rashly or wickedly the works of Providence It 's no less dangerous than foolish to shoot arrows against the Heavens God's works call for man's veneration not blasphemous aspersion It was well spoken by Elibu on God's behalf Behold God exalteth by his power who teacheth like him Who hath enjoined him his way Or who can say Thou hast wrought iniquity Remember that thou magnifie his work which men behold Job 36. 22 23 24. Now more particularly take heed of censuring 1. The work of God's long-suffering towards the Sons of Violence and Fraudulence There are who break in pieces the Lord's people afflict his heritage slay the widow and the stranger and murder the fatherless Psal 94. 5 6 7. and yet no reason to attaque Providence as they in Mal. 3. 15. And now we call the proud happy yea they that work wickedness are set up yea they that tempt God are even delivered 2. The work of God's distinguishing-distinguishing-Mercy towards some let not this be branded as Injustice Partiality or Respect of persons The Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works Psal 145. 17. That clause Friend I do thee no wrong Mat. 20. 13. will be fully unridled one day 3. The remarkable irradiations or beamings forth of Providence in matters Providence did notably own Nehemiah in that good work he was about yet Samballat Tobiah and Geshem saith he laughed us to scorn and despised us and said What is this thing that ye do Will ye rebel against the king Neh. 2. 19. How was Christ affronted by the Pharisees He casteth out say they devils through the prince of the devils Mat. 9. 34. Thus when the Apostles were full of the gifts of the Holy Ghost some mocked saying These men are full of new wine Acts 2. 13. Men would do well therefore to remember that prohibition Exod. 20. 16. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour If not against thy neighbour then not against the God of thy neighbour SECT X. LAstly Beware of extreams about Providence Extreams are of two sorts 1. In Opinion 2. In Practise 1. In Opinion and so some deny the concourse of the first Cause with second Causes And others on the other hand affirm the first Cause alone to work at the presence of second Causes Both these Extreams are oppugned and expugned by those learned men who write polemically of Providence It 's not my purpose to be controversal Beware then of Extreams in practise Some come not up to duty referring to this or that Dispensation of Providence Others run beyong their duty Men keep not the King of Heaven's high-way but go aside on the right hand or on the left and so Providence hath not their company A Providence very eminent there was in the return of those sent to spy out the Land of Canaan but how are the people affected One while Let us make us a Captain and let us return into Egypt said they one to another Numb 14 4. Another while say they Lo we be here and will go up unto the place which the Lord hath promised v. 40. God in his Providence sets up Saul to be King some despised him and brought him no Presents 1 Sam. 10. 27. Others were too hot and furious and would have the King's robe dipt in blood Bring the men say they that we may put them to death 1 Sam. 11. 12. Peter saith Thou shalt never wash my feet Joh. 13. 7 8. and after Lord not my feet only but also my hands and my head v. 9. Men have ground therefore to be watchful against extreams in matters for lame feet in not going after a Providence and Hind's feet in out-running a Providence become not judicious Christians Having spoken to the Directions cautionary I come in the next place to give a draught or summary of the Directions positive And here without a large Preamble take them as following in their several SECTIONS for the clearer understanding of them SECT I. 1. RESOLVE to take a serious view of the Lord 's Providential Dispensations A well biassed Resolution is the Spring of Action To the end therefore thou mayest be in good earnest consider of the Incentives or Motives which are as followeth 1. To note and observe the Works of God's Providence is a commanded duty Men are not left to a luke-warm indifferency whether they will observe or no. God hath otherwise discovered himself in his word Jer. 7. 12. But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh where I did set my name at the first and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel Here are two things 1. What God did do 2. What they are to do The Lord he works and they are not to be idle but to take a view of His work by taking a journey in their Meditations to Shiloh In Rev. 6. when the Book there of the Lord's Secrets is to be opened in a way of Providential Dispensation there is a Come and see a sight indeed not to be flâ—ghted for observe the Come and see is more than trebled v. 1 3 4 7. Râ—petitions of things in Scripture as they may intimate our dulness so the weight or importance of things thus repeated But 2. As it is commanded-work to observe the Lord's out-goings in his Providence so it 's commended and that three ways 1 By the variety of terms used to express this duty There seems to be a depth when so many fathom of Cordage go to the sounding of this duty An heap of words there are to set forth the excellency and emphatical importance of it Thus in Isa 41. 10. That they may see and know and consider and understand together 2. It is commended to us from the Author whose works we are to take a view of Come and see the works of God saith the Psalmist Psal 66. 5. What more in the World than the curious artifice of the Divine Attributes should court the eyes of men to dwell on And lastly It 's commended from the Practise of God's Saints It is commendable to do not as the most do but as the best do By faith the elders obtained a good report Heb. 11. 2. That faith there is comprehensive of Providence for its object as the Exemplifications given in the Chapter do give us to understand It 's recorded to the commendation of Mary That she had an observant eye on the Providence of God Luke 2. 19. 3. In the third place The singular advantages which attend the due observation of Divine Providence do invite to this duty If a man will consult his own good here is the way and this is the dore For 1. By a wise observing God's Providence a man is the more furthered in the knowledg of God Manasseh in the School of Providence is taught what he learnt not before Providence fetters him and kicks him as a Ball as far as Babylon and there he is catechised so as it is said of
a Divine Constitution of Heaven for wise Ends why this is so and shall be so Solomon tells of a day of Prosperity and a day of Adversity and moreover affixeth this saying God also hath set the one over against the other to the end that man should find nothing after him Eccles 7. 14. Adversity saith one is set opposite to Prosperity Mr. Pemble a Vale against a Hill in a continual vicissitude and succession and this is done to the end or in such order and manner that man should or shall find nothing after him viz. of those things that may come upon him in the course of his life and after-times he cannot by wit fore-see nor by policy prevent ensuing changes and therefore it is a great part of his wisdom to arm himself with patience for all adventures In this Constitution of Heaven for an intermixture Si tristia semper acciderent quis fustineret si semper prospera quis non contemneret sed rerum tanta gubernatrix sapientia horum pernecessariâ vicissitudine eo moderamine electi suis cursum vitae temporalis alternat ut nec adversa frangant nec laeta dissolvant cum potius ista ex illis gratiora illa ex his tolerabiliora reddantur Bern. in Epistola ad Peâ—… Popiensem of Dispensations three things are observable 1. Here is a display of the Divine Attributes intended Not only is Wisdom seen in the allay of Prosperity by Adversity and of Adversity by Prosperity but likewise Goodness Power Justice have their glorious Manifesto's or Displays according to particular concernments of persons whose day is a black-cloudy or a bright Sun-shine one Not only the Word but Providence and that in Dispensations of this nature do witness that the Lord is long-suffering and of great mercy forgiving iniquity and transgression and by no means clearing the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation Numb 14. 18. In the next place The Lord by this intermixture of Whites and Blacks in the course of his Providence will make trial of persons They shall have change of pastures One while the grass is very low another while a fresh leeze is broken up for them The Israelites in the Wilderness are suffer'd to hunger and yet are fed with Manna and all this to prove them Deut. 8 2 3. Lastly God will hereby put a distinction between Earth and Heaven This World rings Changes Heaven's Serenity is never overcast with a black Cloud The Apostle Paul is admirable in the antithesis or opposition he makes on this wise here affliction there an exceeding and eternal weight of glory Here an earthly house of this tabernacle there a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens 2 Cor. 4. 17. and chap. 5. v. 1. Yea wicked men will find a difference between their state here and their state hereafter so Luke 16. 25. But Abraham said Soâ— remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented CHAP. II. 1. BE not secure because of a present Nos verò sic laetari debemus ut non immergamur sed servemus partem cordis Deo quâ etiam ferre possimus diem malum sic fiet ut mala praevisa minus discrucient nos Luth. in Eccles cap. 7. Sed nos immergimur penitus vel laetis vel adversis pii verò ubi boni mali vicissifudinem patiuntur dicunt Hic Dei ordo sive mos est neque frangantur Ibid. Tranquillity or Sun-shine of Providence in matters The Horse goes well over the Plain a rough way is at hand where it may stumble and dismount the Rider yea it may happen the Horse may trip on the Plain some little hillock or loose stone in the way may occasion a fall And in my prosperity I said but God said not so though David said so I shall never be moved Lord by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled Psal 30. 6 7. 2. Give not way to a despondency under Adversity Though the man stand in the Black he may by-and-by be in the White Note here four things 1. There is an evil of Despondency under evils of Smart 2 Good persons yea eminently good are incident to some grumblings or touches at least of this Disease 3. Parties notwithstanding their black Conclusions from the Position of their Affairs may experience God's kindness 4. Persons may even then be nearest Mercy or Mercy nearest them when they deem it furthest off So 1 Sam. 27. 1. And David said in his heart I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul Observe here 1. Who said David a Saint and an eminent one too 2. What did he say I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul Did this one day ever come No for David lived to see the day of Saul's death 3. When was it that David said as he did Even then when Saul's glass was nigh done a few sands to run so that he who did conclude his life would be concluded by Saul's violence he that talks of falling by the hand of Saul hears tidings of Saul's falling by the hand of the Philistins 1 Sam. 30. with 2 Sam. 1. chap. 3. Take a view of the Checker-Table of Providence observe the revolutions that are in the world let not the Whites and Blacks be passed over without a good improvement It is said Deut. 8. 2. And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness Note here how it 's the Israelites duty to call to remembrance or keep up in memory the way and all the ways of God's Dispensations towards them they in their Wilderness-journey had ups and downs Mercies and Judgments were attendants and they are not to forget what might profitably be learn't in the company of such attendants on them in the Wilderness There are moreover two inducements why persons should take a view of this Checker-Table 1. It 's plain or obvious to men's eyes The Whites and Blacks of the Lord's Dispensations are the more visible The walk of Providence from one point to a diametrically opposite point or from the Hill to the Vale and from the Vale to the Hill be speaks men to be sand-blind or pur-blind if it be not noted Thus it 's implied in Luke 1. He hath put down the mighty from their seats and exalted them of low degree he hath filled the hungry with good things and the rich he hath sent empty away v. 52 and 53. They then are very deaf or have an injudicious ear who hear not the loud Bell of Providence in such changes which befal themselves or others 2. As this Checker-table is plain or obvious to the eye so is it a large one There are many whites and blacks There
and truth in my days Isa 39. 8. 2. As there is a robbing of the Lord in respect of his goodness and mercy in eying only the bitter part as bitter in Dispensation so a person in so doing stands in the light of his own support and comfort He that can read Love Mercy Wisdom in the Characters of Providence though written with the intermixture of Gall in their black Ink will not tear in pieces the Letter sent from Heaven The Prophet Jeremiah gives a large description of Miseries Lam. 3. from v. 1. to 21. and in v. 22. what saith he It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not Here is a sense of Mercies as well as before a sense of Miseries and a good use is made of this in v. 26. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. OBSERVATION XXXVI There is a Retaliating-work or work of rendring like for like observable in God's dealing with the sons of men CHAP. I. THIS Retaliating-work of Providence may be considered both by way of frown and smile or as grievous in a way of smart and gracious in a way of favour Each of these have a correspondence with what is foregoing either by way of proportion literal if I may so term it there is a Copy or Counterpane of the former Deed or as is vulgarly said the same bread which men break to others is broken to them again or by way of proportion equivalent or in value God doth sometimes pay persons in the like coyn sometimes the payment is made in Bullion which though it have not the like Image or Superscription on it yet it comes out of the same Mine though not the same Mint There is a general accord with what did precede and that as was said by way of frown and smile For the further clearing up of this Meditation or Observation the following Heads of Discourse offer themselves to consideration First There are Assertions in Scripture on this wise These Assertions are 1. General 2. Particular 1. The Assertions general which do point at this are to be spoken to And here not to be large hear what He asserteth whose word may well be taken Christ himself Judg not that ye be not judged for with what judgment ye judg ye shall be judged and with what measure ye mete it shall be measur'd to you again Mat. 7. 1 2. Compare this Scripture with Luke 5. 37 38. and we have the Text or Subject-matter enlarged for thus it is said Judg not and ye shall not be judged condemn not and ye shall not be condemned forgive and ye shall be forgiven give and it shall be given unto you good measure pressed down and shaken together and running over shall men give into your bosome for with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again 2. There are Assertions in particular and that as they point at frowning-Dispensations and smiling-ones The first sort of Assertions in particular as they respect wrath we have scattered up and down in Scripture So Isa 33. 1. Wo to thee that spoilest and thou wast not spoiled and dealest treacherously and they dealt not treacherously with thee when thou shalt cease to spoil thou shalt be spoiled and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously they shall deal treacherously with thee Rev. 13. 10. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword The later sort of Assertions in particular we have likewise on Sacred Record So Psal 41. Blessed is he that considereth the poor the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble the Lord will preserve him and keep him alive and he shall be blessed upon the earth and thou wilt not deliver him to the will of his enemies the Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing thou wilt make his bed in sickness v. 1 2 3. To this add one Scripture more Psal 18. 25. With the merciful thou wilt shew thy self merciful with the upright thou wilt shew thy self upright And that in Mat. 5. 7. Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy Secondly The Prayers that are in Scripture recorded do imply a Retaliating-work of Providence There are Sacred or Divinely-inspired reflections on the evil and good deeds of persons and these reflections have reached Heaven for an answer so in Psal 137. 7. Remember O Lord the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem who said Raze it raze it even to the foundation thereof So likewise Lam. 1. 22. Let all their wickedness come before thee and do unto them as thou hast done unto me for all my transgressions for my sighs are many and my heart faint And Rev. 6. 7. And they cryed with a loud voice saying How long O Lord holy and true dost thou not judg and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth Again there are passages in Prayer of another aspect or reflection Boaz answered and said to Ruth It hath fully been shewed me all that thou hast done unto thy mother-in-law since the death of thy husband and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother and the land of thy nativity and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore The Lord recompense thy work and a full reward be given to thee of the Lord God of Israel under whose wings thou art come to trust Ruth 2. 11 12. The Lord said Paul give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus for he oft refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain 2 Tim. 1. 18. Thirdly There are Exemplifications of a Retaliating-work and that 1. By way of Wrath or Judgment or Severity 2. By way of Mercy 1. To begin with the first sort The first-born of Egypt were slain and that very righteously if consideration be had to the bloody Edict for the destroying the male-children of the Israelites and look as Orders were issued out to drown the children of the Israelites in Egypt's River so Pharoah with his Host are drowned in the Red-sea Exod. 1. 16. and v. 22. with Exod 12. 29. and Exod. 14. 30. Samuel tells Agag As thy sword hath made women childless so shall thy mother be childless among women and Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal 1 Sam. 15. 23. Vengeance is for Edom and why Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance Ezek. 25. 12 13 14. O Jerusalem said Christ which killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee behold now your house is left unto you desolate Luke 13. 34 35. It is said Rev. 16. 6. for they have shed the blood of saints and prophets and thou hast given them blood to drink for they are worthy And in Rev. 18. 6. Reward her even as she rewarded you and double unto her double according to her works
moth and to the house of Judah rottenness Both the Moth and Worm do by degrees consume the Garment and Tree whose corroding Tenants they are In Rev. 16. the Angels there have the vials of the wrath of God these vials are poured forth not all at once but gradually and each vial may have its degrees too for so the form of a vial imports What is contained in a vial is not poured forth as water out of a Pail or Bucket the brim whereof in regard of its latitude is commensurate with its bottom 2. From Exemplifications Before Israel was carri'd away captive by Salmaneser 2 King 17. they had not only warnings by the Prophets of the Lord v. 13. but also knocks before the killing-blow by Salmeneser We read of their intestine broils and forreign ones too 2 Kings 15. That of Jeremiah is full Israel is a seattered sheep the lions have driven him away first the king of Assyria hath devoured him and last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones Jer. 50. 17. And not only so of old but in the Calamity fore-told by Christ Luke 21. there were doleful harbingers and fore-runners of the destruction of the Jewish people Josephus a Jew hath written a Commentary on Christ's Prophecy Gamaliel tells of two by-blows and they bloody ones which happened to their State Acts 5. 36 37. 3. From the various wise ends of God as 1. To testifie the patience and long-suffering of God towards men God doth not by and by fall in he bears and forbears There are Rods before Scorpions O Israel thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah Hos 10. 9. How shall I give thee up Ephraim How shall I deliver thee O Israel How shall I make thee as Admah How shall I set thee as Zeboim Hos 11. 8. The long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the Ark was a preparing as is said 1 Pet. 3. 20. 2. To render men without excuse who notwithstanding preambulatory Dispensations of Providence are still vile and impenitent The people turneth not unto him that smiteth them neither do they seek the Lord of Hosts therefore will the Lord cut off from Israel head and tail branch and rush in one day Isa 9. 13 14. See further Luke 13. 7. Rev. 16. 9 10. In the next place There is a gradual process of Providence in Mercies And this appears three ways 1. From Promises which do imply so much Thus Moses tells the Israelites saying The Lord thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little Deut. 7. 22. And so in Hos 2. 15. I will give her vineyards from thence and the valley of Achor for a door of hope 2. From Instances and that in Temporals and Spirituals 1. In matters referring to this life there is first the blade then the ear after that the full corn in the ear to allude to that in Mark 4. 28. Riches are oftentimes given in gradually It is said of Jacob The man encreased exceedingly and had much cattel and maid-servants and men-servants and camels and asses Gen. 30. 43. Joseph had two petty exaltations before the great one God did let him understand that he who could exalt him in Potiphar's Family and in the Prison could when he pleased give him favour in the sight of others It is noted how David waxed stronger and stronger and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker 2 Sam. 3. 1. Abraham had first a promise of a child after Ismael is born after an Isaac after a posterity like the Starrs for number Hezekiah was sick unto death Isa 38. 1. a promise he hath for health v. 5. direction for the means v. 21. and the means prove succesful 2. In Spirituals The kingdom of heaven saith Christ is like to a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field which indeed is the least of all seeds but when it is grown up it is the greatest amongst herbs and becometh a tree so that the birds of the air come and lodg in the branches thereof Mat. 13. 31 32. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed Acts 19. 20. I might here more particularly shew the gradual process of Providence in Spirituals it shall suffice to point out the way rather than travel on it We may observe the extent of this Observation 1. In the conversion of man from the state of nature to a state of grace There is a gradual procedure in nature though not in time distinguishable for as in the creation Let there be light and there was light Gen. 3. so in the spiritual creation God sets up light in the understanding see Acts 2. 37. Acts 26. 18. Eph. 5. 8. Moreover before the reception of grace in the heart there is much of Providence in providing the Spiritual Seeds-man in the disposal of persons here and there in order to their acquaintance with God in rouzing some by afflictive dispensations and the like precursory dealings of Providence But 2. In the mortification of sin The Apostle sets forth this by Crucifixion a lingring death Rom. 6. 6. We are willed by the same Apostle to mortifie the members which are upon earth Col. 3. 5. 3. In growth of grace The very term doth imply the thing An Acorn is not by and by an Oak The Mustard-seed becomes a tree in time and the smoaking Flax a flame We read of children young men and fathers 1 John 2. 13. The Trees are not all of equal height and bigness in the Lord 's Lebanon 4 In Victory over Satan So in that last Scripture mentioned that is said there of young men Ye have overcome the wicked one which is not at least in like degree applied to children and they who are the young men in grace are not so well vers'd in Satan's methods as the wise and sage fathers in grace are We are not ignorant of his devices saith Paul 2 Cor. 2. 11. The same Apostle speaks of bruising or treading Satan under the Romans feet shortly Rom. 16. 20. 5. And lastly In a perception sense or spiritual feeling of the love of God and this may be considered with respect to two sorts of persons 1. The new Convert who lately of a slave to Satan is made a free subject to Christ The dust of sin raised by 〈◊〉 convictions do cover the copy of grace 〈◊〉 on his heart by the hand of his Spirit so that it is not by and by legible A sense of the party 's own vileness makes him or her hang the head till Christ revive by some passage or other as he did that poor Woman saying to her Thy faith hath saved thee go in peace Luke 7. 50. with 44. 2. The old Saint but now in a desert Christ for wise ends stands aloof from the Saint's dores The Lord is a chastizing-Father or trying-One and no wonder if the Child be not quiet till the Father smile Thus David who had defiled his Conscience by sin
was not by and by setled The holy Dove builds not the Nest of Comfort amongst Thorns and Nettles these must down ere Consolations come from above David cries out of broken bones Psal 51. 8. he is an humble supplicant for the light of God's countenance and the joy of salvation v. 8 9 10 11. and no wonder for broken bones are not by and by healed and the nigh-shipwrack't vessel by and by rigg'd Job's quiet and comfort was handed in by degrees God answereth him out of a Whirlwind chap. 38. and after vindicates him from the calumnies of his friends accepts his performances and turns his captivity as it is declared in chap. 42. 3. From the wise Ends of God in the gradual process of Mercies What these are may be touched 1. To correct for sin The Chariot of Providence moves no faster because men throw the logs of sin in the way There is no reason for men to complain that God is slow in delivering when they are swift in sinning The hand of the Lord is not shortned that it cannot save c. but your sins have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you Isa 59. 1 2. The Israelites Wilderness-sins made the Wilderness-journey forty years which might have been performed in forty days 2. To exercise faith prayer patience by this gradual process Jacob is a Wrestler before he is a Prevailer Hannah prays believes and waits ere she hath a Samuel There is a connexion of Duties with Mercies though not a connexion of Merit on our part If Providence give in Mercies before seeking of them there is ground to adore Soveraign Mercy no reason to neglect Duty for time to come 3. To fit for Mercies The Scabbard must be fitted for the Sword otherwise the Sword though it have a golden Hilt will cut the Scabbard or fall out of it to the danger of him who girds it on There is the strong Wine of Mercies which weak heads are not able to bear It 's hard for a man to go over the high golden Bridg of Mercies and not be giddy-headed The Israelites were not by and by fitted for Canaan nor Joseph for Egypt's Dignity nor David for the Royal Diadem noâ— a Novice for â—…e Ministry lest being lifted up with pride be fall into the condemnation of the devil as the Apostle saith 1 Tim. 3. 6. 4. To teach the lesson of thankfulness For 1. The gradual process of Providence in Mercies doth lay forth the Mercy by piece-meal before the eye God could have created the World in one day but he took six to the end men might take the fuller view of the glorious work of Creation The same method in the work of Providence serves to the like end Moses when the Israelites are to take possession of Canaan doth rehearse the several stages of their journey Numb 33. A Mercy indeed is better viewed in its walk than in its leap 2. God's bestowing things gradually doth inure to the exercise of the grace of Thankfulness Every little of mercy doth deservedly call forth the Lord's praises The slaying of Sihon King of the Amorites and Og King of Bashan was a preamble for further thankfulness to the Israelites Deut. 3. 1 2. 3. The very laying of the foundation of the Temple was ground for the Priests and Levites praising and giving thanks unto the Lord as is recorded Ezra 3. 10 11. 3. Hâ—reby Parties are taught how to value the full crop of Mercy The Husbandman's joy in the Harvest transcends his joy for pleasant showers before the Harvest His waiting makes way for his prizing what he waits for Behold the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth James 5. 7. Canaan after a long Wilderness-journey is the more valued by the Israelites CHAP. II. 1. FROM the gradual process of Providence in Judgments behold the folly and stupidity of sinners They are secure though Judgments have had their real as well as verbal Preface God hath shewed the Rod and smitten with it and yet they promise themselves Golden Mountains when they are ascending desolate ones like Agag who said Surely the bitterness of death is past 1 Sam. 15. 33. It was said of Ephraim Strangers have devoured his strength and he knoweth it not yea gray-hairs are here and there upon him yet he knoweth it not Hos 7. 9. Oh how sad is the case of stupid sinners who consider not how lesser Judgments are but par-boilings for greater ones 2. From the gradual process of Providence in Mercies learn 1. To observe the first foot-steps of Mercy Men should be as forward in their observation as Providence is in operation The way to see the great things of Providence is not to despise the day of small things Zech. 4. 10. 2. To watch against Pride and Impatiency if a Mercy come not by and by Behold his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him but the just shall live by his faith Hab. 2. 4. It 's wisdom for persons to crush that which may crush the Mercy An head swollen with pride and vanity will not be receptive of the Crown of Mercy 3. To improve the first-fruits of Mercy He that improves the dawnings of Mercy may behold the glorious day of Mercy Jesus answered and said unto Nathaniel Because I said unto thee I saw thee under the fig-tree believest thou Thou shalt see greater things John 1. 50. OBSERVATION XLVI PROVIDENCE doth make a sudden change of the face of things or There is a Leap as well as a soft and gentle Walk of Providence in matters CHAP. I. VVHAT hath been before said of the gradual process of Providence is not so to be understood as contradictory to the Liberty and Royal Prerogative of the Lord in sudden alterations Moreover the gradual Caeterum si respicimus ad Dei consilium nunquam motam facit novit enim omnes temporum articulos in ipsâ tarditate semper accelerat utcunque non apprehendat hoc caro Calv. in Hab. c. 2. v. 23. workings of Providence are consistent with sudden alterations made by Providence A strong wind unexpected comes and the Trees full of ripe fruit have their thin and lean face in a moment Now that there are such sudden alterations both as to Judgments and Mercies may be evidenced as followeth 1. There is a sudden change of the face of things in regard of a black and ruful face of things to take place and this will appear 1. From the full and elegant similitudes by which this sudden change is painted forth in its genuine and proper colours So in Isa 30. 13. Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall swelling out in a high wall whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant Other full and pregnant allusions there are as to the withering of the grass when the spirit of the Lord bloweth on it Isa 40. 7. the cutting off like the foam on the waters Hos
his own land Here was a prediction of death the kind of it and the place where and accordingly it was fulfilled as it is recorded in the 37 38 verses of the same Chapter 4. From the peculiar Prerogative of God as he is 1. the God of Mercies and so he hands Mercies to men 1. by their own deaths they are taken away from the evil to come God houseth them in Heaven before the black storms fall out on the earth See 2 King 22. 20. Isa 57. 1. 2. By the deaths of others who are thorns in the sides of his people the burning up of these thorns is a joyful bonfire So in 2 King 13. 22. Hazael oppressed Israel in ver 23. The Lord was gracious to them and had compassion on them c. Now how the Lord shews himself thus gracious and compassionate we have in v. 24. So Hazael the King of Syria died Thus the Lord is a God of Mercies even in the deaths of men But then 2. as the God of Judgment and so not only wrath but great wrath comes forth on the stage of the World in timing the deaths of persons The glorious terribleness of Justice is here seen as 1. when Providence suddenly snatcheth a man from his fancied Paradise Thou fool this night thy soul shall be required of thee c. Luke 12. 20. Death as Providence doth judicially time it hath a sting in its sting so in that Monarch who was slain in his Royal City by his own Sons and while at his devotions in the House of Nisâ—och his god Isa 37. 37 38. 2. When the deaths of many thousands are timed together The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth Psal 9. 16. We read of Seventy thousand men who dyed of the Plague in three days time 2 Sam. 24. 15. And in 1 King 20. 29. the children of Israel slew of the Syrians an hundred thousand foot-men in one day Now if there were not a Providence in the timing the deaths of persons the glory of Divine Justice would have its grave with the vast multitudes who fall by Famine Sword or Pestilence all which are the Lord's Arrows as the Prophet Gad informeth David in 2 Sam. 24 12 13. 5. From the success and non-success of means used in order to the proroguing or lengthning forth of life The preservatives of life are conservative of it no otherwise than as the Lord pleaseth This may be evidenc'd in three things 1. In the use of Medicinal means which sometimes very improbable to reason avail to the recovery of health and that though the person were mortally sick in the judgment of the most accurate Physicians There seemeth to be something of Providence by way of proportion to that Cure wrought on Hezekiah by the lump of Figs as Isa 38. 21. I acknowledg that Cure extraordinary and shall not dispute the question Whether the lump of Figs might not have something of natural tendency by way of cure This is that I contend for That Providence is very much seen if not in elevating improbable means in themselves considered in order to a cure yet in bringing to light such means which are improbable to mans reason though very proper for the recovery of the Patient who like Epaphroditus was sick nigh unto death but God had mercy on him Phil. 2. 27. And as the Lord's mercy and Providence is displayed in the raising of persons from the grave so no less may the hand of Providence be seen in rendering the means us'd for health succesless A Colledg of Physicians are Physicians of no value when and where the Lord the great Physician withdraws his manutenancy or succeeding hand of Providence witness this in Asa who had his Physicians but not his cure dye he must his disease lodgeth him in his grave 2 Chron. 16. 12 13. But 2 dly in the matter of Diet some Creatures have more of a restorative virtue than others and yet some are healthier fairer live longer with their Pults than others who eat their portion of the King's meat Dan. 1. 12 15. Whence is this the word doth plainly lesson Exod. 23. 25. He shall bless thy bread and thy water and I will take sickness away from thee And Mat. 4. 4. Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God Lastly In the greatest caution or circumspection men use to preserve themselves in dangers The King of Israel disguiseth himself and hath his Armour yet an Arrow finds its passage between the joynts of his Harness 1 King 22. On the other hand Jehosaphat who was in the same fight and in greater danger than King Abab is preserved It came to pass saith the Text when the Captains of the Charives saw Jehosaphat in his Royal Robes that they said It is the king of Israel therefore they compassed about him to fight but Jehosaphat cried out and the Lord helped him and God moved them to depart from him 2 Chron. 18. 31. 6 thly and lastly From the absurdity which would otherwise follow For if the timing of men's lives here in the world be not according to the bounds which the Lord sets then to whom shall the glory in point of preservation be attributed Shall men think themselves or acknowledg Fortune in contradistinction to Providence The Scripture otherwise teacheth Psal 31. 15. My times are in thy hand deliver me from the hand of mine enemies and from them that persecute me And Psal 68. 20. He that is our God is the God of salvation and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death In the next place it remains that some reply be made to the Objections which look and do but look the matter here asserted in the face and they are as followeth 1. Fifteen years are said to be added to the days of Hezekiah Isa 38. 5. Ans The addition there is no new Addition as it respects the Purpose of God it is rather a new Edition of the Purpose of God a discovery of what lay hid before and is now made manifest notwithstanding the contrary might be concluded in respect of the malignity of Hezekiah's disease To assert that there was a new Purpose of God because of the declaration of the Prophet there were to make a new God who is still the Ancient of days and with whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning as the Scripture affirms Him to be Dan. 7. 9. James 1. 17. 2. It may be objected That in Psal 55. 23. Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days Ans The days of men are considered according to the course of nature Psal 90. 10. The days of our years are threescore years and ten c. and according to the course of Divine Providence which holds an exact accord with the Purpose or Determination of God I know saith the Prophet to Amaziah that God hath determined to destroy thee because thou hast done this and hast not
inter montium angustias quod enim Deus decrevit non apparet sed est absconditum quasi lateret in altis montibus Tunc ergo incipimus agnoscere Dei consilium ubi ipsa experientia nos docet hoc vel alio modo fuisse decretum quod prius nos latebat a picture of the process of Providence Things before they come to pass are latent between these Mountains as Calvin interpreteth 2. Matters in Scripture are insisted on as having a reference to God's Decree or Will 1. Some things are referred to God by way of proper efficiency Paul speaks of vessels of mercy which the Lord had afore prepared unto glory Rom. 9. ver 23. What this preparing of the Lord is the same Apostle doth give to understand not only in that Chapter but elsewhere as Eph. 1. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of his will v. 4 5. and not only good supernatural as Vocation Justification and the like center in the Purpose or Will of God as the Apostle here sheweth but likewise good natural and moral for he hath made a decree for the rain Job 28. 26. The fire and hail snow and vapours stormy wind fulfil his word Psal 148. 8. Every good and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights James 1. 17. 2. Other matters have a reference to the Decree or Will of God by way of a wise righteous permission It may be observed how the Apostle speaks differently of the vessels of mercy and the vessels of wrath Rom. 9. the vessels of mercy the Lord is said to prepare unto glory v. 23. the vessels of wrath are said only to be fitted to destruction v. 22. God infuseth no evil into them and yet the evil of sin cannot be without his Will so permitting not by way of approbation but physical non-impedition There is indeed a curious and spotless artifice of the Holy One of Israel even in and about the sins of men He never acts deficiently from the Rule of his Eternal Righteousness and therefore the Lord 's Willing sin in a sense is not to be ignorantly jumbled together with man's not-hindering who is under a Law to hinder it I see no reason then to deny the reference that sin hath to the Will or Purpose of God The Necdubitandum est Deum facere bene etiam sinendo fieri quaecunque male non enim hoc nisi justo judicio sinit profecto bonum est omne quod justum est nam nisi hoc esset bonum ut essent mala nullo modo esse sinerentur ab Omnipotente Bono cui procul dubio quam facile est quod vult facere tan facile est quod non vult esse non finere August in Enchirid. cap. 96. hand of Providence writ the Copy of Eternal Love in Christ's Sufferings the Pen had its hair and that its blot a very great and black one and yet what saith Peter Acts 2. 23. Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and fore-knowledg of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain Add to this that in Acts 4. 27 28. which seems to be a full and clear confession of the Church in this point 3. Matters are insisted on in Scripture not only by way of mâ—er Reference but also by way of Inference from the Purpose or Will of God as declared An instance full for this is the not breaking the legs of Christ John 19. 33 36. The Apostle Paul doth also inter calling c. from predestination Rom. 8. 30. yea he doth infer a patient bearing of afflictive dispensations on this wise saying that no man should be moved by these afflictions for your selves know that we are appointed thereunto 1 Thes 3. 3. 4. Instruments in their actings have a subserviency to the Purpose or Will of God In Ezekiel's vision the wheels are mov'd by the living creatures they go whither the Spirit was to go Ezek. 1. 12. And not only Instruments ministerial who act knowingly and regularly but others who intend no conformity to the Will or Purpose of God in matters brought to pass do yet pay a kind of tribute to the Lord's Will as in the selling of Joseph into Egypt and the crucifying of Christ Gen. 50. 20. Acts 4. 27 28. 5. If the Lord's Will be not the foundation of Dispensations then something else must take place and if men as the noblest of creatures here below shall have the Chair of State then to sacrifice to their own net and to burn incense unto their drag will be found good divinity which the Prophet censures as bad Hab. 1. 16. But Christians have not so learned Christ for he teacheth to resolve their mercies ultimately into the good pleasure of God Mat. 11. 25 26. 6. The Scripture doth plainly assert this truth Psal 115. 3. But our God is in the heavens he doth whatsoever he pleaseth Isa 46. 10. My counsel shall stand and I will fulfil all my pleasure Dan. 4. 29. This is the interpretation O King and this is the decree of the Most High which is come upon my Lord the King Mat. 10. 29. Are not two sparrows sâ—ld for a farthing and one of them shall not fall to the ground without your father Eph. 1. 11. Who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will CHAP. II. 1. BE the more confirmed in the truth of this Observation Look not on the Will or Purpose of God as a Plant of Time but as the Eternal Root of what comes to pass in Time And good reason is there so to do for 1. The Scripture carries the Purpose of God with respect to matters beyond their present existencies in the world Jer. 1. 5. Mat. 25. 34. Rom. 9. 11. 2. The glorious Attributes of God speak another language than so as if he were not resolved on the government of the world till things have their existencies for 1. He is Omniscient from all eternity He knows matters before they exist or have an actual beeing Psal 139. â— Thou understandest my thoughts afar off Acts 15. 18. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning 2. He is Omnipotent nothing resisteth his will He spake and it was done Psal 33. 9. Power belongeth to him Psal 62. 10. 3. He is Independent in his operations He lacquies not after the Creatures none of the Creatures give to him so that a new Purpose hereupon is originally framed which was not before although not declared God is no such debtor to any of the Creatures Find out the Creature to whom God is such a debtor and the debt shall be well paid Rom. 11. 35. 4. He is Vnchangeable there is not the least change in Him He is not a yesterday God purposing and
Scripture why things are not is plain and positive if an eye be had to the Lord's Dominionship Thus in 2 Chron. 15. where it is said There was no peace to him that went out nor to him that came in c. v. 5. And how so for God did vex them with all adversity v. 6. Like unto this is that in Jer. 47. 6 7. O thou sword of the Lord how long will it be ere thou be quiet put up thy self into thy scabbard rest and be still How can it be quiet seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Ashkelon and the sea-shore there hath he appointed it The Lord could if he had pleased have given to the people existent in those black times better hearts and so they had had better times or might have vouchsafed fat times of prosperity and plenty and so they might be spiritually punisht with blindness of mind and hardness of heart That therefore there is no peace the sword is not still and quiet is from the Lord though sin doth intervene as the procuring-cause of such sad dispensations 3. The verity or faithfulness of God is concerned herein why things are not as well as why they are There are predictions which reach the denial of this or that to be All flesh shall not be cut off any more by the waters of a flood neither shall there any more be flood to destroy the earth spake the Lord to Noah Gen. 9. 11. No success for an Ahab at Ramoth-Gilead 1 King 21. 28. Shall he prosper shall he escape that doth such things or shall he break the Covenant and be delivered Ezek. 17. 15. So not a bone of Christ to be broken because the Scripture so fore-told John 19. 36. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many Heb. 9. 28. 4. There is a rich Treasure-house of Mercy in this seemingly empty house of Things not to be It 's not beyond infinite Power and affronted Justice and contriving Wisdom to elevate the most smarting troubles that are in the world above what they are The Lord knows how to find out new ones and to put more teeth and sharper ones into the old ones Yea the worm that dieth not and the fire that goeth not out can be made to bite deeper and burn fiercer Not only is there mercy in the non-constitution of new smarts or heightning old ones but in keeping off such smarts for the kind of them as others are made the subject of That Judgments which have an existence have not a respective existence to thee is from the Lord's mercy Moses notes this in his speech to the Israelites Deut. 7. 15. And the Lord will take away from thee all sickness and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt which thou knowest upon thee but will lay them upon all that hate thee 5. The Prayers of Saints do objectively respect things which are not but to be and things which are but not to be So Daniel prays for the release from the captivity Now therefore O our God hear the prayer of thy servant and his supplications and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate feâ— the Lords sake Dan. 9. 17. see more Psal 51. 7 8 9 10 11 12. Rev. 6. 10. 6. If God hath not the Negative voice who hath Find him out truly that we may come and worship him But who is the that saith anâ— it cometh to pass when the Lord commandeth iâ— not Lam. 3. 37. To deny the Lord's Prerogative in Negatives is to pull the Crown from his head or to make him a God of the Hills not of the Plains because victory is not in the Plains he hath nothing to do there he may get him gone to the Hills and there be positive in his actings But away with this Syrian language 1 King 20. 23. CHAP. II. 1. CHARGE not the Lord foolishly with want of power when things are not thus and thus brought to pass Thinkest thou saith Christ to Peter that I cannot now pray to my Father and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels but how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be Mat. 26. 53 54. 2. Look more to God and less to the Creatures when they give not down their Milk If there be a lock set upon their virtues forces operations remember in whose hand the key is If some who should be and sometimes have been Melchizedecks bringers forth of bread and wine for refreshment Gen. 14. 18. become Nabals hide-bound ones and insulting-ones 1 Sam. 25. 10 11 12. be not startled at it eye God in all their hearts are hardned to soften thine their ears are shut that so thy mouth may be the more opened to pour out thy prayer at a Throne of Grace to God who hath wise ends in such a Dispensation Be humbled then for sin before the Lord who hath all the Creatures at his beck and at whose girdle hang all the keys for unlocking any Creature whatsoever see Isa 59. 1 2. 3. Bless God for Negative Mercies If the Lord were not the cause why things are not what had been your case in regard of miseries All the temporal evils inflicted on others are Memorandums for thy thankfulness The Lord 's withholding Satan from falling in on thee with this or that temptation at such a nick of time doth call for thy acknowledgment There is besides a with-holding Providence a limiting one when Satan is let loose as in Job his case All this may lesson to say as David Bless the Lord O my soul Psal 104. 1. That Psalm is a Meditation on the Providence of God and the Psalmist there observeth the Providence of God in Negatives There are four observables there 1. Why things are and consequently are not in regard of their continued beeings for if God with-hold his influences the Creatures are a nigrum nihil an empty nothing this in v. 30. Thou sended forth thy spirit they are created and thou renewest the face of the earth 2. Why things are not in regard of their operations The Water is a fluid body and would quickly diffuse it self And why not Thou hast set a bound that they the Waters may not pass over that they turn not again to cover the earth v. 9. 3. Why things are not in such a conjunction The beasts of prey are not ordinarily abroad when man is this in v. 22 23. the Sun ariseth they gather themselves together and lay them down in their dens man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening 4. VVhy things are no longer in regard of duration or time for their existencies This we have in v. 29. Thou hidest thy face they are troubled thou takest away their breath they dye and return to their dust OBSERVATION IV. There is a wise Platform of things drawn forth by God or The administration of things in the World is according to the Draught of Divine
relgneth is good news to Zion's friends There are four props for sinking-spirits under black clouds 1. Jesus Christ hath his glorious Titles which are not empty ones His Name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor the Mighty God the Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace Isa 9. 6. He is the Prince of the kings of the earth Rev. 1. 5. 2. The Holy Spirit as an Omnipotent Agent sweetly concenters in or joins issue with Christ in the ordering and management of matters see Zech. 4. 7. John 14. 26. and 16. 7 8. 3. All the promises of God are yea and amen in Christ 1 Cor. 1. 20. There is a promised presence of Christ with his people Mat. 28. 20. Rev. 1. 13 20. 4. Notwithstanding all the furies of men and devils the sad face of things Christ will gloriously discharge the Supream Office of governing the World and bring all to an issue every way glorious see 1 Cor. 15. 24. Rev. 19. 11 12 c. OBSERVATION XV. The Angels are capacious Wheels which move in the great Clock of the World or There is a subordinate Agency of Angels in bringing about Matters in the World CHAP. I. THAT the Angels have their influences appears 1. From Titles Appellations Descriptions given to and of them These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro thorow the earth Zech. 1. 10. Are they not all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation Heb. 1. 14 The Devil likewise with his Attendants are set forth as busie Peripateticks walkers to and fro the earth Job 1. 7. 1 Pet. 5. 8. 2. From the Effects or work done by them There is a transcendency of operation to be noted The Bed of ordinary Second Causes is shorter than that this or that Effect can stretch it self on it The Egyptians are witnesses for this for the Lord cast upon them the fierceness of his anger wrath and indignation and trouble by sending evil angels among them Psal 78. 49. An Angel of the Lord in a night smote in the Camp of the Assyrians an Hundred fourscore and five thousand 2 Kings 19. 35. 3. From Exemplifications and that in matters of publick concernment and also personal What an influence good Angels have on the publike Affairs of the world may be proved from Ezek. 1. Dan. 4. 23. and 10. 13. Mat. 1. 19. And that evil Angels have their influences yet not absolute arbitrary ones may be collected from 1 Kings 22. where the Prince of darkness is a lying spirit in the mouth of the false prophets and so the warr there goes on The Agency of Angels is extensive to persons singly considered Jacob sees Angels ascending and descending his Ladder Gen. 28. 12. These winged Coursers attend the meanest Saint The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them Psal 34. 7. and well for Saints it is so for the evil Angels are for playing small games as well as greater ones We read of two men possessed of Devils Mat. 8 28. The woman of Canaan cries out Have mercy on me O Lord thou son of David my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil Mat. 15. 22. 4. From the particular work specified about which Angels are versant Intimations there are in Scripture both as to good and bad Angels they have each their shops where they may be found hard at work in this world First The good Angels may be consider'd with respect to good and bad ones in the world Their work is to do the Lord's work and that as it respecteth the Lord's people divers ways 1. Good Angels promote Gospel-work in order to persons being brought to the means of grace or the means of grace to them Cornelius was willed by an Angel to send for Peter Acts 10. 3 5. A Vision appeared to Paul in the night There stood a man of Macedonis and prayed him saying Come over into Macedonia and help us Acts 16. 9. The Angels know the state of the Countrey and have thâ—iâ— influence on the Gospel-Seeds-men for the casting of the Seed in this or that plat of ground Yea 2. The good Angels become truly Angelical Doctors in discovering or intimating the will of God about matters and comforting the troubled spirits of his servants Instances there are to this purpose 2 Kings 1. 3 15 Dan. 7. 16. Rev. 17. 7. Mat. 1. 20. Acts 27. 23 24. 3. Good Angels are Saints Guardians Defenders under God Lot had experience of this Gen. 19. 11 16. My God saith Daniel hath sent his Angel and hath shut the Lions mouths that they have not hurt me Dan. 6 22. Their preservation as the Lord pleaseth is a part of the Angels commission as it is asserted Psal 91. 11 12. This Satan knew and therefore urged it though in a majmed sense and to a bid end Mat. 4. 6. 4. Good Angels are encouragers and helpers on of God's Saints in that work unto which God calleth them So in Elisha his case 1 King 19. 5 6 7. So Paul encouraged to appear before Cesar Acts 27. 24. Abraham tells his fervant saying He shall send his angel before thee Gen. 24. 7. 5. Good Angels may sometimes be employ'd in afflicting God's professed people they as Heaven's Chirurgeons are taken up in launcing and cutting-work When thousands fell by the Pestilence an Angel of the Lord is seen with a drawn sword 1 Chron. 21. 14 15. An Angel threatens Zacharia saying Tbou shalt be dumb Luke 1. 20. It 's probable the Angel might smite him with dumbness as the Angels smote the Sodomites with blindness Lastly Whatever other work the good Angels do they are not wanting at death and after death Lazarus dies and is carried by the Angels into heaven Luke 16. 22. And whether their care be not versant about the carkass yea the dust of a believer is not to be denied A contention we read of about the body of Moses Jude v. 9. At the resurrection the Angels gather together the Elect from the four winds from one end of Heaven to another Mat. 24. 31. In the next place The Ministry of good Angels respects bad or wicked ones in the world and that 1. By way of inhibition check or reproof The Angel of the Lord said unto Balaam Wherefore hast thou smitten thine asse these three times Numb 22. 32. 2. By way of compassion or doing some office of kindness There is a voice of distressed nature as well as the voice of grace which comes up before the Lord. Ismael hath a share in Angelical kindness when like to perish for want of water Gen. 21. 16 17 18 19 20. 3. By way of smart and punishment for defaults They are executioners of divine wrath The Sodomites were smitten with blindness Syrians destroyed by an Angel of the Lord And though human creatures shall be instruments to burn the Whore of Babylon yet that may include the Ministry of Angels they may prepare the â—ewel and blow
the more encouraged to mind such work as God calleth unto and that notwithstanding wants and exigencies which present themselves The Lord hath ways enough to help and provide meat for labourers in his vinyard He can prevent wants supply them sanctifie them When I sent you saith Christ to his Disciples without purse and scrip and shooes lacked ye any thing and they said Nothing Luk. 22. 35. 7. What ground is there for sinners to consider of their ways and to turn unto the Lord with all their heart How quickly can the Lord of Hosts draw forth a file of dextrous Marks-men who shall gall them with a slight of Arrows In Deut. 28. there is an Armory of Divine Vengeance All these curses it is said v. 15. shall come upon thee and overtake thee And if the sinner thinks he'â— flye from the curse and get into the City and so be safe there or into the Countrey and have all well there all this will not secure for cursed shalt thou be in the city and cursed shalt thou be in the field v. 16. God who is every where can find out sinners any where Lastly What foundation is there for support and consolation to all pious ones who keep close to God in ways of Faith Love and Obedience They have the Father Almighty Maker of heaven and earth for their Father Some reckon themselves happy to have the countenance of great ones who often prove like Job's Brook that passeth away Job 6. 15. They are the happy ones who have the benign aspect of the great God and therefore godly ones have ground to bear up cheerfully having an interest in a Kingly Friend or Friendly King Let Israel rejoice in him that made him Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King Psal 149. 2. OBSERVATION XVII One and the same Creature may prove a Cordial or a Corrosive a Friend or Foe as God in his Providence ordereth CHAP. I. BEFORE hath been shewed how the Creatures are at the beck of God Here is a further illustration of that in the general but a more particular discovery how one and the same Creature is after a different sort at the beck of Providence The truth of this Observation appears 1. From assertions in Scripture So Job 37. Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud be scattereth his bright cloud and it is turned about by his counsels that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the world in the earth He causeth it to come whether for correction or a rod or for his land or for mercy v. 11 12 13. And as this holds in things natural so also immoral agents so Prov. 16. 7. When a man's ways please the Lord he maketh his enemies to be at peace with him An Enemy as the Lord when and where he pleaseth to exert his will becomes a Friend and a Friend an Enemy 2. From Exemplifications So the same waters which were Israel's Fortress are a Sepulcher or Grave for the Egyptians Psal 135. 13 14 15. The Egyptians deal with the Israelites at their going out of Egypt rather as with sons and daughters than as slaves they give them their portions The Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians so that they lent unto them such things as they required Exod. 12. 32. It is said of Nebuchadnezzar They shall drive thee from men Dan. 4. 32. Who were those Drivers but those that were his Restorers for so it is said v. 36. My Counsellors and my Lords sought unto me and I was established in my kingdom and excellent majesty was added to me Paul from a Persecutor of the Christians becomes a solid Preacher to them Acts 9. 20 21. 3. From particular Demonstrations and that from the Creatures proving 1. Friends 2. Foes First Whoso shall consider God as Almighty need not question the Creatures becoming Friends for 1. Though the Creatures have their noxious qualities yet God can and doth inhibit them from hurting when he sees good so to do A Lion slew the Prophet and not the Ass which stood by the Carkass 1 King 13. 24. The Lions devour not Daniel but they have the mastery of his accusers and break all their bones in pieces ere ever they came to the bottom of the Den Dan. 6. 24. A Viper fast'ned on Paul's hand and he shook off the beast into the fire and felt no harm Acts 28. 3 5. Daniel's Lions and Paul's Viper become negative friends for they hurt them not And positive friends occasionally inasmuch as these Creatures being served with a Divine Writ of Inhibition Both King Darius and the barbarous people are induced to shew kindness to these servants of God Dan. 6. 23 to the end and Acts 28. 6 7 8 9 10. 2. As God doth inhibit Creatures from being hurtful so he doth to a wonder render them helpful and useful They were the barbarous people that shewed no little kindness to Paul and that before the Viper-Providence happened Acts 28. 2. Elijah had a notable experiment of this I have saith the Lord commanded the ravens to feed thee 1 King 17. 3. The Ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning and bread and flesh in the evening v. 6. one would have thought the Ravens were not fit Trustees for bread and flesh they would rather have eaten it than brought it to be eaten but what shall they not do if the great I of Heaven and Earth hath so appointed I could tell here a story from a very good hand How a good man was in very great distress for want of food and at the very nick of such a pinching want a strange Dog unknown to belong to any of his neighbours comes in to his house with a shoulder of Mutton which he fairly lays down and gets him away having discharged the office of a good Market man for those who could eat that Commons hunger being their best sawce 3. Suppose the Lord do not work according to the forementioned ways yet He according to his Infinite Power Wisdom and Mercy can and doth in his Providence render the Creatures as Friends another way We may distinguish Friends into intentional ones and eventual ones Joseph's Brethren acted as enemies and whilst they thus act they are eventually as the Lord over-ruleth his friends Gen. 45. 5. I make no question but divers can say How their greatest enemies have in some respect been their greatest friends whilst others have play'd the Turks with them they have become the better Christians Secondly The Creatures become enemies as the Lord shall make use of them for wise and righteous ends or purposes 1. Some Creatures have their natural defensive and offensive arms which they quickly make use of when the sign of battel is given by the Lord of Hosts David tells of the paw of the Lion and the paw of the Bear 1 Sam. 17. 37. We read of two she-bears which came forth out of the Wood and tare Forty
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.
groan under their insolent Oppressions or oppressing Insolencies There are three ways how Providence bears down sin by bearing down the sinner to his grave 1. By his own hands The Lord arms sinners judicially against themselves They become their own Executioners Achitophel hangs himself 2 Sam. 17. 23. So Judas too Mat. 27. 5. 2. By the hands of others One wild beast gores another to death Belshazzar is slain and Darius the Median took the Kingdom Dan. 5. 30 31. 3. By a more immediate hand of God Dead they are and a Jury say something by saying nothing as to any visible-creature-hand by which death came God who gave life hath many ways to take what is given He hath his Quiver full of Arrows Not only a silent Arrow but a sudden one doth execution Psal 64. 7. God shall shoot at them with an arrow suddenly shall they be wounded CHAP. II. 1. LEARN to whom the glory of hearing up the World is due God's Providence is the true Atlas which support the World that doth shoulder up the World whilst it treads on sin and sinners Upon a serious view taken of Providence on this wise displayed we may say as they said The Lord he is the God the Lord he is the God 1 King 18. 39. 2. Observe an Argument to confirm the truth of God's Providence in governing the World from the restraints put upon sin and sinners in the World The restraints do then bespeak the more remarkable hand of God 1. When parties restrain'd have power in their hand A wonder it was that none of Pharaoh's Life-guard did not knock in the head those saucy and busie fellows Moses and Aaron as they were look't on in the judgment of the Court Exod. 5. 4 5. 2. When there is an old grudg against parties Anger becomes canker'd malice and yet the Canker eats no farther As in Esau's inveterate hatred against Jacob Gen. 37. 41. with Gen. 33 3. When God shall step in in a nick of time and clap on the shackles of restraint The God of your fathers said Laban to Jacob spake unto me yester-night saying Take thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad Gen. 31. 29. so in Esau's case who comes forth against Jacob with his four hundred men Gen. 32. 6. 4. When the Dogs are not only muzled but shall fawn upon the Children Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him and they wept Gen. 33. 4. God in his Providence doth wonderfully affect the hearts of Aliens from Religion so as they are kind Nostro quoque tempore factum est interdum ut praefecti alieni à nostra religione melius se gesserint erga Evangelicos quam illi ipsi qui eandem nobiscum doctrinam professi sunt Lavat in lib. Eld. Homil. 16. to the religious Tatnai and Sethar-bozni are not as the former Officers Ezra 5. compared with chap. 4. 3. Have recourse to the great God in prayer for the bearing down of sinners The Lord hath two Bitts the golden-one of Regenerating-grace and the iron-one of Restraints Stephen prays and Paul is converted Acts 7. 60. with Acts 9. Hezekiah prays and he hath tidings of an iron Bit there is an hook for the nose and a bridle for the lips of a menacing and thundering Senacherib 2 Kings 19. 14 15. with 28. 4. Take thankful-notice of God's restraining-Providence 1. The neglect may provoke God to let slip the Bridle of Restraint The Lord may teach the worth of a Mercy by the want of the said Mercy If the Lord do but hiss for the Fly of Egypt and for the Bee of Assyria they quickly come to the annoyance of people who were before free from annoyance Isa 7. 18 19 20. 2. There is much of God to be seen in the restraint of persons This Jewel is worthy of more than a single cast of the eye Saints owe their Estates Lives to restraining-Providence Jacob could see the face of God in the face of his brother Esau Gen. 33. 10. 5. Secure a share in Regenerating-grace For 1. This is the kernel and cream of blessings Without Grace a man is but a tame Devil at the best Corn and Wine and Oil make men joyll but it 's the light of God's countenance which makes truly glad Psal 4. 6 7. 2. He who hath Regenerating-Providence for his portion will not be without a large share in Restraining-Providence for his protection I will saith David both lay me down in peace and sleep for thou Lord makest me to dwell in safety Psal 4. 8. Unde etiam justi taberna tygurium tentorium ad omnem adversam noxiam vim propulsandam plus virium habet quam improborum robustissimum firmissimum palatium arces propugnacula justorum papyracei parietes improborum ferreis aeneis illorum straminea lectorum integumenta horum laminis ac tegulis illorum ligamina horum seris pessâ—…sis Cartw. in Prov. p. 623. OBSERVATION XXI PROVIDENCE is the Bird of the Air which whistles deeds of darkness to light CHAP. I. BEFORE was shewed how Providence bears down sin in the world and one way amongst others was by way of detection or discovery Hereby sin intended is sometimes prevented as the killing of Paul by certain of the Jews who had banded together to do the fact Acts 23. 12 c. Hereby some are made examples of shame that so others may be deterred from giving way to like abominations as in Ananias and Saphira's case great fear came upon all the Church and upon as many as heard these things Acts 5. 11. Providence then is very remarkable in the dis-vizzarding men and this appears two ways 1. From express and implied assertions or cautions bottomed on assertions Job 12. 22. He discovereth deep things out of darkness and bringeth out to light the shadow of death And Eccles 10. 20. Curse not the King no not in thy thought and curse not the rich in thy bed-chamber for a bird of the air shall carry the voice and that which hath wings shall tell the matter So Luke 8. 17. For nothing is secret that shall not be made manifest neither any thing hid that shall not be known and come abroad 2. From Exemplifications which may be distinguish't according to deeds of darkness which are so termed as sin within is compared to darkness and Satan the Prince of darkness are both Mother and Nurse to such deeds in the general But more particularly and to the matter in hand in regard of secrecy as affecting the dark Ephes 5. 11 12. These deeds of darkness do respect the first Table and second in a way of violation of duties commanded Now each of these sort of deeds of darkness are brought to light 1. Examples there are of the first sort Our first Parents sinned against God in eating the forbidden fruit the Lord himself plays the Anatomist and lays open the bowels of that fact Gen. 3.
the counsels of the hearts and then shall every man have praise of God To this of the Apostle add what Solomon hath as pertinent for a period here and oh that it might put a period to further deeds of darkness Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man for God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil Eccles 12. 13 14. OBSERVATION XXII PROVIDENCE runs parallel with the line of man's life Or Providence reacheth from the Grave of the Womb to the Womb of the Grave CHAP. I. AS there is a general inspection of God over all the Creatures as hath been before shewed so there is a more special over Man the Flower of the Creation next to Angels And this more special Inspection Care or Providence is co-extensive to the life of man which may be evidenced from the Scripture as followeth 1. It is plainly and positively asserted The Lord looketh from heaven he beholdeth all the sons of men from the place of his habitation He fashioneth their hearts alike he considereth all their works Psal 33. 13 14 15. To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven a time to be born and a time to dye c. Eccles 3. 1. See Mat. 10. 29 30 31. Coelum non est otiosum palatium sed Dei regia e quâ Imperium suum per omnes mundi partes cum summâ ratione sapientiâ exercet Mollerus 2. It 's acknowledged by the Lord's people in their addresses to him But thou art he that took me out of the womb thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mothers breast I was cast upon thee from the womb thou art my God from my mothers belly Psal 22. 9 10. O God 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. 3. Otherwise that Principle of undoubted Verity In him we live and move and have our being Acts 17. 28. would expire before man breathe out his last If there be not a constant motion of Providence from life to death the sense must be In him we live not move not and have not our being 4. The Scripture descends particularly 1. To the Actions of man 2. To what befalls man and that by way of reference to the Providence of God First The Actions of man fall under a threefold consideration 1. As Natural as eating drinking walking talking sleeping these are subjected to the Providence of God They are like to make but a poor meal who have both mouths and meat if they find not grace in the eyes of the Lord. While the flesh was yet between the teeth of the Israelites yer it was chewed the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people Numb 11. 33. O Lord I know that the way of man is not in himself it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps Jer. 10. 23. But I will come shortly to you if the Lord will 1 Cor. 4. 19. The answer of the tongue is from the Lord Prov. 16. 1. On that night could not the King sleep Esth 6. 1. For so he giveth his beloved sleep Psal 137. 2. 2. As Civil or Political such are ploughing buying selling It is said of the Husbandman his God doth instruct him to discretion and doth teach him Isa 28. 26. The Apostle James reads to buyers and sellers a good and savoury lecture he willeth them to eye Providence for though they are Masters of their own Trade yet not Masters of their own Lives and what becomes of the intentional bargains then in a moment yea of what they have gotten through succeeding Providence when they are swept away by death which proves at times the death of their Wealth their Estates and Affairs lying raw and undigested and being left in the hands of Fools or Knaves See James 4. 13 14 15. 3. As Moral and that whether good or bad As for actions good no man unless he he forget himself to be a man will appropriate that to himself as a Fountain of which he is but a Cistern for who maketh thee to differ from another and what hast thou that thou didst not receive now if thou didst receive it why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it 1 Cor. 4. 7. See James 1. 17. And as for actions bad which are vulgarly so termed though Providence be not an author of them yet it is a spotless actor in and about them the foul acts in a man's lame-foot and yet lameness is not chargeable on the soul God is an holy God notwithstanding the displays of Providence in and about the Sins of men as hath elsewhere been discovered Secondly What befalls man is reducible to the Providence of God Not only the Honey but the Gall of man's life hath its being from Him I form the light and create darkness I make peace and create evil I the Lord do all these things Isa 45. 7. Job in that Doxology of his acknowledgeth this The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away Job 1. 21. CHAP. II. 1. LOOK back how Providence hath dealt with thee in time past Jacob did so as is left on record Gen. 48. Moses the Man of God in the book of Deuteronomy which may may be termed the book of Moses Farewel-Sermons preach't a Month before his death as some observe doth commend to the Israelites a survey of God's Providence towards them he willeth them particularly to take a view both of Mercies and Afflictions Thy raiment saith he waxed not old upon thee neither did thy foot swell these forty years thou shalt also consider in thine heart that as a man chasteneth his son so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee Deut. 8. 4 5. 2. Take encouragement for time to come to trust in God Some are miserably baffled with temptations for futurity How shall they do What may befall them and the like here is both an Antidote and a Remedy against this Disease Providence runs parallel with the line of life and this may quiet and compose the spirit if well thought on and improved But more particularly consider here three things 1. Providence is not tired It is a mighty Giant not wearied with half-racing Hast thou not known hast thou not heard that the everlasting God the Lord the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not neither is weary Isa 40. 28. 2. The experience of an hitherto-Providence may sweetly invite to wait on God for futurity So David reasoneth Thou art my Lamp O Lord and the Lord will lighten my darkness for by thee I have run thorow a troop by my God have I leaped over a wall 2 Sam. 22. 29 30. So Paul too 2 Cor. 1. 9 10. 3. The Promises are not empty breasts There is enough in them to keep faith
ground At first when the Christian's Sun did not shine so clear he discerned grosser evils but now he comes to behold more inward and spiritual evils 2. By exercising them with variety of conditions These Soldiers know what it is to be in garison and what it is to be in the field They have had both calms and storms on the Sea of this World Witnesses hereof are Abraham Jacob Moses David Job Paul with others These had their divers temptations or trials as is said James 1. 2. 3. By quickning them to the use of means in order to progress As new born babes desire ye the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby said Peter 1 Pet. 2 2. The Spouse seeketh him whom her soul loveth Cant. 3. 1 2. And for her spiritual laziness and drowsiness Christ had withdrawn himself and then she is the more secretly stirred up to seek after him Cant. 3 5 6 7 8. Pertinent to this is that of Jude's direction for progress But ye beloved building up your selves in your most holy faith praying in the Holy Ghost keep your selves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life Jude v. 20 21. Seventhly There are the sallies of Providence in regard of Temptations which befall persons There are certain buffeting seasons when Satan is let loose and that not without a wise and righteous hand of God Thus in David's numbring the people 2 Sam. 24. 1. with 1 Chron. 21. 1. It is said Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil Mat. 4. 1. And as there is a buffeting-season so there is a relieving sally of Providence more than ordinary when the temptation is so The Lord said unto Simon Simon behold Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not Luke 22. 31 32. Though Peter fell and that foully yet as he fell by his rising too high in his own confidence v. 33. so he rises from his falling v. 62. and by his falling for he becomes a more humble Christian afterwards Joh. 21. 15 16 17. To this instance of Peter add that of Paul 2 Cor. 12. 7 8 9. Eighthly There are the sallies of Providence in regard of Calamities These are not the birth of Heathenish Fortune or Chance See now saith God that I even I am be and there is no God with me I kill and I make alive I wound and I heal neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand Deut. 31. 39. The black Horse and the red Horse and the pale Horse Rev. 6. were if I may so phrase it sadled in the Stable of Providence ere Providence rid circuit in way of Judgment on them Divine Providence may be stiled the Master of these Horses for upon the opening of the seals away gallop these Horses that is wrathful Dispensations to take place in the World according to the Contents of the sealed Book there Ninthly There are the sallies of Providence in regard of external Mercies of which persons are in an eminent way made the subjects of There is a plain stamp on this Coin the image or superscription of Providence is very legible Abimilech and Pichol the chief Captain of his Army come to Isaac and said We saw certainly that the Lord is with thee c. Gen. 26. 28 29. It is said of David He went on and grew great and the Lord God of Hosts was with him Hiram King of Tyrus sends messengers to him yea he perceived that the Lord had established him King over Israel and that he had exalted his Kingdom for his people Israel's sake 2 Sam. 5. 10 11 12. When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion we were like them that dream then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing then said they among the heathen The Lord hath done great things for them Psal 126. 1 2. Tenthly There are the sallies of Providence in regard of Habitation Now the Lord had said unto Abraham Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land that I will shew thee Gen. 12. 1. Jacob hath a call to leave Laban to be gone from him whose countenance was not toward him as before Gen. 31. 2 3. Moses must no longer keep the Flock of his Father Jethro he must look after another Flock the Lord's people Exod. 3. 10. Then spake Elisha to the woman whose son he had restored to life saying Arise and go thou and thy houshold and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn for the Lord hath called for a famine and it shall also come upon the land seven years 2 King 8. 1. The Angel of the Lord apppeareth to Joseph in a dream saying Arise and take the young child and his mother and flee into Egypt and he thou there until I bring thee word for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him Mat. 2. 13. Thus there is a display of Providence in the change of Habitation and they who change their places according as there is a warrant or rational ground so to do have experience that though they change their places yet not their God Jacob though he left his Father's Family yet met with his Father's God elsewhere Gen. 28. 16. Eleventhly There are the sallies of Providence in regard of Journeys This is of some kin to the former and yet a difference there is The Bee goes abroad yet keeps to the old Hive Some are not so coop'd up at their accusiomed homes but there are occasions and rational inducements to be abroad Now Providence is on its journey whilst they are on theirs A wonderful Providence there was in the journey of Jacob's sons into Egypt Gen. 42. 1 2. â—hey go down into Egypt for Corn and so the Sheaf-dream is fulfilled and they are there threshed from their chaff v. 9 and 21. Joseph by a good Providence is found by a man when behold he was wandring in the field Gen. 37. 15 16 17. Moses in his journey to Egypt meets with a startling Providence Exod. 4. 24. Elisha in his journey at Shunem meets with courteous entertainment 2 Kings 4. 8 9 10. Ezra's journey of Prayer proves a journey of Providence Ezra 8. 21 23. It is said of Christ he must go thorow Samaria John 4. 4. As there might be reason for his going thorow Samaria in regard of the scituation of Samaria that being the way to the place intended so there might be another reason namely his will for the conversion of the woman there together with her neighbours v. 39. Thus from these and the like Scriptures it may be evidenced how there is much of Providence in journeys and that both as to Temporals and Spirituals Afflictions and Mercies It 's wisdom to take God along with one in journeys on earth and to mind the great journey
by his prudent and politick Delays Soft and fair goes far sometimes in Mars his field CHAP. II. 1. LEARN how wicked men are out-witted and out-work't by Providence They are Snails when they should be Dromedaries and Dromedaries when they should be Snails They conceive mischief but bring forth falshood Psal 7. 14. If there be not a sudden abortion there is a passing the time of delivery Thus according to the common forms of speech they come a day after the fair or their hasty Bitches puppy blind whelps 2. Beware of sinful Hastes and Delays He that believeth shall not make haste Isa 28 16. Jacob was too hasty in catching after the blessing by the use of undue means Gen. 27. And on the other hand rememember David Psal 119. 60. I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments Eccles 12. 1. Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth John 12. 35. Walk while ye have the light lest darkness come upon you If it be enquired What Rules are of use here as they respect Hastes and Delays It may be answered in three Directions 1. Be well acquainted with thy constitution or temper wisely suspect it and accordingly moderate it Some are of an hasty temper they are like fire in straw have a Gunpowder disposition it is probable Peter was so Mat. 26. 35 c. John 18. 10. Others are of a slow temperament The Cretians are said to be slow bellies Tit. 1. 12. Wisdom then must have its spur or curb and use one or other as there is occasion 2. Take a rational surveigh of matters Consider things with their circumstances So Cum diu cogitaveris tunc fac quod probaveris Nihil ex praecipiti magnum Consilii mora melior in rebus autem certis bene agendi tardita◠removeatur à te Tolle moras in crastinum nihil differas Isidor Hisp lib. 2. Synon c. 12. teacheth Solomon in the case of rash Suretiship Prov. 6. 1 2 3 4 5. And in Eccles 8. 5. A wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment A due view of matters is of great importance when to be swift and when to be slow 3. Eye God for direction and success O Lord I know that the way of man is not in himself it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps Jer. 10. 23. Here Jeremiah bolts forth a Doctrine and Solomon gives us a good practical Use of the point Prov. 3. 6. In all thy ways acknowledg him and he shall direct thy paths 3. Bless God for what of mercy is conveyed by Hastes or Delays It is said Abigail made haste 1 Sam. 25. 18. and David takes notice of the Providence for saith he Blessed be the Lord God of Israel which sent thee this day to meet me v. 32. O how much is there of a glorious display of Providence both in Hastes and Delays The Church of God doth experiment this The wind of Providence blows good to the Lord's people and that though at different points of the Compass Sometimes they who are Pirates and seek to make a prey of God's people are wind-bound and sometimes a fair wind they have but the gust are so strong and vehement as that the Ship of Fools is swallow'd A notable story for illustration may be here set down which hath been recommended to divers from the learned and pious Vsher whose Uncle as I have been informed telling the story but not knowing the person at Christ's Church in Oxford at the Table there a Gentleman blush't and confessed himself to be the man Doct. Fuller the History of the Worthies of England Westmerland p. 137. And seeing the story is in print now I shall set it down as it is related by one of our own worthy Writers and pass to another Aphorism or Observation About the third of the reign of Queen Mary a Pursevant was sent with a Commission into Ireland to impower some eminent persons to proceed with fire and fagot against poor Protestants It happened by Divine Providence this Pursevant at Chester lodged in the house of a Protestant-Inn-keeper who having gotten some inkling of the matter secretly stole his Commission out of his Cloak-bag and put the Knave of Clubs in the room thereof Some weeks after he appeared before the Lord 's of the Privy-Council at Dublin of whom Bishop Coren a principal and produced a Card for his pretended Commission The black Box it seems wherein the bloody Commission was at first was tied up with an hold-fast knot till opened in Ireland They caused him to be committed to prison for such an affront as done on design to deride them Here he lay for some months till with much ado at last he got his enlargement Then over he return'd for England and quickly getting his Commission renewed makes with all speed for Ireland again But before his arrival there he was prevented with the news of Queen Mary's death and so the Lives of many and the Liberties of more poor Servants of God were preserved OBSERVATION XXIX PROVIDENCE hath its various or several aspects in matters or The Eye of PROVIDENCE looks more ways than one CHAP. I. IN Ezek. 1. every one of the living creatures had four faces v. 6. and the wheels there or rather the rings of them as the more immediate subject are said to be full of eyes v. 18. What may these passages in the vision import but probably the manifold aspect of Providence in matters However the truth of the Observation may be considered two ways 1. Exemplifications there are in Scripture to this purpose That Providence in the Brethren's going down to Egypt had its various aspects it did look backward on their guilt for that is brought to remembrance Gen. 42. 21. and it did look forward to their preservation in the time of Famine as Joseph doth inform them Gen. 45. 7. The borrowing of the Egyptians Treasure Exod. 12. 31 36. respects the Egyptians in a way of punishment in the Lord 's transferring the property of the goods borrowed to the Israelites who are now well paid for their hard service and are furnish't with materials for the Tabernacle such as gold silver brass blue purple and scarlet Onyx-stones c. Exod. 25. The taking of the Ark by the Philistines 1 Sam. 4. 11. seems to confute a conceit of God's protecting Presence because of the outward symbol or sign of his presence in which the Israelites rested as 1 Sam. 4. 3 4. and not only so but to punish the Israelites for their Ark-removing sins or provocations as 1 Sam. 2. 22. Neither doth that Providence stop here God vindicates the honour of the Ark thus taken the Philistins shall be overcom'd when they do overcome The Ark of God amongst them that Sacred Chest becomes in a sort a large Coffin for the burial of many of them for there was a deadly destruction thorowout all their Cities the hand of God was heavy on them as is recorded
There is a primary or chief Errand which Providence hath to a man under this or that Dispensation as he who goes to a Prince's Court intends principally the sight of the Prince and yet beholds others there Sometimes an afflictive Dispensation may be primarily by way of castigation for some special sin and secondarily by way of probation trial or exercise of grace Thus in David's case when Absolom's wild and horrid pranks are the Remembrancers of David's folly in the matter of Vriah see 2 Sam. 12. Again otherwhiles a Dispensation of Providence may principally respect the trial of grace and not some signal guilt foregoing So in Job his case Providence might cast there an eye on the sins of his youth as that passage Job 13. 26 may import and yet it might primarily intend and point out the sparkling-graces of his riper years for we read of Job's precious piety and rare or admired circumspection before the Devil was let loose on him and likewise the Lord's approbation of him and nothing doth Satan charge against Job but a falsly supposed guilt of selfishness in serving God see Job 1. These and the like Reasons may sway That though correction for sin is not excluded yet the display of grace was primarily intended in that startling Dispensation of Providence CHAP. II. 1. VVHAT stupidity dulness and inadvertency is abroad in the World Providence like the Sun scatters its beams and and few they are who see them The most of persons if they see any thing it 's like that man in Mat. 8. 24. I see men saith he like trees walking It 's often to be noted how men have general and confused apprehensions of a frowning aspect of Providence It is for our sins say they that this or that judgment is Here is a stop they are not by a frowning Providence frown'd into an holy loathing of such sins which Providence frowns on The Aspects of Providence are little seen and less improved Israel doth not know my people doth not consider Isa 1. 3. 2. Take heed of slandering Providence in its Aspects Make not that an encouraging-Aspect of Providence which God doth not so make constitute or appoint There is a Negative-Aspect of Providence where man sometimes fancies a Positive-one He that shall follow the false Prophet because of a sign given and that sign comes to pass abuseth Providence in a pretended Aspect of it see Deut. 13. 1 2 3. 3. Labour to be verst in the Aspects of Providence For want of an holy dexterity this way a man wrongs God others and himself He fastens by a wrong construction that on God which the Lord approveth not and is injurious to others and himself as others or himself are concern'd in the wrong Conclusions drawn from the Aspects of Providence Here some Directions might be insisted on I shall touch on a few 1. Take heed of an erroneous judgment If the light that is in a man be darkness how great is that darkness Mat. 6. 23. The Jews who took themselves to be in the right and withal judged Christ to be a Deceiver how do they misapply the Aspect of Providence towards Christ on the Cross It 's true the Aspect was a frowning one but not in such sort as they blasphemously asserted it to be see Mat. 27. 39 40 41 42 43. The two Witnesses are slain and what befalls them is otherwise than according to truth interpreted by them who did rejoyce over them and make merry Rev. 11. 10. Luther whilst a zealous Papist had other thoughts of the Inter hos autem occurrebant isti fratres quos Pighardos vocabant jam mihi non ita invisi ut anteà erant in Papistate meâ Dissentients from the Romish Synagogue than afterwards when his judgment was set right as he declareth in his Preface to the Confession of Faith of the Barons and Noblemen of Bohemia 2. Consider how a benign Aspect may be a frowning one and a frowning one a favourable one The prosperity of a sinner is his misery and the adversity of a Saint is his mercy as the Lord ordereth the matter in the course of his Providence Want of wisdom to see a mystery in God's Providence on this wise is the reason why men are out in their apprehensions about the Aspects of Providence The Psalmist speaks fully to this saying O Lord how great are thy works and thy thoughts are very deep a brutish man knoweth not neither doth a fool understand this when the wicked spring as the grass and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish it is that they shall be destroyed for evermore Psal 92. 5 6 7. 3. Be not too quick or hasty in passing a judgment on an Aspect of Providence The Wind of Providence is up but how soon and where or in what quarter it may set man knoweth not The Barbarians censure Paul for a Murderer because Vengeance in its frowning aspect pursues him but when Paul shook off the Beast into the fire and felt no harm they changed their minds Acts 28. 3 4 5 6. 4. Remember how the Aspects of Providence have a different consideration Sometimes a Providence respects the Person but not the Action So in Abraham's case God preserves his Wife which was like to be defiled in Abimilech's Court. God had a respect to Abraham as he was Abraham the Saint Abraham the Prophet not Abraham the distruster of Providence in that matter The Aspect of Providence doth not countenance Abraham's miscarriage in that business Abraham is spoken of there as a Prophet not a Dissembler Gen. 20 7. Again Providence may respect the substance of the action business management not the circumstances or irregularity coupled with the intention disposition endeavour to do this or that It is said God dealt well with the Midwifes Exod. 1. 20. Suppose they had told a lye yet God dealt not well with them because they lied but because they were merciful to the people of God as Austin observeth or because they feared God as it is said v. 21. Whatever were their slips it seems they did act from a vertuous principle which God graciously taketh notice of and recompenceth as is said in the verse mentioned Lot hath a share in a signal Providence by way of rescue or deliverance from the hands of rude neighbours Gen. 19. 9 10 11. He had made a fair or rather a foul proposal of Articles for accommodation v 8. Providence doth not countenance that proffer of his it must not be construed so but as it it respects Lot a Saint or his pious disposition and endeavour to preserve his Guests Providence keeps him who was willing to have the Laws of Hospitality kept unviolated as he professeth saying Only unto these men do nothing for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof ver 8. Lastly Providence respects neither Person nor Action but something else which is the primary object of its aspect Joash is only sav'd alive when all the
unrighteousness A worldly heart will be any thing than what it should be The prognosticks or presages of Apostacy may be seen in an inordinacy of affection to the things of this life So in Judas here that Lion which is known by his griping-paw 4. From the Distinctions of Proemial Dispensations or Presages of Providence These may be considered 1. In respect of the Mode or Manner how they are by way of Presage 2. In respect of the Matter to which they have reference 3. In regard of the Subjects or Persons concern'd in them First In the first place then Presages are considered 1. By way of meer significancy and that 1. Negatively as to that which shall not be So the Bow in the Cloud is a significant Pledg or Token that the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh Gen. 9. 13 14 15. See Isa 7. 5 6 7. with 11 14 15. 2. Positively as to that which thus or thus falls out So the shooting of the Arrow by Jehoahaz and the smiting upon the ground with the Arrows were a presage though an extraordinary instituted one of the smiting of the Syrians 2 King 13. 17 18 19. The crowing of the Cock was a presage of what Christ had said to Peter Mat. 26. 34. with 74 75. 2. By way of real Causality And so David's noble Exploits had an influence to his being received as King by the Tribes of Israel who came to him saying Behold we are thy bone and thy flesh also in time past when Saul was king over us thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel and the Lord said to thee Thou shalt feed my people Israel and thou shalt be captain over Israel so all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron and king David made a league with them in Hebron before the Lord and they anointed David king over Israel 2 Sam. 5. 1 2 3. 3. By way of significancy and causality There are Presages mix't Gideon goes to the Midianites Tents hears one of the Soldiers telling his dream to his fellow and likewise the interpretation thereof given by his fellow and hereupon Gideon is quickned to saith prayer and courage to set on the Army of the Midianites who are worsted as Judg. 7. 10 c. Hither may be referred Comets or Blazing-Starrs as vulgarly termed which as they have often an experienced significancy so some causal influence for as is observed by some the matter of these being hot and dry exhalations no wonder if there follows 1. Barrenness of the Earth and so the fruits thereof more or less sail 2. The reduction of the Humours in men's bodies to an hot and dry intemperature 3. From this intemperature of the Humours what can be expected but an epidemical spreading of acute Diseases 4. From the hot and dry intemperature both of Bodies and the Air the Minds of men which have a sympathy with the Body are easily provoked to wrath contentions brawls and fights and whereas Kings and Princes are more delicate or tender than others and naturally more elated and have the Humours more accommodated and easie for inflammation than others it may easily happen that in these hot and dry years than at other times Princes are sooner and more vehemently stirred up to Contentions Revenges and the waging of Warr in the World and these Warrs oftentimes bring with them the changes of Government or Kingdoms Thus the learned Zanchy All I have to say here is None of the Works of God are to be slighted and though there be some foundation in Second Causes yet we are not to forget the First Cause We read of fearful sights and great signs that shall be Canunt undique galli quando privatim publice nos Deus per verbum suum per prodigia signa ac horribiles insolitosque rerum casus admonet Gualtherus in Marc c. 14. Hom. 126. from Heaven Luke 21. 11. If then the Cocks to use a learned man's phrase do crow and these may be judged such Oh that they might awaken from the sleep of sin to repenting-work Secondly The Presages of Providence may be considered in respect of the Matter to which they have a reference And so they are 1. Joyous or by way of mercy Noah's Dove came in to him in the evening and lo iâ— her mouth was an olive-leaf pluckt off so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth Gen. 8. 11. So Hos 2. 15. And I will give her vineyards from thence and the valley of Achor for a dore of hope 2. Doleful or by way of fore-boading wrath So the death of Abijah the taking away of him from evil to come was a sad presage of wrath to come on Jeroboam's Family as is declared at large in 1 King 13. The falling of Dagon before the Ark was a fore-runner of the falling of the Lord 's heavy hand on the Philistins 1 Sam 5. Other Exemplifications for both these namely Presages Joyous and Doleful are couch't in the fore-going Instances though not alledged under the notion of this particular Consideration but under the notion of Presages in the general Thirdly Presages may be considered in regard of the Subjects or Persons concerned and so persons may be considered 1. Singly or in regard of private capacity as they respect a person or particular family relating to the head of the family So in Saul's case to whom Samuel said The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from theâ— this day 1 Sam. 15. 28. Other Instances mentioned fall in here 2. Conjunctively or as they respect a Community of persons a people who according as the Presages are may be the subjects of joy or wo. There are National Mercies and National Judgments and Presages to or of each The distinct handling of each sort of Presages will fall in with Mercies and Afflictions which are not here particularly to be insisted on I pass therefore to the Accommodation or Improvement of the Observation CHAP. II. 1. LEARN from whence some do give a notable guess at future matters A due observance of foregoing Dispensations is a key to unlock the door for an insight into future ones As some creatures are more sensible of an approaching storm they are the Husbandman's natural Almanack and truest one too Job 36. 31. So they who observe the out-goings of God in the world may see further than the Politicians of the world Great ones who cannot see day at a little hole are strangely be-nighted in their designs and undertakings 2. Observe Providence by way of presage and that the rather considering 1. That so God's Saints have done As we are not to make presages where no ground is so to do so we are not to pass by that the observance whereof may be consistent with wisdom Jacob put not off Joseph's dreams because dreams and the dreams of a boy he gives him the hearing and observes something more in them than the workings of a childish
party against them namely That they were the conquered people of Christ The Scripture had foretold of what should be and so what might make against them makes for them They were overcom'd and yet did overcome by their faith and patience The Wild-Boar of the Forest did chase them to their Father's House A time comes when Christ plays the mighty Huntsman and so slays the slayer to the glory of His Vindictive Justice Nam cum Episcopus Tolosanus stragi intercedens eos qui adhuc residui intentoriis forte manserant misso quodam religioso ut tanto quasi Dei irati contra eos pronunciantis flagello convicti jam tandem feritate depositâ ad fidem quam vocant Catholicam converterentur illi verò se populum Christi victum retorquentes hoc quasi clypeo tentationis impetum frustrati sunt atque ad unum omnes à recurrentium Militum manu intersecti fortiter occubuerunt Thirdly There is a glorious dissplay of Providence in timing both Mercies and Judgments Mercies are timed and so timed as that they are oftentimes inhanced from the season for them God did remember Joseph in the Butler's forgetting of him for Joseph is reserved till he be more fitted for release and till Pharaoh be at a loss about his dreams for the Magicians could not interpret them unto Pharaoh Gen. 41. 8. The like may be observed in Daniel's case between whose intended slaughter and advancement there was but a little time Dan. 2. 13. with following verses Moreover the time of Mercy doth sometimes lead to or point at some duty which the Lord graciously recompenceth at such time The day of setting upon Temple-work is a day of God's blessing them from thence Hag. 2. 18 19. It is observed how the English had victory given Fox Acts and Mon. in the History of Edward the sixth unto them on that very day and hour Images were burnt at London And as for Judgments the Lord times them The Assyrians goes not against an hypocritical Nation till God sends them Isa 10. 6. God knows how to make a Calamity a double one in regard of the timing of it That passage in Mat. 24. 20. doth plainly attest so much Moreover the day of Calamity may point out at sin committed on the day that Calamity is inflicted While the word a proud one was in the king's mouth there fell a voice from heaven c. Dan. 4. 31. Time is sometimes a Glass to behold the sin committed then or before at such a time which hath its recourse when the Judgment is inflicted The day week month of Smart may point to the day week month of Sin before The Second Branch of the Observation refers to Places And here three Propositions likewise offer themselves to consideration First Some Places are Monuments of Providence in regard of what falls out there Surely saith Jacob the Lord is in this place and I knew it not he set up a pillar and called the name of the place Bethel Gen 28. 16 17 18 19. See moreover for this purpose Numb 21. 3. 1 Sam. 7. 12. 1 Chron. 22. 1. Secondly There is much of Providence in going to Places and in absence of parties from Places A Levite lodgeth at Gibeah Judg. 19. 14. and what falls out there is the desolation of Benjamin no less than the lives of Twenty and five thousand Benjamites pay the shot or discharge that Levite's Quarters Judg. 20. 46. In 2 Sam. 20. 1. there happened to be there a man of Belial whose name was Sheba the son of Bichri a Benjamite and he blew the Trumpet of Sedition Nathan Sadock Benaiah Solomon are not at that Seditious Feast of Adonijah Abiathar Joab are and they had better fasted than thus feasted as the sequel of the story doth declare 1 King 1. There was much of Providence in Saul's coming to Jabesh-Gilead for their help 1. Sam. 11. 11. Thirdly Both Mercy and Wrath may be read in legible Characters on Places and at Places The Providence of God is seen in way of Mercy as it respects the place it self in blessing of it as he did the land of Canaan to the Israelites And the same Providence is displayed in way of mercy at places and that in doing good to the souls of men and to the outward man too Many of the Jews which came to Mary at Bethany and had seen the things which Jesus did believed on him John 11. 45. The blind man is in the way nigh Jericho and Christ there passeth by and healeth him Luke 18. 35. And as Mercy is thus displayed so Wrath likewise The Lord turneth rivers into a wilderness and the water-springs into dry grounds a fruitful land into barrenness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein Psal 107. 33 34. The Brethren of Ahaziah are on their progress to visit Ahab's children at Samaria they are met with by Jehu and slain at the pit of the shearing-house even two and forty men 2 Kings 10. 13 14. King Joram is providentially drawn forth from Jezreel and met Jehu in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite 2 Kings 9. 21. he is slain by Jehu and his body is thrown on that very plat according to the word of the Lord as Jehu makes the observation v. 25 26 of the same chapter CHAP. II. 1. FROM the Lord 's timing of matters learn 1. What ground there is for wicked ones to consider of their ways God not only times Punishment but so times it as that it may become double punishment God hath turned the Glass of his Long-suffering in Heaven how many sands are run out and how many are to run out they know not this let them know That God will come in way of punishing if they come not in way of repenting he will come even to a sand When the iniquity of the Amorites is full vengeance steps in Gen. 15. 16. There is a MENE God hath numbred thy kingdom and finished it for a Belshazzar Dan. 5. 25. And as the Lord timeth Wrath so there is a stinging timing of it Wicked ones have a spring-tide of Wrath when they expected it not so it was foretold of Babylon Isa 47. 9. But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day the loss of children and widowhood they shall come upon thee in their perfection c. And in v 11. Therefore shall evil come upon thee thou shalt not know from whence it ariseth and mischief shall fall upon thee thou shalt not be able to put it off and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly which thou shalt not know 2. What ground is there for godly ones to wait on God in this Providence for mercy God hath his timing of mercy and so timing of it as may the more commend the mercy There is a blessed season to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones Isa 57. 15. John's Disciples came to Christ in a seasonable
the Lord came upon Jephthah and he becomes their deliverer Judg. 11. 29. So it is said The Lord saw the affliction of Israel that it was very bitter for there was not any shut up nor any left nor any help for Israel and the Lord said not that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash 2 King 14. 26 27. Joseph was in the briars a knotty case offers it self and while he thought on these things the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him Mat. 1. 20. The Disciples of Christ were in the Ship there arose a great tempest in the sea insomuch that the Ship was covered with the waves they come to Christ awake him saying Lord save us we perish then he arose after this storm and check given to them for the tempest of unbelief in their souls and rebuked the winds and the sea and there was a great calm Mat. 8. 24 25 26. Again when the disciples cry'd out for fear straightway Jesus spake unto them saying Be of good cheer it is I be not afraid Mat. 14. 26 27. Christ appears timely to the Emmaus-disciples under their heaviness Luke 24. 17. And as the Jews went about to kill Paul tidings came to the chief Captain of the Band That all Jerusalem was in an uproar who immediately took Soldiers and Centurions and so rescued Paul Acts 21. 31 32. Paul's Sister 's son heard of the Jews lying in wait to kill Paul and so there was a seasonable prevention of the murderous design Acts 23. 16. Epaphroditus was sick unto the death but the Lord had mercy on him Phil 2. 27. Thus all these are instances of seasonable help from Heaven under extremities Thirdly The variety of Ends which the Lord hath in the swelling of a distress ere he apply the remedy is the next thing to be insisted on These Ends subordinate to his will and pleasure may be reckoned up as follows 1. To chasten for sin Great sins call for grievous distresses As men were swift in transgressing so Providence may justly be slow in delivering God will let men see by the evils of smart how provoking their evils of lin have been Joseph's brethren envy him Gen. 37. 11. had resolution to slay him v. 20. commit Plagiary in selling their brother to the Ismaelites for he was not theirs to sell v. 28. with 40. Gen. 15. They are after distressed in Egypt and Conscience then rings them a peal being so distressed Gen. 42. 21. Their distress riseth higher and higher for behold their money is in their Sacks-mouth and hereupon their hearts failed them and they were afraid saying one to another What is this that God hath done unto us Gen. 42. 28. Neither is this all but a hard task they have to get Benjamin from their Father in order to the purgation of themselves from being Spies and no going again to Egypt without him and if they go not they must go down to their graves for the famine was sore in the Land Gen. 43. 1 2. At length Jacob is prevailed with to let Benjamin go and then their distress evades a superlative one the killing-part of the Tragedy is acted the Cup is found in Benjamin's Sack and according to their verdict Benjamin was to dye and they to be bond-men Gen. 44. 9. Now is the spring-tide of distress which overflows all the banks as appears from the pathetical Oration of Judah who vents his sorrows saying What shall we say unto my Lord What shall we speak or how shall we clear our selves God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants we are my Lord's bondmen and he also with whom the cup is found Gen. 44. 16. Now when their distress mounts to the clouds help comes down from the Heavens I am Joseph saith Joseph I am Joseph your brother whom ye sold into Egypt Gen. 45. 3 4. To this instance add another God did threaten the people by Isaiah with the Assyrian flood which was to overflow go over and reach even to the neck Isa 8. 6. Accordingly it was accomplished for the Assyrians like a deluge of water did overflow even to the head-City Jerusalem which like a man stood up to the neck in these waters the body of the nation being cover'd with them and then the Lord who sets bounds causeth the waters to return as we have the story in Isa 37. 36 37 38. the then there in the Text hath reference to the Jews doleful case when within the City God hath then his Angel for their deliverance when the Assyrian in his pride is highest and resolved in an utter riddance of the Lord's people 2. To dis-engage or take off the heart from creature-dependency and to call forth the faith for exercise on God The greater the distresses are and no way visible for help the more is there a place for faith on God Providence narrows or straitens the conditions of parties that so there may be more room or enlargement for the exercise of faith All Creature-twigs being lopt off there is nothing left but to hang the more on the Creator Faith will find somewhat to take hold on when Sense seeth nothing I looked saith the Psalmist on my right hand and behold but there was no man that would know me refuge failed me no man cared for my soul I cried unto thee O Lord I said Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living Psal 142. 4 5. the like was Paul's case 2 Cor. 1. 8 9. 3. To let men know That the Lord he is God and can help notwithstanding there is a visible face of things to the contrary The Israelites shall out of Egypt and over the Red-sea let Task-masters Horses Chariots the mighty Waters say the contrary Now I know saith Jethro that the Lord is greater than all gods for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them Exod. 18. 11. That is notable in Hezekiah's days when the case was sad at Jerusalem as that in Isa 37. 3. This day is a day of trouble and of rebuke and of blasphemy for the children are come to the birth and there is not strength to bring forth And yet though thus saith Hezekiah yet thus saith the Lord concerning the King of Assyria He shall not come into this City nor shoot an arrow there nor come before it with shields nor cast a bank against it by the way that he came by the same shall he return and shall not come into this City saith the Lord v. 33 34. God is the great Arbiter or Controller of things He will be known amongst the Mighties of the World and one season when he thus will be known is when distressed ones know not what to do but to sigh and pray to him who is great and greatly to be praised and feared above all gods Psal 96. 4. 4. To encourage praying-work The Church of God in Esther's time
had as it were her neck on the block the lifted-up hands hold up the lifted-up Ax from falling down Esth 4. 16. Prayer was made without ceasing for Peter Acts 12. 5. the Lord sends an Angel who procures a timely Gaol-delivery v. 7 8 9 10. As God doth call forth prayer in such extremities for our extremities call upon us to call upon God so his goodness is seen in the answer made unto prayer which may further be a Load-stone to this duty under the like extremities It is said in Psal 102. 17. He will regard the prayer of the destitute and not despise their prayer O how oft have praying-ones had experience of God's regarding them when in respect of their extremities sense and reason might be ready to prompt as if the Lord had utterly rejected them I remember here a memorable story There happened to be a Famine in a Ship insomuch that the question was started about drawing lots who should be eaten one of note in the Ship and a pious man withal desired the rest That they might first seek to God by prayer before they resolved to enact so inhuman a Butchery and accordingly he made a prayer to God and whilst he was praying a Fish of some bigness was cast out of the sea upon the place where he was praying this Fish they divided and though it were but a short Commons for hungry ones yet it put a stop to a Flesh-dinner for that time but however the belly hath no ears hunger comes on and the old question about a bloody Flesh-meal is started The man who was their mouth to God in prayer wills them They might look up again to God having had experience of his gracious Providence in the Fish accordingly to prayer they go and whilst at prayer a Fowl of considerable bigness flies a-thwart the Ship-tackling and is entangled which they had and accordingly divided and before any further controversie did arise a Ship bears up towards them and their distressed case being communicated provision they had out of the Ship and that notwithstanding the Captain of the Ship had a particular grudg against the man of note in the other Ship and was resolved at first to play the Esau with this Jacob but yet did him no harm 5. To render His Wisdom and Power conspicuous and that not only to persons the immediate subjects of such relief but likewise to others in after-generations So for the Wisdom and Power of God there was more than a few drops of these at the Red-sea how often is that deliverance taken notice of and celebrated in the Sacred Scriptures The like may be said of the distress of the Lord's people in Esther's days What a glorious display was there of Power and Wisdom in that astonishing deliverance In Psal 102. we understand of the low and distressed case of persons there for the title of the Psalm is A prayer of the afflicted when he is overwhelmed and poureth out his complaint before the Lord And passages in the Psalm do imply distresses We have there doleful complaints and a tragical description of distress express mention made of Zion's stones and dust and now notwithstanding the sore distress of the Lord's people the Lord is not wanting for it is said ver 16. When the Lord will build up Zion he will appear in his glory that is he will exalt the glory of his Attributes particularly of his Power and Wisdom he hath both Power and Skill to gather the stones and dust and make a glorious building glorious to the eyes of those who shall take a view of all for this shall be written for the generation to come and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord ver 18. 6. To check the pride insultation and malicious resolutions of wicked ones Come say the Babylonians sing us one of the songs of Zion Psal 137. 3. God can in time let the Babylonian know there are those whom he can make use of to make the Babylonians howl who now call for singing one of the Lord's songs How were Pharaoh Haman Senacherih check't at a nick of time And not only in former times hath Providence been seen in giving a check but also in later days There is a very remarkable story of Magdeburge the Citizens whereof in Charles the Fifth's time Emperor of Germany stood out heroically notwithstanding the Emperor had born down with force the Protestants in all Germany only Magdeburge is like the Pelican in the wilderness and the Owl of the desart and the Sparrow alone on the house-top and though so yet how in the nick of time was Prince Maurice who besieged them wheeled about to be their friend and so makes Articles of Peace with them and with his Army falls in upon the Emperor who flies before him and after forsakes the Imperial Crown betaking himself to a retired life and so the Protestant Interest which was sore depressed hath its resurrection to the baffling of Popish expectations Hither or under this head may be referred that of the witnesses in Rev. 11. I wave debates as to parties slain and the time when whether at several times in several generations That which makes for the matter in hand is the Lord 's raising them notwithstanding their being slain and that to the shame and terror of their adversaries for so in v. 11. After three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entred into them and they stood upon their feet and great fear fell upon them which saw them That in Mie 7. 10. may here be accommodated as a good Comment on this place and pertinent to the matter in hand Then she that is mine enemy shall see it and shame shall cover her which said unto me Where is the Lord thy God Behold mine eyes shall behold her now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets Lastly To mention no more The Lord doth step in in the depth of misery to endear himself unto persons holpen and to engage their hearts the more unto him who doth exalt his mercy at such a season So in Exod. 15. 13. Thou in mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed And Psal 34 6. This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles And in Psal 116. The sorrows of death compassed me and the pains of hell gat hold upon me I found trouble and sorrow then I called upon the name of the Lord O Lord I beseech thee deliver my soul gracious is the Lord and righteous yea our God is merciful CHAP. II. 1. SEE folly and vanity 1. In regard of impatiency under evils 2. In regard of excursions or steppings aside from duty to the use of means for which men have no warrant There is folly both these ways The Israelites fell foul on Moses and Aaron because the door for egress out of Egypt was not opened at first knocking What though a double Lock seem to
and Pale Horses What befel the Roman Empire in regard of Warrs Famine and Ten years Pestilence which was universal is a Providential Comment on the Text. Mira ratio digna res observatione est quod eodem fere temporo caeperunt in altum assurgere atque emergere Papa Romanus supra reliquas Christi Ecclesias sese extollens Mahumetana religio Turcicaeque gentis Imperium Magd. Cent. 13. Epistolâ nuncupat Sub dicto igitur Phoca tyranno ac Caesaricida quod in Papis mysterio non vacat Papismus Mahumetismus simul sunt exorti qui multis in regionibus doctrinam de Dei filio corruperunt obscurarunt laberactarum Baleus cent 1. p. 68. CHAP. II. 1. BEHOLD how the Lord is God in one place as well as another He is not confined in regard of operations to this or that Countrey or Kingdom It 's said in Ezek. 1. 6. Every one of the living creatures had four faces and every one had four wings their four faces behold the four quarters of the world and their four wings may note their being accomplish't for action in divers places and take their flight at one and the same time to bring about what the Lord commissions to be done 2. No reason for persons to be despondent who want Mercies of which others in other places are participant of The same Sun of like favours may shine upon their habitation Were persons more prayerful they might have experience of God's being merciful Beware we then of a discontented eye at others Mercies and wisely improve our own wants There is enough in the rich Exchequer of Providence to supply all wants whether for soul or for the outward man Providence knows how to comfort the waste places to make the Wilderness like Eden and the Desart like the Garden of the Lord Is◠51. 3. 3. Great ground is there for men to shake off wretched security when Providence frowns on others in far or near places Who knows where the train of Gun-powder being once set a fire may creep and do its deadly execution The end of one place's Calamity may be the beginning of another's The bitter Cup of which some have drank may pass thorow unto others notwithstanding security and presumption as the daughter of Edom is informed Lam. 4. 22. OBSERVATION XL. There is a dashing-work of Providence in regard of various matters which in way of probability offer themselves to the eye of Sense and Reason CHAP. I. THAT the fair and promising-face of things is sometimes veiled yea hush 't into a perpetual darkness never to see light in this world appears 1. From God's otherwise informing the judgments of persons about matters Abraham was without issue heir-male and female He thought Eliezer must be the man who must heir it But what saith God This shall not be thine heir but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir Gen. 15. 4. Samuel is sent to anoint one of the sons of Jesse and it came to pass when they were come that he looked on Eliab and said Surely the Lord's anointed is before him but the Lord said unto Samuel Look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature because I have refused him for the Lord seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord looketh on the heart 1 Sam. 16. 6 7. 2. From the confessions and acknowledgments of parties Thus in that acknowledgment of the Church Isa 64. ◠When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for c. In Job 17. 12. My purposes are broken off even the thoughts of my heart saith that man of God under his black cloud and in v. 15. Where is now my hope as for my hope who shall see it and yet he and others lived to see a confutation of his black conclusions drawn from the present face of things for the Lord turned the captivity of Job chap. 42. v. 10. 3. From assertions in Scripture which imply so much I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift nor the battel to the strong neither yet bread to the wise nor yet riches to men of understanding nor yet favour to men of skill but time and chance happeneth to them all Eccles 9. 11. And in Eccles 10. 7. I have seen servants upon horses and princes walking as servants upon earth 4. From exemplifications and that in temporals and spirituals Who would have thought that Joseph who was such a friend to the state of Egypt should be forgotten as he was Exod. 1 8. Who would have imagined in the first days of so wise a Prince as Solomon that a crack't Axel-tree of Government should be transmitted to his son Reboboam 1 King 11. 31. with 1 King 12. 10. Little did Adam and Eve think that so promising a son as Abel should have the candle of his life puft out by the blood-warm breath of a Cain their own son How did Hezekiah argue otherwise from his distemper than it fell out eventually Isa 38. 10 11 12. Paul and Silas alter their purposed course in preaching the Gospel in Bythinia Acts 16. 17. The wise and prudent of the world are not wise and prudent for a blessed eternity Mat. 11. 25. Christ came to his own and they received him not John 1. 11. they who are seeming-friends of the Church become real-enemies Acts 20. 30. CHAP. II. 1. THERE is no ground then for peremptory conclusions from a probable face of things How quickly may the Snow-ball melt the great bubble vanish the storm turn into a calm and the calm into a storm The Disciples were much taken with the Buildings of the Temple and what faith Christ See ye not all these things Verily I say unto you there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down Mat. 24. 1 2. In Isa 7. 2. it was told the house of David saying Syria is confederate with Ephraim and his heart was moved and the heart of his people as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind But yet all this promising or rather threatning confederacy ends in smoak there is a dashing-work of Providence as is fully there described from v. 3 to 10. 2. Beware of rashness in acting upon a face of things which presents it self Many pay deer in their Credits Purses and Consciences by taking an alarum when they might have slept quiet in the bed of an holy repose and confidence in God Thus saith the Lord God the holy one of Israel In returning and rest shall ye be saved in quietness and confidence shall be your strength and ye would not but ye said no for we will flie upon horses therefore shall ye flee and we will ride upon the swift therefore shall they that pursue you be swift Isa 30. 15 16. 3. Quarrel not with the Lord's Government of the World because he doth thus make and unmake build
Fury no wonder if David be not David in point of the exercise of Faith Patience Hope but say I shall one day fall by the hand of Saul Christians in cases of this nature are like the man who looks on the wheel turning but not on the Flye on the Wheel creeping in a contrary motion to the Wheel The Flye of Providence is on its motion whilst the Wheel of Second Causes have their contrary motion as may be shewed in another distinct following Observation As in a ship sailing directly forward a man walks from the Fore-castle or Stem of the ship towards the Stern yet he that shall conclude the motion of the ship to be the same will conclude amiss The ship of Providence is setting forward towards its Haven though Second-Causes are walking in a contrary motion on the Deck Let Providence then alone to play the Pilot and do thou in the interim pray for a good voyage 2. There is good reason to bear up though the burden be heavy and have lien long on the shoulder and none to take it off 1. Is the Plea That the burden is heavy Consider you may have experience of God's kindness and the sooner have it by how much more it becomes heavy The more weary you are the more God may strengthen in the way and bring you to your journey's end with joy Remember Paul's case 2 Cor. 1. 8 9 10. 2. Is the Plea That the burden hath lien long on the Conscience Credit State Body c. Consider 1. This is no new case Joseph David with others of God's Saints can tell stories of difficulties and long-spun forth ones 2. The question is Who is more a Waiter you that you may have a Mercy or God that you may be fitted for a Mercy The Lord waits that he may be gracious Isa 30. 18. 3. The Hand of the Clock hath its motion in the dark night though a man see it not There was a Ram instead of Isaac in yonder bush when Abraham might not see it at its first instant being caught there 4. Though the burden continue longer yet wait longer for so it becometh to do as others have done and thou art taught to do Isa 26. 8. with 3 4. 3. Is the Plea That there is none to help Means Instruments fail Consider 1. Though the Arm of flesh wither yet the Hand of Providence still flourisheth God is God without Means and Instruments as well as with them His Arm can then bring salvation when there is none to help Isa 63. 5. 2. Help by Means Instruments fails in order to help The way to have help is to be mortified to Creature-helps God will lead men to see that in himself which after he may communicate by ordinary Means Eye then God more and Men less and thou mayst find how Providence is then on its March when the Drums sound nothing but a Retreat to Sense and Reason OBSERVATION XLII Things are set forward in the World by a Collateral Influence or stroak by the by of Providence Or God leads men by what they do see to that which is not seen till afterwards CHAP. I. THAT the great Pilot of Heaven and Earth can make use of not only a side-wind as here but likewise of a contrarywind as shall be shewed in the next Observation and all to bring the Ship to its Port or Haven is to be insisted on Sic disponuntur res humauae divino plerunque consilio ut occasione corum quae facienda proponimus incidamus in ea de quibus antea nihil cogitavimus Musculus com in Evang. Joh. p. 475. The leadings of Providence by what is seen to that which is not seen are wonderful These leadings may be considered three ways 1. In regard of the Object 2. In regard of the Medium or Inducement 3. In regard of the Issue First In regard of the Object and so these side wind Influences or leadings of Providence respect both Temporals and Spirituals Men whilst they mind one matter in their Civil concernments fall in upon another as he who diggeth his garden-plot findeth a Treasure Saul seeketh his father's Asses and findeth a Kingdom 1 Sam. 9. David is sent by his father to the Camp with provision for his brethren and there killeth Goliah and so foundation was laid for after-matters 1 Sam. 17. And as in Temporals this may be noted so in matters of Soul-concernment Whilst men mind Earth they meet with Heaven Some go abroad to seek a service and are by the Providence of God cast there where they come to be-think themselves of another kind of service namely the Service of the great God whom before they look't not after It 's probable that some of those many Nations Acts 2. 9 10 11. be-took themselves to Jerusalem upon a Secular account However they were by an occasion offered drawn to be hearers of the Apostles v 6. Whatever their End were in hearing God's Providence was wonderful in the Apostle's speaking for there was added to the Church about three thousand souls v. 41. Peter and Andrew were casting their Net into the Sea and Christ saith then and there to them Follow me and I will make you fishers of men Mat. 4. 18 19. James and John were mending their nets and Christ in like sort meets with them when his walk was by the sea of Galilee ver 18 21 22. The Woman of Samaria cometh to Jacob's Well to draw water She minded water to set over the pot or wash her dishes or the like little thought she of another kind of water which Christ the Fountain of life did there discourse of and hand to her John 4. Secondly In regard of the Inducement by which men are moved and this may be considered 1. As started in their own breasts 2. As suggested by others with whom they have to do for so we find how Saul was influenced on by his Father's servant to go to Samuel 1 Sam. 9. 6. Naaman hears of the Prophet who bid him wash and be clean from the little Captive-maid in his Family 2 King 5. 2 3. Nathaniel is induced by Philip to come to Christ who tells him a story of the Fig-tree which he little thought to have heard of John 1. 45 46 47 48. Now what may induce or draw on a man to what he doth not so experiment as after may be further considered 1. Sometimes a lust by an over-ruling Providence shall contribute to what is subsequent Onesimus runs away from his Master gets to Rome a populous City where in probability he might lie hid Paul is there who by Providence lights on him and sends him home a Convert to his Master Philemon Paul before his conversion in a mad fit rambles as far as Damascus where was an Ananias for him with a Cordial Christ having met with Paul by the way and let out the mad blood which filled every vein before 2. Sometimes men's civil business or affairs is an inlet to other matters
so that nothing can happen besides what is decreed by God The Noble-man answereth That Arms could not without rashness be laid aside by those who betake themselves to Warr inasmuch as they are the Instruments by which God is wont to give victory to whom he sees fit to give it The same saith that Pastor I can affirm of Prayer by which God is wont to bestow on us such things as are necessary both for the use of this life and for eternal salvation and therefore it is no less rashness to neglect that under pretence of Divine Providence whenas it is so often commended by God with innumerable Promises propounded to those who frequently exercise themselves therein and the Son of God himself hath given us an example herein from whom likewise it is commanded that we pray without ceasing With this answer that Noble-man was not a little edified 2. Be encouraged to the use of means in matters Jacob had his Presents for Esau and there was an honest policy in the manner of ordering the Presents sent Gen. 32. 13 to v. 2â— Jeremiah was earnest with the King saying Let my supplication I pray thee be accepted before thee that thou cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan the Scribe lest I dye there Jer. 37. 20. Besides the common practise of God's people in the use of means there are two things observable That they have used means notwithstanding the promise of God for the effecting of matters and also notwithstanding remarkable Providences displayed in their precedent preservation Jacob was under a particular promise as to the Lord's care over him in his return to his Countrey Gen. 32. 9 12. and yet he useth the means as before intimated Paul had a promise for the lives of all in the Ship with him Acts 27. 24. and yet they that could swim cast themselves first into the sea and gat to land and the rest some on boards and some on broken pieces of the ship and so it came to pass that they escaped all safe to land v. 44. yea a passage there is v. 31. Except these abide in the ship ye cannot be saved It seems then there is a cannot where means are not used or so used notwithstanding the Purpose and Promise of God which are so to be understood as taking in the means to be used And as for the other thing intimated we have instances Daniel had a good Cause and good God who did miraculously shut the Lions mouths yet he is not puft up to the slighting of the King's courtesie in his being taken up out of the Lions Den Dan. 6. 21 22 23. Peter had a miraculous delivery out of the Prison and yet withdraws for a season he departed and went into another place Acts 12. 17. To conclude this let two things be remembred 1. See the means be regular or right means Means are regular 1. In regard of natural causality or tendency to the end He that will plow his land must not beat his Pâ—ow-share into a Sword and he that will go to battel must not beat his Sword into a Pruning-hook If Jeremiah must be had up out of the Dungeon he is not drawn up with a twine-thred but with cords and not only cords but cast-clouts and rags are to be put under his arm-holes Jer. 38. 11 12 13. 2. In regard of a moral or instituted causality Men must not under difficulties and distresses with Saul away to an Endor-woman 1 Sam. 28. 7 8. To fall in with sin is to fall out with God his Word which warrants no such means to be used Not only piety but an holy Prudence must guide in the use of means The circumstances of a case may have very much influence on determination what and how to be done as in Ezra 8. 21 22. 2. Eye God dependently and submissively in the use of means Jacob did mind prayer to God as well as the Presents sent There was a conjunction of Piety and Policy He was a wrestler with God Gen. 32 With many the Means is the speaking-Figure and God the dumb Cypher in a business but with Jacob it was not so Let Jacob's God be thy God in the use of the means if thou wilt have him be thy God in the good success of the means Eye him therefore in all and say as David Let him do to me as seemeth him good 2 Sam. 15. 26. OBSERVATION XLVIII A stock or store of Prayers makes way for a rich Income of Providence Or Gracious Prayers usher in Glorious changes of Providence CHAP. I. PRAYER being an universal means to make use of in matters a means to be coupled with other means and a means when no other means can be used it may very well here fall under consideration and that as it hath reference to Divine Providence for help Now that it hath a befriending-influence for the good of persons not only in Temporals but in Spirituals may be evidenced four ways First From the Institution of the Lord. Prayer is an instituted means by God It is a Noah's Dove which returns with an Olive-branch in her mouth If it be asked When and where Prayer was instituted by the Lord I may bid the party so demanding to go to Paradise for though Adam in the state of innocency had no sin to confess yet he had a God to acknowledg A Directory for Devotion was engraven on his heart There was an Arbour for Adam's Closet as well as a Walk for his meditation in the Garden of Eden He might not only be a thanksgiver for favours but also a petitioner for the continuance of them It may suffice then That the Directory for Devotion was first publish't in Paradise though it hath had various editions since with such additions as the Lord hath made in his holy word And seeing then the Lord hath instituted this means for gracious ends it 's wisdom to make use of this Bottom or Vessel for the transporting Commodities this Receit for a Cure this Shooing-horn to draw on the Velvet-shoo of Mercy See 2 Chron. 7. 14. Psal 50 15. Jer. 29. 12. Phil. 4. 6. Secondly From the nature or at least property of Prayer Prayer honours Providence in an address made to a Throne of Grace When Mercies are begged Providence is acknowledged 'T was good Divinity though from a bad hand 2 King 6. 27. If the Lord do not help thee whence shall I help thee said well that King the son of a Murderer as the Prophet calls him v. 32. And as Prayer doth honour God in acknowledging his Providence so Providence hath honoured Prayer yea the shadow of it witness Ahab's devotion 1 King 21. 29. God's bounty not Ahab's desert was the source or rise of Ahab's mercy If God do then cast crumbs to Dogs who thus lye prostrate before him what encouragement have the children of the Kingdom to go to their Father Ask and it shall be given unto you seek and ye shall find knock and