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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A34921 Isagoge ad Dei providentiam, or, A prospect of divine providence by T.C., M.A. T. C., M.A. 1672 (1672) Wing C6818; ESTC R4623 270,847 560

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to throw a strong Man to the ground and that by grappling with him hand to hand may well be interpreted miraculous there being no proportion of strength in the Child to that of a Mighty man And yet suppose the man is sitting according to a tottering posture in a Chair so that his body is in equal po●ze a small push of a child sends him head-long to the ground In like manner Providence by a wonderful conjunction of weak means in themselves and by opportune application of means brings forth a work very glorious See Judges 4. 21. and 7. 16 17 18. 2 Chron. 24. 23 24. Lastly Providen●e is distinguish't into immediate and mediate Immediate excludes the interposition or intervening of means instruments which God useth at other times as when the Lord himself preached to Adam Gen. 3. 9. Moses lives but not by the use of the creatures Exod. 34. 28. 2. Mediate when the Lord useth means 1. more common or general as the Angels for their ministry the Heavens and the Earth for Corn Wine and Oyl See Psal 148. and Hos 2. 21 22. 2. More peculiar and particularly destinated for such ends and purposes Isa 38. 21. Acts 10. 5 6. the Angel will not there take away Peter's work he willeth Cornelius to send for Simon Peter not Simon the Tanner for his Teacher Moreover Means in order to Effects and Consequents are 1. Necessary or definite which ordinarily work this way and no other as for the Sun to shine and give forth heat Psal 19. 4 5 6. 2. Contingent and indefinite whose effects before they exist might not so have been as considered with their next Causes though otherwise in respect of God his will to the contrary the said effects are necessary So the bones of Christ were not broken John 19. 31 32 33 with 36. CHAP. IV. PROVIDENCE in regard of the End Issues and Events hath its considerations 1. The End is ultimate or last and that is the Glory of God Rom. 11. 32 33 36. or intermediate which is the creatures serviceableness and usefulness according to its place or station in order to the former So the Heavens and the Earth are Caterers for Jezreel and that to the Lord's glory whose bounty and mercy are displayed in hearing the Heavens and the Earth for Jezreel Hos 2. ver 21 22. Again the Issues of Providence respecting matters are sometimes by way of furthering and succeeding things so that the ordinary particular End is attained so when God heareth the Heavens the Heavens the Earth the Earth the Corn and the Wine and Oyl and they hear Jezreel Hos 2. 21 22. Or secondly By way of dashing things notwithstanding a probability of such and such Ends though not of such Ends as Providence intendeth where and when the Lord crosseth disappointeth or thus dasheth in his Di●pensations See Isa 7. 5 6 7. Hag. 1. 6. 9 10 11. Lastly The Events of Providence are 1. Joyful which terminate in the good comfort happiness of the Creature Exod. 14. 30 31. Esth 9. 22. Or secondly Mournful or by way of smart distress tribulation as Exod. 14. 27 28. 2 Sam. 1. 12. Thus I have marshall'd up the several Distinctions or Considerations of Providence There are other subordinate Considerations of it yet reducible to some of the fore-mentioned Heads of Distinction or Consideration What those other Considerations are I may only point at Providence then may be considered as direct and collateral An instance for the former is the Lord 's stirring up Cyrus in order to the delivery of his people Ezra 1. An illustration for the later may be the Philistines invading the Land which at least in regard of any such thing intended by them was a by-blow for David's deliverance 1 Sam. 23. 26 27. Again Providence may be considered as more plain and obvious so that he who runs may read or more dark and intricate Moreover It may be considered as single or in part and as copulative as when the whole of a business is laid together Lastly It may be considered as concealing for a time or revealing bringing things to light These and the like Considerations being exemplified in the following pages I forbear enlargement here and so pass on to the Third Part of the Treatise PART III. THE Extent of Providence hath been touched by an enumeration of Creatures to which it extendeth as in the former Part of this Treatise hath been shewed To avoid then prolixity and repetition I shall here 1. Prove the extent of Providence to all the Creatures 2. Improve this Doctrine of General Extent by giving the Consectaries or Inferences from thence and under this later shall launch forth into some particular arms of this Sea where the passage may seem more difficult by reason of the noise of the Water-spouts the swelling of the waves and billows to the contrary And first then of the first CHAP. I. THE proof for the Extent of Providence appeareth divers ways as here briefly to be insisted on followeth 1. From express assertions in Scripture The assertions have their latitude they know no bounds of mans restriction so Neh. 9. 6. Thou even thou art Lord alone thou hast made heaven the heaven of heavens with all their host the earth and all things therein and thou preservest them all and the host of heaven worshippeth thee say that godly company there on their solemn Day of Humiliation v. 1 4. In the Ark God not only took care of Noah but of the creatures It 's an observable expression which is in Gen. 8. 1. And God remembred Noah and every living thing and all the cattel that was with him in the Ark. To this add● what the Lord himself asserteth to this purpose in the 38 39 40 41 chapters of Job 2. From God without whose will and against whose will the will of Purpose nor of Precept discovered in his Law-giving Rules for man nothing comes to pass Are not two sparrows saith Christ sold for a farthing and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father Mat. 10. 29. Who is he that saith and it cometh to pass when the Lord commandeth it not Lam. 3. 37. 3. From the Creatures which because they are Creatures are not independent or exempted in point of dependency from the first Cause These saith the Psalmist wait all upon thee that thou mayst give them their meat in due season Psal 104. 27. See further other places of Scripture which are quoted upon other particular accounts though upon the general account of Providence they are repeated as Hos 2. 21 22. Acts 17. 28. 4. From the cognation or kinship of Providence with Creation Providence as was before intimated is a kind of continued Creation God not only gives the creatures their beds to lye on but bear with the phrase makes their beds As Creation therefore is extensive to the creatures without exception as Gen. 1. 25. so likewise is the Lord 's upholding them and governing them to
that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God 2. From God's doing nothing whilst men are in expectation of great matters to be done Learn 1. What reason there is for men to look to the ground of their Expectations To expect other-what other-when and otherwise than the Lord hath purposed or made some discovery of such a purpose is to build Castles in the air not in the Heavens and what hath not its foundation in Heaven as the Lord is the Founder of it will not have its superstruction on Earth For ever O Lord thy word is seated in heaven Psal 119. 89. Who is he that saith and it cometh to pass when the Lord commandeth it not Lament 3. 37. 2. In the second place Learn from hence to view the folly of wicked men's purposes presumptions designs in their prosecution and persecution of the Saints of God O how often are they disappointed The greedy Dogs often catch not the morsel and when they do they vomit it up again They pay deer for their lust here or hereafter in Hell They have their gnashing of teeth in regard of disappointments before they gnash them in the other World Herod to please the Jews will murder Peter the Lamb is taken but not to be slain till after the Passover and not then for now I know saith Peter of a surety that the Lord hath sent his Angel and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews Acts 12. 12. It is reported how Julian the Emperor Theod. lib. 3. c. 23. intending the Persians being conquered to fall in on Christians with his Army at his return and that one Libanius the Sophister spake to a Christian-School-master of Antioch saying What is the Son of the Carpenter now a doing To whom reply was made how the great Carpenter of the World was making a Coffin And not long after the slain body of Julian was brought to Antioch A good lesson for the Libaniusses and Julians of the World to ponder on OBSERVATION XI There is an admirable adaptation or connexion of things with things whereby this or that is Midwifed or Birthed into the world Or Providence hath its Chain the several Links whereof are set together by an Over-ruling Hand CHAP. I. THE truth of this may be evidenced divers ways 1. This is emblematically described in the Situ verò demonstratur harum conditio quod aliae in aliis dicuntur fuisse id est non solum cohaerentes sed etiam adunatae Providentia Dei adeo ut quemadmodum ex causa unâ inferiore procreantur effecta plurima sic contra ad effectum unum causae plurimae pertineant plurimum Junius word We have a most exquisite picture of this in Ezek. 1. the Wheels there are asserted to have a near neighbourhood v. 16. a wheel in the middle of a wheel to note their implication or connexion and the living creatures are coupled with the wheels in regard of influences for when the living creatures went the wheels went by them and when the living creatures were lift up from the earth the wheels were lifted up v. 19. 2. God doth expresly own such an adaptation Docemur etiam Creaturas omnes esse convenientissimo ordine collocatas ita ut una ab altero pendeat ex earum connexione constituatur sua vis illa concinna mundi harmonia frumentum ut nascatur opus habet terrâ terra pluriâ pluvia est à coelo omnia sunt à Deo qui solus independens rerum omnium concentum efficit moderatur Rivetus in locum or connexion of things with things So in Hos 2. 21 22. And it shall come to pass in that day I will hear saith the Lord I will hear the heavens and they shall bear the earth and the earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oyl and they shall hear Jezreel 3. There are clear exemplifications of this adaptation or connexion 1. In Naturals so in the place mentioned Hos 2. 21 22. so Ps 104. 10 11 12 13 14. 2. In Civils Magistrates are to rule and people to be ruled Rom. 13. 1. And where it is not so there is an adaptation of things in way of punishment Judg. 17. 6. 3. In Sacreds There is a constituted order in the Church 1 Cor. 12. 18. Heb. 13. 17. And not only is there an adaptation this way but likewise in regard of the means of Grace and Grace by the means A connexion there is but yet arbitrary according to the good pleasure of God when and to whom Grace is conveyed by the Means The Apostle Paul asserts a connexion when he thus stateth the matter saying So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God Rom. 10. 17. 4. This adaptation or connexion may be more particularly evidenced if we cast an eye 1. On Organs or Instruments 2. Occasions or Inducements 3. Means 4. Opportunities for the management of matters 1. There is an adaptation in regard of Instruments ministerial In the shop of Providence there are tools of all sorts and sizes If the Lord will punish the Nations he can find an Hammer to knock them down Thou art my battel-ax and weapons of warr for with thee will I break in pieces the nations c. Jer. 51. 20 c. If the day of visitation be come for an Ahab's Family and Baal's worshippers there is a Jehu a rough Captain-General who drives furiously 2 Kings 9. 20. If God will vouchsafe good days to a people he can raise up Political Shepherds such as David of whom it is said he fed them according to the integrity of his heart and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands Psal 78. 72. And as there is an adaptation in regard of Political Instruments so likewise in regard of Ecclesiastical There is a zealous Elijah in times of apostacy and declining from God's Worship and a John the Baptist of whom the Angel saith He shall go before him i. e. Christ in the spirit and power of Elias to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord Luke 1. 17. There is an admirable adaptation in the Church's having not only Elijahs John Baptists but likewise others whose endowments are useful to confute Adversaries as Apollos Acts 15. 28. and to comfort distressed and build up souls in practical way of converse with God See Job 33. 23. 2 Cor. 1. 4. 2. There is an adaptation or suiting of things in regard of occasions or kind of in lets into this or that Both the son's and father's discontents are inducements to Jacob to mind a removal from Laban Gen. 31. 1 2. A report sounds in Pharaoh's ears that Israel fled probably he conceived the Israelites to flye like Hares such who might easily be hunted back again to Egypt and