of God's Glory excuse the Sin I answer No the Sin is not the less sinful upon that account as Rom. 3.8 for God needs not our Sins to bring to pass his Glory God will not have us break his Commands out of a pretence to bring to pass his Glory it is not lawful for the greatest Glory to God or Good of Mankind to commit the least Sin to break God's Laws for God's Glory is not lawful upon any pretence And therefore they that can deceive and do Injuries to others and perhaps their whole Lives have been a course of Injustice and this under the thoughts and pretence of doing good with what they get and bringing Glory to God it is nothing else but a Delusion and Deceit But thou Hypocrite what need has God of thy Robberies to do him service So the Jesuites have determin'd that in defence of the Catholick Cause a man may tell a Lye because it is to a good end to carry on their Cause I shall shew you something of their Doctrine about Equivocation from their own allowed Writers 1. It is determin'd that officious Lyes when they injure none and do good to others they are at most but venial Sins So the consequence is if they tell an officious Lye for the preservation of themselves but especially for the honour of God and the good of their Society it is but a venial a pardonable Sin this most of the Papists hold 2. They tell us of the Doctrine of Equivocation that some things as they are spoken are directly Sins but if we keep any other true sence in our Minds it is reconcilable to Truth Again they tell us Some things a man is bound to deny and that upon Oath That if a Priest from Confession knows any thing of Adultery or Murder in another and he be examin'd in the matter he may lawfully forbear to tell the truth or deny it and the reason is because he knows it under the Seal of Confession And they made great use of this Doctrin in the Powder Treason Again they hold When they are called before an unlawful Judge as they hold us to be Hereticks they may lye and forswear but especially they hold That no Civil Judge can judge a Priest Again they hold If they are accused before a Judge and the Crime is not clearly proved and if they have any way to evade the Witnesses they may lye and forswear themselves with a mental reservation till the case be made out as clear as the Sun Again they averr That at their Executions they may deny their Crimes too because when they have confessed to a Priest and received Absolution they are in a state of Salvation and absolved from their Sins Therefore fix this in your Hearts That for the greatest Good in the World it is not lawful to commit the least Sin SECT V. MY third Inference is this If all the Sins of Men be order'd and govern'd by God the only true way to secure our selves from hurt by wicked men is to make our Peace with God It follows most directly true for if all the Sins of wicked men be order'd limited and over-ruled by God the most secure method in all Troubles is to make our Peace with God for if God be ours all the Malice of the Devils in Hell and wicked Men on Earth shall do us no harm The first Lesson we are to learn under every Rod is to believe God's Hand in it It is a thing beloved that we all acknowledge in the notion yet certainly one of the hardest things in practise Micah 6. the Prophet tells us It is the greatest part of wisdom to bear the rod and him who has appointed it for the greatest cause of our impenitency under God's heavy Judgments is because Men generally look no higher than the Second Causes we impute our Troubles to our own Negligence and the Malice of Men but look not up to God Isa 36.11 When thou liftest up thy hand they will not see it So Jer. 5.12 when the Prophet told them God had sent the Assyrian to punish them they denied it and said It is not the Lord. Beloved we are loth in any Affliction we suffer to acknowledge God's Hand in it and the reason is because it would be a secret acknowledgment of our own Guilt Thus if there happen to be a Defeat in War we reckon it comes only by Negligence or Cowardise or if a Fire happens we say this is the Malice of Men but we never look up to God in all this This is the great cause of Impenitence for how can we repent of our Sins if we believe we are only injured by Men and not punished by GOD We ought to believe there is no evil in a City but what the Lord has done all Evils that come either immediately from God's Hand or from the Malice Wickedness and Injustice of Men GOD has a hand in all Thus Job when the Chaldeans and Sabeans had robbed him he ascribes it to the Lord and not to their Injustice Isa 10.5 When a plundering Army was to be sent 't is said God sent them so when Absalom rebelled and sought the ruine of his Father it is said God would stir up evil to him out of his own house So 1 Kin. 11. when Solomon follow'd strange Women then God stirred up Enemies against him God sometimes raises up base and sordid men to be Plagues and Scourges to the most powerful People for the Sins of such a People So Beloved if we are proud and confident in our own Strength our Sins may expose us to be a Prey to the basest Nation in the World Again sometimes God limits the Career of wicked men as he does the proud Waves of the Sea saying Hitherto shalt thou go and no further When God has done with his Instruments he will destroy them It follows then that it is the greatest Folly for men to seek to remove their Afflictions so long as they continue in their Sins against God for what Folly is it to look to the Instrument and not to the Hand that moves it it is as if a poor Prisoner should court the Executioner and not seek to the Judge All these are our Follies For first we can with no reason expect God should remove his Judgments while we continue in our Sins if God does for a time cease Judgments we must not take it as a Pardon of our Sins or a Removal of our Judgment but only a Reprieve for a time If God does withdraw one Rod or Judgment that we may fear he will find new ones to chastise a wicked People as the Angel cried One woe is past and another woe cometh So long as we provoke God tho' sometimes we may prevail against men that are Instruments of his Wrath we shall not always he will have new Instruments to do his Work It follows therefore in the last place our only safe way is to make our Peace with God for if
THE Great Mystery OF PROVIDENCE OR The various Methods of GOD in Ordering and Over-ruling the Actions of Wicked Men and Devils to great and glorious Purposes With the Vindication of his Holiness therein BEING The Substance of several SERMONS preached by the Reverend Judicious and Orthodox Divine Mr. GEORGE GIFFORD Late Minister of St. Dunstan in the East London HEB. XI 4. He being dead yet speaketh LONDON Printed for S. Crouch at the Corner of Pope's-head Alley near the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1695. TO THE READER NEXT to the Knowledge and Belief of a God and the Essentials of Religion there is not any Truth of greater moment or more needful to be rightly known of all persons than this before us namely How far the holy and righteous God is or may be concerned in or make use of the evil Actions of wicked Men and Devils without any Impeachment of his Righteousness and Holiness or making him the Author or Approver of Sin the Ignorance or Misunderstanding of which in all Ages has exceedingly promoted Atheism and Irreligion among the Wicked of the World who take occasion from hence to think and say in their Hearts if not with their Mouths either there is no God or He is not a Righteous and a Holy God And the Consideration of the Prosperity of Wicked Men in their Evil Actions and the Suffering of Good Men thereby have been an occasion of stumbling and offence to holy Persons as we find in Scripture The Truth of this matter lies in the middle between two Extreams as the Author hereof has informed us who was a very Judicious and Orthodox Divine of great Note in this City I doubt not but the Reader if he brings a serious Mind to know Truth and not to cavil at it will find this matter so plainly and truly tho' briefly stated and determined as to answer all material Objections of Atheistical and Prophane Gainsayers and such as are wise in their own Conceit and to be a Foundation to good Men of Patience and Resignation to the Will of God in all Sufferings and Calamities publick and private from evil Men and instead of murmuring and repining will cause them to adore that Infinite Wisdom and Goodness that can bring Good out of Evil and over rule all the Sins and Follies of Men to the greater manifestation of his own glorious Attributes and the Good and Welfare of his Church These Sermons having been calculated only for a popular Auditory the Reader must expect no other Eloquence than that of the Apostle Paul's great plainness of Speech which best becomes Divinity and especially the weighty Subject before us Therefore I shall conclude with only one Request to the Reader That he will peruse these Lines with the same Spirit which the Author declares he had in the delivery of them namely with a holy Fear and Trembling and then I doubt not but he will receive that benefit and advantage by them as shall give abundant cause to bless GOD for them which is the Chief End of the Publisher J. D. Advertisement A Discourse upon Usury or lending Money for Encrease occasion'd by Mr. David Jones's late Farewel-Sermon proving by undeniable Arguments the Lawfulness thereof and answering his plausible Objections from Scripture-Counsels and Fathers against it Published at the request of several judicious and sober Christians for the satisfaction of all such as have or may be concerned in this matter of so general and weighty importance Printed for Sam. Crouch at the Corner of Popes-head-Alley next Cornhill GEN. XLV 8. So that it was not you that sent me hither but GOD. THE joyful discovery of Joseph to his Brethren I have already spoken of out of this Chapter after his rough treating of them after so many Fears and Dangers at last the Sun breaks out from these Clouds and then he cries out I am Joseph And there I handled that this was an Emblem of God's dealing with his own People He leads them at first into crooked Paths but then after all these Tempests and Storms there will be Joy and Peace at the last And I proposed to you how that after some great Affliction but above all Spiritual Desertion when God has shewn himself a long time as it were an Enemy to his People at last he shines forth and saith I am your God and Saviour The second thing I have handled is Joseph's pardoning and loving his Brethren that had so barbarously sold him to be a Slave he is now so far from revenging himself of them that he loves and embraces them And upon this I handled that high and excellent Duty of loving and forgiving those that injure us that the true and noblest way of revenging Injuries was by overcoming Evil with Good I come now to the next thing and that is the Arguments Joseph makes use of to comfort his Brethren that were so overcome with Shame and Fear He doth three times repeat it the first is drawn from the Providence of God in working this great thing It was not you that sent me hither but God as if he should have said Do not look any more upon Second Causes It is true it was a Fault in you who sold me but look upon the good Hand and Providence of God in it God sent me before you and it was not you that sent me hither but God This so frequent inculcating of it was to raise up them and also us to a serious Contemplation how all the Evils of Men are order'd by the wise Providence of God to good purposes In this action God and they both worked together they sold Joseph and God sent him for Good for the preservation of God's Church in Jacob's Family I shall by God's assistance six here for some time upon the Providence of God in over-ruling the Actions of wicked Men. First Here is an Ingeniosa Charitas see how often Joseph repeats his acknowledgments of the Hand and Providence of God in this matter I observe there is nothing will make us more willing to forgive them that have done us any Injury than to look up to the Providence of God and refer all to that we are apt to look to Instruments and Second Causes and not think of the Hand of God in them Secondly God sent me before you to preserve you a Posterity and to save your Lives by a great Deliverance and it was not you that sent me hither but God I observe here God's gracious Providence and Care over his Church and Children so long before providing for their Safety It is one of the most excellent Observations of God's Providence towards his Children in the whole Scripture When God intended to bring a most dreadful Famine upon the World in which Jacob and his Family might probably have perished yet God made a provision for him and them 20 years before-hand in such a way as Jacob and Joseph never thought of He sends Joseph 20 years before hand to be a Harbinger for
is constantly verified in Scripture and by Experience in the World that God may suffer good People to be afflicted and injuriously dealt with in just causes and wicked Men to prosper and bring wicked and unjust actions to pass so when God raises up a great King to be a Scourge to his Neighbors he will give him Wisdom Policy and Success and also when the Lord is resolved to punish a Nation he can take away their Wisdom and Success Thus God many times suffers the Tabernacles of Robbers to prosper and suffers good men for good causes to fall into the hands of wicked and unreasonable men Christ himself saith that the Power Pilate had to crucifie him he had it from God but you will say Is this no prejudice to his Holiness I answer no for God doth not give wicked men Success as a reward of their actions but to make use of them as the Instruments of his Providence as suppose a King should make use of a very wicked man to be his Hangman this doth not reflect upon the Goodness of the Prince The eighth way of God's Providence in governing wicked men and their actions and I desire you to take notice of it is by limiting governing and disposing wicked men and their actions that they shall not be able to hurt whom they will nor when they will but just so far as God would have it as we find in Joseph's Brethren their design was to murther him but 1. God stirs up Reuben to divert that purpose well afterwards God to bring his Ends to pass le ts them sell him and at that very moment orders the Midianites to come by How admirably was this matter ordered and limited by God So for the time God will not suffer wicked men to act at one time and yet will suffer the same to bring about their purposes at another time So it was with the Jews they would oftentimes have taken Christ but could not because the hour was not yet come but afterwards he tells them I taught daily in the temple and you laid no hands on me but now is your hour So we may observe how God doth sometimes stop Fire from doing Mischief and at another time suffers it to break out with irresistible violence so also for the continuance of wicked men in their actions it is said The Rod of the wicked shall not always rest upon the Lot of the righteous It may come upon them but it shall not rest upon them so God will not suffer good men to be tempted above what they are able wicked men shall not be able to put one dram into the Cup of bitterness more than what God has appointed Indeed this is the foundation of all our Comfort to remember that whatever we may suffer wicked men are but as an Ax in God's Hand they cannot as to time or continuance or degrees go beyond what God has purposed The last way is by God's over-ruling and ordering the Effects of Sin beyond and many times contrary to the purpose and design of Sinners and this makes up the compleat government of Sin So it was in Joseph's case As for you you thought evil but God meant it for good to bring to pass as it is at this day to save much people alive You meant it for evil and indeed beloved in one and the same action there are different ends proposed Many times wicked men design nothing but to bring about their own Malice Covetousness and Envy but God turns it to many wise and holy ends So in Job's case the Devil's design was to make him curse and blaspheme God but God's design was to make Job bless him So God is said to send Assyria against Israel to punish a hypocritical Nation but he thinks not so his design is to root up and destroy much People his design was to plunder and destroy but God's design was to correct Sin So it was in the Sufferings of our Blessed Saviour the Pharisees out of envy sought to murder him Pilate only for fear condemned him the Soldiers all that they meant was their Profit but now the Envy and Malice of the one and the Covetousness of the other God over-ruled to bring to pass the greatest Blessing that ever befel Mankind the Death and Resurrection of Christ so that God can make wicked men work his ends when they seem most to cross them Thus Physicians can make an Antidote to expel Poison out of Poison it self And I conclude this point in telling you that the most excellent Works of God's Providence that were ever brought to pass in the World are when He makes use of the sinful actions of Men to effect matters quite contrary to what they intended Thus I have endeavoured to clear the Providence of God from any mistake of Injustice or Unholiness and have shewn how the holy and wise God over-rules and governs the evil actions of wicked Men and Devils SECT III. I Come now to the third Point and that is That God Almighty can make good use of the sinful actions of wicked Men that what they intend for Evil that he can and often does turn to Good This is here expressed in the Text God sent me before you to preserve life and I will ground this upon another expression of Joseph Gen. 50.20 As for you you thought evil against me but God meant it for good You shall observe in this Story that the design of his Brethren was nothing but the gratifying their own Envy and Malice in sending him away the Ishmaelites in buying him meant nothing but their own profit Potifer's Wife we read minded nothing but her own Lust and yet all these things were over-ruled by God Almighty for the good of his Church I shall here handle that God Almighty doth turn the Sins of wicked men to good he makes them serve his designs for good I shall here vindicate the Providence of God from the great Quarrel that has been against it in all Ages by reason of the actions of wicked men and the great wickedness that is in the World for it is a Saying of the Atheists That if the World be governed by a God so just holy and wise why is there so much wickedness in the World Can he not hinder it I shall therefore shew you that God's permitting so much Sin in the World is a fruit of his infinite Goodness because he can bring so much good out of it St. Austin saith God that is infinitely good and powerful would not permit Sin in the World if he were not able to make that Sin turn to some great Good All wicked Men and Devils are under God's Dominion he over rules all their actions and there is no Evil in second causes but he makes it serve his own holy and wise ends It is true Sin as it is in the Creature is the greatest deformity darkness and disorder in the World but God Almighty is able to order it as a wise
wicked Men. I shall handle them by way of observation The first is That God Almighty is just and holy and good even in his governing the Sins of wicked men This shall be to vindicate the Holiness and Justice and Purity of Almighty God in his concurrence with the sinful Actions of Men it is one of the most difficult points in Religion and one of the greatest depths of the Providence of God to clear it up I shall begin with this Story that is Joseph's being sold into Egypt Here are two concurring causes his Brethren sold him and yet God sent him So it is said in the Acts The Patriarchs moved with envy sold Joseph into Egypt I shall here clear up God's Justice in this matter We read there was first a Determination and Decree of God to advance Joseph for the preservation of Jacob and his Family well to bring this to pass God intends to make use of his Brethren and their Envy and Malice to sell him into Egypt God does not infuse Malice into them nor stir them up to Sin for that was in their Hearts before But first God does not hinder them You heard before how when they first determin'd to murder Joseph God would not let it go that way but when they had a mind to sell him he did suffer them because it was for his Ends and observe how God order'd it that the Merchants should happen to come by that very day to whom his Brethren sold him It is a hard Question Why this Affliction is rather attributed to God than to them It was not you that sent me hither but God but the reason is God's permission and offering them an occasion in his Providence which he knew would take effect and therefore it was said God did it I shall as briefly as I can open and answer this Question In all the Sins of the World Let God be true and every man a Lyar we must abhor and detest all that does in the least attribute any Sin to be God's God neither infuses Wickedness nor tempts or stirs up People to sin but only by his Providence permits orders and governs it for his own wise and holy Ends. I will here answer some Objections briefly 1 You will say how can it stand with the Holiness of God to permit Sin when he can hinder it I answer It can be no stain to God's Holiness for God doth but leave the Creature to the liberty of his own Will and it was most agreeable that those whom God has made free and reasonable Creatures should not be constrained but to leave wicked Men and Devils to their own Wills especially since God can bring so much Good out of Evil. But secondly you will say Why doth God minister occasion in his Providence I answer That doth not reflect upon God neither for it is reasonable God should make a tryal of the Obedience of his Creature to him but he could not know that or that could not be known if he did not leave them to their own Wills 2. I do consider that most of the occasions that Men abuse to Sin are such as in their own nature are good and naturally would drive them to Goodness for what is it that they use to harden themselves with and abuse to Sin but the very Blessings and Mercies of God Again As to the other thing God's ordering Sin to his own Glory and the Good of his People that cannot be any Objection against God's Holiness or Justice What is more reasonable than that God should bring Glory to himself from wicked Men and Devils force Glory out of them above and contrary to their Intents It is an Instance of the great Wisdom Power and Goodness of God that there can be no Evil but he can regulate and order for good ends But then you may object Doth not the Scripture say God stirs up wicked men and blinds them and hardens them and sends them strong delusions that they may believe a lye and be damn'd How can you in this vindicate the Purity and Holiness of God I answer in all those places where God is said to harden the Heart c. We must understand in some places it imports but a meer permission of God or at most but withdrawing his Grace and leaving Men up to the Temptations of wicked Men and Devils Secondly God never withdraws his Grace from wicked men till they by their former Sins have deserved it So Pharoah first hardned his own Heart and then God in a judicial way hardned his Heart also And beloved what is more reasonable than that they that resist God's motions and give up themselves wilfully to be seduced that God should leave them up to the seduction of the Devil and wicked Men he doth but punish them with their own Sin The next and greatest Objection and most popular in all Ages of the World is God's prospering wicked men in evil ways and afflicting good men in good ways This was the great Objection of the Heathens especially the Epicureans and it has been a great stumbling to godly men I remember four holy men in Scripture were shaken and almost overthrown at the thoughts of it as Job Job 21.6 David Psal 73. Jeremiah Jer. 12.1 and Habakkuk Hab. 1.13 Certainly to Heathens and such as deny future Rewards and Punishments I do not know a greater Objection But to this I answer 1. It is certain that this Life is not intended by God to be the place of Punishments and Rewards but only as a Preparation for another Life 2. No Man or People were ever so righteous but they had Sin enough in them which their own Conscience tells them deserves the greatest Punishment 3. I do consider that wicked men when God advances them and gives them Success it is not for their sake or out of love to them but because he raiseth them up in his Providence to be his Instruments to punish other wicked men He does not give them any Success for their own desert Now beloved this is the most reasonable thing in the World in all Kingdoms the vilest of men are made use of for Executioners and indeed there is none fit for this work but the wicked Doth a Shepherd set his Sheep to worry one-another Godly men are not fit or qualified to kill or plunder other men unjustly therefore I say God doth not make Instruments of wicked men for their goodness but because they only are fit for such Work as this is to be God's Executioners I remember a Story when Phocas had murder'd the Emperor his Master and made himself Emperor and a holy man complaining why God should set so wicked a man over the Nation the Answer was They did not deserve a better It is for the same Reason that God sends Turks to oppress Christians Again consider that wicked men even in their wicked actions have secret Lashes of Conscience or if they are advanced a little while yet as the Psalmist
any room for Discontent When any Troubles come that which makes them bitter is to consider the Wickedness of the Instruments We are apt to say Oh that false Servant that treacherous Child if God had done this or that it would not have troubled us Why beloved look into the Text it is not they but God that did it for holy and wife ends Sudden and unexpected Accidents are great causes of Afflictions to have a Child or Friend cut off by some unexpected Accident yet we must consider tho' there be such a thing as Chance or Fortune to us there is nothing falls out but by the Wisdom of Almighty God As Deut. 19.5 compared with Exod. 21.13 God suffers not a Sparrow to fall to the Ground without his Providence much less will he do so by Men all things that are Chance to us are eternally determin'd by God I have heard many tender-spirited persons say Oh I am afraid I have not done all I should in this or that matter as Martha said Lord if thou hadst been here our Brother had not dyed But I say when God has signified his Will by the Event then we are to rest satisfied God knows how to order our Ignorance and Follies to his own holy and wise ends Again when we think upon the Injuries of wicked men the best Comfort is to quiet our selves as David The Lord has sent this Shimei to curse David Again when we see a Deluge of Wickedness and Prophaneness overflow a Nation it is one of the greatest causes of Sorrow to a good man as it was to David Rivers of water run down mine eyes because men keep not thy law It is a just cause of of Sorrow that you are all called to at this time but yet beloved we ought not to be too much grieved God will not suffer his holy Name to be always prophaned God can make this overspreading of Wickedness turn to the Good of the Nation Prov. 19.31 The counsel of the Lord shall stand they cannot go one step further than God orders and he can and will over-rule them Again this will be of great comfort to us in all the Riddles of God's Providence when we see holy men oppress'd and wicked men for a time to prosper in all these intricate Providences God Almighty will bring to pass his own wise and holy Ends adore the Lord when you cannot comprehend him The wicked have one Work to do and God has another judge not of Providences by their present faces and appearances He that had seen Joseph afflicted and in the Dungeon how could he have thought that had been the way to a Throne therefore do not judge of God's Works before you see the Effects of them God has a Work and Purpose and it shall be brought to pass let men oppose and cross it as much as they can therefore it is one of the greatest parts of Wisdom to resign up our Souls to God in the darkest Providences when we can see neither Sun Moon nor Stars Lord I resign up my self to thee tho' I cannot comprehend thy design at present Lastly If God works together with wicked men and turns all their Actions contrary to their own meaning why then we ought to work together with God I shall shew you how we may draw Good from the Sins of wicked men when the Sins of wicked men bring me to see my own and to watch and walk more holily with God and more diligently seek after Heaven and Heavenly things when the Malice of my Enemies is a means to encrease my Grace why then beloved I draw Good out of Evil. Again As to the Publick when we see Wickedness abound we may draw Good out of it we may now look upon our selves to be Witnesses for God and to live well in the midst of a wicked Nation when we see a Deluge of Drunkenness to abhor that Sin so much the more So as to the Spirit of Whoredome among us this should make us strive to be so much the more chaste and careful against all Company that may tempt us When we see a Spirit of Formality and Negligence in the Service of God this should make us so much the more fervent and to love Holiness the better And when you see People come to such a measure of Prophaneness as for many years together to omit the Lord's Supper this should make us more diligent in our Preparations to it The best way to overthrow Popery is to live well like good Protestants and especially I would not have a Protestant tell a wilful Lye and by this means we may turn our present Dangers to a good issue If we thus repent thus live and thus pray unto God c. FINIS