may we presume that God is not unconcerned nor will prove backward to reach forth his succour And when accordingly we find that signal aid or deliverance do then arrive it is most reasonable to suppose that God particularly hath engaged himself and exerted his power in their behalf For seeing it is his proper and peculiar work seeing it most becometh and behoveth him to appear in such 〈◊〉 affording his helpful countenance when he doth it we should be ready to acknowledge it In such a case The hand of the Lord shall be known toward his servants and his indignation toward his enemies saith the Prophet 5. Another character is the Correspondence of Events to the Prayers and desires of good men For seeing it is the duty and constant practice of good men in all exigencies to implore God's help seeing such Prayers have as S. James telleth us a mighty energy it being God's property by them to be moved to impart his powerful assistence seeing God most plainly and frequently hath declared and obliged himself by promise that he will hear them so as to perform what-ever is expedient in their behalf seeing we have many notable experiments recorded in Scripture as those of Asa Jehoshaphat Hezekiah Elias Daniel and the like of Prayers bringing down wonderful effects from Heaven with which the testimonies of all times and the daily experience of good men do conspire seeing the presumption of such efficacy is the main ground and encouragement of Devotion we have great reason when-ever Events are answerable to such Prayers to ascribe the performance of them to God's Hand great reason we have in such cases to cry out with David Now know I that the Lord saveth his Anointed he will hear him from his holy Heaven with the saving strength of his right hand just cause have we according to his pattern thankfully to acknowledge God's favour in answering our petitions The King said he shall joy in thy strength O Lord and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoyce For thou hast given him his heart's desire and hast not withholden the requests of his lips 6. Again The proceedings of God especially in way of judgment or of dispensing rewards and punishments discover their original by their kind and countenance which usually do bear a near resemblance or some significant correspondence to the actions upon which they are grounded Punishments saith a Father are the forced off-springs of willing faults and answerably Rewards are the children of good deeds and God who formeth both doth commonly order it so that the children in their complexion and features shall resemble their Parents So that the deserts of men shall often be legible in the recompences conferred or inflicted on them not according to the natural result of their practice but with a comely reference thereto apt to raise in them a sense of God's Hand and to wring from them an acknowledgment of his Equity in so dealing with them So when humble Modesty is advanced to honour and ambitious Confidence is thrown into disgrace when Liberality is blessed with encrease and Avarice is cursed with decay of estate when Craft incurreth disappointment and Simplicity findeth good success when haughty Might is shattered and helpless Innocence is preserved when the Calumnious tongue is blistered the Flattering lips are cut off the Blasphemous throat is torn out when bloody Oppressours have blood given them to drink and come to welter in their own gore an accident which almost continually doth happen when Treacherous men by their own Confidents or by themselves are betrayed when Retaliations of vengeance are ministred extorting confessions like to that of Adoni-bezek As I have done so God hath requited me deserving such exprobrations as that of Samuel to Agag As thy sword hath made women childless so shall thy mother be childless among women grounding such reflexions as that concerning Antiochus Thus the murtherer and blasphemer having suffered most grievously as he entreated other men so died he a miserable death By such Occurrences the finger of God doth point out and indicate it self they speak themselves immediately to come from that just God who doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 render to men answerably to their doings who payeth men their due sometimes in value often in specie according to the strictest way of reckoning He as the Prophet saith is great in counsel and mighty in work for his eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men to give every one according to his ways and according to the fruits of his doings This indeed is a sort of administration most conformable to God's exact justice and most conducible to his holy designs of instructing and correcting offenders He therefore hath declared it to be his way It is saith the Prophet directing his speech to the instruments of Divine vengeance upon Babylon the vengeance of the Lord take vengeance upon her as she hath done do unto her And The day of the Lord saith another Prophet concerning the like judgment upon Edom is near upon all the Heathen As thou hast done it shall be done unto thee thy reward shall return upon thine own head Thereby doth God mean to declare himself the Judge and Governour of men For I will saith he in Ezekiel do unto them after their way and according to their deserts will I judge them and they shall know that I am the Lord. Farther 7. Another argument of special Providence is the Harmonious conspiracy of various Accidents to one End or Effect If that one thing should hit advantageously to the production of some considerable Event it may with some plausibility be attributed to Fortune or common Providence yet that divers things having no dependence or coherence one with the other in divers places through several times shall all joyn their forces to compass it cannot well otherwise then be ascribed to God's special Care wisely directing to his own Hand powerfully wielding those concurrent instruments to one good purpose For it is beside the nature it is beyond the reach of Fortune to range various causes in such order Blind Fortune cannot apprehend or catch the seasons and junctures of things which arise from the motions of causes in their nature indifferent and arbitrary to it therefore no such event can reasonably be imputed So to the bringing about our Lord's Passion that great Event which is so particularly assigned to God's Hand we may observe the monstrous Treachery of Judas the strange Malignity of the Jewish Rulers the prodigious Levity of the People the wonderful Easiness of Pilate with other notable accidents to have jumped in order thereto So also that a malicious Traitour should conceive kindness toward any that he should be mistaken in the object of his favour that he should express his mind in a way subject to deliberate examination in terms apt to breed suspicion where
the Plot was laid that the Counsellours should despise it and yet not smother it that the King instantly by a light darted into his mind should descry it these things so happily meeting may argue God who mouldeth the hearts who guideth the hands who enlightneth the minds of men to have been engaged in the detection of this day 's black Conspiracy Such are some characters of special Providence each of which singly appearing in any occurrence would in a considerate man breed an opinion thereof each of them being very congruous to the supposition of it no such appearances being otherwise so clearly and cleverly explicable as by assigning the Divine Hand for their principal cause But the connexion of them all in one Event when divers odd accidents do befal at a seasonable time according to exigency for the publick benefit the preservation of Princes the security of God's People the protection of Right the maintenance of Truth and Piety according to the wishes and prayers of good men with proper retribution and vengeance upon the wretched designers of mischief such a complication I say of these marks in one Event may throughly suffice to raise a firm persuasion to force a confident acknowledgment concerning God's Providence in any considerate and ingenuous person it readily will dispose such persons upon any such occasion to say This is the Lord 's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes Notwithstanding therefore any obscurity or intricacy that sometime may appear in the course of Providence notwithstanding any general exceptions that may by perverse incredulity be alleged against the conduct of things there are good marks observable whereby if we are not very blockish drowzy supine lazy or froward if we will consider wisely with industrious attention and care with minds pure from vain prejudices and corrupt affections we may discern and understand God's doing Which to do is the First Duty specified in our Text upon which having insisted so largely I shall hoping you will favour me with a little patience briefly touch the rest II. It is the Duty of us all upon such remarkable occurrences of Providence to fear God All men 't is said shall fear It is our Duty in such cases to be affected with all sorts of fear with a fear of awful dread with a fear of hearty reverence with a fear of sober caution yea sometimes with a fear of dejecting consternation When God doth appear clad with his robes of vengeance and zeal denouncing and discharging judgment when he representeth himself fearful in praises terrible in his doings toward the children of men working terrible things in righteousness it should strike into our hearts a dread of his glorious Majesty of his mighty Power of his severe Justice of his glorious and fearful Name it should instil into our minds a reverence of his excellent Wisdom his exceeding Goodness his perfect Holiness it should breed in our Souls a solicitous care of displeasing and provoking him it should cause us in our hearts to shake and tremble before him Then is that of the Psalmist to be put in practice Let all the earth fear the Lord let all the inhabitants of the World stand in awe of him Tremble thou Earth at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the God of Jacob. Such dispensations are in their nature declarative of those Divine Attributes which do require such affections they are set before our eyes to cast us into a very serious and solemn frame to abash and deter us from offending by observing the danger of incurring punishments like to those which we behold inflicted upon presumptuous transgressors upon those who do hainously violate Right or furiously impugn Truth or profanely despise Piety who earnestly prosecute wicked Enterprises who persecute the Friends of God with outrageous violence or treacherous subtilty Upon infliction of such punishments All the people shall hear and fear and do no more presumptuously saith God himself declaring the nature and drift of them They do plainly demonstrate that there is no presuming to escape being detected in our close Machinations by God's All-seeing Eye being defeated in our bold Attempts by God's All-mighty Hand being sorely chastised for our Iniquity by God's impartial Judgment Extreamly blind and stupid therefore must we be or monstrously sturdy and profane if such experiments of Divine Power and Justice do not awe us and fright us from sin When the Lion roareth who will not fear when the trumpet is blown in the City shall not the people be afraid Shall he at whom the mountains quake and the hills melt whose indignation the Nations are not able to abide at whose wrath the Earth doth shake and tremble at whose reproof the pillars of Heaven are astonished shall he visibly frown shall his wrath flame out shall he shake his rod of exemplary Vengeance over us and we stand void of sense or fear If so then surely a brutish dotage or a Gigantick stoutness doth possess us III. We are in such cases obliged to declare God's work that is openly to acknowledge and avow to applaud and celebrate the special Providence of God with his adorable perfections displayed in such Events to the glory of God's Name in expression of our reverence and gratitude toward him for the common edification of men for which uses they greatly serve to which purposes they are designed We should not view such providential occurrences like dumb beasts with a dull or careless silence as if we did not mind them or were not concerned in them we should not suppress or stifle the knowledge of them in our breasts as if they were barely matters of private consideration and use we should not let our observation and resentment of them be fruitless so as to yield no honour to God no benefit to man But we should propagate and convey them into others in so loud a tone in so lively a strain we should vent them as thereby to excite the notice to enflame the affections of all men within the reach of our voice provoking them to conspire with us in acknowledgment of God's Power and Wisdom in acclamation to his Justice and Goodness This is the due improvement of our Glory that peculiar excellency wherein chiefly except in our Reason we do surpass all creatures that without which our Reason it self is more then half unprofitable that whereby we put our best Member to its best use For this we have the devout Psalmist his pious Resolutions his exemplary Performances his zealous Wishes his earnest Exhortations to guide and move us I will speak of the glorious honour of thy Majesty and of thy wondrous works Men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts and I will declare thy greatness They shall speak of the glory of thy Kingdom and talk of thy power So did he signifie his Resolution I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart I
have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation I have not concealed thy Loving-kindness and thy Truth from the great Congregation So his conscience testified of his Practice Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men that they would offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving and declare his works with gladness So doth he pour forth his Desire O clap your hands all ye people shout unto God with the voice of triumph Sing unto the Lord bless his Name shew forth his salvation from day to day Declare his glory among the Heathen his wonders among all people Come and see the works of God Sing forth the honour of his Name make his Praise glorious O give thanks unto the Lord call upon his Name make known his deeds among the people So doth he summon so doth he urge us to this practice and in his deportment we may see our Duty IV. It is peculiarly the Duty and practice of good men upon such occasions to feel and to express religious Joy The righteous shall be glad in the Lord. Good men indeed then have great matter and much cause on many accounts to be glad It becometh them to rejoyce as having an universal complacence in God's proceedings as gratefully relishing all dispensations of Providence They as pious are disposed to bless and praise God for all things incident and cannot therefore but rejoyce Joy being an inseparable companion of Gratitude and Praise Hence Light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart Hence The voice of salvation and rejoycing is in the tabernacles of the righteous Hence Rejoyce in the Lord O ye righteous for praise is comely for the upright is an exhortation backed with a very good reason They cannot but find satisfaction in observing God's Providence notably discovered to the confirmation of their faith and cherishing their hopes together with the conviction of infidelity and confusion of profaneness Our heart saith the Psalmist shall rejoyce in him because we have trusted in his Holy Name I have trusted in thy mercy my heart shall rejoyce in thy salvation The righteous shall see it and rejoyce and all iniquity shall stop her mouth It is to them no small pleasure to behold God's holy Perfections illustriously shining forth and the Glory of him who is the principal object of their love their reverence their hope and confidence to be conspicuously advanced Rejoyce saith the Psalmist O ye righteous and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness Zion heard and was glad and the daughters of Judah rejoyced because of thy judgments O Lord. For thou Lord art high above all the Earth It is to them ground of exceeding comfort to receive so clear pledges of God's Love and Favour his Truth and Fidelity his Bounty and Munificence toward them expressed in such watchful care over them such protection in dangers such aid in needs such deliverance from mischiefs vouchsafed to them Such Benefits they cannot receive from God's hand without that chearfulness which always doth adhere to gratitude I will saith David sing unto the Lord because he hath dealt bountifully with me Because thou hast been my helper therefore in the shadow of thy wings I will rejoyce My lips shall greatly rejoyce in thee and my Soul which thou hast redeemed I will be glad and rejoyce in thy mercy for thou hast considered my trouble and hast known my Soul in adversities The Lord hath done great things for us whereof we are glad Let all those that put their trust in thee rejoyce let them ever shout for joy because thou defendest them They are also greatly refreshed with apprehension of the happy fruits sprouting from such dispensations of Providence such as are the Benefit of mankind the Peace and prosperity of the Civil State the Preservation settlement enlargement advancement of God's Church the support of Right the succour of Innocence the maintenance of Truth the encouragement and furtherance of Piety the restraint of Violence the discountenance of Errour the correction of Vice and Impiety In these things they as faithful servants of God and real friends of Goodness as bearing hearty good will and compassion to mankind as true lovers of their Country as living and sensible members of the Church cannot but rejoyce Seeing by these things their own best interest which is no other then the advantage of Goodness their chief honour which consists in the promotion of Divine Glory their truest content which is placed in the prosperity of Sion are highly furthered how can they look on them springing up without great delight and complacence O saith the Psalmist sing unto the Lord for he hath done marvellous things He hath remembred his mercy and truth toward the house of Israel all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God And Sing O heavens cryeth the Prophet and be joyful O earth and break forth into singing O ye mountains for the Lord hath comforted his people and will have mercy on his afflicted And When saith he ye shall see this the comfort of God's people your heart shall rejoyce and your bones shall flourish like an herb and the hand of the Lord shall be known toward his servants and his indignation toward his enemies Even in the frustration of wicked designs attended with severe execution of Vengeance on the Contrivers and Abettours of them they may have a pleasant satisfaction they must then yeild a chearful applause to Divine Justice The righteous saith the Psalmist shall rejoyce when he seeth the Vengeance and Let the wicked saith he perish at the presence of God but let the righteous be glad let them rejoyce before God yea let them exceedingly rejoyce Whence at God's infliction of Judgement upon Babylon it is said in Jeremy Then the heaven and the earth and all that is therein shall sing for Babylon and at the fall of Mystical Babylon in the Apocalyps 't is likewise said Rejoye over her thou heaven and ye holy Apostles and Prophets for God hath avenged you on her Farther V. The next Duty prescribed to good men in such cases is to trust in God that is to have their affiance in God upon all such like occasions in all urgencies of need settled improved and corroborated thereby This indeed is the proper end immediately regarding us of God's special Providence disclosing it self in any miraculous or in any remarkable way to nourish in wel-disposed minds that Faith in God which is the root of all Piety and ground of Devotion Such experiments are sound arguments to persuade good men that God doth govern and order things for their best advantage they are powerful incentives driving them in all exigencies to seek God's help they are most convincing evidences that God is abundantly able very willing and ever ready to succour
them They saith the Psalmist that know thy Name will put their trust in thee for thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek thee And I saith he will abide in thy tabernacle for ever I will trust in the covert of thy wings For thou O God hast heard my vows thou hast been a shelter for me and a strong tower from the enemy It is indeed a great aggravation of diffidence in God that having tasted and seen that the Lord is good having felt so manifest experience of Divine goodness having received so notable pledges of God's favourable inclination to help us we yet will not rely upon him As a friend who by signal instances of kindness hath assured his good will hath great cause of offence if he be suspected of unwillingness in a needful season to afford his relief so may God most justly be displeased when we notwithstanding so palpable demonstrations of his kindness by distrusting him do in effect question the sincerity of his friendship or the constancy of his goodness toward us VI. Good men upon such occasions should glory All the upright in heart shall glory Should glory that is in contemplation of such Providences feeling sprightly elevations of mind and transports of affection they should exhibit triumphant demonstrations of satisfaction and alacrity It becometh them not in such cases to be dumpish or demure but jocund and crank in their humour brisk and gay in their looks pleasantly flippant and free in their speech jolly and debonair in their behaviour every way signifying the extream complacency they take in God's doing and the full content they taste in their state They with solemn exultation should triumph in such events as in victories atchieved by the glorious Hand of God in their behalf in approbation of their cause in favour toward their persons for their great benefit and comfort They may not as proudly assuming to themselves the glory due to God but as gratefully sensible of their felicity springing from God's favour se jactare se laudibus efferre as the Hebrew word doth signifie that is in a sort boast and commend themselves as very happy in their relation to God by virtue of his protection and aid They may not with a haughty insolence or wanton arrogance but with a sober confidence and chearfulness insult upon baffled impiety by their expressions and demeanour upbraiding the folly the baseness the impotency and wretchedness thereof in competition with the wisedom in opposition to the power of God their friend and patron For such carriage in such cases we have the practice and the advice of the Psalmist to warant and direct us In God saith he we boast all the day long and praise thy Name for ever Thou Lord hast made me glad through thy work and I will triumph in the works of thy hands We will rejoyce in thy salvation and in the Name of our God we will set up our banners Glory ye in his holy Name let the heart of them rejoyce that seek the Lord. Sing unto him sing Psalms unto him talk ye of all his wondrous works Save us O Lord our God and gather us from among the heathen to give thanks unto thy Name and to triumph in thy praise Such should be the result upon us of God's merciful Dispensations towards his people I shall onely further remark that the word here used is by the Greek rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shall be praised which sense the Original will bear and the reason of the case may admit For such Dispensations ever do adorn integrity and yeild commendation to good men They declare the wisdom of such persons in adhering to God in reposing upon God's help in imbracing such courses which God doth approve and bless they plainly tell how dear such persons are to God how incomparably happy in his favour how impregnably safe under his protection as having his infallible wisedom and his invincible power engaged on their side This cannot but render them admirable their state glorious in the eyes of all men inducing them to profess with the Psalmist Happy is the people which is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord. And of such a people that declaration from the same mouth is verified In thy Name shall they rejoyce all the day long and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted For thou art the glory of their strength and in thy favour their horn shall be exalted Such are the Duties suggested in our Text as suting these occasions when God in special manner hath vouchsafed to protect his people or to rescue them from imminent mischiefs by violent assault or by fradulent contrivance levelled against them I should apply these particulars to the present Case solemnized by us but I shall rather recommend the application to your sagacity then farther infringe your patience by spending thereon so many words as it would exact You do well know the Story which by so many years repetition hath been impressed on your minds and by reflecting thereon You will easily discern how God in the seasonable discovery of this execrable Plot the master-piece of wicked machinations ever conceived in humane brain or devised on this side Hell since the foundation of things in the happy deliverance of our Nation and Church from the desperate mischiefs intended toward them in the remarkable protection of Right and Truth did signalize his Providence You will be affected with hearty Reverence toward the gracious Authour of our salvation and with humble dread toward the just awarder of vengeance upon those miscreant wretches who digged this pit and fell into it themselves You will be ready with pious acknowledgment and admiration of God's Mercy his Justice his Wisedom to declare and magnifie this notable Work done by him among us You must needs feel devout resentments of Joy for the Glory arising to God and the Benefits accruing to us in the preservation of God's Anointed our just Sovereign with his Royal posterity in the freeing our Country from civil Broils Disorders and Confusions from the yoaks of Usurpation and slavery from grievous Extortions and Rapines from bloudy Persecutions and Trials with the like spawn of disastrous and tragical consequences by this Design threatned upon it in upholding our Church which was so happily settled and had so long gloriously flourished from utter ruine in securing our profession of God's Holy Truth the truly Catholick Faith of Christ refined from those drossy alloys wherewith the rudeness and sloth of blind Times the fraud of ambitious and covetous Designers the pravity of sensual and profane men had embased and corrupted it together with a pure Worship of God an edifying administration of God's Word and Sacraments a comly wholsome and moderate Discipline conformable to Divine Prescription and Primitive example in rescuing us from having impious Errours scandalous Practices and superstitious Rites with merciless