Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A53983
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A sermon preached before the king at St. James's. October 13. 1695 by Edward Pelling ... Published by His Majesty's special command.
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Pelling, Edward, d. 1718.
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1695
(1695)
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Wing P1104; ESTC R33045
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10,980
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28
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A SERMON Preach'd before the KING AT St. JAMES's OCTOBER 13. 1695. By EDWARD PELLING D. D. Rector of Petworth in Sussex and Chaplain in Ordinary to His MAJESTY Published by His Majesty's Special Command LONDON Printed for W. Rogers at the Sun over-against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet MDCXCV A SERMON Preach'd before the KING At St. JAMES's PSALM CIX 27. That they may know that this is thy hand that thou Lord hast done it THIS Psalm it 's thought was compos'd by David when he was wrapt up in difficult perplexing Circumstances by the Faithlessness and Cruelty of Saul and his Adherents The greatest part of the Psalm is made up of Complaints and such Expressions of Resentment as are commonly thought to be direct and formal Imprecations And admitting they were such a Question might arise Whether they were not innocent in those days when the Jews lived under a Law which some have thought permitted them to hate their Enemies and consequently allowed them to call upon God to appear against their Enemies especially such Enemies as David now was so grievously entangled by men of that State and of those Fortunes that they were out of the reach of ordinary Justice What could be done in such a case but to flee immediately to God when there was no help from Man But the candid Construction of many Divines is That David here did not Curse but Prophesy Nor is it unusual in the Scripture especially in the Book of Psalms for Predictions to run in the Form and Style of a Prayer And if this be so then David did not so much express his Desires what should befal his Enemies as his Belief and Foresight what he thought would befal them The next part of this Psalm consisteth of humble Prayer and Supplication the Sum whereof is That God would save and deliver him out of his Troubles in such a manner as that all reasonable men might be convinced it was God's own special Work and that his Preservation depended not upon blind Chance or upon David's Conduct Force or Courage how great soever his Fortitude was but upon the Particular Goodness and Signal Power of God himself That they may know that this is thy hand that thou Lord hast done it In discoursing upon this Subject the Nature of it will lead me to these Three Things I. First To shew that there are some Acts of Providence so Signal and Remarkable that in the judgment of all discerning men who believe a Providence they ought after a peculiar manner to be ascribed unto God as his own Handy-works though done by the Co-operation of Subordinate Causes II. Secondly To consider what Acts of Providence may be reasonably look'd upon as such or by what Signs and Marks we may discern the special Hand of God in them III. And then in the Third place To draw down this Consideration so as to render it Practical I. That there are some Acts of Providence so Signal and Remarkable that in the judgment of all discerning men who believe a Providence they ought after a peculiar manner to be ascribed unto God as the Works of his own Hands though done by the Co-operation of Subordinate Causes I do not now speak of Miracles For many Effects may be wrought and in former Ages have been wrought which either as to the nature of them or as to the manner of their production surpass all the Power of Created Beings And that such Effects are to be ascribed to God's own immediate Hand no question can be made by those who believe that such Extraordinary Works have been done But the ordinary way of God in his Government of the World especially in governing Human Actions and the Issues of them is to use the Concurrence of Inferior Agents And when not only mens Faculties of Acting are preserved but moreover their Natural Powers are so influenc'd and rais'd their Designs are so order'd their Actions are so directed and Events are so brought about that Wise and Great Things are done after a Stupendious and Amazing Manner then are they to be accounted the Works of God's own Hand whatever Instruments he made use of In those cases the Glory of all must be given unto God and we must say as the Devout Psalmist did This is the Lord 's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes Indeed we live in an Age when some are ready to scoff at Providence But if God were not wont signally to interpose and remarkably to interest himself in Human Affairs what reason could David have had for his Prayer that God would adjust the whole Cause between him and Saul so that his Deliverance from him might be acknowledg'd by his very Enemies to come from God's own hand and that God did it whatever it was that David had done himself or his Forces for him Or what reason could he have had for that Request Psal 86. 17. Shew me a token for good that they which hate me may see it and be asham'd because thou Lord hast holpen me and comforted me Or lastly What reason could there be for those Expressions Psal 58 10 11. The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance so that a man shall say Verily there is a reward for the righteous doubtless there is a God that judgeth in the earth Of these and the like Passages in Scripture no tolerable Construction can be given if it be not granted That in some special cases however subordinate Agents do move the Hand of God in guiding and directing their motions is so plain and evident that men of ordinary understandings may easily observe and take notice of it if they will not shut their eyes and that God's Providence in making Examples of some and in protecting and delivering others is sometimes so particularly remarkable and wonderful that every one who will use his own Reason cannot but discover the Hand of God if he be persuaded of the Being of a Deity and that there are Operations of Providence in the World But the truth is 't is a very hard matter to convince some people of this because they do not in these days see with open eyes such sensible such miraculous Tokens of God's Hand as he shewed in the days of old in his Oeconomy and Dispensations towards the Jews The Strokes of Moses his Rod in Egypt the casting up of the Waters into solid Banks so that the People pass'd through the Sea dry-shod these and many more Miracles did very deeply affect the outward Senses of men And by reason there are not now such sensible Operations such visible Miracles some who are very fond of their Natural Senses renounce the belief of a Supernatural Power others that cannot be so hardy as to deny God's Existence are ready to question his Providence and Superintendency especially over Human Actions and many of us are apt to set too mean and low a Rate upon the Mercies of God nor are the generality of men so thankful for them as they
ought to be and all this because they do not so sensibly perceive the Hand of God as the Jews did Now these men do not rightly consider that there is a great difference between the Jewish State and ours and consequently that it is fit for the Divine Providence to be different as to its Quality and Manner of Acting The Jews were a dull stupid carnal People and God being to form them into a Commonwealth of his own and intending to found his peculiar Government and Dominion over them to make them before-hand throughly sensible of his special Care of them and Goodness towards them did most wisely in doing such Miracles before their eyes as rendred the Belief of his Providence unquestionable and by those extraordinary Works which were so evident and obvious to their outward senses they were irresistibly led on to believe all God's Gracious Declarations to hope and trust in him and to depend upon his Providence continually But now the case between God and us doth not stand after this manner because there has been already a sufficiency of Miracles to bear witness to his Providence so that there is no need of more for our Conviction and therefore it would be unreasonable for us to expect Miracles properly and strictly so called that is Works done as they were of old either without the Use or beyond the Power of Natural Causes There is not the same reason for God now to shew his hand by such Acts of Omnipotence There is not the same reason now for God to exercise his Almighty Power by Signs and Wonders of that high nature to demonstrate his Providence because Demonstrations enough have been given of that already Besides the old Carnal Polity of the Jews is now changed into a Government of a Spiritual Nature administred immediately but after an invisible manner by Jesus Christ Whose Exaltation unto the Right Hand of his Father and whose Power of judging the quick and dead is of it self alone an abundant Proof of a Providence because it would be impossible for him to judge the world righteously in the next life or to succour and protect his Church in this without a Providence that is unless he did observe the Actions of men and interest himself in the Affairs of the World In short Miracles are not necessary in these days to attest the Divine Providence and therefore we must not expect to see the Hand of God in such Supernatural Operations However God hath not shut himself out of the World Though Miracles are ceas'd yet his watchful Care of us doth never fail Nor will it follow that there are no special Acts of Providence because we see not those Tokens and Signs from Heaven which the Children of Israel saw It is one thing to Govern the World and another thing to make the World sensible of it by Ocular Evidence The Christian Church is under a Spiritual Polity and God doth use his Power now as efficaciously as ever tho after a more secret and insensible manner And hence it follows that the Hand of God may be and is in many Events tho they be not in a strict sense Miraculous Tho they be brought about by the ministry of Second Causes yet are they Effects of God's Special Providence because his own Hand doth direct and govern their Causality after a Special Stupendious and Amazing Manner II. Now that we may be always the more Thankful to God for such Signal Instances of his Providence it concerns us in the Second Place to consider What Acts of Providence may be reasonably counted his own Handy-works tho done by the Co-operation of Inferior Agents or by what Signs and Marks we may discern the Special Hand of God in them And here we must be very careful how we interpret Events at every turn lest we ascribe unto God some things which he hath no special hand in and which the Passions Prejudices and Fancies of unwary people are wont to entitle that Wise and Holy Being unto without sufficient or just grounds Some things he only Permits as the Sins and Wickednesses men do wherein God hath no more an hand than in upholding the Faculties of Human Nature as he upholds the Powers of all other Beings in the world Some things he Appoints and Orders as the Evils men Suffer and chiefly the Good they Enjoy And that we may rightly judge what Good that Transcendent Being hath a Signal Hand in this general Rule I conceive is very necessary namely That we attentively observe in every Event what Evidences there are of Wisdom Power and Goodness For these are God's own Perfections and the more of them we see in any Event the more of God we see in it that is when a Wise and Good Event is powerfully and effectually brought to pass we may then know That it is God's hand and that God hath done it Now if we apply this general Rule to particular Cases methinks all reasonable and discerning men may plainly see the Marks of God's Hand or the Evidences of his Wisdom Power and Goodness in these Four Cases not to mention any more 1. When a Great and Important Good is done especially if it be done surprizingly 2. When a Great Good is done at a very Critical Juncture 3. When it is done by a Train and Series of Unexpected Accidents 4. When Evil Designs are so powerfully over-ruled as to be made the Instruments and Means of Good 1. First We may reasonably look upon it as God's Hand when a Great and Important Good is done especially when it is done after a surprizing manner By a great and important Good I mean that which is highly valuable in it self as the Preservation of the True Religion and of mens Lives and Fortunes and that too which is of great Importance to a whole Community a Church or State Such a Good is a most worthy Object of God's special Providence most becoming God to do For if it becomes him to provide for the Private Good of Particular Persons much rather doth it become him to provide for the Publick Good of a whole People professing his Religion This is the most important Good and God's way is to adapt his Providence in proportion to the Worth and Value of the Object which his Care is conversant about so that as things differ in their Rate or Estimation so is God's Care lower or higher in its degrees less or more signal This appears from our Saviour's Words to his Disciples about their relying upon God for their Food and Raiment Is not life more than meat and the body than raiment And Are not ye much better than the fowls of the air And again Are not ye of more value than many sparrows Where the stress of our Lord 's own Argument lyeth in this That the Measures of the Divine Providence are suitable to the Nature and Value of Things To the ordinary Parts of the Creation it is extended in an ordinary measure 't is particular