Crosses in the Scripture are not excluded from those things we have a right to by Christ when they may conduce to our good 1 Cor. 3.22 Life and Death things present and things to come are yours and you are Christs Since the revelation of the Gospel I do not remember that any such complaint against the Providence of God fell from any holy man in the New Testament for our Saviour had given them another prospect of those things The holy men in the Old Testament comforted themselves against this Objection by the end of the wicked which should happen and the rod cease * Psal 73. Rom. 8. In the New Testament we are more comforted by the certain operation of crosses to our good and spiritual advantage Our Saviour did not promise wealth and honour to his followers nor did he think it worth his pains of coming and dying to bestow such gifts upon his Children He made Heaven their happiness and the Earth their Hell the Cross was their badge here and the Crown their reward hereafter they seemed not to be a purchase congruous to so great a price of Blood Was God's Providence to Christ the more to be questioned because he was poor Had he the less love to him because he was a man of sorrows even while he was a God of glory Such groundless conceits should never enter into Christians who can never seriously take up Christs Yoke without a proviso of afflictions who can never be God's Sons without expecting his corrections 2. God never leaves good men so bare but he provides for their necessity Psal 84.11 the Lord will give grace and glory and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly If any thing be good and upright man may expect in from God's providence if it be not good he should not desire it Howsoever grace which is necessary for preparing thee for happiness and glory which is necessary for fixing thee in it he will be sure to give we have David's experience for it * Psa 37.5 in the whole course of his life 3. The little good men have is better than the highest enjoyments of wicked men Ps 37.16 a little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked not better than many riches of the wicked but better than the riches of many wicked better than all the treasures of the whole Mass of the wicked world Others have them in a providential way good men in a gracious way Pro. 16.8 better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right without a Covenant right Wicked prosperity is like a shadow that glides away in a moment whereas a righteous mans little is a part of Christ's purchase and part of that inheritance which shall endure for ever Psa 37.18 their inheritance shall be for ever i. e. God regards the state of the righteous whether good or evil all that befalls them God doth all with a respect to his everlasting inheritance No man hath worldly things without their wings And though the righteous have worldly things with their wings yet that love whereby they have them hath no wings ever to sly away from them how can those things be good to a man that can never tast them nor God in them 4. No righteous man would in his sober wits be willing to make an exchange of his smartest afflictions for a wicked mans prosperity with all the circumstances attending it It cannot therefore be bad with the righteous in the worst condition Would any man be ambitious of snares that knows the deceit of them Can any but a mad man exchange Medicines for poysons Is it not more desirable to be upon a Dunghil with an intimate converse with God than upon a Throne without it They gain a world in prosperity a righteous man gains his Soul by afflictions and possesses it in patience is the exchange of a valuable consideration God strips good men of the enjoyment of the World that he may wean them from the love of it keeps them from Idolatry by removing the fuel of it sends afflictions that he may not lose them nor they their Souls Would any man exchange a great goodness laid up for him that fears God for a lesser goodness laid out upon them that are Enemies to him * Psal 31.19 Who would exchange a few outward comforts with God's promise inward comforts with assurance of Heaven Godliness with contentment a sweet and Spiritual life Soveraignity over himself and lusts though attended with sufferings for the Government of the whole World 5. It is not ill with the righteous in afflictions because they have high advantages by them That cannot be absolutely evil which conduceth to a greater good As First sensible experiments of the tender providence of God over them If the righteous had not afflictions in this life God would lose the glory of his providence and they the sweetness in a gracious deliverance from them in wayes which make the affliction the sweeter as well as the mercy they would lose the comfort of them in not having such sensible evidences of God's gracious care The sweetness of the promises made for times of trouble would never be tasted Psal 37.19 They shall not be ashamed in the evil time that is they shall be mightily encouraged and supported God's people do best understand God's strength when they feel the smart of mens malice 2 Tim. 4.17 The Lord stood with me and strengthened me He had never felt so much of God's strength if he had not tasted much of mans wickedness in forsaking him Psal 37.39 he is their strength when in times of trouble they experiment more of his care in preserving them and his strength in supporting them than at other times Abundance of consolations are manifested in abundance of sufferings * 2 Cor. 1.5 1 Pet. 4.13 14 A greater sense of joy and glory lights upon them in a sterm or persecutions Men see the sufferings of the godly but they do not behold that inward peace which composeth and delights their Souls worth the whole Mass of the woulds goodness and pleasures of the unrighteous 2. Inward improvements Opportunities to manifest more love to God more dependance on him the perfection of the Soul 1 Tim. 5.5 Now she that is a Widow indeed and desolate trusts in God and continues in Supplications and Prayers night and day there is a ground of more exercise of trust in God and supplication to him The poor and desolate have an advantage for the actual exercise of those graces which a prosperous condition wants God changeth the metal by it what was Lead and Iron he makes come forth as Gold Job 23.10 when he hath tried me I shall come forth as gold Crosses and sufferings which fit good men for special service here and eternal happiness hereafter can no more be said to be evil than the fire which refines the gold and prepares it for a Prince's
run Parallel with the continuance of it There should be no alteration or change in this great end of his as long as the World lasts How can Christ be with them and that to the end of the world if all the parts of his providential government were not ordered to serve this end the good of the Church For the Church is the fulness of him that fills all in all Eph. 1.23 that fills all in all places all in all actions and motions for the good of his Church which is his body 3. God in the church discovers the glory of all his attributes Thirdly 'T is in a mans house where his riches and state is seen 'T is in the Church God makes himself known in his excellency more than in all the world besides Psal 76.1 In Judah is God known his name is great in Israel in Salem also is his tabernacle and his dwelling place in Sion 'T is in his Church he doth manifest his power 'T is called therefore a glorious high throne Jer. 17.12 a glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary Kings use to display all their Glory and Majesty upon their Thrones in this sense Heaven is called Gods Throne Isa 60.1 because the prospect of the Heavens affords us discoveries of the wisdom and power of God more than in any other visible thing both in their essence magnitude and motion So is there a greater discovery of Gods attributes in the Church which is also stiled Heaven in Scripture than in the whole World besides There it is that the Angels look to learn more of the Wisdom of God than they understood before * Eph. 3.10 'T is there the day of his power dawns Psal 110.3 'T is there his Saints see his power and his glory Psal 63.2 the Sanctuary is called the firmament of his power Psal 150.1 The glory of Gods attributes is centered in Christ in a higher manner than in the creation and in that work did excel themselves in what they had done in the framing of the world and the Church being the glory of Christ all those attributes which are glorified in Christ do in and through him shine forth more clearly upon the Church than upon any other part of the world He stiles himself their Creator as much as the Creator of the whole frame of Heaven and Earth Isa 43.15 I am the Lord your holy one the Creator of Israel your King As though all the attributes of God his Power in Creation his Holiness in redemption were designed for none else but them And indeed by virtue of the Covenant they are to be so for if God be their God then all of God is theirs What wisdom power sufficiency grace and kindness he hath is principally for them If God he their God it is in their concerns he will glorify himself as a God in the manifestation of all his perfections This cannot be without the ordering all providences for their advantage 4. There is a peculiar relation of God and Christ to the Church Fourthly upon which account this Doctrien must needs be true God is set out in all relations to manifest his great care of his people He is a Father to provide for them * Isa 68.5 A Mother to suckle them * Isa 49.15 Chrit is a Husband to love and protect them * Eph. 5.29 A Brother to counsel them * John 20.17 And when all these Relations meet in one and the same person the result of it must be very strong Any one relation where there is affetion is a great security but here all the relations are twisted together with the highest affections of them in God to the Church A Father will order all for the good of his child a Mother for her Infant a Husband for his Wife and one kind Brother for another So doth God for his People and what soever those Relations bind Men to on Earth in respect of Care Love and Faithfulness that is God to his Church The Church hath that Relation to God which none in the World have besides They are his Jewels therefore he will keep them they are his Children therefore he will spare them * Mal. 3.17 They shall have protection from him as they are his Jewels and compassion from him as they are his Sons The Church is Christs Flesh as dear to him as our flesh is to us as much his as our flesh is ours Eph. 5.29 No man hates his own flesh but nourisheth it as Christ doth his Church No man can have a higher value for hsi own flesh than Christ hath for his Church The Church as Tertullian speaks is nothing else but Christus explicatus Christ unfolded and as considered in union with Christ is called Christ 1 Cor. 12.12 'T is the Apple of his eye Zech. 2.8 A tender and beloved part The Church is Christs Spouse the contract is made the Espousals shall be at the last Day the Members are pick'd out one by one to be presented to the Lamb at last as a Glorious Bride for him Rev. 21.2 And all Gods dealings with them in the World are but preparations of them for that State Upon the making of the Match God promises a communion of Goods Hos 2.20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness which is a fruit of Marriage the Wife being invested in her Husbands Estate When God hath given the blood of his Son for the Church he will not deny her the service of the Creatures but Jointure her in that as one part of her Dowry In that day will I hear the heavens c. ver 21. In what day in the day of betrothing in the day of the Evangelical Administration when the contract shall be made between me and my Church Heavens Earth Corn Wine and Oil the voice and motions of all Creatures are for Jezreel which signifies the seed of God This great Prince he hath a care of all his subjects somore peculiarly of his Spouse and Princess which is his seed too and all Creatures shall be her Servants This Fatherly Relation and Affection is strong and pure not as the love which acts an ambitious man to Ambition or a covetous man to Wealth which respects nothing but the grasping and possessing the Objects they dote upon and have nothing of love for the Objects themselves therefore deserves not the name of Love But it is the love of a Father whose love is pure towards his children He seeks their good as his own Consider these two things 1. God hath a peculiar love to his very Relation and often mentions it with delight as if he loved to hear the sound of it in his own Lips Cant. 8.12 My vineyard which is mine is before me Me My Mine The Church is always under his Eye seated in his Affection and God is pleased with his propriety in them God never calls the World My World though he created it sometimes
a devouring Serpent but it is to convince the Egyptians and deliver the Israelites 4. Wait in the use of lawful means for preservation Not to use means is to slight his Providence not to trust it It seems not to consist with the wisdom of God to order things always so as to be necessitated to put forth an extraordinary power in things which his creatures by a common Providence can naturally accomplish God saves by natural means when they will not serve the turn he will save by supernatural God chose an Ark to preserve Noah in He did not want supernatural means for his preservation He might have catched him up in a Cloud and continued him there till the drying up of the waters Noah doth not dispute the business with God but prepares an Ark according to his order and he was righteous in his obedience as well as in his trust God would not preserve our Saviour by a Miracle when ordinary means would serve the turn He commands Joseph by his Angel to flee into Egypt with the Child * Matt. 2.13 Joseph desires not God to preserve him by an extraordinary power to save his pains of travelling he submits to Gods order and God quickly clears the way for his return Indeed sometimes the wheels of Providence are lifted up from the Earth and do not go in the ordinary tracts * Ezek 1.19 but Miracles must be left to Gods Pleasure for us to desire them is to tempt our great Governour The Seventh Duty Pray for the Church 'T is an encouragement that our Suit in this case will not be denied The desire of the Churches welfare is conformable to his Counsel which shall stand notwithstanding the Devices of men Prov. 19.21 His counsel in particular concerns of men shall stand much more is the stability of his counsel for the church He is a God hearing Prayer in a way of common Providence and a God hearing Prayer in a way of special attention Psal 61.1 Hear my cry O God attend unto my Prayer David desires that God would hear him as more particularly concerned in his case He is so in the concerns of his Church Will he hear an Ishmael crying for himself and young Lyons roaring for their Prey and stop his Ears to the voice of his own Spirit in his People pleading for the Church dearer to him than the whole mass of Nature We have greater Arguments to use than in any other case The Relation the Church hath to God The affection God hath to the Church Lazarus whom thou lovest is sick was Martha's argument to Christ What greater encouragement to our Petitions than Gods affection than Gods Relation God loves to have our affection comply with his God loves others the better for soliciting its welfare Moses had the greatest manifestation of Gods Love after he he had prayed for the Israelites * Exod. 32.32 though in a case of sin and presently after in Exod. 33.11 God speaks with him face to face as a man speaks to his friend and in the same chapter and the beginning of Exod. 34. God shews him his glory as much as he was capable to bear Daniel was a great Petitioner for the Church * Dan 9.3 21. Dan. 10.2 5. He was Gods great favourite upon that account and had the clearest and highest Revelations made to him of the course of Providence in the World The eighth Duty When you receive any mercy for the church in answer of prayer give God the glory of it The variety of his Providences gives us matter for new songs and compositions Psal 149.1 What Volleys of joyful shouts What Hallelujahs to God do we find upon the Ruin of Antichrist Rev. 19.1 2 3. God calls for Praise out of the Throne v. 5. and the Church returns it v. 6 7. 'T is God rides upon the Cherub 't is God that sits upon the wings of the Wind Psal 18 10 't is God who is in all Instruments to quicken their motions and direct them to their scope The Ninth Duty Imitate God in his affection to the Church Christ did what he did for the good of his Church God doth what he doth for the advantage of the Church Let the same mind be in us that was in Christ let the same end be ours which is the end of God Thus we shall be like our Creator thus we shall be like our Governour thus we shall be like our Redeemer Men take it kindly from others that love those they have a respect for God loves all that love his people and blesses them that bless them Gen. 12.3 I will bless them that bless thee and curse them that curse thee The Tenth Duty Look after sincerity before God 'T is for the security of such that God shews himself strong No man that fully believes and understands this Doctrine but should be glad to be of that happy Society that Assembly of the first-born who are under the care of a watchful eye and the mighty power of the God of the whole Earth When God chose Israel the very strangers should for their own Interest joyn with them * Isa 14.1 And to such as take hold of his Covenant he Promises to give a name in his house that shall not be cut off * Isa 56.4 5. Yea even to the Sons of the Strangers that should joyn themselves to the Lord. v. 6. Let this encourage us to Christianity God never encouraged men to be Christians by promises of Worldly greatness but by Promises of a constant care of them for their happiness by Promises of making all things work together for their good If God will shew himself strong for those that are perfect in heart towards him then he hath no strength for those that are unsound and false in heart towards him No man hath an interest in his special Providence without Faith The Power Knowledg Wisdom of God are all set against him Though the whole World be in commotions the earth be removed and the Mountains cast into the depths of the Sea there is no ground of fear to Faith but what Buckler against them hath Unbelief and Hypocrisie What security against Wrath can Riches give you What defence against his power can your Potsherd strength afford you It was not for Jobs wealth that God made his boasts of him but for his sincerity Job 1.8 Hast thou considered my Servant Job that there is none like him in the earth a perfect and an upright man And for the want of this he loaths a World Labour therefore for sincerity towards God beg it of God Get the evidence of it and preserve it FINIS Books Printed and sold by Thomas Cockerill at the Three Legs over against the Stocks-Market THE Works of the late learned divine Stephen Charnock B. D. being several discourses upon the Existence and Attributes of God Vol. 1. to which is Added his Discourse of Divine Providence Fol. The Works of the
he saith the Earth is mine but it is either to check the presumptions of Men who ascribe that to themselves which is due to the first Cause Or to encourage his People in the expectation of Deliverance because all things in the Earth are at his beck Or to shew his own sufficiency without the services of his people as when he saith th eEarth is mine and the fulness thereof but it is never mentioned in such a way as to discover any pleasure he hath in the Relation between him and it simply considered but My Vineyard My People My Children My Jewels My Sanctuary very often So much doth God esteem his Propriety in them 2. This Relation is prevalent with God in the highest Emergencies and Distresses of his People The very consideration that they are his People kindles his Affection and enlivens his Strength for them Isa 63.8 And he said Surely they are my People Children that will not lye so he was their Saviour God is brought in as one that had heard the cries of his Church and had not been moved but when he recollects himself and considers that they were his People and that he was in a special manner related to them he became their Saviour He could no longer bear it but stirs up himself to relieve them Nay it hath so strong an influence upon him htat if this Note be often sounded in his Ears it doth as it were change his Voice and when he seems to have a mind to cast them off he cannot When Israel had offended by erecting and worshipping a golden Calf he calls them no more his People but Moses People Exod. 32.7 And the Lord said unto Moses Go get thee down for thy people which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves As though God had not been concerned in this Miraculous conduct out of Egypt And ver 9. this people as if he had had no interest in them but particularizes them with disdain God had here discarded them and turn'd them over upon Moses's hands as if he would have no longer any thing to do with them but Moses in Prayer turns them upon God again and would not own them as his but pleads that they were God's proper Goods ver 11. Lord why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people which htou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt And ver 12. again thy People and God at last resumes his former Notes ver 14. And the Lord repented him of the evil he thought to do unto his people Now they are Gods People again the repetition of this Relation is a powerful Rhetorique to perswade him to own them again which he had cashiered and turned off 5. The whole interest of God in the World lies in his Church and People Fisthly He sees little of himself in any part of the corrupted World but only in them 'T is in the Church he hath put his Name 'T is there he sees his Image and therefore places his love there and shall all this signifie nothing Shall the Governour of the World let things go contrary to his own interest They are like to him in that which is one of his greatest perfections viz his Holiness which gives him a greater interest in them 'T is his Interest that is opposed by an opposition to the Church All the hatred any bear it grows from the inward root of enmity against God himself Psal 44.22 Yeae for thy sake are we killed all the day long God surely will concern himself in the Churches interest since it is his own His Interest lies 1. In the persons of his People 'T is his Inheritance 8 Isa 19. last It is his Portion * Deut. 32.9 Deut. 32.9 The Lords portion is his people Jacob is the lot of his inheritance Every part of an inheritance and a portion doth as particularly belong to the owner as the whole Every part of the ground which belongs to the Inheritance is the Heirs as well as the whole Field He will not suffer the World which is but the work of his hands to lay waste his Church which is his proper inheritance 'T is his Treasure and where a mans treasure is there is his heart and where Gods Treasure is there is Gods heart 2. In the services and actions of the Church If the Church should be destroyed whom hath God to love and imitate him and to shew forth his Glory If the Candlestick is broken what is sit to hold out the light to the World He hath none in the World besides that do intentionally mind his Honour that take pleasure in glorifying his Name and writing after his Copy and observing his Works And will it stand with his interest to govern things contrary to theirs which is really his own When God had made the World and pronounced it good what would it have signified if he had not brought in man as his Rent-gatherer and the Collector of his Tribute to return it to him And what would Man signifie since the corrupted World embezles that which is Gods Right and turns it to its own use if God had not some honest stewards who faithfully act for him and give him the Glory of his Works And God will spare them as a man spares his own Son that serves him God hath no voluntary service in the World but from them therefore he is more interessed in their good than in the good of the whole World besides The services of the Church are all the delight God hath in the World Hos 9.10 I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the figtree at her first time They are as the refreshing Wine and Grapes as the delicious fruit of the first ripe Figs wherewith a weary Traveller recruits his Spirits after a long and tyring journey And God hath a greater delight in the fruit he receives from the Church than in it simply as it is his inheritance for no inheritance is valued but for the fruit and revenue it yields and therefore God orders all his blackest providences in the World like dark clouds to be the watering pots of this his Garden that the Fruit and Flowers of it may be brought to maturity which yield him so much pleasure and honour God only is acknowledged by them and in them as the Jews were bound to acknowledge God the Author of their mercies by presenting the first fruits of their increase to God And Believers are called so Rev. 14.4 These were redeemed from among men being the first fruits to God and the Lamb. 'T is by and in them that God hath the acknowledgment of all his mercies and blessings to the World 6. Sixthly It cannot be but all the providences of God shall work to the good of his Church if we consider the affections of God 1. His love What hath God in the World as an object to bestow his affections upon and
communicate the rayes of his love unto since he created it but his Church The men of the World hate him He can see nothing amiable in them for what was first lovely they have defaced and blotted out but the Church hath Gods comliness put upon her Ezek. 16.14 it was perfect through my comliness which I had put upon thee saith the Lord God and he did not lay those glorious colours upon her to manage his government or any part of it against her to deface her Besides their loveliness which is conferred upon them by God they have a love to God and no man will act against those whom he thinks to be his friends God being purus actus there being nothing but purity and activity in God his love must be the purest and highest love the most vigorous and glowing As fire which sets all other Bodies so this all other powers in the World in motion for them God cannot love them but he must wish all good to them and do all good for them for his love is not a lazy love but hath its raptures and tenderness and his affection is twisted with his Almighty Power to work that good for them which in their present condition in the world they are capable of Now it is certain God loves his Church For 1. He carries them in his hand * Deut. 33.3 and that not in a loose manner to be cast out but they are engraven upon the palms of his hands * Isa 49.16 that he cannot open his hand to bestow a blessing upon any person but the picture of his Church doth dart in his eye God alludes to the Rings wherein men engrave the image of those that are dear to them And the Jews did in their captivity engrave the Effigies of their City Jerusalem upon their Rings that they might not forget it * Sanctius in Isa 49.16 If his eye be alway upon the Church his thoughts can never be off it in all his works 2. He loves the very gates and outworks Psal 87.2 the Lord loveth the gates af Sion He loves a Cottage where a Church is more than the stately Palaces of Princes The gates were the places where they consulted together and gave judgment upon affairs God loved the assemblies of his Saints because of the truths revealed the ordinances adminstred the worship presented to him 3. Nay one Saint is more valued by him than the whole World of the wicked God is the God of all Creatures but peculiarly the God of Abraham and of his seed One Abraham is more deeply rooted in his heart than all the World and he doth more entitle himself the God of Abraham than the God of the whole World for in that style he speaks to Isaac Gen. 26.24 I am the God of Abraham thy Father much more the God of Israel The God of the whole Church of which Abraham was but a member though the Father of the faithful and a Feoffee of the Covenant God hath a greater value for one sincere Soul than for a whole City He saves a Lot and burns a Sodom Yea than for a whole World he drowns a World and preserves a Noah He secures his Jewels whilst he flings away the pebbles 4. He loves them so that he overlooks their crabbed and perverse misconstructions of his providence When the Israelites had jealous thoughts of him and of Moses his instrument when they saw that mighty Egyptian Army just at their heels and themselves cooped up between Mountains Forts and Waters God doth not upon this provoking murmuring draw up his cloudy Pillar to Heaven but puts it in the rear of them when before it had marched in the van * Exod. 14.19 and wedgeth himself in between them and Pharaoh's enraged host to shew that they should as soon sheath their swords in his heart as in their bowels and if they could strike them it should be through his own Deity which was the highest expression of his affection And though they often murmured against his providence after they were landed on the shore yet he left them not to shift for themselves but bore them all the way in his arms as a Father doth his Child * Deut. 1.31 and bare them like an Eagle upon his Wings * Deut. 32.11 and God loves them magnificently and royally Hos 14 4 I will love them freely * Hosea 14.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without any doubting without any reluctancy I will love thee without any repugnancy in my heart to draw me back from thee for mine anger is turned away as the streams of a River quite another way Now all this considered can the Governour of the World the King of Saints act any thing against his own affections Yea will he not make all things subservient to them whom he loves 2. His Delight See what an inundation of sweetning joy there was in him for which he had not Terms of Expression to suit the narrow apprehensions of Men Zeph. 3.17 The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty he will save he will rejoyce over thee with joy he will rest in his love he will joy over thee with singing He seems in his expression to know no measure of his delight in the Church and no end of it I will rejoyce over thee with joy Joy sparkles up fresh after joy 'T is his rest where his Soul and all that is within him centers it self with infinite contentment Joy over thee with finging A Joy that blossoms into Triumph Never had any such charming transports in the company of any he most affected as God hath in his Church he doth so delight in the graces of his People that he delights to mention them He twice mentions Enochs walking with him * Gen. 5.22 24. And certainly God cannot but delight in it more than in the World because it is a fruit of greater pains than the Creation of the World The World was created in the space of six daies by a Word the Erecting a Church hath cost God more Pains and Time Before the Church of the Jews could be settled he had both a contest with the Peevishness of his People and the Malice of their Enemies And his own Son must bleed and dye before the Church of the Gentiles could be fixed Men delight in that which hath cost them much Pains and a great Price God hath been at too much Pains and Christ at too great a Price to have small delight in the Church will he then let wild Beasts break the Hedges and tread down the fruit of it shall not all things be ordred to the good of that which is the Object of his greatest delight in the World 7. Seventhly The presence of God in his Church will make all providence tend to the good of it It would be an idle useless Presence if it were not operative for their good The Lord is there is the