to day a God not purposing and to morrow a God purposing or on the contrary a yesterday not purposing and to day purposing and to morrow not purposing no no He is the same yesterday and to day and for ever Heb. 13. 8. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance Rom. 11. 19. The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever the thoughts of his heart to all generations Psal 33. 11. 2. Look not on man's I will so as to forget that God's Will or Purpose must take place How many live as if Men were God and God but Scito autem homo nullum tibi adversari potuisse nisi Deus potestatem dedisset nec potestatem habuisset in te adversarius nisi permitteret Deus Universa quae accidunt tibi absque Dei non veniunt voluntate Iniquorum potestas super te ex Dei datur licentiâ qui tibi adversantur Dei faciunt consilium Isidor Hispal lib. 1. Soliloq Man The Lord takes notice of this and rebukes for it in Isa 50. 12. I even I am he that comforteth you who art thou that thou shouldst be afraid of man that shall dye and the son of man which shall be made as grass and forgettest the Lord thy Maker c. There are two things worthy of the Christian's meditation here 1. That man's I will without God's I will is but a sounding brass or tinkling cymbal It makes a noise in the ear of sense and reason and it 's but a noise Men's Decrees prove often smoak and bubbles The enemy said I will pursue I will overtake I will divide the spoil my lust shall be satisfied upon them I will draw my sword mine band shall destroy them Exod. 15. 9. Here is earth's I will upon I will But what is Heaven's I will That we have in the next verse Thou didst blow with thy wind the sea covered them they sank as lead in the mighty waters 2. That though man's I will may be co-incident in part with God's I will in regard of afflicting the Lord's people yet God intends otherwise than man who is his rod and is after thrown into the fire A full place for this is that in Isa 10. 5 6 7. 3. Rush not into sin nor plead for it upon a pretence of the Divine Will or Decree Shall Adam plead thus with the Lord If thou hadst not decreed to make the woman and accordingly to give her to me to wise I had not had forbidden fruit from her 't was the woman thou gavest to be with me she gave me of the tree and I did eat Gen. 3. 1◠Adam might blame himself the Lord had forbidden him to eat that Law of Prohibition was a Rule according to that in Deut. 29. 29. The secret things belong unto the Lord our God but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever that we may do all the words of this law Look then to what God lays forth before thee by way of duty say not as the Heathen Servant to his Master in excuse of his fact That the gods had decreed be should do so To whom the Master replied That the gods had likewise decreed he should be beaten for so doing 4. Learn from hence thou whose Bucket hath gone down into Well of God's Eternal Love in Christ 1. To view thy spiritual mercies in the Spring-head of them so doth Paul Gal. 1. 16. But when it pleased God who separated me from my mothers womb and called me by his grace to reveal his son in me Christ teacheth to eye the Father 's good pleasure in giving a kingdom Luke 12. 32. 2. To rejoyce in the Lord seeing his Purpose as declared bodes good to godly ones according to that of the Apostle Rom. 8. 28. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose Observe here it is not said To them who are purposed as they are called as if the Election did lacquy after a Calling which may vanish after and that sort of Election with it such a gloss is to make Paul's Cordial here to become a venomous Potion 3. To be watchful against sin For God hath chosen us saith the Apostle in him that we should be holy Eph. 1. 4. And where sin is indulged there smart will be ushered in Who knows what black dispensations of affliction are wrapt up in the Lord's Purpose for Children who play the wanton Though the Lambs are not thrown into the mouth of the roaring Lion of Hell yet there are Dogs that may not only bark but bite them Eli David Hezekiah are lamentable instances for this See chap. 3 4 of the first Book of Samuel and 2 Sam. 12. and Isa 39. 4. To calm and quiet the heart from the Quin si viderimus fractum ruere orbem cum omnibus elementis imminere cervicib us nostris tamen diceremus etiam ruendo non rues nisi Deus velit etsi capiti incumberet nihil nocebis nec opprimes me diceremus aut si sic visum est Deo ut obruar mole tuâ fiat sane quod bonum est in oculis Domini Luth. meditation of the Purpose of God besides which or contrary to which men and devils can do nothing Hence is that glorious triumphancy of the Apostle Rom. 8. 38 39. OBSERVATION III. The Lord's Will is not only the ground why things are but why they are not CHAP. I. THE truth of this appears For 1. There is a sufficiency of Power to bring about what is not and may never be and what is not and yet may be when the Lord shall see it good to be and after this or that sort to be The Lord is described in Scripture as the great Potter of the world Isa 45 9. Rom. 9. 21. and so he hath a liberty for possible vessels not to be and for such vessels as are intentionally to be not to be of this fashion or shape of such a bigness and not to be at such a time but when he pleaseth The Apostle Paul hath well stated this point Why all flesh is not the same flesh Why one Starr hath not the like glory for degree that another hath Why the grain sown thrives and so consequently why when it thrives not He resolves all into the good will of God as that passage of his imports but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him 1 Cor. 15. 38. The Baptist tells the Pharisees and Sadduces That God is able of the stones present before their eyes to raise up children unto Abraham Mat. 3. 5. Why the stones are not multiplied into children unto Abraham is from the Lord's will the Israelites they had Manna in the wilderness which neither they nor their fathers knew before as Moses saith Deut. 8. 3. and whence is this but from the Lord's will not to give it in Egypt 2. The reason rendred in
which is not denied and the like reconciliation may be found with the Will and Providence of God Look at what door the fore-knowledg of God goes out at without a justle at the wills of men at the same door the Will and Providence of the All-wise God can and do go forth 3. The Scripture hath plain and full instances of accord betwixt man's liberty and Divine Providence Saul acted freely in seeking his Father's Asses and yet the Lord had told Samuel before I will send thee a man out of the land of Benjamin 1 Sam. 9. 16. The King of Babylon resolveth and that freely having used his divination to go against Jerusalem and this holds correspondence with the threatnings of God by the Prophet against the Inhabitants of Jerusalem Ezek. 21. 18. 4. Man therefore acts freely because God hath constituted in him a freedom from coaction and brutish determination The Lord hath embellisht the foul of man with the noble faculties of Reason and Election so as that he differs from a Beast and hath a liberty in acting though not a liberty of absolute independency He who learns to swim puts forth his hands and feet freely though another hold and guide his head And this may serve by way of reply to that first Objection 2. It may be asked by some Would not this Doctrine make God the Author of sin Ans 1. Would not a denial of God's Providence about the Wills of men make them the Authors of Grace Surely such Doctrine which robbeth the Lord of his glory in working on changing and renewing the hearts of men is not of God Isa 26. 12. Phil. 2. 13. 1 Cor. 4. 7. 2. It may be replied then to the Objection with that of the Apostle to the like God forbid for then how shall God judg the world Rom. 3. 6. The holy God who made the house of man's soul and the several rooms thereof knows all the nasty corners of the sinner and can go in and out in his Providence without defiling the garment of his Holiness The Sun shines on the Dunghill and is not therefore a Dunghill-light Whatever the Assyrian was and his design was all bad enough yet God himself distinguisheth betwixt his own work and the Assyrians barbarous Villanies Isa 10. 12. We are not then to make a confusion where the Lord maketh a distinction What is proper to sinful and sinning man let man have what is proper to a Wise Just Powerful God let God have He that holds a stone and a piece of Cork under water is not because he withdraws his hand the proper intrinsecal cause of the one its sinking and the others its swimming for both stone and cork do equally participate in the hand the stone doth not therefore sink because the hand is withdrawn for then the cork should sink too and the cork doth not therefore swim for then the stone should swim too This may a little illustrate the matter to weaker capacities It 's a mystery and hath its knots yet it 's unreasonable therefore still to dispute and not to believe The Scripture doth plainly lay before us how God Men and the Devil had a concurrence in Job's case a work of Providence there was though not for the like end and in the like manner with a malicious Devil and plundering Sabcans and Chaldeans Providence knoweth how to do cleanly work by the foul hands of sinners Caiaphas was the Trumpet of a glorious Prophecy He is like a servant who broacheth a barrel in a drunken humour the Master of the house may well punish the servant for his lust and yet wisely order the vessel to be drawn forth for the use of the family It 's wonderful indeed to consider how the Lord's arrows are shot in men's bows and how he throws a Jewel in their Slings But so it is as it appears notably from that instance of Caiaphas See John 11. 50 51. with 47 48 49 53. The Consectaries from the Doctrine of Providence as here respecting the hearts of men are these 1. Absurd then is the conceit of those who would have men exempted from the influx and conflux of Providence The Creatures of a lower form are under the Law of Providence and that too in reference to man Psal 104. 14. And are not men much better than they as Christ argueth Mat. 6. 26. There is little reason and less divinity to deny the subjection of the greatest of men to the controlling Providence of God Daniel preached no such Doctrine at Court he asserts before Belshazzar saying The God in whose hand thy breath is and whose are all thy ways hast thou not glorified Dan. 5. 23. 2. There is reason to eye God's Providence even then when men's hearts are hardned and filled with fury towards persons True it is God instilleth no venom of sin into their hearts but yet there is a wise and righteous hand of Providence in this case He turned their heart to hate his people to deal subtilly with his servants Psal 105. 25. Men would do well therefore not only to look upward to God but also inward on their souls and backward on their lives and may they not cry out then Men have done us wrong but God hath done us right The sons of Belial are injurious but the hand of Providence is righteous righteous righteous 3. It is a pious and prudent course to begin with God when we have to do with men especially in matters of greater consequence So did Esther she fasts and her Maidens the Ladies of Honour fast and the Jews in Shushan the Metropolitan City fast before she maketh her address to Ahasuerus Esth 4. 16. and surely there is encouragement so to do for the Lord can work more ways than we can imagine on the hearts of men sometimes he knocks out sparks of pity from flinty hearts Psal 106. 46. He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives At other times he awes startles and doth bring to pass great things by fears which take hold on men's souls with their tenter-hooks See Josh 2. 11. Act. 22. 29. 4. Know to whom the tribute of praise and thankfulness is due for what of Providence is displayed in the conveyance of mercies by a touch from Heaven this and that way on the hearts of men on earth David hath a song for God's delivering him out of the hand of Saul 2 Sam. 22. chap. Now one way of David's delivery was by an access of Providence to Saul's heart 1 Sam. 26. 25 c. with chap. 27. v. 4. The same man of God hath left records of God's Providence in his deliverance from Achish who look't on David as a mad-man and so slighted him without trial made or making sure work with him who though he had been under a phrensie for the present might after become a sober Captain to lead an Army against the uncircumcised see Psal 34. with 1 Sam. 21. 14 15. Austin relates how by
and two Children which mocked the Prophet of the Lord 2 Kings 2. 23 24. Those new Colonies placed by the King of Assyria in the Cities of Samaria feared not the Lord therefore the Lord sent Lions amongst them which slew some of them 2 Kings 17. 24. Deborah and Barak in their song of Victory descant on this wise They fought from heaven the starrs in their courses fought against Sisera the river of Kishon swept them away that ancient river the river of Kishon O my soul thou hast trodden down strength Judg. 5. 20 21. 2. Other Creatures wherein they are defective in regard of annoyance by virtue comparatively to other Creatures may notwithstanding in regard of co-incident circumstances prove very afflictive Balaam's Asse was none of the wildest for the Asse said unto Balaam Am not I thine asse upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day Was I ever wont to do so unto thee And he said Nay Numb 22. 30. We have here the appeal of the Asse and the acknowledgment of the Master both accord in the truth of the premises and yet we find an harsh conclusion for she crusht Balaam's foot against the wall v. 25. So calm a Creature as Balaam's Asse at such a place where a wall being on this side and a wall on that side together with the Angel of the Lord standing in the path of the Vineyards v. 24. becomes a scourge to the Rider CHAP. II. 1. FROM the Creatures being made friends to us 1. Forget not whence it is that the Creatures smile on thee and do not frown It 's from the pleasure of their Lord or Master that these servants in the general and those of them which are of rough temper in particular do bespeak you fairly and run to and fro willingly to do you service I will says the Psalmist both lay me down in peace and sleep for thou Lord only makest me to dwell in safety Psal 4. 8. The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want Psal 23. 1. The Lord hears the heavens ere the corn wine and oyl hear Jezreel Hos 2. 21 22. 2. Labour to demean thy self in all godliness and honesty suitably to thy mercies There is good reason for such to serve God who have the Creatures as so many good servants to wait upon them There is an obligation on man to obey his God and the more his mercies are the stronger is the obligation He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God Micah 6. 8. 2. From the Creatures being Corrosives or Scourges one way or other 1. Observe How the sweetest Wine may become the sharpest Vinegar and this 1. With respect to Things 2. With respect to Persons 1. With respect to Things The good things of this life may be matter of affliction Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things therefore shalt thou serâ—e thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee in hunger and thirst and in nakedness and in the want of all things Deut. 28. 47 48. Hezekiah a good Prince yet what a thundering-message was sent him Behold the days come that all that is in thine house and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day shall be carried to Babylon nothing shall be left saith the Lord Isa 39. 6. 2. With respect to Persons as Magistrates Ecclesiastical Ministers Family-relations choice Friends or Acquaintants All these instead of Roses may become pricking-briers some way or other as may be instanced in 1. Magistrates who are the Ministers of God for good according to their institution Rom. 13. 4. these may be snatch't away by death to the grief of a People who sate under their refreshing-shadow Their deaths and burials become the resurrection of the Subjects sorrows Witness this in the case of good Josiah who dies and is buried and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him and Jeremiah lamented for him as is recorded 2 Chron. 35. 24 25. Or if they be not seized on by death they may prove the death or bane of a Nation by their follies Instances enough there are for this in Holy-Writ and History 2. Ecclesiastical Ministers become afflictive and that many ways When sins abound amongst a people pride barrenness under the means slighting Ministers and idolizing of them for these are sad extreams do with others sins provoke the Lord to afflict in and by Ministers Sometimes they are taken away by death John's Disciples had too high thoughts of their Master they began it seems to make a party against Christ himself John 3. 25 26. it 's observable ver 24. John was not yet cast into prison Afterward he was and beheaded too Sometimes though God continue them in the world yet he may make their tongues cleave to the root of their mouths They shall be dumb and not be reprovers as Ezek. 3. 26. The pipes shall be stopt and the Conduits in the Towns shall not run as formerly with that plenty of the Water of Life There is a time when the Prophets of the Lord are in their caves and not upon the house-top 1 King 18. 4. Again some may become afflictive by their slips falls apostacies Tertullian turn'd a Montanist and flies out against the Orthodox Scult Annal dec 1 p. 161. One Speicer in Germany was so powerful in preaching that Whores left the Stews and betook themselves to another course of living and yet after he return'd to the Tents of the Papists and miserably perisht Ibid. p. 269. It is said of Swenckfield who did beguile many with great swelling-words of illumination revelation deification of the inward and spiritual man that he had a well-meaning heart but a very irregular or erroneous head God is righteous as in the digging of a grave for some in the Vineyard and the binding of others hand and foot so in the permission of others to leap over the hedg of the Vinyard and to be be-wilder'd in wild and extravagant fancies and conceits See Acts 20. 30. 1 Cor. 3. with 2 Cor. 11. 13 14. 3. Family-relations become Gall and Wormwood 1. The Husband is sometimes a Nabal and folly is with him 1 Sam. 25. 25. or if he be otherwise his death gives life to the Wife's sorrows as 2 Kings 4. 1. Thy servant my husband said that Widow to Elisha is dead and thou knowest that thy servant did for the Lord and the Creditor is come to take to his my two sons for bond-men 2. The Wife if she be not more or less a chiding Zipporah Ezra 4. 25. a mocking-Michol 2 Sam. 6. 20. a sullen Vashti Esth 1. 12. or some otherway afflictive yet there was never a Marriage but there must be a Funeral and a vertuous beautiful Sarah must away out of an Abraham's sight Gen. 23. 4. 3.
the bellows for seven Angels are said to pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth Rev. 16. The second branch of the discourse of the Ministry of Angels respects the evil ones These have their shops in the world and their shops are dark ones The evil Angels are Rulers of the darkness of this world Eph. 6. 12. Now how the evil Angels have their influences both as to godly and ungodly men in the world I shall in brief touch and so pass to the accommodation or improvement of the whole that hath been said First The Devil hath his design against pious ones and that divers ways 1. In tempting them to sin He hath his wiles Eph. 6. 11. He labours not only to catch young birds but old ones too with his chaff net and lime-twigs David was an experience◠Saint yet Satan stood up against Israel an◠provoked David to number Israel 1 Chron. 21. 1. the sad success of that temptation 〈◊〉 have there recorded in the after-verses 2. In disquieting them one way or other though he hath not matter of just charge to draw up up against them The Devil is the trouble-house of the Christian's quiet He is the accuser of the brethren Rev. 12. 10. both he and those who are acted by him are false witnesses risen up and lay things to a Saint's charge that he knew not Psal 35. 11. Go we to that good Apostle Paul and he will tell us he cannot be quiet for a buffeting devil 2 Cor. 12. 7. 3. In impeding and hindring them in some particular good work intended by them The Devil throws blocks in their way He hath his turn-pikes and barricado's to obstruct the Christian in his course Wherefore we would have come unto you even I Paul once and again but Satan hindred us 1 Thes 2. 18. 4. In afflicting of them in their outward man body relations estate when God sees fit to chastise and exercise his people on this wise A clear and full exemplification for this we have in the first and second chapters of Job God is wise in such dispensations He knows how to make a bright Saint by the Devil 's dusky Cinders and to fetch out a spot of a Saint's Garment by Hell's Black-Soap Secondly Satan hath his design on wicked men or such who are destitute of a principle of Grace within and that 1. In staving them off from what is good He works with might and main that they may not come to the knowledg of God as God ought to be known But if our Gospel be hid i◠is hid to them that are lost in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. The Devil holds up his monstrous and uglifying-glasses before the sinner's face he fills their heads with prejudices against the good ways of God his Messengers People who shall be look't on as troublers of a Nation City Parish Family that are only the wakeners thereof 1 Kings 18. 17 18. 2. In posting them on in what is evil He will have them be positive as well as negative sinners not only not to act for God but against him though in not acting for God there is an acting against him but not such an aggravated acting The Masters of the Pythoness-Damsel become Persecutors of Paul and Silas Act. 16. 16 19 c. Judas becomes the betrayer of his Lord and Master Joh. 13. 27. Satan entred into him and many Grandees of this world become Satans Hang-men He hath his influences on them for he doth not in mens shape cast Gods Servants into prison and yet is said to do it Rev. 2. 10. 3. In being ready and forward enough to hasten the destruction of them theirs what they have The Devil is for making men more twofold Children of Hell and cares not how soon he can secure most of his Agents in the prison of Hell Satan hath his end if he can double mens guilts under the smarts of which he is an instrument in inflicting He delighteth in mischief and needs not a motive to perswade an Ahab to go up and fail at Ramoth-Gilead see 1 Kings 22. 20 21 22. CHAP. II. 1. LOOK after an interest in Jesus Christ For 1. Hereby the evil Angels need not be dreaded Christ the victorious one breaks the bow and spear of Hell Satan had experience of the Power and Valour of the Christian's Generalissimo in that Wilderness-Conflict Mat. 4. The Devil with all his Forces shall not tread down the weakest Soldier in Christ's Army to the nethermost Hell I give unto them saith Christ eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand Joh. 10. 28. 2. As the evil Angels need not be dreaded as enemies so the good Angels the glistering Courtiers of Heaven may be look't on as friends It is said of Jacob He went on his way and the Angels of God met him Gen. 32. 1. The good Angels will be found good and faithful friends to those who are good they were Jacob's Guard and the way to have a Jacob's Guard is to have a Jacob's God 2. Believe more and live more the Orthodox Doctrine of the agency of Angels It may put most to the blush that they live as if so be there were neither good nor bad Angels The practise of most holds little correspondence with their belief It concerns then persons to mind their duty and that in respect both of good and bad Angels 1. In respect of good Angels and so 1. bless God for the Ministry of good Angels If sheep oxen with other creatures ordained for the use of man do oblige man by way of thankfulness to God why not the good Angels who are ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation Heb. 1. 14. It well becomes men to praise God for angels though we are not to pray to angels for as good as they are they like not such a service Judg. 13. 16. Rev. 19. 10. 'T was the evil angel who would be a worshipful Devil Mat. 4. 9. If it be said here There is not such an appearance of good angels as of old and therefore I◠there an agency of good angels A. 1. There is no reason to be stumbled at the different dispensation of things then and now Jesus Christ the Prince of angels is come Heb. 1. 1 2. We have the Scriptures the Canon of them enlarged 2 Tim. 3. 16 17. If a Master set down his will for the management of such or such a Farm what if he do not ever and anon send messengers for signifying this or that about the Farm The Church is not now in its non-age and so stands not so in need of visible helps as a pillar of cloud and of fire as of old Exod. 13. 21. Heb. 12. 18. The
Children are often the sluces of sorrow Dinah was ravish't Gen. 34. â— Simeon and Levi make their Father Jacob to stink among the Inhabitants of the Land Gen. 34. 30. Reuben lay with his Father's Concubine Gen. 35. 22. Joseph is hated of his brethren and pack't away into Egypt to the grief of the old man who taking it for a concession that Joseph was dead refused to be comforted Gen. 37. 35. 4. Servants prove vile and abominable Good Mephibosheth's servant was a false accuser of his Master and hook't away half of his Lord's Estate 2 Sam. 16. 3 4. with 2 Sam. 19. 24 to 30. 5. Superiors as Parents and Masters with Mistresses are sometimes curst-creatures Jonathan is called by his Father Son of a perverse rebellious woman yea a Javelin is cast at him from the hand of a Father 1 Sam. 20. 30 31. Nabal a Master of servants and a slave to frowardness 1 Sam. 25. 17. Sarai though a good woman yet had a pang of frowardness Gen. 16. 5 6. 4. Choice Friends bring up the rear of sorrows Death cuts the knot of Friendship I am distressed for thee my brother Jonathan said David 2 Sam. 1. 26. If the Worm feed not on them in the grave yet some Ear-wig doth hurt A Whisperer separateth chief friends Prov. 16. 28. yea there is some unmortified lust by reason whereof the friend is metamorphosed into a bloody enemy so Psal 41. 9. Yea mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted which did eat of my bread hath lift up his heel against me Secondly As it concerns to observe when the Creatures become Corrosives so to improve this corroding-Dispensation Let it be a means to eat out the proud-flesh of some sin or other which is the procuring-cause of all The Creatures frown but doth not God frown on some sin in their frowning It would better become persons who cry out of Superiors to consider how the taking cold in the feet is often the cause of disorder in the head The sins of people Wives Children Servants are the cold Vapours which cause a Distemper The head-ake of some above others becomes an heart-ake to and from those below others Eye then sin so as more to be abased for it and creatures less in way of disquiet So doth the Prophet teach Lam. 3. 40. The overtaking of sin with Hue-and-Cry is the best Remedy under such Maladies OBSERVATION XVIII The great God is greatly to be seen in the meanest or least of His Creatures CHAP. I. 1. THE meanest or least of the Creatures set off more the beauty of the Universe A Giant is the more conspicuous when a Dwarf is brought forth on the stage with him Behemoth or the Elephant is said to be the chief of the ways of God Job 40. 19. the vast extensions of the Elephant are the more illustrious when compared with the small dimensions of a Worm or Flye 2. The very smalness or littleness of the Sicut enim artifices illi peritissimi ingeniosissimi habentur qui in arctissimo spatio plurimum artis ostendunt ut qui sub muscae umbra currum equos repraesentavit sic Deus si non tantam in minutis animaleulis potentiam quantam in majoribus ostendir at sapientiae certe majus specimen edidit Cartwright in Prov. p. 1466. Creatures doth set forth the Wisdom of God The curious workmanship about a Watch or some lesser piece of Artifice doth commend the skill of the Artificer Creeping things and Birds flying as well as Beasts and Cattel do bear a part in the Quire to sound forth the praises of their Maker and Preserver Psal 148. 10. with v. 7. 3. The Creatures by reason of their meanness did not hold back the sentence of approbation at their creation or when they were first ushered into the world The History of the Creation comprehends little fishes birds and creeping things God saw what was then created that it was good Gen. 1. 20 21 25. 4. The meanest Creatures have their ordinary use for which they serve They are not dumb Cyphers in the World's Arithmetick The Herb is said to be for the service of man Psal 104. 14. Even Serpents and Vermin are serviceable in attracting to themselves that Venom which otherwise might be of dangerous consequence to man Worms and Flyes are baits for Fishes and food for Birds 5. What is wanting in the meanest of Creatures one way is salved up another There be four things which are but little upon the earth but they are exceeding wise The Ants are a people not strong yet they prepare their meat in the summer the Conies are but feeble folks yet make they their houses in the rocks the Locusts have no king yet go they forth all of them by bands the Spider taketh hold with her hands and is in the kings palaces Prov. 30. 24 c. 6. There is a display of the glorious Attributes of God in and about the meanest of Creatures and that in a more than ordinary way as He is pleased to make use of them We may behold as in a glass 1. The Goodness or Mercy of God 2. Wisdom 3. Power 4. Justice or Severity 1. The Goodness or Mercy of God is seen as when he useth them for the help of man The Ravens in a time of famine bring Elijah bread and flesh 1 Kings 17. 6. The stories are known how Moulin at the time of the Parisian-Massacre was cherished for a fortnight by a Hen which came constantly and laid her Eggs there where he lay hid And at Cales how an English-man who crept into an hole under a pair of Stairs was there preserved by means of a Spider which had woven its Web over the hole and so the Soldiers slighted the search there There are other stories which I have mâ—t withall as that of Aristomenes who being thrown into a ditch for dead with others found out his way for egress by means of a Fox which came thither and pointed a passage The Lord Mountjoy coming from Ireland had likely perisht with his company in the ship had not Providence befriended them to a wonder and that by means of certain Sea-birds The story thus Fynes Morryson Itinerary Part 2. p. 296. The sky being overcast with a thick fog and we bearing all sails we fell suddenly upon the Skirvies an hideous great black Rock where after so many dangers escaped in the Warrs it pleased God miraculously to deliver us from becast away as it were in the very Haven for certain Birds called Gulls seeing our ship ready to rush upon them and their desart-habitation with full sails rose crying and fluttering round about us whereat the Governour of the Pinace being amazed looked out and beholding that terrible spectacle cried to the Steer-man Aloof for life which fearful voice might have daunted him as it did most in the ship but he stoutly did his work answering Helm a board which done the ship by force of the stern and
in regard of their Places are not to be Devils in regard of their Administrations Nehemiah did not as others before him because of the fear of the Lord Neh. 5. 15. Again Church-men are to mind their work Paul had his conversation in simplicity and godly sincerity 2 Cor. 1. 12. He was laborious in the Lord's vinyard 1 Cor. 15 10. He writ as well as preach't though a prisoner yet his pen is at liberty for the service of the Church Gal. 6. 11. he gives not off driving the Gospel-Nail one way when there was no driving of it another Lastly This concerns Parents Mâ—sters Children Servants to consider how they move in the Ark or Sphâ—re of their respective stations No place so mean but a person may glorifie God in it Obedience to God in the place where Providence hath fixed a person is better than Sacrifice out of it Luther hath in his Postils what illustrates the matter in hand with which I conclude this Section A certain Housholder hath a Wife Daughter Son Maid servant and Man-servant He commands his Man to harness the horses to bring home wood to plough and such like work He wills his Maid-servant to milk the Cows make Butter and such like To his Wife he commits the care of the Family and the ordering of provision To his daughter the distaff and the making of beds All these are the injunctions of one and the same Master But now if the Maid leaving her office and task required shall harness the horses and fetch home wood from the Copses and on the other hand the servant shall busie himself about the Cows and Milk-pails which is not his work and the Daughter leaving her Whorle instead of a Spinster shall become a Carter the Wife or Mother shall make the beds and handle the Distaff and forget her Cookery for the Family and moreover should they all say The Master hath commanded these things to be done this is the will of him who is lord of all May not this Housholder now and that deservedly too take a Cudgel and beat them all and from thence reply unto them Though this be my command yet I gave it not to every one to be so done but assigned every one his work which should have been followed SECT IX 9. HUSBAND well the signal Opportunities which Providence puts into thy hand for being serviceable for the Church of Christ Joseph by the Providence of God is advanced in the Corn-Countrey and he takes care then in time of Famine for his Father and Relations the Church then in Jacob his Family Gen. 45. 9 10 11. Nehemiah was no selfish Courtier he is affected with the sad case of his Countrey-men and prudently petitions the Persian-Monarch on the behalf of them Neh. 2. 5 6 7 8. Mordecai is plain with his Cousin Esther though now Queen Think not saith he with thy self that thou shalt escape in the king's house more than all the Jews for if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place but thou and thy fathers house shall be destroyed and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this Esth 4. 12 13. Onesiphorus lets not slip the opportunity of owning a Paul then when others were frighted with the noise of the Apostle's Chain He oft saith Paul refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain but when he was in Rome he sought me out very diligently and found me 2 Tim. 1. 16 17. Let it be our care then judiciously to observe and accordingly to improve the remarkable opportunities for doing good Nothing saith a Mr. Vines in Serm. 2 Sam. 3. 20. worthy man of our Israel more sads and dulls the heart when one comes to dye than his neglect of such opportunities which God's Providence or his own Place have put into his hand of receiving or doing good nor is there a sharper corrosive than the reflection upon those days and times that have passed over him malè aliud nihil agentem SECT X. LASTLY Live holily and thankfully the Providential Dispensations which have concentred or met in thy Person Family or Relations To this end consider the following Incentives 1. With what patheticalness or holy earnestness is the living of Providences pressed in Scripture See Deut 8. 6. with the precedent verses Josh 24. 14. 1 Sam. 12. 24. Ephes 2. 11 12 13. 2. The Law of Ingenuity requireth holiness and thankfulness for what God hath done in his Providence for men Thou saith David to God hast delivered my soul from death mine eyes from tears and my feet from falling I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living Psal 116. 8 9. See Luke 1. 74 75. 3. Sin otherwise is greatly aggravated The Lord may say for neglect of a responsable carriage towards his Dispensations as David of Nabal Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness 1 Sam. 25. 21. It is made an aggravation of Hezekiah's sin that he rendred not again according to the benefit done unto him for his heart was lifted up 2 Chron. 32. 25. 4. The thankful and holy living of Providences may invite the God of Providence to do more for persons If that had been too little for thee saith God by Nathan to David I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things 2 Sam. 12. 8. God hath a rich treasure of kindness he will not be a barren Wilderness to those who are a Carmel for holy fruitfulness I conclude all with that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 58. Therefore my beloved brethren be ye stedfast unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. FINIS