his hand upon the wheels moves them he is the cause of the motion but it is the flaw in it or deficiency of something is the cause of its erroneous motion that error was not from the Person that made it or the person that winds it up and sets it on going but from some other cause yet till it be mended it will not go otherwise so long as it is set upon motion Our motion is from God Acts 17.28 In him we move but not the disorder of that motion 'T is the foulness of a mans stomach at Sea is the cause of his sickness and not the Pilots government of the ship 2. God doth not infuse the lust or excite it though he doth present the object about which the lust is exercised God delivered up Christ to the Jews he presented him to them but never commanded them to crucifie him nor infused that malice into them nor quickned it but he seeing such a frame withdrew his restraining grace and left them to the conduct of their own witiated wills All the corruption in the World ariseth from lust in us not from the object which God in his providence presents to us 2 Pet. 1.4 the corruption that is in the World through lust The Creature is from God but the abuse of it from corruption God created the grape and filled the Wine with a sprightliness but he doth never infuse a drunken frame into a man or excite it Providence presents us with the Wine but the precept is to use it soberly Can God be blamed if that which is good in it self be turned into Poyson by others No more than the flower can be called a criminal because the Spiders nature turns that into venome which is sweet in it self Man hath such a nature not from Creation wherein God is positive but from corruption wherein God is permissive Providence brings a man into such a condition of poverty but it doth not encourage his stubbornness and impatience There is no necessity upon thee from God to exercise thy sin under affliction when others under the same exercise their graces The Rod makes the Child smart but it is its own stubbornness makes it curse In short though it be by Gods permission that we can do evil yet it is not by his inspiration that we will to do evil that is wholly from our selves 3. God supports the faculties wherewith a man sinneth and supports a man in that act wherein he sinneth but concurrs not to the sinfulness of that act No sin doth properly consist in the act it self as an act but in the deficiency of that act from the rule No action wherein there is sin but may be done as an action though not as an irregular action Killing a man is not in it self unlawful for then no Magistrate should Execute a Malefactor for murdering another and justice would cease in the World man also must divest himself of all thoughts of preserving his Life against an invader but to kill a Man without just cause without authority without rule contrary to rule out of revenge is unlawful So that it is not the act as an act is the sin but the swerving of that act from the rule makes it a sinful act So speaking as speaking is not a sin for it is a power and act God hath endued us with but speaking irreverently and dishonourably of God or falsly and slanderously of man or any otherwise irregularly therin the sin lyes So that it is easie to conceive that an act and the viciousness of it are separable That act which is the same in kind with another may be laudable and the other base and vile in respect of its circumstances The mind wherewith a man doth this or that act and the irregularity of it makes a man a criminal There is a concurrence of God to the act wherein we sin but the sinfulness of that act is purely from the inherent corruption of the creature As the power and act of seeing is communicated to the eye by the Soul but the seeing doubly or dimly is from the vitiousness of the Organ the eye God hath no manner of immediate efficiency in producing sin as the Sun is not the efficient cause of darkness tho the darkness immediately succeeds the setting of the Sun but it is the deficient cause So God withdraws his grace and leaves us to that lust which is in our wills Act 14.16 Who in times past suffered all Nations to walk in their own wayes He bestowed no grace upon them but left them to themselves As a man who lets a glass fall out of his hand is not the efficient cause that the glass breaks but it s own brittle nature yet he is the deficient cause because he withdraws his support from it God is not obliged to give us grace because we have made a total forfeiture of it He is not a debtor to any man by way of merit of any thing but punishment He is indeed in some sence a debtor to those that are in Christ upon the account of Christs purchase and his own promise but not by any merits of theirs 4. Gods providence is conversant about sin as a punishment yet in a very righteous manner God did not will the first sin of Adam as a punishment because there was no punishment due to him before he sinned but he willed the continuance of it as a punishment to the nature sub ratione boni This being a judicial act of God is therefore righteously willed by him Punishment is a moral good 'T is also a righteous thing to suit the punishment to the nature of the offence and what can be more righteous than to punish a man by that wherein he offends Hence God is said to give up men to sin Rom. 2.26 27. for this cause God gave them up unto vile affections And to send strong delusions that they may believe a lye And the reason is rendred 2 Thes 2.12 that they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness What more righteous than to make those vile affections and that unrighteousness their punishment which they made their pleasure and to leave them to pursue their own sinful inclinations make them as the Psalmist speaks Psal 5.10 fall by their own counsels A Drunkards Beastliness is his punishment as well as his Sin Thus God delivers up some to their own lusts as a punishment both to themselves and others As he hardened Pharaohs heart for the destruction both of himself and his People 5. God by his providence draws glory to himself and good out of sin 'T is the highest excellency to draw good out of evil and it is Gods right to manifest his excellency when he pleases and to direct that to his honour which is acted against his Law The Holiness of God could never intend Sin as Sin But the Wisdom of God foreseeing it and decreeing to permit it intended the making it
their Countrey So let us enquire into the Providence of God to understand the mind of God the interest of the Church the wisdom and kindness of God and our own duty in comormity thereunto 6. Ascribe the glory of every providence to God Abraham Steward petitioned God at the beginning of his business Gen. 24.12 and he blesses God at the success of it ver 26 27. We must not thank the tools which are used in the making an engine and ascribe unto them what we owe to the Workmans skill Men is but the instrument God's Wisdom is the Artist Let us therefore return the Glory of all where it is most rightly placed We may see the difference between Rachel and Leah in this respect when Rachel had a Son by her maid Bilhah she ascribes it to God's care and calls his name Dan which signifies judging Gen. 30.6 God hath judged me and heard my voice That the very Name might put her in remembrance of the kindness of God in answering her prayer And the next Napthali she esteems as the fruit of prayer vers 8. Whereas Leah takes no notice of God but vaunts of the multitude of her Children vers 11 be hold a troop comes She imposeth the name of Gad upon them which also signifies fortune or good luck And the next Asher vers 13. which is fortunate or blessed And we find Leah of the same mind afterward ver 17. It is said God hearkned unto her so that her Son Issachar was an answer of Prayer but she ascribes it to a lower cause which had moved God because she had given her maid to her Husband vers 18. Not unto us not unto us O Lord but to thy name be the glory Doct. 2. All the motions of providence in the World are ultimately for the good of the Church of those whose heart is perfect towards him Providence follows the rule of Scripture Whatsoever was written was written for the Churches comfort * Rom. 15.4 Whatsoever is acted in order to any thing written is acted for the Churches good All the providences of God in the World are conformable to his declarations in his word All former providences were ultimately in order to the bringing a Mediator into the World and for the glory of him then surely all the providences of God shall be in order to the perfecting the glory of Christ in that mystical body whereof Christ is head and wherein his affection and his Glory are so much concerned See the Proof of this by a Scripture or two Psal 25.10 All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his Covenant and his Testimonies Not one path but all the works and motions not one particular act or passage of providence but the whole tract of his proceedings not only those which are more smooth and pleasant but those which are more rugged and bitter All mercy and truth sutable to that affection he bears in his heart to them and sutable to the declaration of that affection he hath made in his promise There is a contexture and a friendly connexion of kindness and faithfulness in every one of them They both kiss and embrace each other in every motion of God towards them As mercy made the Covenant so truth shall perform it And there shall be as much mercy as truth in all Gods actings towards those that that keep it Rom. 8 28. We know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose we know we do not conjecture or guess so but we have an infallible assurance of it All things even the most frightful and so those that have in respect of sense nothing but Gall and Wormwood in them work together they all conspire with an admirable harmony and unanimous consent for a Christian's good One particular act may seem to work to the harm of the Church as one particular act may work to the good of wicked men but the whole series and frame of things combine together for the good of those that are affectionate to him Both the Lance that makes us bleed and the plaister which refresheth the Wounds Both the griping purges and the warming Cordials combine together for the Patients cure to them who are called according to his purpose Here the Apostle renders a reason of this position because they are called not only in the general amongst the rest of the world to whom the Gospel comes but they are such that were in Gods purpose and counsel from Eternity to save and therefore resolved to encline their will to Faith in Christ Therefore all his other Counsels about the affairs of the world shall be for their good Another reason of this the Apostle intimates vers 27. The spirit makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God The intercessions of the Spirit which are also according to Gods will and purpose will not be fruitless in the main end which both the intercessions of the Spirit and purpose of God and the will and desires of the Saints do aim at which is their good Indeed where any is the object of this grand purpose of God he is the object of God's infinite and innumerable thoughts Psal 40.5 Many O Lord my God are thy wonderful works which thou hast done and thy thoughts which are to us-ward they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee if I would declare and speak of them they are more than can be numbred The Psalmist seems to intimate that in all the wonderful works which God hath done his thoughts are toward his people He thinks of them in all his actions and those thoughts are infinite and cannot be numbred and reckoned up by any Creature He seems to restrain the thoughts of God to his people in all those works of wonder which he doth in the World and which others are the Subjects of But his thoughts or purposes and intentions in all for the word signifies purposes too are chiefly next to his own glory directed toward his people those that trust in him which vers 4. he had pronounced blessed They run in his mind as if his heart was set upon them and none but them Here I shall premise two things as the ground-work of what follows 1. God certainly in all his actions has some end that is without question because he is a wise agent to act vainly and lightly is an evidence of imperfection which cannot be ascribed to the only wise God The Wheels of Providence are full of Eyes * Ezek. 1.18 There is motion and a knowledge of the end of that motion And Jesus Christ who is Gods Deputy in the providential government hath Seven Eyes as well as Seven Horns * Revel 5.6 a perfect strength and a perfect knowledg how to use that strength and to what end to use it Seven being the number of perfection in Scripture 2. That certainly is Gods end which his
heart is most set upon and that which is last in execution What doth God do at the folding up of the World but perfect his people and welcome them into Glory Therefore God principally next to himself loves his Church The whole Earth is his but the Church is his treasure Ex. 19.5 If you will keep my Covenant then shall you be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people for all the Earth is mine Segullah such a treasure that a Man a King will intrust in no hands but his own all the Earth is mine is not a reason why the Church was his treasure but an incentive of thankfulness that when the whole Earth was his and lay before him and there were many people that he might have chosen and loved before them yet he pitched upon them to make them his choicest treasure And when the blessed God hath pitched upon a people and made them his treasure what he doth for them is with his whole heart and with his whole Soul Jer. 32 41 42. speaking of making an everlasting Covenant he adds yea I will rejoyce over them to do them good c. assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole Soul As though God minded nothing else but those people he had made an everlasting Covenant with which is the highest security and most pregnant expression of his affection that can be given to any not to give them a parcel or moiety of his heart but the whole infinite intire piece and to engage it all with the greatest delight in doing good to them That infinite heart of God and all the contrivances and workings of it center in the Churches welfare The World is a Wilderness but the Church is a Garden If he water the Wilderness will he not much more dress his Garden If the flights of Birds be observed by him shall not also the particular concernments of the Church He hath a repository for them and all that belong to them He hath a book of Life for their Names * Luk. 10.20 a book of Record for their members * Psal 139.16 a Note-book for their Speeches Mal. 3.16 A book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and a book of providence for their preservation Exod. 32.32 In the prosecution of this I shall shew 1. That it is so de facto First and hath been so 2. Secondly That according to the state of things and Gods Oeconomy it must be so 3. The improvement of it Thirdly By way of Vse 1. First That all providence is for the good of the Church de facto and has been so 1. Reason first It will appear by an enumeration of things First All good things Secondly All bad things are for their good First All good things I. The World II. Gifts and common graces of men in the World III. Angels I. The World First The whole World was made and ordained for the good of the Church next to the glory of God This will appear in three things I. The continuance of the World is for their sakes God would have destroyed the World because of the ignorance and wickedness of it before this time but he overlooked it all and had respect to the times of Christ and the publishing faith in him and repentance Act. 17.30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at God overlooked * 〈…〉 he looked not so upon them as to be provoked to destroy the world but his eyes were fixed on the times of Christianity therefore would not take notice in the extremity of his justice of the wickedness of those foregoing ages Believers are the Salt of the Earth * Mat. 5.13 which makes the World savoury to God and keeps it from corrupting 'T is meant not only of the Apostles but of Christs Disciples of all Christians for to them was that Sermon made v. 1. If the Salt have lost his savour if the Salt be corrupted and Christianity overthrown in the World wherewith shall the World be salted how can it be kept from corruption If they that persecuted the Prophets before you in Judea which is sometimes called the Earth in Scripture cannot relish you and find nothing grateful to their Palates in your Doctrine and Conversation wherewith shall they be salted How shall they be preserved from corruption The Land will be good for nothing but to be given as a prey to the Romans to be trod under their feet as being cast out of Gods protection They are the foundation of the world Pro. 10.25 the righteous are an everlasting foundation Maimonides understands it thus that the World stands for the righteous sakes When God had Noah and his Family lodged in the Ark he cares not what deluge and destruction he brings upon the rest of the World When he had conducted Lot out of Sodom he brings down that dreadful storm of fire He cares for no place Grotius on the place no nor for the whole World any longer than whilst his people are there or he hath some to bring in in time For the meanest believer is of more worth than a world therefore when God hath gathered all together he will set fire upon this frame of the Creation For what was the end of Christs coming and dying but to gather all things together in one Eph. 1.10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of time he might gather together in one all things in Christ When Christ hath summed up all together he hath attained his end And to what purpose then can we imagine God should continue the World any longer for his delight is not simply in the World but in the Saints there Psal 16.3 But to the Saints that are in the Earth in whom is all my delight not in the Earth but in the Saints there which are the only excellent things in it which Christ speaks of whom that Psalm is meant who knew well what was the object of his Fathers pleasure The sweet savour God smelt in Noah's sacrifice was the occasion of God's declaration for the Worlds standing Gen. 8.21 and the Lord said in his heart I will not curse the ground any more for mans sake That he would no more smite it with a totally destroying judgment It was his respect to Christ represented in that sacrifice and to the faith and grace of Noah the sacrificer What Savour could an infinitely pure spirit smell in the blood and flames of beasts 2. The course of natural things is for the good of the Church or particular members of it God makes articles of agreement with the Beasts and Fowls whose nature is raging and ravenous and binds them in sure bonds for the performance of those articles Hosea 2.18 And in that day will I make a Covenant for them with the beasts of the field and with the fowls of heaven and with the creeping things of the ground and will make them to lye down safely
A Discourse OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE I. In General That there is a Providence Exercised by God in the World II. In Particular How all Gods Providences in the World are in order to the good of his People By the late Learned Divine STEPHEN CHARNOCK B. D. sometime Fellow of New-Colledg in OXON Psalm 103.19 His Kingdom ruleth over all LONDON Printed by R. Roberts for Thomas Cockerill at the Three Legs in the Poultrey near the Stocks-Market 1684. TO THE READER Reader THOU art here presented with a little piece of a Great Man Great indeed if great Piety great Parts great Learning and great Wisdom may be admitted to claim that Title And we verily believe that none well acquainted with him will deny him his right however malevolent Persons may grudge him the honour It hath been expected and desired by many that some account of his Life might be given to the world But we are not willing to offer violence to his ashes by making him so publick now he is Dead who so much affected privacy while he lived Thou art therefore desired to rest satisfied with this brief account of him That being very young he went to Cambridge where in Immanuel Colledge he was brought up under the Tuition of the present Arch-Bishop of Canterbury What Gracious workings and Evidences of the New-Birth appeared in him while there hath already been spoken of by * Mr. Johnson in his Sermon on occasion of Mr. Charnocks death one who was at that time his Fellow Collegiate and Intimate Some time he afterward spent in a private Family and a little more in the exercise of his Ministry in Southwark then removed to New-Colledge in Oxon where he was Fellow and spent several years being then taken notice of for his singular Gifts and had in Reputation by the most Learned and Godly in that University and upon that account the more frequently put upon Publick work Being thence the year after he had been Proctor called over into Ireland to a constant publick Employment he exercised his Ministry for about four or five years not with the approbation only but to the admiration of the most Wise and Judicious Christians and with the concurrent applause of such as were of very different sentiments from him in the things of Religion Nay even those that never loved his Piety yet would commend his Learning and Gifts as being beyond exception if not abve compare About the year 1660. being discharged from the publick exercise of his Ministry he returned back into England and in and about London spent the greatest part of fifteen years without any call to his old work in a setled way but for about these five years last past hath been more known by his constant Preaching of which we need not speak but let them that heard him speak for him or if they should be silent his Works will do it He was a Person of excellent Parts strong Reason great Judgment and which do not often go together curious Phansie of high Improvements and general Learning as having been all his days a most diligent and methodical Student and a great Redeemer of time rescuing not only his restless hours in the Night but his very walking time in the Streets from those impertinencies and fruitless vanities which do so customarily fill up mens minds and steal away their hearts from those better and more Noble objects which do so justly challenge their greatest regards This he did by not only carefully watching as every good Christian should do but constantly writing down his Thoughts whereby he both govern'd them better and furnished himself with many materials for his most elaborate Discourses His chief Talent was his Preaching Gift in which to speak modestly he had few equals To this therefore as that for which his Lord and Master had best fitted him neglecting the practice of Physick in which he had arrived at a considerable measure of knowledge he did especially addict himself and direct his Studies and even when Providence denyed him opportunities yet he was still laying in more stock and preparing for work against he might be called to it When he was in Employment none that heard him could justly blame his retiredness he being even when most private continually at work for the Publick and had he been less in his Study he would have been less liked in the Pulpit His Library furnished tho not with a numerous yet a curious Collection of Books was his Workhouse in which he laboured hard all the Week and on the Lords Day made it appear he had not been idle and that tho he consulted his privacy yet he did not indulge his Sloth He was somewhat reserved where he was not well acquainted otherwise very free affable and communicative where he understood and liked his company He affected not much Acquaintance because be would escape Visitants well knowing how much the ordinary sort of Friends were apt to take up of his time which he could ill spare from his beloved Studies meeting with fevv that could give him better entertainment vvith their company than he could give himself alone They had need be very good and very learned by whose converse he could gain more than by his own Thoughts and Books He was a true Son of the Church of England in that sound Doctrine laid down in the Articles of Religion and Taught by our most famous ancient Divines and Reformers and a real follower of their Piety as well as a strenuous maintainer of the Truth they professed His Preaching was mostly practical yet rational and argumentative to his hearers understandings as well as affections and where controversies came in his way he shewed great Acuteness and Judgment in discussing and determining them and no less skill in applying them to practice So that he was indeed a workman that needed not to be ashamed being able by sound Doctrine both to exhort and convince gain-sayers Some have thought his Preaching too high for vulgar Hearers and it cannot be denyed but his gifts were suited to the more intelligent sort of Christians yet it must withal be said that if he were sometimes deep he was never abstruse he handled the great Mysteries of the Gospel with much clearness and perspicuity so that if in his Preaching he were above most it was only because most were below him Several considerable Treatises on some of the most important points of Religion he finished in his ordinary course which he hath left behind him in the same form he usually writ them for the Pulpit This comes out first as a Prodromus to several others designed to be made publick as soon as they can be with conveniency transcribed which if the Lord will and spare life shall be attested with our hands and whatever any else shall publish can be but imperfect Notes his own Copies being under our revisal at the request of his Friends taken from him in the Pulpit in which what mistakes do often happen every one
these men The meanest Worm as well as the mightiest Prince the lowest Shrub as well as the tallest Cedar every cranny corner or chink of the Earth 4. Diligence of Providence to and fro His care is repeated he looks this way and that way again and again his eyes are not consin'd to one place fixed on one object but are always rouling about from one place to another 5. The Efficacy of his Providence His care doth engage his strength he doth not only discover dangers but prevent them he hath eyes to see and Power to order all things according to his pleasure Wise to see and strong to save II. The end of Providence to shew himself strong c. 1. Finis cujus to shew him self strong Heb. to make himself strong but best Translated to shew himself strong It is not an addition of strength but an exercise of strength that is here meant 2. Finis cui or the Persons for whom Those that are perfect in heart Doctrines 1. Doct. There is a Providence exercised by God in the World 2. All Gods Providences in the World are in order to the good of his people 3. Sincerity in Gods way gives a man an interest in all Gods Providences and the good of them 1. For the first Doct. There is a Providentitial inspection and Government of all things in the world by God 'T is not a bare sight of things that is here meant by Gods eye but a sight and knowledge in order to the Governing and disposing of them View this doctrine at your leisure preached by God himself with an inconceivable elegancy and three whole Chapters spent in the Sermon and * Job 38.39.40 by the Psalmist * Psalm 147.148 Some observe that the society of Angels and Heavenly creatures is represented Ez. 1. by a quaternarian number because the World is divided into 4 dimensions East West North and South * Hadsons Divine right of Government chap 6. pag. 53. as intimating the extention of Gods Providence over all parts Things are not ordered in the World caeco impetu not by blind fortune but an alseeing deity who hath the management of all sublunary affairs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Clomens ad Corinth pag. 34. was the Theological Maxim of the Stoicks Before I come particularly to explain the Providence of God I shall lay down some Propositions as the Foundations of this Doctrine 1. God hath an indisputable and peculiar Right to the Government of the World None ever question'd Gods Right no nor his act but those that were swelled with an unreasonable ambition such as Nebuchadnezzar who for this cause underwent the punishment of a 7 years banishment from the society of men None indeed that acknowledg a God * Dan. 4.17 did or can question Gods Right though they may question his Will an actual exercise of his Right He is the Creator and therefore is the Soveraign Lord and Ruler The World is his Family and as a Master he hath an undoubted Right to govern his own Family He gave all creatures their beings and therefore hath a right to enact their laws appoint their stations and fix their ends 'T is as much his property and prerogative to rule as it is to create Creation is so peculiarly proper to God that it is not communicable to any creature no not to Angels though of a vast Capacity in other things and that because they are Creatures themselves 'T is as impossible for one creature or all to govern the World and manage all the boysterous passions of men to just and glorious ends as to create them 'T is true God useth instruments in the executive part of his Providence but he doth not design the Goverment of the world only by instruments He useth them not for necessity but ornament He Created the World without them and therefore can Govern the World without them Virtus Creativa est fundamentum providentiae argumentum ad providentiam This right is founded upon that Creation as he is the efficient cause of it This right is also founded upon the excellency of his Being That which is excellent having a right to rule in the way of that excellency that which is inferior every man hath a natural right to rule another in his own art and skill wherein he excells him If it be the right of a chief Magistrate to manage the concerns of his Kingdom with what reason can we deny that right to God 2. God only is qualified for the universal government of the World All Creatures as they were unable to create themselves so are unable to manage themselves without the Direction of a Superior power much more unable to manage the vast body of the world God is only fit in regard of 1. Power Conservation is continuata Creatio that power which is fit to Create is only sit to preserve A continued Creation belongs as much to Omnipotency as the first Creation The Government of it requires no less power both in regard of the numerousness of the objects and the strange contrariety of passions in rational creatures and qualities in irrational conservation is but one continued act with creation following on from an instant to duration as a line from its Mathematical point * Tailors exemplar preface 6.31 2. Holiness and righteousness If he that hates right is not fit to govern Job 34.17 then he that is infinitely Righteous and hath an infinite love to Righteousness is the fittest to undertake that task without Righteousness there would be nothing but confusion in the whole creation Disorder is the effect of unrighteousness as order is the effect of justice The justest man is fittest for subordinate Government among men and the infinite just God is fittest for the universal Government of the World 3. Knowledge An infinite knowledge to descry all the contrivances and various labyrinths of the hearts of men their secret intentions and aims is necessary The Government of the World consists more in ordering the inward faculties of men touching the hearts and tuning them to play what notes he pleases than in external things No creature hath the skill or power to work immediately upon the will of man neither Angels nor Devils can do it immediately but by proposing objects and working upon the fancy which is not alwaies succesful He that created the heart knows all the wards of it and hath only the skill to turn it incline it as he pleases he must needs know all the inclinations of the creatures and their proper activities since he alone conferred all those several principles and qualities upon them * Act. 15.8 Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world viz. the particular natures inclinations inward motions which no creature fully understands he needs no deputy to inform him of what is done he is every where and sees all things Worldly Governours cannot be every where essentially present God is
all the Cattel that were with him in the Ark. He numbers the very hairs of our heads that not one falls without his Will Not only the immortal Soul but the decaying body not only the vital parts of that body but the inconsiderable hairs of the head are under his care A particular act of remembrance is exercised by God for the very Cattle I. This is no dishonour to God to take care of the meanest Creatures 'T is as honourable for his power to preserve them and his Wisdom to govern them as for both to create them 'T is one part of a mans righteousness to be merciful to his beast which he never made and is it not a part of Gods righteousness as the Rector of the World to take care of those creatures which he did not disdain to give a being to II. It rather conduceth to his honour 1. The honour of his goodness It shews the comprehensiveness of his goodness which embraceth in the arms of his Providence the lowest Worm as well as the highest Angel Shall infinite goodness frame a thing and make no provision for its subsistence At the first creation he acknowledged whatever he had created good in his kind good in themselves good in order to the end for which he created them 't is therefore an honourable thing for his goodness to conduct them to that end which in their creation he design'd them for and not leave them to wild disorders unsutable to the end of that goodness which first called them into being If he grow out of love with the operations of his hands he would seem to grow out of love with his own goodness that formed them 2. The honour of his Power and Wisdom The Power of God is as much seen in making an insect full of life and spirit in all the parts of it to perform all the actions suitable to its life and nature as in making creatures of a greater bulk and is it not for the honour of his power to preserve them and the honour of his Wisdom to direct these little animals to the end he intended in their creation for as little as they seem to be an end they have and glorious too for natura nihil facit frustra It seems not to consist with his wisdom to neglect that which he hath vouchsafed to create And though the Apostle seems to deny Gods care of Brutes 1 Cor. 9. Doth God take care for Oxen 'T is true God did not in that Law only take care of Oxen i.e. with a legislative care as making a Law only for them though with a providential care he doth but the Apostle there doth not deny Gods care for Oxen but makes an argument a minori ad majus 2. Providence extends to all the actions and motions of the Creature Every second cause implies a dependance upon a first cause in its operation If God did not extend his providence over the actions of creatures he would not every where and in all things and beings be the first cause 1. To natural actions What an orderly motion is there in the natural actions of Creatures which evidenceth a guidance by an higher reason since they have none of their own How do fish serve several coasts at several seasons as if sent upon a particular message by God This cannot be by any other faculty than the instinct their Maker hath put into them Plants that grow between a barren and fruitful Soil shoot all their roots towards the moist and fruitful ground by what other cause then a secret direction of Providential Wisdom * An. drews Catechi stical Doctrine P. 60. There is a Law imprest upon them and their motions that are so orderly as if they were acted according to a covenant and agreement between them and their Creator and therfore called the Covenant of the day and night * Jer. 33.20 What avails the toyl and labour of man in plowing trading watching unless God influence unless he bless unless he keep the City The proceed of all things depends upon his goodness in blessing and his power in preserving God signified this when he gave the Law from Mount Sinai promising the People that if they kept his Commandments he would give them rain in due season and that the Earth should bring forth her Fruit * Levit. 26.3.4 Then will I give you rain and the land shall yield her increase and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit Evidencing thereby that those natural causes can produce nothing without his blessing that though they have natural principles to produce such Fruits according to their natures yet he can put a stop to their operations and make all their Fruits abortive He weighs the waters how much shall be poured out in showrs of rain upon the parched earth He makes a decree for the rain and gives the Clouds a Commission to dissolve themselves so much and no more * Job 28.23 24 25 26. Yea he doth order the conduct of them by counsel as imploying his wisdom about these things which are of concern to the World Job 37.11 12. He scattereth his bright cloud and it is turned round about by his counsels that they may do whatsoever he commands them upon the face of the world in the earth 2. To Civil actions Counsels of men are ordered by him to other ends than what they aim at and which their Wisdom cannot discover God stirred up Senacherib to be the Executioner of his justice upon the Jews and afterwards upon the Aegyptians when that great King designed only the satisfaction of his ambition in the enlarging his Kingdom and supporting his greatness Isa 10.6 7. I will send him against an hypocritical nation against the people of my wrath howbeit he means not so neither doth his heart think so He designs not to be an instrument of my justice but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few His thoughts and aims were far different from Gods thoughts The hearts of Kings are in his hands as wax in the hands of a man which he can work into what form and shape he pleases He hath the soveraignty over and the ordering the hearts of Magistrates Psa 47.9 the shields of the earth belong unto God Counsels of men for the good of his people are his act The Princes advised Jeremiah and Baruch Jer. 36.19 to hide themselves which they did yet ver 26. it is said the Lord hid them Though they followed the advice of their Court-friends yet they could not have been secured had not God stept in by his providential care and covered them with his hand It was the Courtiers counsel but God challenges the honour of the success Military actions are ordered by him Marshal employments are ordered by his Providence He is the great General of Armies 'T is observed that in the two Prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah God is called the Lord of Hosts no less than a
Brazen Serpent which were stung by the fiery ones whereas Brass is naturally hurtful to those that are bit by Serpents * Grotius Mat. 20.16 Es naturaliter nocet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Afflictions Joseph is sold for a slave and God sends him as a Harbinger his Brother sold him to destroy him and God sends him to save them Pauls bonds in the opinion of some might have stiflâ—d the Gospel but he tells us that they had fallen out to the furtherance of the Gospel Phil. 1.12 2. Sins * Hall contempl book 3. p. 806 807. God doth often effect his just Will by our weakness neither thereby justifying our infirmities nor blemishing his own action Jacob gets the blessing by unlawful means telling no less then two lies to attain it I am Esau and this is venison But hereby God brings about the performance of his promise which Isaac's natural affection to Esau would have hindred Jacob of The breach of the first Covenant was an occasion of introducing a better Mans sinning away his first flock was an occasion to God to enrich him with a surer The loss of his original righteousness made way for a clearer and more durable The folly of man made way for the evidence of Gods wisdom and the sin of man for the manifestation of his grace and by the wise disposal of God opens a way for the honour of those Attributes which would not else have been experimentally known by the Sons of men 3. Casual means The Viper which leapt upon Pauls hand out of the bundle of sticks was a casual act but designed by the providence of God for the propagation of the Gospel Pharaoh's Daughter comes casually to wash her self in the river but indeed conducted by the secret influence of God upon her to rescue Moses exposed to a forlorn condition and breed him up in the Aegyptian learning that he might be the fitter to be his Kindreds deliverer Saul had been hunting David and at last had lodged him in a place whence he could not well escape and being ready to seize upon him in that very instant of time a Post comes to Saul and brings the news that the Philistines had invaded the Land which cut out other work for him and David for that time escapes * 1 Sam 23.26 27 28. Thirdly 3. Reason Such actions and events of things are in the world which cannot rationally be ascribed to any other cause than a supreme providence 'T is so so in common things Men have the same parts the same outward advantages the same industry and yet prosper not alike One labours much and gets little another uses not altogether such endeavours and hath riches flowing in upon him Men lay their projects deep and question not the accomplishment of them and are disappointed by some strange and unforeseen accident And sometimes men attain what they desire in a different way and many times contrary to the Method they had projected This is evidenced 1. By the restraints upon the passions of men The waves of the Sea and the tumults of the People are much of the same impetuous natures and are quelled by the same power * Psal 65.7 Which stilleth the noise of the Sea and tumult of the people Tumults of the People could no more be stilled by the force of a man than the Waves of the Sea by a puff of breath How strangely did God qualify the hearts of the Aegyptians willingly to submit to the sale of their Land when they might have risen in a tumult broke open the Granaries and supplied their wants * Gen. 47.19 21. Indeed if the World were left to the conduct of chance or fortune what work would the savage lusts and passions of men make among us How is it possible that any but an Almighty Power can temper so many jarring Principles and rank so many quarrelsom and turbulent Spirits in a due order If those brutish passions which boyl in the hearts of men were let loose by that infinite power that bridles them how soon would the World be run headlong into unconceivable confusions and be rent in pieces by its own disorders 2. By the sudden changes which are made upon the Spirits of men for the preservation of others God takes off the Spirit of some as he did the wheels from the Egyptian Chariots in the very act of their rage Paul was struck down and changed while he was yet breathing out threatnings c. God sees all the workings of mens hearts all those cruel intentions in Esau against his Brother Jacob but God on a sudden turns away that torrent of hatred and disposeth Esau for a friendly meeting * Gen. 33.4 And he who had before an exasperated malice by reason of the loss of his birth-right and blessing was in a moment a changed man Thus was Sauls heart changed towards David and from a Persecutor turns a justifier of him confesseth Davids innocence and his own guilt 1 Sam. 24.17 18. thou art more righteous than I for thou hast rewarded me good whereas I have rewarded thee evil c. What reason can be rendred for so sudden a change in Saul's revengeful Spirit which had all the force of interest to support it and considered by him at that very time For vers 24. he takes special notice that his Family should be disinherited and David be his Successor in the Throne How suddenly did God turn the Edge of the Sword and the heart of an Enemy from Jehosaphat 2 Chron. 18.31 Jehosaphat cried out and the Lord helped him and God moved them to depart from him The Holy Ghost emphatically ascribes it to Gods motion of their wills by twice expressing it But stranger is the preservation of the Jews from Hamans bloody designs after the decree was gone out against them Mordecai the Jew is made Ahasuerus's Favourite by a strange wheeling of Providence First The Kings Eyes are held waking and he is inclined to pass away the solitariness of the night with a Book rather than a Game or some other Court past-time no book did he six on but the Records of that Empire no place in that voluminous Book but the Chronicle of Mordecai's service * in the discovery of a treason against the Kings life he doth not carelesly pass it over Estier 6.1 2. but inquires what recompence had been bestowed on Mordecai for so considerable a service and this just before Mordecai should have been destroyed had Ahasuerus slept Mordecai and all his Countrey-men had been sacrificed notwithstanding all his Loyalty Could this be a cast of blind chance which had such a concatenation of evidences in it for a superior Power 3. In causing Enemies to do things for others which are contrary to all rules of policy 'T is wonderful that the Jews a People known to be of a stubborn nature and tenacious of their Laws wherein they differed from all the Nations should in the worst of their
instances in Jackson vol. 1.8 cap. 4. Sect 5. This consideration has heightned the minds of many against a providence It was the notion of many Heathens when they saw many who had acted with much gallantry for their Countries afflicted they questioned whether there were a superintendent power over the World This hath also been the stumbling-block of many taught in an higher School than that of Nature the Jews Mal. 2.17 17. ye say every one that doth evil is good in the sight of the Lord and he delighteth in them and where is the God of judgment Yea and the observation of the outward felicities of vice and the oppressions of goodness have caused fretting commotions in the hearts of God's People the Psal 73. is wholly designed to answer this case Jeremy though fixed in the acknowledgment of God's righteousness would debate the reason of it with God Jer. 12.1 Righteous art thou oh Lord yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously thou hast planted them yea they have taken root they grow yea they bring forth fruit He perceiving it a universal case wherefore are all they happy c. did not know how to reconcile it with the righteousness of God Nor Habbakkuk with the holiness of God Hab. 1.14 thou art of purer ejes than to behold iniquity wherefore holdest thou thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he In point of God's goodness too Job expostulates the case with God Job 10.3 Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress that thou shouldest despise the work of thy hands and shine upon the counsel of the wicked You see upon the account of holiness righteousness goodness the three great Attributes of God it hath been questioned by good men and upon the account of his wisdom by the wicked Jews 1. Answer in general Answ 1. Is it not an high presumption for ignorance to judg God's proceedings In the course of providence such things are done that men could not imagine could be done without injustice yet when the whole connexion of their ends is unravelled they appear highly beautiful and discover a glorious wisdom and righteousness If it had entered into the heart of man to think that God should send his Son in a very low estate to die for sinners would it not have been judged an unjust and unreasonable act to deliver up his Son for rebels the innocent for the criminals to spare the offender and punish the observer of his Law Yet when the design is revealed and acted what an admirable connection is there of justice wisdom mercy and holiness which men could not conceive of It will be known to be so at last in God's dealing with all his members We are incompetent Judges of the righteousness and wisdom of God unelss we were infinitely righteous and wise our selves we must be God's or in another state before we can understand the reasons of all God's actions We judg according to the law of sense and self which are inferior to the rules whereby God works Judg nothing then before the time * 1 Cor. 4.5 It is not a time for us to pass a judgment upon things A false judgment is easily made when neither the Counsels of mens hearts nor the particular Laws of God's actions are known to us In general it is certain God doth righteously order his providences he may see some inward corruptions in good men to be demolished by afflictions and some good moral affections some useful designs or some services he employs wicked men in to be rewarded in this life 2. Secondly God is Soveraign of the World He is sui juris The Earth is his and the fulness thereof may he not do what he will with his own * Mat. 20.15 Who shall take upon them to controul God and prescribe Laws to him how to deal with his Creatures Why should afinite understanding prescribe measures and methods to an infinite Majesty 3. God is wise and just Thirdly and knows how to distribute If we question his providence we question his wisdom Is it fit for us who are but of yesterday and know nothing to say to an infinite wisdom what dost thou and to direct the only wise God to a method of his actions His own wisdom will best direct him to the time when to punish the insolence of the wicked and relieve the miseries of his people We see the present dispensations but are we able to understand the internal motives May there not be some sins of righteous mens Parents that he will visit upon their Children some virtues of their ancestors that he will reward even in their wicked posterity He may use wicked men as instruments in some service 'T is part of his distributive Justice to reward them They aim at these things to their service and he gratifies them according to their desires Let not then his righteousness be an argument against his providence 't is righteous with God not to be in Arrears with them Sometimes God gives them not to them as rewards of any moral virtue but puts power into their hands that they may be instruments of his Justice upon some offenders against him Isa 10.5 The staff in the Assyrians hand was God's indignation 4. Fourthly There is a necessity for some seeming inequality at least in order to the good government of the world Can all in any community of men be of an equal height A house hath not beams and rafters of an equal bigness some are greater and some less The world is God's Family 'T is here as in a Family all cannot have the same Office but they are divided according to the capacities of some persons and the necessities of others Providence would not be so apparent in the beauty of the world if all men were alike in their stations Where would the beauty of the body be if all the members had one Office and one immediate End Man would cease to be man if every member had not some distinct work and an universal agreement in the common profit of the Body All mankind is but one great Body constituted of several Members which have distinct Offices but all ordered to the good of the whole the Apostle argues this excellently in a parallel case of the diversities of gifts in the Church 1 Cor. 12.19 If all were one member where were the body v. 23 those members of the body which we think to be less honourable upon those we bestow more abundant honour v. 24. God hath tempered the body together having given more abundant honour to that part which lackt What harmony could there be if all voices and sounds were exactly the same in a consort Who can be delighted with a Picture that hath no shadows The afflictions of good men are a foyl to set off the beauty of Gods providence in the
after this i. e. after a reproof by a Prophet after ill success in his league after eminent care of God in his deliverance after a signal freeing him from a dangarous invasion in a miraculous way he enters into a league with Ahab's Son as wicked as his Father ver 36. he joyned himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish and after that a third Prophet is sent to reprove him and the ships were broken v. 37. Here is a remarkable opposition to checks of providence and manifest declarations of God's will as if he would be the Commander of the World instead of God Abner's action is much of the same kind who would make the house of Saul strong against David tho he knew and was satisfied that God had promised the Kingdom to David 2. In omissions of prayer One reason to prove the fools denying God's government of the world is that they call not upon the Lord. Psal 14.1 4. The Lord looked down from heaven to see if there were any that did understand and seek God 'T is certainly either a denying of God's sufficiency to help us when we rather beg of every creature than ask of God or a charging him with a want of providence as though he had thrown off all care of worldly matters 2 King 1.3 Is it not because there is not a God in Israel that you go to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron Seeking to any thing else with a neglect of God is a denying the care of God over his creature Do we not in this case make our selves our own governours and Lords as though we could subsist without him or manage our own affairs without his assistance If we did really believe there was a watchful providence and an infinite powerful goodness to help us he would hear from us oftener then he doth Certainly those who never call upon him disown his government of the world and do not care whether he regards the Earth or no. They think they can do what they please without any care of God over them The restraining prayer is a casting off the fear of God Job 15.4 Thou casteth off fear why and restrainest prayer before God The neglect of prayer ariseth from a conceit of the uprofitableness of it Job 21.15 What profit should we have if we pray unto him Which conceit must be grounded upon a secret notion of God's carelesness of the world such fruit could not arise but from that bitter root But the Prophet Malachi plainly expresses it Mal. 3.14 Ye have said it is in vain to serve God and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances Whence did this arise but from a denial of providence upon the observation of the outward happiness of the wicked ver 15. And now we call the proud happy yea they that work wickedness are set up yea they that tempt God are even delivered Sometimes it riseth from an apprehension that God in the way of his providence dealeth unjustly with us A good Prophet utters such a sinful speech in his passion 2 King 6.33 Behold this evil is of the Lord what should I wait for the Lord any longer 3. When men will turn every stone to gain the favourable assistance of men in their designs and never address to God for his direction or blessing When they never desire God to move the hearts of those whose favour they court as though providence were an unuseful and unnecessary thing in the World It was the case of those Elihu speaks of Job 35.9 10. they cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty but none saith where is God my maker who gives songs in the night c. none in the midst of their oppressions and cryes under them did consider either the power of God in the Creation as he was their Maker nor his providence in the government of the World as he raised up men from low estates and gave matter of cheerfulness even in a time of darkness This was the charge God by his Prophet brought against Asa 2 Chron. 16.7 before the text Thou hast relyed on the King of Syria and not relyed on the Lord thy God herein thou hast done foolishly v. 9. where he sets a relyance on the Creature and a relyance on God in direct opposition In several cases men do thus deny and put a contempt on God as the governour of the World when we will cast about to find out some creature resuge rather than have recourse to God for any supply of our necessities Doth not he slight his fathers care that will not seek to him in his distress This was Asa's Sin 2 Chron. 16.12 in his disease he sought not to the Lord but to the Physicians The Jews think that one reason why Joseph continued two years in prison was his confiding too much upon the Butler's remembrance of him and interest for his deliverance which they ground upon the request he makes to him Gen. 40.14 but think on me when it shall be well with thee and shew kindness to me and make mention of me unto Pharaoh and bring me out of this house I must confess the expressions are very urgent being so often repeated and seems to carry a greater considence at present in the arm of flesh than in God We do not read that Joseph prayed so earnestly to God though no doubt but being a good man he did Methinks the setting down his request with that repetition in the Scripture seems to intimate a probability of the Jews conceit Or also when we do seek to him but it is out of a general belief of his providence and sufficiency not out of an actuated consideration or when we seek to him with colder affections than we seek to Creatures as if we did half despair of his ability or will to help us as when a man thinks to get learning by the sagacity of his own wit his indefatigable industry and never desires with any ardent affection the blessing of God upon his endeavours When we lean to our own Wisdom we distrust the providence of God Pro. 3.5 trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding Trust in God and leaning to our own wisdom are opposed to one another as inconsistent or when a man hath some great concern suppose a suit at law to think to carry his cause by the favour of friends the help of his money the eloquence of his advocate and never interests God in his business This is not to acknowledge God in thy wayes which is the command Pro. 6. in all thy waies acknowledge him as though our works were not in the hand of God Eccles 9.1 This is to take them out of God's hand and put them into the hands of men To trust in our wealth it is to make God a dead and a stupid God and disown his providence in the bestowing it upon us The Apostle seems to intimate this in the opposition
as soon deny himself as his righteousness So it is none of the meanest comforts that we acknowledg and worship that God who exerciseth himself in a constant government of the World and leaves not any thing to the capriciousness of that which we call fortune and chance What satisfaction can any man in his sober wits have to live in a World cast off from all care of the Creator of it Wisdom without providence would make any man mad and the greatest advantage would be to be a stupid and senseless fool Can there be any worse News told to men than this that let them be as religious as they will * It was an excellent Speech of a Stoick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is no eye above takes notice of it What can be bitterer to a rational man than that God should be careless of the World What a door would be opened by it for all sin in the wicked and eispair in the godly 't is as great a matter of joy to the godlly that God reigns as it is of terror to the wicked Psal 97.1 The Lord reigns let the Earth rejoice Psal 99.1 The Lord reigns let the people tremble 'T is a comfort That 1. Man is a special object of Providence God provides for all creatures even those that are the works of his hands much more for a man who is more peculiarly the work of his head in whose creation he took Counsel Gen. 1.92 let us make man in our Image after our likeness and the work of his heart in being made according to his Image and intended as a subordinate end of his whole creation next to the principal that of God's glory he is the preserver of man and beast of a man principally of beasts in subserviency to mans good and preservation 2. Hloy men a more special object of it God preserves and provides for all things and all persons But his eye is more peculiarly fixed upon those that fear him Psal 33.18 behold the eye of the lord is upon them that fear him upon them that hope in his mercy so fixed as if he had no regard to any thing else If God hath a care of man created after his own Image though his Image be depraved much more of those wherein his Image is restored If God loves himself he loves his Image and his works A man loves the works which he hath made of some external matter much more doth a father love his Son much more doth God love his own and therefore will work their good and dispose of them well God exerciseth a special providence over the actions of a good man as well as his person Psal 37.23 the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his wyas 't is a special because a delightful providence he delights in his way How highly may it cheer a man to be in covenant with that God which rules the world and hath all things at his beck to be under not only the care of his wisdom but of his goodness The Governor of the World being such an only friend will do him no hurt being such an only Father will order all things to his good out of a Fatherly affection he is the Worlds Soveraign but a good mans Father He rules the Heavens and the Earth but he loves his holy ones Other things are the objects of his providence and a good man is the end of it For his eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth to shew himself strong for him whose heart is perfect towards him 3. Hence it will follow that the Spirits of good men have sufficient grounds to bear up in their innocent sufferings and storms in the World Innocent sufferings There is a righteous Governour who orders all and will reward them for their pains as well as their service Heb. 6.10 for God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love there is one that presides in the World who sees all their calamities and cannot be mistaken in their cause who hath as much power and wisdom as will to help them It would be an affliction indeed if there were no soveraign power to whom they might make their moan in their distress to whom they might ease their consciences if there were no Governour to whom they might offer up their petitions In the storms they meet with in the world How doth the presence of a skilful Pilot in a weather-beaten Ship cheer the hearts of the fearful Passengers What a dread would it be to them to have the vessel wherein their lives and all are concerned left to the fury of Winds and Waves without an able hand to manage it God hath a bridle to check the passions of men to marshal them according to his pleasure they are all but his instruments in the government not the Lords of it God can lay a Plot with more wisdom for a good mans safety than the Enemy can for his destruction he can countermine their Plots with more power than they can execute them he can out-wit their craft over-power their strength and turn their designed cruelty against them as a knife into their own breasts 4. Hence follows a certain security against a good mans want If God take care of the hairs the ornamental superfluities why should we doubt his care of our necessary supply If he be the guardian of our hairs which fall off without our sence of their departure shall he be careless of us when we are at a pinch for our all Will God reach out his care to Beasts and deny it to his Children What would you judge of that Father who should feed his Servants and starve his Sons He supplies his Enemies and hath he no bowels for his Frindes The very unjust as well as the just are enlightned by his Sun and refresht by his rain and shall he not have a providence for those who have a special interest in that Mediator whose interposition kept up those standing mercies after our forfeiture of them by sin If he bless with those blessings those who are the objects of his curse will he not bless those that are in his special favour with them so far as they may prove blessings to them Psal 34.10 the young Lions do lack and suffer hunger but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing v. 9. for there is no want to them that fear him A good man shall have what he needs not alwayes what he thinks he needs Providence intends the supply of our necessities not of our desires he will satisfie our wants but not our wantonness When a thing is not needful a man cannot properly be said to want it when it is needful a good man shall not be without it what is not bestowed upon us may not be so beautiful at that time wherein we desire it for every thing is beautiful in its season * Eccles 9.11 He that did not want
God's kindness to renew him shall never want God's kindness to supply him his hand shall not be wanting to give where his heart hath been so large in working Others live that have an interest only in common providence but good men have providence cabinetted in a promise and assured to them by a deed of covenant-conveyance he was a provider before he hath made himself now your Debtor You might pray for his providential care before with a common faith now with a more special expostulation For in his promise he hath given a good man the key of the Chest of his providence because it is the promise of this life and that which is to come * 1 Tim. 4.8 of this life not to our desires but necessities of the life to come to both wherein they shall have whatsoever they can want and whatsoever they can desire Again consider God doth exercise a more special providence over men as cloathed with miserable circumstances and therefore among his other Titles this is one to be a helper of the Fatherless * Psal 10.14 'T is the argument the Church used to express her return to God Hos 14.3 for in thee the fatherless find mercy Now what greater comfort is there than this that there is one presides in the world who is so wise he cannot be mistaken so faithful he cannot deceive so pitiful he cannot neglect his people and so powerful that he can make stones even to be turned into bread if he please Further take this for a comfortable consideration God doth not govern the World only by his will as an absolute Monarch but by his wisdom and goodness at a tender Father 'T is not his greatest pleasure to shew his Soveraign power or his unconceivable wisdom but his immense goodness to which he makes the other attributes subservient What was God's end in creating is his end in governing which was the communication and diffusion of his goodness we may be sure from hence that God will do nothing but for the best his wisdom appointing it with the highest reason and his goodness ordering it to the most gracious end and because he is the highest good he doth not only will good but the best good in every thing he acts What greater comfort can there be than that we are under the care of an infallible unwearied and righteous Governor infallible because of his infinite Wisdom unwearied because of his incomprehensible Omnipotency and righteous because of his unbounded Goodness and Holiness 3. Vse of Exhortation The duties arising from hence will run as a thread through the web of our whole lives and all the motions of them This Doctrine hath an influence upon our whole course there is nothing we meet with but is an act of providence and there is no act of providence but calls for some particular duty Is there any good we want we must seek it at his hands we must depend upon him for it we must prescribe no methods to him but leave the conduct of it to his own wisdom Is it a cross providence and contrary to our desires and expectations Murmur not at it Is it afflictive and troublesom Submit to it Is it either good or bad and present we must study to understand it is it a good present give God the glory of it 1. Seek every thing you need at the hands of God 'T is not only the skilfulness of the Pilot but a favourable gale from Heaven which must conduct the Ship to the intended port As his providence is the foundation so it is the encouragement of all prayer The end of the Lords prayer is for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory the providential Kingdom belongs to God Power he hath to manage it and his glory is the end of all seek to him therefore for the exercise of his power in thy concerns and for his directing them to his glory in his providential administrations Every one of our daies and both the mercy and the misery of them depend upon him Pro. 27.1 thou knowest not what a day may bring forth But God foresees all events have recourse the refore to his care for every very day success What are our contrivances without the leave and blessing of providence Like the bubbles blown up from a nut-shell easily broken by the next puff Our labour will be as fruitless as Peter's with all his toyl and catch nothing till God speaks the word and sends the fish into our net * Luk. 5 5. The way of man is not in himself * Jer. 10.13 O Lord I know that the way of man is not in himself it is not in man that walks to direct his steps Dangers are not within the reach of our eye to foresee nor within the compass of our power to prevent Humane prudence may lay the platform and God's power blast the execution when it seems to be grown up nearest to maturity Hezekiah was happy in his affairs because he was assisted by God Ahaz unhappy because he is deserted by God If we would have a Clock go well we must look chiefly to the motions of the chief Wheel a failure in that makes an error in all the rest nothing can terminate it's motion to our benefit without providence Coloured glass can reflect no beams without the Sun's light nor fruits be ripened without its influence Our dependance on God is greater than theirs on the Sun God lets men play with their own wit and strength and come to the brink of execution of their designs and then blows upon them that they may know there is a God in the Earth Pythagoras could say it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a ridiculous thing to seek that which is brave and virtuous any where else than of God * Jamblich◠vita Pithag lib 1. cap 18. p. 89 Cyrus is a brave pattern who is mentioned in Scripture and represented by Xenophon calling upon God when he was first chosen General and in his Speech to his Captains to encourage them to hope for a good success of the expedition Xenophon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib 〈◊〉 p. 23. tells them they might expect it because I have begun with God which you know saith he is my custom not only when I attempt great matters but also the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things of lesser concernment The seeking of God should be the prologue to all our affairs we are enjoyned first to pray and then determine Job 22.27 Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him thou shall also decree a thing and it shall be established unto thee The interessing Providence in our concerns is the high way to success The reason we miscarry is because we consult not God but determine without him and then we have no reason to complain of him for not prospering our way when we never commended our affairs to his conduct It hath been the practice of holy men Nehemiah first petitioned God
Almanack to the Church was made us by an Angel * Dan. 9.21 Revel 10.8 9. Revel 22.8 9. And when by the course of time those turnings are to happen in the World the Angels must have their share of service in them The Trumpets are sounded by Angels and the Vials which are filled with the causes of such alterations are poured out by the hands of Angels Some indeed by the Angels there mentioned understand the visible instruments of reformation not excluding the Angels who are the invisible Ministers in the affairs of the World * Lightfoot Temple Chap. 38. p. 253 256. 5. They engage in this work for the Church with delight They act as Gods Ministers in his providence with a unanimous consent †Ezek. 1.9 Their wings were joyned one to another So that they perform their office with the same swiftness and with the same affection without emulation to go one before another which makes many actions succeed ill among men but they go hand in hand They do it with affection both in respect of the kind disposition of their natures and as they are fellow-members of the same body for they are parts of the Church and of the Heavenly Jerusalem Heb. 12.22 Ye are come to the Heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the first-born and therefore act out of affection to that which is a part of their body as well as out of obedience to their head They do it in respect of their own improvement too and increase of their knowledg which is the desire of all intellectual Creatures For they compleat their understandings by the sight of the methods of infinite wisdom in the perfecting his gracious designs And it is Gods intent that they should grow in the knowledge of his great mystery by their employment Eph. 3.10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God i. e. By the gracious works of God towards the Church and in the behalf of it for the security and growth of the Church and in the executions of those decrees which as instruments they are imployed in For I do not understand how it can be meant of the knowledge of Christ for of that they know more than the Church below can acquaint them with for without question they have a clear insight into the offices of Christ who is their Head and whom they are ordered to worship They understand the aim of his death and resurrection and can better explain the dark predictions of Scripture than purblind man can But by observing the Methods which God uses in the accomplishment of them they become more intelligent and commence Masters of knowledg in a higher degree which it is probable is one reason of their joy when they see Gods infinite Wisdom and Grace in the conversion of a sinner without affection to them their employment about them they could not rejoice so much And their rejoicing in their first bringing in to God argues their joy in all their employments which concerns their welfare 2. As all good things Secondly so all bad things are ordered by providence for the good of the church That which in its own nature is an injury by Gods ordering puts on the nature of a mercy and what is poyson in it self by the Almighty art becomes a Soveraign medicine Are Gods dispensations in their own nature destructive that wise Physician knows how to make poysons work the effect of purges Are they sharp It is to humble and purge the Church As shadows serve to set out the pictures so the darkest passages of providence are made by God to commend the beauty of those glorious things he works for his Church We may see this in 1. Bad persons As 1. The Devil God manageth him for his own glory and the strengthning of Believers †Math. 8.31 32. The Devils desired to enter into the herd of swine with an intent probably not only to destroy the swine but to incense the Gadarenes against him out of whom they had been cast to do him some considerable mischief But what is the issue As they discover their malice so they inhance the value of Christs kindness to the distressed man whom he had freed from this tyranny Hereby also was the Law of God justified in commanding the Jews to abstain from Swines flesh which the Gadarenes being Apostate Jews had broken he magnified his own power in the routing such a number of unclean Spirits which had not been so conspicuous in the turning them out of one man had not this regiment discoveed themselves among the Swine and brought such a loss upon the Gadarenes whereby as they shewed their own strength and malice so they discovered occasionally the greatness of Christs charity and his power over them so that in granting the malicious petition of this exasperated Legion the Law of God is justified our Saviours love glorified his power manifested and a foundation laid for the gaining Proselytes in that Country to which purpose he left the man he had cured * Luk. 8.39 and to strengthen the faith of those poor Believers which then followed him God makes use of the Devils by the Soveraignty of providence to bring about ends unknown to themselves for all their wisdom The malice of the Devil against Job hath rendred him a standing miracle of patience for ever They are the rulers of the darkness of this world * Eph. 6.12 not of the light of the World they are the rulers of the wicked and the scullions of the Saints to scour and cleanse them They are the rulers of the World but subordinate to serve the providence of God wherein God declares his wisdom by serving himself of the worst of his Enemies The Devil thought he had brought a total destruction upon mankind when he perswaded our first Parents to eat of the forbidden fruit but the only wise God ordered it to bring about a greater glory to himself and a more firm stability to his people in introducing an everlasting covenant which could not be broken and establishing their happiness upon surer terms than it was settled in Paradise And afterwards in filling the heart of Judas to betray Christ and the hearts of the Jews to crucifie him Even by that way whereby the thought to hinder the good of mankind he occasionally promotes their perpetual redemption And I do not much question but those very principles which the Devil had distilled into the gentile World of shedding human blood in sacrisices for expiation of guilt and the Gods conversing with men in humane shapes and the imagination of the intercession of Daemons for them the first out of rage against mankind and both that and the other to induce them to Idolatry might facilitate the entertainment of Christ as the great expiatory sacrifice and the receiving of him as
tells them this was for their good when there was no present appearance of any good in it It should be good in respect of Gods Favour towards them which retired to return with the greater force ver 6. I will set mine eyes upon them for good I will build them and not pull them down God would give them a more durable settlement In respect also of that frame of heart they should have toward God their knowledg of him and cleaving to him ver 7. I will give them a heart to know me and they shall return to me with their whole heart God had but a moiety of their hearts before but then he should have the whole And indeed it was remarkably for their good for they who before were addicted to Idolatry were never guilty of the same sin after And God kept them from being drawn away to it by the example and solicitation of those among whom they were The Church grows by tears and withers by smiles Gods Vine thrives the better for pruning God makes our Persecutions fit us for that for which we are persecuted As Saul by his persecution of David for the Title God had given him to the Kingdom made him fitter to succed him in the Throne and manage the Government God uses persecutors as lances which whiles they wound us let out the purulent and oppressive matter and makes them instruments of his Providence to work out his Peoples Happiness and thus makes the very wrath of man to be an occasion of his Peoples Praise Psal 76.10 The wrath of man shall praise thee God doth in this as a Father deals with his Son sends him to a sharp school that he may be Trained up in Learning 2. In the increase of the church The Jews Crucified our Saviour to diminish the multitude of his followers and by this means the number is increased The whole World runs after him by that means they used to stop their Course which Christ fore told that when he was lifted up he should draw all men after him And that a grain of Corn brings not forth more seed unless it be cast into the ground and dye 1. In the increase of it within its own bounds When the Israelites were most opprest in Egypt the more they multiplied †Exod. 1.20 When the Dragons fury did most swell against the Woman she brought forth a Man child ‡ Rev. 12.1 3 4 When the Roman Empire was at the highest and was most enflam'd with Anger against the Christians When the Learning of the Philosophers the Witchcrafts of Hereticks the Power of the Emperors and the Strength of the whole World was set against them the Christians grew more flourishing and unmerous by those very means which were used to destroy them Not only a new succession of Saints sprung up from the Martyrs Ashes but their Flames were the occasion of warming some so much with a heavenly fire that some persecutors have become Preachers Their very bonds for the Truth have sometimes a seminal Vertue in them to beget men to Faith in Christ Phil. 1.12 The things which have happened unto me have fallen out rather to the furtherance of the gospel 2. In the increase of it in other parts Pauls Prison made his Preaching Famous in Rome and was an occasion of bringing Christianity into Nero's Court that Monster of Mankind * Phil. 1.13 one might have looked for Saints in Hell as soon Phil. 4.22 his bonds were as great a confirmation of the Truth of his Doctrine as his Eloquence When Saul made havock of the Church and by that storm dispersed the Christians they like so many grains of Corn seattered in serveral parts of a greater Field produced the greater Harvest Acts 8.3 4. therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the Word As Clouds scattered by the Winds they Rain'd down the Gospel in several Quarters The Jews when scattered in their several slights did scatter among the Heathen the Notions of the true Religion When they shall go down to Egypt to secure themselves from Senacheribs Invasion they shall be a means to make many Converts among that Idolatrous Nation Isa 19.18 In that day the day of the Jews Trouble shall five Cities in the land of Egypt speak the Language of Canaan and swear to the Lord of hosts so one expounds it but I rather think it meant of the times of the Gospel The flight of the Israelites shall be the occasion of some Egyptians Conversion A poor Slave in Naamans Family was an occasion both of the cure of his Body and of that of his Soul 2 Kings 5.2 3 17. So much for the first Reason drawn from an enumeration of things 2. Reason To prove that all Providence is for the good of the Church is Secondly Because God hath sometimes preferred Mercy to the Church and Care of it above his own concernments of Justice He values his mercy to them above his Justice upon his Enemies He consults their safety before he brings ruin upon the Wicked whose sins are full He first prepared the ark for Noah and sees him lodged in it before he begins to showr down destruction upon the World He hath sometimes punished a Nation more for their Offences against his People than their Sins against himself Amalek was guilty of many Idolatries and other sins against God but God chargeth none of them upon them but their malicious hindring the Israelites in their March to Canaan 1 Sam. 15.2 Thus saith the Lord of Hosts I remember that which Amalek did to Israel how he laid wait for him in the way when he came up from Egypt He shews his love to them and how much he values them that when he is acting Justice and pouring out his Wrath when he is as it were cutting and slashing on all sides and is in fury with wicked Men he hath nothing but sweetness and tenderness towards his own Amos 9.9 10. in the sifting of Israel and the Nations Not the least grain shall fall upon the earth All the sinners of my people shall dye by the sword While he thunders out his Fury upon wicked Men he hath his Eyes upon the least grain of the true Israel What would it be for God when he is raising the Glory of his Justice upon the People that have provoked him not to regard the concernments of this or that or many sincere Souls but put no stop to his Fury Yet he doth not a grain shall perish He is more desirous to hear of the preservation and welfare of a few Righteous than of the just Punishment of the Wicked wherein his Justice is gloriously interessed The Man cloathed with Linnen that was to mark the Mourners return'd to God and gave an account that he had done according to his Command * Ezek 9.11 the other five which were to kill returned not to give any account of their severe and sharp proceeding The Angels that held the