both we abuse his providence In the one we disobey him in not using the means he hath appointed in the other presumptuously impose upon him for the encouragement of our laziness Diligence on our part and the blessing on God's Solomon joyns together Prov. 10.4 The hand of the diligent makes rich but v. 22. The blessing of the Lord maketh rich So Eccles 9.1 Our works are in the hand of God our works but God's blessing God's blessing but not without our works It was the practice of good men Jacob wrestles with God to divert his Brother's fury yet sends a Present to his Brother to appease him * Gen. 32.9 13. David trusts in the name of the Lord his God in his duel with Goliah but not without his sling Our labour should rather be more vigorous than more faint when we are assured of the blessing of providence by the infallibility of the promise 3. Trust providence in the way of the precept Let not any reliance upon an ordinary providence induce you into any way contrary to the command Dan. 1.8 9 10 c but Daniel purpojed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the Kings meat Daniel had many inducements from an appearance of providence to eat the Kings meat his necessity of a compliance in his captivity probability of preferment by learning the wisdom of the Countrey whereby he might both have advanced himself and assisted his Countrey-men the greatness of the consideration for a Captive to be fed from the Kings Table the ingratitude he might be accused of for despising so kind a treatment but none of these things moved him against a command because the Law of God forbad it he would not eat of the King's meat Daniel might have argued I may wind my self into the King's favour do the Church of God a great service by my interest in him which may be dasht in pieces by my refusal of this kindness but none of these things wrought upon him No providences wherein we have seeming circumstances of glorifying God must lead us out of the way of duty this is to rob God one way to pay him another God brought Daniel's ends about he finds favour with the Governour his request is granted the success is answerable and all those ends attained which he might in a sinful way by an ill construction of providence have proposed to himself all which he might have missed of had he run on in a carnal manner This this is the way to success Psal 37.5 Commit thy way unto the Lord trust also in him and be shall bring it to pass Commit thy way to the guidance of his providence with an obedience to his precept and reliance on his promise and refer all success in it to God If we set up our golden Calfs made of our own ear-rings our wit and strength and carnal prudence because God seems to neglect us our fate may be the same with theirs and the very dust of our demolisht Calf may be as bitter Spice in our drink as it was in theirs 4. Trust him solely without prescribing any methods to him Leave him to his wise choice wait upon him because he is a God of judgment * Isa 30.28 who goes judiciously to work and can best time the executions of his will The wise God observes particular periods of time for doing his great works John 2.4 my hour is not yet come woman what have I to do with thee Which man is no competent Judge of I will do this miracle but the season is not yet come wherein it will be most beautiful God hath as much wisdom to pitch the time of performance of his promise as he had mercy at first to make it How presumptuous would it be for the shallow world a thing worse than nothing and vanity to prescribe rules to the Creator Much more for a single person a little Atom of dust infinitely worse than nothing and vanity to do it Since we had no hand in Creating the world or our selves let us not presume to direct God in the government of it Job 38.4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth declare if thou hast understanding Would it not be a disparagement to God to stoop to thy foolish desires yea would you not your selves have a lower conceit of him if he should degrade his wisdom to the wrong biass of your blind reason Thirdly Submit to providence 'T is God's right to govern the World and dispose of his Creature 't is his glory in heaven to do what he will * Psal 115 3. But our God is in the Heaven he hath done what soever he pleased let us not by our unsubmissive carriage deprive him of the same Glory on earth he brings to pass his will by wayes the Creature cannot understand 'T is the wisest speech in that medley of fooleries the Turkish Alcoran * Deus triumphat in sua causa c. We must walk by the rule of reason which God hath placed in us for our guide yet if Providence brings to pass any other event contrary to our rational expectations because it is a clear evidence of his will we must acquiesce As when a Traveller hath two wayes to come to his journeys end the one safe the other dangerous reason perswades him to chuse the safest way wherein he falls among thieves now having used his reason which in that case was to be his director he must acquiesce God's Providence bringeth forth an event which he could not without violence to his reason avoid And therefore it is a great vanity when a man hath resolved the most probable way in a business and fails in it to torment himself because though our consultations depended upon our selves yet the issues of them are solely in the hand of God It concerns us therefore to submit to Gods disposal of us and our affairs since nothing can come to pass but by the will of God effecting it or permitting it If the fall of a Sparrow is not without his Will * Matth. 10.29 much less can the greater events which befall men the nobler Creatures be without the same concurrence of Gods pleasure therefore submit For 1. Whatsoever God doth he doth wisely His acts are not sudden and rash but acts of Counsel not taken up upon the present posture of things but the resolves of Eternity As he is the highest wisdom so all his acts relish of it and he guides his will by Counsel Eph. 1.11 Who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will If God took Counsel in Creating the World much more in laying a platform of government much more in the act of government for men can frame models of government that can never reduce them into practice Now God being infinitely wise and his will infinitely good it must needs be that goodness and wisdom are the rules whereby he directs himself in his actions
for this and other reasons it may be that the times before the Churches last deliverance shall be sharper than any before which our Saviour intimates Matt. 24.21 For then there shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world no nor ever shall be In Discoursing his Disciples of the troubles at the destruction of Jerusalem which was a type of the trouble preceding the end of the World he adds a discourse of what shall be at the end of the World in the last attempt of the enemies of the Church for ver 29. he saith immediately after the tribulatin of those days he speaks of his coming in the Clouds of Heaven with great power and glory And also in the Revelation Rev. 16.18 And there was a great earthquake such as was not since men were upon the earth so mighty an earthquake and so great This perhaps at the pouring out of the seventh Vial may concern the Christian Church as well as the Antichristian Party But the reason why it may be sharper just before that last deliverance than it was in former ages may be because it is the last effort the enemy shall make the last demonstration of Gods power and wisdom for and care of his Church and of Justice upon his enemies in such cases The last season for their multiplying their cries and acting their Faith for such a concern 3. Vs of Exhortation If it be so that the Providence of God is chiefly designed for the good of the Church First Fear not the Enemies of the Church 'T is a wrong to God Fear of Man is always attended with a forgetfulness of God Isa 51.12 13. I even I am he that comforteth you who art thou that art affraid of a man that shall dye and of the Son of Man that shall be made as Grass and forgettest the Lord thy Maker who hath stretched forth the heavens c. 'T is to value the power of Grass above the power of the Creator as though that had more ability to hurt than God to help As if men were as strong as Mountains and God as weak as a Bulrush 'T is a wrong to his Truth hath he not comforted you in his Promise What Creature should then deject you 'T is a wrong to his Mercy is he not the Lord thy Maker Calvin refers this to Regeneration and not Creation Hath he not renewed you by his Spirit and will he not protect you by his strength and that you may not question his power look up to the Heavens which he hath stretched out and the foundations of the Earth which he hath laid And is that Arm which hath done such mighty works too weak to defend that work which is choicer in his eye than either the extended Heaven or the established Earth We vilifie God and defile his Glory when our fear of mans power stifles our Faith in God Isa 8.12 13. Neither fear you their fear nor be affraid sanctifie the Lord of hosts himself and let him be your fear Let the wicked fear the Assyrians and engage in confederacies against them but let your eyes be lifted up to me and my Providence God will either turn away the mouth of the Cannon from the Church or arm it against the shot either preserve it from a danger protect it in it or sanctifie it to the Church and who need fear a Sword in a fathers hand 1. Will you fear man who have a God to secure you The Church belongs to God not to man as a just propriety Isa 43.1 Fear not for I have redeemed thee I have called thee by my name thou art mine when thou passest through the waters I will be with thee c. Thou art mine not mans Thou art mine I am thine I will be with thee as thine I will secure thee as mine Is my Creating is my forming is my redeeming thee to no purpose I will not secure you from trouble but surely my redemption of you the propriety I have in you should secure you from fears in those troubles None shall hurt you whilst I have power to defend you God with us if well considered and believed is sufficient to still those fears which have the greatest outward objects for their encouragement Psal 27.1 The Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be affraid If God be our strength to support us why should the weakness of dust and ashes scare us Alliance to great men and Protection of Princes prop up mens hearts against the fears of others and shall alliance to God be of a weaker efficacy A * Arram in Epist lib. 1. c. 9. Heathen could so argue that knew nothing of Redemption Let the Counsels of Enemies be crafty * Psal 83.3 yet they consult against Gods hidden ones hidden by God whilst Plotted against by men who would fear the stratagems of men whilst protected in an impregnable Tower God hides when men are ready to seize the Prey How did the Angel protect a sincere trembling Lot against the invasion of a whole City and secured his person whilst he blinded his enemies eyes that they could not find the door Instruments cannot design more maliciously than Christ watches over them affectionately Christ hath his Eye to see your works and danger where Satan hath his Thorne Rev. 2.13 2. Will you fear man who have a God to watch over their motions What counsels can prevail where God intends to over-rule their resolves There is no place so close as to keep private resolutions from his knowledge This was the thought of those States-men against whom the Prophet Isaiah thunders Isa 29.15 16. Wo unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord and their works are in the dark surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the Potters Clay Their Counsels were as well known to him as the Potters clay is to the Potter which he can either frame into a vessel or fling away into the Mass from whence he took it God hath not despoyled himself of his Government nor will devolve his right upon any men to dispose of his concerns When men think to act so secretly as though they framed themselves as though Gods eye were not upon them He will watch and trace all their Motions and make them insignificant to their purposes Satan himself the slyest and subtilest agent is too open to God to hide his Councils from him Never fear man till the whole combined Polices of Hell can controul the resolves of Heaven Till God wants Omniscience to dive into their secrets skill to defeat their Councils and an arm to abate their power 3. Will you fear men or devils who have a God to restrain them The great Dragon and General of the Serpents Seed is under a binding power who can bind him not only a thousand fears out a thousand Ages * Rev. 20.2 Have his Seed more force to resist Almightiness than their
to David's Scepter which concurred both with Gods purpose and promises but sprung from an ill cause a disdain to be checked by Ishbosheth though his King for an unjustifiable act for having too much familiarity with one of Sauls Concubines †2 Sam. 3.6 7 8 9 10. And from this animosity he contrives the de posing of Ishbosheth and the exaltation of David yet dissembles the ground and pretends the promise of God to David v. 18. for the Lord hath spoken of David By the hand of my servant David I will save my people Israel out of the hand of the Philistines He is the first Engine that moves in this business and by him and his correspondents after his death v. 17. the business is brought about by Gods over-ruling hand wherein Gods promise is accomplished and David a type of Christ and the great Champion for the Church against its enemies round about is advanced Very remarkable is the advancement of Mordecai in order to the advancing the Jews as well as preserving them when the necks of all the visible Church God had in the World were upon the block Haman ignorantly is the cause of this preferment of Mordecai and at that time too when he came to petition for his death Esther 6.4 He was come to speak to the king to hang Mordecai upon the gallows which he had prepared for him The King asks him what should be done to the man whom the King delights to honour v. 16. He imagineth that the Kings question did respect himself lays out a Scheme of what honour he was ambitious of v. 8 9. which was by the King designed for Mordecai and Haman made the Herald to proclaim him Here Haman not only a wicked man in himself but the greatest Enemy Mordecai and the whole Church of God had is made unwittingly an instrument to exalt Mordecai and in him the whole Church of God 3. In enriching the Church or some persons in it whereby it may become more serviceable to God How wonderful was it that when the Israelites were abominated by the Egyptians God should so order their hearts that the Egyptians should lend them Gold and Jewels * Exod. 12.35 36. and dismiss them with wealth as well as safety and not so much as one person molest them till they arrived at the Red Sea The very gain and honour of the Enemies is sometimes consecrated to the Lord of the whole Earth Micah 4.13 Arise and thresh oh daughter of Sion I will make thy horn Iron and thou shalt beat in pieces many people and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord and their substance to the Lord of the whole earth This was when many Nations were gathered against Sion v. 11. The wealth of the Sinner is laid up for the just Pro. 13.22 And God sometimes makes the wicked unwittingly to themselves in their carking be the factors for good men into whose lap providence pours the fruit of their labour God gave Cyrus the spoils of Babilon and the treasures of Croesus to enable him to furnish the Jews with materials for building the Temple Isa 45.3 4. 45.3 4 and I will give thee the treasure of darkness and hidden riches of secret places speaking of Cyrus that thou mayest know that I the Lord which call thee by thy name am the God of Israel for Jacob my servants sake c. That he might acknowledge him the God of Israel and lay his wealth out in the service of God and the service of Jacob his servant 2. As bad persons so bad things are ordered to the good of the church whether they be sinful evils or afflictive 1. Sin 1. A mans own sin Onesimus runs from his Master and finds a spiritual Father his being a runnagate is the occasion of his being a convert By flying from his Master he becomes a Brother in the Lord * Phil. 10 12 16. What Joseph's brethren sinfully intended for revenge against their brother and security from their Fathers checks who acquainted Jacob with their miscarriages God ordered for the preservation of them who were the only visible Church in the World Their sin against their Brother contrary both to their intentions and expectations became the means of their safety God makes the remainders of sin in a good man an occasion to exercise his grace discover his strength and shew his loyalty to God 2. Other mens sins That might be in Sarah but a beady passion for hearing her Son mocked By Ishmael that made her so desirous to have the bondwoman and her son thrust out * Gen. 21.10 but God makes use of it to make a separation between Isaac the heir of the Covenant and Ishmael that he might not be corrupted by any evil example from him God orders Abraham to hearken to her voice because in Isaac his seed should be called * ver 12. And the revengeful threatning of Esau was the occasion of Jacob's flight whereby he was hindred from marrying with any of the people of the Land by whom he might have been induced to Idolatry * Gen. 2.7.3.46 Why should we mistrust that God that can make use of the Lusts of men to bring about his own gracious purposes 2. Commotions in the World There is the eye of God that eye which runs to and fro throughout the whole Earth in the Wheels of worldly motions even in the most dreadful providences in the World that stare upon men with a grim countenance * Ezek. 1.18 their wings were dreadful and their wings were full of eyes All the overturnings in the World are subservient to the Churches interest though they are not visibly so unless diligently attended * Broughton on Revel 13. Sect. 177. God orders the confusions of the world and is in the midst of the tumults of the people Psal 29.10 11. The Lord sits upon the flood yea the Lord sits King for ever the Lord will give sirength to his people the Lord will bless his people with peace He sits upon the flood as a Charioteer in his Chariot guiding it with holy and merciful intentions to his people to give them both strength and peace in the midst of them and as the issue of them By Water and Floods is frequently meant tumults and confusions in the World If it were not so why would our Saviour encourage his Disciples and all their Successors in the same profession to lift up their heads when they hear of wars if their redemption * Luk 21.25 26 27 28. were not designed by God in them they are all testimonies of the nearer approaches of Christ in power and glory to judge the Earth and glorifie his people Gods great end in the shaking of Nations is the performing those gracious promises to his Church which yet remain unaccomplisht These earthquakes in the world will bring Heaven to the Church The great revolutions in the Eastern part of the world the ruine of the Babylonian Empire
so perfect in his knowledge of all things that he cannot be imposed upon by the evil suggestions and flatteries of men or Angels In nature it is so the eye guides the body because that is the chief Organ of sensitive knowledg the mind which is the seat of Wisdom guides the whole 4. Patience Infinite patience is requisite to the preservation and government of the World in the circumstances wherein it hath stood ever since the fall What Angel though the meekest or can all the Angels in Heaven be Masters of so much patience as is needful for this work of governing the World though for the space of one day Could they bear with all those evils which are committed in the world in the space of 24 hours Might we not reasonably conceive that they would be so tired with the obliquities disorders deformities which they would see in the acts of men besides all the evil which is in the hearts of men which lye without the verge of their knowledg that they would rather call for fire from Heaven to burn the world to Ashes * Trap in Exod. 34. Averroes thought that because of Gods slowness to anger he meddled to with sublunary concerns This rather fits him for it because he can bear with the injuries of wicked men otherwise the world would not continue a moment Angels though powerful holy wise and patient creatures yet being creatures they want the infiniteness of all these qualifications which are necessary to this government Though they are knowing yet they know not mens hearts though they are wise yet they may be charged with a folly uncapable of this though holy yet not able in this respect to manage it to the ends and designs of an infinite holiness though nimble yet cannot be in all parts of the world at every turn but the Providence of God is infallible because of his infinite Wisdom indefatigable because of his Omnipotency and righteous bcause of his Goodness 3. There can be no reason rendred why God should not actually govern the World since He only hath a right and a fitness If God doth not actually govern it it is either because He cannot or because He will not 1. Not because He cannot this inability must be either for want of knowledge or want of power The one if asserted would deny his Omnipotence the other his Omniscience the one would make him a weak God the other an ignorant God and consequently no God 2. Not because He will not If He can and will not it is say some a testimony of envy that he maligns the good of his creatures But not to insist upon this This must be either because of the 1. Difficulty This cannot be What difficulty can there be in a single word or one Act of his will which can be done by God without any molestation were there millions of Worlds as well as this For still they would be finite and so governable by an infinite Superior May we not more reasonably think the forming such a Mass would require more pains than the government of it The right stringing an instrument is more trouble to a skilful Musitian than the tripping over the strings afterwards to make an harmony What difficulty can it be to Omnipotence Is it a greater labour to preserve and govern than it was to create Doth not the Soul order every part of the body and all its functions without any pain to it and shall not the God that made that Soul so indefatigable much more manage the concernments of the World without labour to himself Is it not as easie with God to guide all these things by one single act of his Will as for me by an act of my Soul to do many things without a distinct act of cogitation or consideration before Can it be more laborious to him to govern the world than it is to know all things in the world He sees all things in an instant by one act of his understanding and he orders all creatures in a moment by one act of his will Can one act of his will be more painful than one act of his understanding Can he with a word make this great Ball and can he not with as much ease order all to conform to the law of his own righteous will Can a continual eruption of goodness be a difficulty to an infinite Being which we find natural to the Sun to the Fountains to the Sea to many works of that Omnipotent Goodness Or 2. Disparagement Denial of Gods Providence over the lesser things of the World did arise from the consideration of the state of Monarchs who thought it an abridgment of their felicity and dignity to stoop to such low considerations as the minutula of their estates might exact from them but left them to their Vicegerents But they consider not that the felicity of God as it respects the creature is to communicate his goodness to as many subjects as he hath made capable of his care If it were his glory to create the world can it be his dishonour to govern it The glorifying his Wisdom is as honourable to him as the magnifying his Power though both are eminent in Creation and Providence yet his Wisdom is more signal in the Governing as his Power was in framing of the world Why was it not as much a disparagement to God to create things contemptible in our eyes as since he hath created them to take care of them and marshal them for his own glorious ends The Sun in the Heavens is a shadow of God which doth not disdain to communicate its natural goodness and emit its beams to the meanest Creatures and let the little flies sport themselves in them as well as the greatest Princes and transmits its influences upon things obscure and at a distance from it whereby it manifests an universal regard to all And would it not be a disparagement to an infinite goodness to be out stript by a Creature which he hath set up for a natural communication of goodness to the rest of the World The very consideration of the Sun and the nature of it gives us as much an account of God as any inanimate being whatsoever 'T is as much the Suns honour to produce asmall Insect as the growth of the greatest Plant. Have not all Creatures a natural affection in them to preserve and provide for their own hath not God much more who endued all creatures with that disposition Whatsoever is a natural perfection in creatures is eminently an infinite perfection in God If it be therefore a praise to you to preserve your own can it be a disgrace to God You may as well say it is as much a dishonour to him to be good as to have a tender regard to his creatures Censure him as well you may for creating them for your delight as preserving and governing them for the same end They are all good for he pronounced them so and being so a God
with the Lord and promising to make of him a great Nation * Exod. 32.9 10. and the Lord said to Moses I have seen this people and behold it is a stiff-necked people now therfore let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them and in such terms that one would wonder at Now therefore let me alone As if God did fear Moses's interposition would prevent him and disswade him from it Do not you stand in the way my wrath will cool if you interpose your self as much as to say God could not do it unless Moses gave his consent Moses would not be quiet but pleads the providences of God which had been all for them the promise of God made to Abraham concerning them And he would not leave till God repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people v. 14. If Angels as Calvin saith are Gods counsellours in Heaven Believers are as it were his Counsellors on Earth 5. God has given the choicest things he hath to his people He hath given his Law The Church is the Sphere wherein the light of the Gospel is fixed and wherein it shines from whence its beams do dart out to others Isa 2.3 out of Sion shall go forth the law The oracles of God the great things of the Law as it is phrased Hosea 8.12 his Covenant and the counsel of his will are intrusted with the Church Now this being a mercy which exceeds all other things in the World is therefore comprehensive of all other as the greater comprehends the lesser And the Psalmist considers it as the top-stone of all blessings for after summing up the Providences of God he shews how God had distinguished Jacob by more eminent marks of his favour Psal 147.29 30. He shews his word to Jacob his statutes and his judgments unto Israel he hath not dealt so with any Nation he hath not left so rich a Legacy to any or given any so much of his heart Others are ordered by the word of his power for that is meant by word in the foregoing verse but Jacob hath the word of his grace too And this being the choicest piece of affection which God hath shewn to the Church implies the making all lesser providences subservient to it The Church wherein God hath laid up his Gospel and those Souls which are as the Ark wherein God hath deposited his Law shall be shadowed with the wings of his merciful providence in a perpetual succession of all true blessings All the providences of God are to preserve his Law in the World his severest judgments are to quicken up the law of nature in men that know no other 〈◊〉 the Law of his Gospel in men that 〈◊〉 under it And he hath given Châ—â—◠〈◊〉 Church and thereby hath given in earnest that still their good shall be promoted 'T is not to be thought that God will spare any thing else when he hath given them his Son The Second thing It must needs be that all providences are for the good of the Church Secondly 1. All the providence of God is for the glorifying his grace in Christ First The whole Oeconomy or dispensation of the fulness of time to the latter ages of the World is for the gathering all things together in him Eph. 1.10 that in the dispensation of the fulness of time he might gather together in one all things in Christ both which are in Heaven and which are on earth even in him In him as their head This was the design in all his dispensations both before his coming and since ever since the promise made to Adam though it be more manifest in the latter Age. This the Apostle represents as the main purpose of God v. 9. This was the mystery of his will which according to his good pleasure he had purposed in himself that is purposed in himself as a thing he was mightily pleased with and ver 11. saith he 〈◊〉 works all things after or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the counsel of his own will or of that purpose which he had purposed in himself to gather all things in one in Christ All the things that God acts are referred to this as their end and ordered by this Counsel as their rule As it was the design of Gods providence to make way for Christs entrance into the World and all the prophecies in the old Testament tended to the discovery of it so since the coming of Christ the end of all is to advance him in respect of his headship Eph. 1.22 23. and hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the Church which is his body the fulness of him that fills all in all God would advance Christ to the highest pitch v. 21. far above all principality and power both in this world and in the world to come and there is still a fulness wanting to Christ to compleat him not only a personal fulness but a fulness belonging to him as a Head which is the advancement God designs him He is already advanced above all principality and power He is already given as a Head to the Church but the compleatness of it is not till all his members be perfected to which all his providences in the world doth ultimately tend Therefore if the design of God be to honour Christ and if the spiritual happiness of the Church be part of that Glory and fulness of Christ it must needs be carried on by God else he will want part of his compleatness as a Head But this shall not be wanting since as all things are squared according to that Counsel of glorifying Christ as Head so all things are acted for believers by that power whereby he raised Christ from the grave to be their Head which power is the Copy according to which all acts which respect the Church are framed v 19. and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him up from the dead God intended the good of the Church in this very act of glorifying Christ for he is made the head over all things to the Church As if God then had prescribed him that order that the glory he gave him should be also managed for the Churches interest Christ is Lord of the rest of the World but Head of the Church All things are under his feet but are not his members He is Head over all things to the Church and therefore to every member of the Church the least as well as the greatest and to the whole Church even that part of it which is on Earth as well as that part which is in Heaven who are compleated This Church is the fulness of Christ he would be bodyless without it therefore since Christ will be a head without a body if the Church be not preserved in order to the
very name of the Gospel Church * Esa 48.35 what would it signifie if it were an useless Presence Christ stands upon Mount Sion his Throne is in the Church when the great things in the World shall be acted for the Ruin of Antichrist * Revel 14.1 Gods Presence in his Church is the Glory and Defence of it As the presence of the King is the Glory of the Court Zech. 2.5 For I saith the Lord will be unto her a wall of fire round about and will be the glory in the midst of her Her presence is a Covenant-presence Isa 41.10 Fear not I am with thee be not dismayed for I am thy God whence follows Strength Help and Support I will strengthen thee yea I will help thee yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my Righteousness that is with my Righteous Power with my power engaged to thee in a Righteous Covenant His Presence and Providence in the World is in a way of Absolute Dominion but in his Church in a way of Federal Relation He is the God of Israel and God to Israel or for Israel * 1 Chro. 17.24 yea and a God in the midst of Israel Every one of them sufficient engagements to protect Israel and provide for Israel and govern every thing for Israels good God is under an Oath to do good to srael will he violate his Oath tear his Seal break his Covenant who never broke his League with any of his people yet 8. A Eightly The Prayers of the Church have a might force with God to this end God is entitled a God hearing Prayer and what prayers should God hear if not the prayers of his Church which aim at Gods Glory in their own good Though the prayers of the Church may in some particular fail yet in general they do not because they submit their desires to the Will of God which always works what is best for them When God would do any mighty work in the World he stirs up his people to pray for it and their prayers by his own appointment have a mighty influence upon the Government of the World For when they come before him in behalf of the Church in general he doth indulge them a greater liberty and boldness and as it were a kind of Authority over him than upon other occasions of their own Isa 45.11 Thus saith the Lord the holy one of Israel and his maker ask of me things to come concerning my sons and concerning the work of my hands command you me God would be more positively considently and familiarly dealt with about the concerns of his sons though they were things to come to pass in after Ages And indeed the prayers of the Church have a powerful and invisible efficacy on the great actions and overturnings which are in the World The Being of the World is maintained by them from sinking according to the Jews saying sine stationibus non subsisteret mundus standing in prayer was their usual prayer-gesture And that they have actually such a force is evident Rev. 8.3 4. An Angel hath a golden Censer with Incense to offer it with the prayers of the Saints upon the Altar which was before the Throne And ver 5. the Censer wherein their prayers were offered was filled with the fire of the Altar and cast into the Earth and there were Voices Thundrings Lightnings and Earthquakes When the prayers of the Saints were offered to God and ascended upon before him that is were very pleasing to him The issue is the Angel fills the Censer with fire of the Altar and thereby causes great commotions and alterations in the World signifying that the great changes of the World are an answer unto those prayers which are offered unto God for fire is taken from that altar upon which they were offered and flung into the World And it must needs be that the prayers of the Church should have an influence on the government of the World 1. Because God hath a mighty delight in the prayers of his people The prayer of the upright is his delight and he loves to hear the Churches voice Cant. 2.14 O my dove let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voice Chaldee thy voice is sweet in prayer In the times of the Gospel God promises that the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem should be pleasant to him Mal. 3.4 When Christ shall sit as a refiner v. 3. what is the issue of those prayers v. 5. I will come near to you to Judgment and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers c. Prayer awakes providence to judge the Enemies of the Church A Parent delights not in the bare crying or the voice of his Child simply considered in it self but in the significations and effects of it He delights in the matter of their prayers it being so agreeable to his own heart and will and in the sence they have of the sufferings of the whole body 2. Because Prayer is nothing else but a pleading of Gods promises Unto this they are directed by that Spirit which knows the mind of God and Marshals their petitions according to his will Now as God turns his own decrees and purposes concerning his Church into promises to them so the Church turns those promises into prayers for them So that promises being for the good of the Church and there being an exact harmony between those promises and the Churches prayers all those providences which are the issue of those promises and the answer of the Churches prayers must needs be for the Churches good 3. Because there are united supplications and pleadings both in Heaven and Earth all the hands of the whole Family in Heaven and Earth are concerning in their petitions 1. Christ intercedes for the Church who alwaies desires mercy and deliverance for them in the appointed time Zech. 1.12 How long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and the issue is alwayes gracious For v. 13. God answers him with good and comfortable words and thereupon Carpenters are raised to cut off the horns which had scattered Judah v. 20. 2. Angels in all probability plead for the Church as we have already heard 'T is likely they offer and present that to God which makes for his glory and that is the good of the Church Angels surely desire that which their head doth who is * Zech. 1.12 described as one of their own order and called an Angel Do they rejoyce at the repentance of a sinner and do they not likewise triumph at the happiness of the Church which is part of that Family they are of And we know that the greatness of our joy is suted to the measure of our desires where our joy is most triumphant it implies that our desires before were most vehement 3. Glorified Saints are not surely behind The rich man in the Parable desired his Friend on Earth might not come into that place of torment * Luk. 16.28 If
there be so much charity in Hell can there be less in Heaven If he desired it that by the presence of his cmpanions in sin his own torments might not be increased Do not the Saints in Heaven desire the presence of the whole Church that their happiness in that of the whole body may be compleated If the Head Christ be not compleat without the body the members of the body cannot be compleat without one another The souls of them that were slain for the word of God cry under the Altar for vengeance on them that dwell on the Earth as Revel 6.9 and 10. How long O Lord holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth Will not their kindness to their fellow-members be as strong as their justice And their love for the good of their Friends draw out their prayers as well as their desire of vengeance on their Enemies Why may they not as well pray for us as we praise God for them Had they not some likeness to their great Master whilst they were on Earth and shall they not be more like to him now they ae in Heaven and behold his face and feel all the stirrings of his heart And if they have no sence at all of the Churches sufferings how shall they be like to him who hath As their bodies shall be like the glorious body of Christ at the resurrection are not their Souls now like his glorious Soul merciful and compassionate and sympathizing in all the afflictions of the Church and can this be without some breathings for a full compleating of the Churches freedom Are such desires and pleas any hindrance to their present happiness 'T is so far from that that it doth rather further their glory which cannot be compleat as the glory of Christ as head is not mounted to the highest pitch of glory till his mystical body be all gathered in and lodged with him If it be thus will God do any thing prejudicial to the Church and contrary to the combin'd desires of all those that are so ner him If God doth sometimes stir up himself upon the supplication of one man grant an order upon his petition according to his mind and if the prayers of one faithful Moses or Elias or Samuel have such a kind of Almighty power in them much more is the jovnt force of so many prayers twisted together Vse 1. VSE For information Is it so that all providence is for the good of the Church Then 1. God will alwaies have a Church in the World he will have some to serve him The whole course of his providence being designed for it As long as the world which is the object of his providence doth endure he will have a Church God would otherwise lose the end of the motion of his eyes * The Text. the operation of his providence since it is to shew himself strong for the Church and every member of it As long as the candle and light of the Gospel burns and shines God will have a candlestick to set the candle in * Cham. les trais verit liv 3. cap. 1. p. 16. His great design in making a World was not to have a Sun Moon and Stars but a Church a company of men that might ear his mark and honour him to whom he might speak and extend his grace abroad which he was so full of within As a Limner who would draw an excellent draught draws his design in the midst of the cloth and fills the void places with clouds and land skips and other fancies at his pleasure which communicate some beauty and lustre to the work But that was not the principal design of the workman That Redeemer which bears the Church upon his heart will create a stability for it 't is a part of his Priestly Office to have a care of the Lamps 'T is one of his Titles to be he that walks in the midst of the Seven Golden Candlesticks * Revel 2 1. Priests under the Law were to look to the grant Candlestick in the Temple supply the Lamps with Oyl and make them clean * Levit. 24.3 4. Chap. 27.20 Chap. 30.8 The Church indeed may be eclips'd but not extinguished if it be not conspicuous on the mountain yet it shall be hid in the Wilderness There shall be sprinklings of professors among all people God will leaven the places where they are into Christianity and cause them to fructify and grow up in purity and glory * Micah 5.7 And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord as the showers upon the grass that tarrieth not for man nor waiteth for the Sons of men Is tarries not for man It attends not the power of man the precepts of man or inventions of man but whose descent is from Heaven and is carried on not by human power but by the divine Spirit and providence It shall be firmer than all worldy power and the strongest Kings Isa 2.2 And the Mountain of the Lords house shall be established upon the top of the Mountains and shall be exalted above the hills Above mountains and Hills to which sometimes the powers of the World are compared Zeth 4.7 Zech. 4.7 That providence which gave the Church at first a footing in the world upon a weak foundation to outward appearance in spight of Men and Devils will preserve it and not suffer it to be blown up he will shadow the Church with his wings in a perpetual succession of the choicest mercies 2. God will in the greatest exigencies find out means for the protection of his Church This will be till his providence be at an end When God hath removed one instrument of his Churches protection he hath his choice of his Churches protection he hath his choice of others whom he can raise and spirit for his work When those upon whom the Churches hopes hang are taken off he can raise things that are unlikely to supply the place As the Lutenist accidentally had a Grasshopper leap upon his instrument to supply by its noise the place of a string which had newly crackt whereby his Musick was continued without interruption God can Spirit men against their own natural fears It was very improbable that Nicodeus one of a fearful disposition who came to our Saviour by night for fear of the Jews should have the courage to assert his cause in the face of a whole Councel of Pharisees contriving his death and at present blunt the edge of their malice though we read of none at that time in the Councel to second him * Joh. 7.50 51. The holy Ghost takes particular notice that it was he that came to Jesus by night Joseph of Arimathea whose name we meet not with in any of the Catalogues of his Desciples till the time of his death then appears boldly to beg the body of Jesus of Pilate God
Ruin and arm the Almighty God against tham God did not think any of the People worth the mention verse 11. only Lot a righteous person vers 12. he is named as having Gods eye only upon him And when Abraham returns from the Victory v. 16. the rest of the delivered Captives are mentioned in the bulk Lot only in particular As though all that had been done had been done by God only for Lots sake They might have preserved the whole Prey to themselves had it not been for this Jewel too precious in Gods accompt for their Custody And the fearful Curse that God pronounced against the Ammonite and Moabite that they should not come into the Congregation for ten Generations though any of them turned Proselytes was because they came nor out with so much as Bread and Water to meet the Israelites and because they hired Balaam to Curse them The utter wasting of Nations and Kingdoms is because they will not serve the interest of God in his People Deut. 23.3.4 Isa 60.12 For the Nation and Kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish yea those Nations shall be utterly wasted God will bring an utter Consumption upon those people that refuse to love them much more upon those that hate them 6. What esteem then should there be of the Godly in the World The Providence of God being chiefly for the good of his people cannot well fall upon them but some drops will fall upon those involved with them in a common interest When the Corn and Wine and Oyl hear Jezreel the Seed of God and the Earth hears the Corn and the Heavens hear the Earth and God hears the Heavens * Hos 20 21 22 When their supplications come up to the great Superintendent of the World many of the Wicked will fare the better for that Providence which is given only in answer to Jezreels Prayer God causes his Sun to shine upon the unjust upon them not for their sakes When Nebuchadnezzar issued out that unjust order for the slaying the Chaldeans for not performing an impossible command in telling him the Dream he had forgotten Daniel was sought out to undergo the same fate * Dan. 2.12 Yet by his Wisdom God bends the heart of Arioch the Executioner of this Decree to stay his hand Daniel goes to the King God stayes Nebuchadnezzars Fury and moves his heart to give them time The Providence is chiefly intended for the preservation of Daniel and his godly Companions but the rest of the wise men have the Benefit of it As the water with which a man waters his choicest Plants and Flowers in his Garden is intended only for them yet some falling off from those Flowers refresheth the Weeds that grow under them If God had not had such flowers as Daniel and his Companions the Weeds in Chaldea had been plucked up Yet the ungrateful World takes no notice of the benefits they receive from this Salt of the Earth which preserves them and to whom they are all so much beholding Lot had been the occasion of restoring Zoar from Captivity as I mentioned before for the inhabitants of that City were engaged with those of Sodom in the Fight against the four Kings Gen 14.8 And the King of Bela the same is Zoar. And perhaps were carried Captives with the rest of their Neighbours And it had been saved from the Flames which fell upon Sodom meerly by Lots prayer Gen. 19.21 See I have accepted thee concerning this thing that I will not overthrow this City for the which thou hast spoken Yet he found them a surly people and was requited with a rude reception notwithstanding his kindness verse 30. He went up out of Zoar for he feared to dwell in Zoar It was not likely he was so distrustful of God that he should overthrow it when he had absolutely promised him the contrary Therefore most likely for some churlish threatnings from them Nay Sodom it self was beholding to him for a sinall respite of the Judgment intended against them For God tells him he could do nothing till he were come thither * Gen. 19. And it was so for Lot was entred into Zoar before a drop of Brimstone and Fire was rained down upon Sodom * Ver. 23 24. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom when when Lot was entred into Zear This good the Wicked World get by Gods People is so evident that sometimes wicked men cannot but take notice of it Laban a selfish Idolater was sensible of it Gen. 30.27 I have found by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake It was a Lesson so legible that he might have learned it sooner than in fourteen years The Church is the chief object of preservation wicked men are preserved for their sakes as Dung is preserved not for its own sake but for the manuring a fruitful field and Thorns in the Hedge are preserved for the Gardens sake 7. 'T is then a very foolish thing for any to contend against the welfare of Gods People 'T is to strive against an Almighty and unwearied Providence Men may indeed sometimes be suffered by God for holy ends to have their Wills in some measure upon the Church but not altogether They must first depose him from his Throne blind his eyes or hold his Arm. 'T is as foolish as if a worm should design to dig down a Mountain or Chaff to Marshal it self in Battel-array against the Wind or for a poor Flye to stop the motion of a Milstone 1. 'T is foolish Because it is exceeding sinful What is done against the Church is rather done against God than against her Since all her Constitution Worship Observances are directed to God as their ultimate end so that to endeavour to destroy the Church is to deny God a Worship deprive him of his Sanctuary break open his House Ravish his Spouse cut off Christ's Body rob him of his Jewels and will be so interpreted by God at the last upon the scanning of things If the Church be Gods house the Enemies shall answer for every Invasion every forcible Entry for the breaking down the Gates and Bars of it God will sue them at last for dilapidations 2. Very unsuccessful Shall God be afraid of the multitudes and power of Men No more than a Lyon or a young Lyon roaring after his Prey when a multitude of shepherds are called forth against him shall he be afraid of their voice or abase himself for their noise * Isa 31.4 Noise and Clamor is all they can do and that not long The fierceness of the Lyon quickly scatters them The Associations and mens girding themselves against the Church is but a preparation to their own Ruine Isa 8.9 Associate your selves together oh ye people and ye shall be broken in pieces three times repeated Your Counsels saith he shall not stand against that presence of God that is with us For God is with us 3. It is very Destructive too God
me much more look us into it his thoughts and his eyes move together 5. In fear of wants The power of the Governor of the World cannot be doubted His love as little as it seems fince it hath moved him to prepare Heaven to entertain his people at the end of their Journey will not be wanting to provide accommodation for them upon the way since all things both good and bad are at his beck and under the government of his gracious Wisdom His eyes run to and fro through the whole Earth not only to defend them in dangers but supply them in wants for his strength is shewed both ways Doth he providentially regard them that have no respect for him and will he not employ his power for and extend his care to them that adore and love him and keep up his honour in the World He will not surely be regardless of the afflictions of his Creatures His people are not only his Creatures but his new Creatures their bodies are not only created by him but redeemed by his Son The purchase of the Redeemer is joyned to the Providence of the Creator If he took care of you when he might have damned you for your sins will he not much more since you are Believers in Christ And he cannot damn you Believing unless he renounce his Sons Mediation and his own Promise A natural man provides for his own much more a Righteous man Prov. 19.22 A good man leaves an inheritance to his children much more the God of Righteousness a God who hath his eye always upon them His eye will affect his heart and his heart spirit the hand of his Power to relieve He hath prepared of his goodness for the poor Psal 68.10 6. 'T is comfort in the low estate of the Church at any t i me Gods eye is upon his Church even whilst he seems to have forsaken them If he seem to be departed it is but in some other part of the Earth to shew himself strong for them where ever his eye is fixed in any part of the World his Church hath his heart and his Churches relief is his end Though the Church may sometimes lye among the Pots in adirty condition yet there is a time of Resurrection when God will restore it to its true glory and make it as white as a Dove with its Silver Wings * Psal 68.13 The Sun is not alway obscured by a thick Cloud but will be freed from the darkness of it God will judge his peole and repent himself concerning his servants * Psal 135.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Comfort himself 'T is a comfort to God to deliver his People and he will do it in such a Season when it shall be most comfortable to his Glory their Hearts The very name Hierusalem some derive from Jireh Salem God will provide in Salem The new Jerusalem is the title given to Gods Church Rev. 1. and is still the object of his Providence and he will provide for it at a pinch Gen. 22.14 Jehovah Jireh God will raise up the honour and beauty of his Church Great men shall be servants to it and employ their strength for it when God shall have mercy on it * Isa 60.10 11 12. Yea the Learning and knowledg of the world shall contribute to the building of it v. 13. The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee the fir-tree the pine tree and the box together to beautifie the place of my sanctuary It shall be called the city of the Lord the Sion of the holy one of Israel that she may know that the Lord is her Saviour and her Redeemer the mighty one of Jacob. As Christ rose in his Natural so he will in his Spiritual Body If Christ when dead could not be kept from Rising Christ now living shall not be hindred from raising and helping his Church His own Glory is linked with his Peoples security and though he may not be moved for any thing in them because of thehir sinfulness he will for his own name because of its Excellency * Ezek 36. Ezek. 36.22 I do not this for your sakes O house of Israel but for my holy names sake As Sorrows encreased upon the Israelites the nearer their Deliverance approached Because this Method of God is the greatest startling even to good men let us consider this a little that God doth and why God doth leave his Church to extremities before he doth deliver it Take the Resolution of this in some propositions 1. 'T is indeed Gods usual method to loave the Chuch to extremity before he doth command help You never heard of any eminent Deliverance of the Church but was ushered in by some amazing distress The Israelites were not saved till they were put in between Sea Hills and Forts that their Destruction was inevitable unless Heaven relieved them Pharaoh resolves to have his will and God resolves to have his but he lets him come with his whole Force and open mouth at the Israelites backs and then makes the Waters his Sepulchre Constantine the man-child in the revelation was preceded by Dioclesian the sharpest Persecutor When his People are at a loss 't is his usual tme to do his greatest works for them God had promised Christ many ages and yet no appearance of him still Promise after Promise and no Performance Psal 40.8 It was then 〈◊〉 come yet many hundred years rowl'd away and no sight of him yet Captivity and affliction and no Redeemer but when the World was over-run with Idolatry the Jews oppressed by the Romans the Scepter departed from Judah Herod an Edomite and stranger King and scarce any Faith left then then he comes The World will be in much the like case at his next coming Luke 18.8 When the son of man comes shall he find faith in the earth there shall be faintings despondency unbelief of his Promise as though he had cast off all care of his Churches concerns 'T is not meant of a Justifying Faith but a Faith in that particular Promise of his coming The Faith of the Israelites must needs begin to flag when they saw their Males murdered by the Egyptians could they believe the Propagation of the Seed of Abraham when murder took off the Infants and Labour and Age would in time the old ones Whilst their Children were preserved the Promise might easily be believed But consider this was but just before their deliverance like a violent Crisis before Recovery He doth then judge his people and repent himself for his servants when he sees their power is gone and there is none shut up or left * Deut. 32.36 He doth so for the wicked many times when the affliction of Idolatrous Israel was bitter when there was not any shut up nor an left nor any helper for Israel then he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the Son of Joash * 2 King 14.26 27. He doth so with private persons Peter might have
provoked him in that place of straits where all the powers on Earth could not have relieved them had Heaven neglected them The provocation you may see Exod. 14.11 12. Which sprang from a forgetfulness of his kindness so lately shewed to them How apt are we to forget old Mercies when we are so naturally apt to blot out of our memories mercies newly received If this were well considered by men it would prevent their enterprises against the Church and consequently their shame and Ruin Are there Records of any who have hardned themselves against God and prospered * Job 9 4. How might in that reflection be seen the frustrations of Counsels disgracing of attempts showers of Fury and Vengeance from Heaven upon the heads of such The reason why the wonderful works of God were to be made known to posterity was that they might not be as their Fathers as Stubborn and Rebellious Generation * Psal 7 8 6 8. of men if they did consider those transactions of God in and for his Church they could no more think to stop the breath of perpetual powerful Providence than to bridle in a Storm or stop the motion of the Sun To conclud this Gods Providential Judgements ments are to be remembred though they are for the punishment of the age that feel them they are also for the instruction of the age which succeeds them tell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 number be as exact as in your accounts wherein you take notice of every number minute and cipher The works of Providence as well as the Doctrine of God are parts of a Childs Catechism they are to keep up the consideration of them in themselves and hand them in instruction to their Children Fifthly The fifth Duty Act faith on Gods Providence Times of trouble should be times of confidence fixedness of heart on God would prevent fears of heart Psal 11.2.7 He shall not be affraid of evil tydings his heart is fixed how trusting in the Lord his heart is established they shall not be moved Otherwise without it we shall be as light as a Cork moved with every blast of evil tydings our hopes will swim or sink according to the news we hear Providence would seem to sleep unless Faith and Prayer awakened it The Disciples had but little Faith in their Masters account yet that little Faith awakened him in a Storm and he relieved them Unbelief only doth discourage God from shewing his power in taking our parts Every one will walk in the name of his God and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever Micah 4.5 Heathens will trust in their Idols and shall not we in that God that lives for ever Have we any reason to have a less esteem of our confidence in God than Heathens had of and in their Idols We should do our duty which is Faith and Hope and leave God to do his work which is mercy and kindness By unbelief we deny his providence disparage his Wisdom and strip him of his power We have none else to trust no creature can order any thing for the Churches good without Gods Commission and direction What should we trust him for For that wherein his glory is concerned which is more worth to him than all the World besides Trust him most when instruments fail God takes them off sometimes to shew that he needs not any and to have our confidence rightly placed on him which staggered before between him and the Creature 1. All the Godly formerly did act Faith on a less foundation The Godly Patriarchs who lived eight or nine hundred years depended upon providence that long time and shall not we for seventy years the usual term of mans life They had Promises to support them we have not only the same Promise but the Performances of them too They had Providences we have the same and more all upon Recordin Scripture all since the Canon of Scripture was closed whatsoever God hath remarkably done for his people in all ages Adam had but one promise and but little experience of Gods Providence yet no doubt trusted in him We have a multitude of Promises not only pronounced but sealed confirmed by many repetitions which are fresh obligations laid by God upon himself The experience of all the Providences of God towards his Church for above five thousand years and shall our Faith stagger when upon us are come the ends of the World doth it become us to have our Obligations to Faith so strong and our Exercise of it so weak The Promise of Christ * Isa 7 14. that a Virgin should bring forth a Son was thought by God a sufficient security to support their confidence in him against the fury of their enemies It being a greater wonder that a Virgin without loss of her Virginity should bring forth a Son than the routing of an Host of Enemies Is not then the performance of this Gods actual sending his Son to us through the Womb of a Virgin a higher ground of considence for the Churches success in every thing else than barely the Promise could be All creatures in danger have a natural confidence in God He is the confidence of all the ends of the Earth but the Churches confidence may be mere firmly placed in him because he is particularly the God of their Salvation Psal 65 5. By terrible things in Righteousness wilt thou answer us O God of our Salvation who art the cenfidence of all the ends of the Earth 2. 'T is your only way to have mercy for the Church and for your selves If he take pleasure in them that hope in his mercy as it is in Psal 147.11 He will take pleasure to relieve them He will strengthen the bars of their gates verse 13. If he take pleasure in them that hope in his mercy then the stronger and more lively their hope is the more intense is Gods pleasure in them If they do not hope in his Mercy he hath no pleasure in them and no delight to them He hath a goodness laid up for them that fear him and he will lay it out too for them that trust in him Psal 31.15 O how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men 'T is laid up for all that fear him but it is wrought for them that trust in him It is manifested upon special acts of trust and reliance and wrought before the sons of men Those that own God publickly in a way of reliance God will own them publickly in a way of kindness Faith is the key that unlocks the Cabinet of special Providence Those eyes which move about all the World are fixed upon those that trust in him Psal 33.28 The eye of the Lord is upon them that hope in his Mercy The sixth Duty Wait upon God in the way of his Providence Wait upon him as he