walk stubbornly againist us and he will also chastise us seven times more accordng to our sinnes Lev. 26.28 If lighter afflictions wil not serve the turn greater shall The Lord came to Ephraim first like a moth Hos 5.18 you know that a moth though it be a noxious and hurtfull creature yet if it bee looked unto betimes the harme is little which it doth and the breach or hole which it maketh may easily be darned up again Thus dealt the Lord at first with Ephraim hee did favorably and gently afflict them but this salve was not strong enough to take down their proud flesh yet would not Ephraim bee healed nor cured of her wound Therfore saies the Lord I will be unto Ephraim as a Lyon Hos 5.13 14 A Lyon we know rents teares where he comes so the Lord when gentle meanes will not serve the turne comes like a Lyon with tearing and devouring judgments God when he see good to exercise his power will make the proudest Pharoah the stoutest sinner to stoop and yeeld else he will not spare to follow them with one judgment upon the neck of another All these curses shall come upon thee and shall pursue thee and overtak◠thee till thou be destroied Deu. 28.45 Consider what is spoken by the Prophet Nahum 1.9 What do ye imagine against the Lord he will make an utter destruction affliction shall not rise up the second time The Lord tarrieth long before he comes to smite his enemies he forbeareth much but when his patience is abused then he oft times gives a deady blow The spirit of the Lord did a long time strive with man in the daies of Noah but when their sinnes began to bee multiplied against the patience and long suffering of the Lord When the Lord savv that the vvickednesse of man vvas great in the earth and that al the imaginatiō of the thoughts of his heart vvere onely evill continually Gens 6.5 Then the Lord could beare with them no longer then the Lord comes with his sweeping judgment destroying from the earth the man vvhom he had created from man to beast to the creeping thing and to the sowle of the heaven vers 7. The Lord suffered Sodom Gomorrah so long that the cry of their sins did ring up to heaven but at length the Lord was even with them and paied them home for all their wickednes destroying them with fire and brimston from heaven Many other such like examples might be brought to shew how the Lord comes out against sinners at last with sweeping and devouring judgements if they will not take warning by lesser ones The history of the Jevvs a people sometime as deare unto God as the apple of his eye and as neere unto him as the signet on his right hand doth plainly teach us how severely the Lord at last deales with stiffe obstinate and impenitent sinners The favors the benefits which God bestowed upon them the priviledges which they injoyed were above all the nations of the world yet for all this did they above all other people provoke the Lord to anger against them They mocked the messenger of God they despised his Word and misused his Prophets untill the vvrath of the Lord rose against them and there vvas no remedy 2. Chron. 16.26 They did not onely kill the Prophets and stone those that were sent unto them but they crucified the Lord of life Acts 3.15 Yea and preferred a murderer before him provoking the Lord so long as hee could endure them no more and therefore hee sends against them Titus the son of Vespatian the Roman Emperour who besiged and sacked the City of Jerusalem and made such havock of the people as is most lamentable to heare of It is reported that they were besiged so long as many thousands of them perished through the famine and many of them isuing forth in hope either to escape or to finde mercy with their enemies were most cruelly hanged upon crosses and gibbets set up before their walls 500. of them somtimes hanged in one day so long untill there was no more space left unto them for execution The number of dead carcases carried out of the Citie for want of buriall to be cast into the ditches if wee will credit histories was numberlesse for at one of their gates the keeper thereof took the the tale of one hundred and fifty thousand dead bodies Nay through the exttemity of famine they were driven to eate their old shooes the dung of their stables and the fruit of their own loynes And after all this thousands of them murdered by the sword and many moe thousands carried into captivity to be a spectacle to all succeeding ages of Gods indignation and wrath against them And these things are recorded for our good that wee may not dare to stand it our against the Lord but speedily to amend upon the first warning and blow given us else the Lord will not give over but come with seven times more and greater judgemenes against us If wee belong unto the Lord hee will never leave afflicting till wee cease provoking him If wee be beloved of God hee will still follow us with correction till wee fall to unfained and sound humiliation repentance For we shall never be able to overcome the Lord and make him give over by our stubbornnesse and resisting his blow but by falling down and yeelding unto him The sturdy oke is rent and torne in pieces by the tempest when poore and weak reeds stand still by yeelding and bowing There is no standing out against the Lord no resisting by force of armes what is a silly sheep to grapple with a Lion The sooner wee yeeld and turn from our evill wayes the readier will the Lord be to repent him of that evill which otherwise hee will surely bring upon us Thou that by the Word of God and by loving and gentle correction canst not be perswaded to leave thy sinne must know that if thou belongest to God hee will never leave following of thee with one affliction upon the neck of another untill hee hath his will of thee What may wee then think of those that are little or nothing at all amended and bettered by any judgements that have befallen them assuredly if they be such as belong to the Lord hee is preparing of sharper Physick for them if they be none of his it may be hee will give them over to their own hearts lust and reserue them unto those eternall and unavoydable torments of the second death Vse 4 Fourthly is it so doth God correct his children for their great good let us then beware of doing them hurt by persecuting those whom the Lord doth smite lest we adde afflict on unto the afflicted and this wee do when wee shall either uncharitably censure or deride and scoffe at those that are afflicted or else in our mindes contemn and scorne them because it pleaseth the Lord in love for their great good to humble
of olde were much puzled about the divine Providence thinking it an unseemly thing to make God the author of an evill and therefore affirmed that there were two gods The one was the Father of mercies and author of all good that doth betyde man The other was an evill god the enemie of mankind the actor of such evills as do befall man But wee acknowledge onely one God the wise and just dispenser of good and evill for out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth both evill and good Lam. 3.38 Plato and other Heathens would say That God was the cause of all good things in Nature beleeving and acknowledging a Divine Providence in prosperity but when adversity came they were of another minde It is reported of Cato that hee stoutly held and defended a Divine Providence all the while that Pompey prospered and the citie flourished but when he did see Pompey to bee overthrown by Caesar in so just a cause when hee beheld the body of Pompey cast upon the shoare without any honor of buriall and himselfe exposed to danger by Caesars army hee then changed his opinion denying that there was any Divine Providence but that all things fell out by chance It were well with many Christians which know or at least should know more of Gods minde then Coto knew if they were not somtimes sicke of Cato his disease for they can trust God and acknowledgeâ— his Providence all the while they live at ease and in prosperitie but let the Lord change their estate and then they change their minde or an the least they begin to demurre about the truth of this doctrine Object But how can it be said That God ordereth and disposeth of all afflictions when there be many euils which wee bring upon our selves and may thank our selves for as appeareth in divers places of Scripture Hast thou not procured this unto thy selfe in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God Jerem. 2.17 Againe it is said Hos 13.9 O Israel thou hast destroyed thy selfe And ordinary experience tells us how many mischiefes many bring upon themselves through surfets ryot c. Answ Wee procure unto our selves by reason of our sins whatsoever evills do befall us Besides God by withdrawing or with-holding of his grace gives us over to our own lusts or Satanâ— tentaâ—ions and so makes us his instruments to worke our selves that mischiefe or to bring upon our own paies those evills hee intended should befall us Therefore it is undoubted truth that God hath his hand in our afflictions and it may bee confirmed by these reasons Reason 1 First in regard of the infinitenesse of his being filling both Heaven and Earth with his presence Am I a God at hand saith the Lord and not a God afarre off Can any hide himselfe in secret places that I shall not see him saith the Lord Doe not I fill Heaven and Earth Jerem. 23.23 24. Whither shall we goe from his spirit or whither shall wee flee from his presence Psal 139.7 If wee be in hell there shall the Lords hand take us yea though wee more hid in the bottome of the sea the Lord can thence command the serpent to bite us Amos 9.2 3. So that the Lord is every where The Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens is not able to containe him 1. King 8.27 Hee is above us beneath us he is before us and behind us he is without us and within us hee is not only all eye to observe all for his eyes behold all nations Psal 66.7 But he is also all hand to order and dispose of all particulars If any thing were out of Gods reach or did fall out beyond his presence and privity then were not the Lord infinite and then were he not God But the Lord being every where and filling every place must needs have the ordering and disposing of all things which are done in Heaven or in the earth for as it pleaseth the Lord so all things come to passe Reason 2 that the Lords hand should bee in every affliction which befalls us because Hee worketh all things after the counsell of his will Ephe. 1.11 Man may devise and plot what he please hee may take others into confederacie with him but the Lord laughes them to scorne Psal 37.13 Their counsell shall bee brought to nought their decree shall not stand Esay 8.10 But the counsell of the Lord shall stand and the thoughts of his heart throughout all ages Psal 33.11 So Esay 46.10 My counsell shall stand and I will do whatsoever I will If the Lord hath a will to any thing that thing must needs follow for his willing of it is the doing of it I have purposed it and I will do it Esay 46.11 Therefore they blasphem the omnipotencie and power of God who say That Gods will attendeth and follows mans and worketh in many things as our will inclineth which is to set the cart before the horse to make the supreme governesse come after the handmaid Object But doth it not please the Lord to afford so much libertie to his creature that some thing may bee done as wee will and best liketh us Answ The Scripture doth no where tell us that God doth at any time suspend his omnipotencie and purpose so farre as to put the staffe at any time out of his owne hand that man may will any thing against or without the will of God Wee may not say wee will go to the next towne But if God will Jam. 4.15 The heart of man purposeth a way but the Lord directeth his steps Prov. 16.9 Howsoever the wicked may bandy themselves against the Lord his anointed they can do no more nor other but whatsoever his hand and counsell hath appointed to bee done Act. 4.28 Reason 3 Thrdly because all the creatures both of Heaven and Earth and under the Earth are ready prest as so many servants and souldiers to be sent forth and commanded at the will of God their Soveraigne Lord and chieftaine If the Lord will lead any of his hosts against Pharoah and his people for the rescue and deliverance of Israel his chosen they shall march in battell aray and they shall follow in ten severall troups and at the heeles of one another The least the meanest and the vilest of these hosts though of Lice or Grashoppers under the conduct of the Lord shall be able to make head against this great Monarch Pharoah and bring down the spirit and stomack of this proud King who a little before asked Who is the Lord that I should heare his voice and let Israel go I know not the Lord neither will I let Israel go Exodus 5.2 All which considered namely That the Lord is every where fulfilling all places and that all things are effected as hee will and that all creatures are at his bay wee may safely conclude That no affliction can befall us but that which the Lord appointeth unto us as 1. Thes
a decree yet shall it not stand Esay 9.10 There is no wisedome neither understanding nor counsell against the Lord Pro. 21.30 Thus wee see how the stayes and props of the wicked are but like reeds or Aegyptian staves which cannot helpe them Neither Heaven nor Earth can save or priviledge those whom the Lord will punish Then there is little cause why wee should grieve at the prosperitie or impunity of godlesse persons they are sorer plagued then the world takes notice of though no apparant judgement be seen upon them For doth not the Lord give them up to a reprobate mind even to fill and glut themselves with sinne and can there bee a greater punishment an heavier judgement then this not to be restrained from evill courses Desperate is the case of that patient whom the Physician gives over to his own appetite to eate and drinke what liketh him best When a father begins to cast off the care of his sonne suffering him to take his swinge sink or swim hee will not look after him doth it not appeare that he intendeth to disinherit such a childe Even so as the water where it is stillest is deepest and most dangerous to drown when God is most silent in threatning and patient in sparing there is hee most inflamed with anger and purpose of revenge For the fewer judgements are powred upon the wicked in this life the more are reserved for them in the life to come Therefore fret not thy selfe because of the wicked men neither bee envious for the evill doers for they shall soon be cut down like the grasse and shall wither as the green hearbe Psalm 37.1 2. Peruse the whole Psalme and it will teach thee that how prosperously soever the wicked do live for a time yet their happinesse is but transitory because they are not in the favor of God for in the end they shall be destroyed as his enemies Againe in that the Lord saith not they which I love shall be rebuked and chastened but whom I love I rebuke I chasten wee may in the next place observe this doctrine that All our trialls and afflictions come from the Lord. Of what nature and condition soever the affliction bee wherewith wee are exercised it is Physick of the Lords preparing hee hath his hand in it and therefore by a kind of proprietie afflictions be termed his judgements Wee have waited for thee O Lord in the way of thy judgements Esay 26.8 And in the next vers Thy judgements are in the earth c. That which Naomi spake to the people of Bethlehem makes much for the proof of the point in hand Call me not Naomi but call me Mara for the Almighty hath given me much bitternesse I went out full and the Lord hath caused mee to return empty why call ye me Naomi seeing the Lord bath humbled mee and the Almighty hath brought me unto adversitie Ruth 1.20 21. All her crosses and losses of what nature soever they were all her sorrows and bitternesse shee fathers upon the Lord. As personall so nationall evills come from the Lord as appeareth 2. Cron. 15.6 Nation was destroyed of Nation and citie of citie For the Lord did trouble them with all adversitie To the same purpose speaketh the Prophet Isaiah Who gave Jacob for a spoile and Israel to the robbers Did not the Lord because wee have sinned against him Isa 42.24 Whatsoever the outward means or instruments bee Gods hand hath a principall strok in all those afflictions which befall either the church in general or any particular member thereof whether it bee pestilence or sword or famine or captivity It is not the heedlesnesse and wilfulnesse of people which will adventure into places infected or upon goods that are contagious which beginneth or continueth the plague amongst us It is not alone the malice and cruelty of the enemie which bringeth the sword or causeth any to fall by it It is not unseasonable winter or summer which causeth and bringeth the famine amongst us these are but secondary causes the prime and supream cause is that all disposing wisedome and providence of God which causeth and ordereth both the one and the other Such as hee hath appointed to death shall go unto death and such as are for the sword to the sword and such as are for the famine to the famine and such as are for captivitie to the captivitie Jerem. 15.2 So likewise for particular judgments whether in our body or estate all commeth from the Lord. Who hath made the dumb or the deafe or the blind have not I saith the Lord Exod. 4.11 From whom come consumptions burning agues other bodily diseases Doth not the Lord apoint them Lev. 26.16 Hence the Church professeth Hos 6.1 The Lord hath spoiled us and hee will heale us he hath wounded us he will bind us up If wee peruse that bedroul of curses Devt 28. It will appeare that neither povertie sicknesse nor any crosse or losse doth befall us but that which God doth send us Is there any evill in the citie and I have not done it Amos 3.6 I the Lord do all these things Esay 45.7 Here I might quickly lead you into a Labyrinth by propounding ambiguous and unnecessary questions how farre God hath his hand in every evill but such questions will breed strife rather than godly edifying 1. Tim. 1.4 Know therefore that something the Lord effects in and by himselfe without the helpe or assistance of inferior causes such are the workes of creation and some miracles Some things the Lord causeth to be effected by means as castigations and deliverances And some things the Lord suffers to be done by his permissive will yet so as if hee pleased he could easily prevent and hinder or alter the doing of them thus the Lord may be said to have a finger in every sinne not as it is a breach of his revealed will but that it may be an occasion of the manifestation of his power and justice in punishing and revenging of it These truths the heathen which either knew not God or else did not glorifie him as God were utterly ignorant of and therefore turned the glory of the incorruptible God into the similitude of the image of a corruptible man and of birds and foure footed beasts and of creeping things Rom. 1.23 And hence it came to passe that they forged unto themselves so many Gods one of the sunne another of the moone one of the sea another of the windes c. By whose wisedome providence and power as they conceived the whole world with all occasions and occurences therein were ordered and swayed Whereas there is but one only true God Who by wisedome hath laid the foundation of the earth and hath stablished the heavens through understanding by his knowledge the depths are broken up and the clouds drop down the dew Prov. 3.19 20. See Jerem. 10.12.13 of him and by him and for him are all things Rom. 11.36 The Pelagians