God's wonderfull Providences He hath made his wonderfull workes to be remembred saith the Psalmist The Rabbines observe that the Children of the Jewes the night beforeth Passeover used to aske their parents why is it called the passeover th y answered because the Angel passed over and destroyed us not c. Thus ought we to speak publiquely of Gods great mercies for the benefit of our posterity to tell what God hath done for our soules that his glory may be declared among all Nations and his wonders among all people Joh. Menoch de republ Hebr. Psal 111.4 They are worthy our remembrance The works of his hand are verity and judgement vers 7. not onely the words of his mouth but also the works of his hand When we cannot find out God's mind in his word we may spell it out in his works God puts Israel in mind of their deliverance Deut. 8.2 Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these fourty years in the wildernesse c. I brought thee up out of the Land of Aegypt and redeemed thee out of the House of servants and I sent before thee Moses Aaron and Miriam O my people remember now what Balak King of Moab consulted and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal that ye may know the Righteousnesse of the Lord Mich. 6.4 5. Remember the former things of old Isa 46.9 All God's doings are very weighty in themselves and not to be forgotten When thou art apt to murmure for the want of any thing look upon the Rocks and remember how God made water to flow out of the Rock to the Israelites ready to perish for thirst When thou art in a straight and seest the water let that put thee in mind of God's dividing the red Sea When thou seest the Sun think how God can make it stand still for the good of his Children or go bacward to help forward our Faith Art thou persecuted Remember what God did to Pharoah Deut. 7.18 and to all Aegypt When thou art in affliction then is a time to remember God When my soul fainted within me I remembred the Lord saith Jonab chap. 2.7 When God remembred Jonah he remembred the Lord and praied unto him Many men have quick wits and fluent tongues yet are mute reporters of Gods Providences It is a great sinne to forget God or to be unmindfull of his works and Properties It is sad of the Children of Israel That they did evill in the sight of God and forgat the Lord their God Judg. 3.7 If David did as it were curse himself if he should forget Jerusalem Psal 137.5 6. what then shall happen to those that say to God depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy waies God complaineth of some that they had forgotten him daies without number Jerem. 2.32 many remember but a part of God his mercy to presume thereon Polan Syntag. de Gratiar actione utterly forgetting his judgements If we forget his word we forsake God if we obey it not we do the like Jerem. 32.33 If we play the Hypocrites we forget his Providence and so whensoever we are unmindfull of him we rush into any kind of sinne making not God our treasure for then our hearts would be with him Ah! how easily do men remember foolish jests vain sports and tricks of youth but how soon are the word and works of God forgotten by us David rouzeth up himself Psal 77.10 11 12. In priscis rebus veritas nòn ad unguem quaerenda Diodat to remember the years of the right hand of the most High To remember the works of the Lord and his wonders of old To meditate of all his workes and talk of all his doings If thou canst not remember particular daies labour to remember the years of the most high in antient things a generall knowledge is sufficient Here I must now commend the lawfull use of History there we may search after the proverbs and records of the Antients 1 Sam. 24.13 There we may see how others have demeaned themselves upon divers occasions and businesses of great importanec Historiae utilitas est magna faelicitatem participat c. Diodor. Sicul. lib. 1. de fabulos gestis It is as one observeth a prudent Sate Councellour by whose advice a Commonweale may be framed Governed reformed and preserved an army well marshalled and ordered Towns besieged and taken Enemies vanquished Kingdomes subdued and great victories obtained In it as in a clear Chrystall-glasse we may behold God's Providence governing the world Joh. Crompton's Sermon of marriage and the actions of men which have often strange and unexpected events and sometimes reach unto such ends as are quite contrary to the actors intentions it representeth to us the vices and vertues of great ones it leaves to posterity the worthy sayings and doings of men famous in their generation for the imitation of their survivors But above all Histories let us be carefull to read the Sacred Histories of God's wonderfull Providences towards his people this divideth time to us it acquainteth us with all the passages of Gods Providence that have been from the beginning of the world it keeps God's benefits fresh in our minds it perfumeth the memorial of the Godly making piety the more amiable it teacheth us by the examples of those Worthies that are there mentioned how we should carry our selves upon whom the ends of the world are come Now that we may the better rub up our memories we must make diligent enquiry after God's wonderfull works Eliphaz tells Job That he would not onely declare to him what himself had seen but also what wise men had told from their Fathers Job 15.17 18. We should ask of those that have the best and most experience we love to hear travellers discourse of other Countries especially those that know them by experience and albeit Art and Learning are good helpes yet he maketh the best Comment upon God's works that speaketh from holy experience What a shame is it then for old men to be children in understanding many old men are indeed profound in worldly wisedom but babes in other things so that even youths may teach the Senatours wisdom it is a great judgement when Counsell perisheth from the Antient Ezek. 7.6 Cyrus in Xenophon Xenophon reports that the Persians had a Law enjoyning all men to be silent when an Elder should speak Callistratus to give him the wall when they met him in the streets Hesychius and to set open and clear the passage waies when he should go any journey or voyage Monsieur Goulart's Vieillard In the Antient Roman Common-wealth great Reverence was done to old men and the Antient Grecians as Hesychius observeth gave Majestick titles to Old men the Counsels of Old men are more regarded than the strength of young men it 's the best Ornament of the hoary head to be full of Heavenly wisedome
prisoner Calvin in Job 38. The mists and clouds are nothing but vapours engendred in the air and herein Gods Providence appeareth for as soon as a mist ariseth by and by the Sea becometh calm though before tempestuous and thus they get the upper hand of the Sea thus God restraineth the Sea from swallowing us up tying up the Sea even as a little Infant that is tyed in swadling clouts When mention is made of the floud that once drowned the whole earth except eight persons it is said Gen. 7.11 that all the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows or floudgates of Heaven were opened so as the waters were not restrained but let loose by that dreadfull judgement of the deluge God shewed us as in a mirrour that which should have been continually upon the earth had not he miraculously restrained the waters Woodw Childs patrim Seafaring men are neither inter vivos nec inter mortuos they are between the living and the dead Consider we further Gods Providence in the Ship that saileth upon the Sea which reeleth to and fro upon the waters like a drunken man sometimes it is carried down into the great deep then mounteth up again and is carried sate to his harbour Gods work is as admirable in steering and conducting this sinking tottering Vessel whose passengers are in deaths door often to their desired Haven as it is in those Creatures that live in the Ocean their proper Element They that go down to the Sea in Ships that do business in great waters these see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep Psal 107.23 24. The Psalmist having said that the earth is full of the riches of God saith further so is this great and wide Sea wherein are things creeping innumerable c. there go the Ships there is that Leviathan whom thou hast made to play therein these wait all upon thee that thou maist give them their meat in due season that thou givest them they gather thou openest thy hand they are filled with good Psal 104.24 25 26 27. From the little Anchoie to the great Whale Apua Gods Providence is wonderfull By reason of the great multitude and diversity of Fishes that are there to be seen even many Heathens were constrained to say that whereas men saw many miracles upon the Land the Sea was the true storehouse of the wonders of nature Is it not almost an incredible thing that so great a Creature as the Whale should live in the water for in all probability he should come forth to prey upon the Land and there should not be food to suffice him in the water The fruitfulness of the Fishes in the Sea proceedeth from Gods speciall blessing for when the waters brought forth the Fishes abundantly after their kind God blessed them saying be fruitfull and multiply and fill the waters in the Seas Gen. 1.21 22. for being in a moist element they do most easily conceive Plutarc l. 5. Sympos quaest 10. by reason of the abundance of humour which is greater in the female Fishes than in the males and therefore the female kind of Fishes are bigger commonly than the males Some kind of Fishes bring forth twice in a year some three times some six times in a year and that in great abundance the most wise Creator would have them thus fruitfull partly by reason of the vastness of the Element which they must replenish viz. the water which is far greater and more spacious than the earth which besides animals is stuft with vegetables and partly that there might be variety and plenty of them for man to feed upon Ambrose saith Ambros Hexam l. 5. c. 10. that Fishes by infinite numbers out of many places from sundry creeks of the Sea with a joynt flote as it were make towards the blasts of the North-wind and by a certain instinct of nature hasten into that Sea of the Northern parts so that a man that saw the manner of them would say a certain tide were coming down from the current they rush so forwards and cut the waves as they pass with a violent power through Propontis into Pontus Euxinus And Alsted saith Alsted Theol. Natural part 2. there are often such multitudes of Fishes in the Northern Sea that Ships are stopt by them And Camden maketh mention of one sort of Fishes viz. Herrings Cambden's Britan. descript of Yorkeshire which in some ages past kept as it were their station only about Norway but now in our time not without the divine Providence as he well noteth do swim yearly round about this Isle of Brittain by skulls in very great numbers about Midsummer they shoal out of the deep and vast Northern Sea to the coasts of Scotland hence come they to the English East coast and from the midst of August to November is the best and most plentifull taking of them Besides we read in holy Writ that when Peter let down his Net into the Sea at Christs word they inclosed a great multitude of Fishes and their Net brake but they lost not the Fishes but by the help of their fellows that were in the other Ships they brought off so many Fishes to shoar as were even ready to sink two Ships and the phrase of breaking in Scripture sometime signifieth abundance as Prov. 3.9 10. where Solomon pronouncing a blessing upon such as shall bestow their goods on pious uses saith thus Honour God with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thy increase so shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine that is thou shalt not need to fear to be brought to beggery but it shall procure thee an abundant blessing And here the providence of God is further manifested that at certain times certain kinds of Fishes do enter in or go out of the Sea and that which is yet more wonderfull new sorts of Fishes are taken almost in every Moneth especially in places near the Sea-cost and herein Gods goodnesse appeareth that such multitudes of Fishes of several kinds should draw near to the Sea-shores Plin. Nat. Hist l. 9. c. 12. and in many Moneths be taken for the use of man and more admirable it is that those creatures that live and breed in the water be not all covered and clad alike For as Pliny noteth some have a skin over them and the same hairy as the Seals others but a bare skin as the Dolphins some have a shell like a bark as the Tortoises and in others the shell is as hard as a flint and such be the Oysters Muscles Cockles and Winckles some be covered over with crusts or hard pils as the Locusts others have sharp prickles some be scaled as the ordinary Fishes others be rough-coated as the Soals some have a tender and soft skin as the Lampreys others none at all as the Porcontrell Of these we may say with the Psalmist O Lord
how manifold are thy workes in wisdome hast thou made them all Psal 104.24 Moreover God's providence is remarkable in sustaining and feeding such multitudes of Fishes as are in the vast Ocean some feed upon earth some on mud and slime others feed on sea-grasse or sea-weed some will eat herbs and roots and others will feed upon flesh when they meet with it and all of them are exceedingly refreshed with soft rain and gentle showrs that fall upon the Sea by the showrs of rain that fall upon the Ocean St Austine stops the mouths of those Atheistical Epicures that disputed against Gods providence August Comment in Psal one Argument they brought was what reason could there be that it should rain on the Sea which needeth no water where there is a confluence of all waters and at the same time the earth is parched and gapeth for want of rain and gets it not where then is providence Poor creatures saith he that cannot see the end of things so blind they are Are there not Fishes living in the Sea for God to nourish Oh how do they leap sport and play and rejoyce at the sweet rain they can suck the sweet water out of the salt Sea Here then is the reason saith he why it raineth upon the Sea where is no want of water and it raineth not upon the earth that thirsteth for it even for the punishment of man's ingratitude and wickedness And here one thing more may be observed as to Gods providence concerning the Fishes of the Sea in that the Fishes were spared in the deluge from destruction as reserved in their own Ark and element when all creatures besides except those that were in Noah's Ark were utterly destroyed from the face of the earth Clapham Manual Bibl. doctr and under the Law the Ceremonial Sacrifices especially the matter of the Burnt-offering was flesh with its adjuncts as the flesh of Beasts and Birds but of Fish â—ever which was reserved for man's ordinary use no one kind of them being appointed for ceremonial service as a Learned man hath well noted But why God would not that any Fish should sacramentally die I know not excepting for that earth had sinned and earth must satisfie and Fish is not of the earth as Beasts and Birds are but substantially of the waters That any corporeal substance should not be of the earth Philosophy cannot admit as for the waters bringing forth Fish and Fowls in Gen. 1. it is understood as of the womb bringing forth but materially derived from the earth under yet some Chymists would have water the originall element of all But of this over-curious Question onely by the way CHAP. XIV Of the extent of Providence to the Earth Of the form and figure of the Earth Of the stability and situation of the Earth how it standeth in the water and out of the water 〈…〉 branches of comfort to Gods people drawn from the Earths stability to prove the stability of the Church of Christ I Shall in the next place speak of the Providence of God with relation to the Earth and to the things that are in it grow out of it and that live upon the face thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in Gen. Serm. 1. I shall treat first of the Earth it self which saith Chrysostome is our Countrey our Mother our Nurse our Table our Grave which is the footstool for the soles of Christ's feet Mat. 5.35 the office-house of sinne Isa 24.5 Satan's walk Job 2.2 the poor heritage of the sons of men The Heaven even the Heavens are the Lord's but the Earth hath he given to the children of men Psal 115.16 The slaughter-house or shambles of the Saints the bloud of the Martyrs of the Prophets and of Saints was shed upon the earth Rutherf Christs dying as a judicious Divine hath noted Revel 18.24 The first Dooms-day saith he fell upon the earth for man's sinne Genes 3.17 Cursed shall the earth be for thy sake the last Dooms-day is approaching when this clay-stage shall be removed the earth and the works therein the house and all the furniture of it shall be burnt with fire 2 Pet. 3.10 1. Now here let us consider the figure of the Earth the form and figure of the Earth is round or circular as the Globe representeth to us for the Earth and the Sea make but one Globe and is called the Center of the world which proveth that there are Antipodes which so posed many of the Fathers that is a people that dwell on the other side of the Globe Struth observ Cent. 2. although Pope Zechary did excommunicate Bishop Virgilius in the eighth Age because he maintained there were Antipodes but when it was discovered Pope Alexander the sixt found it within St Peters jurisdiction adjudging the right of it to him who had most strength to conquer it and the Pope's pretended omnipotency divided that which his omniscience could not discover the roundnesse of the Earth as also the parts thereof shut up as it were in the bosom of the Heavens and disposed with a marvellous order do expresly declare a divine providence When the Heavens are whirled about with a swift and perpetual motion that the Earth should hang like a round ball in the Air upon nothing as is expressed Job 26.7 Non quid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Belimah à Balam constringere Chald. that is having nothing to support it that during many thousand years continuance this great frame of the Earth is not shaken out of joynt notwithstanding all the confusions of the world in all Ages this is a great argument of God's providence God comprehendeth the dust of the Earth in a measure he weigheth the mountains in scales Tribus digitis appendit Hieron and the hils in a balance Isa 40.12 Hierome renders it The Lord sustaineth it with his three fingers as we weigh the least things in the balance So the Lord taketh the weight of the Earth and maketh this hill to counterpoise that and from this equal distribution of the parts setling one against another he setled the Earth in the midst that it is not moved and lest it should fall no way but to the Center he made it firm in the lowest parts and lest one part should fall on another he provided that the hils should be poised one against another Weems observat Natur. Moral as a Learned man hath noted The Earth after many thousand years continuance standeth fast fixed in the same place where God first seated it One generation passeth and another cometh but the Earth abideth for ever Eccles 1.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Super sedes suas Symmach Gnal Mecunnathâ— super bases suas Aquila 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vertit The Earth hath worn out many Ages and generations of men it self remaining unmoveable continuing where it was fixt and though there have fallen out some particular earthquakes here and there yet the whole Earth was
never shaken with an earthquake for the nature of the Center is to be immoveable He hath laid the foundations of the Earth that it should not be removed for ever Psal 104.5 or he hath setled it upon its bases Thou hast established the Earth and it abideth they continue this day that is the Heavens and the Earth according to thine Ordinance Psalm 119.90 91. 2. Now to speak more particularly Chrysost in Genes Homil. 12. Super maria flumina significat Juxta ut Psal 137.1 Super flumina Babylonis illic sedimus Cassiodor Lyranus the Psalmist tells us The Earth is the Lords with the fullness thereof the woâ—ld and they that dwell therein If you ask quo jure by what right The Prophet answereth or giveth a reason of it He hath founded it upon the Seas and established it upon the flouds Psal 24.1 2. What finite understanding saith Chrysostome can comprehend this When men lay a foundation they dig deep and if they meet with water in their way they go yet deeper till they see the spring dried up else they will lay no foundation for a foundation upon water makes a building unstable and tottering it cannot be a fixt dwelling it is against the nature of water to bear up so heavy a body it is against the nature of the earth to have its basis upon such a foundation Why dost thou wonder O man saith the same Father for into what creature soever thou wilt pry into thou wilt find an unlimited and boundlesse power much more then in bearing up this massie body The Apostle Peter tells us That the Earth standeth in the water and out of the water and yet remaineth firm and fixed 2 Peter 3.5 1. In the water not floating and swimming in the water Ut intelligatur egere terram ad firmam quandam compactionem permixtione aquae sine qua in pulveres redigeretur sicut absque sanguinis per venas sparsi humore corpus exaresceret ac dissolvetur Lorinter Densior his tellus elementaque grandia traxit Et pressa est gravitate sui circumfluus humor Ovid. Metam 1. Ultima possedit solidumque coercuit orbem Terra pilae similis nullo fulcimine nixa Aere sublimi tam grave pendet onus Cum te pendenti reputas insistere terrae Nonne vel hìnc clarè conspicis esse Deum Heidfield Sphynx Philos cap. 7. de Terra as some have dreamed even as a Ship doth in the Sea which opinion Thales Milesius held as Aristotle sheweth hence they collected That there were none that lived in another Hemisphere but the Earth standeth in the waters and is incompassed round about with the Seas and interlaced with abundance of Rivers as so many veins running thorow it 2. Out of the water a great part of it being dry Land which remaineth setled though it be contrary to the natural place and situation of the earth and water for the natural part of the Earth is to be lowest of all the Elements as it is the heaviest of all and the water to encompasse the Earth and to cover the Earth every where not to leave one inch of dry ground as the Air doth to this day close the whole Earth and water and compasse both the first and second dayes of the Creation the Earth was all covered with the water but the third day the Lord commanded the waters to retire and the dry Land to appear and the Earth to be made bare for the use of those creatures the Lord would create and plant upon it Now here was a mighty work of God and that the Earth remaineth still standing in the water and out of the water is a clear argument of God's Providence in governing the world 'T was a great work that God did in Noah's dayes in drowning the Earth with a floud yet may we not imagine it to be a greater work of God to cause the waters to retire and uncover the Earth Vain was the fancy of Archimedes who offered to move the whole earth if he had a place besides it to stand upon God doth a greater work every day in holding back the water from drowning the Earth than he did once in drowning it with water for it is the natural course of waters still to be flowing This daily work of God in keeping the waters from covering the Earth is by a strong hand keeping the waters under lock and key abridging them of their natural liberty keeping the water within its bounds so that the Earth standeth as it did in the water yet out of the water Now if the stability of the Earth be an argument of God's Providence for the pillars of the Earth are nothing else but the strength and power of God upholding and preserving it then may we assure our selves of the stability and firm foundation of the Church and all the true members thereof The righteous are an everlasting foundation they shall stand fast like Mount Sion which cannot be removed Psal 125.1 For 1. The world is established for a time by the power of that God that governeth the world by his Providence but Mount Zion the Church abideth for ever 2. Terra ipsa propriè per se stat fundata est super nihilum nec aliae columnae ejus quas confirmavit Deus quà m vis ac potentia Dei eam continens conservansque Damascen Solius Christi est haec victoria hic tuti consistemus Ferus in Mat. God establisheth the world for a time because he seeth his own workmanship in it but he will uphold his Church for ever because he seeth his own Image in it 3. The world shall be so farre from ruining the Church that the Church shall be glorious when the world shall be destroyed and turned into ashes 4. The Earth of it self hangs upon nothing but the Church is built upon the Rock Jesus Christ therefore the gates of Hell all infernal power and policy shall not prevail against it The foundation of the world is no better at the best than the foundation of the house that is built upon the sand for as the sand is slippery and will not be made hold together cannot be consolidated so are all foundations beside Christ as Hierome saith between the houses built upon the sand and the Rock there can be no solid enduring mixture no more than there could be in the feet of iron and clay in the feet of Nebuchadnezzar's Image 5. In the Earth's establishment the wisdom and power of God are manifested but we have the Word Promise and Oath of God for the establishment of the Church and therein also both his Wisdome Power and Mercy doe appear Therefore the Church shall stand when the world shall fall When we see violent storms and tempests we do not presently fear the dissolution of the world and why should the violent concussions that have been for many years past among us make us to fear the Churches dissolution which hath a
reservari putaretur si Deus nònc apertè puniret nulla providentia Divina crederetur August and if God should now punish openly no Divine Providence would scarce be believed Furthermore in that a greater number perish than are saved as there be more wooden than golden vessels it must cause them that have made their calling and election sure to be thankfull for so excellent and not common benefit If thou hear a harp sound of divers strings and all keep one harmony thou wilt think one strikes them though thou see him not so it is in God's governing the disorders of the world CHAP. XXX Object 3. Object 4. answered Object 3 IN the third place Dii magna curant parva negligunt Cicero Plin. Nat. hist l. 2. c. 7. Some make it a dishonour to take care of the sublunary creatures The Heathen thought God took care of greater but neglected smaller matters Some think it injurious to God to bring him down to the husbanding of Bees and Ants and that it is a disparagement to his Majesty to take notice of trivial objects and occurrences This Argument is brought by Pliny in his Natural History This is easie to answer Resp. Quis disposuit membra pulicis culicis August in Psal 148. Non imaginari debemus Deum esse superbum atque eas res ceu indignas contemnere quas ipse condidit atque per se dignissimas fecit for the minor is false It is not an indecorum for God to govern the least thing and meanest creature in the world God is no more dishonoured by taking care of the meanest earthly creature than the Sunne is obscured and defiled by shining upon the most unsavoury things if it were no dishonour to God to make the least things in the world than it is no disparagement to him to govern them being made neither is God any thing the lower by governing these sublunary things he humbleth himself to behold the things done in Heaven and on the Earth the one is no more a humbling to him than the other Psal 113.6 God taketh care of Oxen of Sparrows and of things inferiour to them Hyper. Meth. Theol. l. 1. An Apocriphal Writer tell us That God made little and great and as there is nothing so vast may escape his immensity Austin saith of providence that the world is governed thereby usque ad arborum volatica folia Aug. confes l. 7. c. 6. so there is not any thing so small which is deprived the blessings of his bounty the Tree loseth not one of his leafs the Head one of its hairs the Air one little bird without his appointment Is it not from Divine Providence that Antidotes should grow in places where poisons spring If Africk hath many Serpents Histor Sinar part 4. there are Psylles to destroy them If other Countreys breed store of Snakes there are Ashen-flowers to drive them away If Aegypt hath a Crocodile it affords an Indian-rat called Ichneumon that creeps into his belly and destroyes it The fire which consumeth straw and drosse brightens the Gold Qui Deum accusant quod animalcula ut pediculos pulices formaverit similes esse videntur his qui picturae ignari id accusant quod pictor revidentes colores ubique nòn adhibuerit cum tamen ille congruos singulis distribuerit locis Theodor. and refineth Silver Water which drowneth men doth animate Fishes The Spider that poisoneth a man cureth an Ape Take poison from the Serpent you bereave him wherewith to live Every creature is good for some use or other Solomon speaks of four things which are little upon Earth but they are exceeding wise The Ants are a people not strong yet they prepare their meat in the Summer the Coneys are but a little folk yet make they their houses in the rocks the Locusts have no King yet go they forth all of them by bands gathered together the Spider takes hold with her hands and is in Kings Palaces Prov. 30.24 25 26. The great sagacity of these little creatures and their industriousnesse doth highly demonstrate the extent of God's Providence toward them How contrary are they to God that exercise cruelty to and are tormentours of the creatures by sporting themselves at the torturing of the dumb creatures they do anatomize their own sinne rushing into Gods forbidden Edict God hath made man a Lord over the creatures an owner of them and not a Tyrant over them or tormentour of them he may kill them for his use but not abuse them at his pleasure though the creatures be mans drudges yet are they also his fellow-creatures A good man saith Solomon is mercifull to his beast Object 4. If all be over-ruled by Providence then why serve Admonitions Exhortations Reproofs Corrections unlesse men be amended by them Resp. God determineth to bring things to passe by means as to draw David to repentance by Nathan's reproof Peter by the crowing of a Cock and to save Noah from drowning by the Ark. Christ knew he should be glorified as in initio and his Apostles yet he prayeth for them John 17. We must use the least means for our own safety as do the almost famished Lepers but not tie God to means for the accomplishment of his promises as one of the Princes of Samaria did but paid dear for it 2 Reg. 7.2 17. nor must we relie upon means as Asa did upon Benhadad against Baasha and on the Physicians for his Gout no unlawfull means must be used in sicknesse Ahaziah should not have gone to Baalzebub the God of Ekron nor Saul to the Witch of Endor CHAP. XXXI Divers Corollaries drawn from this Doctrine of Providence Corol. 1. Corol. 2. Corol. 3. FRom what hath been said divers Consectaries will arise The first is Cor. 1. If all things come to passe by God's Providence and that Providence be ever working then there is no meer Chance or any such as the Lady Fortune in the world concerning whom some of the best Philosophers have confessed her to be the daughter of Ignorance and she is no where so much talkt of as among ignorant people It was a great errour of the Paynims to hold Fortune in so high an account Te nos Fortuna Deam Coeloque vocamus Juvenal Sat. 10. Pier. Hierolog lib. 29. Quint. Curt. lib. 7. Pacuvius in Rhet. ad Heren Otho Casman mund immun cap. 4. Benef. in Amos Lect. 10. Fortunae motus ludunt mortalitatem nùnc evehentes quosdam in sidera nùnc ad Cocyti profunda mergentes Marcellinus Ignoratio causarum Fortunam induxit Arist Physic 2. cap. 6. Vrsin Catech. de provident for they esteemed her as a Goddesse and assigned her a place in Heaven they presented her by the image of a woman sitting sometime on a Ball sometime upon a Wheel sometime on a Roller some picture her sailing among the waters of the Sea others sitting upon the top of an high Mountain exposed to all winds
Some have pictured her without feet having only hands and wings like the finnes of Fishes others picture her standing upon a stone as round as a Bowl voluble and turning she is represented as having with her a rasour bearing in her right hand the stern of a Ship in her left hand the horn of abundance By the rasour they would give us to understand that she can at her pleasure cut off our happinesse by the stern on her right hand that the course of our life is under her government by the horn of abundance in her left hand that all our plenty is from her by the Ball Wheel Roller or Stone that she is very prone to volubility and change Fortune hath her name from turning it cannot stand long in one case But this grosse Idolatry of the Heathen giving the glory due to the most high God to their base abominations we that professe our selves Christians must utterly renounce We ascribe this honour to the Lord of Hosts and to him alone and to no other do we attribute the Sovereignty Dominion and Government of the whole world Basil saith of Fortune That it is an Heathenish device and ought not so much as once to be named among Christians It is a denial of providence And Ursinus saith All the grounds of Religion are shaken in pieces if Providence be denied St Augustine Nòn Deam aliquam sed tantum fortuitum rerum eventum in externis vel bonis vel malis August Retract lib. 1. cap. 1. in the beginning of his Retractations confesseth with grief and sorrow That himself in his younger years had too often used the word Fortune And yet he cleareth himself from superstition by expounding his meaning saying That he never understood thereby Deam aliquam any Goddesse or Divine Power Calvin instit l. 1. c. 16. Fortuna ex hominum quaestu facta est Dea. Publ. Mimus Fortunam casum Ethnicorum esse voces quarum significatione piorum mentes occupari minimè deceat Basil Quaenam est illa mulier quae velut coeca atque insana super lapide quodam rotundo consistere videtur Fortuna illa vocatur Ea nòn solum coeca sed insana quoque surda est Cebes Thebanus in Tabula Quod Scriptura utitur hoc vocabulo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. bona Fortuna nòn hìnc imaginari licet Fortunam numen esse sed accipi pro rebus fortuitis quae fortuitò videntur accidere etsi aliae earum causae occultae divinitùs dantur vel fortè haec verba 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 retinebat Lea Jacobi uxorex antiqua forma loquendi apud Gentes usurpata August Quaest de Genes 91. Fortune is a word without substance begotten by a fond conceit brought forth with fading breath no sooner come but gone That which is Fortune to the Servant is none to the Master that which is Fortune to the Child is none to the Father that which is Fortune to the Fool is none to the Wife So that take away Ignorance and her daughter Chance will be quite banished Ral. Walker Treat de provid He said truly which said Sunt qui in Fortunae tam casibus omnia ponunt Juvenal Sat. 13. Et nullum credunt mundum rectore moveri There are which Fortune say by chance all things doth guide And therein do the Ruler of the world deride See the blindnesse of men concerning Fortune they accuse Fortune of injustice but they believe in her power they blame her as a blind dispencer of her gifts but they extoll her as the onely disposer of worldly goods they say she is inconstant full of levity and of no assurance yet in all attempts whether of Warre or Peace they pray for themselves and wish to their friends above all other things good Fortune So blindly are men led to thinke all things to be ruled of that which of it self is nothing Geo. More Demonstrat but only a casual event of things in externals either in things good or evil Yet he saith That he was very sorry that he had so often used the word because he saw corrupt custom had so farre prevailed as it was much abused and he feared lest his example might be some occasion thereof as Calvin hath observed Where the wise All-seeing God is attended as the Ruler of all there is no place for that blind Idol for so they pictured Fortune Struth Observ Cent. 2. This sheweth the nature of our God that he is most wise Cor. 2. knowing all things now it is the property of wisdom to govern all things in a good order and to direct them to a certain end and that he is most good ordering all things to the best most powerfull being every where present to these purposes Therefore Hagar when the Lord supplieth the want of her self and her sonne she giveth him the titles of videntis viventis as him that liveth and seeth his people in all their afflictions An Heathen could say Lucan 9. Jupiter est quodcunque vides quocunque moveris Estque Dei sedes nisi terra pontus aer Et Coelum Virtus Thine eye thou canst not turn nor move thy foot abroad The Earth the Sea the Air is but the seat of God So Heaven and Power also No man can turn away from God no place is without the view of his eye and the authority of his presence the wisdom of God is sufficiently manifested in the creating preserving and governing the world and all things therein contained he hath disposed all things in number weight and measure Was it not wonderfull wisdom so to frame all creatures as that they should keep their continual and indefatigable course without alteration ever since the time of their Creation till their dissolution He hath so placed all the Elements that they are not noxious to one another he hath so tempered them in the creature as is best for the preservation of them he hath so ordered heat and cold drought and moisture as best fitteth the seasons of the years the situations of places and constitutions of mens bodies he causeth the Earth to hang as it were in a pair of balances no man knoweth how by his mighty power sustaining it he causeth the Heavens to run round about the Earth once in four and twenty hours by the motion of the Primum mobile he hath placed the celestial creatures viz. the Sun Moon and the Stars as that they exhale from the Earth things hurtfull and with their sweet influences cheer and comfort these sublunary things This proveth the Deity of Christ Cor. 3. it being proper to God to create and to conserve For so doth he Col. 1.16 All things were made by him and proceed from him as from their efficient cause all things were made for him and are referred to his glory as the final cause all things consist in him and as at first they were created ad esse so still they are continued in