be negligent you cannot be innocent And yet Be not so intent upon your particular Callings as to make them interfere with your general Calling Beware you lose not your God in the Crowd and hurry of Earthly business Mind that solemn warning 1 Tim. 6. 9. But they that will be rich fall into TemptatJon and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destructJon and perditJon The inhabitants of O Enoc a dry Island near Athens bestowed much labour to draw in a River to water it and make it fruitful but when the Sluces were opened the waters slowed so abundantly that it overflowed the Island and drowned the Inhabitants The application is obvious It was an excellent saying of Seneca rebus non me trado sed commodo I don't give but lend my self to business Remember alwayes the success of your Callings and earthly Imployments is by Divine blessing not humane diligence alone Deut. 8. 18. Thou shalt remember the Lord they God for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth The Devil himself was so far Orthodox as to acknowledge it Job 1. 10 Hast not Thou made an hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side Thou hast blessed the work of his hand c. Recommend therefore your affairs to God by prayer according to Psal. 37. 4 5. Delight thy self also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart Commit thy way unto the Lord trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass And touch not with that which you cannot recommend to God by Prayer for a blessing Be well satisfied in that Station and Imployment in which Providence hath placed you and do not so much as wish your selves in another 1 Cor. 7. 20. Let every man abide in the same Calling wherein he was called Providence is wiser than you and you may be confident hath suited all things better to your Eternal good than you could do had you been left to your own option The Sixth Performance of Providence VI. THus you see the care Providence hath had over you in your youth in respect of that Civil Imployment to which it guided us in those dayes We will in the next place consider it as our Guide and the Orderer of our RelatJons for us That Providence hath a special hand in this matter is evident both from Scripture assertions and the acknowledgements of holy men who in that great concernment of their lives have still owned and acknowledged the directing hand of Providence Take an instance of both The Scripture plainly asserts the dominion of Providence over this affair in Prov. 19. 14. A prudent Wife is from the Lord and Prov. 18. 22. Who 's findeth a Wife findeth a good thing and obtaineth favour of the Lord. So for Children see Psal. 127. 3. Lo Children are an heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the Womb is his reward And it hath ever been the practice of holy men to seek the Lord for direction and counsel when they have been upon the change of their condition No doubt but Abraham's encouragement in that case was the fruit of prayer Gen. 24. 7. His pious servant also who was imployed in that affair did both earnestly seek counsel of God Gen 24. 12. and thankfully acknowledge his gracious Providence in guiding it Ver. 26 27. The same we may observe in Children the fruit of marriage 1 Sam. 1. 20. Luke 1. 13 14. Now the Providence of God may be divers wayes displayed for the engaging of our hearts in love to the God of our mercies 1. There is very much of Providence seen in appointing the Parties each for other In this the Lord goes oftentimes beyond our thoughts and projections yea and oftentimes crosses mens desires and designs to their great advantage Not what they fancy but what his infinite wisdom judges best and most beneficial for them takes place Hence it is that probabilities are so often dashed and things remote and utterly improbable are brought about in very strange and unaccountable methods of Providence 2. There is much of Providence seen in the harmony and agreeableness of tempers and dispositions from whence a very great part of the tranquillity and comforts of our lives results or at least though natural tempers and educations did not so much harmonize before yet they do so after they come under the Ordinance of God Gen. 2. 24. They two shall be one flesh not one only in respect of Gods institutJon but one in respect of love and affectJon that those who so lately were meer strangers to each other are now endeared to a degree beyond the nearest relations in blood Vbi supra For this cause shall a man leave Father and Mother and shall cleave to his Wife and they two shall be one flesh 3. But especially Providence is remarkable in making one instrumental to the eternal good of the other I Cor. 7. 16. How knowest thou O Wife but thou maist save thy Husband or how knowest thou O Man whether thou shalt save thy Wife Hence is that grave Exhortation to the Wives of unbelieving Husbands 1 Pet. 3. 1. to win them by their conversation which should be to them in stead of an ordinance Or if both be gracious then what singular assistance and mutual help is hereby gained to the furtherance of their Eternal good Whilst they live together as Heirs of the grace of life I Pet. 3. 7. O blessed Providence that directed such into so intimate relation on Earth who shall inherit together the common SalvatJon in Heaven 4. How much of Providence is seen in Children the fruit of MarrJage To have any Posterity in the Earth and not be left altogether as a dry tree To have comfort and joy in them is a special Providence importing a special mercy to us To have the breaches made upon our Families repaired is a Providence to be owned with a thankful heart When God shall say to a man as he speaks in another case to the Church Isa. 49. 20. The Children which thou shalt have after thou hast lost the other shall say again in thine ears the place is too strait for me c And these Providences will appear more affectingly sweet and lovely to you if you but compare its allotments to you with what it hath allotted to many others in the world For do but look abroad and you shall find 1. Multitudes unequally yoked to the imbittering of their lives whose Relations are clogs and hinderances both in Temporals and Spirituals Yea we find an account in Scripture of gracious persons a great part of whose comfort in this world hath been split upon this Rock Abigail was a discreet and vertuous Wâ—man but very unsuitably matched to a churlish Nabal see 1 Sam. 25. 25. What a temptation to the neglect of a known duty prevail'd upon the renowned Moses by the means of Zipporah his
Psal. 102. 10. Thou hast lifted me up and cast me down See what a sad Alteration Providence made upon the Church Lam. 1. 1 12. How doth the City sit solitary that was full of people How is she become as a Widow She that was great among the NatJons and Princess among the Provinces how is she become tributary Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fJerce anger And how great an Instance was Joh of this truth Job 29. per tot and 30. compared How many thousands have complained with Naomi whose condition hath been so strangely altered that others have said as the people of Bethlehem did of her Is this Naomi Ruth 1. 19 20 21. These Vicissitudes of Providence commonly cause great disorders of spirit in the best men Look as intense heat and cold try the strength and soundness of the constitution of our bodies so the alteratJons made by Providence upon our conditions try the strength of our graces and too often discover the weakness and corruption of holy men HezekJah was a good man but yet his weakness and corruption was bewrayed by the alterations Providence made upon his conditions When sickness and pains summoned him to the grave what bitter complaints and despondencies are recorded in Isa. 38. per tot and when Providence lifted him up again into a prosperous condition what ostentation and vain glory did he discover Isa. 39. 2. David had more than a common stock of inherent grace yet not enough to keep him in an equal temper of spirit under great alterations Psal. 30. 6 7. In my prosperity I said I shall never be moved thou hidest thy face and I was troubled It is not every man can say with Paul I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need Phil. 4. 12. He is truly rich in grace whose riches or poverty neither hinders the acting nor impoverisheth the stock of his graces Though the best men be subject to such disorders of heart under the changes of Providence yet these disorders may in a great measure be prevented by the due application of such Rules and helps as God hath given us in such cases Now these helps are suited to a threefold Aspect of Providence upon us viz. 1. Comfortable 2. Calamitous 3. Doubtful To all which I shall speak particularly and briefly Quest. 1. HOw may we attain to an Evenness and Steddiness of heart under the comfortable Aspects of Providence upon us Under Providences of this kind the great danger is lest the heart be lifted up with pride and vanity and fall into a drowsie and remiss temper To prevent this we had need urge humbling and awakening Considerations upon our own hearts such are these that follow First Consideration These gifts of Providence are common to the worst of men and are no special distinguishing fruits of Gods love The vilest of men have been filled even to satiety with these things Psal. 73. 7. Their eyes stand out with fatness they have more than heart could wish Second Consideration Think how unstable and changeable all these things are What you glory in to day may be none of yours to morrow Prov. 23. 5. Riches make themselves wings and flee away as an Eagle towards Heaven As the Wings of a Fowl grow out of the substance of its body so the cause of the Creatures transitoriness is in it self It 's subjected to vanity and that vanity like Wings carries it away they are but fading flowers James 1. 10. Third Consideration The Change of Providences is never nearer to the people of God than when their hearts are lifted up or grown secure by prosperity Doth HezekJah glory in his Treasures The next news he hears is of an impoverishing Providence at hand Isa. 39. 2 3 4 5 6 7. Others may be left to perish in unsanctified Prosperity but you shall not Fourth Consideration This is a great discovery of the Carnality and corruption that is in thy heart it argues an heart little set upon God little mortified to the world little acquainted with the vanity and ensnaring nature of these things O you know not what hearts you have till such Providences try them And is not such a discovery matter of deep humiliation Fifth Consideration Was it not better with you in a low condition than it is now Reflect and compare state with state and time with time How is the frame of your hearts altered with the alteration of your condition So God complains of Israel Hosea 13. 5 6. I did know thee in the Wilderness the land of drought according to their pasture so were they filled they were filled and their heart was exalted therefore have they forgotten me saith the Lord q. d. You and I were better acquainted formerly when you were in a low condition Prosperity hath estranged you and altered the case How sad is it that Gods mercies should be the occasion of our estrangement from him Quest. 2. UPon the other side it 's worth considering how our hearts may be establisht and kept steddy under Caâ—amitous and adverse Providences Here we are in equal danger of the other Extream viz. despondency and sinking under the frowns and strokes of cross Providences Now to support and establish the heart in this case take three helps First Consideration First Consider That afflictive Providences are of great use to the people of God they cannot live without them The Earth doth not more need chastening frosts and mellowing snows than our hearts do nipping Providences Let the best Christian be but a few years without them and he will be sensible of the need of them he will find a sad remissJon and declining upon all his graces Second Consideration No stroke of Calamity upon the people of God can separate them from Christ Rom. 8. 35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ Shall TribulatJon There was a time when Job could call nothing in this world but trouble his own he could not say my Estate my Honour my Health my Children for all these were gone yet then he could say my Redeemer Job 19. 25. Well then there is no cause to sink whilst Interest in Christ remains sure to us Third Consideration All your calamities will have an end shortly The longest day of the Saints troubles hath an end and then no more troubles for ever The troubles of the wicked will be to Eternity but you shall suffer but a while 1 Pet. 5. 10. If a thousand troubles be appointed for you they will come to one at last and after that no more Yea and though our troubles be but for a moment yet they work for us a
see how their hearts are broken for sin under this severe rebuke Lam. 2. 17 18 19. And then 2. For caution against sin for the time to come it 's plain that the rebukes of Providence leave that effect also upon gracious hearts Ezra 9. 13 14. Psal. 85. 8. Sometimes he cheers and comforts the hearts of his people with smiling and reviving Providences both publick and personal There are times of lifting up as well as casting down by the hand of Providence The Scene changes the aspects of Providence are very cheerful and encouraging their Winter seems to be over they put off their garments of mourning and then Ah what sweet returns are made to heaven by gracious souls Doth God lift them up by prosperity they also will lift up their God by praises See Psal. 18. Title and v. 1 2 3. So Moses and the people with him Exod. 15. when God had delivered them from Pharaoh how do they exalt him in a song of thanksgiving which for the elegancy and spirituality of it is made an Emblem of the doxologies given to God in glory by the Saints Rev. 15. 3. Upon the whole whatever effects our Communion with God in any of his Ordinances doth use to produce upon our hearts the same we may observe to follow our conversing with him in his Providences For It is usually found in the experience of all the Saints that in what Ordinance or duty soever they â—ave any sensible communion with God it naturally produces in their spirits a deep abasement and humiliation from the sense of divine condescensions to such vile poor Worms as we are Thus Abraham Gen. 18. 27. I am but dust and ashes The same effect follows our converse with God in his Providences Thus when God had in the way of his Providence prospered Jacob how doth he lay himself at the feet of God as a man overwhelmed with the sense of mercy See Gen. 32. 5 10. And Jacob said I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercJes and of all the truth which thou hast shewed thy servant for with my staff I passed over this Jordan and now am become two bands Thus also it was with David 2 Sam. 7. 18. Who am I and what is my Fathers house that thou hast brought me hitherto And I doubt not but some of you have found the like frame of heart upon you that these holy men here expressed Can you not remember when God lifted you up by Providence how you cast down your selves before him and have been viler in your own eyes than ever Why thus do all gracious hearts What am I that the Lord should do thus and thus for me O that ever so great and holy a God should thus be concerned for so vile and sinful a Worm 2. Doth Communion with God in Ordinances melt the heart into love to God Cant. 2. 3 4 5. Why so doth the observation of his Providences also Never did any man conversâ— with Gods works of Providencâ— aright but fâ—â—nd his heart at some times melted into love to the God of his mercies Psal. 18. 1. compared with the Title When God had delivered him from the hand of Saul and all his Enemies he said I will love thee O Lord my strength Every man loves the mercies of God but a Saint loves the God of his mercies The mercies of God as they are the fewel of a wicked mans lusts so they are fewel to maintain a good mans love to God not that their love to God is grounded upon these external benefits Not thine but thee O Lord is the motto of a gracious soul but yet these things serve to blow up the flame of love to God in their hearts and they find it so Doth Communion with God set the keenest edge upon the soul against sin You see it doth and have a pregnant Instance of it in Moses when he had been with God in the Mount for forty dayes and had there enjoyed communion with him when he came down and saw the Calf the people had made see what an holy paroxysm of zeal and anger it cast his soul into Exod. 32. 19 20. Why the same effect you may discern to follow the Saints converse with God in his Providences What was that which pierced the heart of David with such a deep sense of the evil of his sin which is so abundantly manifested in Psalm 51. throughout Why if you look into the Title you shall find it was the effect of what Nathan had laid before him and if you consult 2 Sam. 12. 7 8 9 10. you shall find it was the goodness of God manifested to him in the several endearing Providences of his life which in this he had so evilly requited the Lord for that broke his heart to pieces in the sense of it and I doubt not but some of us have some times found the like effects by comparing Gods wayes and our own together Doth Communion with the Lord enlarge the heart for obedience and service Surely it is as oyl to the wheels that makes them run of freely and nimbly their course Thus when IsaJah had obtained a special manifestation of God and the Lord askt whom shall I send he presents a ready soul for the employment Isa. 6. 8. Here am I Lord send me Why the very same effect follows sanctified Providences as you may see in Jehosaphat 2 Chron. 17. 5 6. and in David Psal. 116. 12. O when a soul considers what God hath done for him he cannot chuse but say what shall I return how shall I answer these engagements And thus you see what sweet Communion a soul may have with God in the way of his Providences O that you would thus walk with him How much of Heaven might be found on Earth this way And certainly it will never repent the Lord he hath done you good when his mercies produce such effects upon your hearts he will say of every savour thus improved It was well bestowed and will rejoyce over you to do you good for ever Second Motive A Great part of the pleasure and delight of the ChristJan life is made out of the observatJons of Providence It is said Psal. 111. 2. The works of the Lord are great sought out of all them that have pleasure therein i. e. the study of Providence is so sweet and pleasant that it invites and allures the soul to search and dive into it How pleasant is it to a well tempered soul to behold and observe 1. The sweet harmony and consent of divine Attributes in the issues of Providence They may seem sometimes to jarr and clash to part with each other and go contrary wayes but they only seem so to do for in the winding up they alwayes meet and embrace each other Psal. 85. 10. Mercy and Truth have met together Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other It is spoken with an immediate reference to that signal Providence of Israels deliverance out of the
Babylonish captivity and the sweet effect thereof wherein the truth and righteousness of God in the promises did as it were kiss and embrace the mercy and peace that was contained in the performance of them after they had seemed for seventy years to be at a great distance from each other For it is an allusion to the usual demonstrations of joy and gladness that two dear friends are wont to give and receive after a long absence and separation from each other they no sooner meet but they smile embrace and kiss each other Even thus it is here The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be and by some is rendered have met us and that also is true for when ever these blessed Promises and Performances meet and kiss each other they are also joyfully embraced and killed by believing souls There is I doubt not a mediate reference of this Scripture to the MessJah also and our redemption by him In him it is that these divine Attributes which before seemed to clash and contradict one another in the business of our salvation have a sweet agreement and accomplishment Truth and Righteousness do in him meet with Mercy and Peace in a blessed agreement What a lovely sight is this and how pleasant to behold O if with Habbakuk chap. 2. v. 3. we would but stand upon our Watch-Tower to take due observations of Providence what rare prospects might we have Iâ—uther understands it of the Word of God q. d. I will look into the Word and observe there how God accomplisheth all things and brings them to pass and how his works are the fulfilling of his Word Others as Calvin understand it of a mans own retiring thoughts and meditations wherein a man carefully observes what purposes and designs God hath upon the World in general or upon himself in particular and how the Truth and Righteousness of God in the Word work themselves through all difficulties and impediments and meet in the mercy peace and happiness of the Saints at last Every Believer take it in which sense you will hath his Watch-Tower as well as Hâ—bbâ—kuk and give me leave to say it 's an Angelical employment to stand upon it and behold the consent of Gods Attributes the accomplishment of his Ends and our own happiness in the works of Providence For this is the very joy of the Angels and Saints in Heaven to see Gods Ends wrought out and his Attributes glorified in the mercy and peace of the Church Rev. 14. 1 2 3. 8. 2. And as it 's a pleasant sight to see the harmony of Gods Attributes so it is exceeding pleasant to behold the resurrection of our own prayers and hopes as from the dead Why this you may often see if you will duly observe the works of Providence towards you We hope and pray for such and such mercies to the Church or to our selves but God delayes the accomplishment of our hopes suspends the answer of our prayers and seems to speak to us as Hab. 2. 3. For the visJon is yet for an appointed time but at the end it shall speak and not lye though it tarry wait for it because it will surely come it will not tarry but we have no patience to wait the time of the Promise our hopes languish and dye in the interim and we say with the despondent Church Lam. 3. 18. Our hope is perished from the Lord but Oh how sweet and comfortable is it to see these prayers fulfilled after we have given up all expectation of them May we not say of them as the Scripture speaks of the restoration of the Jews it is even life from the dead This was David's case Psal. 31. 22. he gave up his hopes and prayers for lost yet lived to see the comfortable and unexpected returns of them And this was the case of Job chap. 6. 11. he had given up all expectation of better dayes and yet this man lived to see a resurrection of all his lost comforts with an advantage Think how that change and unexpected turn of Providence affected his soul it is with our hopes and prayers as with our Alms Cast thy bread on the waters for thou shalt find it after many dayes Eccles. 11. 1. or as it was with Jacob who had given ovâ—r all hopes of ever seeing his beloved Joseph again but when a strange and unexpected Providence had restored that hopeless mercy to him again Oh how ravishing and transporting was it Gen. 46. 29 30. 3. What a transporting pleasure is it to behold great blessings and advantages to us wrought by Providence out of those very things that seemed to threaten our ruine or misery and yet by due observing the wayes of Providence you may to your singular comfort find it so Little did Joseph think his transportation into Egypt had been in order to his advancement there yet he lived with joy to see it and with a thankful heart to acknowledge it Gen. 45. 5. Wait and observe and you shall assuredly find that Promise Rom. 8. 28. working out its way through all Providences How many times have you been made to say as David Psal. 119. 71. It is good for me that I have been afflicted O what a difference have we seen betwixt our afflictions at our first meeting with them and our parting from them We have entertained them with sighs and tears but parted from them with joy blessing God for them as the happy Instruments of our good Thus our fears and sorrows are turned into praises and songs of thanksgiving 4. What unspeakable comfort is it for a poor soul that sees nothing but sin and vileness in it self at the same time to see what an high esteem and value the great God hath for him This may be discerned by a due attendance to Providence for there a man sees goodness and mercy following him through all his dayes as it is Psal. 23. 6. Other men prosecute good and it flyes from them they can never overtake it but goodness and mercy follow the people of God and they cannot avoid or escape it it gives them chase day by day and finds them out even when they sometimes put themselves by sin out of the way of it In all the Providences that befall them goodness and mercy pursues them O with what a melâ—ing heart do they sometimes reflect upon these things and will not the goodness of God be discouraged from following me notwithstanding all my vile aâ—â—ronts and abuses of it in former mercJes Lord what am I that mercy should thus pursue me when vengeance and wrath pursue others as good by nature as I am It certainly argues the great esteem God hath of a man when he thus follows him with sanctified Providences whether they be comforts or crosses for his good And so much is plain from Job 7. 18. Lord what is man that thou shouldst visit him every morning and try him every moment Certainly Gods people are his treasure and by
appearing before God as a Lamb that had been slain still keeps that door of mercy open Rev. 5. 6. Heb. 9. 24. By this his intercession our peace and comforts are prolonged to us Zech. 1. 12 13. Every sin we commit would put and end to the mercies we possess were it not for that caution which is put in for us by it 1 â—ohn 2. 1 2. ' If any man sin we have an Aâ—vocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitJatJon for our sins c. This stops all pleas and procures new pardons for new sins Hence it is he saves to the uttermost to the last compleating act Heb. 7. 25. New sins do not irritate our former pardons nor cut off our priviledges setled upon us in Christ. The returns and answers of all your prayers and cryes to Heaven for the removing of your afflictions or supply of your wants are all procured and obtained for you by Jesus Christ. He is the Master of your requests and were it not that God had respect to him he would never regard your cryes to him nor return any answer of peace to you how great soever your distresses should be Rev. 8. 3 4. 'T is his name that gives our prayers their acceptance John 15. 16. because the Father can deny him nothing therefore your prayers are not denyed Doth God condescend to hear you in the day of trouble Doth he convince you by your own experience that your prayers have power with God and do prevail O see how much you owe to your dear Lord Jesus Christ for this high and glorious priviledge The Covenant of Grace in which all your comfortable enjoyments are comprized and by which they are secured sanctified and sweetned to you is made in Christ and ratified by him betwixt God and you Your mercies are all comprized in this Covenant even your daily bread Psalm 111. 5. as well as your justification and other spiritual mercies 'T is your Covenant interest that secures to you what ever it comprizes Isa. 55. 3. hence they are called the sure mercies of David Nay this is it that sanctifies them and gives them 〈◊〉 nature of special and peculiar mercies One 〈◊〉 mercy is worth a thousand common mercies And being sanctified and special mercies they must needs be exceeding sweet beyond all other mercies On these accounts it was that David so rejoiced in his Covenant Iâ—teresâ— though laden with many afflictions â— Sam. 23. 5. But now all this hangs entirely upon Christ. The New Testament is in his blooâ— 1 Cor. 11. â—5 and whatever mercies you reap from that Covenant you must thank the Lord Jesus Christ for them Put all this together and then think how such considerations will endear Christ to your souls The Seventh Motive THe due observations of Providence have a marvellous efficacy to melt the heart and make it thaw and relent ingenuously before the Lord. How can a sanctified heart do less than melt into tears whilst it either considers the dealings of God from time to time with it or compares the mercies received with the sins committed or the different administrations of Providence towards it self and others Let a man but set himself to think deliberately and closely of the wayes of providence towards him let him but follow the Tract 〈◊〉 â—rovidence as it hath led him all along the way that he hath gone and if there be any principle of gracious tenderness in him he shall meet with variety of occasions to excite and draw it forth Reader go back with thy serious thoughts 1. To the beginning of the wayes of God with thee the mercies that brake out early in thy youth even the first born mercies from the womb of Providence and thou wilt say What need I go farther Here is enough not only to moves but overwhelm my heart May I not from this time cry unto thee my Father thou art the guide of my youth Jer. 3. 4. What a critical time is the time of youth it's the moulding age and ordinarily according to the course of those leading Providences after Providences do steer their course What levity rashness ignorance and strong propensions to sin and ruine accompanied that age How many being then left to the sway of their own lusts run themselves into those sins and miseries which they never recover themselves from to their dying day These like the errors of the first concoction are rarely rectified afterwards Did the Lord guide thee by his Providence when but a Child Did he then preserve thee from those follies and miscarriages which blast the very blossom and nip the bud so that no good fruit is to be expected afterwards Did he then cast thee into such families or among such company and acquaintance as moulded and formed thy spirit to a better temper Did he then direct thee into that way of employment wherein thou hast seen so large a train of happy consequents ever since following thee And wilt thou not from henceforth say My Father my Father thou art the guide of my youth Or 2. Let us but bring out thoughts close to the Providences of after times and consider how the several changes and removes of our lives have been ordered for us Things we never foresaw nor designed but much better for us than what we did design have been all along ordered for us The way of man is not in himself Gods thoughts have not been our thoughts nor his wayes our wayes Among the eminent mercies of thy life Reader how many of them have been meer surprizals to thee Thy own projects have been thrust aside to make way for better things designed by Providence for thee Nay 3. Do but observe the Springs and Autumns of Providence in what order they have flourished and faded with thee and thou wilt find thy self over-powered with the sense of Divine Wisdom and Goodness when necessity required such a friend was stirred up to help thee such a place opened to receive thee such a Relation raised up or continued to refresh thee and no sooner doth Providence deprive thee of any of them but either thy need of them ceases or some other way is opened to thee O the depth of Gods Wisdom and Goodness O the matchless tenderness of God to his people 4. Compare the dealings of Providence with you and others yea with others that sprang up with you in the same generation it may be in the same families and from the same Parents it may be in families greater and more flourishing in the world then yours and see the difference upon many great accounts it hath made betwixt you and them I knew a ChristJan who after many years separation was visited by his own Brother the very sight of whom wrought upon him much as the sight of Benjamin did upon Joseph so that he could not refrain to fall upon his neck and weep for joy but after a â—ew hours spent together finding the spirit of his
Brother not only estranged â—rom all that 's spiritual and serious but also very vain and prophane he hastened to his chamber shut the door upon him threw himself down at the feet of God and with flowing eyes and a melting heart admired the distinguishing Grace of God saying Was not Esau Jacob's Brother O Grace Grace astonishing Grace 5. Compare the carriage of Providence towards you with your own carriage towards the Lord and it must needs melt your hearts to find so much mercy bestowed where so much sin hath been committed What place did you ever live in where you cannot remember great provocations committed and manifold mercies notwithstanding that received O with how many notwithstandings and neverthelesses hath the Lord done you good in every place What Relation hath not been abused by sin and yet both raised up and continued by Providence for your comfort In every place God that left the marks of his goodness and you the remembrances of your sinfulness give your selves but leave to think of these things and it 's strange if your hearts relent not at the remembrance of them 6. Or Lastly Do but compare your dangers with your fears and both with the strange out-letts and doors of escape Providence hath opened and it cannot do less than over power you with a full sense of divine care and goodness There have been dark clouds seen to rise over you judgement even at your door sometimes threating your life sometimes your liberty sometimes your estates and sometimes your dearest relations in whom it may be your life was bound up remember in that day what faintness of spirit seized you what charges of guilt stirring up fears of the issue within you You turned to the Lord in that distress and hath he not made a way to escape and delivered you from all your fears Psal. 34. 4. Oh is your life such a continued throng such a distracted hurry that there is no room to be found with Christians to sit alone and think on these things and press these marvellous discoveries of God in his Providences upon their own hearts Surely might these things but lye upon our hearts talk with our thoughts by day and lodge with us at night they would even force their passage down to our very Reins The Eighth Motive DVe observation of Providence will both beget and secure inward tranquillity in your minds amidst the vicissâ—udes and revolutions of things in this unstable vain world Psal 4. 8. I will both lay me down in peace and sleep for the Lord only maketh me dwell in safety He resolves the sinful fears of Events shall not rob him of his inward quiet nor torture his thoughts with anxious presages he will commit all his concerns into that faithful fatherly hand that had hitherto wrought all things for him and he means not to lose the comfort of one nights rest nor bring the evil of to morrow upon the day but knowing in whose hand he was wisely enjoyes the sweet felicity of a resigned will Now this Tranquillity of our minds is as much begotten and preserved by a due consideration of Providence as by any thing whatsoever Hence it was that our Lord Jesus Christ when he would cure the Disciples anxious and distracting sollicitudes about a livelihood bids them consider the care Providence hath over the Birds of the air and the Lillies of the field how it feeds the one and clothes the other without any anxious care of theirs and would have them well consider those Providences and reason themselves into a calm and sweet composure of spirit from those considerations Mat. 6. 27 28 29 30 31. Two things destroy the peace and tranquillity of our lives our bewailing past disappointments or fearing future ones But would we once learn prevision and provision to be divine prerogatives and take notice how often Providence baffles those that pretend to it causing the good they foresaw according to their conjectures coming to their hand yet to balk them and â—lee from them and the evil they thought themselves sufficiently secured from to invade them I say would we consider how Providence daily baffles these Pretensions of men and asserts its own Dominion it would greatly conduce to the tranquillity of our lives This is a great truth that there is no face of Adversity of formidable but being viewed from this station would become amicable Now there be several things in the consideration of Providence that naturally and kindly compose the mind of a Christian to peace and bring it to a sweet rest whilst events hang in a doubtful suspense As First The Supremacy of Providence and its uncontroulable power in working This is often seen in the good that it brings us in a way that 's above the thoughts and cares of our minds or labour of our hands I had not thought said Jacob to have seen thy face and lo God hath shewed me thy seed also Gen. 48. 11. There is a frequent coincidency of Providences in a way of surprizal which from no appearance or the remotest tendency of outward causes could be foreseen but rather falls visibly cross to the present Scheme and posture of our affairs Nothing tends to convince us of the vanity and folly of our own sollicitudes and projections more than this doth The profound Wisdom of Providence in all that it performeth for the people of God The Wheels are full of eyes Ezek. 1. 18. i.e. there is an intelligent and wise Spirit that sits upon and governs the affairs of this world This Wisdom shines out to us in the unexpected yea contrary events of things How oâ—ten have we been courting some beautiful appearance that invited our senses and with trembling shun'd the formidable face of other things when notwithstanding the issues of Providence have convinced us that our danger lay in what we couâ—ted and our good in what we so studiously declined This also is a sweet principle of peace and quiet to the Christians mind that he knows not but his good may be imported in what seemed to threaten his ruine Many were the distresses and straits of Israel in the Wilderness but all was to humble them that he might do them good in the latter end Deut. 8. 16. Sad and dismal was the face of that Providence that sent them out of their own land into the land of the Chaldeans yet even this was a project to do them good Jer. 24. 5. How often have we retracted our rash and headlong censures of things upon experience of this truth and been taught to bless our afflictions and disappointments in the name of the Lord. Many a time have we kissed those troubles at parting which we met with trembling And what can promote peace under doubtful Providences more effectually than this The experiences we have had throughout our lives of the faithfulness and constancy of Providence are of excellent use to allay and quiet our hearts in any trouble that befalls us Hitherto
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
governed by them and hence are our disappointments We looked for peace but no good came for a time of health and behold trouble Jer. 8. 15. And hereupon is it that we fret at the delays of Providence and suspect the faithfulness of God in their performance But his thoughts are not our thoughts Isa. 55. 8. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as men count slackness 2 Pet. 3. 9. It is slackness if you reckon by our own rule and measure but it is not so if you reckon and count it by God's The Lord doth not compute and reckon his seasons of working by our Arithmetick You have both these Rules compared and the ground of our mistake detected in that Scripture Hab. 2. 3. The VisJon is yet for an appointed time but at the end it shall speak and not lye though it tarry wait for it because it will surely come it will not tarry God appoints the time when that appointed time is come the expected mercies will not fail But in the mean time though it tarry saith the Prophet wait for it for it will not tarry Tarry and not tarry how shall this be reconciled The meaning is it may tarry much beyond your expectatJon but not a moment beyond God's appointment During this delay of Providence the hearts and hopes of the people of God may be very low and much discouraged This is too plain from what the Scriptures have recorded of others and every one of us may find in our own experiences We have an instance of this in Isa. 40. 13 14. in the 13. verse you have God's faithful Promise that he will comfort his people and have mercy upon his afflicted Enough one would think to raise and comfort their hearts But the mercy promised was long in coming they waited from year to year and still the burthen pressed them and was not removed And therefore ver 14. ZJon said the Lord hath forsaken me and my Lord hath forgotten me q. d. It 's in vain to look for such a mercy God hath no regard to us we are out of his heart and mind he neither cares for us nor minds what becomes of us So it was with David after God had made him such a Promise and in the time thereof so faithfully performed it that never was mercy better secured to any man for they are call'd the sure mercJes of David Isa. 55. 3. yet Providence delayed the accomplishment of them so long and suffered such difficulties to intervene that he even despaires to see the accomplishment of them but even concludes God had forgotten him too Psal. 13. 1. How long wilt thou forget me O Lord for ever And what he speaks here by way of questJon he elsewhere turns into a positive conclusJon Psal. 116. 11. All men are Lyars I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul And the causes of these despondencies and sinkings of heart are partly from our selves and partly form Satan If we duly examine our own hearts about it we shall find that these sinkings of heart are The immediate effects of unbelief We do not depend and rely upon the word with that full trust and confidence that is due to the infallible word of a faithful and unchangeable God You may see the ground of this faintness in that Scripture Psal. 27. 13. I had fainted unless I had belJeved Faith is the only Cordial that relieves the heart against these faintings and despondencies Where this is wanting or is weak no wonder our hearts sink at this rate when discouragements are before us Our judging and measuring things by the rules of sense this is a great cause of our discouragements We conclude According to the Appearances of things will be their Issues If Abraham had done so in that great tryal of his faith he had certainly lost his footing but against hope i. e. against natural probability he belJeved in hope giving Glory to God Rom. 4. 18. If Paul had done so he had fainted under his tryals 2. Cor. 4. 16 8 we faint not saith he whil'st we look not at the things that are seen q. d. That which keeps up our spirits is our looking off from things present and visible and measuring all by another rule viz. the power and fidelity of God â—irmly engaged in the Promises In all these things Satan manages a design upon us Hence he takes occasions to suggest hard thoughts of God and to beat off our Souls from all confidence in him and expectations form him He is the great make-bate betwixt God and the Saints He reports the difficulties and fears that are in our way with advantage and labours to weaken our hands and discourage our hearts in waiting upon God And these suggestions gain the more credit with us because they are confirm'd and attested by sense and feeling But here is a desperate design carrying on under very plausible pretences against our souls It concerns us to be watchful now and maintain our faith and hope in God Now blessed is he that can resign all to God and quietly wait for his salvation To assist the soul in this difficulty I shall offer some farther help beside what hath been formerly given under the first CautJon pag. 158. in the following Considerations First Consideration Though Providence do not yet perform the mercies you wait for yet you have no ground to entertain hard thoughts of God for it 's possible God never gave you any ground for your expectation of these things from him It may be you have no Promise to bottome your hope upon and if so why shall God be suspected and dishonoured by you in a case wherein his truth and faithfulness was never engaged to you If we are crossed in our outward concernments and see our expectations of prosperity dashed if we see such or such an outward comfort removed from which we promised our selves much why must God be accused for this these thing you promised yourselves but where did God promise you prosperity and the continuance of those comâ—ortable things to you produce his Promise and shew wherein he hath broken it It is not enough for you to say There are general Promises in the Scripture that God will withhold no good thing and these are good things which Providence withholds form you for that Promise Psal. 84. 11. hath its limitations it is expresly limited to such as walk uprightly and it concerns you to examine whether you have done so before you quarrel with Providence for non-performance of it Ah friend search thine own heart reflect upon thine own ways seest thou not so many â—laws in thine integrity so many turnings aside from God both in heart and life that may justice God not only in withholding what thou lookest for but in removing all that thou enjoyest And besides this limitation as to the Object it 's limited as all other promises relating to externals are in the matter or things premised by the Wisdome and Will
how little faith patience resignation and self-denyal we can find when God calls us to the exercise of them O 't is a blessed sign that trouble is sanctified that makes a man thus turn in upon his own heart search it and humble himself before the Lord for the evils of it IN the next place let us take into consideration the other branch of Providences which are comfortable and pleasant Sometimes it smiles upon us in successes prosperity and the gratification of the desires of our hearts Here the Question will be how the sanctification oâ— these Providences may be discovered to us For resolution in this matter I shall for clearness sake lay down two sorts of Rules one Negative the other positive First Negative It is a sign that comfort is not sanctified to us which comes not ordinarily in the way of Prayer The wicked boasteth of hiâ— hearts desire and blesseth the covetous whom the Lord abhorreth The wicked through the pride of his countenance will 〈◊〉 sâ—â—k after God God is not in all his thoughts Psal. 10. 3 4. Here you see Providence may give men their hearts desire and yet they never once open their desires to God in prayer about it But then those gifts of Providence are only such as are bestowed on the worst of men and are not the fruits of love Whatever success prosperity or comfort men acquire by sinful medJums and indirect courses are not sanctified mercies to them This is not the method in which those mercies are bestowed Better is a little with righteousness than great revenews without right Prov. 16. 8. better upon this account that it comes in Gods way and with his blessing which never follows the way of sin God hath cursed the wayes of sin and no blessing can follow them Whatever prosperity and success makes men forget God and cast off the care of duty is not sanctifJed to them It is unsanctifJed prosperity which lulls men asleep into a deep oblivJon of God Deut. 32. 13 14 15 18. He made him ride on the high places of the earth that he might eat the increase of the fields and he made him to suck honey out of the rock and oyl out of the flinty rock butter of Kine and milk of Sheep with fat of Lambs and rams of the breed of Bashan and Goats with the fat of kidneys of wheat and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape but Iesurun waxed fat and kicked thou art waxed fat thou art grown thick thou art covered with fatness then he forsook God which made him and lightly esteemed the Rock of his Salvation Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful and hast forgotten God that formed thee Rarè fumant foelicibus arae When prosperity is abused to sensuality and meerly serves as fuell to maintains fleshly lusts it is not sanctifJed See Job 21. 11 12 13. They send forth their little ones like a flock and their Children dance They take the Timbrell and Harp and rejoyce at the sound of the Organ They spend their dayes in wealth and in a moment go down to the grave It 's a sign that prosperity is not sanctifJed to men when it swells the heart with pride and self-conceitedness Dan. 4. 29 30. At the end of twelve moneths he walked in the Palace of the Kingdom of Babylon The King spake and said Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the Kingdom by the might of my power and for the honour of my Majesty That success is not sanctified to men which takes them off from their duty and makes them wholly negligent or very much indisposed to it Jer. 2. 31. O generatJon see the Word of the Lord have I been a Wilderness unto Israel a land of darkness Wherefore say my people We are Lords we will come no more unto thee Nor can we think that prosperity sanctifJed which wholly swallows up the souls of men in their own enjoyments and makes them regardless of publick miserJes or sins Amos 6. 4 5 6. They lye upon beds of Ivory and stretch themselves upon their couches and eat the lambs out of the flock and the calves out of the midst of the stall They chant to the sound of the Viol and invent to themselves Instruments of musick like David They drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the chief ointments but they are not grieved for the afflictions of Ioseph But then Positively Those mercies and comforts are undoubtedly sanctified to men which humble their souls kindly before God in the sense of their own vileness and unworthiness of them Gen. 32. 10. And Jacob said I am not worthy of the least of all the mercJes c. Sanctified mercies are commonly turned into Cautions against sin Ezra 9. 13. they are so many bands of restraint upon the soul that hath them to make them shun sin They will engage a mans heart in love to the God of his mercies Psal. 18. 1. compared with the Title They never satisfie a man as his Portion nor will the soul accept all the prosperity in the world upon that score Heb. 11. 26. Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward Nor do they make men regardless of Publick sins or miseries Nehem. 2. 1 2 3. compared with Acts 7. 23. It 's a sure sign that mercJes are sanctifJed when they make the soul more expedite and enlarged for God in duty 2 Chron. 17. 5 6. Therefore the Lord stablished the Kingdom in his hand and all Iudah brought to Iehoshaphat presents and he had riches and honour in abundance And his heart was lift up in the wayes of the Lord c. To conclude That which is obtained by prayer and returned to God again in due praise carries its own testimonials with it that it came from the love of God and is a sanctified mercy to the soul. And so much of this Third Case The Fourth Case HOw may we attain unto an evenness and steddiness of spirit under the Changes and contrary Aspects of Providence upon us Three things are supposed in this Case 1. That Providence hath various and contrary Aspects upon the people of God 2. That it is a common thing with them to experience great disorders of spirit under those Changes of Providence 3. That these disorders may be at least in a great measure prevented by the due use and application of those rules and helps that God hath given us in such Cases That Providence hath various yea contrary Aspects upon the people of God is a case so plain that it needs no more than the mentioning to let it in to all our Understandings Which of all the people of God have not felt this truth Providence rings the changes all the world over He encreaseth the NatJons and destroyeth them he enlargeth the NatJons and straitneth them again Job 12. 23. The same it doth with persons
this duty is to be performed by them Fifthly What singular benefits result to them from such observations And then apply the whole in such Uses as offer themselves from the Point The first General Head First I shall undertake the proof and defence of this great truth That the affairs of the Saints in this world are certainly conducted by the Wisdom and care of specJal Providence And herein I address my self with cheerfulness to perform as I am able a service for that Providence which hath throughout my life performed all things for me as the Text speaks There is a twofold consideration of Providence according to its twofold Object and manner of dispensation the one is general exercised about all creatures rational and irrational animate and inanimate the other specJal and peculiar Christ hath an universal Empire over all things Ephes. 1. 22. the head of the whole World by way of dominJon but an head to the Church by way of unJon and specJal influence John 17. 2. the SavJour of all men but especJally of them that belJeve 1 Tim. 4. 10. The Church is his specJal care and charge he rules the world for its good as an head consulting the welfare of the body Heathens generally denied Providence and no wonder since they denied a God for the same Arguments that prove one will prove the other Aristotle the Prince of Heathen Philosophers could not by the utmost search of reason find out the Worlds original and therefore concludes it was from Eternity The Epicureans did in a sort acknowledge a God but yet denied a Providence and wholly excluded him from any interest or concern in the affairs of the world as being inconsistent with the felicity and tranquillity of the Divine Being to be diverted and cumbered with the care and labour of government This assertion is so repugnant to reason that it is a wonder themselves blushâ— not at its absurdity but I guess at the design and one of them speaks it out in broad language Itaque imposuistis cervicibus nostris sempiternum dominum quem dJes noctes timeremus Quis enim non timeat omnJa providentem cogitantem animadvertentem omnJa ad se pertinere putantem curJosum plenum negotii Deum Vell. apud Cicer. de Natura Deorum They foresaw that the concession of a Providence would impose an eternal yoak upon their necks by making them accountable for all they did to an higher Tribunal and that they must necessarily pass the time of their sojourning here in fear whilst all their thoughts words and wayes were strictly noted and recorded in order to an account by an All-seeing and righteous God and therefore laboured to perswade themselves that was not which they had no mind should be But these Atheistical and foolish conceits fall flat before the undeniable evidence of this so great and clear a truth Now My business here is not so much to deal with professed Atheists who deny the existence of God and consequently deride all evidences brought from Scripture of the extraordinary events that fall out in favour of that people that are called His but rather to convince those that professedly own all this yet never having tasted Religion by experience suspect at least that all these things which we call specJal providences to the Saints are but natural events or meer contingencJes and thus whilst they profess to own a God and a Providence which profession is but the effect of their education they do in the mean time live like Atheists and both think and act as if there were no such things and really I doubt this is the case of the far greatest part of the men of this generation But if it were indeed so that the affairs of the World in general and more especially those of the Saints were not conducted by divine Providence but as they would perswade us by the steady course of natural causes beside which if at any time we observe any event to fall out it 's meerly casual and contingent or that which proceeds from some hidden and secret cause in nature If this indeed were so let them that are tempted to believe it rationally satisfie the following demands First Demand How comes it to pass that so many signal mercies and deliverances have befallen the people of God above the power and against the course of natural causes to make way for which there hath been a sensible suspension and stop put to the course of nature It is most evident that no natural effect can exceed the power of its natural cause Nothing can give to another more than it hath in it self And it is as clear that whatsoever acts naturally acts necessarily Fire burns adultimum sui posse to the uttermost of its power Waters overflow and drown all that they can Lions and other rapacious and cruel â—easts especially when hungry tear and devour their prey And for Arbitrary and rational Agents they also act according to the principles and Laws of their natures A wicked man when his heart is fully set in him and his will stands in a full bent of resolution will certainly if he have power in his hand and opportunity to execute his conceived mischief give it vent and perpetrate the wicked devices of his heart for having once conceived mischief and travailing in pain with it according to the course of nature he must bring it forth as it is Psal. 7. 14. But if any of these inanimate brutal or rational agents when there is no natural obstacle or remora have their power suspended and that when the effect is near the birth and the design at the very article of execution so that though they would yet cannot hurt to what think you is this to be assigned and referred Yet so it hath often been seen where Gods interest hath been immediately concerned in the danger and evil of the event The Sea divided it self in its own Channel and made a wall of water on each side to give Gods distressed Israel a safe passage and that not in a calm but when the Waves thereof roared * as it is Isa. 51. 15. The fire when blown up to the most intense and vehement flame had no power to singe one hair of Gods faithful Witnesses when at the same instant it had power to destroy their intended ExecutJoners at a greater distance Dan. 3. 22. Yea we find it hath some time been sufficient to consume but not to torment the body as in that known instance of blessed Baynchaâ— who told his Enemies The flames were to him as a bed of Roses The hungry Lions put off their natural fierceness and became gentle and harmless when DanJel was cast among them for a prey The like account the Church Sâ—ory gives us of Polycarpe and DJonysJus Areopagiâ—a whom the fire would not touch but stood aâ—ter the manner of a Ship-man's fail filled with the wind about them Are these things according to the course and
parents were of the higher or lower Class and rank among men yet if they were such as feared God and wrought righteousness if they took any care to educate you religiously and trained you up in the nurture and admonitJon of the Lord you are bound to reckon it among your chief mercies that you sprung from the loins of such parents for from this Spring a double stream of mercy rises to you 1. Temporal and external mercies to your outward man You cannot but know that as Godliness entails a blessing so wickedness and unrighteousness a curse upon posterity An instance of the former you have in Gen. 17. 18 20. On the contrary you have the threatning Zech. 5. 4. and both together Prov. 3. 33. The Curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked but he Blesseth the habitatJon of the just True it is that both these imply the Childrens treading in the steps of their Parents according to Ezek. 18. but how frequently is it seen that wicked men breed their children vainly and wickedly so that as it 's said of Abijam 1 Kings 15. 3. He walked in all the sins of his father which he had done before him and so the curse is entail'd from generation to generation To escape this Curse is a choice Providence 2. But especially take notice what a stream of spiritual blessings and mercies â—lows from this Providence to the Inner man O it 's no common mercy to descend from pious Parents Some of us do not only owe our natural life to them as Instruments of our Beings but our Spiritual and Eternal life also It was no small mercy to Timothy to be descended from such Progenitors 2 Tâ—m 1. 5. nor to Augustine that he had such a Mother as Monica who planted in his mind the precepts of life with her Words watered them with her Tears and nourished them with her Example We will a little more particularly inspect this mercy and in so doing we shall find manifold mercies contained in it 1. What a Mercy was it to us to have Parents that prayed for us before they had us as well as in our Infancy when we could not pray for our selves Thus did Abraham Gen. 15. 2. and Hannah 1 Sam. 1. 10 11. and some here likely are the fruits and returns of their Parents Prayers This was that holy course they continued all their dayes for you carrying all your concerns especially your Eternal ones before the Lord with their own and pouring out their souls to God so affectionately for you when their eye-strings and heart-strings were breaking Oh put a value upon such Mercies for they are precious It 's a greater Mercy to descend from praying Parents than from the loyns of Nobles See Job's pious practice Job 1. 5. 2. What a special Mercy was it to us to have the excrescencies of corruption nipt in the bud by their pious and careful discipline We now understand what a critical and dangerous season Youth is the wonderful proclivity of that Age to every thing that is evil Why else are they called Youthful lusts 2 Tim. 2. 22. When David asketh Wherewith shall a young man cleanse his way it's plainly enough implyed in the very Question that the way he takes lieth through the pollutions of the world in his youth Psal. 119. 9. When you find a David praying that God would not remember the sins of his youth Psal. 25. 7. and a Job bitterly complaining that God made him to possess the sins of his youth Job 13. 26. Sure you cannot but reflect with a very thankful heart upon those happy means by which the corruption of your nature was happily prevented or restrained in your Youth 3. And how great a Mercy was it that we had Parents who carefully instilled the good knowledge of God into our souls in our tender years How careful was Abraham of this duty Gen. 18. 19. and David 1 Chron. 28. 9. We have some of us had Parents who might say to us as the Apostle Gal. 4. 19. My little Children of whom I travail again in birth till Christ be formed in you As they longed for us before they had us and rejoyced in us when they had us so they could not endure to think that when they could have us no more the Devil should As they thought no pains care or cost too much for our bodies to feed them cloath and heal them so did they think no prayers counsels or tears too much for our souls that they might be saved They knew a parting time would come betwixt them and us and did strive to make it as easie and comfortable to them as they could by leaving us in Christ and within the blessed bond of his Covenant They were not glad that we had Health and indifferent whether we had Grace They as sensibly felt the miseries of our souls as of our bodies and nothing was more desirable to them than that they might say in the great day Lord here am I and the Children which thou hast given me 4. And was it not a special Favour to us to have Parents that went before us as Patterns of Holiness and beat the path to Heaven for us by their Examples Who could say to us as Phil. 4. 9. What things ye have heard and seen in me that do and as 1 Cor. 11. 1. Be ye followers of us as we are of Christ. The Parents life is the Childs copy O 't is no common mercy to have a fair copy set before us especially in the moulding age we saw what they did as well as heard what they said It was Abraham's commendation that he commanded his Children and his houshold after him to keep the way of the Lord. And such mercies some of us have had also Ah my friends let me beg you that you will set special remarques upon this Providence which so graciously wrought for you and that your hearts may be more throughly warmed in the sense of it compare your condition with others and seriously bethink your selves 1. How many Children there be among us that are drawn headlong to Hell by their cruel and ungodly Parents who teach them to curse and swear assoon as they can speak Many families there are wherein little other language is heard but what is the Dialect of Hell These like the old logs and small spray are preparing for the fire of Hell where they must burn together Of such Children that Scripture Psal. 49. 19. will one day be verified except they repent They shall go to the generatJon of their fathers where they shall not see light 2. And how many families are there though not so prophane who yet breed up their Children vainly and sensually as Job 21. 11 c. take no care what becomes of their souls so they can but provide for their bodies If they can but teach them to carry their bodies no matter if the Devil act their souls If they can but leave them Lands or Moneys
they think they have very fully discharged their duties O what will the language be wherewith such Parents and Children shall great each other at the Judgement Seat and in Hell for ever 3. And how many be there who are more sober and yet hate the least appearances of Godliness in their Children who instead of cherishing do all that they can to break bruised reeds and quench smoaking â—lax to stifle and strangle the first appearances and offers they make towards Christ Who had rather accompany them to their graves than to Christ doing all that in them lyes Herod like to kill Christ in the Cradle Ah Sirs ye little know what a mercy ye do or have enjoyed in Godly Parents and what a good Lot Providence cast for you in this Concernment of your bodies and souls If any shall say This was not their case they had little help Heaven-ward from their Parents To such I shall only reply three things 1. If you had little furtherance yet own it as a special Providence that you had no hinderance or if you had opposition yet 2. Admire the Grace of God in plucking you out by a wonderful distinguishing hand of mercy from among them and keeping alive the languishing sparks of Grace amidst the floods of opposition 3. And learn from hence if God give you a posterity of your own to be so much the more strict and careful of relational duties by how much you have sensibly felt the want of it in your selves But seeing such a train of blessings both as to this life and that to come follow upon an holy education of Children I will not dismiss the Point till I have discharged my duty in exhorting Parents and Children to their duties And first for you that are Parents or to whom the Education of Children is committed I beseech you mind how concerning a duty lies on you and that I may effectually press it consider 1. How near the Relation is betwixt you and your Children and therefore how much you are concerned in their happiness or misery Consider but the Scripture account of the dearness of such Relations expressed 1. By longings for them as Gen. 15. 2. Gen. 30. 1. and 2. By our joy when we have them as Christ expresses it John 16. 21. 3. The high value set on them Gen. 42. 38. 4. The sympathie with them in all their troubles Mark 9. 22. and 5. By our sorrow at parting Gen. 37. 35. Now shall all this be to no purpose For to what purpose do we desire them before we have them rejoice in them when we have them value them so highly sympathize with them so tenderly grieve for their death so excessively if in the mean time no care be taken what shall become of them to Eternity 2. How God hath charged you with their souls as well as bodies and this appears by two sorts of Precepts 1. Precepts directly laid upon you Deut. 6. 6 7. and Eph. 6. 4. 2. By Precepts laid on them to obey you Eph. 6. 1. which plainly implies your duty as well as expresses theirs 3. What shall comfort you at the parting time if they dye through your neglect in a Christless condition Oh this is the cutting consideration My Child is in Hell and I did nothing to prevent it I helped him thither Duty discharged is the only root of comfort in that day 4. If you neglect to instruct them in the way of Holiness will the Devil neglect to instruct them in the way of Wickedness No no if you will not teach them to pray he will to curse swear and lye If ground be uncultivated weeds will spring 5. If the season of their youth be neglected how little probability is there of any good fruit afterwards that is the Moulding age Prov. 22. 6. How few are converted in old age A twig is brought to any form but grown limbs will not bow 6. You are instrumental causes of all their spiritual misery and that 1. By generatJon 2. ImitatJon they lye spiritually dead of the Plague which you brought home among them Psal. 51. 5. Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my Mother conceive or warm me 7. There 's none in the World so likely as you to be Instruments of their Eternal good You have peculiar advantages that none other hath as 1. The interest you have in their affections 2. Your opportunities to instil the knowledge of Christ into them being daily with them Deut. 6. 7. 3. Your knowledge of their tempers if therefore you neglect who shall help them 8. The consideration of the great day shoâ—â—d move your bowels of pity for them O remember that Text Rev. 20. 12 c. I saw the dead small and great stand before God What a sad thing will it be to see your dear Children at Christs left hand O friends do your utmost to prevent this misery Knowing the terrors of the Lord we perswade men And you Children especially you that sprang from religious Parents I beseech you obey their Counsels and tread in the steps of their pious Examples To press this I offer these Consideration 1. Your disobedience to them is a resisting of Gods Authority Ephes. 6. 1. Children obey your Parents in the Lord there 's the Command your rebellion therefore runs higher than you think It is not Man but God that you disobey and for your disobedience God will punish you It may be their tenderness will not suffer them or you are grown beyond their correction all they can do is to complain to God and if so he will handle you more severely than they could do 2. Your Sin is greater than the Sin of young Heathens and Infidels and so will your Account be also O better if a wicked Child that thou hadst been the off-spring of Salvage IndJans nay of Beasts than of such Parents So many Counsels disobeyed Hopes and Prayers frustrated will turn to sad aggravations 3. It 's usual with God to retaliate mens disobedience to their Parents in kind Commonly our own Children shall pay us home for it I have read in a grave Author of a wicked Wretch that drag'd his Father along the house the Father begg'd him not to draw him beyond such a place for said he I drag'd my Father no farther O the sad but just retributions of God! And for you in whose hearts Grace hath been planted by the blessing of Education I beseech you to admire Gods goodness to you in this Providence Oh what an happy Lot hath God cast for you How few Children are partakers of your mercies See that you honour such Parents the tie is double upon you so to do Be you the joy of their hearts and comfort of their lives if living if not yet still remember the mercy while you live and tread in their pious path that you and they may both rejoice together in the great day and bless God for each other to all Eternity The Fourth
and Barrel sail not Mr. Samuel Clarke in the Life of that painful and humble servant of Christ Mr. John Fox records a memorable Instance of Providence and it is this That towards the end of King Henry the Eighth his Reign he went to London where he quickly spent that little his friends had given him or he had acquired by his own diligence and began to be in great want As one day he sate in Paul's Church spent with long fasting his countenance thin and his eyes hollow aftâ—â— the ghastful manner of dying men every one shunning a Spectacle of so much horror There came one to him whom he had never seen before and thrust an untold summ of money into his hand bidding him be of good cheer and accept that small gift in good part from his Countrey-man and that he should make much of himself for that within a few dayes new hopes were at hand and a more certain condition of livelihood Three dayes after the Dutchess of Richmond sent for him to live in her house and be Tutor to the Earl of Surrey's Children then under her care Mr. Isaac Ambrose a worthy Divine whose labours have made him acceptable to his generatJon in his Epistle to the Earl of Bedford prefixed to his Last things gives a pregnant Instance in his own case his words are these For mine own part saith he however the Lord hath seen cause to give me but a poor pittance of outward things for which I bless his name yet in the income thereof I have many times observed so much of his peculiar Providence that thereby they have been very much sweetned and my heart hath been raised to admire his grace When of late under an hard dispensation which I judge not meet to mention wherein I suffered conscientiously all streams of wonted supplyes being stopt the waters of relief for my self and family did run low I went to bed with some staggerings and doubtings of the Fountains letting out it self for our refreshing but e're I did awake in the morning a Letter was brought to my bed side which was signed by a choice friend Mr. Anthony Ash which reported some unexpected breakings out of Gods goodness for my comfort These are some of his lines Your God who hath given you an heart thankfully to record your experiences of his goodness doth renew experiences for your encouragement Now I shall report one which will raise your spirit toward the God of your mercies Whereupon he sweetly concludes One morsel of Gods provision especially when it comes in unexpected and upon prayer when wants are most will be more sweet to a spirituall relish than all former enjoyments were 3. The Wisdom of Providence in our provisions And this is discovered in two things 1. In proportioning the quantity not satisfying our extravagent wishes but answering our real needs consulting our wants not our wantonness Phil. 4. 19. My God shall supply all your wants and this hath exactly suited the wishes of the best and wisest men who desired no more at its hand So. Jacob Gen. 28. 20. and Agur Prov. 30. 8 9. Wise Providence considers our condition as Pilgrims and Strangers and so allots the VJaticum provision that is needful for our passage home It knows the mischievous influence of fulness and redundancy upon most men though sanctified and how apt it is to make them remiss and forgetful of God Deut. 6. 12. that their hearts like the Moon suffers an Eclipse when it is at the full and so â—aâ—ts and orders all to their best advantage 2. It s Wisdom is much discovered in the manner of dispensing our portion to us It many times suffers our wants to pinch hard and many scars to arise out of design to magnifie the care and love of God in the supply Deut. 8. 3. Providence so orders the case that faith and prayer coming betwixt our wants and supplies the goodness of God may be the more magnified in our eyes thereby And now let me beg you to consider the good hand of Providence that hath provided for and suitably supplyed you and yours all your dayes and never failed you hitherto and labour to walk suitably to your experiences of such mercies In order whereunto let me press a few suitable Cautions upon you Beware that you forget not the care and kindness of Providence which your eyes have seen in so many fruits and experiences thereof It was Gods charge against Israel Psal. 106. 3. that they soon forgat his wondrous works A bad heart and a slippery memory deprive men of the comfort of many mercies and defraud God of the glory due for them Do not distrust Providence in future exigencies Thus they did Psal. 78. 20. Behold he smote the rock that the waters gushed out and the streams overflowed can he give bread also can he provide flesh for his people How unreasonable and absurd are these queries of unbelief especially after their eyes had seen the power of God in such extraordinary effects Do not murmur and regret under new straits This is a vile temper and yet how incident to us when wants press hard upon us Ah! did we but rightly understand what the demerit of sin is we would rather admire the bounty of God than complain of the strait-handedness of Providence And if we did but consider that there lyes upon God no obligation of Justice or Gratitude to reward any of our duties it would cure our murmurs Gen. 32. 10. Do not shew the least discontent at the lot and portion Providence carves out to you O that you would be well pleased and satisfied with all its appointments Say as Psal. 16. 6. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places yea I have a goodly heritage Surely that is best for you which Providence hath appointed and one day you your selves will judge it so to be Do not neglect Prayer when straits befall you You see it's Providence dispenses all you live upon it therefore apply your selves to God in the times of need This is evidently included in the Promise Isa. 41. 17. as well as expressed in the Command Phil. 4. 6. Remember God and he will not forget you Do not distract your hearts with sinful cares Matth. 6. 25 26. Consider the fowls of the Air saith Christ not the fowls at the Door that are daily fed by hand but those of the Air that know not where to have the next meal and yet God provides for them Remember your relation to Christ and his engagements by promise to you and by these things work your hearts to satisfaction and content with all the allotments of Providence The Eighth Performance of Providence VIII THe next great advantage and mercy the Saints receive from the hand of Providence is in their preservatJon from the snares and temptatJons of sin by its preventing care over them That Providence wards off many a deadly stroke of Temptation and puts by many a mortal thrust which Satan
32. You must be bound in fetters and holden in cords of affliction if ever your ear be opened to instruction Job 36. 8 9 10. Wo to you if you go on smoothly in the way in which you are and meet with no crosses 4. Lastly Consider all your troubles under which you complain are pulled down upon your heads by your own sins You turn Gods mercies into sin and then fret against God because he turns your sins into sorrow Your wayes and doings procure these things to you Lay your hand therefore upon your mouth and say Why doth the living man complain a man for the punishment of his sin Lam. 3. 39. But I must turn to the Lords people who have least pretences of all men to be dissatisfied with any of Gods Providences and yet are but too frequently sound in that temper And to them I shall offer the following considerations 1. Consider your spiritual mercJes and priviledges with which the Lord Jesus hath invested you and repine at your Lot of Providence if you can One of these mercies alone hath enough in it to sweeten all your troubles in this world When the Apostle considered them his heart was overwhelmed with astonishment so that he could not forbear in the midst of all his outward troubles to cry out Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath abounded to us in all spiritual blessings c. Eph. 1. 3. Oh who that sees such an Inheritance setled upon him in Christ can ever open his mouth more to repine at his Lot of Providence 2. Consider your sins and that will make you contented with your Lot Yea consider two things in sin 1. What it deserves from God and 2. What it requires to mortifie and purge it in you It deserves from God Eternal ruine the merit of Hell is in the least vain thought Every sin forfeits all the mercies you have and if so rather wonder your mercies are so many than that you have no more Besides you cannot doubt but your corruptions require all the crosses wants and troubles that are upon you and it may be a great deal more to mortifie and subdue them Don't you find after all the rods that have been upon you a proud heart still a vain and earthly heart still Oh how many bitter potions are but necessary to purge out this tough malignant lâ—umour 3. Consider how near you are to the Change of your conditJon have but a little patience and all will be as well with you as your hearts can desire It is no small comfort to the Saints that this world is the worst place that ever they shall be in things will better every day with them If the Traveller have spent all his money yet it doth not much trouble him if he know himself within a few miles of his own home If there be no Candles in the house we do not much matter it if we are sure it 's almost break of day for then there will be no use for them This is your case your salvatJon is nearer than when you belJeved Rom. 13. 11. I have done with the directive part of this discourse but before I pass to this fifth Head I judge it necessary to leave a few Cautions to prevent the abuse of Providence and your miscarriages in your behaviour towards it And First Caution If Providence delay the performance of any mercy to you that you have long waited and prayed forâ— yet see that you despond not nor grow weary of waitâ—ing upon God for that reason It pleases the Lord oftentimes to try and exercise his people thiâ— way and make them cry How long Lord hoâ— long Psal. 13. 1 2. These delayes both upon spiritual and tempoâ—ral accounts are frequent and when they befaâ—â—us we are too apt to interpret them as denyals and fall into a sinful despondency of mind thoughâ— there be no cause at all for it Psal. 31. 12. Lam. 3. 8. 44. It is not alwayes that the returns of prayer are dispatcht to us in the same hour they are asked of God yet sometimes it falls out so Isa. 65. 24. Dan. 9. 23. But though the Lord means to perform to us the mercies we desire yet he will ordinarily exercise our patience to wait for them and that for these reasons 1. Because our time is not the proper season for us to receive our mercies in Now the season of mercy is a very great circumstance that adds much to the value of it God judges not as we do we are all in haste and will have it now Numb 12. 13. But he is a God of judgement and blessed are they that wait for him Isa. 30. 18. 2. Afflictive Providences have not accomplished that design upon our hearts they were sent for when we are so earnest and impatient for a change of them and till then the rod must not be taken off Isa. 10. 12. 3. The more prayers and searchings of heart come between our wants and supplies our afflictions and reliefs the sweeter are our reliefs and supplies thereby made to us Isa. 25. 9. This is our God we have waited for him and he will save us this is the Lord we have waited for him we will rejoyce and be glad in his salvatJon This recompenses the delay and payes us for all the expences of our patience But though there be such weighty reasons for the stop and delay of refreshing comfortable Providences yet we cannot bear it our hands hang down and we faint Psal. 69. 3. I am weary of my crying my throat is dry mine eyes fail while I wait for my God For alas we judge by sense and appearance and consider not that Gods heart may be towards us whilst the hand of his Providence seems to be against us If things continue at one rate with us we think our prayers are lost and our hopes perished from the Lord much more when things grow worse and worse and our darkness and trouble encreases as usually it doth just before the break of day and change of our condition then we conclude God is angry with our prayers See Gideon's reply Judges 6. 13. This even staggered a Moses's faith Exod. 5. 22 23. O what groundless Jealousies and suspicions of God are found at such times in the hearts of his own Children Job 9. 16 17. Psal. 77. 7 8 9. But this is our great evil and to prevent it in future tryals I will offer a few proper considerations in the case The delay of your mercies is really for your advantage You read Isa. 30. 18. The Lord waits that he may be gracJous What is that Why it 's nothing else but the time of his preparation of mercies for you and your hearts for mercy that so you may have it with the greatest advantage of comfort The foolish Child would pluck the apple while it 's green but when it 's ripe it drops of its own accord and is more pleasant and wholsome It 's
a greater mercy to have an heart willing to refer all to God and be at his dispose than to enjoy presently the mercy we are most eager and impatient for In that God pleases you in this you please God A mercy may be given yoâ— as the fruit of common Providence but such a temper of heart is the fruit of special grace So much as the glorifying of God is better than the content and pleasure of the creature so much is such a frame better than such a fruition Expected mercies are never nearer than when the hearts and hopes of Gods people are lowest Thus in their deliverance out of Egypt and Babylon Ezek. 37. 11. So we have sound it in our own personal concerns at Evening time it shall be light Zach. 14. 7. When we look for increasing darkness light arises Our unfitness for mercy is the reason why they are delayed so long We put the blocks into the way of mercy and then repine that they make no more haste to us Isa. 59. 1 2. The Lords hand is not shortned but our iniquitJes have separated betwixt him and us Consider the mercies you wait for are the fruits of pure grace you deserve them not nor can claim them upon any Title of desert and therefore have reason to wait for them in a patient and thankful frame Consider how many MillJons of men as good as you by nature are cut off from all hope and expectation of mercy for ever and there remains to them nothing but a fearful expectatJon of wrath This might have been your case and therefore be not of an impatient spirit under the expectations of mercy Second Caution Pry not too curiously into the secrets of Providence nor suffer your shallow reason arrogantly to judge and censure its designs There be hard Texts in the Works as well as in the Word of God It becomes us modestly and humbly to reverence but not to dogmatize too boldly and positively upon them a man may easily get a strain by over-reaching When I thought to know this saith Asaph it was too wonder ful for me I thought to know this there was the arrogant attempt of reason there he pryed into the Arcana of Providence but it was too wonderful for me it was labor iâ—utilis as Calvin expounds it He pryed so far into that puzzling Mysterie of the AfflictJons of the Righteous and Prosperity of the wicked till it begat envy towards them and despondency in himself Psal. 73. v. 3. 13. and this was all he got by summoning Providence to the bar of reason Holy Job was guilty of this evil and ingenuously ashamed of it Job 42. 3. I know there is nothing in the Word or in the Works of God that is repugnant to sound reason but there are some things in both which are opposite to carnal reason as well as above right reason and therefore our reason never shews it self more unreasonable than in summoning those things to its bar which transeend its sphere and capacity Manifold are the mischiefs which ensue upon this practice By this we are drawn into an unworthy suspicion and distruct of the faithfulness of God in the Promises Sarah laught at the tydings of the Son of Promise because reason contradicted and told her it was natuâ—ally impossible Gen. 18. 13 14. Hence comes despondency of mind and saintness of heart under afflictive Providences reason can discern no good fruits in them nor deliverance from them and so our hands hang down in a sinful discouragement saying all these things are against us 1 Sam. 27. 1. Hence flow temptations to deliver our selves by indirect and sinful mediums Isa. 30. 15 16. When our own reason fills us with a distruct of Providence it naturally prompts us to sinful shifts and there leaves us entangled in the snares of our own making Beware therefore you lean not too much to your own reasons and understandings Nothing is more plausible nothing more dangerous In other matters it is appointed the Arbiter and Judge we make it so here and therefore we are so diâ—â—ident and distrustful notwithstanding the fullest security of the Promises whilest our reason stands by unsatisfied The Fifth Head HAving given direction for the due management of this great and important duty what remains but that we now set our hearts to it and make it the constant work of every day throughout our lives O what peace what pleasure what stability what holy courage and confidence would result from such an observation of Providence as hath been directed to But alas we may say with reference to the voices of Divine Providence as it is Job 33. 14. God speaketh once yea twice yet man perceiveth it not Many a time Providence hath spoken InstructJon in duty ConvictJon for iniquity Encouragement under despondency but we regard it not How greatly are we all wanting to our duty and comfort by this neglect It will be but needful therefore to spread before you the loveliness and excellency of walking with God in a due and daily observation of his Providences that our souls may be fully engaged to it First Motive ANd First Let me offer this as a moving argument to all gracious souls That by this means you may maintain sweet and sensible communJon with God from day to day And what is there desirable in this world in comparison therewith Thou Lord hast made me glad through thy works I will trJumph in the works of thy hands Psal. â—2 4. Your hearts may be as sweetly and sensibly refresht by the works of Gods hands as by the words of his mouth Psal. 104. per totum is spent in the consideration of the works of Providence which so filled the Psalmist's heart that by way of ejaculation he expresses the effect of it Ver. 34. My MeditatJon of him shall be sweet Communion with God properly and strictly taken consists in two things viz. Gods manifestation of himself to the soul and the souls answerable returns to God This is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fellowship we have here with God Now God manifests himself to his people by Providences as well as Ordinances neither is there any grace in a sanctified soul hid from the gracious influences of his Providential manifestations Sometimes the Lord manifests his displeasure and anger against the sins of his people in correcting and rebuking Providences His rods have a chiding voice Micah 6. 9. Hear the rod and who hath appointed it This discovery of Gods anger kindly melts and thaws a gracious soul and produces a double sweet effect upon it namely repentance for sins past and due cautJon against future sins 1. It thaws and melts the heart for sins committed Thus David's heart was melted for his sin when the hand of God was heavy upon him in affliction Psal. 32. 4 5. Thus the Captive Church upon whom fell the saddest and most dismal Providence that ever befell any of Gods people in any age of the world
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.
of the Spirit was engaged to go to Jerusalem Acts 20. 22. After a clear revelation of the mind of God to him in that matter how many difficult and discouraging Providences beâ—ell him in his way The Disciples at Tyre said to him by the Spirit though in that they â—ollowed their own spirits that he should not go to Jerusalem Acts 21. 4. Then at Cesarea he met Agabus a Prophet who told him what should beâ—all him when he came thither Chap. 21. 10 11. all this will not disswade him And after all this how passionately do the Brethren beseech him to decline that journey Ver. 12 13. Yet knowing his rule and resolving to be faithful to it he puts by all and proceeds in his journey Well then Providence in concurrence with the Word may give some encouragement to us in our way but no testimony of Providence is to be accepted against the Word If Scripture and Conscience tell you such a way is sinful you may not venture upon it how many opportunities and encouragements soever Providence may suffer to offer themselves to you for they are only permitted for your Tryal not your encouragement Take this therefore for a sure Rule That no Providence can legitimate or justifie any moral evil Nor will it be a plea before God for any man to say The Providence of God gave me encouragement to do it though the Word gave me none If thereâ—ore in doubtful cases you would discover Gods will govern your selves in your search after it by these Rules Get the true fear of God upon your hearts be really afraid of offending him God will not hide his mind from such a â—oul Psal. 25. 14. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his Covenant Study the Word more and the concerns and interests of the World less The Word is a light to your feet Psal. 119. 105. i. e. it hath a discovering and directive usefulness as to all duties to be done and dangers to be avoided it is the great Oracle at which you are to enquire treasure up its rules in your hearts and you will walk safely Psal. 119. 11. thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee Reduce what you know into practice and you shall know what is your duty to practise Joh. 7. 17. If any man do his will he shall know of the doctrine Psal. 111. 10. A good understanding have all they that do thereafter Pray for illumination and direction in the way that you should go beg the Lord to guide you in straits and that he would not suffer you to fall into sin This was the holy practice of Ezra chap. 8. 21. Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river Ahava that we might afflict our selves before our God to seek of him a right way for us and for our little ones and for all our substance And this being done â—ollow Providence so far as it agrees with the word and no farther There is no use to be made of Providence against the word but in subserviency to it And there are two excellent uses of Providence in subserviency to the word 1. Providences as they follow Promises and Prayer are Evidences of God's faithfulness in their Accomplishment When David languished under a disease and his Enemies began to triumph in the hopes of his downfall he prays Psal. 41. 10. that God would be merciful to him and raise him up and by that he saith he knew the Lord favoured him because his Enemy did not triumph over him ver 11. this Providence he looked upon as a token for good as elsewhere he calls it Psal. 86. 17. And 2. Providences give us loud calls to those duties which the Command lays upon us and tell us when we are actually and presently under the obligation of the Commands as to the performance of them Thus when sad Providences befall the Church or our selves they call us to humiliation and let us know that then the command upon us to humble our selves at the feet of God is in force upon us Micah 6. 9. The Lords voice cryeth to the City and the man of wisdom shall see thy name hear the rod and who hath appointed it The Rod hath a voice and what doth it speak Why now is the time to humble your selves under the mighty hand of God This is the day of trouble in which God hath bid you to call upon him And â— contra when comfortable Providences refresh us it now informs us this is the time to rejoyce in God according to the rule Eccles. 7. 14. in the day of prosperiâ—y be joyful These precepts bind always but not to always It 's our duty therefore and our wisdom to distinguish seasons and know the proper duties of every season and Providence is an Index that points them out to us Thus of the first Case The Second Case HOw may a Christian be supported in waiting upon God whil'st Providence delays the performance of the mercies to him for which he hath long pray'd and waited Two things are supposed in this Case 1. That Providence may linger and delay the performance of those mercies to us that we have long waited and prayed for 2. That during that delay and suspension our hearts and hopes may be very low and ready to fail Providence may long delay the performance of those mercies we have prayed and waited upon God for For the right understanding of this know that there is a two-fold term or season fixed for the performance of mercy to us One by the Lord our God in whose hand times and seasons are Acts 1. 7. Another by our selves who raise up our own expectations of mercies sometimes meerly through the eagerness of our desires after them and sometimes upon uncertain conjectural grounds and appearances of encouragement that lye before us Now nothing can be more precise certain and punctual than is the performance of mercy at the time and season which God hath appointed how long soever it be or how many obstacles soever lye in the way of it There was a time prefixed by God himself for the performance of that Promise of Israel's deliverance out of Egypt and it 's said Exod. 12. 41. At the end of the four hundred and thirty years even the self same day it came to pass that all the host of the Lord went out of the Land of Egypt Compare this with Acts 7. 17. and there you have the ground and reason why their deliverance was not nor could be delayed one day longer because the time of the Promise was now come Promises like a pregnant woman must accomplish their appointed months and when they have so done Providence will Midwife the mercies they go big withal into the world and not one of them shall miscarry But for the seasons which are of our own â—ixing and appointment as God is not tyed to them so his Providences are not
of God which is the only Rule by which they are measured out to men in this World i.e. such mercies in such proportions as he sees needful and most conducible to your good and these given out in such times and seasons as are of his own-appointment not yours God never came under an absolute unlimited â—ye for outward comforts to any of us and if we be disappointed we can blame none but our selves Who bid us expect rest ease delight and things of this kind in this world He hath never told us we shall be rich healthy and at ease in our habitations but on the contrary he hath often told us we must expect troubles in the world John 16. 33. and that through many tribulatJons we must enter into his Kingdom Acts 14. 22. All that he stands bound to us by Promise for is to be with us in trouble Psal. 91. 15. to supply our real and absolute needs Isa. 41. 17. When the poor and needy seek water and there is none and their tongue faileth for thirst I the Lord will hear them I the God of Israel will not forsake them and to sanctifie all thesâ— Providences to our good at last Rom. 8. 28. All things shall work together for good to them that love God And as to all these things not one tittle ever did or shall fail Second Consideration But it you say you have long waited upon God for spiritual mercies to your souls according to the Promise and still those mercies are deferred and your eyes fail whilst you look for them I would desire you seriously to consider of what kind those spiritual mercies are for which you have so long waited upon God Spiritual mercies are of two sorts such as belong to the Essence the very being of the new creature without which it must fail or to it s well being and the comfort of the inner man without which you cannot live so cheerfully as you would The mercies of the former kind are Absolutely necessary and therefore put into Absolute Promises as you see Jer. 32. 40. And I will make an everlasting Covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me But for the rest they are dispensed to us in such measures and at such seasons as the Lord sees fit and many of his own people live for a long time without them The donation and continuation of the Spirit to quicken sanctifie and unite us with Christ is necessary but his joyes and comforts are not so A Child of light may walk in darkness Isa. 50. 10. He lives by faith and not by feeling Third Consideration You complain Providence delayes to perform to you the mercies you have prayed and waited for but have you right ends in your desires after these mercies It may be that 's the cause you ask and receive not James 4. 3. The want of a good aim is the reason why we want good success in our prayers It may be we pray for prosperity and our end is to please the flesh we look no higher than the pleasure and accommodation of the flesh we beg and wait for deliverance from such a trouble and affliction not that we might be the more expedite and prepared for obedience but freed of what is grievous to us and destroyes our pleasure in the world Certainly if it be so you have more need to judge and condemn your selves than to censure and suspect the care of God Fourth Consideration You wait for good and it comes not but is your will brought to a due submission to the Will of God about it Certainly God will have you come to this before you enjoy your desires Enjoyment of your desires is the thing that will please you but resignation of your wills is that which is pleasing to God if your hearts cannot come to this mercies cannot come to you David was made to wait long for the mercy promised him yea and to be content without it before he enjoyed it Psal. 131. 2 he was brought to be as a weaned Child and so must you Fifth Consideration Your betters have waited long upon God for mercy and why should not you David waited till his eyes failed Psal. 69. 3 The Church waited for him in the way of his judgements Isa. 26. 8. Are you better than all the Saints that are gone before you Is God more obliged to you than to all his people They have quietly waited and why should not you Sixth Consideration Will you lose any thing by patient waiting upon God for mercies Certainly not at all Yea it will turn to a double advantage to you to continue in a quiet submissive waiting posture upon God For 1. Though you do not yet enjoy the good you wait for yet all this while you are exercising your Grace and it 's more excellent to act Grace than to enjoy comfort All this while the Lord is training you up in the exercise of faith and patience and bending your wills in submission to himself and what do you lose by that Yea and 2. When ever the desired mercy comes it will be so much the sweeter to you for look how much faith and prayer hath been employed to produce it how many wrestlings you have had with God for it so many more degrees of sweetness you will â—ind in it when it comes O therefore â—aint not how long soever God delay you Seventh Consideration Are not those mercies you expect from God worth the waiting for If not it is your folly to be troubled for the want of them If they be why don't you continue waiting Is it not all that God expects from you for the mercies he bestows upon you that you wait upon him for them You know you have not deserved the least of them at his hands You expect them not as a recompence but a free favour and if so then certainly the least you can do is to wait upon his pleasure for them Eighth Consideration Consider how many Promises are made in the Word to waiting souls One Scripture calls them blessed that wait for him Isa. 30. 18. Another tells us none that wait for him shall be ashamed Psal. 25. 3. i.e. they shall not be finally disappointed but at last be partakers of their hopes A third Scripture tells us they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength Isa. 40. 31. a Promise you had need make much use of in such a fainting time with many more of like nature and shall we faint at this rate in the midst of so many cordials as are prepared to revive us in these Promises Ninth Consideration How long hath God waited upon you when you will comply with his commands come up to your engagements and promises You have made God wait long for your reformation and obedience and therefore have no reason to