alive thou shalt live and that eternally if thou fittest still if thou goest on in thy sinful courses thou shalt certainly dye 4. Hast thou not as much encouragement to repent and to believe as ever any had Have not thousands and ten thousands of the Saints of God upon no other encouragement than thou hast broken off sinful courses and sought the Lord while he might be found and have they not succeeded and found rest for their souls Did God yet ever from the beginning of the world encourage any soul in its first motions by faith and repentance toward him by assuring them that their names were written in the Book of Life Or that Christ did dye for them in particular Is it not encouragement enough to thee to tell the thou hast as good a ground of hope and encouragement as the three thousand that were converted at St. Peters Sermon as any of those servants of God had of whose conversion thou readest in the Acts of the Apostles what art thou that thou shouldst look for more 5. Consider That there is no other way for thee to know that thou art elected and that Christ hath paid a price for thee but by thy turning unto God and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ The election of God is in it self sure and certain but it must be made sure and certain unto us by our repentance and faith Did ever any one hear of any soul reaking in its lusts and going on in its course of sin ascertained that God had chosen it unto life that Christ was the head and surety of a better Covenant for it or dyed for it first our calling then our election must be made sure and we must not think to pervert Gods order 6. What hast thou to do with Gods effectual Grace until thou hast improved his common Grace There is a common Grace which God denieth to no man by vertue of which men may read hear pray live a civil life and conversation leave gross and flagitious courses of sin why complainest thou of God for not giving thee his special distinguishing grace inabling thee to exert true spiritual acts while thou dost not use his common Grace and do what in thee lies to reform and amend thy ways and to turn unto God 7. Lastly Though no exercise of common grace can be meritorious of the special Grace of God yet I dare assure thee that God neither ever yet was nor ever will be wanting in his further grace unto those souls that have made a due improvement of his common grace and done what in them lay towards their own salvation Let us therefore leave our enquiring into the Counsels of God and disputing questions which are insignificant to our greatest concerns Let us leave quarrelling with his truths and our little foolish and vain indeavours to argue an inconsistency of his Counsels with his Actual Providence when we have done and said all we can it will be found that God is consistent to himself and that his ways are equal and the iniquity and crookedness is only in our own hearts and ways We cannot with our spoon comprehend it may be the Ocean the great Ocean of his Wisdom and Counsel Let us apply our selves to our own duty and do what he commandeth us for which as you have heard we have encouragement enough SERMON XXXVII Rom. V. 20. Where Sin abounded there Grace did much more abound I Am indeavouring to open to you the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the hard Chapters in the book of Divine Providence solving those Phaenomena's or appearing difficulties which Atheistical Wits have raised to make the holy God appear otherwise than he is his Counsels Truths and Works other than indeed they are I have already spoken to one relating to the making and establishing a Covenant of Works with Adam after the settlement of mans salvation upon the Covenant of Grace The other relating to the dispensation of Providence in the exhibition and publication of the Covenant of Grace I come now to some relating to the Actual Providence of God in the permission of sin and sinners so much sin and so many sinners in the world And for this discourse as an head to it I have chosen this text which in it containeth two great points The abounding of sin and the aboundings of grace The Apostle brings in these words in a magnifying of Christ whom he had compared with the first Adam The first Adam brought mankind under sin and guilt The second brought him under a state of Redemption and Salvation bringing life and immortality to light First the Apostle sheweth whence sin came then whence grace came Paraeus telleth us that the Apostle in this part of the Chapter openeth to us the use of the Law lest any one upon what he had before said should ask Wherefore the law was given he telleth us That the law entred that sin might abound for though the law of it self doth not cause sin yet by accident it doth for where there is no law there is no transgression and the corruption of mans nature enclineth him the more to what is forbidden him Nitimur in vetitum sed hic de actione peccati sermo est quae fit per manifestationem saith a learned Author upon my Text The law maketh sin to abound by way of manifestation as the glass maketh the spots in a man or womans face to abound that is discovereth them that are P. Martyr reckons five ways by which the Law contributeth to the aboundings of sin 1. By forbidding it 2. By increasing the guilt of it 3. By assigning the punishment of it 4. Multiplying it by the variety of the precepts in it 5. By accusing him and condemning him for it Well But why should the law enter that sin might abound hath God then any pleasure or delight in the aboundings of sin The text telleth you that Gods design was to advance grace that where sin abounded grace might much more abound But my design is not largely and strictly to handle my text but only to make use of it in pursuit of my further design to open to you the difficult things of Actual Providence which is by all confessed to have an influence upon mens sins that is to permit them and to govern them the first of these is what I have here to do with What the Providence of God doth or doth not in the permission of sin I have before shewed you and may by and by again speak shortly unto it The Question is Quest How it can consist with the holiness of a pure and mighty God having it in his power to restrain and hinder sin yet to permit it and so much of it in the world The difficulty of our apprehensions in this matter ariseth from these things 1. That God in his own nature is a most pure and holy being Who as he hath nothing in him that defileth so neither can he abide any iniquity This seemeth to have stumbled
greatness and power of others and so for other perfections it is not because they want means but because they want an heart to seek after God as to this there is no want of any thing but a wise contemplation of them and a rational concluding from the perfections of the effects to the greater excellency and perfection of the first cause and being The Book of Creation will learn us much of the nature and admirable perfections of the Divine Being The Book of Scripture will learn us more of it and instruct us in sublimer Mysteries than Reason could discover The Doctrine of the Trinity the two Natures united in the Person of the Mediator They will tell us of Gods Covenants of Christs performances of the Covenant of Redemption of the Will of God to be done by us and the Will of God to be done unto and upon us in his Promises and threatnings The Apostle sums up all when he tells us they are able to make the man of God wise to salvation throughly furnished to every good work But there is yet another Book which is less obvious to the eye of sense than the Book of Creation is and to the eye of Reason too and upon which fewer Commentaries have been wrote than upon the Books of holy Scripture that is the Book of Actual Providence A Book in which much of God is written and from which much of God may be learned but it is commonly taken for the Vision of a book that is sealed which is given to one who is learned with a command to read it but he saith I cannot for it is sealed Some more brutish than the Heathens deny any such Book dreaming of the old Pagan Fate or blind Fortune Others will allow it in part but will have much of it spurious dreaming that the World is like a Clock which once set in order and wound up goes alone without further use of the Workmans hand Others will allow Divine Providence a more universal influence but yet love not to hear of any Specialties of it Some again highly conceited of their own reason will subject the Providence of God to their rational Conclusions Few or none make any observations upon the motions of Divine Providence though certainly nothing more conduceth to true Spiritual wisdom Others stumbling at some difficulties relating to the motions of Providence either wholly deny it or form to themselves strange Ideas of God which no way agree to his most holy and perfect essence This Madam hath encouraged me to attempt something both to recover the Actual Providence of God from the Atheism of this age and the groundless prejudices which vain men have taken up against it and by it to recover for God that just Fear Faith Love Patience and other homage which both the excellency of his being and of his holy working calleth for And certainly Madam if learned men have thought it worth their while as some have done to give the World a rational account of Divine Offices of the Modes and circumstances of Ecclestastical constitutions in Rites and Garments Liturgies and Ceremonies c. It must needs be a noble work to undertake to give the world a Rational of Divine Operations Such especially which seem to be the hardest Chapters in the book of Providence and least easie to be understood and indeed this was my original design But while my thoughts were exercised in this my work grew upon my hand considering especially the Atheism of the age in which we live together with the circumstances of the Church and people of God in most European parts of the world and the particular temptations I have observed attending many and those very excellent persons I was further drawn on by the pleasantness and usefulness of the subject in all but especially in evil times and the apparent tendency of it to make men fear and love hope and trust in and with patience to wait upon God These things Madam made me resolve to open the Doctrine of Providence more fully though not in its full compass and latitude resolving always to carry along with me the capacity of those to whom I spake or wrote I was Madam the more encouraged in this from my observation that amongst the many excellent Books with which this age doth abound there are fewer of this Argument than any other Mr. Obadiah Sedgwick a great Divine treats in two or three Sermons about the Specialties of Providence and the late eminent Bishop Wilkins hath in a short Tract learnedly and piously discoursed the symmetry and beauty of it Another in a larger Discourse called an Introduction into the Doctrine of Providence hath made and a little enlarged upon several Observations upon the motions of it I projected and have at last finished a fuller Discourse than any of these though possibly much more imperfect so far as they did discourse this excellent argument and resolved to divide my discourse into three parts which accordingly I have done In the first Part Madam after two Preliminary Discourses the first concerning Gods Predeterminations where I had no mind to meddle with any present Controversies that was not a popular work the second concerning Creation Your Ldiship will find me plainly discoursing of the Nature of Providence in the notion in which alone I intended to speak to it There I have from Scripture and Reason proved That there is a constant care of God extended to the whole Creation That the Creature stands not in its own strength nor moveth meerly from a principle within it self nor is governed meerly by its fellow-creatures in a superior order much less acteth casually or under the necessity of any fate but is under the daily inspection government care and influence of the first cause its great Creator who both preserveth and governeth it There I have shortly shewed the particular acts by which God preserveth and governeth created Beings in their several capacities A point Madam of inexpressible use to possess us of a true notion of God of our daily dependencies upon him and consequently our duty toward him David saith he was fearfully and wonderfully made we are fearfully and wonderfully preserved In the second Part I have discoursed 1. Of the Specialties of Providence more especially to the Church and to every individual soul that loves and fears him shortly opening wherein they lye and shewing the reasonableness of it 2. Then I more shortly discourse the unsearchable things of it for Madam who dare pretend more than to shew a part of his ways Who can by searching find out God Who can find out the Almighty to Perfection This I have done to check curiosity and keep off good people from vain guesses and Prophetical conclusions without bottom 3. From that the discourse will lead your Ladiship to consider the duty of a good Christian in the observation of the motions of Providence and the advantage from it resulting to an observing soul To help my Reader in this
in gold in silver and in brass And in cutting of stones to set them and in carving of wood to make any manner of cunning work Exod. 35.31 32 33 34. and it is said that God filled him and Aholiab with wisdom of heart to work all manner of work of the engraver and of the cunning workman and of the embroiderer in blue purple and in scarlet and in fine linnen and of the weaver even of them that do any work and devise any cunning work v. 35. 2. The Providence of God in this thing is eminently discerned in disposing men to these several employments So that as in the natural body there are several members and every member is inclined and naturally disposed to its particular office by which the several uses and necessities of the body-natural are supplied So in bodies politick as there is a great variety of members so the several members of it are by the wise Providence of God disposed and inclined to the learning and practice of several Arts and Sciences Trades and Occupations by which the uses of the whole are supplied as well as the several individuals in the Society enabled to get themselves a subsistence yet in the service of the publick This is a great piece of Divine Providence One man is disposed to husbandry unless some were so disposed however slavish and dirty the employment be the Nation could not be fed others to the making of Cloaths and Stuffs and Linnens if none were so disposed though the whole might be fed they could not be cloathed One works in iron and brass for more necessary uses another in gold and silver for Ornaments and more fine and delicate uses One man is disposed to study Physick Law Divinity and cannot endure hard labour another is of a more slavish and servile disposition no ways disposed to learning and studies All this is from the Lord and by this working of his Providence the uses of all are supplied and so Political Societies are by this means preserved We have now considered man 1. In his single and individual capacity And. 2. In his Social and Political capacity and shewn you several acts of Divine Providence by which God in either preserveth him But we have yet a third capacity to consider him in that is his spiritual capacity as a creature possessed of the grace of God the Grace of Justification and the Grace of Sanctification As to this he is in a peculiar sense Gods creature often by Saint John said to be born of God and as to this likewise he is preserved by God 1 Pet. 1.5 You are kept by the power of God through faith to salvation Indeed a discourse upon this properly belongs to the specialties of Providence of which I may possibly hereafter speak distinctly but not knowing whether I shall reach to that something though more shortly and generally I shall speak to it here Grace in the Soul of a man or woman is a noble creature and one of those things that are upheld by the mighty power of God Now that which I have to do is to consider How the Providence of God worketh in upholding this noble creature in those individual souls into which he hath breathed this breath of spiritual life Let me shew you this in a few particulars 1. God preserveth man in his spiritual life and capacity by a daily repeating to him his gracious acts in the pardon of sin and reckoning of Christs righteousness to him It hath been a Question betwixt Arminians Papists and Calvinists Whether there can be an intercision of the state of Justification Whether a soul once justified can again be not justified We say No. The gifts and callings of God are without repentance whom he loveth he loveth to the end Well but how can this be for who liveth and sinneth not The righteous falleth seven times in a day If Justification be not repeated how can a soul be justified We say Though the state abide yet Gods gracious acts are repeated Sin is not pardoned before it is committed but when commited it is pardoned by a repetition of an act of Grace Justification speaks a state this is not repeated but remission of sin is an act of Grace frequently repeated and the imputing of Christs righteousness is an act often repeated We are not daily created or born as to our natural life but we are daily preserved so God puts the believer once into a state of Justification that abides and faileth not but we should fall from it every day did not God continue us in it by the repetition of these gracious acts We need a continual pardoning a continual imputation of the righteousness of Christ to preserve our spiritual life as we need continual acts of Providence to preserve and to uphold our souls in their natural life Thus every day it is God that justifieth 2. God preserveth his Church and particular souls as to their spiritual life by a daily infusion of those habits of grace which are necessary in those souls that are ordained unto life as the principles of those operations by which they must attain this life and by increasing these habits in them In a word by perfecting 1. The number of his Saints 2. By perfecting their graces The first respecteth the collective body of his Church and is called in Scripture an adding to the Church such as shall be saved a working of faith in all them that are ordained unto eternal salvation without this the Church of God must perish and fail from the earth in a short time Gods people are mortal even as others Now God so ordereth it in his Providence that there is a succession One generation of believers passeth another cometh and thus God hath a seed kept alive in the Earth 2. God also doth it as to individuals by a daily infusion of gracious habits further strengthening and quickening them to their spiritual operations Phil. 4.13 I can do all things saith the Apostle through Christ that strengtheneth me believers Eph. 3.16 are strengthened with might by his Spirit God upholdeth his own seed in the soul and bloweth up the sparks which himself hath kindled 3. Gods Providence in the preservation of men in their spiritual capacity is seen in the upholding and maintaining his word and ordinances upon which the souls of his people live As the body liveth by bread as to its natural capacity so the soul liveth by the word of God as to its spiritual capacity By these things men live saith Hezekiah I know some interpret that passage concerning afflictions but others concerning the promises Now the Providence of God hath been and is eminently seen in maintaining of his word the written word the word preached in taking care that his people have had a succession of Ministers Before the Books of Moses were written God provided for the souls of his people by a word not written since by a written word and that most eminently since the whole
Scripture was written since which time Prophecy and unwritten Revelations are much ceased not further to be expected God may yet reveal himself to some particular servants of his but we are not to expect such Revelations nor are they the object of faith Now herein hath the stupendous Providence of God been eminently seen that when so many thousand books wrote since the Scriptures were written are lost and there is no memorial almost of them and the Scriptures have had more enemies than any of them more that have endeavoured to corrupt them and to destroy them yet God hath preserved this store-house of spiritual food and kept it from corruption by the extraordinary care of the Jewish Church the multiplying of translations guiding and governing of those who have been employed in them Nor hath the Providence of God been less seen in maintaining Ministers and Teachers of his word In the Jewish Church when the ordinary officers failed and were corrupted God from time to time raised them up Prophets who were his extraordinary Embassadors to teach his people In Christs time he calls Fishermen to the Apostleship and in all succeeding Ages though there have been sometimes more sometimes fewer able and faithful Ministers yet God hath so ordered that there never have wanted some and a competent number to break the bread of life and to feed his people with wisdom and with spiritual understanding No sort of men have been more maligned hated persecuted yet God hath upheld the order and taken care for the souls of his people that they have continually had faithful stewards of the mysteries of God 4. The Providence of God is admirable in preserving man in his spiritual capacity in the daily influence of his spirit attending his word and sanctifying his institutions The word is in it self but a dead letter the Preaching of the word is far from a mean adequate to so great an effect as is the conversion and edification of souls God is therefore pleased to join his quickening spirit to the word where he pleaseth blessing and sanctifying it I am not of their judgment who think that there is such a constant concurrence and influence of the Spirit with the preaching of the Gospel that if men will do what in them lies they may repent believe c. I know no Scripture which will justifie that notion but certain it is that the holy Spirit doth ordinarily join it self with the preaching of the word like the wind blowing where it pleaseth and none knoweth the motion of it convincing men of sin of righteousness and of judgment 5. Lastly The Providence of God preserveth men in their spiritual capacities by supplying them with strength and succour against their spiritual enemies their own flesh the world the Devil all which with a variety of temptations strike at our spiritual welfare But this is much of kin to what I said before I shall add no more to this discourse concerning Gods Act of Providence as in the preservation of beasts so of men and that in their single natural capacities In their Social and Political capacities and finally in their Spiritual capacities I shall only add some few words of application This in the first place may inform us Vse 1 How great that God must necessarily be whom we serve he is the Creator of the ends of the Earth of the Heavens of the Seas of all things and it is he who preserveth both man and beast he preserveth all men in their single and natural capacities this I opened before He preserveth all men in their Political capacities all his people in their Spiritual capacities It is an ordinary observation in the Kingdoms and Empires of the world that when they have grown to a great bigness they have perished with their own bulk and weight No Monarch hath been found sufficient to preserve them by his wisdom and Counsels And I remember the Historian speaks of it to the great honour and as a wonderful thing in one of the first Roman Kings that he put the Roman Kingdom it was no more then into such an order that it was governed as if it had been but one Family But how much doth it speak the Glory and Majesty the Immensity and Omnipresence the Efficiency and Activity of God who at the same time is working over all the Earth in all the Empires and Kingdoms in all the Cities and Towns in it defeating Ahitophels discovering Plots and Conspiracies ruling the spirits of unruly men so as the whole Universe is kept in order and the thousands and ten thousands of men in it that know not the yoke of Reason and Religion are yet bridled by his Providence and kept in some just order and decorum and made in stead of running one upon another and destroying one another mutually to be subservient one to another I say how great how wise how infinite how glorious in power must this God be Secondly Observe how much mercy passeth over our heads Vse 2 which we do take little or no notice of We are fearfully and wonderfully preserved and that in every capacity I shewed you it before as to our natural capacity few think of that what a strange working of Providence there must be to keep our souls in life but one day It is as much remarkable in our Political capacity I remember when Christ sent out his Disciples to Preach he told them That he sent them out as lambs amongst wolves It is true indeed not only of Gospel-Preachers but of all sober and vertuous men that would live in the world but according to the Laws of Reason and Moral vertue They are in the world as lambs amongst wolves Let but any one consider how many lewd unrighteous debauched men are in all places such whose only rule is their lusts how full the world is of men that make no conscience of murthers rapes thefts oppression and other enormities and then stand and wonder at the Providence of God that in any part of the world there is any thing of order and decorum observed that men have any thing which they can call their own that the lives of Princes or sober people are secured What can it be attributed to but the mighty power of Divine Providence that we have no more murthers rapes thefts c. we see laws punishments will not restrain all nor the same men at all times how or whence is it that they restrain any or at any time I will conclude this with what the Psalmist so often maketh the foot in that his admirable song of Providence Psal 107 Oh! that men would praise the Lord for his goodness for his wonderful works to the children of men Oh that Princes would praise the Lord for his goodness It is by him that they reign that they have a days liberty to decree justice by him that the Counsels of Ahitophel are defeated the conspiracies of ungodly men are discovered that the spirits of unruly and unreasonable
and law of Nature the fire burneth the hungry Lions devour men God suspendeth both these Laws in the case of the three Children and of Daniel by an Ordinance of Nature the Sun keepeth its course and is in a continual progressive motion God suspendeth its motion in Joshuah's case altereth it and maketh it to come back in the case of Hezekiah 2 Kings 20.10 by the Ordinance of Nature the Earth brings forth her fruit so doth the womb ordinarily God suspends this Law in Judgment the Earth is made as Iron the Heaven as Brass men commit whoredom yet do not encrease they eat and have not enough Hos 4.10 This both demonstrates the governance of Divine Providence and also sheweth how God exerciseth it This is a third Particular 4. A fourth Particular wherein God sheweth his Dominion over all and exerciseth his Government over the whole Creation is his influencing all creatures to their natural actions either in a more ordinary or extraordinary manner Every living creature hath its natural motions and actions and powers and faculties in order to them which are the principles of those operations and in the upholding of those powers to those natural motions and actions God exerteth and putteth forth his preserving power of Providence but his extraordinary influencing of them to some motions and actions which are not in a natural course and order doth more eminently shew the Governing power of Divine Providence That Locusts and Caterpillers should feed upon grass and green herbs this is but their natural motion and action according to their nature and the kind of their being but that they should come in troops and rather feed upon one place than upon another till they had devoured all the grass and green herbs in Egypt this was extraordinary Psalm 105.24 He spake and the Caterpillers came and did eat up all the herbs in their land and devoured all the fruit of their ground And again Psalm 74.46 He gave their increase to the Caterpiller The same may be said for the Flies Lice Frogs and other creatures used as a plague upon Pharaoh but indeed this is rather a specialty of Providence than belonging to the ordinary Government of it though very demonstrative of the governing power of Providence 5. A fifth act by which the Providence of God exerciseth its governing power and influence is His daily raising up and influencing Governours for the Housholds and Societies of men and giving checks to them upon their miscarriages and mal-administrations The governing Providence of God exerteth it self either more immediately or mediately Other creatures God ordinarily governeth by men many of them I mean influencing man with Reason and Discretion by which he ruleth ordereth and governeth them though many of them be much more mighty and powerful than he the mouth of the horse and mule which have no understanding by the Providence of God so influencing man are held with the bit and bridle lest they come near unto us Psalm 32.9 The Whale is smitten with a spear wild bulls and boars are hunted down c. The Ox is tamed and brought to serve our uses who are much less in strength than he is Men also are governed by men the weaker by those that are more wise and powerful but whence have the Governours their wit and power their wisdom and understanding prompting them to make Laws acceptable to the greater part of Subjects so as conspiracies are of the lesser number and subdueâ—â—o the greater and keeps them in order Is it not from the Lord great in wisdom and wonderful in counsel Psalm 75.7 God is the Judg he pulleth down one and setteth up another and by him Kings reign God ruleth the World by Magistrates which if well considered would aw men to that duty of honour and obedience which they owe to those that are their Superiours and may make us to understand how we ought to be subject for conscience-sake and for Gods sake in things commanded which we cannot say are contrary to the Divine Law nor so appear to us and have any manifest appearance of good for the government and peace of the whole As on the other side it calls to Kings to be wise and the Judges of the Earth to be instructed to serve the Lord with fear and to rejoyce before him in their great capacities with trembling Psal 2.10 11 they are but the Lords Vice-Roys and as Jehosaphat told his Judges they judg not for themselves but for the Lord for him whose Throne is prepared in the Heavens and whose Kingdom is over all They ought therefore according to the command to the Kings of Israel to have the book of the law before them and to be reading therein all the days of their life and where that doth not give them particular direction to have the honour and glory of God yet in their Eye to measure all their laws and actions according to that Rule to remember God is the Judg and hath only exalted and dignified them to rule the World or this or that part of the World by them still the Government is the Lords 6. A sixth particular act by which God providentially governeth the World is By influencing the souls of some in it to such actions as more immediately tend to his honour and glory God hath an honour and glory from the natural complexion and constitution and motions of inanimate Beings Psal 148.6 8. Thus the Heavens and in them the Sun Moon Stars from them the snow rain hail meteors the lightning and thunder the cold and heat the vapours and stormy winds bring glory to God stormy winds fulfilling his word saith the Psalmist The heavens declare the glory of God the Earth sheweth his handy-work Psalm 19.1 God hath made in the Heavens a tabernacle for the Sun a course for the Moon and Stars the very complexions of them their natural and necessary motions bring God abundance of glory Now this ariseth from a necessary causation they cannot but do it The same may be said of brute creatures though animate not acting upon Election The Whale in the Sea the Lion and Tiger amongst the beasts the Eagle and others amongst the birds the Bee the Silk-worm and others amongst Insects several sorts of creeping things glorify God but it is necessarily Man only amongst earthly creatures glorifieth God voluntarily from a principle within himself and upon choice Take mankind in the general it is a noble piece of Gods Creation and necessarily glorifieth God Man is fearfully and wonderfully made his body is an admirable structure but the great glory which God hath is from his spiritual actions Man is not a mute Preacher of Gods glory as the Heavens and the Earth the Sun Moon and Stars are or brute creatures are He hath a Soul and understanding will affections from these God expects a great homage and glory But now take man in his depraved estate and he doth nothing less No creatures but the evil Angels so much
them under some restraints as to those horrible sins of murther persecution defiling their neighbours wives c. To consider that these are some of the sins which go ordinarily before-hand to judgment and which God usually revengeth by some special remarkable Providences in this life But it is time to finish this discourse Let us beg Gods blessing upon it SERMON XXIII Psal CVII 43. Whoso is wise and will observe these things even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord. I Am in a discourse about the observable things of Divine Providence When do you think shall I have finished it Day unto day uttereth speech night unto night declareth knowledg When I have said all that I can I must conclude with Job Lo these are parts of his ways but how little a portion of him do we understand However it is wonderfully sweet to know the least of God If a learned man could think it worth his while to write a book of the admiranda Nili the admirable and observable things of the famous River of Nile What a book might be written and how much worth a pen-mans hand would it be to write a book and call it Admiranda or Observanda Providentiae Divinae the admirable and observable things of Divine Providence But leaving Prefaces I proceed to a ninth Observation which is this Observ 9. The Providence of God often repayeth both good and evil and especially charity and cruelty in this life in its own kind 1 Cor. 3.8 2 Cor. 5.10 That God will reward every man according to his works is most certain and is a piece of Divine Justice he cannot condemn the innocent nor clear the guilty there will be a now when God will visit for all sin and though sinners do evil an hundred years yet the day of vengeance will come And to let us know the certainty of it oftentimes the Prophets of God in the denouncing of judgments yet a far off cryed out It is come It is come and gave the alarum as if the enemy had already entred the gates But God doth not recompence all sinners in this life Judgment comes afterward But for those whom God doth chastise in this life he doth not punish them all the same way some are punished with temporal judgments and those some of them of one sort some of another others he punisheth with spiritual judgments blindness of mind hardness of heart And it is the same case for rewards of grace some have little reward for all their service for God until they come in Heaven others are rewarded in this life but in different manners The Observation which I am making concerneth charity and mercy and the vices opposite to it such as are cruelty hardheartedness to those in want and misery In these cases I observe Gods Providence often retaliates I say 1. The Providence of God doth often recompence other sins in this manner but especially sins against charity and brotherly love God many times repayeth other sins in their kind our Saviour by this argument dissuades from rash censuring and censorious judging of others Matth. 7.1 2. For with what judgment you judg you shall be judged and with what measure you mete it shall be meted to you again A text which if well thought upon should deter Christians from the too common practice of censuring and judging one another especially in doubtful things where they are not of a mind as if sincerity and uprightness were the Prerogative of a party in Religion or annexed to some particular forms You know God threatned David for his adultery with Bathsheba That he would take his wives before his eyes and give them to his neighbour and he should lye with his wives in the sight of the Sun 2 Sam. 12.11 and it was fulfilled by the permission though not by the instigation of Divine Providence in 2 Sam. 16.22 Spoiling and plundering of others taking away their goods without a just warrant from God is another sin we find thus threatned Isa 33.1 Wo to thee that spoilest and thou wert not spoiled those that thou so rifledst never did thee any wrong and dealest treacherously and they dealt not treacherously with thee when thou shalt cease to spoil thou shalt be spoiled and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously they shall deal treacherously with thee But that indeed referreth to the more special observation as to sins opposite to that Charity we should exercise to our brethren to which I now come I say it is very observable that God punisheth sins against charity and rewardeth deeds and acts of charity in their kind secundum legem Talionis ordinarily giving the Authors of both like for like I will first shew it you in the motions of Providence as to the execution of Vindicative Justice in the punishment of sins against Charity Against which men may sin either by omissions hardening their hearts from their brother in distress not relieving him when it is in their power according to their ability or by commissions murders oppressions cruelty are all sins against Charity 1. For omissions It is a dreadful text Prov. 21.13 He that stoppeth his ear against the cry of the poor he also shall cry himself and shall not be heard A text worth deliberating upon by those who find their hearts so shut up in cafes of Charity not that we are bound to hear the cry of all that are poor There are some poor that the greatest act of Charity we can shew them is not to relieve them that they may learn not to be idle and wander up and down begging refusing to work The poor we are concerned in are Gods poor I hope we favour none that are lazy idle or leud and by that means bring themselves to and continue themselves at a morsel of bread far be it from me or any Minister of Jesus Christ to plead for such You from us hear the cries of the Lords poor take heed of stopping your ears at their cry remember Solomons word Gods word by Solomon He that doth so he also shall cry and not be heard you may also come into such a condition or you may have a child may come to it through age through Gods hand upon him You remember the story of Naomi she went out full she returned empty the story of Job and others in Scripture I could tell you the stories of Belisarius of divers persons of far greater estates some of them than any that hear me this day yet brought to live upon the baskets of others who knows what you or yours may come to Do you think the great fire at London 1666 that at Northampton but the last year That at a Town in this County two or three years ago at Cottenham in Cambridg-shire the other day hath not given many instances of this nature for God of late hath very remarkably contended with England as by such a plague as our forefathers never knew so by a multitude of such
to a daily communion with God all the grace all the glory of God is theirs Think this reward enough for the cleansing of thy heart and the washing of thy hands and seeing the swearers and blasphemers and even the worst men of the world are Gods Creatures and some of them though they mean not so yet do God service sometimes do not judg it unreasonable that God should give them a portion in this life But I forbear knowing that it will fall in my way hereafter when I shall come to open the hard Chapters of Divine Providence to speak more fully to the reasonableness of this motion of Divine Providence 2. This calleth unto the People of God if at any time they be in a prosperous state to look for an hour of adversity The Circulations of Divine Providence admonish Gods People of this no man reasonably saith in the morning that the Sun shall set no more in his Horizon nor in the Summer that he shall never feel the cold or see the storms of another Winter he considers the Ordinances of nature and the Circulation of these natural motions It is as unreasonable to promise our selves stated and uninterrupted felicity in this life to say as David In our prosperity I shall never be moved Be rather thinking what you shall do if God should bring you into such a condition 3. Nor do you despond in adversity Say to the Enemies of Church and Gospel as the Church in Micah Mic. 7.8 Rejoyce not against me O mine enemy when I fall I shall rise when I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a light unto me It is as unreasonable for any to conclude at midnight that there shall never be a morning as in the morning to fancy there shall never be a midnight more you have not it may be in this life those full measures of the good things thereof which others have But saith David Psal 17. when I awake I shall be satisfied with thy likeness Some interpret it of an awaking at the resurrection that is sure enough Some of an awaking out of his afflicted state God in this life is not always smiting not always grieving the children of men The rod of the wicked shall not always lye upon the back of the righteous Do not build too much upon these hopes remember that God hath better things for his people than riches and honours and earthly power Heaven is their portion but yet even as to this life do not cast away your hope 4. But lastly Be patient under all the frowns of Divine Providence This is the method of Providence the sinner must have his hour and that hour to the People of God will be the very power of darkness The beasts that are nearest the slaughter usually have the fattest pastures God hath far better things reserved for them that love him and even in this life He will not leave you comfortless he will come unto you if not to the rescue of your bodies yet to the relief support and satisfaction of your souls Wherefore comfort your selves with these words SERMON XXVII Psal CVII 43. Whoso is wise and will observe these things even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord. WE take notice in the world that Wisdom is not so much the daughter of study as of experience It is a practical habit directing the ordering of mens conversations to their best advantage which is not so well acquired from our poring on books and making conclusions from connate principles or maxims of others as from the observation of what we see in the world Hence we observe what Job said Job 12.12 with the Auncients is wisdom Elihu said Job 32.7 Days shall speak and multitude of years shall teach wisdom There must indeed be supposed a foundation in nature and that is a good faculty of judgment and a foundation in art for wisdom dwelleth with knowledg but neither nature nor art and study will make a morally wise man Observation contributes more than either and this is the reason that wisdom is with the Auncients and that multitude of years teacheth it The reason of this is the inequal distribution of reason to reasonable creatures and the prevalence of passion above it in the most of men from this it is that we can better conclude what is like to be done in the world from what hath been done than from any rational principles which will tell us what one would think reasonable men should do Spiritual Wisdom likewise is much gained by observation this is that which we call experience by which we understand not always what our selves have felt but what we have seen with our eyes what we have remarked in Gods dealings And the reason of this is our imperfect understanding of what God hath revealed in his word which lets us see that we stand in need both of the Spirit and of the Providence of God to be our interpreters and the oneness and immutability of God gives us a far better advantage to gain wisdom from the issues of his Providence then the variable passions of men will allow us to gain from what we see in their actings whose methods oft-times vastly differ one from another so as the policies of one age have no cognation with those of another The reason also of which is because there is a wheel within these wheels though the fools and blind men of the world see it not governing these sensible wheels to the designs of his eternal counsels Hence it is that he who is wise will observe and he who would be wise must observe the motions of Divine Providence which though it hath many secret and unsearchable motions yet also hath many certain and uniform motions which will fall under the science and understanding of the soul that giveth up it self to the study and observation of them I have already offered to you twelve Observations upon the motions of Providence I yet proceed and shall at present offer you some further things chiefly relating to the motions of Divine Providence in the executing of Divine Justice and Judgment and that as well in the rewarding of the righteous as in the punishment of the sinner Two great works of Divine Providence about which indeed it is mostly taken up it goeth to and fro the world doing this work every day let us see how far we can track it or make any judgment from the prints of its feet where or what we are like to meet with from it meet it we must at every turn of our lives our business is to make up a judgment what we are like to meet with from it whether it be like to say unto us Hast thou met me O my friend or as Ahab to Elijah Hast thou met me O mine enemy The next Observation I shall commend to you is this Observ 13. The reward of the righteous man and also of the sinner is always certain and constant though not always sensible and
and patience of his people but that is not the subject of my present discourse I remember when they asked our Saviour concerning him that was born blind whether it were for his own sin or for his parents Our Saviour replys for neither but that the glory of God might appear So I doubt not but Gods end in afflicting his people is neither at all times the punishment of the persons late sins nor former sins but that both the grace and glory of God might appear in strengthning supporting and upholding of his poor creatures and that he might be glorified by them in the fires by the exercise of their faith and patience c. Vse 2. This speaketh loud to all especially to young men to take heed of presumptuous sinnings against God Presumption of mercy is that which much enticeth out the lusts of our hearts there are some that will fancy God an Idol of mercy and will say Let them do what they list yet it shall be well with them they will not believe any such thing as Hell or a Revelation of the wrath of God against sinners God did not make them to damn them c. God of old foresaw there would be a generation that when they heard the words of his curse would bless themselves in their hearts saying They should have peace although they walked after the imaginations of their own hearts adding drunkenness to thirst Deut. 29.19 Observe v. 20. what God saith as to such The Lord will not spare him but the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoke against that man and all the curses that are written in this book shall lye upon him and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven c. But blessed be God there are not many of these in the age wherein we live not many but will acknowledg an Heaven and an Hell and profess to believe that there is a reward for the righteous and for the unrighteous for the Saint and for the sinner So that what incourageth the most of men in sinful courses is not any hope of a total and final impunity but a presumption of pardon and obtaining mercy with God before they dye They are taught by some wild teachers that it is in the power of man to repent to believe to turn to God when he pleaseth and this imboldneth them to out-stare all the terrors of the Lord and to put off all the tenders of the Gospel to indulge their lusts and to say It is not yet time to turn unto God if they obtain pardon at last they shall be well enough if they turn to God and they are told they can do it when they please it is but taking up a resolution in their old age when they have had the fill of their lusts in their youth Now if this Doctrine had any truth in it it would quite destroy an old argument we had to press men to a speedy repentance because that God who always giveth pardon to them who truly repent will not always give unto sinners an heart to repent No need of that say our new Teachers man hath a freedom in his own will he may repent whensoever he can but get himself of the mind he labours under no more than a moral impotency his lusts are so strong that he cannot obtain leave of himself that is all But friend admit this were true that thou hadst repentance in thy own hand and that thou shouldest upon thy repentance obtain pardon of thy sins from God yet God may as to the punishments of this life make thee go mourning to thy grave for the sins of thy youth he may plague thee in thy own person and plague thee in thy posterity God had pardoned Davids sin Nathan told him The Lord had put away his iniquity yet the child dyed the sword never departed from his house Absolom requited him by going into his Concubines in the sight of the Sun he was weary with his groaning all the night long he made his bed to swim and watered his couch with his tears his eyes were consumed with grief Psal 6. His bones waxed old through his roaring all the day-long Gods hand was heavy upon him night and day so as his moisture was turned into the drought of summer Psal 32. Who would not fear such kind of dispensations Alas there is no such thing as mans having a power in himself to repent and turn to God Can the Blackamore change his skin or the Leopard his spots Everywhit as soon as he who is accustomed to do evil can do well but admit you could I say it is a thousand to one but God in the punishments of this life will visit your youth-sins upon you young men that are wise will take heed of wounds and strains in their youth or surfeits which though they feel little of in the heat of their youth they will be sure enough to feel in their bones when old age overtaketh them and certainly if sensual sinners would give but their reason leave to guide them it would guide them also to take heed of those sins in their youth for which they may so severely smart by wounds and terrors of Conscience by doubts and horrors and fears by diseases and other kind of punishments there is a great deal of difference betwixt being saved smoothly and a being saved but through fire O let me plead with you who have little else to say for the cares and pains of your youth but that by it you are but providing quiet and rest for your selves when you come to be old that you would admit the force of that Argument also to perswade you to remember your Creator in the days of your youth and to take heed of the sins of youth which God often so severely punisheth upon gray-hairs yea and that to his own people whose iniquities yet he hath pardoned so as they shall not eternally condemn him Vse 3. But that I may shut up this discourse what you have heard upon this Observation may offer the best of us some matter which possibly we have not thought of both of daily humiliation and particular humiliation when the rod of God is upon us I say 1. Of daily repentance and humiliation We are ready to speak after the language of Agag whom Saul had spared upon the slaughter of the Amalekites surely the bitterness of death is past If we find that God hath changed our hearts that we are not what we were we are very prone to think that all the follies and vanities of our youth are forgotten But let us not mistake God sealeth up the sins of impenitent sinners in a bag for to be brought forth to their eternal ruine in the day of the revelation of Gods wrath he sealeth up the sins of his redeemed ones in a bag to chasten them oft-times in this life with the rods and stripes of men God wrought bitter things against Job for the sins of his
followeth in the fourth place the necessity of a law to be given unto man in his state of innocency For saith the Apostle where there is no law there is no transgression sin being the transgression of the law Now this Law with the promise annexed to it was the Covenant of Works on Gods part and the restipulation on mans part must be presumed or man had been a transgressor before the fall by a rebellion to the Divine Will and this formally maketh up the Covenant of Works God promising him life upon condition of his Obedience and man accepting the promise and agreeing to the terms or condition of life imposed on him Now God having given this Law and made this Covenant man by the violation of it became guilty a debtor to the Justice of God and so capable of a Redemption a Remission and Justification 5. I desire you to consider That the Covenant of Grace and promise by faith on Gods part could not possibly have been made good without the destruction of the first Covenant of Works and the promise of life made upon that this is that which the Apostle saith in my text That the promise by faith of Jesus might be given to them that believe I pray observe here are three things to be considered 1. The matter of the promise 2. The means by which the promise is to be obtained 3. The objects of it The promise intended is doubtless the promise of eternal life so often called in Scripture as being indeed the great and most valuable promise what is the means of obtaining it On Gods part it must be given out on mans part it must be received by faith for it is given to them that believe and it is therefore called the promise by faith in Jesus Christ Now the promise of life by works under the first Covenant was wholly inconsistent with this promise of being saved by faith in Christ Though the first Covenant comprehended a faith in God as being a piece of that internal homage which every soul oweth to God yet it could not comprehend a faith in Christ as our Mediator there being no need of a Saviour till we were in danger nor of a Mediator till we were become transgressors How therefore was it possible that the promise of faith in Christ to those who believe in him should be given out till first the Covenant of Works was both given out and also violated Though the law by the promise of saith in Christ was not destroyed so far forth as it was a directive and obligatory rule of life and conversation unto all yet so far as it was a Covenant of life it must be both given out and also destroyed that the promise of faith might be given out 6. In the last place I desire you to consider That as on Gods part the promise of life by faith in Christ was inconsistent with the promise of life upon the doing of the works of the law so on our part we should never have come to Christ that we might have life if we had not first been concluded under wrath And this will appear to every intelligent soul that will but consider That the going out of the soul unto Christ for life is a disclaimer of its own righteousness and a very great piece of self-denial to which the soul will never move naturally but must see it self constrained to it by necessity Isa 57.10 Thou hast found the life of thy hand therefore thou wert not grieved so long as a man seeth help in himself and thinks that he hath found life in his own hands so long he is not grieved not at all concerned as to his eternal state And this is the true reason why you see the greatest brokenness of heart and sense of sin yea and the greatest holiness of life too in those men that yet look to be saved by faith in Jesus Christ for our free-will men that maintain a power in man to believe and repent or to keep the Law of God perfectly they have said they have found life in their own hands and then I hope they have none but themselves to blame if they miss and come short of it if they do not repent and turn unto God to day they can do it to morrow It was necessary as on Gods part in order to his giving out of the promise of faith in Christ and exhibition of the Covenant of Grace to the world so also on our part in order to our acceptation and taking hold of any such Covenant and the application of our souls unto God upon the terms of that Covenant for the sure mercies of it that there should first be a Covenant of Works made with man and a law of works given unto him for had there been no such Covenant made no such Law given man could not have broken and violated it and if he had not violated and broken it he could not have been a transgressor he could not have been a lost sinner and consequentially had needed no Saviour nor would man have ever been perswaded to have gone out of himself and to have accepted of the righteousness of Christ for his righteousness had he not first been rendred in a forlorn desperate and hopeless condition without Application unto Christ Vse 1. For the practical Application of what you have heard now in this discourse This in the first place should mind us not to be hasty to deny nor too forward to stumble at some things in the dispensations of God which at first seem to us hard to be understood Who can find out God or search out the Almighty unto perfection I do not know any thing that looketh more inconsistently in appearance to us at our first view of it than this That God should from eternity six the salvation of man upon a Covenant of Grace and write it in his book That there should be salvation in no other than in Jesus Christ nor any other name given under heaven amongst men whereby they might be saved that he who believeth should be saved and he who believed not should be damned for all these things were decrees in the rolls of eternity or they could never have been Revelations of Gods Will in Scripture Heb. 10.5 6 7. and Psal 40.7 In the volume of Gods book it was written of Christ that he should come into the world and do the Will of God relating to the salvation of man I say that God should thus setle mans salvation in the order of its causes and upon the terms of free-grace the merit and satisfaction of Christ and Faith in him and yet when mankind was created God should treat him upon a Law of Works and make a Covenant with him for life and salvation upon condition of his perfect obedience both to the Law written at that time upon his heart and this positive precept of not eating of the tree of forbidden fruit yet there is nothing clearer in Scripture than that God
the old Philosophers of Gods Providence extending not to all but to some particular Beings observed to have a great influence upon sublunary Beings And our Judicial Astrologers seem to inherit though not their wisdom in all other natural things yet their error in this Astra regunt homines sed regit astra Deus is their Song But alas this is but to set up an Idol in our hearts And indeed if we could conceive any earthly Prince to be present in every place we could hardly imagine him so neglective of his Government What Prince will not rule all motions and actions which he seeth and heareth to what he apprehendeth the wisest and best ends for his own honour So that if we could suppose an earthly Prince in all places where he hath Children Servants or Subjects and to have his senses open to see and hear them he would certainly contribute his best help to preserve and govern them Especially if he be a person of ordinary humanity and goodness and hath a sufficiency of Power and Wisdom Do not we see how naturally the parent to his finite capacity careth for preserveth and governeth the Child How the Master of a Family cannot neglect a care for and government of his Family till he hath debauched himself to a beast Nay do not the birds of the air and beasts of the field naturally care for their young seed and govern them Whence had they their natural propensions and inclinations to this goodness towards those to whom they have stood in any order of causation Was it not from the great Creator who thus disposed them If it be a piece of goodness in the creature so to care for preserve and govern its fellow-creature certainly we must allow it to be so in God What goodness of this nature there is in the creature floweth from him as the stream from the fountain And is certainly much more in him he having lost nothing by the Communication of the Creatures shares to them So that whosoever will acknowledg a Being that is infinitely good must also acknowledg that Being infinitely provident for the Creatures that derive from him and every creature thus deriving God who wanteth neither Power nor Activity must as naturally care for them all as a Father or Mother careth for every Child and a bird for every young one And it is nothing but some mens Atheistical conceptions and others more imperfect notions of God not considering the Divine Being in the extent of his Immensity Activity Power and Goodness which maketh any so much as in the least to hesitate as to the Doctrine of Divine Providence 3. Let us once more turn our eyes to the strange effects and events which we see in the world of which we see great variety and many of them which appear to us of great moment and consequence Now supposing that there were not a Divine Providence directing and governing them and being the first cause to them they must either be the products of so many Machines or Engines moving necessarily or of the imperate acts of some creatures endued with wisdom and counsel We shall find the effects in the world such as are impossible to be products of any such nature 1. Were they the products of the first Man might have a previous knowledg of and not at any time be surprised by them 2. Were they meerly the products of the second God himself could hardly be conceived to have a previous certain knowledg of them so as by his Prophets to give the world a warning 1. I say first Were the effects we see in the world necessary depending upon a certain fate and moving in a certain order What then hindereth but man might have a certain previous knowledg of them things which work necessarily work certainly and evenly Thus indeed the Sun Moon and Stars and all natural agents move Every Almanackmaker therefore will tell you how many hours the Sun will shine in a day six twelve months hence when the Eclipses shall be of either Luminary and to what degrees they shall be obscured But can they also tell us when the next great Plague the next Innundation or Fire we shall hear of shall be or when and where shall be the next great mutation in an Empire or a Kingdom We see men sometimes infinitely surprised in the product of second causes so contrary to their expectation and to what appeared to us would have been their probable effect If things had moved by a Law of Fate the world is now so old that the course of its motions would have been matter of science and demonstration to us but alas there is nothing less Who can tell what to morrow will bring forth not only as to his own particular concerns but the far greater and more general concerns and interests of mankind and the Church of God in particular 2. How then are they produced Is it from the will of man I ask whether from the wills of men working necessarily as the first and only principle of them or working freely and at perfect liberty the first surely none will assert that considers what he saith If from the wills of men working freely then they might also work and move otherwise than they do Then I say it is hard to conceive how God himself should have a certain knowledg of things previous to the event or effect for there was no certainty of such an event or effect But that God hath such a certain previous fore-knowledg is evident from all the Prophecies where by his Prophets he foretold things that were to come to pass many hundreds of years after and that with all their circumstances The great effects of created Beings must have some cause I mean some first cause If this were Nature or Fate i. e. a necessary law imposed upon them their motions would be even uniform subjected to our art and fore-knowledg which they are not If the first cause of them be the wills of men working upon choice there could then have been no certainty of them before they had existed for they might as well not have been as have been If any say but though the wills of men move freely yet he who calleth the things that are not as if they were he knew which way things should be and how the wills of men would move This we most freely grant but we also say That he knew them because he willed either to effect or to permit them and that supposing this Decree of Providence there must also be a working of it upholding created Beings conducting their effects and many times over-ruling them and this is that which we call Providence 4. In a further evidence of this I might call in a plentiful Testimony from the most learned and wise amongst the Heathens But I shall not much trouble my self or you with that discourse but refer those that desire to be satisfied herein to the excellent discourse of Du-Plessis Lord of Morney in
his Book of the Trueness of Christian Religion Chap. 13. where he sheweth Providence a bundantly owned by Plato Plotinus Hierocles Aristotle Cicero Seneca and others I shall therefore only add one passage of Seneca not I think particularly by him mentioned it is in his Book of Natural Questions Chap. 45. where he calleth God The keeper and governour of the whole world Custodem rectoremque universi animum spiritum mundani hujus operis Dominum artificem cui nomen omne convenit Vis illum fatum vocare non errabis Hic est ex quo suspensa sunt omnia causa causarum Vis illum Providentiam dicere rectè dices Est enim cujus consilio huic mundo providetur ut inconcussus eat actus suos explicet Seneca Nat. Qu. l. 2. cap. 45. a Mind a Spirit the Lord and Artificer or Creator of all the world he to whom every name agreeth Will you call him Fate you will not be out For he it is on whom all things depend Will you call him Providence you will say right for by his Counsel the world is provided and taken care for that it remains steady and performeth its operations Salvian upon this Argument tells us that the Heathens acknowledged God to be in the world as the Master of a great Ship is in that abiding always in it and stirring up and down Whence he cryeth out Quid potuerunt de affectu diligentiâ Dei religiosius sentire Salvian l. 1. What could they more religiously judg and speak of God than to compare him to the Governour of a Ship who is never in the Ship idle but continually at work either in one kind or another The Pythagoreans compared God to the Soul in the body filling each part and actuating each part of the body The Platonists call him the moderator of all things The Heathen Poets speak as well and fully Virgil telleth us God is continually moving throughout all the Earth Tractusque maris coelumque profundum and the Waters and the Heavens In short none but some of the most sensual and brutish Epicureans ever so much as called this in question 5. But hitherto I have been arguing this point with you as men to convince you of it if you were Heathens and had no knowledg of the Holy Scripture When I consider you in that notion I must say to you as the Apostle speaks in another case We have a more sure word of prophecy As we by faith understand that the worlds were at first made by God so by faith also we plentifully understand that the created worlds are upheld preserved protected and governed by God I shall hereafter more distinctly prove this in my following discourse when I shall come to speak of the distinct and particular acts and objects of this Divine Providence I shall only here make use of a few instead of very many Scriptures which might be produced Heb. 1.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vpholding all things by the word of his power He at first made all things by the word of his Power and he upholdeth all things by the word of his Power My Text saith He preserveth both man and beast Our Lord telleth us that he cloatheth the grass of the field and feedeth the Ravens Matth. 6. The Psalmist tells us that his kingdom ruleth over all And again Matth. 10.29 30. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing yet not one of them falls to the ground without the will of your heavenly father Acts 17.28 In him we live move and have our being Prov. 15.13 The eyes of the Lord are in all places beholding the evil and the good John 5.17 My father worketh hitherto and I work In short the places of Scripture confirming this Doctrine of Divine Providence are very many and will most of them fall under some part or other of my ensuing discourse referring to the particular objects and acts of Divine Providence And I therefore shall not in this place further enlarge upon them but come next to consider the extent or particular objects of Divine Providence I proceed therefore to a second Question Quest 2. What are the objects of Divine Providence or how far doth the Divine care extend Though the Epicureans of old would acknowledg no Providence and many of the Stoicks asserting a Fate destroyed it yet the wiser Peripateticks would grant it though but a limited one extended to some particular Beings and things and too many amongst those who are called Christians seem to inherit something of their spirit I remember that when Pharaoh saw Egypt almost destroyed he calls for Moses and Aaron and bids them go and serve the Lord but adds Exod. 10.8 But who are they that shall go When Moses replyed We will go with our young and with our old with our sons and with our daughters with our flocks and with our herds will we go He replyeth vers 10. Let the Lord so deal with me as I let you go and your little ones Thus many deal with God When they consider the vast bodies of the Creatures the great varieties of their beings and qualities their motions c. they are forced to acknowledg a Divine Providence That the world could not stand nor the parts of it hold together unless a Superior hand ruled upheld and governed them They therefore will acknowledg a Providence as to the great bodies of the Heavens c. But say they How far will you extend it When they hear us assert it as to all things the sound of the little ones in nature troubles them yea and as to the wills of men they are wonderfully disturbed We must therefore enquire what the Scripture saith which certainly cannot err as to the bounds and extent of Gods Providential care The Scripture tells us Heb. 4.13 That all things are naked and open before him with whom we have to do That the eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good Prov. 15.3 My Text saith He preserveth both man and beast The Apostle to the Hebrews saith He upholdeth all things by the word of his power But to speak more distinctly we extend the Divine Providence 1. To all Beings 2. To all motions and actions of Beings 3. To all omissions suspensions or cessations of action 4. To all events of things 1. First I say to all Beings Beings are usually distinguished into such as have no life or such as have life Or if you please we may make use of that plain division of Beings into 1. Such as have no more than a meer Being neither life nor sense nor reason Such are the Heavens the Earth the Waters Or 2. Such as have Being and life but no sense Such are herbs and plants Or 3. Such as have Being and life and sense Such are Beasts Birds Fishes Insects c. Or Lastly Such as have not only Being life sense but Reason also Such are Angels and Men. I shall shew you that