accounts of our own mercies and how they have been improv'd by us for we are Stewards and then are to give an Account of our Stewardship At death we owe an Account also to men and stand obliged if there be opportunity for it to make known to them that survive us what we have seen and found of God in this world that we may leave a testimony for God with men and bring up a good report upon his ways Thus dying Jacob when Joseph was come to take his last farewell of him in this world strengthened himself and sate upon the bed and related to him the eminent appearances of God to him and the places where Gen. 48. 2 3. as also an account of his afflictions Verse 7. So Joshua in his last speech to the people makes it his business to vindicate and clear the truth of the Promises by recounting to them how the Providence of God had fulfill'd the same to a tittle in his day Josh. 23. 14. And behold saith he this day I am going the way of all the earth and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you all are come to pass unto you and not one thing hath failed thereof And certainly 't is of great importance to the world to understand the Judgements and hear of the Experiences of dying men They of all men are presumed to be most wise and most serious Besides this is the last opportunity that ever we shall have in this world to speak for God O then what a sweet thing would it be to close up our lives with an honourable Account of the ways of God! to go out of the world blessing him for all the mercies and truth which he hath here performed to us how would this encourage weak Christians and convince the Atheistical world that verily there is a reality and an excellency in the ways and people of God! At death we begin the Angelical life of praise and thanksgiving We then enter upon that everlasting sweet employment and as I doubt not but the Providences in which we were concerned in this world will be a part of that Song which we shall sing in Heaven so certainly it will become us to tune our hearts and tongues for it whil'st we are here and especially when we are ready to enter upon that blessed state O therefore let it be your daily meditation and study what God hath been to you and done for you from the beginning of his way hitherto And thus I have spread before you some encouragements to this blessed work Oh that you would be perswaded to this lovely and every way beneâ—icial practice This I dare presume to say that whoever finds a careful and a thankful heart to record and treasure up the daily experiences of God's mercy to him shall never want new mercies to record to his dying day It was said of ClaudJan that he wanted matter suitable to the excellency of his parts but where is the head or heart that is suitable to this matter who can utter the mighty works of the Lord who can shew forth all his praise Psal. 106. 2. Thus I have through the aid of Providence dispatched the main design I aimed at in the choice of this subject All that remains will now be speedily finished in some few Corollaries to be brieâ—ly noted upon the whole and three or four practical Cases to be stated You have heard how Providence perâ—ormeth all things for you Learn thence First Corollary THat God is therefore to be owned by you in all that befalls you in this world whether it be in â— way of success and comfort or of trouble and afflictJon O 't is your duty to observe his hand and disposal When God gives you comforts 't is your great evil not to observe his hand in them Hence was that charge against Israel â—os 2. 8. She did not know that I gave her Corn and Wine and Oil and multiplJed her Silver and Gold i. e. she did not actually and affectionately consider my care over her and goodness to her in these mercies And so for afflictions 't is a great wickedness when God's hand is listed up not to see it Isa.
think it much if God make you wait long for your consolation We have our How longs and hath not God his We cry Psal. 6. 3. But thou O Lord how long Psal. 13. 1 2. How long wilt thou forget me O Lord for ever How long wilt thou hide thy face from me How long shall I take counsel in my soul having sorrow in my heart daily How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me â—ut surely we should not think these things long when we consider how long the Lord hath exercised his patience about us We have made him say How long how long Our unbelJef hath made him cry How long will it be ere they belJeve me Numb 14. 11. Our corrupt hearts have made him cry How long shall vain thoughts lodge within thee Jer. 4. 14. Our impure natures and wayes have made him cry How long will it be ere they attain to innocency Hosea 8. 5. If God wait upon you with so much patience for your duties well may you wait upon him for his mercies Tenth Consideration This impatience and infidelity of yours exprest in your weariness to wait any longer as it is a great evil in it self so very probably it is that evil which obstructs the way of your expected mercies you might have your mercies sooâ—er if your spirits were quieter and more submissive And thus of the Second Case The Third Case HOw may a Christian discern when a Providence is sanctified and comes from the love of God to him There are two sorts or kinds of Providences versant about men in this world the issues and events of which are vastly different yea contrary to each other To some all Providences are over-ruled and ordered for good according to that blessed Promise Rom. 8. 28. not only things that are good in themselves as Ordinances Graces Duties and Mercies but things that are evil in themselves as Temptations Afflictions and even their Sins and Corruptions shall turn in the issue to their advantage and benefit 〈◊〉 though sin be so intrinsecally and formally evil in its own nature that in it self it be not capable of sanctification yet out of this worst of evils God can work good to his people and though he never make sin the Instrument of good yet his Providence may make it the occasJon of good to his people so that spiritual benefits may by the wise over-ruling of Providence be occasioned to the people of God by it And so for afflictions of all kinds the greatest and sorest of them they do work in the influence of Providence a great deal of good to the Saints and that not only as the occasions but as the Instruments and means of it Isa. 27. 9. by this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged i. e. by the instrumentality of this sanctified affliction To others nothing is sanctified either as an Instrument or occasion of any spiritual good but as the worst things are ordered to the benefit of the Saints so the best things wicked men enjoy do them no good Their Prayers are turned into sin Psal. 109. 7. The Ordinances are the savour of Death 2 Cor. 2. 16. The Grace of God turned into wantonness Jude v. 4. Christ himself a rock of Offence 1 Pe. 2. 8. Their Table a snare Psal. 69. 22. Their Prosperity their ruine Prov. 1. 32. As persons are so things work for good or evil Tit. 1. 15. To the pure all things are pure but to them that are defiled and unbelJeving is nothing pure Seeing therefore the Events of Providence fall out so opposite to each other upon the Godly and Ungodly every thing farthering the eternal good of the one and the ruine of the other it cannot but be acknowledged a most important case in which every Soul is deeply concern'd whether the Providences under which he is be sanctified to him or no For the clearing of which I shall premise two necessary Considerations and then subjoyn the Rules which will be useful for the determination of the question And first Let it be considered that we cannot know from the matter of the things before us whether they be sanctified or unsanctified to us for so consider'd all things come alike to all and no man knoweth either love or hatred by all the things that are before him Eccles. 9. 1 2. We cannot understand the mind and heart of God by the things he dispenseth with his hand If prosperous Providences befall us we cannot say Herein is a sure sign that God loves me for who have more of those Providences than the people of his wrath Psal. 73. 7. They have more than their hearts can wish Sure that must be a weak Evidence for Heaven which accompanies so great a part of the world to Hell By these things we may testifie our love to God but from ten thousand such enjoyments we cannot get any solid assurance of his love to us And from adverse afflictive Providences we cannot know his hatred If afflictions great afflictions many afflictions long continued afflictions should set a brand or fix a Character of Gods hatred upon the persons on whom they â—all where then shall we find Gods people in the world We must then seek out the proud vain sensual wantons of the world who spend their days in pleasure and say these are the men whom God loves Outward things are promiscuously dispensed and no man's spiritual estate is discernable by the view of his temporal When God draws the Sword it may cut off the righteous as well as the wicked Ezek. 21. 3. Though the Providences of God materJally considered afford no evidence of Gods love to us yet the manner in which they befall us and the effects and fruits they produce in us do distinguish them very manifestly and by them we may discern whether they be sanctified Providences and fruits of the love of God or no. But yet these effects and fruits of Providences by which we discern their nature do not always presently appear but time must be allowed for the souls exercise under them As it is Heb. 12. 11. Now no affliction for the present seemeth joyous but grJevous nevertheless afterwards it yJeldeth the peaceable fruits of Righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby The benefit of a Providence is discern'd as that of a medicine is for the present it gripes and makes the stomach sick and loathing but afterwards we find the benefit of it in our recovery of health and chearfulness Now the Providences of God being some of them comfortable and others sad and grievous to nature and the way to discern the sanctification and blessing of them being by the manner in which they come and their operations upon our spirits I shall consider the case as it respects both sorts of Providences and shew you what effects of our troubles or comforts will speak them to be sanctified and blessed to us And first for sad and afflictive Providences in what kind or degree soever they befall