seen their affliction and heard their cry and know their sorrow It is a great evidence of his Care that he observed and weighed their sufferings Secondly When he begins to work for their deliverance and stretches out his hand to bring his sore Judgments upon their Oppressors he does not send his Judgments upon the whole Land promiscuously but he separates betwixt the Egyptians and the Israelites Thirdly When Pharoah begins so far to yeild as to admit of a Treaty never did any stand stricter upon terms than he he would abate nothing of his demand never was the Interest of any people better defended or more carefully provided for than theirs he would not leave a hoof behind Exod. 10.26 he would make no composition with Pharoah all Israel and all that was Israels must be delivered Fourthly When he had brought them thence and they were come out according to his demands what care did he take of their preservation at the Red Sea when they were compassed in on every side the Sea before the Mountains on both sides and the Egyptians behind them yet he led them through the Sea as on dry Land and as he left none behind in Egypt so he lost none here Fifthly When they were in the Wilderness what care does he take to lead them in their way by a Cloud and Pillar of Fire and to provide for them in that desolate place so that they had not only bread and water food and raiment but as the Psalmist sayes They had Angels food Sixthly View them in the Land of Canaan and you shall find wonders of Providence in their preservation from dangers and deliverance out of them when they had brought themselves in trouble by their provocations Seventhly God had assured them of his Providential Care of them while they walked in his Commands nay he had given them one special Command which they could not observe without a very great dependance upon his Providence He had commanded all the Miles from all parts to appear before him thrice every year Now this must needs be dangerous and against all the Rules of policy if they had not had a security in Divine Providence It might seem a very inconsiderate thing to go up and leave all their Countrey naked their Wives and Children to defend themselves in the midst of Enemies who must needs know the times of their going up to Jerusalem But God undertook to guard their Countrey in the mean time and he kept the enemy not only from invading but also from desiring it Exod. 34.24 Eighthly Lastly View them in their Captivity when they had provoked the Lord to give them up into the hands of their Enemies yet the Lord hath a special care of them to preserve them under the evils which he brought upon them for their sins we may see this evidently Isa 42.24 25. and Isa 43.1 2. Who gave Jacob to the spoil and Israel to the Robbers Did not the Lord he against whom they have sinned for they would not walk in his ways neither were they obedient to his Law therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger and the strength of battel and it hath set him on fire round about yet he knew not and it burned him yet he laid it not to heart But now thus saith the Lord that created thee O Jacob and he that formed thee O Israel fear not for I have redeemed thee I have called thee by thy Name thou art mine When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the Rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee If ever God would leave his people in time of trouble it would be in such a case as this when they were under the trouble which he had brought upon them and that for their sin yea when they behaved themselves very ill under the hand of God which was upon them Israel had so provoked the Lord that he could not spare them yet in their afflictions he could not forsake them He would go with them thorow fire and water VVe have very remarkable passages of Gods Providence to that people in their Captivity to preserve them from being cut off we may read it at large in the Book of Hester when mischief was intended against them and they were designed for ruine then must Hester by a strange Providence be brought to the Crown and Mordecai as strangely and as seasonably prefer'd to Honour For though be had done the King Service before by discovering the Plot which was laid against him yet the King takes no notice of this till such time as the Jews were in extream danger to be cut off and Haman must be used to help to raise Mordecai to Honour who had designed not only his but the ruine of all the Jews Thus you see the Providence of God cures the Church in general Will you see it towards particular persons Consider it then in these few for instances of many that might be given without number VVhat provision did God make for Noah and the safety of him and his Family because he was righteous in that generation Gen. 6.14 Therefore God directs him to make an Ark that he might escape that common destruction After he had made the Ark by Gods direction God takes care to call him into the same when the time was come that the encrease of the waters might not prevent him Gen. 7.1 VVhen he had call'd him in he is careful to shut him in to secure him from the waters Gen. 7.16 God would hereby express the great care that he had of Noah that he would not trust to his care in making every place fast where the water might come in to annoy him he might for want of skill being not acquainted with such a Vessel formerly or for want of sufficient care not knowing what danger he should be in nor yet understanding the force of the waters have left open some cranny at least whereat the water might have broken in upon him God therefore would shut every door himself and by a secret power he did also fortifie the several parts of the Ark against the force of the waters VVhen God was about to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah by fire See what care he takes of Lot because he had a righteous Soul that was vexed with the filthy conversation of the Sodomites Gen. 19. where we see first God sends his Angels to call him out and to bring out all that he had in it v. 12. VVhen the danger is eminent and the time draws nigh to destroy the City they hasten him v. 15. when language will not do it they pluck him out of his own house and out of the City and the destruction of it v. 16. nay that he may not perish out of the City they grant him a City to flye unto God shut Noah into the Ark to keep danger from him and
preserved from the destruction which God was bringing upon the City We find also that Cain was marked that he might not be slain the first was doubtless in mercy but most Interpreters agree in this That Cain's was a Judgment upon him a trembling of his heart and head which imply'd his guilt and was a terror to others as well as to himself Here then may arise a great and weighty Question worthy of the serious consideration of those whom the late Judgment of Pestilence hath spared Quest How shall I know whether my preservation from this Judgment be a special Mercy or a fruit of Common Providence Or whether it be not worse a reservation unto evil Ans You shall know three ways First By some things which go before such a preservation Secondly By some things which accompany it Thirdly By some things which follow it First Some things go before such Deliverances as these when they are in Mercy and they are such as these First A sense of the danger that we are in that so we may be taken off from all self-confidence and fitted for the observing and honouring of Divine Goodness Thus it was with Paul 2 Cor. 1.9 We had the sentence of death in our selves that we should not trust in our selves but in God which raiseth the dead He was as a dead man in his own apprehensions and was taken off from all hopes and dependencies upon creatures and had nothing to hold by but this That God was able to raise the dead This sense of danger ushered in a great deliverance and made way for the magnifying of the Mercy of God and indeed when God intends to bless and sanctifie any deliverance to a man he prepares him by the sense of his danger for a thankful reception of the Mercy Secondly As there is commonly a sense of the danger so there is also of our own unworthiness of that mercy which we desire and of that which we enjoy already and of our ill deserving in respect of the evil that we fear Thus it was with Jacob when he was in danger of falling into his Brothers hands Gen. 32.10 11. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which thou hast shewed unto thy servant for with my staff I passed over this Jordan and now I am become two bands Deliver me I pray thee from the hand of my Brother A sense of our unworthiness of what we have already received of the Lord is a great argument that God intends us more Thirdly A Spirit of Prayer to be earnest and strive with God for the mercy God seldom gives any thing to his people in mercy but he sends a Spirit of Prayer to usher it in When God would deliver Jacob from the hands of Esau he pours out a mighty Spirit of Prayer and he wrestled with God all the night Gen. 32.24 Now what was his wrestling the Prophet Hosea expounds it Hos 12.4 He had power over the Angel and prevailed he wept and made supplication to him And what did Jacob pray for this night he told us before Gen. 32.11 Deliver me I pray thee from the hand of my Brother from the hand of Esau for I fear him lest he will come and smite me and the Mother with the Children Jacob saw that his whole Family lay at stake now there was but a step betwixt them and death therefore he bestirs himself and will not give over till he gets the victory and prevail with God he will not leave praying till he carry away a perswasion that his prayers are answered Fourthly An humble Spirit to submit to the hand of God under that affliction and danger which we pray to be delivered from It is no contradiction to pray against an affliction and yet submit to the will of God A man may pray against the evil and yet submit to the will of God and this is very acceptable unto God it is a fore-runner of deliverance from trouble already come and may well be a sign of preservation from danger approaching Lev. 26.41 42. If their uncircumcised hearts shall be humbled and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity then will I remember my Covenant with Israel This frame of Spirit was found in David when that heavy affliction befel him that his own Son rebelled against him 2 Sam. 16.11 12. Let him alone and let him curse for the Lord hath bidden him David stooped under God's hand in this affliction and this was an argument that God would deliver him out of that trouble as we see he did Fifthly Mourning for those evils which we see God is about to punish When God finds us mourning for our own and other mens sins whether he spare us or take us away in the judgment that is coming either is in mercy If he spare us it is to see better days and to enjoy better things if he take us away it is from the evil that is to come but commonly God hath a care of such to preserve them from the evil as we see he did the Mourners in Jerusalem when a general judgment was come upon the City Ezek. 9.4 5 6. Now it is our work to reflect upon our hearts and consider how we have found them under the apprehensions of this judgment of the Pestilence approaching if we have found such impressions as these we may conclude that our lives have been given us in mercy and that they are the fruits of Gods special providence and goodness Secondly You shall know by some things which did accompany this preservation While this judgment from which you are preserved did hang over your heads you had some such impressions as these upon your spirits First A resolution to depend upon God in the mid'st of trouble untill the calamity be over-past When God intends to give in a mercy of this kind he commonly draws forth Faith to act for it at least a Faith of dependance though not a Faith of assurance and though there may be many fears yet these may serve to quicken and stir up Faith of adherence to depend upon God This is the meaning of entring into thy chambers Isa 26.20 Which doth not deny a prudent use of means to prevent evil and danger but imply a trusting more to God to preserve us then to the means we use Prov. 3.5 6. Trust to the Lord with all thy heart and lean not to thine own understanding in all thy ways acknowledg him and he shall direct thy paths A man is not forbidden to use his own understanding but to lean to it There may be not only a care to prevent danger but a fear of it when we have used means and yet a dependance upon God a casting of our selves upon him for help with a resolution to rely upon him and particularly in this case of the Pestilence preservation is promised only upon condition of a Faith of reliance and dependance upon God As we may see in
he pulls Lot out to keep him from the danger Read but the stories of Abraham Jacob Elijah and David in their Pilgrimage and you cannot but acknowledg a special providence of God attending them in all conditions VVhen Abraham was in danger and the weakness of his faith appeared in it how does God take care to bring him off with safety and honour He afflicts Abimelech's Family and then acquaints him with the reason of it Gen. 20.3 See his care of Jacob when he fled from his Brother Esau he provides for him first in his Uncles house and when the time is come the same Providence which brought him thither and kept him there must make way for his Return to bring him off safely for his place of entertainment was become his Prison his Wealth too great a Booty to let go but God meets Laban Gen. 31.24 before he overtakes Jacob and prevents him from doing the injury he intended After he had escaped the hands of Laban he must fall into the hands of Esau who had long since threatned his death and hath now the opportunity that he had looked for to cut him off yet God turns his heart and makes him kind to Jacob so that he might well say Gen. 33.4 I have seen thy face as if I had seen the face of God for he might see Gods face in his It was God that made Esau kind to Jacob it was a reconciled God that made a reconciled Brother Consider but the care that God takes of Elijah when he w s distressed by Famine on the one hand and the persecution of Jezabel on the other He feeds him by an Angel by the Ravens and by the Widow of Sareptah We must needs confess him to be a great instance of Gods Providence The like we have in David whom Saul had appointed to death how did he persecute him and hunt him like a Partridge on the Mountains yet God raises up some to save him One while his Wife deceives her Father when he would have slain him in his bed Another while Jonothan is of his Council and gives him intelligence when danger is near him and he was fain to flye to save himself and is closely pursued in the Wilderness and in great danger to be taken he is preserved by an Invasion made upon the Land by the Philistines 1 Sam. 23.26 27. And David made hast to get away for fea of Saul for Saul and his men compassed Daved and his men round about to take them But there came a Messenger unto Saul saying Hast thee and come forth Philistines have invaded the Land Wherefore Saul returned from pursuing after David Saul never came out with greater resolution with better preparation than now He was resolved to make a search for him through the whole Land and to find him where ever he should conceal himself ver 23. If he be in the Land sayes he I will search him out thorough out all the thousands of Iudah For preparation he had correspondence with the Ziphites who knew those parts where David was and had instruction to search out every lurking place of his and for strength he had men enough to inclose David and all his men in the Wildernesse Saul in all this confidence is notwithstanding disappointed God had otherwise provided to secure David and divert Saul by a way that neither thought of These may serve for instances of this Truth A farther proof of it may be Secondly By considering the expressions by which this Providence of God is set forth in Scripture and they are such as note a very tender and special care of them and they are chiefly these three 1. Keeping or covering them under his wings Deut. 32.11 12. As an Eagle stirreth up her nest fluttereth over her young spreadeth abroad her wings taketh them beareth them on her wings so the Lord alone did lead them The Providence of God which is sometimes compared to the Hens gathering of her Chickens under her wings is here set forth by the Eagles care of her young ones which is the noblest the wisest and strongest of Birds and for tenderness to hers falls short of none She doth not onely keep them in the Nest but she carries them also with her from the Nest and that not with her Talons as she does her prey lest she should hurt them but on her wings David praying for help in time of his trouble uses this expression Psal 17.8 9. Hide me under the shadow of thy wings from the wicked that oppress me from my deadly enemies who compass me about David knew well enough That under this shadow he should be secret and safe from his enemies how many or how strong soever And the security of such a person he does elsewhere strongly assert especially against that Evil which no other strength or skill can protect us from I mean the destroying Pestilence see Psal 91. in ver 1 4. he alludes to this expression and in the following verses he shews the fruit of this in a freedom both from the fear of the Judgment and of the Judgment it self V. 1. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty V. 4. He shall cover thee with his feathers and under his wings shalt thou trust But what advantage shall this be to him See in the following verses v. 5 6. He shall not be afraid of the terror by night nor for the arrow that flieth by day nor for the Pestilence that walketh in darkness nor for the Destruction that wasteth at noon-day Now though this be not an absolute promise of freeing every godly person from this noisom disease yet it is a ground for their hope the people of God may take hold of this promise and plead it with God for their preservation and if they be found in their duties acting faith upon God there is very much spoken in these words for their security For God hath given his Angels charge over them to keep them in all their ways especially if we make the Most High our Habitation If we would have the benefit of Divine Protection we must be sure to put our selves under it by a particular act of Faith 2. A second expression by which this Providence is exprest is his hiding his people in time of danger Psal 27.5 In the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavillion in the secret of his Tabernacle shall he hide me And Psal 31.20 Thou shalt hide me in the secret of thy presence from the pride of men thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavillion from the strife of tongues This is another way by which we express the care we take for those we love when we fear to be overpowered or opprest we hide that which we would keep where we suspect our strength to protect what we desire to preserve we make up that defect by care and skill Thus Rahab hid the Spyes whom she could not protect
a Judgment so when he hath brought it and it reaches them he takes care to sanctifie it to them Whatever they sustain or suffer in their Bodies Names or Estates it is made up in the communication of the Divine Nature and the encrease of Grace that is made by these things The Author to the Hebrews tells us plainly That the End of God in afflicting his people is their profit Heb. 12.10 But what profit is it that comes by these He tells us it is the partaking of his Holinesse When we are made partakers of the Life of God we are gainers though we should lose our own lives in the inquest of it Therefore the Apostle counsels the Saints to rejoice in their afflictions Jam. 1.2 3. My Brethren count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations knowing this That the trial of your Faith worketh patience Never be sad for what you suffer for if you get nothing but patience you will be gainers by all your sufferings Now Faith and Patience are as much tryed and improved by what we suffer from God as what we suffer from men And though it be hard upon this account to rejoice under afflictions yet the people of God do often rejoice after them for the good they have received by them as David Psal 119.71 It is good for me that I was afflicted that I might learn thy Statutes For he had said before v. 67. Before I was afflicted I went astray but now have I kept thy word Thus you see the Providence of God appears towards his people either in keeping them from the evils which fall upon others or the sanctifying them to them and turning them into good Secondly He hath a special Care of his people to preserve them from those Evils which their Enemies intend and design against them whether it be the Devil or wicked men 1. God hath so great a care of his people that the Devil their adversary who goeth about like a roaring Lyon seeking whom he may devour yet cannot touch them without leave of God as we see in the case of Job 1.10 The Devil acknowledges that Job was so well defended by the Hedg that God had made about him that there was no touching of him there was no gap in that Hedg and it was too high and strong to break over it God must open a door and let him in or he could do nothing to Job 2. His Providence appears greatly in preserving them in the World in the midst of their Enemies the Sons of Belial and that several ways 1. He sometimes restraines their Enemies and over-rules their Counsels that they cannot speedily resolve upon or effectually execute what they design Thus he withheld Balaam from cursing Israel and restrained Laban from hurting Jacob. 2dly He stirs up secret friends to favour and to shelter his people when danger is near them Thus he raised up Obadiah in Ahab's Court to favour the Prophets of the Lord and to hide and feed them in the persecution of Jezabel and the sore Famine that was upon the Land 3dly He somtimes converts their Enemies and makes use of those to build the Church who had before destroyed it Thus he did by Paul who breathed out threatnings against the Church of God 4thly He sometimes changes their minds though he convert them not as he dealt by Esau whom the Lord made kind to his Brother Jacob though he continued the same man he was 5thly God some times takes them out of the way as he did Herod Matt. 1.20 who sought after Christ in his Infancy to cut him off Thus the Lord preserves his people from the evils which might fall on them from men Thirdly His Providence is seen in keeping them from those evils which they are prone to run themselves into through ignorance or inadvertency God preserves his people from many secret and unseen dangers which they are not sensible of such as they did not foresee and therefore could not prevent He hath given his Angels charge concerning them to keep them in all their ways who shall bear them in their hands lest they should dash their feet against a stone Psal 91.11 12. They have a charge from God to watch over his people and they are faithful and affectionate to preserve them from those evils which they observe not and are prone to overlook Fourthly God's Providence appears toward his people in this That when he sends any Judgment upon the Earth that is to be executed by an unseen hand he will not trust it in the hands of the Evil Angels but employs the Good Angels who are Friends and Guardians to his people and of the Family with them of the first-born This we see in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah he sends the Angels about this Work who might secure Lot in the destruction of it Gen. 19.1 And when the great Plague was sent upon Israel which destroyed Seventy Thousand men in three days 2 Sam. 24.15 it was executed by a good Angel Doubtless the Devil would have been glad of such an Employment but God would not for his peoples sakes trust him with any such power Fifthly God's Care for his people is so great that it is without any intermission Psal 121.3 4. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved he that keepeth thee will not slumber Behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep God's Care of his people is a constant unintermitted Care it leaves no door open for the vigilant Enemy Saul thought himself safe when he slept amongst his Captains and Souldiers who had a special charge to watch for their Kings Life but while his numerous Guard were all asleep David went out into his camp and took away Sauls Spear which was at his Bolster and with it might have taken away his Life 1 Sam. 26.12 But God's Providence for his People neither sleeps nor slumbers therefore their Enemies can take no such advantage of them Sixthly So great is the Lord's Care for his People that their preservation in the world was the great thing which lay upon the heart of Christ when he was going out of the world And we all know that mens affections are then discovered those whom we love we provide for then John 17.9 I pray for them I pray not for the world but for them that thou hast given me out of the world ver 15. I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil The whole Chapter is full of the expressions of his wonderful Love and tender Care for his People which he uttered at that time as he himself tells them that they might have his Joy fulfilled in themselves that all the people of God might know how his heart in Heaven is affected towards them on Earth Thus you see wherein God expresses his Care of his people next follow the Reasons that may be assigned for this and they are Reas 1. They are
of danger and trouble and our preservation under it Many men have some sence of the Mercy and Goodness of God in time of great danger and seem to be affected with their deliverance but these are only made by some extraordinary Providence these things do not abide upon their spirits whereas a good man labours to keep all the impressions that are made upon his heart either under affliction or by any Mercy fresh and lively that so the frame of his heart may be bettered and that he may get a sound and good constitution of soul Secondly There will be found in us a great care to live up to the engagements of such a condition as we see it was in David Psal 116.8 9 12 13 14 17. Thou hast delivered my soul from death mine eyes from tears and my feet from falling What follows the sense of this Mercy see in the following verses I will walk before the Lord in the Land of the living What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me I will take the Cup of Salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people I will offer to thee the sacrifice of Thanksgiving and will call upon the Name of the Lord. Thus we see David's mercies had an influence upon his whole life as his outward condition is better'd so his whole life is better'd made more holy and conform to the will of God He considered not only what engagements God had laid upon him by his deliverance but also what engagements he had upon himself For there are duties which spring out of the Mercies which we have received and there are duties which arise out of the promises which we have made to God upon condition of deliverance and a good man considers both these David had an eye to the former when he said What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits And he had respect to the latter when he sayes I will pay my vows unto the Lord And God expects it at our hands that we should call to mind the Promises that we make in time of trouble snd the best of God's People have need to be minded of them for we are apter to make them than to keep them We may see this in Jacob who was ready to make a vow in his affliction Gen. 28.20 21 22. And Jacob vowed a vow saying If God will be with me and keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on so that I come again to my fathers house in peace then shall the Lord be my God and this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be Gods house But when God had given him not only food and raiment but had multiplied him greatly he must be called upon to make good this vow Gen. 35.1 And God said to Jacob Arise go up to Bethel and dwell there and make there an Altar unto God that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy Brother We should learn of the Mariners in Jonah who made vows after they were delivered Many will make them before and forget them afterward but a good man either makes them after deliverance or makes good those that he made before It is good to take up our vows when our troubles are ceased and to turn them into Resolutions to confirm and strengthen them as our Mercies are perfected Psal 23.6 From the experience that David had of the Mercy and Goodness of God he takes up a resolution to follow God as long as he lived he determines to stick close to God in his prosperity who stuck to him in his affliction Thirdly There will be an enquiry after work and service for God how he may be serviceable in his generation He is not satisfied with general service neither but is ready to enquire Whether God hath any particular service for him to do in the World unto which he hath preserved him God had a peculiar Work to employ Moses in therefore he wonderfully preserved him in that time of common Calamity and brought him up in Pharoah's Court. And when a man that understands God's wayes and ends meets with singular preservations he is ready to ask What hath God to do for me in the World that he thus preserves me when many others are taken away and he labours to find out that Work if there be any such This is certain that God doth nothing in vain he still proposeth an end to himself and his ends are the promoting his own glory and interest in the World And doubtless his peculiar Works have peculiar Ends And commonly what God chiefly intends that he sets upon our hearts to seek after or to comply with when it is offered unto us as we see in Moses God had preserved him for the deliverance of his people out of Egypt And see how it was upon his heart before ever the Lord appeared to him Exod. 2.12 Nothing doth more bespeak our lives to be given us in Mercy than when we value our Lives by our Work when we can say with Paul To me to live is Christ I know nothing worth a living for but Christ I am resolved while I live to labour for him and to apply my self to that peculiar Work to which he hath appointed me and for which he hath so often preserved me Fourthly A holy confidence in God for time to come a dependance on him and resolution to trust in him in all the straits that we shall meet withall Faith grows stronger by all the answers and rerurns of prayer If God give in any thing as a mercy by special preservation it fortifies the soul against doubts and difficulties for time to come and a man is able then to reason from experience as Paul does 2 Cor. 1.9 10. We had the sentence of death in our selves that we might not trust in our selves but in God which raiseth the dead who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will deliver By these and such like Experiences you shall be assured that your preservations are the fruit of Divine Love and that there was more then a common Providence in your safety You are the saved of the Lord and happy upon this account But if the workings of thy heart have been contrary to these suspend thy joy thou hast less cause than thou art aware of to rejoice in thy preservation from this wasting Judgment It may be but a reservation for some greater evil But you will say Can there be a worse Evil than this I tell thee Yes Perhaps God may reserve thee for some judgment that may take thee away when thou art less aware of it Nay if God only suffer thee to live and to be vile and prophane after such a deliverance to abuse his patience and long suffering and fill up the measure