Brazen Serpent which were stung by the fiery ones whereas Brass is naturally hurtful to those that are bit by Serpents * Grotius Mat. 20.16 Es naturaliter nocet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Afflictions Joseph is sold for a slave and God sends him as a Harbinger his Brother sold him to destroy him and God sends him to save them Pauls bonds in the opinion of some might have stiflâ—d the Gospel but he tells us that they had fallen out to the furtherance of the Gospel Phil. 1.12 2. Sins * Hall contempl book 3. p. 806 807. God doth often effect his just Will by our weakness neither thereby justifying our infirmities nor blemishing his own action Jacob gets the blessing by unlawful means telling no less then two lies to attain it I am Esau and this is venison But hereby God brings about the performance of his promise which Isaac's natural affection to Esau would have hindred Jacob of The breach of the first Covenant was an occasion of introducing a better Mans sinning away his first flock was an occasion to God to enrich him with a surer The loss of his original righteousness made way for a clearer and more durable The folly of man made way for the evidence of Gods wisdom and the sin of man for the manifestation of his grace and by the wise disposal of God opens a way for the honour of those Attributes which would not else have been experimentally known by the Sons of men 3. Casual means The Viper which leapt upon Pauls hand out of the bundle of sticks was a casual act but designed by the providence of God for the propagation of the Gospel Pharaoh's Daughter comes casually to wash her self in the river but indeed conducted by the secret influence of God upon her to rescue Moses exposed to a forlorn condition and breed him up in the Aegyptian learning that he might be the fitter to be his Kindreds deliverer Saul had been hunting David and at last had lodged him in a place whence he could not well escape and being ready to seize upon him in that very instant of time a Post comes to Saul and brings the news that the Philistines had invaded the Land which cut out other work for him and David for that time escapes * 1 Sam 23.26 27 28. Thirdly 3. Reason Such actions and events of things are in the world which cannot rationally be ascribed to any other cause than a supreme providence 'T is so so in common things Men have the same parts the same outward advantages the same industry and yet prosper not alike One labours much and gets little another uses not altogether such endeavours and hath riches flowing in upon him Men lay their projects deep and question not the accomplishment of them and are disappointed by some strange and unforeseen accident And sometimes men attain what they desire in a different way and many times contrary to the Method they had projected This is evidenced 1. By the restraints upon the passions of men The waves of the Sea and the tumults of the People are much of the same impetuous natures and are quelled by the same power * Psal 65.7 Which stilleth the noise of the Sea and tumult of the people Tumults of the People could no more be stilled by the force of a man than the Waves of the Sea by a puff of breath How strangely did God qualify the hearts of the Aegyptians willingly to submit to the sale of their Land when they might have risen in a tumult broke open the Granaries and supplied their wants * Gen. 47.19 21. Indeed if the World were left to the conduct of chance or fortune what work would the savage lusts and passions of men make among us How is it possible that any but an Almighty Power can temper so many jarring Principles and rank so many quarrelsom and turbulent Spirits in a due order If those brutish passions which boyl in the hearts of men were let loose by that infinite power that bridles them how soon would the World be run headlong into unconceivable confusions and be rent in pieces by its own disorders 2. By the sudden changes which are made upon the Spirits of men for the preservation of others God takes off the Spirit of some as he did the wheels from the Egyptian Chariots in the very act of their rage Paul was struck down and changed while he was yet breathing out threatnings c. God sees all the workings of mens hearts all those cruel intentions in Esau against his Brother Jacob but God on a sudden turns away that torrent of hatred and disposeth Esau for a friendly meeting * Gen. 33.4 And he who had before an exasperated malice by reason of the loss of his birth-right and blessing was in a moment a changed man Thus was Sauls heart changed towards David and from a Persecutor turns a justifier of him confesseth Davids innocence and his own guilt 1 Sam. 24.17 18. thou art more righteous than I for thou hast rewarded me good whereas I have rewarded thee evil c. What reason can be rendred for so sudden a change in Saul's revengeful Spirit which had all the force of interest to support it and considered by him at that very time For vers 24. he takes special notice that his Family should be disinherited and David be his Successor in the Throne How suddenly did God turn the Edge of the Sword and the heart of an Enemy from Jehosaphat 2 Chron. 18.31 Jehosaphat cried out and the Lord helped him and God moved them to depart from him The Holy Ghost emphatically ascribes it to Gods motion of their wills by twice expressing it But stranger is the preservation of the Jews from Hamans bloody designs after the decree was gone out against them Mordecai the Jew is made Ahasuerus's Favourite by a strange wheeling of Providence First The Kings Eyes are held waking and he is inclined to pass away the solitariness of the night with a Book rather than a Game or some other Court past-time no book did he six on but the Records of that Empire no place in that voluminous Book but the Chronicle of Mordecai's service * in the discovery of a treason against the Kings life he doth not carelesly pass it over Estier 6.1 2. but inquires what recompence had been bestowed on Mordecai for so considerable a service and this just before Mordecai should have been destroyed had Ahasuerus slept Mordecai and all his Countrey-men had been sacrificed notwithstanding all his Loyalty Could this be a cast of blind chance which had such a concatenation of evidences in it for a superior Power 3. In causing Enemies to do things for others which are contrary to all rules of policy 'T is wonderful that the Jews a People known to be of a stubborn nature and tenacious of their Laws wherein they differed from all the Nations should in the worst of their
as soon deny himself as his righteousness So it is none of the meanest comforts that we acknowledg and worship that God who exerciseth himself in a constant government of the World and leaves not any thing to the capriciousness of that which we call fortune and chance What satisfaction can any man in his sober wits have to live in a World cast off from all care of the Creator of it Wisdom without providence would make any man mad and the greatest advantage would be to be a stupid and senseless fool Can there be any worse News told to men than this that let them be as religious as they will * It was an excellent Speech of a Stoick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is no eye above takes notice of it What can be bitterer to a rational man than that God should be careless of the World What a door would be opened by it for all sin in the wicked and eispair in the godly 't is as great a matter of joy to the godlly that God reigns as it is of terror to the wicked Psal 97.1 The Lord reigns let the Earth rejoice Psal 99.1 The Lord reigns let the people tremble 'T is a comfort That 1. Man is a special object of Providence God provides for all creatures even those that are the works of his hands much more for a man who is more peculiarly the work of his head in whose creation he took Counsel Gen. 1.92 let us make man in our Image after our likeness and the work of his heart in being made according to his Image and intended as a subordinate end of his whole creation next to the principal that of God's glory he is the preserver of man and beast of a man principally of beasts in subserviency to mans good and preservation 2. Hloy men a more special object of it God preserves and provides for all things and all persons But his eye is more peculiarly fixed upon those that fear him Psal 33.18 behold the eye of the lord is upon them that fear him upon them that hope in his mercy so fixed as if he had no regard to any thing else If God hath a care of man created after his own Image though his Image be depraved much more of those wherein his Image is restored If God loves himself he loves his Image and his works A man loves the works which he hath made of some external matter much more doth a father love his Son much more doth God love his own and therefore will work their good and dispose of them well God exerciseth a special providence over the actions of a good man as well as his person Psal 37.23 the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his wyas 't is a special because a delightful providence he delights in his way How highly may it cheer a man to be in covenant with that God which rules the world and hath all things at his beck to be under not only the care of his wisdom but of his goodness The Governor of the World being such an only friend will do him no hurt being such an only Father will order all things to his good out of a Fatherly affection he is the Worlds Soveraign but a good mans Father He rules the Heavens and the Earth but he loves his holy ones Other things are the objects of his providence and a good man is the end of it For his eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth to shew himself strong for him whose heart is perfect towards him 3. Hence it will follow that the Spirits of good men have sufficient grounds to bear up in their innocent sufferings and storms in the World Innocent sufferings There is a righteous Governour who orders all and will reward them for their pains as well as their service Heb. 6.10 for God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love there is one that presides in the World who sees all their calamities and cannot be mistaken in their cause who hath as much power and wisdom as will to help them It would be an affliction indeed if there were no soveraign power to whom they might make their moan in their distress to whom they might ease their consciences if there were no Governour to whom they might offer up their petitions In the storms they meet with in the world How doth the presence of a skilful Pilot in a weather-beaten Ship cheer the hearts of the fearful Passengers What a dread would it be to them to have the vessel wherein their lives and all are concerned left to the fury of Winds and Waves without an able hand to manage it God hath a bridle to check the passions of men to marshal them according to his pleasure they are all but his instruments in the government not the Lords of it God can lay a Plot with more wisdom for a good mans safety than the Enemy can for his destruction he can countermine their Plots with more power than they can execute them he can out-wit their craft over-power their strength and turn their designed cruelty against them as a knife into their own breasts 4. Hence follows a certain security against a good mans want If God take care of the hairs the ornamental superfluities why should we doubt his care of our necessary supply If he be the guardian of our hairs which fall off without our sence of their departure shall he be careless of us when we are at a pinch for our all Will God reach out his care to Beasts and deny it to his Children What would you judge of that Father who should feed his Servants and starve his Sons He supplies his Enemies and hath he no bowels for his Frindes The very unjust as well as the just are enlightned by his Sun and refresht by his rain and shall he not have a providence for those who have a special interest in that Mediator whose interposition kept up those standing mercies after our forfeiture of them by sin If he bless with those blessings those who are the objects of his curse will he not bless those that are in his special favour with them so far as they may prove blessings to them Psal 34.10 the young Lions do lack and suffer hunger but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing v. 9. for there is no want to them that fear him A good man shall have what he needs not alwayes what he thinks he needs Providence intends the supply of our necessities not of our desires he will satisfie our wants but not our wantonness When a thing is not needful a man cannot properly be said to want it when it is needful a good man shall not be without it what is not bestowed upon us may not be so beautiful at that time wherein we desire it for every thing is beautiful in its season * Eccles 9.11 He that did not want
these men The meanest Worm as well as the mightiest Prince the lowest Shrub as well as the tallest Cedar every cranny corner or chink of the Earth 4. Diligence of Providence to and fro His care is repeated he looks this way and that way again and again his eyes are not consin'd to one place fixed on one object but are always rouling about from one place to another 5. The Efficacy of his Providence His care doth engage his strength he doth not only discover dangers but prevent them he hath eyes to see and Power to order all things according to his pleasure Wise to see and strong to save II. The end of Providence to shew himself strong c. 1. Finis cujus to shew him self strong Heb. to make himself strong but best Translated to shew himself strong It is not an addition of strength but an exercise of strength that is here meant 2. Finis cui or the Persons for whom Those that are perfect in heart Doctrines 1. Doct. There is a Providence exercised by God in the World 2. All Gods Providences in the World are in order to the good of his people 3. Sincerity in Gods way gives a man an interest in all Gods Providences and the good of them 1. For the first Doct. There is a Providentitial inspection and Government of all things in the world by God 'T is not a bare sight of things that is here meant by Gods eye but a sight and knowledge in order to the Governing and disposing of them View this doctrine at your leisure preached by God himself with an inconceivable elegancy and three whole Chapters spent in the Sermon and * Job 38.39.40 by the Psalmist * Psalm 147.148 Some observe that the society of Angels and Heavenly creatures is represented Ez. 1. by a quaternarian number because the World is divided into 4 dimensions East West North and South * Hadsons Divine right of Government chap 6. pag. 53. as intimating the extention of Gods Providence over all parts Things are not ordered in the World caeco impetu not by blind fortune but an alseeing deity who hath the management of all sublunary affairs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Clomens ad Corinth pag. 34. was the Theological Maxim of the Stoicks Before I come particularly to explain the Providence of God I shall lay down some Propositions as the Foundations of this Doctrine 1. God hath an indisputable and peculiar Right to the Government of the World None ever question'd Gods Right no nor his act but those that were swelled with an unreasonable ambition such as Nebuchadnezzar who for this cause underwent the punishment of a 7 years banishment from the society of men None indeed that acknowledg a God * Dan. 4.17 did or can question Gods Right though they may question his Will an actual exercise of his Right He is the Creator and therefore is the Soveraign Lord and Ruler The World is his Family and as a Master he hath an undoubted Right to govern his own Family He gave all creatures their beings and therefore hath a right to enact their laws appoint their stations and fix their ends 'T is as much his property and prerogative to rule as it is to create Creation is so peculiarly proper to God that it is not communicable to any creature no not to Angels though of a vast Capacity in other things and that because they are Creatures themselves 'T is as impossible for one creature or all to govern the World and manage all the boysterous passions of men to just and glorious ends as to create them 'T is true God useth instruments in the executive part of his Providence but he doth not design the Goverment of the world only by instruments He useth them not for necessity but ornament He Created the World without them and therefore can Govern the World without them Virtus Creativa est fundamentum providentiae argumentum ad providentiam This right is founded upon that Creation as he is the efficient cause of it This right is also founded upon the excellency of his Being That which is excellent having a right to rule in the way of that excellency that which is inferior every man hath a natural right to rule another in his own art and skill wherein he excells him If it be the right of a chief Magistrate to manage the concerns of his Kingdom with what reason can we deny that right to God 2. God only is qualified for the universal government of the World All Creatures as they were unable to create themselves so are unable to manage themselves without the Direction of a Superior power much more unable to manage the vast body of the world God is only fit in regard of 1. Power Conservation is continuata Creatio that power which is fit to Create is only sit to preserve A continued Creation belongs as much to Omnipotency as the first Creation The Government of it requires no less power both in regard of the numerousness of the objects and the strange contrariety of passions in rational creatures and qualities in irrational conservation is but one continued act with creation following on from an instant to duration as a line from its Mathematical point * Tailors exemplar preface 6.31 2. Holiness and righteousness If he that hates right is not fit to govern Job 34.17 then he that is infinitely Righteous and hath an infinite love to Righteousness is the fittest to undertake that task without Righteousness there would be nothing but confusion in the whole creation Disorder is the effect of unrighteousness as order is the effect of justice The justest man is fittest for subordinate Government among men and the infinite just God is fittest for the universal Government of the World 3. Knowledge An infinite knowledge to descry all the contrivances and various labyrinths of the hearts of men their secret intentions and aims is necessary The Government of the World consists more in ordering the inward faculties of men touching the hearts and tuning them to play what notes he pleases than in external things No creature hath the skill or power to work immediately upon the will of man neither Angels nor Devils can do it immediately but by proposing objects and working upon the fancy which is not alwaies succesful He that created the heart knows all the wards of it and hath only the skill to turn it incline it as he pleases he must needs know all the inclinations of the creatures and their proper activities since he alone conferred all those several principles and qualities upon them * Act. 15.8 Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world viz. the particular natures inclinations inward motions which no creature fully understands he needs no deputy to inform him of what is done he is every where and sees all things Worldly Governours cannot be every where essentially present God is
his life often hath those expressions as it was written that the Scriptures might be fulfilled There is not a providence happens in the World but there are some general rules in the World whereby we may apprehend the meaning of it From God's former work discovered in his word we may trace his present foot-steps Observe the timings of providence wherein the beauty of it appears since God hath made every thing beautiful in its time 3. Intirely View them in their connexion A harsh touch single would not be pleasing but may rarely affect in consort The providences of God bear a just proportion to one another and are beautiful in their intire Scheme but when regarded apart we shall come far short of a delightful understanding of them As in a piece of Arras folded up and afterwards particularly opened we see the hand or foot of a man the branch of a tree or if we look on the outside we see nothing but knots and threads and uncouth shapes that we know not what to make of but when it is fully opened and we have the whole Web before us we see what Histories and pleasing characters are interwoven in it View them in their end there is no true judgment to be made of a thing in motion unless we have a right prospect of the end to which it tends Many things which may seem terrible in their motion may be excellent in their end Providence is crowned by the end of it Asaph was much troubled about the prosperity of the wicked and affliction of the Godly but he was well satisfied when he understood their end which was the end of Providence too Psal 73.16 17. When I thought to know this it was too painful for me until I went into the Sanctuary then understood I their end Moses his Rod was a Serpent in its motion upon the ground but when taken up it was a Rod again to work miracles God set us a pattern for this in the Creation He views the Creatures as they came into being and pronounced them good he takes a review of them afterward in their whole frame and the subordination of them to one another and the ends he had destined them to and then pronounceth them very good The merciful providences of God if singly looked upon will appear good but if reviewed in the whole web and the end of them will commence very good in our apprehensions 4. Calmly Take heed of passion in this study that is a mist before the eye of the mind Sensual pleasures also disturb and stifle the noble operations of the intellective part and all improving thoughts of Gods providence Isa 5.12 And the harp and the viol and wine are in their feasts but they regard not the work of the Lord nor consider the operations of his bands All thoughts of them are choaked by the pleasures of sense Passions and sensual pleasures are like flying clouds in the night interposing themselves between the stars and our eyes that we cannot observe the motions of them Turbulent passions or Swinish pleasures prevailing obscure the providence of God Our own humour and interest we often make the measures of our judgment of providence Shimei when Absalom rebels against his father looks no further than his own interest and therefore interprets it as a judgment of God in revenging the house of Saul 2 Sam. 16.7 8. The Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul in whose stead thou hast reigned Therefore the Spirit of God takes particular notice that he was of the house of Saul v. 5. when indeed this judgment was quite another thing for David's sin in the matter of Vriah was written in the forehead of it 5. Seriously 'T is not an easie work for the causes of things are hid as the seminal virtues in plaints not visible till they manifest themselves Providence is God's Lanthorn in many affairs if we do not follow it close we may be left in the dark and lose our way With much Prayer For we cannot of our selves find out the reason of them being shallow Creatures we cannot find out those infinite wise methods God observes in the managing of them but if we seriously set to work and seek God in it God may inform us and make them intelligible to us Though a man may not be able of himself to find out the frame and motions of an Engine yet when the Artificer hath explained the work discovered the intent of the Fabrick it may be easily understood If it be dark whilst you seriously muse on it God may send forth a light into you and give you an understanding of it Mat. 2.20 Joseph thought of those things and whilst he thought on them the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream God made them known to him The Israelites saw God's acts in the bulk of them but Moses saw his way and the manner how he wrought them Psal 103.7 He made known his wayes unto Moses his acts unto the Children of Israel Moses had more converse with God than they and therefore was admitted in to his secrets 6. Holily With a design to conform to that duty providence calls for Our motions should be according to the providences of God when we understand the intent of them There is a call of providence Isa 22.12 In that day the Lord called to weeping and mourning Sometimes to sorrow sometimes to joy If it be a providence to discover our sin let us comply with it by humiliation if it be to further our grace suit it by lively and fresh actings As the sap in plants descends with the Sun's declination and ascends at the return of the Sun from the Tropick there are several graces to be exercised upon several acts of providence either publick to the Church and Nation or particular to our own persons Sometimes faith sometimes joy sometimes patience sometimes sorrow for sin There are spiritual lessons in every providence for it doth not only offer something to be understood but something to be practised Mark 10.15 A Child is brought to Christ and Christ from thence teaches them a lesson of humility Luk. 13.1 2 3. When Christ discourses of that sad providence of the blood of the Galileans and the Tower of Siloa he puts them upon the exercise of repentance The Ruler enquired the time when his Son began to recover that his faith in Christ might be confirmed for upon that circumstance it did much hang and in doubtful cases after a serious study of it and thou knowest not which way to determine consider what makes most for God's glory and thy spiritual good for that is the end of all Let us therefore study providence not as Children do Histories to know what men were in the World or to please their fancy only but as wise men to understand the motions of States and the intrigues of Counsels to enrich them with a knowledge whereby they may be serviceable to
about him our eye cannot pierce through his darkness or see the frame of his counsels yet let these Principles be kept as the Center that Righteousness and Judgment are the habitation of his Throne * Psal 9.2 He is righteous in his darkness wise in his cloudiness though his Judgments are unsearchable to us and his ways past finding out by our most industrious inquisitions and a depth of knowledge and wisdom there is in them too deep for us to measure * Rom. 9.33 God was always Righteous Wise and Good he is the same still Though the motions of the Planets b e contrary yet the Sphere where they are fixed the natures wherewith they were created are the same still Though the Providences of God have various motions yet the Spring of his Counsel the Rule of his Goodness the Eye of his Wisdom the Arm of his Power are not altered He acts by the same Rule disposeth by the same Wisdom orders according to the same Righteousness he is unchangeable in the midst of the changeable effects of Providence The Sun is the same body which admits of no inward alteration keeps exactly its own motion though its appearances are sometimes ruddy sometimes clear its heat sometimes more faint at another time more scorching its distance sometimes nearer sometimes farther off He must be very ignorant that thinks the object upon which we look through a Prisme or Trigonal Glass change their colours as often as they are represented so in the various turnings of the Glass You see the undulations and wavings of a Clain which hangs perpendicularly one part moves this way and another that way but the hand that holds it or the beam to which it is fastned is firm and steddy 2. Distinguish between preparations to the main work and the perfection of the work between the motions of Gods eyes and the discovery of his strength his eyes move before his Power The neglect of this was the cause of the Israelites uncharitable Censures of the kindness of God they interpret Gods reducing them into the Straits near the Red Sea a design for their destruction which was but the preparation for their compleat deliverance in a way most glorious to God and most comfortable and advantagious to themselves He that knows not the use of the Grape Morn de verit Rel. Christian cap. 12. p. 210 211. would foolishly censure a man who should fling them into a Wine-press and squeeze them into mash which is but a preparation of them to afford that generous liquor which was the end of their growth God treads his Grapes in a Wine press to draw from thence a delicate Wine and preserve the juyce for his own use which would else wither upon the stalk and dry up to nothing We judge not the Hosbandman angry with his ground for tearing it with his Plow nor censure an Artificer for hewing his Stones or beating his Iron but expect patiently the issue of the design Why should we not pay the same respect to God which we do to men in their Arts since we are less capable of being Judges of his incomprehensible Wisdom than of the skill of our fellow Creatures God in his cross Providences prepares the Church for fruitfulness whilest he Plows it He may seem to be digging up the Bowels of the Church while he is only preparing to lay the foundation in Sion for the raising a noble structure and in what shape soever he appears in his preparations he will in his perfection of it appear in glory Psal 102.16 When the Lord shall build up Sion he shall appear in glory and evidence that he was restoring whilst we thought him destroying and healing whilst we thought him wounding As God hath setled a gradual Progress in his works of Creation so by degrees he brings his everlasting Counsels to perfection The seasons of the year are not jumbled together but orderly succeed one another the coldness of the Winter is but a preparation for a seasonable Spring and a Summer-Harvest We do not unrighteously accuse God of disorder in his common works why should we do it in his special works of Providence we do not disparage the Musitians skill for the jarring and unintelligble touches in the tuning Instrument but rather wait for the Lesson he intends to play If we stay for Gods fuller Touches of this great Instrument of the World in the way of his Providence it will like Davids Harp chase away that evil Spirit from us which is now too apt to censure him 3. Fix not your eye only upon the sensible operations of providenee but the ultimate end As in a Watch the various wheels have different motions yet all subservient to one end to tell the true hour of the day and the motion of the Sun so are all the Providences of God Should any have been preserved in the Deluge upon some high mountain who had not known the design of the Ark and had seen it floating upon such a Mass of Waters he would have judged the People in it in a deplorable condition and have concluded that it would have broke against a Mountain or been overturned by the Waves yet that was Noah's preservative Had any of us been with Christ acknowledged him the Saviour of the World and yet seen him Crucified in such a manner by men and judged only by that what wise and what just constructeion should we have made of that Providence much the same as some of his Disciples did Luke 24.21 We trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel But the whole design is spoiled we were fools and he an Impostor Yet this which seemed to be the ruine of Redemption was the necessary high-way to it by Gods constitution No other way was it to be procured ver 26. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to have entred into his Glory His entrance into Glory to perfect our Salvation was the end of the sensible suffering wherein he laid the foundation As they charge Christ with imposture not considering the end so do we God with unrighteousness when we consider not his aim The end both beautifies and crowns the work The remarks of Gods Glory in the Creation are better drawn from the ends of the Creatures and their joynt subserviency to them than from any one single piece of the Creation We must not only consider the present end but the remote end because God in his Providence towards his Church hath his end for after times God acts for ends at a great distance from us which may not be compleated till we are dead and rotten How can we judge of that which respects a thing so remote from us unless we view it in that Relation Gods aims in former Providences were things to come his aims in present Providences are things to come As the matter of the Churches Prayers so the objects of Gods Providences are things to come Isa 45.11 Ask
for the Generation to come and the People which shall be created shall Praise the Lord. Even for that work of his which is written to be done in former Ages God loves to have his former works read and pleaded 'T is a keeping a standing praise of him in the World We have had the benefit of them it is fit God should have the glory of them from us as well as from those who immediately injoyed them Our good was bo und up in every former preservation of the Church If the Candlestick had been broken where had the Candle been Had the Church been destroyed how could the Gospel have been transmitted to us Let the Duty we owe to Gods Glory engage us to a consideration of them and the benefit we have had by them also incite us We usually forget not things that are strange nor things that are profitable His works of old have been works of Wonder in themselves and profitable to us To what end are the Praises of God discovered to the Generations to come but that they should reflect those Praises to Heaven again and convey them down to the Generations following Psal 78.4 Shewing to the Generation to come the Praises of the Lord. 1. This will help us in our inquiries into present Providences There is a beautiful connexion between former and latter Providences they are but several links of one Chain The Principle and End is the same That God from whence they come that Christ to which they tend is the same yesterday to day and for ever What god doth now is but a Copy of what he pouttrayed in his word as done in former ages There are the same characters of Wildom upon both The same goodness the same design in both The Births of Providence are all of a like temper and disposition We cannot miss of the understanding of them if we compare them with the ancient Copies For God is in the Generation of the Righreous the same God still God is the same his ends are the same the events will be the same 2. It will support our Faith The reason of our diffidence of God in the cause of the Church is the forgetfulness of his forwer appearances for her O! if we did remember his former goodness we should not be soready to doubt of his future care This was the Psalmists care in his despondencies and in his overwhelming troubles of Spirit Psal 77.9 Harh Gob forgotten to be gracious hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies but verse 19. He concludes it his infirmity and resolves upon a review of the Records or Gods ancient works for his People and the years of the right hand of the most High those times wherein he declared his Power and his glory and so proceeds to the top of all their deliverances viz. that out of Egypt Doth Gods Wisdom decay or his Power grow feeble Is not his Interest the same Is he not a God still like himself Is not his glory as dear to him as before Hath he cast off his affection to his own name Why should not he then do the same works since he hath the same concern God himself to encourage us calls them to our remembrance Isa 50.2 Is my hand shortned that I cannot redeem or have I no Power to Deliver Behold at my rebuke I do dry up the Sea I make the Rivers a Wilderness c. Am not I the same God that dried up the Sea that wrought those ancient wonders which amaz'd the World what doth your distrust signisie but the impair of my Power Rouse up your selves to a consideration of them And thence gather fresh supplies to strengthen you in your present dependence upon me He puts us in mind of them because we are apt to forget them Gen. 15.6 When it is said Abraham believed in the Lord and it was accounted to him for Righteousness God answered him v. 7. I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees keep up thy Faith and to that end remember what I did for thee before in calling thee cast thy eye upon that place whence I delivered thee either from the Idolatries of the place or the persecution he was in for the true Worship of God And as God puts him in mind of his Mercy he had shewn to him before for the encouragement of his Faith so the people of God have made use of them to this end Goliah's Sword was counted by David the fittest for his defence in his flight because it had been a Monument of Gods former deliverance of him 1 Sam. 21.9 When he asks for a sword or Spear Abimelech said the Sword of Golian whom thou stewest is here And David said there is none like that give it me How hastily he catches at it There is none like that Sword that hath so signal a mercy writ upon it That very Sword will not only desend me against my enemies but guard my Faith against those Temptations that would invade it This encouragement of Faith and Hope is the end of God in his transmission of the records of his former Providences to us Psal 78 6 7. That the Generation to come might know them and declare them to their Children From one posterity to another that thay might set their hope in God 3. It will enliven our Prayer 'T is a mighty Plea in Prayer How often doth David urge it Thou hast been my help thou hast delivered my Soul from Death wilt thou not deliver my feet from falling And in the Churches concerns too 1 Chron. 16. 11 12. Seek the Lord and hie Strength seek his face continually remember the marvellous works that he hath done A reflection upon what God hath done should be joyned with our desires of what we would have God to do for us When Moses was praying upon the top while Israel was fighting with Amalek at the foot of the hill he had the Rod of God in his hand Exod. 17.9 That miraculous Rod which had amazed Pharaoh whose motion Summoned all the Plagues upon him That Rod which had split the Sea for their passage broached the Rock for their thirst and had been instrumental in many Miracles certainly Moses shewed this Rod to God and pleaded all those wonderful deliverances God had wrought instrumentally by it No doubt but he caried it with him to shew to God for a Plea as well as to the Israelites to spirit their Resolutions against their Enemies 4. It will prevent much Sin A forget fulness of his former works is one cause of our present provocations It was so in the case of the Israelites sin Psal 106.7 They remembred not the multitude of his mercies but provoked thee at the Sea even at the Red Sea they had lost the memory of so many Miracles in Egypt and which aggravated their Sin they provoked him at the Sea at the red Sea they provoked him under a present indigency as as well as against former mercy they