mentioned Examples and you shall see the blessed work of Conversion begun upon those souls when they minded it no more than Saul did a Kingdom that morning he went out to seek his Fathers Asses 1 Sam 9. 3 20. Providence might truly have said to you in that day as Christ said to Peter John 13. 7. What I do thou knowest not now but hereafter thou shalt know it Gods thoughts are not as our thoughts but as the Heavens are higher than the Earth so are his thoughts higher than ours and his wayes than our wayes Little did Zacheus think when he climbed up into the Sycamore-tree to see Christ as he passed that way what a design of mercy Christ had upon him who took thence the occasion of becoming both his Guest and SavJour Luke 19. 5 6 7 8. And as little did some of you think what the aim of Providence was when you went some out of custom others out of curiosity if not worse ends to hear such a Sermon O how stupendious are the wayes of God! What a distinguishing and seasonable mercy was usher'd in by Providence in that day It brought you to the means of salvation in a good hour At that very nick of time when the Angel troubled the Waters you were brought to the Pool to allude to that John 5. 4. Now the accepted day was come the Spirit was in the Ordinance or Providence that converted you and you were set in the way of it It may be you had heard many hundred Sermons before but nothing would stick till now because the hour was not come The Lord did as it were call in the Word for such a man such a woman and Providence said Lord here he is I have brought him before thee There were many others under that Sermon that received no such mercy You your selves had heard many before but not to that advantage as it is said Luke 4. 27. There were many Lepers in Israel in the days of Elizeus but to none of them was the Prophet sent save unto Naaman the SyrJan So there were many poor unconverted souls beside you under the Word that day and it may be to none of them was salvation sent that day but to you O blessed Providence that set you in the way of mercy at that time What a weighty and important mercy was Providentially directed to your souls that day There are mercies of all sizes and kinds in the hands of Providence to dispense to the sons of men its left hand is full of blessings as well as its right It hath health and riches honours and pleasures as well as Christ and Salvation to dispense The world is full of its left hand favours but the blessings of its right hand are invaluably precious and few there be that receive them It doth thousands of kind offices for men but among them all this is the chiefest to lead and direct them to Christ. For consider 1. Of all mercies this comes through most and greatest difficulties Eph. 1. 19 20. 2. This is a spiritual mercy excelling in dignity of nature all others more than gold excels the dirt under your feet Rev. 3. 18. One such gift is worth thousands of other mercies 3. This is a mercy immediately slowing out of the fountain of Gods electing love a mercy never dropt into any but an Elect Vessel 1 Thess. 1. 4 5. 4. This is a mercy that infallibly secures Calvation for as we may argue from Conversion to Election looking back so from Conversion to Salvation looking forward Heb. 6. 9. 5. Lastly This is an Eternal mercy that which will stick by you when Father Mother Wife Children Estate Honours Health and Life shall fail thee John 4. 14. O therefore set a special Mark upon that Providence that set you in the way of this mercy It hath performed that for thee which all the Ministers on Earth and Angels in Heaven could never have performed This is a Mercy that puts weight and value into the smallest Circumstance that relates to it The Fifth Performance of Providence V. THus you hear how instrumental Providence hath been in ordering the Means and Occasions of the greatest Mercies for your souls Let us now take into consideration another excellent Performance of Providence respecting the good of your bodies and souls too in respect of that Imployment and Calling it hath ordered for you in this world for it hath not only an Eye upon your well being in the world to come but upon your well being in this world also and that very much depends upon the Station and Vocation to which it calls you Now the Providence of God with respect to our civil Callings may be displayed very takingly in the following particulars In directing you to a Calling in your Youth and not suffering you to live an idle useless and sinful life as many do who are but burthens to the Earth fruges consumere nati the Wens of the body politick serving only to disfigure and drein it to eat what others earn Sin brought in sweat Gen. 3. 19. but now not to sweat increaseth sin 2 Thess. 3. 12. He that lives idly cannot live honestly as is plainly enough intimated 1 Thess. 4. 11 12. But when God puts men into a lawful Calling wherein the labours of their hands or heads is sufficient for them it is a very valuable mercy for thereby they eat their own bread 2 Thess. 3. 12. Many a sad Temptation is happily prevented and they are ordinarily furnished by it for works of mercy to others and surely it is more blessed to give than to receive In ordering you to such Callings and Imployments in the world as are not only lawful in themselves but most suitable to you There be many persons imployed in sinful Trades and Arts meerly to furnish other mens lusts they do not only sin in their Imployments but their very Imployments are sinful they trade for Hell and are Factors for the Devil DemetrJus and the Crafts-men at Ephesus got their Estates by makeing Shrines for DJana Acts 19. 24 25. i. e. little cases or boxes with folding leaves within which the Image of that Idol sate enshrined These were carried about by the People in Procession in honour of their Idol And at this day how many wicked Arts and Imployments are there invented and multitudes of persons maintained by them meerly to gratifie the pride and wantonness of a debauched age Now to have an honest lawful imployment wherein you do not dishonour God in benefiting your selves is no small mercy But if it be not only lawful in it self but suited to your genJus and strength there is a double mercy in it Some poor Creatures are engaged in Callings that eat up their time and strength and make their lives very uncomfortable to them they have not only spending and wasting Imployments in the world but such as allow them little or no time for their general Calling and yet all this doth but keep them
vulgar that will enable them to penetrate the Mysteries and relish the sweetness of Providence better than others for doubtless many that live immediately upon Providence for daily bread do thereby gain a nearer acquaintance with it than those whose outward enjoyments flow to them in a more plentiful and stated course but those that excel in grace and experience those that walk and converse with God in all his dispensations towards them these are the persons who are most fully and immediately capable of these high pleasures of the Christian life The daily flow and increase whereof in your Lordships Noble Person and Family is the hearty desire of From my Study at Dartmouth Aug. 10. 1677. Your Lordships most humble servant JOHN FLAVELL To the ingenuous Readers those especially that are the heedful Observers of the wayes of PROVIDENCE Reader THERE are two wayes whereby the blessed God condescends to manifest himself to men His Word and his Works Of the written Word we must say No words like these were ever written since the beginning of Time which can as one speaks take life and root in the Soul yea doth it as really as the seed doth in the ground and are fitted to be engraffed and naturalized there so as no coalition in nature can be more real than this James 1. 21. This is the most transcendent and glorious medJum of manifestation God hath magnifJed his word above all his name Psal. 138. 2. However the manifestations of God by his Works whether of CreatJon or Providence have their value and glory but the prime glory and excellency of his ProvidentJal works consists in this that they are the very fulfillings and real accomplishments of his written word By a wise and heedful attendance hereunto we might learn that excellent Art which is not unfitly called by some ScJentJa architectonica an Art to clear the Mysterious occurrences of Providence by reducing them to the written word and there lodge them as Effects in their proper Causes And doubtless this is one of the rarest essayes men could pursue against Atheism to shew not only how Providences concurr in a most obvious tendency to confirm this great Conclusion Thy word is Truth but how it sometimes extorts also the confession of a God and the truth of his Word from those very tongues which have boldly denyed it Aeschyles the PersJan relating their discomfâ—ture by the GrecJan Army makes this not able observation When the GrecJan Forces hotly pursued us saith he and we must needs venture over the great water Strymon then frozen but beginning to thaw when a hundred to one we had all dyed for it with mine eyes I then saw many of those Gallants whom I had heard before so boldly maintain there was no God every one upon their knees with eyes and hands lifted up begging hard for help and mercy and entreating that the Ice might hold till they got over Many thousand seals hath Providence forced the very Enemies of God to set to his Truths which greatly tends to our confirmation therein but especially to see how the Word and Providences of God do enlighten each other and how the Scriptures contain all those Events both great and small which are disposed by Providence in their seasons And how not only the Promises of the Word are in the general faithfully fulfilled to the Church in all her Exigences and Distresses but in particular to every member of it they being all furnished by Providence with multitudes of Experiences to this use and end O how useful are such observations And as the profit and use so the delight and pleasure resulting from the observations of Providence is exceeding great It will doubtless be a part of our entertainment in Heaven to view with transporting delight how the designs and methods were laid to bring us thither and what will be a part of our blessedness in Heaven may well be allowed to have a prime ingrediency into our Heaven upon Earth To search for pleasure among the due Observations of Providence is to search for water in the Ocean for Providence doth not only ultimately design to bring you to Heaven but as intermediate thereunto to bring by this means much of Heaven into your souls in the way thither How great a pleasure is it to discern how the most wise God is providentially steering all to the Port of his own Praise and his peoples Happiness whilst the whole world is busily employed in managing the Sails and tugging at the Oars with a quite opposite design and purpose To see how they promote his design by opposing it and fulfil his will by resisting it enlarge his Church by scattering it and make their rest to come the more sweet to their souls by makeing their condition so restless in the world This is pleasant to observe in general But to record and note its particular designs upon our selves with what profound wisdom infinite tenderness and incessant vigilancy it hath managed all that concerns us from first to last is ravishing and transporting O what an History might we compile of our own Experiences whilst with a melting heart me trace the footsteps of Providence all along the way it hath led us to this day and set our Remarques upon its more eminent performances for us in the several Stages of our Life Here it prevented and there it delivered Here it directed and there it corrected In this it grJeved and in that it relJeved Here was the Poison and there the Antidote This Providence raised a dismal Cloud and that dispelled it again This straitned and that enlarged Here a want and there a supply This Relation withered and that springing up in its room Words cannot express the high delights and gratifications a gracious heart may â—ind in such employment as this O what a world of rarities are to be found in Providence The blind heedless world makes nothing of them they cannot find one sweet bit where a gracious soul would make a rich feast Plutarch relates very exactly how Timoleon was miraculously delivered from the conspiracy of two Murderers by their meeting in the very nick of time a certain person who to revenge the death of his Father killed one of them just as they were ready to give Timoleon the fatal blow though he knew nothing of the business and so Timoleon escaped the danger And what did this wonderful work of Providence think you yield the Relator Why though he were one of the most learned and ingenious among the Heathen Sages yet all he made of it was only this The Spectators saith he wondered greatly at the Artifice and contrivance which Fortune uses This is all he could see in it Had a spiritual and wise Christian had the dissecting and Anatomizing of such a work of Providence what glory would it have yielded to God! What comfort and encouragement to the Soul The Bee makes a sweeter meal upon one single flower than the Ox doth upon the whole Meadow
be negligent you cannot be innocent And yet Be not so intent upon your particular Callings as to make them interfere with your general Calling Beware you lose not your God in the Crowd and hurry of Earthly business Mind that solemn warning 1 Tim. 6. 9. But they that will be rich fall into TemptatJon and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destructJon and perditJon The inhabitants of O Enoc a dry Island near Athens bestowed much labour to draw in a River to water it and make it fruitful but when the Sluces were opened the waters slowed so abundantly that it overflowed the Island and drowned the Inhabitants The application is obvious It was an excellent saying of Seneca rebus non me trado sed commodo I don't give but lend my self to business Remember alwayes the success of your Callings and earthly Imployments is by Divine blessing not humane diligence alone Deut. 8. 18. Thou shalt remember the Lord they God for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth The Devil himself was so far Orthodox as to acknowledge it Job 1. 10 Hast not Thou made an hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side Thou hast blessed the work of his hand c. Recommend therefore your affairs to God by prayer according to Psal. 37. 4 5. Delight thy self also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart Commit thy way unto the Lord trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass And touch not with that which you cannot recommend to God by Prayer for a blessing Be well satisfied in that Station and Imployment in which Providence hath placed you and do not so much as wish your selves in another 1 Cor. 7. 20. Let every man abide in the same Calling wherein he was called Providence is wiser than you and you may be confident hath suited all things better to your Eternal good than you could do had you been left to your own option The Sixth Performance of Providence VI. THus you see the care Providence hath had over you in your youth in respect of that Civil Imployment to which it guided us in those dayes We will in the next place consider it as our Guide and the Orderer of our RelatJons for us That Providence hath a special hand in this matter is evident both from Scripture assertions and the acknowledgements of holy men who in that great concernment of their lives have still owned and acknowledged the directing hand of Providence Take an instance of both The Scripture plainly asserts the dominion of Providence over this affair in Prov. 19. 14. A prudent Wife is from the Lord and Prov. 18. 22. Who 's findeth a Wife findeth a good thing and obtaineth favour of the Lord. So for Children see Psal. 127. 3. Lo Children are an heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the Womb is his reward And it hath ever been the practice of holy men to seek the Lord for direction and counsel when they have been upon the change of their condition No doubt but Abraham's encouragement in that case was the fruit of prayer Gen. 24. 7. His pious servant also who was imployed in that affair did both earnestly seek counsel of God Gen 24. 12. and thankfully acknowledge his gracious Providence in guiding it Ver. 26 27. The same we may observe in Children the fruit of marriage 1 Sam. 1. 20. Luke 1. 13 14. Now the Providence of God may be divers wayes displayed for the engaging of our hearts in love to the God of our mercies 1. There is very much of Providence seen in appointing the Parties each for other In this the Lord goes oftentimes beyond our thoughts and projections yea and oftentimes crosses mens desires and designs to their great advantage Not what they fancy but what his infinite wisdom judges best and most beneficial for them takes place Hence it is that probabilities are so often dashed and things remote and utterly improbable are brought about in very strange and unaccountable methods of Providence 2. There is much of Providence seen in the harmony and agreeableness of tempers and dispositions from whence a very great part of the tranquillity and comforts of our lives results or at least though natural tempers and educations did not so much harmonize before yet they do so after they come under the Ordinance of God Gen. 2. 24. They two shall be one flesh not one only in respect of Gods institutJon but one in respect of love and affectJon that those who so lately were meer strangers to each other are now endeared to a degree beyond the nearest relations in blood Vbi supra For this cause shall a man leave Father and Mother and shall cleave to his Wife and they two shall be one flesh 3. But especially Providence is remarkable in making one instrumental to the eternal good of the other I Cor. 7. 16. How knowest thou O Wife but thou maist save thy Husband or how knowest thou O Man whether thou shalt save thy Wife Hence is that grave Exhortation to the Wives of unbelieving Husbands 1 Pet. 3. 1. to win them by their conversation which should be to them in stead of an ordinance Or if both be gracious then what singular assistance and mutual help is hereby gained to the furtherance of their Eternal good Whilst they live together as Heirs of the grace of life I Pet. 3. 7. O blessed Providence that directed such into so intimate relation on Earth who shall inherit together the common SalvatJon in Heaven 4. How much of Providence is seen in Children the fruit of MarrJage To have any Posterity in the Earth and not be left altogether as a dry tree To have comfort and joy in them is a special Providence importing a special mercy to us To have the breaches made upon our Families repaired is a Providence to be owned with a thankful heart When God shall say to a man as he speaks in another case to the Church Isa. 49. 20. The Children which thou shalt have after thou hast lost the other shall say again in thine ears the place is too strait for me c And these Providences will appear more affectingly sweet and lovely to you if you but compare its allotments to you with what it hath allotted to many others in the world For do but look abroad and you shall find 1. Multitudes unequally yoked to the imbittering of their lives whose Relations are clogs and hinderances both in Temporals and Spirituals Yea we find an account in Scripture of gracious persons a great part of whose comfort in this world hath been split upon this Rock Abigail was a discreet and vertuous Wâ—man but very unsuitably matched to a churlish Nabal see 1 Sam. 25. 25. What a temptation to the neglect of a known duty prevail'd upon the renowned Moses by the means of Zipporah his
friends as Paul did among the CorinthJans and all this to keep down the swelling of their spirits at the sense of those excellencies that are in them The design of these Providences being nothing else but to hide pride from man Yea it deserves a special remarque that when some good men have been engaged in a publick and eminent work and have therein it may be too much sought their own applause God hath withheld usual assistance at such times from them and caused them to salter so in their work that they have come off with shame and pity at such times how ready and presential soever they have been at other times It were easie to give divers remarkable examples to confirm this Observation But I pass on 5. The corruption of the heart shews it self in raising up great expectations to our selves from the Creature and projecting abundance of felicity and contentment from some promising and hopeful enjoyments we have in the world This we find to have been the case of holy Job in the dayes of his prosperity Job 28. 19. Then I said I shall dye in my nest I shall multiply my dayes as the sand But how soon were all these expectaâ—ions dasht by a gloomy Providence that benighted him in the Noon-tide of his prosperity and all this for his good to take off his heart more fully from creature expectations We often find the best men to over-reckon themselves in worldly things and over-act their confidences about them They that have great and well-grounded expectations from Heaven may have too great and ungrounded expectations from the Earth But when it is so it 's very usual for Providence to undermine their Earthly hopes and convince them by experience how vain they are Thus Haggai 1. 9. the peoples hearts were intently set upon prosperous Providences full Harvests and great Increase whilst in the mean while no regard was had to the Worship of God and the things of his House therefore Providence blasts their hopes and brings them to little 6. Corruption discovers it self in dependance upon Creature comforts and sensible props Oh how apt are the best men to lean upon these things and stay themselves upon them Thus did Israel stay themselves upon Egypt as a feeble man would lean upon his staff but God suffered it both to fail them and wound them Ezek. 29. 6 7 8. So for single persons how apt are they to depend upon their sensible supports Thus we lean on our Relations and the inward thoughts of our hearts are that they shall be to us so many springs of comfort to refresh us throughout our lives but God will shew us by his Providence our mistake and error in these things Thus an Husband is smitten to draw the soul of a Wife nearer to God in dependence upon him 1 Tim. 5. 5. So for Children we are apt to say of this or that Child as Lamech of Noah Gen. 5 29. This same shall comfort us but the wind passes over these slowers and they are withered to teach us that our happiness is not bound up in these enjoyments So for our Estates when the world smiles upon us and we have got a warm nest how do we prophesie of rest and peace in those acquisitions minding with good Baruch great things for our selves but Providence by a particular or general calamity over-turns our projects as Jer. 45. 4 5. and all this to reduce our hearts from the Creature to God our only rest 7. Corruption discovers its strength in good men by their adherence to things below and lothness to go hence This often proceeds from the engaging enjoyments and pleasant fruitions we have here below Providence mortiâ—ies this inclination in the Saints 1. By killing those ensnaring comforts before-hand making all or most of our pleasant things to dye before us 2. By imbittering this world to us by the troubles of it 3. By making life undesirable through the pains and infirmities we feel in the body and so loosing our root in order to our more easie fall by the fatal stroke And thus I have finished the Second General Head but before I pass from this I cannot but make a pause and desire you with me to stand in an holy amazement and wonder at the dealings of God with such poor worms as we are Surely God deals familiarly with men his condescensions to his own clay are astonishing All that I shall note at present about it shall be under these three heads wherein I find the matter of my present meditations summed up by the Psalmist Psal. 144. 3. Lord what is man that thou tâ—kest knowledge of him or the son of man that thou makest account of him And in this Scripture you have represented The immense and transcendent goodness of God who is infinitely above us and all our thoughts Job 11. 7 8 9. Canst thou by searching find out God canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection It is as high as Heaven what canst thou do deeper than Hell what canst thou know The measure thereof is longer than the Earth and broader than the Sea 2 Chron. 2. 6. The Heaven and Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him Exod. 15. 11. He is glorious in holiness fearful in praises doing wonders When the Scripture speaks of him comparatively see how it expresses his greatness Isa. 40. 15 16 17. Behold the Nations are as the drop of a bucket and are counted as the small dust of the balance behold he taketh up the Isles as a very little thing And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn nor the Beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt-offering All Nations before him are as nothing and they are accounted to him less than nothing and vanity When the holJest men have addrest themselves to him see with what humility and deep adoratJon they have spoken of him and to him Isa. 6. 5. Wo is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts Nay what aspects the very Angels of Heaven have of that glorJous Majesty you may see Ver. 2 3. Each one had six wings with twain â—e covered his face and with twain he covered his feet and with twain be did fly And one cryed unto another and said Holy holy holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole Earth is full of his glory The baseness vileness and utter unworthiness of Man yea the holiest and best of men before God Psal. 39. 5. Verily every man at his best estate is altogether vanity Every man take where you will and every man in his best estate or standing in his freshest glory is not only vanity but altogether vanity Col Adam col Hebel every man â—s every vanity For do but consider the best of men in their ExtractJon in their ConstitutJon and in their outward ConditJon 1. In their ExtractJon Eph. 2. 3. By nature Children of wrath
God saith the Psalmist thou hast taught me from my youth and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works now also when I am old and gray headed O God forsake me not Psal. 71. 17 18. At death the Saints are engaged in the last and one of the most eminent works of faith even the committing themselves into the hands of God when we are lanching forth into that vast Eternity and entring into that new state which will make so great a change upon us in a moment In this Christ sets us a pattern Luke 23. 46. Father into thy hands I commend my spirit and having said thus he gave up the Ghost So Stephen at his death Lord Jesus receive my spirit and immediately fell asleep Act. 7. 59. There be two signal and remarkable acts of faith both exceedingly difficult viz. its first act and its last The first is a great venture that it makes of it self upon Christ and the last is a great venture too to cast it self into the Ocean of Eternity upon the credit of a Promise But yet I know the first adventure of the Soul upon Christ is much more difficult than the last adventure upon death and that which makes it so is in great measure the manifold recorded experiences that the Soul hath been gathering up from the day of its espousals to Christ unto its dying which is in a sense its marriage day Oh with what encouragement may a Soul throw himself into the arms of that God with whom he hath so long conversed and walked in this world Whose visits have been sweet and frequent with whom the soul hath contracted so intimate acquaintance in this world whom it hath committed all its affairs to formerly and still â—ound him a faithful God and now hath no reason to doubt but it shall find him so in this last distress and exigence also At death the people of God receive the last mercies that ever they shall receive in this world by the hand of Providence and are immediately to make up their Accounts with God â—or all the mercies that ever they received from his hand What can be more suitable therefore to a dying person than to recount with himself the mercies of his whole life the manifold receipts of favour for which he is to reckon with God speedily and how shall this be done without a due and serious observation and recording of them now I know there are thousands of mercies forgotten by the best of Christians a memory of brass cannot contain them And I know also that Jesus Christ must make up the Account for us or it will never pass with God yet it is our duty to keep the Accounts of our own mercies and how they have been improv'd by us for we are Stewards and then are to give an Account of our Stewardship At death we owe an Account also to men and stand obliged if there be opportunity for it to make known to them that survive us what we have seen and found of God in this world that we may leave a testimony for God with men and bring up a good report upon his ways Thus dying Jacob when Joseph was come to take his last farewell of him in this world strengthened himself and sate upon the bed and related to him the eminent appearances of God to him and the places where Gen. 48. 2 3. as also an account of his afflictions Verse 7. So Joshua in his last speech to the people makes it his business to vindicate and clear the truth of the Promises by recounting to them how the Providence of God had fulfill'd the same to a tittle in his day Josh. 23. 14. And behold saith he this day I am going the way of all the earth and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you all are come to pass unto you and not one thing hath failed thereof And certainly 't is of great importance to the world to understand the Judgements and hear of the Experiences of dying men They of all men are presumed to be most wise and most serious Besides this is the last opportunity that ever we shall have in this world to speak for God O then what a sweet thing would it be to close up our lives with an honourable Account of the ways of God! to go out of the world blessing him for all the mercies and truth which he hath here performed to us how would this encourage weak Christians and convince the Atheistical world that verily there is a reality and an excellency in the ways and people of God! At death we begin the Angelical life of praise and thanksgiving We then enter upon that everlasting sweet employment and as I doubt not but the Providences in which we were concerned in this world will be a part of that Song which we shall sing in Heaven so certainly it will become us to tune our hearts and tongues for it whil'st we are here and especially when we are ready to enter upon that blessed state O therefore let it be your daily meditation and study what God hath been to you and done for you from the beginning of his way hitherto And thus I have spread before you some encouragements to this blessed work Oh that you would be perswaded to this lovely and every way beneâ—icial practice This I dare presume to say that whoever finds a careful and a thankful heart to record and treasure up the daily experiences of God's mercy to him shall never want new mercies to record to his dying day It was said of ClaudJan that he wanted matter suitable to the excellency of his parts but where is the head or heart that is suitable to this matter who can utter the mighty works of the Lord who can shew forth all his praise Psal. 106. 2. Thus I have through the aid of Providence dispatched the main design I aimed at in the choice of this subject All that remains will now be speedily finished in some few Corollaries to be brieâ—ly noted upon the whole and three or four practical Cases to be stated You have heard how Providence perâ—ormeth all things for you Learn thence First Corollary THat God is therefore to be owned by you in all that befalls you in this world whether it be in â— way of success and comfort or of trouble and afflictJon O 't is your duty to observe his hand and disposal When God gives you comforts 't is your great evil not to observe his hand in them Hence was that charge against Israel â—os 2. 8. She did not know that I gave her Corn and Wine and Oil and multiplJed her Silver and Gold i. e. she did not actually and affectionately consider my care over her and goodness to her in these mercies And so for afflictions 't is a great wickedness when God's hand is listed up not to see it Isa.
been foreseen by us our own projects have come to nothing and that which we never thought on or contrived hath taken place not our choice of the ground or skill in weighing and delivering the Bowl but some unforeseen Providence like a rub in the Green was that which made the cast Second Help Deeply consider the sinfulness and vanity of torturing your own thoughts about the issues of doubtful Providences 1. There is much sin in so doing for all our anxious and solicitous emotions what are they other than the immediate issues and fruits of pride and unbelief There is not a greater discovery of pride in the world than in the contests of our wills with the Will of God It 's a presumptuous invading of Gods Prerogative to dictate to his Providence and prescribe to his Wisdom 2. There is a great deal of vanity in it all the thoughtfulness in the world will not make one hair white or black all our discontents will not prevail with God to call back or as the word may be rendered make void his Word Isa. 31. 2. he is in one mind Job 23. 13. the thoughts of his mind are from everlasting Psal. 33. 11. Third Help Set before you those châ—ice Scripture patterns of sâ—bmission to the Lords Will in as deep yea much deeper points of self-denyal than this before you and shame your selves out of this quarrelling temper with Providence You know what a close tryal that Providence was to Abraham that called him from his native Countrey and Fathers house to go he knew not whither and yet it 's said in Isa. 41. 2. he came to Gods foot as readily obeying his call as a servant when his Master knocks for him with his foot Paul's voyage to Jerusalem had a dismal aspect upon himself he could expect nothing but bonds and prisons as he tells us Acts 20. 23. and a great tryal it was to the Saints who could not tell how to give up such a Minister yet he resigns up his will to Gods Acts 20. 22. and so do they Acts 21. 14. The Will of the Lord be done But far beyond these and all other patterns what an example hath our dear Lord Jesus set before us in the deepest point of self-denyal that ever was in the world When the Father gave the Cup of sufferings into his hands in the garden Mark 14. 36. a cup of wrath the wrath of the great and terrible God and that without mixture the very taste whereof put Nature into an Agony and astonishment a sore amazement a bloody sweat and forced from him that vehement and sad cry Father if it be possible let this cup pass yet still with submission nevertheless not my will but thine be done O blessed pattern of obedience and resignation to the pleasure of God! What is your case to this Fourth Help Study the singular benefits and advantages of a Will resigned up and melted into the Will of God 1. Such a Spirit hath a continual Sabbath within it self the thoughts are established Prov. 16. 3. and truly till a man come to this he doth but too much resemble the Devil who is a restless Spirit secking rest but finding none It was an excellent expression of Luther to one that was much perplexed in his spirit about the doubtful events of some affairs of his that were then depending Dominus tua omnJa facJat tu nihil facJas sed sis Sabbatum Christi i. e. The Lord shall do all for thee and thou shalt do nothing but be the Sabbath of Christ. It is by this means that the Lord gives his beloved sleep Psal. 127. 2. he means not the sleep of the body but of the Spirit Fideles saith One upon that place etsi vitam agant laborJosam composiris tamen tranquillis animis in fidei silentJo se continent ac si dormirent i. e. Though believers live in the midst of many troubles here yet with quiet and composed minds they keep themselves in the silence of faith as though they were asleep 2. Besides it fits a mans spirit for communion with God in all his afflictions and this alleviates and sweetens them beyond any thing in the world 3. And surely a man is never nearer the mercy he desires or the deliverance he expects as One truly observes than when his soul is brought into a submissive temper David was never nearer the Kingdom than when he became as a weaned Child Fifth Help Lastly Think how repugnant an unsubmissive temper is both to your prayers and professions You pray that the Will of God may be done on Earth as it is in Heaven and yet when it seems to cross your wills or interests you struggle and fret against it You profess to have committed your souls to his keeping and to leave your eternal concerns in his hands and yet cannot commit things infinitely less valuable unto him How contradictory are these things Your Profession as Christians speaks you to be led by the Spirit but this practice speaks you to follow the perverse counsels of your own spirits O then regret no more dispute no more but lye down meekly at your Fathers feet and say in all cases and at all times the Will of the Lord be done ANd thus I have through the Aid of Providence performed what I designed to speak from this Scripture I acknowledge my performances have been accompanied with much weakness yet have endeavoured to speak of Providence the things that are right Blessed be the Lord who hath thus far assisted and protected me in this work How Providence will dispose of my life liberty and labours for time to come I know not but I cheerfully commit all to him who hath hitherto performed all things for me FINIS Postscript IN consideration of the great and maniâ—old advantages resulting from an humble and heedful observation of Providence I can not but judge it the concernment of Christians that have time and ability for such a work to keep written Memorials or Journals of Providences by them for their own and others use and benefit For want of collecting and communicating such observations not only our selves buâ— the Church of God is damnified and impoverished Some say the Art of Medicine was thus acquired and perfected when any one had met with some rare Physical Herb and accidentally discovered the vertues of it he would post it up in some publick place and so the Physiâ—Jan attained his skill by a Collection of those posted Experiments and Receipts I am not for posting up all that a Christian knows or meets with in his Experience for as I have said before Non est religJo ubi omnJa paâ—ent Religion doth not lay all open but yet there is a prudent humble and seasonable communication of our Experiences and observations of Providence which is exceeding beneficial both to our selves and our brethren If Christians in reading the Scriptures would judiciously collect and record the Providences they shall meet with there