Sion his Throne is in the Church when the great things in the World shall be acted for the Ruine of Antichrist * Revel 14.1 Gods Presence in his Church is the Glory and Defence of it As the presence of the King is the Glory of the Court Zach. 2.5 For I saith the Lord will be unto her a wall of fire round about and will be the glory in the midst of her His presence is a Covenant-presence Isa 41.10 Fear not I am with thee be not dismayed for I am thy God whence follows Strength Help and Support I will strengthen thee yea I will help thee yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my Righteousness that is with my Righteous Power with my power engaged to thee in a Righteous Covenant His Presence and Providence in the World is in a way of Absolute Dominion but in his Church in a way of Federal Relation He is the God of Israel and God to Israel or for Israel * 1 Chro. 17.24 yea and a God in the midst of Israel Every one of them suffficient engagements to protect Israel and provide for Israel and govern every thing for Israels good God is under an Oath to do good to Israel will he violate his Oath tear his Seal break his Covenant who never broke his League with any of his people yet Eightly 8. The Prayers of the Church have a mighty force with God to this end God is entitled a God hearing Prayer and what prayers should God hear if not the prayers of his Church which aim at Gods Glory in their own good Though the prayers of the Church may in some particular fail yet in general they do not because they submit their desires to the Will of God which always works what is best for them When God would do any mighty work in the World he stirs up his people to pray for it and their prayers by his own appointment have a mighty influence upon the Government of the World For when they come before him in behalf of the Church in general he doth indulge them a greater liberty and boldness and as it were a kind of Authority over him then upon other occasions of their own Isa 45.11 Thus saith the Lord the holy one of Israel and his maker ask of me things to come concerning my Sons and concerning the work of my hands command you me God would be more positively confidently and familiarly dealt with about the concerns of his sons though they were things to come to pass in after Ages And indeed the prayers of the Church have a powerful and invisible Efficacy on the great actions and overturnings which are in the World The Being of the World is maintained by them from sinking according to the Jews saying sine stationibus non subsisteret mundus standing in prayer was their usual prayer-gesture And that they have actually such a force is evident Rev. 8.3 4. An Angel hath a golden Censer with Incense to offer it with the prayers of the Saints upon the Altar which was before the Throne And ver 5. the Censer wherein their prayers were offered was filled with the fire of the Altar and cast into the Earth and there were Voices Thundrings Lightnings and Earthquakes When the prayers of the Saints were offered to God and ascended up before him that is were very pleasing to him The issue is the Angel fills the Censer with fire of the Altar and thereby causes great commotions and alterations in the world signifying that the great changes of the World are an answer unto those prayers which are offered unto God for fire is taken from that altar upon which they were offered and flung into the World And it must needs be that the prayers of the Church should have an influence on the government of the World 1. Because God hath a mighty delight in the prayers of his people The prayer of the upright is his delight and he loves to hear the Churches voice Cant. 2.14 O my dove let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voice Chaldee thy voice is sweet in prayer In the times of the Gospel God promises that the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem should be pleasant to him Mal. 3.4 When Christ shall sit as a refiner v. 3. what is the issue of those prayers v. 5. I will come near to you to judgment and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers c. Prayer awakes providence to judge the Enemies of the Church A Parent delights not in the bare crying or the voice of his Child simply considered in it self but in the significations and effects of it He delights in the matter of their prayers it being so agreable to his own heart and will and in the sence they have of the sufferings of the whole body 2. Because Prayer is nothing else but a pleading of Gods promises Unto this they are directed by that Spirit which knows the mind of God and marshals their petitions according to his will Now as God turns his own decrees and purposes concerning his Church into promises to them so the Church turns those promises into prayers for them So that promises being for the good of the Church and there being an exact harmony between those promises and the Churches prayers all those providences which are the issue of those promises and the answer of the Churches prayers must needs be for the Churches good 3. Because there are united supplications and pleadings both in Heaven and Earth all the hands of the whole Family in Heaven and Earth are concerned in their petitions 1. Christ intercedes for the Church who alwaies desires mercy and deliverance for them in the appointed time Zach. 1.12 How long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and the issue is alwaies gracious For v. 13. God answers him with good and comfortable words and thereupon Carpenters are raised to cut off the horns which had scattered Judah v. 20. 2. Angels in all probability plead for the Church as we have already heard 'T is likely they offer and present that to God which makes for his glory and that is the good of the Church Angels surely desire that which their Head doth which is * Zach. 1.12 described as one of their own order and called an Angel Do they rejoyce at the repentance of a sinner and do they not likewise triumph at the happiness of the Church which is part of that Family they are of And we know that the greatness of our joy is suted to the mercies of our desires where our joy is most triumphant it implies that our desires before were most vehement 3. Glorifyed Saints are not surely behind The rich man in the Parable desired his Friend on Earth might not come into that place of torment * Luk. 16.28 If there be so much charity in Hell can there be less in Heaven If he desired it that by the presence of his Companions in sin his
is done he is every where and sees all things Worldly Governors cannot be every where essentially present God is so perfect in his knowledge of all things that he cannot be imposed upon by the evil suggestions and flatteries of men or Angels In nature it is so the eye guides the body because that is the chief Organ of sensitive knowledge the mind which is the seat of Wisdom guides the whole 4. Patience Infinite patience is requisite to the preservation and government of the World in the circumstances wherein it hath stood ever since the fall What Angel though the meekest or can all the Angels in Heaven be Masters of so much patience as is needful for this work of governing the World though for the space of one day Could they bear with all those evils which are committed in the world in the space of 24 hours Might we not reasonably conceive that they would be so tired with the obliquities disorders deformities which they would see in the acts of men besides all the evil which is in the hearts of men which lye without the verge of their knowledge that they would rather call for fire from Heaven to burn the World to Ashes * Trap in Exod. 34. Averroes thought that because of Gods slowness to anger he meddled not with sublunary concerns This rather fits him for it because he can bear with the injuries of wicked men otherwise the world would not continue a moment Angels though powerful holy wise and patient creatures yet being Creatures they want the infiniteness of all these qualifications which are necessary to this government Though they are knowing yet they know not mens hearts though they are wise yet they may be charged with a folly uncapable of this though holy yet not able in this respect to manage it to the ends and designs of an infinite holiness though nimble yet cannot be in all parts of the world at every turn but the Providence of God is infallible because of his infinite wisdom indefatigable because of his omnipotency and righteous because of his goodness 3. There can be no reason rendred why God should not actually govern the World since He only hath a right and a fitness If God doth not actually govern it it is either because He cannot or because He will not 1. Not because He cannot this inability must be either for want of knowledge or want of power The one if asserted would deny his omnipotence the other his omniscience the one would make him a weak God the other an ignorant God and consequently no God 2. Not because He will not If He can and will not it is say some a testimony of envy that he maligns the good of his Creatures but not to insist upon this This must bee ither because of the 1. Difficulty This cannot be What difficulty can there be in a single word or one Act of his will which can be done by God without any molestation Were there millions of Worlds as well as this For still they would be finite and so governable by an infinite Superior May we not more reasonably think the forming such a Mass would require more pains then the government of it The right stringing an instrument is more trouble to a skilful Musitian then the tripping over the strings afterwards to make an harmony What difficulty can it be to omnipotence Is it a greater labour to preserve and govern then it was to create Doth not the Soul order every part of the body and all its functions without any pain to it and shall not the God that made that Soul so indefatigable much more mannage the concernments of the World without labour to himself Is it not as easie with God to guide all these things by one single act of his Will as for me by an act of my Soul to do many things without a distinct act of cogitation or consideration before Can it be more laborious to him to govern the world then it is to know all things in the world He sees all things in an instant by one act of his understanding and he orders all Creatures in a moment by one act of his will Can one act of his will be more painful then one act of his understanding Can he with a word make this great Ball and can he not with as much ease order all to conform to the law of his own righteous will Can a continual eruption of goodness be a difficulty to an infinite Being which we find natural to the Sun to the Fountains to the Sea to many works of that Omnipotent goodness Or 2. Disparagement Denial of Gods Providence over the lesser things of the World did arise from the consideration of the state of Monarchs who thought it an abridgment of their felicity and dignity to stoop to such low considerations as the minutula of their estates might exact from them but left them to their Vicegerents But they consider not that the felicity of God as it respects the Creature is to communicate his goodness to as many subjects as he hath made capable of his care If it were his glory to create the world can it be his dishonour to Govern it The glorifying his wisdom is as honourable to him as the magnifying his power though both are eminent in Creation and Providence yet his wisdom is more signal in the Governing as his power was in framing of the world Why was it not as much a disparagement to God to Create things contemptible in our eyes as since he hath Created them to take care of them and marshal them for his own glorious ends The Sun in the Heavens is a shadow of God which doth not disdain to communicate its natural goodness and emit its beams to the meanest Creatures and let the little flies sport themselves in them as well as the greatest Princes and transmits its influences upon things obscure and at a distance from it whereby it manifests an universal regard to all And would it not be a disparagement to an infinite goodness to be out-stript by a Creature which he hath set up for a natural communication of goodness to the rest of the World The very consideration of the Sun and the nature of it gives us as much an account of God as any inanimate being whatsoever 'T is as much the Suns honour to produce a small Insect as the growth of the greatest Plant. Have not all Creatures a natural affection in them to preserve and provide for their own * Mornae de Verit. Relig. Christian. Cap. 11 hath not God much more who endued all Creatures with that disposition Whatsoever is a natural perfection in Creatures is eminently an infininite perfection in God If it be therefore a praise to you to preserve your own can it be a disgrace to God You may as well say it is as much a dishonour to him to be good as to have a tender regard to his Creatures Censure him as well
in his actions in the world And what greater motive can there be to perswade our submission then Wisdom and Goodness transacting all things Gods counsel being the firmest as well as the wisest it is a folly both wayes to resist it 2. God discovers his mind to us by providences Every work of God being the result of his Counsel when we see it actually brought forth into the World what else doth it discover to us but that Counsel and will of his Every single providence hath a language wherein Gods mind is signified much more a train and contexture of them Luk. 7.22 tell John what things you have seen and heard how that the blind see the Lame walk the Leapers are cleansed the deaf hear the dead are raised to life to the poor the Gospel is preached Our Saviour informs John's Disciples from acts of providence he gives him no other answer but turns him over to interpret and construe his works in the case Providence therefore must not be resisted when Gods mind in it is discovered 'T is disingenuous to act against his pleasure and manifest mind 't is the Devils sin Aaron when he lost his two Sons in so judicial a manner by Fire from Heaven yet held his peace * Levit. 10.1 2 3. because God had declared his mind positively I will be glorified 'T is dangerous to resist the mind of God for the word of his providence shall prosper in spight of Men and Devils Isa 55.11 My word that goes forth of my mouth shall not return unto me void it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it and therefore a resisting of it is termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fighting against God by Gamaliel no great friend to the Church Acts. 5.38 39. 4. Murmur not at providence Though we do not clearly resist it if there be a repining submission it is a partial opposition to the Will of God We might as well murmur at God's creation as at his providence for that is as arbitrary as this he is under no Law but his own righteous will we should therefore leave the government of the world to God's wisdom as we acknowledge the frame of it to be an act of his power If God should manage his wayes according to our prescriptions what satisfaction would God have what satisfaction would the world have He might be unjust to himself and unjust to others Your own complaints would not be stilled when you should feel the smart of your own Counsels yet if they were what satisfaction could there be to the complaints of others whose interests and therefore judgments and desires lye cross to yours Man is a cross Creature The Israelites exclaimed to God against Pharaoh and when the Scene was changed they did no less murmur against Moses in the wilderness They were as troublesom when they were delivered as when they were afflicted In Egypt they would have their liberty and in the Wilderness their stomachs turn and they long for the Onyons and Garlick though attended with their former slavery Let God govern the World according to his own Wisdom and Will till all mankind can agree in one method to offer to him and that I think will never be though the world should last for ever Murmur not therefore whatsoever is done in the world is the work of a wise agent who acts for the perfection of the whole universe and why should I murmur at that which promotes the common happiness and perfection that being better and more desirable then the perfection of any one particular person Must a Lutinest break all his strings because one is out of tune And must God change his course because things are out of order with one man though in regard of divine providence things are not out of order in themselves or without any care for God is a God of order This temper will hinder our prayers with what face can we pray to that God whose wisdom we thus repine at If God doth exercise a providence in the World why do we murmur if he doth not take care of those things why do we pray to him 't is a contradiction It also hinders us from giving God the glory and our selves the comfortable sight of his providence God may have taken something from us which is the matter of our sorrow and given another thing to us which might be the matter of our joy Jacob lost a joint and got a blessing * Gen. 32.29 31. What advantage can it be to murmur Can all your cryes stop the motions of the Heavens when a storm reaches you Can your clamours make the clouds move the faster or perswade the showers from drenching us Murmuring at any afflictive providence is the way to make the Rod smarter in it self and sharper to us 5. Study providence 'T is a part of Atheism not to think the acts of God in the World worth our serious thoughts And if you would know the meaning of his administrations grow up in the fear of God Psal 25.14 The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him God is highly angry with those that mind him not Psal 28.5 because they regard not the operation of his hands he shall destroy them and not build them up He shall utterly root them out 1 Study providence universally The darkest God brings order out of the Worlds confusion even as he framed a beautiful Heaven and Earth out of a rude Mass The terriblest these offer something worth our observation the dreadful providence of God makes Sodom an example to after ages Jude 7. They are set forth for an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire c. The smallest God is a wise agent and so the least of his actions are significant There is nothing superfluous in those acts we account the meanest for to act vainly and lightly argues imperfection which cannot be attributed to God The wisdom of God may be much seen in those providences the blind Word counts small as a little picture is oft times of more value and hath more of the workman's skill then a larger which an ignorant person might prize at a higher rate the Lilies Flowers Sparrows our Saviour raises excellent observations from 2 Regularly By the word compare providence and the promise together God's manner of administrations and the meaning of them is understood by the word Psal 77.13 Thy way O God is in the Sanctuary By faith we many times correct our sence by reason when we look through a blew or green glass and see all things blew or green though our sense represents them so yet our reason discovers the mistake Why should we not correct reason by faith Indeed our purblind reason stands in as much need of a regulation by faith as our deceitful sence doth of a regulation by reason We may often observe in the Gospel that the holy Ghost taking notice of the particular circumstances in the bringing Christ into the World and in
heart is most set upon and that which is last in execution What doth God do at the folding up of the World but perfect his people and welcome them into Glory Therefore God principally next to himself loves his Church The whole Earth is his but the Church is his treasure Ex. 19.5 If you will keep my Covenant then shall you be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people for all the Earth is mine Segullah such a treasure that a Man a King will intrust in no hands but his own all the Earth is mine is not a reason why the Church was his treasure but an incentive of thankfulness that when the whole Earth was his and lay before him and there were many people that he might have chosen and loved before them yet he pitched upon them to make them his choicest treasure And when the blessed God hath pitched upon a people and made them his treasure what he doth for them is with his whole heart and with his whole Soul Jer. 32.41 42. speaking of making an everlasting Covenant he adds yea I will rejoyce over them to do them good c. assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole Soul As though God minded nothing else but those people he had made an everlasting Covenant with which is the highest security and most pregnant expression of his affection that can be given to any not to give them a parcel or moiety of his heart but the whole infinite intire piece and to engage it all with the greatest delight in doing good to them That infinite heart of God and all the contrivances and workings of it center in the Churches welfare The World is a Wilderness but the Church is a Garden If he water the Wilderness will he not much more dress his Garden If the flights of Birds be observed by him shall not also the particular concernments of the Church He hath a repository for them and all that belong to them He hath a book of Life for their Names * Luk. 10.20 a book of Record for their members * Psal 139.16 a Note-book for their Speeches Mal. 3.16 A book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord And a book of providence for their preservation Exod. 32.32 In the prosecution of this I shall shew First 1. That it is so de facto and hath been so Secondly 2. That according to the state of things and Gods Oeconomy it must be so Thirdly 3. The improvement of it By way of Vse First 1. That all providence is for the good of the Church de facto and has been so Reason first 1. It will appear by an enumeration of things First All good things Secondly All bad things are for their good First All good things I. The World II. Gifts and common graces of men in the World III. Angels First I. The World The whole World was made and ordained for the good of the Church next to the glory of God This will appear in three things 1. The continuance of the World is for their sakes God would have destroyed the World because of the ignorance and wickedness of it before this time but he overlooked it all and had respect to the times of Christ and the publishing faith in him and repentance Act. 17.30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at God overlooked * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he looked not so upon them as to be provoked to destroy the world but his eyes were fixed on the times of Christianity therefore would not take notice in the extremity of his justice of the wickedness of those foregoing ages Believers are the Salt of the Earth * Mat. 5.13 which makes the World savoury to God and keeps it from corrupting 'T is meant not only of the Apostles but of Christs Disciples of all Christians for to them was that Sermon made v. 1. If the Salt have lost his savour if the Salt be corrupted and Christianity overthrown in the World wherewith shall the World be salted how can it be kept from corruption If they that persecuted the Prophets before you in Judaea which is sometimes called the Earth in Scripture can not relish you and find nothing grateful to their Palates in your Doctrine and Conversation wherewith shall they be salted How shall they be preserved from corruption The Land will be good for nothing but to be given as a prey to the Romans to be trod under their feet as being cast out of Gods protection They are the foundation of the world Pro. 10.25 the righteous are an everlasting foundation Maimonides understands it thus that the World stands for the righteous sakes When God had Noah and his Family lodged in the Ark he cares not what deluge and destruction he brings upon the rest of the World When he had conducted Lot out of Sodom he brings down that dreadful storm of fire He cares for no place Grotius on the place no nor for the whole World any longer then whilst his people are there or he hath some to bring in in time For the meanest believer is of more worth then a world therefore when God hath gathered all together he will set fire upon this frame of the Creation For what was the end of Christs coming and dying but to gather all things together in one Eph. 1.10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of time he might gather together in one all things in Christ When Christ hath summed up all together he hath attained his end And to what purpose then can we imagine God should continue the World any longer for his delight is not simply in the World but in the Saints there Psal 16.3 But to the Saints that are in the Earth in whom is all my delight not in the Earth but in the Saints there which are the only excellent things in it which Christ speaks of whom that Psalm is meant who knew well what was the object of his Fathers pleasure The sweet savour God smelt in Noah's sacrifice was the occasion of God's declaration for the Worlds standing Gen. 8.21 and the Lord said in his heart I will not curse the ground any more for mans sake That he would no more smite it with a totally destroying judgment It was his respect to Christ represented in that sacrifice and to the faith and grace of Noah the sacrificer What Savour could an infinitely pure spirit smell in the blood and flames of beasts 2. The course of natural things is for the good of the Church or particular members of it God makes articles of agreement with the Beasts and Fouls whose nature is raging and ravenous and binds them in sure bonds for the performance of those articles Hosea 2.18 And in that day will I make a Covenant for them with the Beasts of the field and with the fouls of Heaven and with the creeping things of the ground and will make them to lye down safely As upon
He can see nothing amiable in them for what was first lovely they have defaced and blotted out but the Church hath Gods comliness put upon her Ezek. 16.14 it was perfect through my comliness which I had put upon thee saith the Lord God and he did not lay those glorious colours upon her to manage his government or any part of it against her to deface her Besides their loveliness which is conferred upon them by God they have a love to God and no man will act against those whom he thinks to be his friends God being purus actus there being nothing but purity and activity in God his love must be the purest and highest love the most vigorous and glowing As fire which sets all other Bodies so this all other powers in the World in motion for them God cannot love them but he must wish all good to them and do all good for them for his love is not a lazy love but hath its raptures and tenderness and his affection is twisted with his Almighty Power to work that good for them which in their present condition in the world they are capable of 〈◊〉 is certain God loves his Church 〈◊〉 1. He carries them in his hand * Deut. 33.3 and that not in a loose manner to be cast out but they are engraven upon the palms of his hands * Isa 49.16 that he cannot open his hand to bestow a blessing upon any person but the picture of his Church doth dart in his eye God alludes to the Rings wherein men engrave the image of those that are dear to them And the Jews did in their captivity engrave the Effigies of their City Jerusalem upon their Rings that they might not forget it * Sanctius in Isa 49.16 If his eye be alway upon the Church his thoughts can never be off it in all his works 2. He loves the very gates and outworks Psal 87.2 the Lord loveth the gates of Sion He loves a Cottage where a Church is more then the stately Palaces of Princes The gates were the places where they consulted together and gave judgment upon affairs God loved the assemblies of his Saints because of the truths revealed the ordinances administred the worship presented to him 3. Nay one Saint is more valued by him then the whole World of the wicked God is the God of all Creatures but peculiarly the God of Abraham and of his seed One Abraham is more deeply rooted in his heart then all the World and he doth more entitle himself the God of Abraham then the God of the whole World for in that style he speaks to Isaac Gen. 26.24 I am the God of Abraham thy Father much more the God of Israel The God of the whole Church of which Abraham was but a member though the Father of the faithful and a Feoffee of the Covenant God hath a greater value for one sincere Soul then for a whole City He saves a Lot and burns a Sodom Yea then for a whole World he drowns a World and reserves a Noah He secures his Jewels whilst he flings away the pebbles 4. He loves them so that he overlooks their crabbed and perverse misconstructions of his providence When the Israelites had Jealous thoughts of him and of Moses his instrument when they saw that mighty Egyptian Army just at their heels and themselves cooped up between Mountains Forts and Waters God doth not upon this provoking murmuring draw up his cloudy Pillar to Heaven but puts it in the rear of them when before it had marched in the van * Exod. 14.19 and wedgeth himself in between them and Pharaoh's enraged host to shew that they should as soon sheath their swords in his heart as in their bowels and if they could strike them it should be through his own deity which was the highest expression of his affection And though they often murmured against his providence after they were landed on the shore yet he left them not to shift for themselves but bore them all the way in his armes as a Father doth his Child * Deut. 1.31 and bare them like an Eagle upon his Wings * Deut. 32.11 And God loves them magnificently and royally Hos 14.4 I will love them freely * Hosea 14.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. 〈◊〉 without any doubting without any reluctancy I will love thee without any repugnancy in my heart to draw me back from thee for mine anger is turned away as the streams of a River quite another way Now all this considered can the Governour of the World the King of Saints act any thing against his own affections Yea will he not make all things subservient to them whom he loves 2. His Delight See what an inundation of sweetning joy there was in him for which he had not Terms of Expression to suit the narrow apprehensions of Men Zeph. 3 17. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty he will save he will rejoyce over thee with joy he will rest in his love he will joy over thee with singing He seems in his expression to know no measure of his delight in the Church and no end of it I will rejoyce over thee with joy Joy sparkles up fresh after joy 'T is his rest where his Soul and all that is within him Centers it self with infinite contentment Joy over thee with singing A Joy that blossoms into Triumph Never had any such charming transports in the Company of any he most affected as God hath in his Church he doth so delight in the Graces of his People that he delights to mention them He twice mentions Enochs walking with him * Gen. â— 22.24 And certainly God cannot but delight in it more than in the World because it is a fruit of greater pains than the Creation of the World The World was created in the space of six daies by a Word the Erecting a Church hath cost God more Pains and Time Before the Church of the Jews could be settled he had both a contest with the Peevishness of his People and the Malice of their Enemies And his own son must bleed and dye before the Church of the Gentiles could be fixed Men delight in that which hath cost them much Pains and a great Price God hath been at too much Pains and Christ at too great a Price to have small delight in the Church will he then let wild Beasts break the Hedges and tread down the fruit of it shall not all things be ordered to the good of that which is the Object of his greatest delight in the World Seventhly 7. The presence of God in his Church will make all providence tend to the good of it It would be an idle useless Presence if it were not operative for their good The Lord is there is the very name of the Gospel Church * Esa 48. â—5 what would it signifie if it were a useless Presence Christ stands upon Mount
And when Abraham returns from the Victory v. 16. the rest of the delivered Captives are mentioned in the bulk Lot only in particular As though all that had been done had been done by God only for Lots sake They might have preserved the whole Prey to themselves had it not been for this Jewel too precious in Gods accompt for their Custody And the fearful Curse that God pronounced against the Ammonite and Moabite that they should not come into the Congregation for ten Generations though any of them turned Proselytes was because they came not out with so much as Bread and Water to meet the Israelites and because they hired Balaam to Curse them Deut. 23.3 4. The utter wasting of Nations and Kingdoms is because they will not serve the interest of God in his People Isa 60.12 For the Nation and Kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish yea those Nations shall be utterly wasted God will bring an utter Consumption upon those people that refuse to love them much more upon those that hate them 6. What esteem then should there be of the Godly in the World The Providence of God being chiefly for the good of his People cannot well fall upon them but some drops will fall upon those involved with them in a common interest When the Corn and Wine and Oyl hear Jezreel the Seed of God and the Earth hears the Corn and the Heavens hear the Earth and God hears the Heavens * Hos 2.21 22. When their supplications come up to the great Superintendent of the World many of the Wicked will fare the better for that Providence which is given only in answer to Jesreels Prayer God causes his Sun to shine upon the unjust upon them not for their sakes When Nebuchadnezzar issued out that unjust order for the slaying the Chaldeans for not performing an impossible command in telling him the Dream he had forgotten Daniel was sought out to undergo the same fate Yet by his Wisdom God bends the heart of Arioch the Executioner of this Decree to stay his hand * Dan. 2.12 Daniel goes to the King God stayes Nebuchadnezzars Fury and moves his heart to give them time The Providence is chiefly intended for the preservation of Daniel and his Godly Companions but the rest of the wise men have the Benefit of it As the water with which a man waters his choicest Plants and Flowers in his Garden is intended only for them yet some falling off from those Flowers refresheth the Weeds that grow under them If God had not had such flowers as Daniel and his Companions the Weeds in Chaldea had been plucked up Yet the ungrateful World takes no notice of the benefits they receive from this Salt of the Earth which preserves them and to whom they are all so much beholding Lot had been the occasion of restoring Zoar from Captivity as I mentioned before Gen. 14.8 for the Inhabitants of that City were engaged with those of Sodom in the Fight against the four Kings And the King of Bela the same is Zoar And perhaps were carried Captives with the rest of their Neighbours And it had been saved from the Flames which fell upon Sodom meerly by Lots prayer Gen. 19.21 See I have accepted thee concerning this thing that I will not overthrow this City for the which thou hast spoken yet he found them a surly people and was requited with a rude reception notwithstanding his kindness verse 30. He went up out of Zoar for he feared to dwell in Zoar It was not likely he was so distrustful of God that he should overthrow it when he had absolutely promised him the contrary Therefore most likely for some churlish threatnings from them Nay Sodom it self was beholding to him for a small respite of the Judgment intended against them For God tells him he could do nothing till he were come thither * Gen. 19. And it was so for Lot was entred into Zoar before a drop of Brimstone and Fire was rained down upon Sodom * Ver. 23.24 Then the Lord rained upon Sodom when when Lot was entred into Zoar This good the Wicked World get by Gods People is so evident that sometimes wicked men cannot but take notice of it Laban a selfish Idolater was sensible of it Gen. 30.27 I have found by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake It was a Lesson so legible that he might have learned it sooner than in fourteen years The Church is the chief object of preservation wicked men are preserved for their sakes as Dung is preserved not for its own sake but for the manuring a fruitful field and Thorns in the Hedge are preserved for the Gardens sake 7. 'T is then a very foolish thing for any to contend against the welfare of Gods People 'T is to strive against an Almighty and unwearied Providence Men may indeed sometimes be suffered by God for holy ends to have their Wills in some measure upon the Church but not altogether They must first depose him from his Throne blind his eyes or hold his Arm. 'T is as foolish as if a worm should design to dig down a Mountain or Chaff to Martial it self in Battle Array against the Wind or for a poor Flye to stop the motion of a Milstone 1. 'T is foolish Because it is exceeding sinful What is done against the Church is rather done against God than against it Since all her Constitution Worship Observances are directed to God as their ultimate end so that to endeavour to destroy the Church is to deny God a Worship deprive him of his Sanctuary break open his House Ravish his Spouse cut off Christ's Body rob him of his Jewels and will be so interpreted by God at the last upon the scanning of things If the Church be Gods house the Enemies shall answer for every Invasion every forcible Entry for the breaking down the Gates and Bars of it God will sue them at last for dilapidations 2. Very unsuccessfull Shall God be afraid of the multitudes and power of Men No more than a Lyon or a young Lyon roaring after his Prey when a multitude of Shepherds are called forth against them shall he be afraid of their voice or abase himself for their noise * Isa 31.4 Noise and Clamor is all they can do and that not long The fierceness of the Lyon quickly scatters them The Associations and mens girding themselves against the Church is but a preparation to their own Ruine Isa 8.9 Associate your selves together oh ye People and ye shall be broken in pieces three times repeated Your Counsels saith he shall not stand against that presence of God that is with us For God is with us 3. It is very Destructive too God will not alway be still and refrain himself he seems to do so for a while but when he doth arise he will destroy and devour at once * Isa 42.14 he will make but one morsel of them