with the Lord and promising to make of him a great Nation * Exod. 32.9 10. and the Lord said to Moses I have seen this people and behold it is a stiff-necked people now therfore let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them and in such terms that one would wonder at Now therefore let me alone As if God did fear Moses's interposition would prevent him and disswade him from it Do not you stand in the way my wrath will cool if you interpose your self as much as to say God could not do it unless Moses gave his consent Moses would not be quiet but pleads the providences of God which had been all for them the promise of God made to Abraham concerning them And he would not leave till God repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people v. 14. If Angels as Calvin saith are Gods counsellours in Heaven Believers are as it were his Counsellors on Earth 5. God has given the choicest things he hath to his people He hath given his Law The Church is the Sphere wherein the light of the Gospel is fixed and wherein it shines from whence its beams do dart out to others Isa 2.3 out of Sion shall go forth the law The oracles of God the great things of the Law as it is phrased Hosea 8.12 his Covenant and the counsel of his will are intrusted with the Church Now this being a mercy which exceeds all other things in the World is therefore comprehensive of all other as the greater comprehends the lesser And the Psalmist considers it as the top-stone of all blessings for after summing up the Providences of God he shews how God had distinguished Jacob by more eminent marks of his favour Psal 147.29 30. He shews his word to Jacob his statutes and his judgments unto Israel he hath not dealt so with any Nation he hath not left so rich a Legacy to any or given any so much of his heart Others are ordered by the word of his power for that is meant by word in the foregoing verse but Jacob hath the word of his grace too And this being the choicest piece of affection which God hath shewn to the Church implies the making all lesser providences subservient to it The Church wherein God hath laid up his Gospel and those Souls which are as the Ark wherein God hath deposited his Law shall be shadowed with the wings of his merciful providence in a perpetual succession of all true blessings All the providences of God are to preserve his Law in the World his severest judgments are to quicken up the law of nature in men that know no other 〈◊〉 the Law of his Gospel in men that 〈◊〉 under it And he hath given Châ—â—◠〈◊〉 Church and thereby hath given in earnest that still their good shall be promoted 'T is not to be thought that God will spare any thing else when he hath given them his Son The Second thing It must needs be that all providences are for the good of the Church Secondly 1. All the providence of God is for the glorifying his grace in Christ First The whole Oeconomy or dispensation of the fulness of time to the latter ages of the World is for the gathering all things together in him Eph. 1.10 that in the dispensation of the fulness of time he might gather together in one all things in Christ both which are in Heaven and which are on earth even in him In him as their head This was the design in all his dispensations both before his coming and since ever since the promise made to Adam though it be more manifest in the latter Age. This the Apostle represents as the main purpose of God v. 9. This was the mystery of his will which according to his good pleasure he had purposed in himself that is purposed in himself as a thing he was mightily pleased with and ver 11. saith he 〈◊〉 works all things after or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the counsel of his own will or of that purpose which he had purposed in himself to gather all things in one in Christ All the things that God acts are referred to this as their end and ordered by this Counsel as their rule As it was the design of Gods providence to make way for Christs entrance into the World and all the prophecies in the old Testament tended to the discovery of it so since the coming of Christ the end of all is to advance him in respect of his headship Eph. 1.22 23. and hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the Church which is his body the fulness of him that fills all in all God would advance Christ to the highest pitch v. 21. far above all principality and power both in this world and in the world to come and there is still a fulness wanting to Christ to compleat him not only a personal fulness but a fulness belonging to him as a Head which is the advancement God designs him He is already advanced above all principality and power He is already given as a Head to the Church but the compleatness of it is not till all his members be perfected to which all his providences in the world doth ultimately tend Therefore if the design of God be to honour Christ and if the spiritual happiness of the Church be part of that Glory and fulness of Christ it must needs be carried on by God else he will want part of his compleatness as a Head But this shall not be wanting since as all things are squared according to that Counsel of glorifying Christ as Head so all things are acted for believers by that power whereby he raised Christ from the grave to be their Head which power is the Copy according to which all acts which respect the Church are framed v 19. and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him up from the dead God intended the good of the Church in this very act of glorifying Christ for he is made the head over all things to the Church As if God then had prescribed him that order that the glory he gave him should be also managed for the Churches interest Christ is Lord of the rest of the World but Head of the Church All things are under his feet but are not his members He is Head over all things to the Church and therefore to every member of the Church the least as well as the greatest and to the whole Church even that part of it which is on Earth as well as that part which is in Heaven who are compleated This Church is the fulness of Christ he would be bodyless without it therefore since Christ will be a head without a body if the Church be not preserved in order to the
there be so much charity in Hell can there be less in Heaven If he desired it that by the presence of his cmpanions in sin his own torments might not be increased Do not the Saints in Heaven desire the presence of the whole Church that their happiness in that of the whole body may be compleated If the Head Christ be not compleat without the body the members of the body cannot be compleat without one another The souls of them that were slain for the word of God cry under the Altar for vengeance on them that dwell on the Earth as Revel 6.9 and 10. How long O Lord holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth Will not their kindness to their fellow-members be as strong as their justice And their love for the good of their Friends draw out their prayers as well as their desire of vengeance on their Enemies Why may they not as well pray for us as we praise God for them Had they not some likeness to their great Master whilst they were on Earth and shall they not be more like to him now they ae in Heaven and behold his face and feel all the stirrings of his heart And if they have no sence at all of the Churches sufferings how shall they be like to him who hath As their bodies shall be like the glorious body of Christ at the resurrection are not their Souls now like his glorious Soul merciful and compassionate and sympathizing in all the afflictions of the Church and can this be without some breathings for a full compleating of the Churches freedom Are such desires and pleas any hindrance to their present happiness 'T is so far from that that it doth rather further their glory which cannot be compleat as the glory of Christ as head is not mounted to the highest pitch of glory till his mystical body be all gathered in and lodged with him If it be thus will God do any thing prejudicial to the Church and contrary to the combin'd desires of all those that are so ner him If God doth sometimes stir up himself upon the supplication of one man grant an order upon his petition according to his mind and if the prayers of one faithful Moses or Elias or Samuel have such a kind of Almighty power in them much more is the jovnt force of so many prayers twisted together Vse 1. VSE For information Is it so that all providence is for the good of the Church Then 1. God will alwaies have a Church in the World he will have some to serve him The whole course of his providence being designed for it As long as the world which is the object of his providence doth endure he will have a Church God would otherwise lose the end of the motion of his eyes * The Text. the operation of his providence since it is to shew himself strong for the Church and every member of it As long as the candle and light of the Gospel burns and shines God will have a candlestick to set the candle in * Cham. les trais verit liv 3. cap. 1. p. 16. His great design in making a World was not to have a Sun Moon and Stars but a Church a company of men that might ear his mark and honour him to whom he might speak and extend his grace abroad which he was so full of within As a Limner who would draw an excellent draught draws his design in the midst of the cloth and fills the void places with clouds and land skips and other fancies at his pleasure which communicate some beauty and lustre to the work But that was not the principal design of the workman That Redeemer which bears the Church upon his heart will create a stability for it 't is a part of his Priestly Office to have a care of the Lamps 'T is one of his Titles to be he that walks in the midst of the Seven Golden Candlesticks * Revel 2 1. Priests under the Law were to look to the grant Candlestick in the Temple supply the Lamps with Oyl and make them clean * Levit. 24.3 4. Chap. 27.20 Chap. 30.8 The Church indeed may be eclips'd but not extinguished if it be not conspicuous on the mountain yet it shall be hid in the Wilderness There shall be sprinklings of professors among all people God will leaven the places where they are into Christianity and cause them to fructify and grow up in purity and glory * Micah 5.7 And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord as the showers upon the grass that tarrieth not for man nor waiteth for the Sons of men Is tarries not for man It attends not the power of man the precepts of man or inventions of man but whose descent is from Heaven and is carried on not by human power but by the divine Spirit and providence It shall be firmer than all worldy power and the strongest Kings Isa 2.2 And the Mountain of the Lords house shall be established upon the top of the Mountains and shall be exalted above the hills Above mountains and Hills to which sometimes the powers of the World are compared Zeth 4.7 Zech. 4.7 That providence which gave the Church at first a footing in the world upon a weak foundation to outward appearance in spight of Men and Devils will preserve it and not suffer it to be blown up he will shadow the Church with his wings in a perpetual succession of the choicest mercies 2. God will in the greatest exigencies find out means for the protection of his Church This will be till his providence be at an end When God hath removed one instrument of his Churches protection he hath his choice of his Churches protection he hath his choice of others whom he can raise and spirit for his work When those upon whom the Churches hopes hang are taken off he can raise things that are unlikely to supply the place As the Lutenist accidentally had a Grasshopper leap upon his instrument to supply by its noise the place of a string which had newly crackt whereby his Musick was continued without interruption God can Spirit men against their own natural fears It was very improbable that Nicodeus one of a fearful disposition who came to our Saviour by night for fear of the Jews should have the courage to assert his cause in the face of a whole Councel of Pharisees contriving his death and at present blunt the edge of their malice though we read of none at that time in the Councel to second him * Joh. 7.50 51. The holy Ghost takes particular notice that it was he that came to Jesus by night Joseph of Arimathea whose name we meet not with in any of the Catalogues of his Desciples till the time of his death then appears boldly to beg the body of Jesus of Pilate God
Almanack to the Church was made us by an Angel * Dan. 9.21 Revel 10.8 9. Revel 22.8 9. And when by the course of time those turnings are to happen in the World the Angels must have their share of service in them The Trumpets are sounded by Angels and the Vials which are filled with the causes of such alterations are poured out by the hands of Angels Some indeed by the Angels there mentioned understand the visible instruments of reformation not excluding the Angels who are the invisible Ministers in the affairs of the World * Lightfoot Temple Chap. 38. p. 253 256. 5. They engage in this work for the Church with delight They act as Gods Ministers in his providence with a unanimous consent †Ezek. 1.9 Their wings were joyned one to another So that they perform their office with the same swiftness and with the same affection without emulation to go one before another which makes many actions succeed ill among men but they go hand in hand They do it with affection both in respect of the kind disposition of their natures and as they are fellow-members of the same body for they are parts of the Church and of the Heavenly Jerusalem Heb. 12.22 Ye are come to the Heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the first-born and therefore act out of affection to that which is a part of their body as well as out of obedience to their head They do it in respect of their own improvement too and increase of their knowledg which is the desire of all intellectual Creatures For they compleat their understandings by the sight of the methods of infinite wisdom in the perfecting his gracious designs And it is Gods intent that they should grow in the knowledge of his great mystery by their employment Eph. 3.10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God i. e. By the gracious works of God towards the Church and in the behalf of it for the security and growth of the Church and in the executions of those decrees which as instruments they are imployed in For I do not understand how it can be meant of the knowledge of Christ for of that they know more than the Church below can acquaint them with for without question they have a clear insight into the offices of Christ who is their Head and whom they are ordered to worship They understand the aim of his death and resurrection and can better explain the dark predictions of Scripture than purblind man can But by observing the Methods which God uses in the accomplishment of them they become more intelligent and commence Masters of knowledg in a higher degree which it is probable is one reason of their joy when they see Gods infinite Wisdom and Grace in the conversion of a sinner without affection to them their employment about them they could not rejoice so much And their rejoicing in their first bringing in to God argues their joy in all their employments which concerns their welfare 2. As all good things Secondly so all bad things are ordered by providence for the good of the church That which in its own nature is an injury by Gods ordering puts on the nature of a mercy and what is poyson in it self by the Almighty art becomes a Soveraign medicine Are Gods dispensations in their own nature destructive that wise Physician knows how to make poysons work the effect of purges Are they sharp It is to humble and purge the Church As shadows serve to set out the pictures so the darkest passages of providence are made by God to commend the beauty of those glorious things he works for his Church We may see this in 1. Bad persons As 1. The Devil God manageth him for his own glory and the strengthning of Believers †Math. 8.31 32. The Devils desired to enter into the herd of swine with an intent probably not only to destroy the swine but to incense the Gadarenes against him out of whom they had been cast to do him some considerable mischief But what is the issue As they discover their malice so they inhance the value of Christs kindness to the distressed man whom he had freed from this tyranny Hereby also was the Law of God justified in commanding the Jews to abstain from Swines flesh which the Gadarenes being Apostate Jews had broken he magnified his own power in the routing such a number of unclean Spirits which had not been so conspicuous in the turning them out of one man had not this regiment discoveed themselves among the Swine and brought such a loss upon the Gadarenes whereby as they shewed their own strength and malice so they discovered occasionally the greatness of Christs charity and his power over them so that in granting the malicious petition of this exasperated Legion the Law of God is justified our Saviours love glorified his power manifested and a foundation laid for the gaining Proselytes in that Country to which purpose he left the man he had cured * Luk. 8.39 and to strengthen the faith of those poor Believers which then followed him God makes use of the Devils by the Soveraignty of providence to bring about ends unknown to themselves for all their wisdom The malice of the Devil against Job hath rendred him a standing miracle of patience for ever They are the rulers of the darkness of this world * Eph. 6.12 not of the light of the World they are the rulers of the wicked and the scullions of the Saints to scour and cleanse them They are the rulers of the World but subordinate to serve the providence of God wherein God declares his wisdom by serving himself of the worst of his Enemies The Devil thought he had brought a total destruction upon mankind when he perswaded our first Parents to eat of the forbidden fruit but the only wise God ordered it to bring about a greater glory to himself and a more firm stability to his people in introducing an everlasting covenant which could not be broken and establishing their happiness upon surer terms than it was settled in Paradise And afterwards in filling the heart of Judas to betray Christ and the hearts of the Jews to crucifie him Even by that way whereby the thought to hinder the good of mankind he occasionally promotes their perpetual redemption And I do not much question but those very principles which the Devil had distilled into the gentile World of shedding human blood in sacrisices for expiation of guilt and the Gods conversing with men in humane shapes and the imagination of the intercession of Daemons for them the first out of rage against mankind and both that and the other to induce them to Idolatry might facilitate the entertainment of Christ as the great expiatory sacrifice and the receiving of him as
preservation of it all things must necessarily concur by the wise disposal of affairs Therefore since they are travelling to be where their head is he having the government of the world will make all things contribute assistance to them in their journey that Christ may have that compleatness of glory which God intends him He expresly tells his Father John 17.10 that he is glorifyed in his people * John 17.10 And I am glorifyed in them And at the sound of the seventh Trumpet the Kingdoms of this world are to become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever * Revel 11.15 Now since all the motions in the world are that the Kingdoms of the world may become the Kingdoms of his Christ pecenliarly his as a being anointed King by hm It must needs be that all things must be subservient one time or other to this end was rein the good of his people doth consist otherwise they would not bless God so highly for it as they do* Revel 11.17 We give thee thanks O Lord God almighty because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned And where there is a resistance of this glory of Christ it is a natural effect of that decree whereby Christ is constituted King that the resisters should be broken in pieces and dasht like a Potters vessel Psal 2.6 9. and the issue of all is the blessedness of those that put their trust in him v. 12. The care that God hath of Christ and the Church in the types of them seems to be equal The Ark which was a type of Christ and the Table of shew-bread a figure of the Church had three coverings whereas all the rest of the Vessels c. belonging to the cerimonial part had but two * Numb 4.5 6 7 8. On the Ark there was the vail and covering of badgers skins and a covering of blew On the Table of shew-bread there was a cloth of Blew a cloth of Scarlet and a covering of badgers skins God orders as much for the security of the Church as for the security of Christ therefore the same things that tend to the glorifying of Christ shall tend to the advantage of the Church 2. God has given the power of the providential administration of things to Christ to this very end for the good of the Church If God had constituted him Head over all things to the Church can there be any doubt but that he will manage the Government for that which is the principal end of his Government which he hath shed his Blood for and which is chiefly intended by God who appointed him 1. All power of government is given to Christ Matth. 11.27 All things are delivered to me of my Father And the Father judges no man but hath committed all judgment to the son Joh. 5.22 that is the whole Government and Administration of Affairs 'T is not to be understood of the last Judgment for then it would be a limitation of that word all not that the Father lays aside all care of things but as the Father discovers himself only in him so he governs things only by him All this power was committed to him upon his interposition after the Fall of Man He was made Lord and Christ that is anointed by God to the Government of the World For upon the Fall God as a Rector had overturned all Man could not with any Comfort have treated with the Father had not Christ stept in and pleaded for the Creation whereupon God commits all judgment to the Son that he might temper it It was by Christ as a covenanting Mediator that the Earth was established * Isa 49.8 He had this Government Anciently and it was confirmed to him upon his death Heb. 1.3 Who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power Calvin understands the first word not only of the Deity of Christ but of the discovery the Father made of himself in and through him as Mediator The latter words some understand both of his Providential and Mediatory Kingdom by the word of his power this say some is referred to the Father whose image Christ is as ating by a delegated Authority and Commission from his Father others to Christ as that Christ upholds or bears up all things by his own powerful word Calvin thinks both may be taken but embraceth the second as being more generally received I may offer whether it may not be meant also of the powerful interposit ion of Christ as Mediator whose interest in God was so great that he kept up the World by his powerful Intercession when all was forfeited and God put it upon that interposition into his hands as heir of all things who having a hand with him in Creation understood both the Rights of God and the Duty of the Creature upon the condition of purging sin by his Death which he did and thereupon went to Heaven to take Possession of the Government at the right hand of God sat down took his seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high as due to him by Covenant and Articles agreed on between them I know nothing at present against such an interpretation of the words but I will not contend about it All this honour was confirm'd unto him upon his Death For having perform'd the Condition requisite on his part God deputes him and intrusts him with the Government of things that he might order all things so as to see the full Travel of his Soul 2. All this power was intended by God for this End the good of the Church As God appointed Christ a Priest for his Church to sacrifice for them a Prophet to teach them so the other Office of King is conferred upon him for the same end the advantage of the Church God acquaints us of this End aimed at by him in the Promise of the Government to him Jer. 33.15 16. In those dayes and at that time will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up to David and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land what is the end In those dayes shall Judah be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely He should execute Judgment that is Administer the Government for the salvation of Judah and security of Jerusalem It was his Office both to build the Temple and to bear the Glory and to Rule upon his Throne to be a Priest upon his Throne to Rule as King and Priest Zech. 6.12 13. He shall build the temple of the Lord even he shall build the temple of the Lord. The erecting a Church is the sole work of Christ by Gods appointment And he was to bear up the Glory of it He should rule to this End for the Counsel of peace shall be between them both If by both be meant the Lord and the Man whose name is the Branch it then chiefly
aims at our Reconciliation as wrought by Covenant between them If by both be meant the two Offices of King and Priest and that the counsel of Peace be between them it will extend to all the Blessings of the Church to the good and Glory of the Church which is the fruit of his Kingly as well as the first Reconciliation was the fruit of his Priestly Office By Peace in Scripture is meant the confluence of all Blessings so that the intent of God in bestowing those Offices upon Christ and so great a Rule was for the good and advantage of that Church or Temple which he appointed him only to build And in Isaiah 11.9 where the Prophecy of the Government of Christ is the End is exprest to be that none should hurt or destroy in all his holy mountain And certainly since God set him at his right hand and confirm'd this power unto him after he had purged our sins it was certainly out of the high value God had for him and therefore must be the intent of God that he should govern all things in reference to the design of that death and for the good of those whose sins he had by himself purged For the possessing this Government was the very end why Christ died and rose again Rom. 14.9 For to this end Christ both died and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of dead and living If this were Christs End in dying and rising it was his Fathers End too who appointed him to Death and raised him by his mighty power And since he was delivered for our offences and rose again for our justification Rom. 4.25 The Government he is invested with being Lord of the dead and of the living must be for the sakes of those for whom he was delivered and for whom he rose His Regal power which was one end of his Death cannot cross the other main end the constituting a church and carrying on the good of them that believe The Government being in the hands not of God as Creator but in and through the hands of a Mediator and that Mediator which both died and rose again peculiarly for them therefore it cannot in the least be for their hurt but advantage The whole management of Christs Kingly Office in relation to the Church is prescrib'd unto Christ by God God reveals to him what shall be done in the World what acts he shall perform for the Church and gives him a History of all that was to be done upon the stage together with an order to communicate it unto his Servants Revel 1.1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him to shew unto his Servants to be communicated to the whole Church things that must shortly come to pass Whether this Revelation was made to the human nature of Christ at his incarnation as Tirinus thinks or rather upon his ascension is not material The whole Scheme of what was to be done in the World is revealed here by God to Christ And you find all the motions in the World relating to the Church and the end of all is the good of the Heavenly Jerusalem 3. All power thus given and intended for this end is actually administred by Christ for this end Christ as the head of the Church doth like a natural head It never sees nor hears nor exerciseth any act of sence only for it self but for the good of the whole Body The eye watches for the body the Tongue speaks for it the understanding contrives for it every part of the head is active for the whole body Now Christ as head is more bound to act for the Church militant than for the Church triumphant because the greatest part of his work for the Church triumphant viz. the bringing them to Heaven is already performed And they are above the reach of all things in the World and all the actions and motions in the world cannot touch or disorder them But the command of God concerning the other part behind is not yet performed and even they are the members of Christ as well as those in Heaven The Apostle * Col. 1.16 17 18. seems to refer both Christs creation and the preservation of things to this title of headship All things were created by him and for him and by him all things consist and he is the head of the body the Church and therefore the conservation and government of all things shall be subservient to the Church which is the body of this governing Head The chief seat Christs Soveraignty is the Church Psal 2.6 yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Sion And he stands upon Mount Sion Rev. 14.1 The Church is the proper Seat and Metropolis of his Empire the Royal Chamber of this Great King All the conquests of Princes redound to the advantage of that place where they fix their Residence He is King of the World but for the sake of Sion Christ did manage this charge anciently for his People when Joshuah had passed over Jordan and first entered upon the conquest of Canaan he sees a man over-against him with a sword drawn in his hand Joshua 5.13 14. And Joshua said unto him Art thou for us or for our adversaries and he said Nay but as Captain of the hosts of the Lord am I now come This was Christ that came armed for his People according to his charge as their Captain and General It was not an Angel because Joshua worshipped him ver 14. An Angel did not use to receive any Worship from Men and he accepts the Worship and commands him to loose his shooe from his foot for the place whereon he stood was holy ver 15. And the same Person Josh 6.2 is called Jehovah and there he gives him orders how he should manage his War Christ came here to direct his People in their concerns He employs his Wisdom for his Church as well as his other excellencies He is called a Counsellor * Isa 9.6 't is one of the great Letters in his Name and this as the rest there mentioned hath a relation to the Church For unto us a Child is born unto us a Son is given And the first use he makes of his Power after the confirmation of it to us upon his Resurrection is for the Church Matth. 28.18 All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth all Authoritative Power over Angels and the affairs of the World Go you therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them c. and lo I am with you always even unto the end of the World He commands the Apostles to gather a Church among all Nations and doth by Vertue of this Authority committed to him promise his Presence with them in all such services they should do to this End even to the end of the World He promises his Spirit and his Providential Presence as his Power should endure to the end of the World so the exercise of it for this End should
very name of the Gospel Church * Esa 48.35 what would it signifie if it were an useless Presence Christ stands upon Mount Sion his Throne is in the Church when the great things in the World shall be acted for the Ruin of Antichrist * Revel 14.1 Gods Presence in his Church is the Glory and Defence of it As the presence of the King is the Glory of the Court Zech. 2.5 For I saith the Lord will be unto her a wall of fire round about and will be the glory in the midst of her Her presence is a Covenant-presence Isa 41.10 Fear not I am with thee be not dismayed for I am thy God whence follows Strength Help and Support I will strengthen thee yea I will help thee yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my Righteousness that is with my Righteous Power with my power engaged to thee in a Righteous Covenant His Presence and Providence in the World is in a way of Absolute Dominion but in his Church in a way of Federal Relation He is the God of Israel and God to Israel or for Israel * 1 Chro. 17.24 yea and a God in the midst of Israel Every one of them sufficient engagements to protect Israel and provide for Israel and govern every thing for Israels good God is under an Oath to do good to srael will he violate his Oath tear his Seal break his Covenant who never broke his League with any of his people yet 8. A Eightly The Prayers of the Church have a might force with God to this end God is entitled a God hearing Prayer and what prayers should God hear if not the prayers of his Church which aim at Gods Glory in their own good Though the prayers of the Church may in some particular fail yet in general they do not because they submit their desires to the Will of God which always works what is best for them When God would do any mighty work in the World he stirs up his people to pray for it and their prayers by his own appointment have a mighty influence upon the Government of the World For when they come before him in behalf of the Church in general he doth indulge them a greater liberty and boldness and as it were a kind of Authority over him than upon other occasions of their own Isa 45.11 Thus saith the Lord the holy one of Israel and his maker ask of me things to come concerning my sons and concerning the work of my hands command you me God would be more positively considently and familiarly dealt with about the concerns of his sons though they were things to come to pass in after Ages And indeed the prayers of the Church have a powerful and invisible efficacy on the great actions and overturnings which are in the World The Being of the World is maintained by them from sinking according to the Jews saying sine stationibus non subsisteret mundus standing in prayer was their usual prayer-gesture And that they have actually such a force is evident Rev. 8.3 4. An Angel hath a golden Censer with Incense to offer it with the prayers of the Saints upon the Altar which was before the Throne And ver 5. the Censer wherein their prayers were offered was filled with the fire of the Altar and cast into the Earth and there were Voices Thundrings Lightnings and Earthquakes When the prayers of the Saints were offered to God and ascended upon before him that is were very pleasing to him The issue is the Angel fills the Censer with fire of the Altar and thereby causes great commotions and alterations in the World signifying that the great changes of the World are an answer unto those prayers which are offered unto God for fire is taken from that altar upon which they were offered and flung into the World And it must needs be that the prayers of the Church should have an influence on the government of the World 1. Because God hath a mighty delight in the prayers of his people The prayer of the upright is his delight and he loves to hear the Churches voice Cant. 2.14 O my dove let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voice Chaldee thy voice is sweet in prayer In the times of the Gospel God promises that the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem should be pleasant to him Mal. 3.4 When Christ shall sit as a refiner v. 3. what is the issue of those prayers v. 5. I will come near to you to Judgment and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers c. Prayer awakes providence to judge the Enemies of the Church A Parent delights not in the bare crying or the voice of his Child simply considered in it self but in the significations and effects of it He delights in the matter of their prayers it being so agreeable to his own heart and will and in the sence they have of the sufferings of the whole body 2. Because Prayer is nothing else but a pleading of Gods promises Unto this they are directed by that Spirit which knows the mind of God and Marshals their petitions according to his will Now as God turns his own decrees and purposes concerning his Church into promises to them so the Church turns those promises into prayers for them So that promises being for the good of the Church and there being an exact harmony between those promises and the Churches prayers all those providences which are the issue of those promises and the answer of the Churches prayers must needs be for the Churches good 3. Because there are united supplications and pleadings both in Heaven and Earth all the hands of the whole Family in Heaven and Earth are concerning in their petitions 1. Christ intercedes for the Church who alwaies desires mercy and deliverance for them in the appointed time Zech. 1.12 How long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and the issue is alwayes gracious For v. 13. God answers him with good and comfortable words and thereupon Carpenters are raised to cut off the horns which had scattered Judah v. 20. 2. Angels in all probability plead for the Church as we have already heard 'T is likely they offer and present that to God which makes for his glory and that is the good of the Church Angels surely desire that which their head doth who is * Zech. 1.12 described as one of their own order and called an Angel Do they rejoyce at the repentance of a sinner and do they not likewise triumph at the happiness of the Church which is part of that Family they are of And we know that the greatness of our joy is suted to the measure of our desires where our joy is most triumphant it implies that our desires before were most vehement 3. Glorified Saints are not surely behind The rich man in the Parable desired his Friend on Earth might not come into that place of torment * Luk. 16.28 If
will never want instruments for the preserving that Church which he owns as his 'T is observed by some that God so ordered it that the same day that Pelagius the great poysoner of the Christian Doctrine was born in Brittain Austin the most famous defender of the truth was born in Africk That the horn which pushed the truth should no sooner appear but the Carpenter to cut it off should be provided too As it is observed where poysons grow Antidotes grow near them by the indulgent provisiof the God of Nature As there is the Wisdom of the Serpent against the Church so there is the Wisdom of God for it Gods goodness upon his Church in former Ages is not all laid out He hath his stores still neither is his Wisdom non-plust nor his Power weakned neither is he nor can he be weary of his care 3. The Church shall in the end prove Victorious against all its Adversaries or Providence must miss of its Aim The Church is compared to an Olive Tree Hos 14.6 In respect of beauty his Beauty shall be as the Olive Tree It is so also in respect of Victory Olive Branches were used in Triumph God is on the Churches side and he is stronger than the strongest and wiser than the wisest and higher than the highest Jesus Christ is the Churches Head and General Christ the Head watcheth for the good of the Church the Body He must be destroyed before the Church can There is a mighty Arm which though it may for a time seem withered will in the end be stretched out and get it self the victory Whilst Christ is in the Ship it may be tosted but it shall not be sunk It may be beaten down but like a Ball to rebound the higher The young Tree that is shaken by the wind may lose some leaves and some fruit too but the root gets greater strength and strikes it self deeper into the Earth and makes the Branches more capable of a rich return of Fruit the following year The Churches Stature is compared to a Palm-Tree * Cant. 7.7 which cannot be deprest by by the weights which hang upon it but riseth the higher God uses the same method in the Churches as in Christs advancement Our Saviours Death was necessary to his Glory * Luk 24.26 And the Churches affliction sometimes to its exaltation A Nation may lose some Battlels and yet be victorious The Church may have many a cross but in the end will surmount all difficulties Though Judgments and Apostacies may be great in a Nation yet God will have a care of his own Plants * Isa 4.12 13. There shall be a tenth It shall return the Holy seed shall be the substance thereof As a Tree in Winter which seems dead but its juyce shall revive into rich and generout Blossoms The Ark shall float above the waters Babylon shall fall the Lamb shall stand upon Mount Sion Men may as well stop the rising of the Sun in its mounting to the Meridian Bridle in the Tyde of the Ocean as hinder the current of an Almighty Providence 4. The interest of Nations is to bear a respect to the Church and countenance the Worship of God in it This is to concur with Gods main end and imitate him in his Providential Administrations Gods people whatever their Enemies suggest to the contrary are a Blessing in the midst of a Land * Isa 19.24 their interest is greater than the interest of all the World besides though they be but a handful their fruit shall shake like Lebonon * Psal 72.16 Broughtn on Dan. 10 20. The neglect of Religion is the Ruin of Nations 'T is observed that Cyrus was slain in the War in Sci thia a little after he neglected the building of the Temple of Hierusalem which he had begun Those Persian Kings Reigned the longest that favoured the Jews in that and their other just requests God Honoured or disgraced them as they were kind or cruel to his People And when any act for the good of his people they shall not be without their Reward When Cyrus should let the Jemish Captives go free without Ransom he should be no loser by it God would give him the labour of Egypt the Merchandize of Ethiopia and the strength of the Sabeans into his hand for the price of his Peoples Delivery * Isa 45.13 14. those Nations which should favour them in the times of their persecutions and Flights and give them shelter in their Countreys should thrive and prosper by the blessing of God upon them If Moab give entertainment to the flying Israelites in the time of the Invasion of Salmanassar God will preserve their Land that the Spoyler shall not enter into the Consines of it and they shall have Kings and Judges under the protection of the House of David i. e. under the Kings of Israel as some understand it * Isa 16.4 5. Saints are the Guardians of the Places where they live their Prayers have a greater insluence than the wisest Counsels or the mightiest Force* 2 Kings 2.12 And Elisha cried My Father my Father the Chariot of Israel and the Horsemen thereof The Chaldee paraphraseth thus Thou art better of Israel by thy Prayers than Chariots and Horsemen This is the Elogy of one single Prophet what influence then hath the whole Church of God in a place The whole world is the better for the Church of God The Chaldee Paraphrase hath a notion upon that Psalm 22.3 But thou art holy oh thou that inhabitest the Praises of Israel Thou that establishest the World for the Praises of Israel God hath nothing to do in the World but the saving his People When that is once done he will put an end to this Frame of things When he hath gathered his Wheat into his Garner he will burn up the Chaff His People are the Spirit and Quintessence of the World When this is extracted the rest are flung upon the Dung hill as a Caput Mortuum 5. We may see hence the ground of most of the Judgments in the World Men by their rage against the Church will not acknowledge God's Government of the World for the Churches good Therefore saith the Psalmist Psal 59.13 Consume them in wrath consume them that they may net be and let them know that God rules in Jacob unto the ends of the Earth The Church is the Seat of his Government and from thence he extends it to the utermost parts of the Earth In Jacob he rules and for the sake of Jacob he orders his Government to the ends of the Earth The not acknowledging this brings wrathful Consumptions upon men And it is also the end of his Judgments to make men know it 'T is likely enough the four Kings * Gen 14.9 might have gone clear away with all their Booty had not they laid their singers upon Lot But when they would pack him up among the rest they did but sollicite their own
provoked him in that place of straits where all the powers on Earth could not have relieved them had Heaven neglected them The provocation you may see Exod. 14.11 12. Which sprang from a forgetfulness of his kindness so lately shewed to them How apt are we to forget old Mercies when we are so naturally apt to blot out of our memories mercies newly received If this were well considered by men it would prevent their enterprises against the Church and consequently their shame and Ruin Are there Records of any who have hardned themselves against God and prospered * Job 9 4. How might in that reflection be seen the frustrations of Counsels disgracing of attempts showers of Fury and Vengeance from Heaven upon the heads of such The reason why the wonderful works of God were to be made known to posterity was that they might not be as their Fathers as Stubborn and Rebellious Generation * Psal 7 8 6 8. of men if they did consider those transactions of God in and for his Church they could no more think to stop the breath of perpetual powerful Providence than to bridle in a Storm or stop the motion of the Sun To conclud this Gods Providential Judgements ments are to be remembred though they are for the punishment of the age that feel them they are also for the instruction of the age which succeeds them tell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 number be as exact as in your accounts wherein you take notice of every number minute and cipher The works of Providence as well as the Doctrine of God are parts of a Childs Catechism they are to keep up the consideration of them in themselves and hand them in instruction to their Children Fifthly The fifth Duty Act faith on Gods Providence Times of trouble should be times of confidence fixedness of heart on God would prevent fears of heart Psal 11.2.7 He shall not be affraid of evil tydings his heart is fixed how trusting in the Lord his heart is established they shall not be moved Otherwise without it we shall be as light as a Cork moved with every blast of evil tydings our hopes will swim or sink according to the news we hear Providence would seem to sleep unless Faith and Prayer awakened it The Disciples had but little Faith in their Masters account yet that little Faith awakened him in a Storm and he relieved them Unbelief only doth discourage God from shewing his power in taking our parts Every one will walk in the name of his God and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever Micah 4.5 Heathens will trust in their Idols and shall not we in that God that lives for ever Have we any reason to have a less esteem of our confidence in God than Heathens had of and in their Idols We should do our duty which is Faith and Hope and leave God to do his work which is mercy and kindness By unbelief we deny his providence disparage his Wisdom and strip him of his power We have none else to trust no creature can order any thing for the Churches good without Gods Commission and direction What should we trust him for For that wherein his glory is concerned which is more worth to him than all the World besides Trust him most when instruments fail God takes them off sometimes to shew that he needs not any and to have our confidence rightly placed on him which staggered before between him and the Creature 1. All the Godly formerly did act Faith on a less foundation The Godly Patriarchs who lived eight or nine hundred years depended upon providence that long time and shall not we for seventy years the usual term of mans life They had Promises to support them we have not only the same Promise but the Performances of them too They had Providences we have the same and more all upon Recordin Scripture all since the Canon of Scripture was closed whatsoever God hath remarkably done for his people in all ages Adam had but one promise and but little experience of Gods Providence yet no doubt trusted in him We have a multitude of Promises not only pronounced but sealed confirmed by many repetitions which are fresh obligations laid by God upon himself The experience of all the Providences of God towards his Church for above five thousand years and shall our Faith stagger when upon us are come the ends of the World doth it become us to have our Obligations to Faith so strong and our Exercise of it so weak The Promise of Christ * Isa 7 14. that a Virgin should bring forth a Son was thought by God a sufficient security to support their confidence in him against the fury of their enemies It being a greater wonder that a Virgin without loss of her Virginity should bring forth a Son than the routing of an Host of Enemies Is not then the performance of this Gods actual sending his Son to us through the Womb of a Virgin a higher ground of considence for the Churches success in every thing else than barely the Promise could be All creatures in danger have a natural confidence in God He is the confidence of all the ends of the Earth but the Churches confidence may be mere firmly placed in him because he is particularly the God of their Salvation Psal 65 5. By terrible things in Righteousness wilt thou answer us O God of our Salvation who art the cenfidence of all the ends of the Earth 2. 'T is your only way to have mercy for the Church and for your selves If he take pleasure in them that hope in his mercy as it is in Psal 147.11 He will take pleasure to relieve them He will strengthen the bars of their gates verse 13. If he take pleasure in them that hope in his mercy then the stronger and more lively their hope is the more intense is Gods pleasure in them If they do not hope in his Mercy he hath no pleasure in them and no delight to them He hath a goodness laid up for them that fear him and he will lay it out too for them that trust in him Psal 31.15 O how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men 'T is laid up for all that fear him but it is wrought for them that trust in him It is manifested upon special acts of trust and reliance and wrought before the sons of men Those that own God publickly in a way of reliance God will own them publickly in a way of kindness Faith is the key that unlocks the Cabinet of special Providence Those eyes which move about all the World are fixed upon those that trust in him Psal 33.28 The eye of the Lord is upon them that hope in his Mercy The sixth Duty Wait upon God in the way of his Providence Wait upon him as he