with the Lord and promising to make of him a great Nation * Exod. 32.9 10. and the Lord said to Moses I have seen this people and behold it is a stiff-necked people now therfore let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them and in such terms that one would wonder at Now therefore let me alone As if God did fear Moses's interposition would prevent him and disswade him from it Do not you stand in the way my wrath will cool if you interpose your self as much as to say God could not do it unless Moses gave his consent Moses would not be quiet but pleads the providences of God which had been all for them the promise of God made to Abraham concerning them And he would not leave till God repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people v. 14. If Angels as Calvin saith are Gods counsellours in Heaven Believers are as it were his Counsellors on Earth 5. God has given the choicest things he hath to his people He hath given his Law The Church is the Sphere wherein the light of the Gospel is fixed and wherein it shines from whence its beams do dart out to others Isa 2.3 out of Sion shall go forth the law The oracles of God the great things of the Law as it is phrased Hosea 8.12 his Covenant and the counsel of his will are intrusted with the Church Now this being a mercy which exceeds all other things in the World is therefore comprehensive of all other as the greater comprehends the lesser And the Psalmist considers it as the top-stone of all blessings for after summing up the Providences of God he shews how God had distinguished Jacob by more eminent marks of his favour Psal 147.29 30. He shews his word to Jacob his statutes and his judgments unto Israel he hath not dealt so with any Nation he hath not left so rich a Legacy to any or given any so much of his heart Others are ordered by the word of his power for that is meant by word in the foregoing verse but Jacob hath the word of his grace too And this being the choicest piece of affection which God hath shewn to the Church implies the making all lesser providences subservient to it The Church wherein God hath laid up his Gospel and those Souls which are as the Ark wherein God hath deposited his Law shall be shadowed with the wings of his merciful providence in a perpetual succession of all true blessings All the providences of God are to preserve his Law in the World his severest judgments are to quicken up the law of nature in men that know no other 〈◊〉 the Law of his Gospel in men that 〈◊〉 under it And he hath given Châ—â—◠〈◊〉 Church and thereby hath given in earnest that still their good shall be promoted 'T is not to be thought that God will spare any thing else when he hath given them his Son The Second thing It must needs be that all providences are for the good of the Church Secondly 1. All the providence of God is for the glorifying his grace in Christ First The whole Oeconomy or dispensation of the fulness of time to the latter ages of the World is for the gathering all things together in him Eph. 1.10 that in the dispensation of the fulness of time he might gather together in one all things in Christ both which are in Heaven and which are on earth even in him In him as their head This was the design in all his dispensations both before his coming and since ever since the promise made to Adam though it be more manifest in the latter Age. This the Apostle represents as the main purpose of God v. 9. This was the mystery of his will which according to his good pleasure he had purposed in himself that is purposed in himself as a thing he was mightily pleased with and ver 11. saith he 〈◊〉 works all things after or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the counsel of his own will or of that purpose which he had purposed in himself to gather all things in one in Christ All the things that God acts are referred to this as their end and ordered by this Counsel as their rule As it was the design of Gods providence to make way for Christs entrance into the World and all the prophecies in the old Testament tended to the discovery of it so since the coming of Christ the end of all is to advance him in respect of his headship Eph. 1.22 23. and hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the Church which is his body the fulness of him that fills all in all God would advance Christ to the highest pitch v. 21. far above all principality and power both in this world and in the world to come and there is still a fulness wanting to Christ to compleat him not only a personal fulness but a fulness belonging to him as a Head which is the advancement God designs him He is already advanced above all principality and power He is already given as a Head to the Church but the compleatness of it is not till all his members be perfected to which all his providences in the world doth ultimately tend Therefore if the design of God be to honour Christ and if the spiritual happiness of the Church be part of that Glory and fulness of Christ it must needs be carried on by God else he will want part of his compleatness as a Head But this shall not be wanting since as all things are squared according to that Counsel of glorifying Christ as Head so all things are acted for believers by that power whereby he raised Christ from the grave to be their Head which power is the Copy according to which all acts which respect the Church are framed v 19. and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him up from the dead God intended the good of the Church in this very act of glorifying Christ for he is made the head over all things to the Church As if God then had prescribed him that order that the glory he gave him should be also managed for the Churches interest Christ is Lord of the rest of the World but Head of the Church All things are under his feet but are not his members He is Head over all things to the Church and therefore to every member of the Church the least as well as the greatest and to the whole Church even that part of it which is on Earth as well as that part which is in Heaven who are compleated This Church is the fulness of Christ he would be bodyless without it therefore since Christ will be a head without a body if the Church be not preserved in order to the
aims at our Reconciliation as wrought by Covenant between them If by both be meant the two Offices of King and Priest and that the counsel of Peace be between them it will extend to all the Blessings of the Church to the good and Glory of the Church which is the fruit of his Kingly as well as the first Reconciliation was the fruit of his Priestly Office By Peace in Scripture is meant the confluence of all Blessings so that the intent of God in bestowing those Offices upon Christ and so great a Rule was for the good and advantage of that Church or Temple which he appointed him only to build And in Isaiah 11.9 where the Prophecy of the Government of Christ is the End is exprest to be that none should hurt or destroy in all his holy mountain And certainly since God set him at his right hand and confirm'd this power unto him after he had purged our sins it was certainly out of the high value God had for him and therefore must be the intent of God that he should govern all things in reference to the design of that death and for the good of those whose sins he had by himself purged For the possessing this Government was the very end why Christ died and rose again Rom. 14.9 For to this end Christ both died and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of dead and living If this were Christs End in dying and rising it was his Fathers End too who appointed him to Death and raised him by his mighty power And since he was delivered for our offences and rose again for our justification Rom. 4.25 The Government he is invested with being Lord of the dead and of the living must be for the sakes of those for whom he was delivered and for whom he rose His Regal power which was one end of his Death cannot cross the other main end the constituting a church and carrying on the good of them that believe The Government being in the hands not of God as Creator but in and through the hands of a Mediator and that Mediator which both died and rose again peculiarly for them therefore it cannot in the least be for their hurt but advantage The whole management of Christs Kingly Office in relation to the Church is prescrib'd unto Christ by God God reveals to him what shall be done in the World what acts he shall perform for the Church and gives him a History of all that was to be done upon the stage together with an order to communicate it unto his Servants Revel 1.1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him to shew unto his Servants to be communicated to the whole Church things that must shortly come to pass Whether this Revelation was made to the human nature of Christ at his incarnation as Tirinus thinks or rather upon his ascension is not material The whole Scheme of what was to be done in the World is revealed here by God to Christ And you find all the motions in the World relating to the Church and the end of all is the good of the Heavenly Jerusalem 3. All power thus given and intended for this end is actually administred by Christ for this end Christ as the head of the Church doth like a natural head It never sees nor hears nor exerciseth any act of sence only for it self but for the good of the whole Body The eye watches for the body the Tongue speaks for it the understanding contrives for it every part of the head is active for the whole body Now Christ as head is more bound to act for the Church militant than for the Church triumphant because the greatest part of his work for the Church triumphant viz. the bringing them to Heaven is already performed And they are above the reach of all things in the World and all the actions and motions in the world cannot touch or disorder them But the command of God concerning the other part behind is not yet performed and even they are the members of Christ as well as those in Heaven The Apostle * Col. 1.16 17 18. seems to refer both Christs creation and the preservation of things to this title of headship All things were created by him and for him and by him all things consist and he is the head of the body the Church and therefore the conservation and government of all things shall be subservient to the Church which is the body of this governing Head The chief seat Christs Soveraignty is the Church Psal 2.6 yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Sion And he stands upon Mount Sion Rev. 14.1 The Church is the proper Seat and Metropolis of his Empire the Royal Chamber of this Great King All the conquests of Princes redound to the advantage of that place where they fix their Residence He is King of the World but for the sake of Sion Christ did manage this charge anciently for his People when Joshuah had passed over Jordan and first entered upon the conquest of Canaan he sees a man over-against him with a sword drawn in his hand Joshua 5.13 14. And Joshua said unto him Art thou for us or for our adversaries and he said Nay but as Captain of the hosts of the Lord am I now come This was Christ that came armed for his People according to his charge as their Captain and General It was not an Angel because Joshua worshipped him ver 14. An Angel did not use to receive any Worship from Men and he accepts the Worship and commands him to loose his shooe from his foot for the place whereon he stood was holy ver 15. And the same Person Josh 6.2 is called Jehovah and there he gives him orders how he should manage his War Christ came here to direct his People in their concerns He employs his Wisdom for his Church as well as his other excellencies He is called a Counsellor * Isa 9.6 't is one of the great Letters in his Name and this as the rest there mentioned hath a relation to the Church For unto us a Child is born unto us a Son is given And the first use he makes of his Power after the confirmation of it to us upon his Resurrection is for the Church Matth. 28.18 All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth all Authoritative Power over Angels and the affairs of the World Go you therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them c. and lo I am with you always even unto the end of the World He commands the Apostles to gather a Church among all Nations and doth by Vertue of this Authority committed to him promise his Presence with them in all such services they should do to this End even to the end of the World He promises his Spirit and his Providential Presence as his Power should endure to the end of the World so the exercise of it for this End should
there be so much charity in Hell can there be less in Heaven If he desired it that by the presence of his cmpanions in sin his own torments might not be increased Do not the Saints in Heaven desire the presence of the whole Church that their happiness in that of the whole body may be compleated If the Head Christ be not compleat without the body the members of the body cannot be compleat without one another The souls of them that were slain for the word of God cry under the Altar for vengeance on them that dwell on the Earth as Revel 6.9 and 10. How long O Lord holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth Will not their kindness to their fellow-members be as strong as their justice And their love for the good of their Friends draw out their prayers as well as their desire of vengeance on their Enemies Why may they not as well pray for us as we praise God for them Had they not some likeness to their great Master whilst they were on Earth and shall they not be more like to him now they ae in Heaven and behold his face and feel all the stirrings of his heart And if they have no sence at all of the Churches sufferings how shall they be like to him who hath As their bodies shall be like the glorious body of Christ at the resurrection are not their Souls now like his glorious Soul merciful and compassionate and sympathizing in all the afflictions of the Church and can this be without some breathings for a full compleating of the Churches freedom Are such desires and pleas any hindrance to their present happiness 'T is so far from that that it doth rather further their glory which cannot be compleat as the glory of Christ as head is not mounted to the highest pitch of glory till his mystical body be all gathered in and lodged with him If it be thus will God do any thing prejudicial to the Church and contrary to the combin'd desires of all those that are so ner him If God doth sometimes stir up himself upon the supplication of one man grant an order upon his petition according to his mind and if the prayers of one faithful Moses or Elias or Samuel have such a kind of Almighty power in them much more is the jovnt force of so many prayers twisted together Vse 1. VSE For information Is it so that all providence is for the good of the Church Then 1. God will alwaies have a Church in the World he will have some to serve him The whole course of his providence being designed for it As long as the world which is the object of his providence doth endure he will have a Church God would otherwise lose the end of the motion of his eyes * The Text. the operation of his providence since it is to shew himself strong for the Church and every member of it As long as the candle and light of the Gospel burns and shines God will have a candlestick to set the candle in * Cham. les trais verit liv 3. cap. 1. p. 16. His great design in making a World was not to have a Sun Moon and Stars but a Church a company of men that might ear his mark and honour him to whom he might speak and extend his grace abroad which he was so full of within As a Limner who would draw an excellent draught draws his design in the midst of the cloth and fills the void places with clouds and land skips and other fancies at his pleasure which communicate some beauty and lustre to the work But that was not the principal design of the workman That Redeemer which bears the Church upon his heart will create a stability for it 't is a part of his Priestly Office to have a care of the Lamps 'T is one of his Titles to be he that walks in the midst of the Seven Golden Candlesticks * Revel 2 1. Priests under the Law were to look to the grant Candlestick in the Temple supply the Lamps with Oyl and make them clean * Levit. 24.3 4. Chap. 27.20 Chap. 30.8 The Church indeed may be eclips'd but not extinguished if it be not conspicuous on the mountain yet it shall be hid in the Wilderness There shall be sprinklings of professors among all people God will leaven the places where they are into Christianity and cause them to fructify and grow up in purity and glory * Micah 5.7 And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord as the showers upon the grass that tarrieth not for man nor waiteth for the Sons of men Is tarries not for man It attends not the power of man the precepts of man or inventions of man but whose descent is from Heaven and is carried on not by human power but by the divine Spirit and providence It shall be firmer than all worldy power and the strongest Kings Isa 2.2 And the Mountain of the Lords house shall be established upon the top of the Mountains and shall be exalted above the hills Above mountains and Hills to which sometimes the powers of the World are compared Zeth 4.7 Zech. 4.7 That providence which gave the Church at first a footing in the world upon a weak foundation to outward appearance in spight of Men and Devils will preserve it and not suffer it to be blown up he will shadow the Church with his wings in a perpetual succession of the choicest mercies 2. God will in the greatest exigencies find out means for the protection of his Church This will be till his providence be at an end When God hath removed one instrument of his Churches protection he hath his choice of his Churches protection he hath his choice of others whom he can raise and spirit for his work When those upon whom the Churches hopes hang are taken off he can raise things that are unlikely to supply the place As the Lutenist accidentally had a Grasshopper leap upon his instrument to supply by its noise the place of a string which had newly crackt whereby his Musick was continued without interruption God can Spirit men against their own natural fears It was very improbable that Nicodeus one of a fearful disposition who came to our Saviour by night for fear of the Jews should have the courage to assert his cause in the face of a whole Councel of Pharisees contriving his death and at present blunt the edge of their malice though we read of none at that time in the Councel to second him * Joh. 7.50 51. The holy Ghost takes particular notice that it was he that came to Jesus by night Joseph of Arimathea whose name we meet not with in any of the Catalogues of his Desciples till the time of his death then appears boldly to beg the body of Jesus of Pilate God
will never want instruments for the preserving that Church which he owns as his 'T is observed by some that God so ordered it that the same day that Pelagius the great poysoner of the Christian Doctrine was born in Brittain Austin the most famous defender of the truth was born in Africk That the horn which pushed the truth should no sooner appear but the Carpenter to cut it off should be provided too As it is observed where poysons grow Antidotes grow near them by the indulgent provisiof the God of Nature As there is the Wisdom of the Serpent against the Church so there is the Wisdom of God for it Gods goodness upon his Church in former Ages is not all laid out He hath his stores still neither is his Wisdom non-plust nor his Power weakned neither is he nor can he be weary of his care 3. The Church shall in the end prove Victorious against all its Adversaries or Providence must miss of its Aim The Church is compared to an Olive Tree Hos 14.6 In respect of beauty his Beauty shall be as the Olive Tree It is so also in respect of Victory Olive Branches were used in Triumph God is on the Churches side and he is stronger than the strongest and wiser than the wisest and higher than the highest Jesus Christ is the Churches Head and General Christ the Head watcheth for the good of the Church the Body He must be destroyed before the Church can There is a mighty Arm which though it may for a time seem withered will in the end be stretched out and get it self the victory Whilst Christ is in the Ship it may be tosted but it shall not be sunk It may be beaten down but like a Ball to rebound the higher The young Tree that is shaken by the wind may lose some leaves and some fruit too but the root gets greater strength and strikes it self deeper into the Earth and makes the Branches more capable of a rich return of Fruit the following year The Churches Stature is compared to a Palm-Tree * Cant. 7.7 which cannot be deprest by by the weights which hang upon it but riseth the higher God uses the same method in the Churches as in Christs advancement Our Saviours Death was necessary to his Glory * Luk 24.26 And the Churches affliction sometimes to its exaltation A Nation may lose some Battlels and yet be victorious The Church may have many a cross but in the end will surmount all difficulties Though Judgments and Apostacies may be great in a Nation yet God will have a care of his own Plants * Isa 4.12 13. There shall be a tenth It shall return the Holy seed shall be the substance thereof As a Tree in Winter which seems dead but its juyce shall revive into rich and generout Blossoms The Ark shall float above the waters Babylon shall fall the Lamb shall stand upon Mount Sion Men may as well stop the rising of the Sun in its mounting to the Meridian Bridle in the Tyde of the Ocean as hinder the current of an Almighty Providence 4. The interest of Nations is to bear a respect to the Church and countenance the Worship of God in it This is to concur with Gods main end and imitate him in his Providential Administrations Gods people whatever their Enemies suggest to the contrary are a Blessing in the midst of a Land * Isa 19.24 their interest is greater than the interest of all the World besides though they be but a handful their fruit shall shake like Lebonon * Psal 72.16 Broughtn on Dan. 10 20. The neglect of Religion is the Ruin of Nations 'T is observed that Cyrus was slain in the War in Sci thia a little after he neglected the building of the Temple of Hierusalem which he had begun Those Persian Kings Reigned the longest that favoured the Jews in that and their other just requests God Honoured or disgraced them as they were kind or cruel to his People And when any act for the good of his people they shall not be without their Reward When Cyrus should let the Jemish Captives go free without Ransom he should be no loser by it God would give him the labour of Egypt the Merchandize of Ethiopia and the strength of the Sabeans into his hand for the price of his Peoples Delivery * Isa 45.13 14. those Nations which should favour them in the times of their persecutions and Flights and give them shelter in their Countreys should thrive and prosper by the blessing of God upon them If Moab give entertainment to the flying Israelites in the time of the Invasion of Salmanassar God will preserve their Land that the Spoyler shall not enter into the Consines of it and they shall have Kings and Judges under the protection of the House of David i. e. under the Kings of Israel as some understand it * Isa 16.4 5. Saints are the Guardians of the Places where they live their Prayers have a greater insluence than the wisest Counsels or the mightiest Force* 2 Kings 2.12 And Elisha cried My Father my Father the Chariot of Israel and the Horsemen thereof The Chaldee paraphraseth thus Thou art better of Israel by thy Prayers than Chariots and Horsemen This is the Elogy of one single Prophet what influence then hath the whole Church of God in a place The whole world is the better for the Church of God The Chaldee Paraphrase hath a notion upon that Psalm 22.3 But thou art holy oh thou that inhabitest the Praises of Israel Thou that establishest the World for the Praises of Israel God hath nothing to do in the World but the saving his People When that is once done he will put an end to this Frame of things When he hath gathered his Wheat into his Garner he will burn up the Chaff His People are the Spirit and Quintessence of the World When this is extracted the rest are flung upon the Dung hill as a Caput Mortuum 5. We may see hence the ground of most of the Judgments in the World Men by their rage against the Church will not acknowledge God's Government of the World for the Churches good Therefore saith the Psalmist Psal 59.13 Consume them in wrath consume them that they may net be and let them know that God rules in Jacob unto the ends of the Earth The Church is the Seat of his Government and from thence he extends it to the utermost parts of the Earth In Jacob he rules and for the sake of Jacob he orders his Government to the ends of the Earth The not acknowledging this brings wrathful Consumptions upon men And it is also the end of his Judgments to make men know it 'T is likely enough the four Kings * Gen 14.9 might have gone clear away with all their Booty had not they laid their singers upon Lot But when they would pack him up among the rest they did but sollicite their own
instances in Jackson vol. 1.8 cap. 4. Sect 5. This consideration has heightned the minds of many against a providence It was the notion of many Heathens when they saw many who had acted with much gallantry for their Countries afflicted they questioned whether there were a superintendent power over the World This hath also been the stumbling-block of many taught in an higher School than that of Nature the Jews Mal. 2.17 17. ye say every one that doth evil is good in the sight of the Lord and he delighteth in them and where is the God of judgment Yea and the observation of the outward felicities of vice and the oppressions of goodness have caused fretting commotions in the hearts of God's People the Psal 73. is wholly designed to answer this case Jeremy though fixed in the acknowledgment of God's righteousness would debate the reason of it with God Jer. 12.1 Righteous art thou oh Lord yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously thou hast planted them yea they have taken root they grow yea they bring forth fruit He perceiving it a universal case wherefore are all they happy c. did not know how to reconcile it with the righteousness of God Nor Habbakkuk with the holiness of God Hab. 1.14 thou art of purer ejes than to behold iniquity wherefore holdest thou thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he In point of God's goodness too Job expostulates the case with God Job 10.3 Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress that thou shouldest despise the work of thy hands and shine upon the counsel of the wicked You see upon the account of holiness righteousness goodness the three great Attributes of God it hath been questioned by good men and upon the account of his wisdom by the wicked Jews 1. Answer in general Answ 1. Is it not an high presumption for ignorance to judg God's proceedings In the course of providence such things are done that men could not imagine could be done without injustice yet when the whole connexion of their ends is unravelled they appear highly beautiful and discover a glorious wisdom and righteousness If it had entered into the heart of man to think that God should send his Son in a very low estate to die for sinners would it not have been judged an unjust and unreasonable act to deliver up his Son for rebels the innocent for the criminals to spare the offender and punish the observer of his Law Yet when the design is revealed and acted what an admirable connection is there of justice wisdom mercy and holiness which men could not conceive of It will be known to be so at last in God's dealing with all his members We are incompetent Judges of the righteousness and wisdom of God unelss we were infinitely righteous and wise our selves we must be God's or in another state before we can understand the reasons of all God's actions We judg according to the law of sense and self which are inferior to the rules whereby God works Judg nothing then before the time * 1 Cor. 4.5 It is not a time for us to pass a judgment upon things A false judgment is easily made when neither the Counsels of mens hearts nor the particular Laws of God's actions are known to us In general it is certain God doth righteously order his providences he may see some inward corruptions in good men to be demolished by afflictions and some good moral affections some useful designs or some services he employs wicked men in to be rewarded in this life 2. Secondly God is Soveraign of the World He is sui juris The Earth is his and the fulness thereof may he not do what he will with his own * Mat. 20.15 Who shall take upon them to controul God and prescribe Laws to him how to deal with his Creatures Why should afinite understanding prescribe measures and methods to an infinite Majesty 3. God is wise and just Thirdly and knows how to distribute If we question his providence we question his wisdom Is it fit for us who are but of yesterday and know nothing to say to an infinite wisdom what dost thou and to direct the only wise God to a method of his actions His own wisdom will best direct him to the time when to punish the insolence of the wicked and relieve the miseries of his people We see the present dispensations but are we able to understand the internal motives May there not be some sins of righteous mens Parents that he will visit upon their Children some virtues of their ancestors that he will reward even in their wicked posterity He may use wicked men as instruments in some service 'T is part of his distributive Justice to reward them They aim at these things to their service and he gratifies them according to their desires Let not then his righteousness be an argument against his providence 't is righteous with God not to be in Arrears with them Sometimes God gives them not to them as rewards of any moral virtue but puts power into their hands that they may be instruments of his Justice upon some offenders against him Isa 10.5 The staff in the Assyrians hand was God's indignation 4. Fourthly There is a necessity for some seeming inequality at least in order to the good government of the world Can all in any community of men be of an equal height A house hath not beams and rafters of an equal bigness some are greater and some less The world is God's Family 'T is here as in a Family all cannot have the same Office but they are divided according to the capacities of some persons and the necessities of others Providence would not be so apparent in the beauty of the world if all men were alike in their stations Where would the beauty of the body be if all the members had one Office and one immediate End Man would cease to be man if every member had not some distinct work and an universal agreement in the common profit of the Body All mankind is but one great Body constituted of several Members which have distinct Offices but all ordered to the good of the whole the Apostle argues this excellently in a parallel case of the diversities of gifts in the Church 1 Cor. 12.19 If all were one member where were the body v. 23 those members of the body which we think to be less honourable upon those we bestow more abundant honour v. 24. God hath tempered the body together having given more abundant honour to that part which lackt What harmony could there be if all voices and sounds were exactly the same in a consort Who can be delighted with a Picture that hath no shadows The afflictions of good men are a foyl to set off the beauty of Gods providence in the
Almanack to the Church was made us by an Angel * Dan. 9.21 Revel 10.8 9. Revel 22.8 9. And when by the course of time those turnings are to happen in the World the Angels must have their share of service in them The Trumpets are sounded by Angels and the Vials which are filled with the causes of such alterations are poured out by the hands of Angels Some indeed by the Angels there mentioned understand the visible instruments of reformation not excluding the Angels who are the invisible Ministers in the affairs of the World * Lightfoot Temple Chap. 38. p. 253 256. 5. They engage in this work for the Church with delight They act as Gods Ministers in his providence with a unanimous consent †Ezek. 1.9 Their wings were joyned one to another So that they perform their office with the same swiftness and with the same affection without emulation to go one before another which makes many actions succeed ill among men but they go hand in hand They do it with affection both in respect of the kind disposition of their natures and as they are fellow-members of the same body for they are parts of the Church and of the Heavenly Jerusalem Heb. 12.22 Ye are come to the Heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the first-born and therefore act out of affection to that which is a part of their body as well as out of obedience to their head They do it in respect of their own improvement too and increase of their knowledg which is the desire of all intellectual Creatures For they compleat their understandings by the sight of the methods of infinite wisdom in the perfecting his gracious designs And it is Gods intent that they should grow in the knowledge of his great mystery by their employment Eph. 3.10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God i. e. By the gracious works of God towards the Church and in the behalf of it for the security and growth of the Church and in the executions of those decrees which as instruments they are imployed in For I do not understand how it can be meant of the knowledge of Christ for of that they know more than the Church below can acquaint them with for without question they have a clear insight into the offices of Christ who is their Head and whom they are ordered to worship They understand the aim of his death and resurrection and can better explain the dark predictions of Scripture than purblind man can But by observing the Methods which God uses in the accomplishment of them they become more intelligent and commence Masters of knowledg in a higher degree which it is probable is one reason of their joy when they see Gods infinite Wisdom and Grace in the conversion of a sinner without affection to them their employment about them they could not rejoice so much And their rejoicing in their first bringing in to God argues their joy in all their employments which concerns their welfare 2. As all good things Secondly so all bad things are ordered by providence for the good of the church That which in its own nature is an injury by Gods ordering puts on the nature of a mercy and what is poyson in it self by the Almighty art becomes a Soveraign medicine Are Gods dispensations in their own nature destructive that wise Physician knows how to make poysons work the effect of purges Are they sharp It is to humble and purge the Church As shadows serve to set out the pictures so the darkest passages of providence are made by God to commend the beauty of those glorious things he works for his Church We may see this in 1. Bad persons As 1. The Devil God manageth him for his own glory and the strengthning of Believers †Math. 8.31 32. The Devils desired to enter into the herd of swine with an intent probably not only to destroy the swine but to incense the Gadarenes against him out of whom they had been cast to do him some considerable mischief But what is the issue As they discover their malice so they inhance the value of Christs kindness to the distressed man whom he had freed from this tyranny Hereby also was the Law of God justified in commanding the Jews to abstain from Swines flesh which the Gadarenes being Apostate Jews had broken he magnified his own power in the routing such a number of unclean Spirits which had not been so conspicuous in the turning them out of one man had not this regiment discoveed themselves among the Swine and brought such a loss upon the Gadarenes whereby as they shewed their own strength and malice so they discovered occasionally the greatness of Christs charity and his power over them so that in granting the malicious petition of this exasperated Legion the Law of God is justified our Saviours love glorified his power manifested and a foundation laid for the gaining Proselytes in that Country to which purpose he left the man he had cured * Luk. 8.39 and to strengthen the faith of those poor Believers which then followed him God makes use of the Devils by the Soveraignty of providence to bring about ends unknown to themselves for all their wisdom The malice of the Devil against Job hath rendred him a standing miracle of patience for ever They are the rulers of the darkness of this world * Eph. 6.12 not of the light of the World they are the rulers of the wicked and the scullions of the Saints to scour and cleanse them They are the rulers of the World but subordinate to serve the providence of God wherein God declares his wisdom by serving himself of the worst of his Enemies The Devil thought he had brought a total destruction upon mankind when he perswaded our first Parents to eat of the forbidden fruit but the only wise God ordered it to bring about a greater glory to himself and a more firm stability to his people in introducing an everlasting covenant which could not be broken and establishing their happiness upon surer terms than it was settled in Paradise And afterwards in filling the heart of Judas to betray Christ and the hearts of the Jews to crucifie him Even by that way whereby the thought to hinder the good of mankind he occasionally promotes their perpetual redemption And I do not much question but those very principles which the Devil had distilled into the gentile World of shedding human blood in sacrisices for expiation of guilt and the Gods conversing with men in humane shapes and the imagination of the intercession of Daemons for them the first out of rage against mankind and both that and the other to induce them to Idolatry might facilitate the entertainment of Christ as the great expiatory sacrifice and the receiving of him as
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
Ruin and arm the Almighty God against tham God did not think any of the People worth the mention verse 11. only Lot a righteous person vers 12. he is named as having Gods eye only upon him And when Abraham returns from the Victory v. 16. the rest of the delivered Captives are mentioned in the bulk Lot only in particular As though all that had been done had been done by God only for Lots sake They might have preserved the whole Prey to themselves had it not been for this Jewel too precious in Gods accompt for their Custody And the fearful Curse that God pronounced against the Ammonite and Moabite that they should not come into the Congregation for ten Generations though any of them turned Proselytes was because they came nor out with so much as Bread and Water to meet the Israelites and because they hired Balaam to Curse them The utter wasting of Nations and Kingdoms is because they will not serve the interest of God in his People Deut. 23.3.4 Isa 60.12 For the Nation and Kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish yea those Nations shall be utterly wasted God will bring an utter Consumption upon those people that refuse to love them much more upon those that hate them 6. What esteem then should there be of the Godly in the World The Providence of God being chiefly for the good of his people cannot well fall upon them but some drops will fall upon those involved with them in a common interest When the Corn and Wine and Oyl hear Jezreel the Seed of God and the Earth hears the Corn and the Heavens hear the Earth and God hears the Heavens * Hos 20 21 22 When their supplications come up to the great Superintendent of the World many of the Wicked will fare the better for that Providence which is given only in answer to Jezreels Prayer God causes his Sun to shine upon the unjust upon them not for their sakes When Nebuchadnezzar issued out that unjust order for the slaying the Chaldeans for not performing an impossible command in telling him the Dream he had forgotten Daniel was sought out to undergo the same fate * Dan. 2.12 Yet by his Wisdom God bends the heart of Arioch the Executioner of this Decree to stay his hand Daniel goes to the King God stayes Nebuchadnezzars Fury and moves his heart to give them time The Providence is chiefly intended for the preservation of Daniel and his godly Companions but the rest of the wise men have the Benefit of it As the water with which a man waters his choicest Plants and Flowers in his Garden is intended only for them yet some falling off from those Flowers refresheth the Weeds that grow under them If God had not had such flowers as Daniel and his Companions the Weeds in Chaldea had been plucked up Yet the ungrateful World takes no notice of the benefits they receive from this Salt of the Earth which preserves them and to whom they are all so much beholding Lot had been the occasion of restoring Zoar from Captivity as I mentioned before for the inhabitants of that City were engaged with those of Sodom in the Fight against the four Kings Gen 14.8 And the King of Bela the same is Zoar. And perhaps were carried Captives with the rest of their Neighbours And it had been saved from the Flames which fell upon Sodom meerly by Lots prayer Gen. 19.21 See I have accepted thee concerning this thing that I will not overthrow this City for the which thou hast spoken Yet he found them a surly people and was requited with a rude reception notwithstanding his kindness verse 30. He went up out of Zoar for he feared to dwell in Zoar It was not likely he was so distrustful of God that he should overthrow it when he had absolutely promised him the contrary Therefore most likely for some churlish threatnings from them Nay Sodom it self was beholding to him for a sinall respite of the Judgment intended against them For God tells him he could do nothing till he were come thither * Gen. 19. And it was so for Lot was entred into Zoar before a drop of Brimstone and Fire was rained down upon Sodom * Ver. 23 24. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom when when Lot was entred into Zear This good the Wicked World get by Gods People is so evident that sometimes wicked men cannot but take notice of it Laban a selfish Idolater was sensible of it Gen. 30.27 I have found by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake It was a Lesson so legible that he might have learned it sooner than in fourteen years The Church is the chief object of preservation wicked men are preserved for their sakes as Dung is preserved not for its own sake but for the manuring a fruitful field and Thorns in the Hedge are preserved for the Gardens sake 7. 'T is then a very foolish thing for any to contend against the welfare of Gods People 'T is to strive against an Almighty and unwearied Providence Men may indeed sometimes be suffered by God for holy ends to have their Wills in some measure upon the Church but not altogether They must first depose him from his Throne blind his eyes or hold his Arm. 'T is as foolish as if a worm should design to dig down a Mountain or Chaff to Marshal it self in Battel-array against the Wind or for a poor Flye to stop the motion of a Milstone 1. 'T is foolish Because it is exceeding sinful What is done against the Church is rather done against God than against her Since all her Constitution Worship Observances are directed to God as their ultimate end so that to endeavour to destroy the Church is to deny God a Worship deprive him of his Sanctuary break open his House Ravish his Spouse cut off Christ's Body rob him of his Jewels and will be so interpreted by God at the last upon the scanning of things If the Church be Gods house the Enemies shall answer for every Invasion every forcible Entry for the breaking down the Gates and Bars of it God will sue them at last for dilapidations 2. Very unsuccessful Shall God be afraid of the multitudes and power of Men No more than a Lyon or a young Lyon roaring after his Prey when a multitude of shepherds are called forth against him shall he be afraid of their voice or abase himself for their noise * Isa 31.4 Noise and Clamor is all they can do and that not long The fierceness of the Lyon quickly scatters them The Associations and mens girding themselves against the Church is but a preparation to their own Ruine Isa 8.9 Associate your selves together oh ye people and ye shall be broken in pieces three times repeated Your Counsels saith he shall not stand against that presence of God that is with us For God is with us 3. It is very Destructive too God
will not alway be still and refrain himself he seems to do so for a while but when he doth arise he will destroy and devour at once * Isa 42.14 he will make but one morsel of them When God is angry with his people and gives them into the hands of men to execute his Justice upon them and punish them he will even punish those enemies for their Cruelty and going beyond their commission in satisfying there own immoderate Passions upon them Upon this account God threatens Babylon Isa 47.6 I was wroth with my People I have polluted mine Inheritance and given them into thy hand thou didst shew them no mercy Wherupon God threatens them afterwards c. so Zech. 1.15 God was sore displeased with the Heathen for when he was but a little displeased with his people they helped forward the affliction Vse 2. Is for Comfort If all the Providence of God be for the good of the Church If his eyes run to and fro to shew himself strong for them it affords matter of great comfort His Providence is continual for them * Zech. 4. he hath seven pipes to convey kindness to them as well as seven Lamps whereby to discern their streights His Providence is as vast as his Omniscience The number of Pipes belonging to the Candlestick of the Church is exact according to the number of Lamps The Churches Misery cannot be hid from Gods eye let it be in what part of the Earth soever for his eyes run to and fro throughout the whole Earth and his sight excites his strength Upon the sight of their distressed condition he watches only for the fittest opportunity to shew himself strong for them And when that opportunity comes he is speedy in the Deliverance of them Psal 18.10 He rode upon a cherub and did fly yea he did flye upon the wings of the wind He doth not only ride upon a Cherub but flye His wings are nothing but wind which hath the quickest and the strongest motion which moves the greatest bodies and turns down all before it What is for the good of the whole hath an influence upon every member of the Body 1. 'T is comfort in Duties and special Services Nothing shall be wanting for encouragement to Duty and success in it when God calls any to it since all his Providence is for the good of the Church Let there be but sincerity on our parts in our attempts of service upon Gods call and we need not fear a want of Providence on Gods part God never calls any to serve his Church in anystation but he doth both Spirit and encourage them God hath in his common Providence suited the nature of every Creature to that place in which he hath set it in the World and will he not much more in his special Providence suit every one to that place he calls them to for the service of his Church He did not forsake Christ in redeeming his Church neither will he forsake any in assisting his Church When Joseph of Arimathea would boldly demand the body of our Saviour Providence made the way plain before him he meets with no check neither from Pilate nor the Priests * Mat. 27.58 Mark 15.43 2. In meanness and lowness 'T is one and the same God that rules the affairs of the whole World of the Church and of every particular Member of it As it is the same Soul that informs the whole Body the meanest Member as well as that which is most excellent Not the meanest sincere Christian but is under Gods eye for good The Spirit acts and animates every Member in the Church the weakest as well as the most towring Christian Baruch was but the Prophet Jeremy's Amanuensis or Scribe and Servant to Jeremy who was no great man in the World himself yet God takes notice so of his Service that he would particularly provide for him and commands Jeremy in a way of Prophecy to tell him as much Jer. 45.5 I will bring evil upon all flesh but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey whithersoever thou goest 3. In the greatect Judgments upon others In an Epidemical Judgment upon the whole Nation of the Jews God would have a special care of Baruch If he should cast his people far off among the Heathen and scatter them among the Countries yet even there he would be a little Sanctuary unto them His own presence should supply the want of a Temple so he is pleased to express himself * Ezek. 11.16 but how is it possible the great God can be but a little Sanctuary His eye is upon them to see their dangers and his hand upon them to secure them for it His Promise shall shield them and his Wings shall cover them * Psal 91.4 While he hath indignation he hath a secret Chamber for their security * Isa 26.20 An Almighty shadow under which they may abide * Psal 91.1 In times of the most devouring danger he hath a Seal to set upon their foreheads as a mark of his special Protection We never have so much experience of Gods care and strength as in times of Trouble Psal 37.39 He is their strength in time of trouble He is a friend who is as able as willing and as willing as able to help them whose watchfulness over them is as much above their apprehension as it is above their merits 4. In the greatest extremities wherein his people may be there are promises of comfort * Isa 43 2. Both in overflowing waters and scorching fires he will be with them His Providence shall attend his Promise and his Truth shall be their Shield and Buckler Psal 91.4 That surely is a sufficient support Christ thought it so when he only said to his Disciples 't is I be not afraid * John 6.17 18. What though there be a Storm a darkness and trouble 't is I am he The darkness of the night troubles not the Pilot whilst he hath his Compass to steer by If all his providences be for the good of them that fear him he can never want means to bring them out of trouble because he is always actually exercised in governing that which is for their good and till he sees it fit to deliver them he will be with them Great Mercies succeed the sharpest Afflictions * Jer. 30.5 6 7. c. When there should be a voice of trembling and men with their hands upon their Loins as women in Travel and paleness in their faces from the excess of their fears In that day God would break the Yoak from them and they should serve the Lord their God and David their King Though the night be never so dark yet it is certain the Sun will rise and disperse its light next morning and one time or other shew it self in its brightness We have no reason to despond in great extremities since he can think us into safety Psal 40.17 Lord think on
been delivered by God's Power out of Prison when he was first sent thither but God thought it fittest for him to lie in Chains and free him but the night before his intended Execution * Acts 12.6 7. Lot had his Goods rifled and carried away Captive before God stirred up Abraham to rescue him When the hand of the wicked lies heaviest upon the heads of the Righteous and writings the most mournful sighs from them when they are needy and the wicked securely puffing at them as though they had brought them to so low a condition as to blow them away with a blast now saith God will I arise Psal 12.5 For the oppression of the poor for the sighing of the needy now will I arise saith the Lord I will set him at safety from him that puffeth at him Now rhis is the time I watched for as fittest for my own Glory and their safety Then God disappoints them when they seem to have got to the Goal with the Ball at their foot Secondly God hereby doth glorify himself He then discovers that there is nothing too high for his power to check nothing too subtil for his Wisdom to disappoint nothing too low for his love to embrace That is the season wherein his Mercy will be most prized his Power most admired his Wisdom most adored and his Justice most cleared God lets the concerns of his Church go backward that he may bring them on with more Glory to himself and satisfaction to his creature God will divide the benefit and the honour between himself and the creature He will have the whole Glory and his creature shall have the sensible advantage They shall enjoy Salvation there is their benefit but not by Sword or Bow but by the Lord their God * Hos 17. 〈◊〉 Saved they should be but in such a way wherein the honour of God might most appear without any mixture of the Creature 1. God glorifies his Power His eyes run to and fro to shew himself strong He will then pitch upon such a season when his strength may appear most illustrious and none else have any pretence to claim an equal strength with him A time of extremity is the fittest opportunity for this When his power cannot be clouded by any interposition of the creature for challenging a share in it The greater the malice against the Church the weaker the Churches ability to help it self the more glorious is the power of God magnified in deliverance little dangers are not so suitable for the triumph of an infinite strength As God let Christ lye three daves in the Grave that his Resurrection might be known to be the fruit of Divine power for the same end he lets his mystical Body lye in the same condition Had God brought Israel out of Egypt in the time of the Kings that were friends to them from a kindly remembrance of Joseph there had been no character of a Divine power though there had been of a divine truth apparent in the case but he set apart that time for their deliverance when he was to contest with the mightiest opposition from the whole body of the Egyptian Nation who had forgot Joseph their great Benefactor Had nto the Disciples been in a great Storm ready to be cast away and Christ asleep till they were in extremity they had not seen such * Isa 33.7 8. c. visible marks of the extensiveness of their Masters power When the hearts of the strong men fainted when the Assyrians would not hear the Embassadors of Peace when they had broke their former Covenant resolved to invade the Land when their Calamity and despair had arrested all their hopes Now when all things are in such a deplorable state will I arise saith the Lord now will I be exalted now will I lift up my self God was not asleep or unconcerned but he sate still watching for such a season Now is three times repeated The Psalmist gives us a Record of this in his particular case When the waters of his affliction were many the Enemy strong and too strong for him their strength edged with an intense hatred then God appears to be his stay and prevents them in the day of his Calamity Psal 18.16 17 18. God lets his Enemies be too strong for him that he might appear his only stay without any mixture of Davids strength in the case When the Jews thrust Christ out of Nazareth led him to the Brow of the Hill and were ready to cast him down then and not till then he frees himself out of their hands and disappoints the effects of their rage As Christ dealt thus for him self so he deals for his Church in all Ages 2. God glorifies his Wisdom His eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth to shew himself strong 't is not a bare strength that God would shew or such a Power which we call in man a brutish valor without wit or skill but to shew his strength with his Wisdom when all his other Attributes may be glorified with that of his Power When all worldly helps are departed we can as little ascribe our security to our own wisdom and industry as to our own strength and power The Physitians skill is best evidenced in mastering a desperate Disease He will bring the Councils of the Heathen to nought * Psal 33.10 He will let them counsel he will let them devise and carry on their Councils near to Execution that he may shew that is the strength of Hell is no match for his power so the craft of Satan is no mate for his Wisdom But he raises the Trophies of his Wisdom upon the subtil devices of his Enemies 3. God glorifies his Care and Compassion When his people are nearest crushing God is nearest preserving Gods Mercy is greatest when his Saints Misery is deepest when Sion is as an outcast it shall be taken into Gods protection Jer. 30.16 17. I will heal thee of thy Wounds because they called thee an Out-cast saying this is Sion whom no man seeks after When none stood up to plead for her when her Lovers she depended on had forgotten and forsaken her when they thought her cast out of the care of any creature the Creator would take her up When the ruine was inevitable as to man their preservation was most regarded by God Had God stopped Pharaoh as his first March by raising some Mutiny in his Army his mercy to his people as well as his power against his Enemies had not been so conspicuous The more desperate things are the fitter subject for the advancement of Gods kindness Had God conducted the Israelites through a rich and fruitful Country it would have obscured the glory of his care of them which was more signal in directing them through a Barren Desert crowded with fiery Serpents without Bread to nourish them or Water to cool them wherein he manifested himself to be both their Caterer and Physitian Moses was never
me of things to come concerning my sons The matter of their Prayers then were that God would order all things for the coming of the Messiah The matter of the Churches Prayer now is that God would order all things for the perfecting the Messiah in his mystical Body The whole frame of Providence is for one intire design 'T is one intire Book with seven Seals * Rev. 5.1 The beginning of a Book as well as the middle hath relation to the end The design of Gods Book of Providence is but one in all the seven Seals and periods of time 4. Consider not only one single act of Providence but the whole scheme to make a conclusion The motions of his eyes are various but all end in discoveries of his strength Men do not argue from one single proposition but draw the conclusion from several propositions knit together 'T is by such a Spritual Logick we are to make our conclusions from the ways of Providence As in the reading Scripture Burges of justification part 2. Serm. 2. p 12. if we take not the whole Period we may make not only nonsense but Blaspehmy as in that of the Palmist Thau art not a God that hath pleasure in unrighteousness If a man should read only thou art not a God and make a full stop there it would be blasphemy but reading the whole verse it is excellent sence and an honourable declaration of Gods holiness Such Errors will be committed in reading the Books of Providence if we fix our eyes only in one place and make a full stop where God hath not made any We judge not of a Picture by the first daught but the last lines not by one shadow or colour but by the whole composure The Wisdom of God is best judged of by the view of the harmony of Providence The single threads of Providence may seem very weak or knotty and uneven and seem to administer just occasion of Censure but will it not as much raise the admiration to see them all woven into a curious piece of branched work Consider therefore Gods ways of working but fully judge nothing till the conclusion for that is to judge before the time Judge not then of Providence at the first appearance God may so lose the glory of his work and vou the comfort Thirdly The third Duty Inquire into providence and interpreat all publick providences by this Rule We must search into it though we are not able to find out all the reasons of it What can be a braver study than that which is the object of Gods eternal counsel We are conformed to God in our Wills when we have the same ends in our motions and we are conformed to God in our understandings when we have the same object of our thoughts Some Providences have their interpretation written in their foreheads we may run and read such as his sifna Judgments in the World which express the very sin for which they are inflicted others are wrapt up in a harder shell and more covers and therefore more labour is necessary to reach the kernel some are too high for our knowledge none for our enquiry 'T is our duty to seek after God though we can never arrive to a perfect know ledge of him Job 1.7 Canst thou by searching find out God canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection He prohibits not the searching though he asserts the impossibility of finding him out to perfection What hath God given us faculties for but to search after him and we must not do it to satisfie our curiosity but to encrease our knowledge and consequently our admiration of his wise and powerful care Diligence must be used too Our first thoughts about things of concernment are usually confused so are our first sights of Providence Providence is a great deep deep things are not seen without stooping down We must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Angels do when they search into the things of the Gospel * 1 Pet. 1.12 But let this aim of God at the good of his Church be the rule of your interpretation Without this compass to steer our judgments by we may both lose and rack our selves in the Wilderness of Providence and fortify our natural Atheism and Ignorance instead of our Faith I must confess the study of Providence is in some respect more difficult than in the former Ages of the World because God seems to manage things in the Church more by his Wisdom than Power which is not so intelligible by man as the sensible effects of his strength That attribute he manifested most in Miraculous ways and the visible Ministry of Angels as we read in Scripture stories now he employs his Wisdom more in ordering second causes in ordinary ways to his own high merciful and just ends Yet since the discovering of Christ God hath given us a rule whereby we may discern much of his Wisdom in the knowledge of his end As the knowledge of Christ removes the Veil from the Scripture in our reading of it * 2 Cor. 3.14 15 16. The same Veil remains in the reading of the Old Testament which Veil is done away in Christ which Veil is still upon the Jews and makes us understand those parts of the Old Testament which otherwise would be utterly obscure so in the reading the Books of Providence the knowledg of this end of God in them will help us to understand the meaning of that which otherwise would non-plus the Reason of man He that knows the end of one that is making a Watch will not wonder at his framing small wheels and filing little pins but he that understands nothing of the design would count it ridiculous for a man so to trifle away his time Without the knowledge of this end we shall expose our selves to miserable mistakes As Plutarch mistook the cause of the ceasing of Oracles ascribing it to the change of the nature of the Soil not affording those exhalations as formerly or the death of the Demons which gave those Oracles He had judged otherwise had be known or believed the rising of a higher power the Sun of Righteousness in the World who imposed silence upon those Angels of darkness the most famous Oracles in the World ceasing about the time of Christ To imagine to interpret the motions of Providence without a knowledge of Christ and the design of God for hi s Church is as vain as to imagine we can paint a sound or understand a colour by our smell Correct Sense by Reason in this work and Reason by Faith To what end hath God prescribed Faith to succour us in the weakness of Reason if it had been capable to understand his ways without it and if we make no use of it upon such occasions Fourthly A fourth Duty Consider the former Providences God hath wrought for the Church in the past Ages Let him not lose the present glory of his past works Psal 102.18 This shall be written
preservation of it all things must necessarily concur by the wise disposal of affairs Therefore since they are travelling to be where their head is he having the government of the world will make all things contribute assistance to them in their journey that Christ may have that compleatness of glory which God intends him He expresly tells his Father John 17.10 that he is glorifyed in his people * John 17.10 And I am glorifyed in them And at the sound of the seventh Trumpet the Kingdoms of this world are to become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever * Revel 11.15 Now since all the motions in the world are that the Kingdoms of the world may become the Kingdoms of his Christ pecenliarly his as a being anointed King by hm It must needs be that all things must be subservient one time or other to this end was rein the good of his people doth consist otherwise they would not bless God so highly for it as they do* Revel 11.17 We give thee thanks O Lord God almighty because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned And where there is a resistance of this glory of Christ it is a natural effect of that decree whereby Christ is constituted King that the resisters should be broken in pieces and dasht like a Potters vessel Psal 2.6 9. and the issue of all is the blessedness of those that put their trust in him v. 12. The care that God hath of Christ and the Church in the types of them seems to be equal The Ark which was a type of Christ and the Table of shew-bread a figure of the Church had three coverings whereas all the rest of the Vessels c. belonging to the cerimonial part had but two * Numb 4.5 6 7 8. On the Ark there was the vail and covering of badgers skins and a covering of blew On the Table of shew-bread there was a cloth of Blew a cloth of Scarlet and a covering of badgers skins God orders as much for the security of the Church as for the security of Christ therefore the same things that tend to the glorifying of Christ shall tend to the advantage of the Church 2. God has given the power of the providential administration of things to Christ to this very end for the good of the Church If God had constituted him Head over all things to the Church can there be any doubt but that he will manage the Government for that which is the principal end of his Government which he hath shed his Blood for and which is chiefly intended by God who appointed him 1. All power of government is given to Christ Matth. 11.27 All things are delivered to me of my Father And the Father judges no man but hath committed all judgment to the son Joh. 5.22 that is the whole Government and Administration of Affairs 'T is not to be understood of the last Judgment for then it would be a limitation of that word all not that the Father lays aside all care of things but as the Father discovers himself only in him so he governs things only by him All this power was committed to him upon his interposition after the Fall of Man He was made Lord and Christ that is anointed by God to the Government of the World For upon the Fall God as a Rector had overturned all Man could not with any Comfort have treated with the Father had not Christ stept in and pleaded for the Creation whereupon God commits all judgment to the Son that he might temper it It was by Christ as a covenanting Mediator that the Earth was established * Isa 49.8 He had this Government Anciently and it was confirmed to him upon his death Heb. 1.3 Who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power Calvin understands the first word not only of the Deity of Christ but of the discovery the Father made of himself in and through him as Mediator The latter words some understand both of his Providential and Mediatory Kingdom by the word of his power this say some is referred to the Father whose image Christ is as ating by a delegated Authority and Commission from his Father others to Christ as that Christ upholds or bears up all things by his own powerful word Calvin thinks both may be taken but embraceth the second as being more generally received I may offer whether it may not be meant also of the powerful interposit ion of Christ as Mediator whose interest in God was so great that he kept up the World by his powerful Intercession when all was forfeited and God put it upon that interposition into his hands as heir of all things who having a hand with him in Creation understood both the Rights of God and the Duty of the Creature upon the condition of purging sin by his Death which he did and thereupon went to Heaven to take Possession of the Government at the right hand of God sat down took his seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high as due to him by Covenant and Articles agreed on between them I know nothing at present against such an interpretation of the words but I will not contend about it All this honour was confirm'd unto him upon his Death For having perform'd the Condition requisite on his part God deputes him and intrusts him with the Government of things that he might order all things so as to see the full Travel of his Soul 2. All this power was intended by God for this End the good of the Church As God appointed Christ a Priest for his Church to sacrifice for them a Prophet to teach them so the other Office of King is conferred upon him for the same end the advantage of the Church God acquaints us of this End aimed at by him in the Promise of the Government to him Jer. 33.15 16. In those dayes and at that time will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up to David and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land what is the end In those dayes shall Judah be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely He should execute Judgment that is Administer the Government for the salvation of Judah and security of Jerusalem It was his Office both to build the Temple and to bear the Glory and to Rule upon his Throne to be a Priest upon his Throne to Rule as King and Priest Zech. 6.12 13. He shall build the temple of the Lord even he shall build the temple of the Lord. The erecting a Church is the sole work of Christ by Gods appointment And he was to bear up the Glory of it He should rule to this End for the Counsel of peace shall be between them both If by both be meant the Lord and the Man whose name is the Branch it then chiefly