his life often hath those expressions as it was written that the Scriptures might be fulfilled There is not a providence happens in the World but there are some general rules in the World whereby we may apprehend the meaning of it From God's former work discovered in his word we may trace his present foot-steps Observe the timings of providence wherein the beauty of it appears since God hath made every thing beautiful in its time 3. Intirely View them in their connexion A harsh touch single would not be pleasing but may rarely affect in consort The providences of God bear a just proportion to one another and are beautiful in their intire Scheme but when regarded apart we shall come far short of a delightful understanding of them As in a piece of Arras folded up and afterwards particularly opened we see the hand or foot of a man the branch of a tree or if we look on the outside we see nothing but knots and threads and uncouth shapes that we know not what to make of but when it is fully opened and we have the whole Web before us we see what Histories and pleasing characters are interwoven in it View them in their end there is no true judgment to be made of a thing in motion unless we have a right prospect of the end to which it tends Many things which may seem terrible in their motion may be excellent in their end Providence is crowned by the end of it Asaph was much troubled about the prosperity of the wicked and affliction of the Godly but he was well satisfied when he understood their end which was the end of Providence too Psal 73.16 17. When I thought to know this it was too painful for me until I went into the Sanctuary then understood I their end Moses his Rod was a Serpent in its motion upon the ground but when taken up it was a Rod again to work miracles God set us a pattern for this in the Creation He views the Creatures as they came into being and pronounced them good he takes a review of them afterward in their whole frame and the subordination of them to one another and the ends he had destined them to and then pronounceth them very good The merciful providences of God if singly looked upon will appear good but if reviewed in the whole web and the end of them will commence very good in our apprehensions 4. Calmly Take heed of passion in this study that is a mist before the eye of the mind Sensual pleasures also disturb and stifle the noble operations of the intellective part and all improving thoughts of Gods providence Isa 5.12 And the harp and the viol and wine are in their feasts but they regard not the work of the Lord nor consider the operations of his bands All thoughts of them are choaked by the pleasures of sense Passions and sensual pleasures are like flying clouds in the night interposing themselves between the stars and our eyes that we cannot observe the motions of them Turbulent passions or Swinish pleasures prevailing obscure the providence of God Our own humour and interest we often make the measures of our judgment of providence Shimei when Absalom rebels against his father looks no further than his own interest and therefore interprets it as a judgment of God in revenging the house of Saul 2 Sam. 16.7 8. The Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul in whose stead thou hast reigned Therefore the Spirit of God takes particular notice that he was of the house of Saul v. 5. when indeed this judgment was quite another thing for David's sin in the matter of Vriah was written in the forehead of it 5. Seriously 'T is not an easie work for the causes of things are hid as the seminal virtues in plaints not visible till they manifest themselves Providence is God's Lanthorn in many affairs if we do not follow it close we may be left in the dark and lose our way With much Prayer For we cannot of our selves find out the reason of them being shallow Creatures we cannot find out those infinite wise methods God observes in the managing of them but if we seriously set to work and seek God in it God may inform us and make them intelligible to us Though a man may not be able of himself to find out the frame and motions of an Engine yet when the Artificer hath explained the work discovered the intent of the Fabrick it may be easily understood If it be dark whilst you seriously muse on it God may send forth a light into you and give you an understanding of it Mat. 2.20 Joseph thought of those things and whilst he thought on them the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream God made them known to him The Israelites saw God's acts in the bulk of them but Moses saw his way and the manner how he wrought them Psal 103.7 He made known his wayes unto Moses his acts unto the Children of Israel Moses had more converse with God than they and therefore was admitted in to his secrets 6. Holily With a design to conform to that duty providence calls for Our motions should be according to the providences of God when we understand the intent of them There is a call of providence Isa 22.12 In that day the Lord called to weeping and mourning Sometimes to sorrow sometimes to joy If it be a providence to discover our sin let us comply with it by humiliation if it be to further our grace suit it by lively and fresh actings As the sap in plants descends with the Sun's declination and ascends at the return of the Sun from the Tropick there are several graces to be exercised upon several acts of providence either publick to the Church and Nation or particular to our own persons Sometimes faith sometimes joy sometimes patience sometimes sorrow for sin There are spiritual lessons in every providence for it doth not only offer something to be understood but something to be practised Mark 10.15 A Child is brought to Christ and Christ from thence teaches them a lesson of humility Luk. 13.1 2 3. When Christ discourses of that sad providence of the blood of the Galileans and the Tower of Siloa he puts them upon the exercise of repentance The Ruler enquired the time when his Son began to recover that his faith in Christ might be confirmed for upon that circumstance it did much hang and in doubtful cases after a serious study of it and thou knowest not which way to determine consider what makes most for God's glory and thy spiritual good for that is the end of all Let us therefore study providence not as Children do Histories to know what men were in the World or to please their fancy only but as wise men to understand the motions of States and the intrigues of Counsels to enrich them with a knowledge whereby they may be serviceable to
where they live and the executioners of his Justice upon offenders against him Psal 17.13 The wicked are God's Sword Jeremiah 47.6 Those that God would stir up against the Philistines are called the Sword of the Lord Isa 10.5 Ashur is said to be the Rod of his anger would it consist with his wisdom to drop the instruments out of his hand as soon as he begins to use them To cast his Rods out of his hand as soon as he takes them up The rules of justice are as much unknown to us as the communications of his goodness to his people are unknown to the world 3. Let me ask such a one whether he never injur'd another man and whether he would not think it very severe if not unjust that the offended person should presently take revenge of him If every man should do the like how soon would mankind be dispatcht and the World become a shambles men running furiously to one anothers destruction for the injuries they have mutually received Do we praise the lenity of parents to their Children and dispraise the mercy of God because he doth not presently use his right Is then forbearance of revenge accounted a virtue in a man and shall it be an imperfection in God With what reason can we thus blame the eminent patience of God which we have reason to adore and which every one of us are monuments of The use is Vse 1. Of information I. How unworthy and absurd a thing is it to deny Providence Some of the Heathens fancied that God walked his Circuit in Heaven or sat with folded arms there taking no cognizance of what was done in the World Some indeed upon some great emergencies have acknowledged the Mercies and Justice of God which are the two arms of his providence The Barbarians his justice when they saw a Viper leap upon Paul's hand Act. 28.4 they say among themselves no doubt this man is a murderer whom though he hath escaped the sea yet vengeance suffers not to live The Mariners in Jonah implored his mercy in their distress at Sea yet they generally attributed affairs to blind chance and worshipped Fortune as a Deity For this vain conceit the Psalmist calls the Atheist fool Psal 14.1 The fool hath said in his heart there is no God Potiphar acknowledged it he saw that the Lord was with Joseph and favoured his designs Gen. 39.3 And his Master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all things that he did to prosper in his hand It will not be amiss to consider this For the root of denial of providence is in the hearts of the best men especially under affliction Asah was a holy man yet Psal 73.13 saith he Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocence He had taken much pains with his heart and had been under much affliction V. 14. all the day long have I been plagued and chastned every morning And the consideration of this that he should have so much affliction with so much holiness so strangely puzled him that he utters that dreadful Speech as if he had a mind to cast off all cares about the worship of God and sanctifying his heart and repent of all that he had done in that business as much as to say Had I been as very a villain as such or such a man I might have prospered as well as they but I was a fool to have any fear of God Therefore we will consider 1. The evil of denying Providence 2. The grounds of the denial of it by the heathen which we shall find in our own hearts 3. The various ways wherein men practically deny providence 1. The evil of denying it 1. It gives a liberty to all sin First It gives an occasion for an unbounded licentiousness for what may not be done where there is no government The Jews tell us * Targum Hierosolymit Mercer in Gen. 4.7 That the dispute between Cain and Abel was this Cain said because his sacrifice was not accepted that there was no Judge no reward of good works or punishment of bad which when Abel opposed Cain slew him they ground it upon the discourse of God with Cain * Gen. 4.7 8. v 7 which had been about his providence and acceptation of men if they did well and punishment of men if they did ill whence they gather the discourse v. 8. Cain had with his brother was about the same subject for Cain talked with Abel and upon that discourse rose up against him and slew him And his discourse afterwards with God v 9. seems to favour it am I my Brothers keeper Thou dost say thou art the governour of the World it is not my concern to look after him Their conjecture is not improbable If it were so we see how early this opinion began in the World and what was the horrid effect of it the first sin the first murder that we read of after the sin of Adam And what confusion would grow upon the entertainment of such a notion Indeed the Scripture every where places sin upon this root Psal 10.11 God hath forgotten he hides his face he will never see it He hath turned his back upon the World This was the ground of the oppression of the poor by the wicked which he mentions v. 9 10. So Isa 26.10 â— The wicked will not learn righteousness he will deal unjustly the reason is he will not behold the Majesty of the Lord he will not regard God's government of the world though his hand be lifted up to strike There is no sin but receives both its birth and nourishment from this bitter root Let the notion of providence be once thrown out or the belief of it faint how will Ambition Covetousness neglect of God distrust impatience and all other bitter gourds grow up in a night 'T is from this Topick all iniquity will draw arguments to encourage it self for nothing doth so much discountenance those rising corruptions and put them out of heart as an actuated belief that God takes care of humane affairs Upon the want of this actuated knowledg God charges all the sin of Ephraim Hosea 7.2 They consider * Heb. they speak not to their hearts not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness As if God were blind and did not see or stupid and did not concern himself or of a very frail memory soon to forget 2. It destroys all Religion The first Foundation of all Religion is first the Being Secondly the Goodness of God in the Government of the World Heb. 11.6 he that comes to God must believe that he is and thas he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him He is the object of Religion as he is the Governour of the World This denial would shut up Bibles and Temples and bring irreligious disorder into all Societies 1. All Worship He that hath no design to govern is supposed to expect no
homage if he regards not his creatures he cares for no worship from them How is it possible to perswade men to regard him for God who takes no care of them Who will adore him who regards no adoration 2. Prayer To what purpose should they beg his directions implore his assistance in their calamities if he had no regard at all to his Creatures What favour can we expect from him who is regardless of dispensing any 3. Praise Who would make acknowledgments to one from whom they never received any favour and hath no mind to receive any acknowledgements from them because he takes no care of them If the Deity have no relation to us how can we have relation to him To what purpose will it be either to call upon him or praise him which are the prime pieces of Religion if he concern not himself with us 4. Dependance Trust and Hope What reason have we to commit our concerns to him and to depend upon him for relief Hence the Apostle saith Ephes 2.12 The Gentiles were withone hope and without God in the World The reason they were without hope was because they were without God they denied a settled providence and acknowledged a blind chance and therefore could have no sound hope so some understand it of denial of God's government It might well give occasion to people to utter Pharaoh's Speech Exod. 5.2 Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go I know not the Lord neither will I let Israel go What is God that I should serve him I have no such notion of a God that governs the World The regardlesness of his creature disobligeth the Creature from any service to him 3. It is a high disparagement of God To believe an impotent ignorant negligent God without care of his works is as bad or worse than to believe no God at all The denyal of his providence is made equal with the denyal of God Psal 14.1 the fool hath said in his heart there is no God He denied God Elohim which word notes God's providence Not there is no Jehovah which notes his essence he denied not God quoad essentiam but quoad providentiam whereupon the Psalmist dubbs the Atheist fool It strips God of his judicial power How shall he judg his creatures if he know not what they think and regards not what they do How easie will it be for him to be imposed upon by the fair pretences and lying excuses of men 'T is Diabolical The Devil denies not God's right to govern but he denies God's actual government for he saith Luke 4.6 the power and glory of the World is delivered unto him and to whomsoever saith he I will I give it God had cast offall care of all things and made the Devil his Deputy He that denies providence denies most of God's attributes he denies at least the exercise of them he denies his Omniscience which is the eye of Providence Mercy and Justice which are the arms of it Power which is the life and motion of providence Wisdom which is the rudder of providence whereby it is steered and Holiness which is the compass and rule of the motion of providence 4. It is clearly against natural light Socrates an Heathen could say Whosoever denied providence did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was possessed with a Devil * Montagne against Selden p. 525. Should God create a man anew with a sound judgment and bring him into the World when he should see the harmony multitude vertues and operations of all Creatures the stated times and seasons must he not needs confess that some invisible unconceivable Wisdom did both frame and doth govern all the motions of it And it is a greater crime in any of us to deny providence either in opinion or practice than it was or could have been in Heathens because we have not only that natural reason which they had sufficient to convince us but supernatural revelation in the Scripture wherein God hath declared those methods of his providence which reason could not arrive to As to deny the creation of the World is a greater crime in a man that knows the Scripture than in a Heathen because that hath put it out of doubt And the asserting of this being the end of all God's judgments in the World * Job 19.29 Wrath brings the punishment of the Sword that you may know there is a judgment i. e. providence the denial of it is a sin against all past or present judgments which God hath or doth exercise The Scripture frequently declaring the reason of such and such judgments to be that men may know that the Lord is God 2. The second thing is Secondly the grounds of the denial of providence This Atheism has been founded 1. Vpon an overweening conceit of mens own worths when men saw themselves frustrated of rewards they expected and saw others that were instruments of Tyranny and Lust graced with the favours they thought due to their own virtue they ran into a conceit that God did not mind the actions of men below So that it was pride interest self conceit and opinion of merit rather than any well grounded reason introduced this part of Atheism into the World for upon any cross this opinion of merit swelled up into blasphemous speeches against God When we have any thoughts as we are apt to have by our religious acts to merit at God's hand we act against the absoluteness of his providence as though God could be obliged to us by any other than his own promise Methinks Job hath some spice of this in speaking so often of his own integrity as though God dealt injuriously with him in afflicting him God seems to charge him with it Job 40.8 Wilt thou also disannul my Judgment wilt thou condemn me that thou mayest be righteous As though in speaking so much of his own integrity and in complaining expressions he would accuse God of injustice and condemn him as an unrighteous governour and in Job's answer you find no syllable or word of his integrity to God but a self abhorrency Job 42.26 Wherefore I abhor my self in dust and ashes I doubt that from this secret root arise those Speeches which we ordinarily have among men what have I done that God should so afflict me Though in a serious way it is a useful question tending to an enquiry into the sin that is the cause of it But I doubt ordinarily there is too much of a reflection upon God as though they had deserved other dealing at his hands Take heed therefore of pride and conceits of our own worth we shall else be led by it to disparaging conceits of God which indeed are the roots of all actions contradictory to God's Will 2. It is founded upon pedantical and sensual notions of God As though it might detract from his pleasure and delight to look down upon this World or as though it were a molestation of an infinite Power
to busie himself about the care of sublunary things They thought it unsutable to the felicity of God that it would interrupt his pleasure and make a breach upon his blessedness As though it were the felicity of a Prince not to take care of the Government of his Kingdon nor so much as provide for the well-being of his Children I doubt that from such or as bad conceptions of God may spring ordinarily our distrust of God upon any distress Take heed therefore of entertaining any conceptions of God but what the Scripture doth furnish you with 3. Or else this sort of Atheism was usher'd in by a stuttering conceit of the Majesty of God They thought it unbecoming the excellency of the divine Majesty to descend to a regard of the petty things of the World this seems to be the fancy of them Psal 37.11 How doth God know is there knowledge in the most high They think him too high to know too high to consider How unreasonable is it to think God most high in place and not in perfection and if in perfection not in knowledge and discerning They imagined of him as of a great Prince taking his pleasure upon the battlements of his palace not beholding the Worms upon on the ground muffled with Clouds as Job 22.13 14 How doth God know can he judge through the dark clouds thick clouds are a covering to him that he sees not and he walks in the circuit of Heaven We cannot indeed have too high apprehensions of God's Majesty and Excellency But we must take heed of entertaining superstitious conceits of God and such as are dishonourable to him or make the grandeur and ambition of men the measures of the greatness and Majesty of God Upon this root sprung Superstition and Idolatry and the Worship of Demons who according to the Heathens fancy were Mediators between God and men And I doubt such a conceit might be the first step to the introducing the Popish Saint-worship into the Christian World and this lies at the root of all our omissions of duty or neglects of seeking God Let us therefore have raised thoughts of God's Majesty and admiring thoughts of his condescention who notwithstanding his greatness humbles himself to behold what is done upon the Earth The Psalmist sets a pattern for both Psal 113.5 6. 4. From their wishes upon any gripes of conscience They found guilt staring them in the face and were willing to comfort themselves with the embraces of this Doctrine wherein they might find a security and ease to their prostituted consciences and unabounded liberty in the ways of sin Those in Zephaniah were first settled upon their lees and then to drive away all fears of punishment deny God's government Zeph. 1.12 The Lord will not do good neither will he do evil A brave liberty for a City to be without a Magistrate a house without a Governour a ship without a Pilot exposed to the mercy of winds and waves A man to be without reason that passion and lust should act their pleasures a Liberty that beasts themselves would not have to be without a Shepherd and one to take care of them Such wishes certainly there are in men upon a sense of guilt they wish for their own security there were no providential eye to inspect them Take heed therefore of guilt which will draw you to wish God deprived of the goverment of the World and all those attributes which qualify him for it The readiness to entertain the motions of Satan rather than the motions of the Spirit implies a willingness in them that Satan might be the God of the World who favours them in sin rather than the Creator who forbids it But indeed the fears of conscience evidence a secret belief in men of a just providence whatever means they use to stifle it else why is man upon the commission of some notorious sinful act afraid of some evil hap to betide him Why is he restless in himself There is no sinner unless extreamly hardned but hath some secret touch of conscience upon notorious enormities While the work of the Law is written in their heart their conscience will bear witness and accuse them * Rom. 2.14 In the most flagitious courses which the Apostle reckons up * Rom. 1 29 30 31 32. they cannot put off the knowledg of the judgment of God that they which commit such things are worthy of death that is worthy of death by the judgment of God which judgment is discovered in the Law of nature 3. The third thing is Thirdly The various ways wherein men parctically deny providence or abuse it or contemn it 1. When we will walk on in a way contrary to checks of providenes When we will run against the will of God manifested in his providence we do deny his government and refuse subjection to him when we will be peremptory in our resolves against the declaration of God's will by his checks of providence we contend with him about the government of us and our actions Such a dispute had Pharaoh with God notwithstanding all the checks by the plagues poored out upon him he would march against Israel to take them out of God's hand into his own service again Exod. 15.9 The enemy said I will pursue I will overtake I will divide the spoil my lust shall be satisfied upon them I will draw my sword my hand shall destroy them Here is the will of man vaunting against the governour of the World resolved to dispute God's Royalty with him in spight of all the blastings of his designs and the smart blows he had had from that powerful arm which cost him and his subjects their lives they would not understand till the taking off their wheels but would run headlong into the Red Sea A remarkable example of this is in a good man not so peremptory in words but in actions against the revelations of God's mind both by the Prophet and his Providence Jehosaphat had made a league with Ahab * 2 Chron. 18.1 2 3. and God had ordered Micajah to acquaint him with the ill success of the affair they went about ver 16 19. which Jehosaphat found true for his own life was in danger he was hardly beset by the Enemy upon a mistake ver 31 32. he had an eminent answer of prayer for upon his cry he had a quick return God engaged his providence over his enemies hearts for him the Lord helped him ver 31. and God moved them to depart from him And for his conjunction and continuance in it against Mieajah's prophesie God sends a Prophet to reprove him 2 Chron. 19.2 shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord therefore is wrath upon thee from the Lord he reproves him sharply for this confederacy yet Jehosaphat after he had a signal providence in delivering him from another army 2 Chron. 20.24 Yet after this he goes on in this way 2 Chron. 20.35
their Countrey So let us enquire into the Providence of God to understand the mind of God the interest of the Church the wisdom and kindness of God and our own duty in comormity thereunto 6. Ascribe the glory of every providence to God Abraham Steward petitioned God at the beginning of his business Gen. 24.12 and he blesses God at the success of it ver 26 27. We must not thank the tools which are used in the making an engine and ascribe unto them what we owe to the Workmans skill Men is but the instrument God's Wisdom is the Artist Let us therefore return the Glory of all where it is most rightly placed We may see the difference between Rachel and Leah in this respect when Rachel had a Son by her maid Bilhah she ascribes it to God's care and calls his name Dan which signifies judging Gen. 30.6 God hath judged me and heard my voice That the very Name might put her in remembrance of the kindness of God in answering her prayer And the next Napthali she esteems as the fruit of prayer vers 8. Whereas Leah takes no notice of God but vaunts of the multitude of her Children vers 11 be hold a troop comes She imposeth the name of Gad upon them which also signifies fortune or good luck And the next Asher vers 13. which is fortunate or blessed And we find Leah of the same mind afterward ver 17. It is said God hearkned unto her so that her Son Issachar was an answer of Prayer but she ascribes it to a lower cause which had moved God because she had given her maid to her Husband vers 18. Not unto us not unto us O Lord but to thy name be the glory Doct. 2. All the motions of providence in the World are ultimately for the good of the Church of those whose heart is perfect towards him Providence follows the rule of Scripture Whatsoever was written was written for the Churches comfort * Rom. 15.4 Whatsoever is acted in order to any thing written is acted for the Churches good All the providences of God in the World are conformable to his declarations in his word All former providences were ultimately in order to the bringing a Mediator into the World and for the glory of him then surely all the providences of God shall be in order to the perfecting the glory of Christ in that mystical body whereof Christ is head and wherein his affection and his Glory are so much concerned See the Proof of this by a Scripture or two Psal 25.10 All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his Covenant and his Testimonies Not one path but all the works and motions not one particular act or passage of providence but the whole tract of his proceedings not only those which are more smooth and pleasant but those which are more rugged and bitter All mercy and truth sutable to that affection he bears in his heart to them and sutable to the declaration of that affection he hath made in his promise There is a contexture and a friendly connexion of kindness and faithfulness in every one of them They both kiss and embrace each other in every motion of God towards them As mercy made the Covenant so truth shall perform it And there shall be as much mercy as truth in all Gods actings towards those that that keep it Rom. 8 28. We know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose we know we do not conjecture or guess so but we have an infallible assurance of it All things even the most frightful and so those that have in respect of sense nothing but Gall and Wormwood in them work together they all conspire with an admirable harmony and unanimous consent for a Christian's good One particular act may seem to work to the harm of the Church as one particular act may work to the good of wicked men but the whole series and frame of things combine together for the good of those that are affectionate to him Both the Lance that makes us bleed and the plaister which refresheth the Wounds Both the griping purges and the warming Cordials combine together for the Patients cure to them who are called according to his purpose Here the Apostle renders a reason of this position because they are called not only in the general amongst the rest of the world to whom the Gospel comes but they are such that were in Gods purpose and counsel from Eternity to save and therefore resolved to encline their will to Faith in Christ Therefore all his other Counsels about the affairs of the world shall be for their good Another reason of this the Apostle intimates vers 27. The spirit makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God The intercessions of the Spirit which are also according to Gods will and purpose will not be fruitless in the main end which both the intercessions of the Spirit and purpose of God and the will and desires of the Saints do aim at which is their good Indeed where any is the object of this grand purpose of God he is the object of God's infinite and innumerable thoughts Psal 40.5 Many O Lord my God are thy wonderful works which thou hast done and thy thoughts which are to us-ward they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee if I would declare and speak of them they are more than can be numbred The Psalmist seems to intimate that in all the wonderful works which God hath done his thoughts are toward his people He thinks of them in all his actions and those thoughts are infinite and cannot be numbred and reckoned up by any Creature He seems to restrain the thoughts of God to his people in all those works of wonder which he doth in the World and which others are the Subjects of But his thoughts or purposes and intentions in all for the word signifies purposes too are chiefly next to his own glory directed toward his people those that trust in him which vers 4. he had pronounced blessed They run in his mind as if his heart was set upon them and none but them Here I shall premise two things as the ground-work of what follows 1. God certainly in all his actions has some end that is without question because he is a wise agent to act vainly and lightly is an evidence of imperfection which cannot be ascribed to the only wise God The Wheels of Providence are full of Eyes * Ezek. 1.18 There is motion and a knowledge of the end of that motion And Jesus Christ who is Gods Deputy in the providential government hath Seven Eyes as well as Seven Horns * Revel 5.6 a perfect strength and a perfect knowledg how to use that strength and to what end to use it Seven being the number of perfection in Scripture 2. That certainly is Gods end which his
run Parallel with the continuance of it There should be no alteration or change in this great end of his as long as the World lasts How can Christ be with them and that to the end of the world if all the parts of his providential government were not ordered to serve this end the good of the Church For the Church is the fulness of him that fills all in all Eph. 1.23 that fills all in all places all in all actions and motions for the good of his Church which is his body 3. God in the church discovers the glory of all his attributes Thirdly 'T is in a mans house where his riches and state is seen 'T is in the Church God makes himself known in his excellency more than in all the world besides Psal 76.1 In Judah is God known his name is great in Israel in Salem also is his tabernacle and his dwelling place in Sion 'T is in his Church he doth manifest his power 'T is called therefore a glorious high throne Jer. 17.12 a glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary Kings use to display all their Glory and Majesty upon their Thrones in this sense Heaven is called Gods Throne Isa 60.1 because the prospect of the Heavens affords us discoveries of the wisdom and power of God more than in any other visible thing both in their essence magnitude and motion So is there a greater discovery of Gods attributes in the Church which is also stiled Heaven in Scripture than in the whole World besides There it is that the Angels look to learn more of the Wisdom of God than they understood before * Eph. 3.10 'T is there the day of his power dawns Psal 110.3 'T is there his Saints see his power and his glory Psal 63.2 the Sanctuary is called the firmament of his power Psal 150.1 The glory of Gods attributes is centered in Christ in a higher manner than in the creation and in that work did excel themselves in what they had done in the framing of the world and the Church being the glory of Christ all those attributes which are glorified in Christ do in and through him shine forth more clearly upon the Church than upon any other part of the world He stiles himself their Creator as much as the Creator of the whole frame of Heaven and Earth Isa 43.15 I am the Lord your holy one the Creator of Israel your King As though all the attributes of God his Power in Creation his Holiness in redemption were designed for none else but them And indeed by virtue of the Covenant they are to be so for if God be their God then all of God is theirs What wisdom power sufficiency grace and kindness he hath is principally for them If God he their God it is in their concerns he will glorify himself as a God in the manifestation of all his perfections This cannot be without the ordering all providences for their advantage 4. There is a peculiar relation of God and Christ to the Church Fourthly upon which account this Doctrien must needs be true God is set out in all relations to manifest his great care of his people He is a Father to provide for them * Isa 68.5 A Mother to suckle them * Isa 49.15 Chrit is a Husband to love and protect them * Eph. 5.29 A Brother to counsel them * John 20.17 And when all these Relations meet in one and the same person the result of it must be very strong Any one relation where there is affetion is a great security but here all the relations are twisted together with the highest affections of them in God to the Church A Father will order all for the good of his child a Mother for her Infant a Husband for his Wife and one kind Brother for another So doth God for his People and what soever those Relations bind Men to on Earth in respect of Care Love and Faithfulness that is God to his Church The Church hath that Relation to God which none in the World have besides They are his Jewels therefore he will keep them they are his Children therefore he will spare them * Mal. 3.17 They shall have protection from him as they are his Jewels and compassion from him as they are his Sons The Church is Christs Flesh as dear to him as our flesh is to us as much his as our flesh is ours Eph. 5.29 No man hates his own flesh but nourisheth it as Christ doth his Church No man can have a higher value for hsi own flesh than Christ hath for his Church The Church as Tertullian speaks is nothing else but Christus explicatus Christ unfolded and as considered in union with Christ is called Christ 1 Cor. 12.12 'T is the Apple of his eye Zech. 2.8 A tender and beloved part The Church is Christs Spouse the contract is made the Espousals shall be at the last Day the Members are pick'd out one by one to be presented to the Lamb at last as a Glorious Bride for him Rev. 21.2 And all Gods dealings with them in the World are but preparations of them for that State Upon the making of the Match God promises a communion of Goods Hos 2.20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness which is a fruit of Marriage the Wife being invested in her Husbands Estate When God hath given the blood of his Son for the Church he will not deny her the service of the Creatures but Jointure her in that as one part of her Dowry In that day will I hear the heavens c. ver 21. In what day in the day of betrothing in the day of the Evangelical Administration when the contract shall be made between me and my Church Heavens Earth Corn Wine and Oil the voice and motions of all Creatures are for Jezreel which signifies the seed of God This great Prince he hath a care of all his subjects somore peculiarly of his Spouse and Princess which is his seed too and all Creatures shall be her Servants This Fatherly Relation and Affection is strong and pure not as the love which acts an ambitious man to Ambition or a covetous man to Wealth which respects nothing but the grasping and possessing the Objects they dote upon and have nothing of love for the Objects themselves therefore deserves not the name of Love But it is the love of a Father whose love is pure towards his children He seeks their good as his own Consider these two things 1. God hath a peculiar love to his very Relation and often mentions it with delight as if he loved to hear the sound of it in his own Lips Cant. 8.12 My vineyard which is mine is before me Me My Mine The Church is always under his Eye seated in his Affection and God is pleased with his propriety in them God never calls the World My World though he created it sometimes
late learned Divine Stephen Charnock B. D. being several discourses upon various Divine subjects vol. 2. Fol. Some Prison Meditations and directions on severael subjects viz on the fall of Man The sufferings of Christ Repentance and Faith Reprof and Counsel The holy Scriptures Prayer Love to Mankind sincerity the vanity of the World the benefit of afflictions Heaven and Hell By Samuel Young Minister of the Gospel Small 8vo The Morning Exercise at Cripplegate of several Cases of Conscience practically resolved by sundry Ministers in Quarto A Supplement to the Morning Exercise at Criplegatr or several more Cases of Conscience practically resolved by sundry Ministers in 4 to Speculum Theolegiae in Christo or a View of some Divine Truths whch are either practically exemplified in Jesus Christ set forth in the Gospel or may be reasonably deduced from thence by Edward Polhil of Burwash in Sussex Esq in 4 to Precious Faith considered in its nature working and growth by Edward Polhil Esquire c. in 4 to The Court of the Gentiles in four parts by Theophilus Gale in 4 to Geography Rectified or a Description of the World in all its Kingdoms Provinces Cities Towns Seas Rivers Bays Capes Forts Their Ancient and present Names Inhabitants Situations Histories Customs Governments c. And also their Commodities Coins Weights and Measures compared with those of London Illustrated with above Sixty new Maps The whole work performed according to the accurate Discoveries of Modern Authors in 4 to The right use of an Estate briefly directed and urged in a Sermon lately preached to a Person of Quality upon his coming to Age by Tho. Dorrington in 4 to Christus in Corde Or the Mystical Union between Christ and Believers considered in its Resemblances Bonds Seals Priviledges and Marks by Edward Polhil Esquire in Octavo De causa Dei Or a Vindication of the Common Doctrine of the Protestant Divines concerning Predetermination i. e. the interest of God as the first Cause in all Actions as such of all Rational creatures from the invidious consequences with which it is burthened by Mr. John How in a late Letter of postscript of God's Prescience in 8 vo The Spiritual Remembrancer or a brief Discourse of those who attend upon Preaching the Gospel by Samuel Wills in 8 vo Poesews Graecae Medulla in qua continentur Insignioris Poetarum Graecorum gnome versus Proverbiales Epigrammata quaedam selecta in memoriae subsidium Alphabetice-disposita cum versione latina in usum Scholarum per Johannem Langston in 8 vo Poems in two Parts first an Interlocutory Discourse concerning the Creation Fall and Recovery of Man Secondly a Dialogue between Faith and a Doubting Soul by Sammuel Slater in 8 vo A Renunciation of several Popish Doctrines because contrary to the Doctrine of Faith of the Church of England by R. R. B. D. in 8 vo Armatura Dei Or a Preparation for suffering in an evil day shewing how Christians are to bear suffering and what Graces are requisite thereunto suited for all good Christians in this present time by Edward Polhil of Burwash in Sussex Esquire in 8 vo A Practical Gammar Or the easiest and shortest way to initiate young Children in the Latin tongue by the help whereof a Child of seven years old may learn more of the Grounds of that Language in three Months than is ordinarily learnt in a years space by those of a greater age in a Common Grammar School Published for the use of those that love not to be tedious To which are added Tables of Mr. Walker's Particles by the assistance whereof young Scholars may be better enabled to peruse that excellent and most useful Treatise by J. Philomath Master of a Freeschool in 8 vo
heart is most set upon and that which is last in execution What doth God do at the folding up of the World but perfect his people and welcome them into Glory Therefore God principally next to himself loves his Church The whole Earth is his but the Church is his treasure Ex. 19.5 If you will keep my Covenant then shall you be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people for all the Earth is mine Segullah such a treasure that a Man a King will intrust in no hands but his own all the Earth is mine is not a reason why the Church was his treasure but an incentive of thankfulness that when the whole Earth was his and lay before him and there were many people that he might have chosen and loved before them yet he pitched upon them to make them his choicest treasure And when the blessed God hath pitched upon a people and made them his treasure what he doth for them is with his whole heart and with his whole Soul Jer. 32 41 42. speaking of making an everlasting Covenant he adds yea I will rejoyce over them to do them good c. assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole Soul As though God minded nothing else but those people he had made an everlasting Covenant with which is the highest security and most pregnant expression of his affection that can be given to any not to give them a parcel or moiety of his heart but the whole infinite intire piece and to engage it all with the greatest delight in doing good to them That infinite heart of God and all the contrivances and workings of it center in the Churches welfare The World is a Wilderness but the Church is a Garden If he water the Wilderness will he not much more dress his Garden If the flights of Birds be observed by him shall not also the particular concernments of the Church He hath a repository for them and all that belong to them He hath a book of Life for their Names * Luk. 10.20 a book of Record for their members * Psal 139.16 a Note-book for their Speeches Mal. 3.16 A book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and a book of providence for their preservation Exod. 32.32 In the prosecution of this I shall shew 1. That it is so de facto First and hath been so 2. Secondly That according to the state of things and Gods Oeconomy it must be so 3. The improvement of it Thirdly By way of Vse 1. First That all providence is for the good of the Church de facto and has been so 1. Reason first It will appear by an enumeration of things First All good things Secondly All bad things are for their good First All good things I. The World II. Gifts and common graces of men in the World III. Angels I. The World First The whole World was made and ordained for the good of the Church next to the glory of God This will appear in three things I. The continuance of the World is for their sakes God would have destroyed the World because of the ignorance and wickedness of it before this time but he overlooked it all and had respect to the times of Christ and the publishing faith in him and repentance Act. 17.30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at God overlooked * 〈…〉 he looked not so upon them as to be provoked to destroy the world but his eyes were fixed on the times of Christianity therefore would not take notice in the extremity of his justice of the wickedness of those foregoing ages Believers are the Salt of the Earth * Mat. 5.13 which makes the World savoury to God and keeps it from corrupting 'T is meant not only of the Apostles but of Christs Disciples of all Christians for to them was that Sermon made v. 1. If the Salt have lost his savour if the Salt be corrupted and Christianity overthrown in the World wherewith shall the World be salted how can it be kept from corruption If they that persecuted the Prophets before you in Judea which is sometimes called the Earth in Scripture cannot relish you and find nothing grateful to their Palates in your Doctrine and Conversation wherewith shall they be salted How shall they be preserved from corruption The Land will be good for nothing but to be given as a prey to the Romans to be trod under their feet as being cast out of Gods protection They are the foundation of the world Pro. 10.25 the righteous are an everlasting foundation Maimonides understands it thus that the World stands for the righteous sakes When God had Noah and his Family lodged in the Ark he cares not what deluge and destruction he brings upon the rest of the World When he had conducted Lot out of Sodom he brings down that dreadful storm of fire He cares for no place Grotius on the place no nor for the whole World any longer than whilst his people are there or he hath some to bring in in time For the meanest believer is of more worth than a world therefore when God hath gathered all together he will set fire upon this frame of the Creation For what was the end of Christs coming and dying but to gather all things together in one Eph. 1.10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of time he might gather together in one all things in Christ When Christ hath summed up all together he hath attained his end And to what purpose then can we imagine God should continue the World any longer for his delight is not simply in the World but in the Saints there Psal 16.3 But to the Saints that are in the Earth in whom is all my delight not in the Earth but in the Saints there which are the only excellent things in it which Christ speaks of whom that Psalm is meant who knew well what was the object of his Fathers pleasure The sweet savour God smelt in Noah's sacrifice was the occasion of God's declaration for the Worlds standing Gen. 8.21 and the Lord said in his heart I will not curse the ground any more for mans sake That he would no more smite it with a totally destroying judgment It was his respect to Christ represented in that sacrifice and to the faith and grace of Noah the sacrificer What Savour could an infinitely pure spirit smell in the blood and flames of beasts 2. The course of natural things is for the good of the Church or particular members of it God makes articles of agreement with the Beasts and Fowls whose nature is raging and ravenous and binds them in sure bonds for the performance of those articles Hosea 2.18 And in that day will I make a Covenant for them with the beasts of the field and with the fowls of heaven and with the creeping things of the ground and will make them to lye down safely