communicate the rayes of his love unto since he created it but his Church The men of the World hate him He can see nothing amiable in them for what was first lovely they have defaced and blotted out but the Church hath Gods comliness put upon her Ezek. 16.14 it was perfect through my comliness which I had put upon thee saith the Lord God and he did not lay those glorious colours upon her to manage his government or any part of it against her to deface her Besides their loveliness which is conferred upon them by God they have a love to God and no man will act against those whom he thinks to be his friends God being purus actus there being nothing but purity and activity in God his love must be the purest and highest love the most vigorous and glowing As fire which sets all other Bodies so this all other powers in the World in motion for them God cannot love them but he must wish all good to them and do all good for them for his love is not a lazy love but hath its raptures and tenderness and his affection is twisted with his Almighty Power to work that good for them which in their present condition in the world they are capable of Now it is certain God loves his Church For 1. He carries them in his hand * Deut. 33.3 and that not in a loose manner to be cast out but they are engraven upon the palms of his hands * Isa 49.16 that he cannot open his hand to bestow a blessing upon any person but the picture of his Church doth dart in his eye God alludes to the Rings wherein men engrave the image of those that are dear to them And the Jews did in their captivity engrave the Effigies of their City Jerusalem upon their Rings that they might not forget it * Sanctius in Isa 49.16 If his eye be alway upon the Church his thoughts can never be off it in all his works 2. He loves the very gates and outworks Psal 87.2 the Lord loveth the gates af Sion He loves a Cottage where a Church is more than the stately Palaces of Princes The gates were the places where they consulted together and gave judgment upon affairs God loved the assemblies of his Saints because of the truths revealed the ordinances adminstred the worship presented to him 3. Nay one Saint is more valued by him than the whole World of the wicked God is the God of all Creatures but peculiarly the God of Abraham and of his seed One Abraham is more deeply rooted in his heart than all the World and he doth more entitle himself the God of Abraham than the God of the whole World for in that style he speaks to Isaac Gen. 26.24 I am the God of Abraham thy Father much more the God of Israel The God of the whole Church of which Abraham was but a member though the Father of the faithful and a Feoffee of the Covenant God hath a greater value for one sincere Soul than for a whole City He saves a Lot and burns a Sodom Yea than for a whole World he drowns a World and preserves a Noah He secures his Jewels whilst he flings away the pebbles 4. He loves them so that he overlooks their crabbed and perverse misconstructions of his providence When the Israelites had jealous thoughts of him and of Moses his instrument when they saw that mighty Egyptian Army just at their heels and themselves cooped up between Mountains Forts and Waters God doth not upon this provoking murmuring draw up his cloudy Pillar to Heaven but puts it in the rear of them when before it had marched in the van * Exod. 14.19 and wedgeth himself in between them and Pharaoh's enraged host to shew that they should as soon sheath their swords in his heart as in their bowels and if they could strike them it should be through his own Deity which was the highest expression of his affection And though they often murmured against his providence after they were landed on the shore yet he left them not to shift for themselves but bore them all the way in his arms as a Father doth his Child * Deut. 1.31 and bare them like an Eagle upon his Wings * Deut. 32.11 and God loves them magnificently and royally Hos 14 4 I will love them freely * Hosea 14.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without any doubting without any reluctancy I will love thee without any repugnancy in my heart to draw me back from thee for mine anger is turned away as the streams of a River quite another way Now all this considered can the Governour of the World the King of Saints act any thing against his own affections Yea will he not make all things subservient to them whom he loves 2. His Delight See what an inundation of sweetning joy there was in him for which he had not Terms of Expression to suit the narrow apprehensions of Men Zeph. 3.17 The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty he will save he will rejoyce over thee with joy he will rest in his love he will joy over thee with singing He seems in his expression to know no measure of his delight in the Church and no end of it I will rejoyce over thee with joy Joy sparkles up fresh after joy 'T is his rest where his Soul and all that is within him centers it self with infinite contentment Joy over thee with finging A Joy that blossoms into Triumph Never had any such charming transports in the company of any he most affected as God hath in his Church he doth so delight in the graces of his People that he delights to mention them He twice mentions Enochs walking with him * Gen. 5.22 24. And certainly God cannot but delight in it more than in the World because it is a fruit of greater pains than the Creation of the World The World was created in the space of six daies by a Word the Erecting a Church hath cost God more Pains and Time Before the Church of the Jews could be settled he had both a contest with the Peevishness of his People and the Malice of their Enemies And his own Son must bleed and dye before the Church of the Gentiles could be fixed Men delight in that which hath cost them much Pains and a great Price God hath been at too much Pains and Christ at too great a Price to have small delight in the Church will he then let wild Beasts break the Hedges and tread down the fruit of it shall not all things be ordred to the good of that which is the Object of his greatest delight in the World 7. Seventhly The presence of God in his Church will make all providence tend to the good of it It would be an idle useless Presence if it were not operative for their good The Lord is there is the
A Discourse OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE I. In General That there is a Providence Exercised by God in the World II. In Particular How all Gods Providences in the World are in order to the good of his People By the late Learned Divine STEPHEN CHARNOCK B. D. sometime Fellow of New-Colledg in OXON Psalm 103.19 His Kingdom ruleth over all LONDON Printed by R. Roberts for Thomas Cockerill at the Three Legs in the Poultrey near the Stocks-Market 1684. TO THE READER Reader THOU art here presented with a little piece of a Great Man Great indeed if great Piety great Parts great Learning and great Wisdom may be admitted to claim that Title And we verily believe that none well acquainted with him will deny him his right however malevolent Persons may grudge him the honour It hath been expected and desired by many that some account of his Life might be given to the world But we are not willing to offer violence to his ashes by making him so publick now he is Dead who so much affected privacy while he lived Thou art therefore desired to rest satisfied with this brief account of him That being very young he went to Cambridge where in Immanuel Colledge he was brought up under the Tuition of the present Arch-Bishop of Canterbury What Gracious workings and Evidences of the New-Birth appeared in him while there hath already been spoken of by * Mr. Johnson in his Sermon on occasion of Mr. Charnocks death one who was at that time his Fellow Collegiate and Intimate Some time he afterward spent in a private Family and a little more in the exercise of his Ministry in Southwark then removed to New-Colledge in Oxon where he was Fellow and spent several years being then taken notice of for his singular Gifts and had in Reputation by the most Learned and Godly in that University and upon that account the more frequently put upon Publick work Being thence the year after he had been Proctor called over into Ireland to a constant publick Employment he exercised his Ministry for about four or five years not with the approbation only but to the admiration of the most Wise and Judicious Christians and with the concurrent applause of such as were of very different sentiments from him in the things of Religion Nay even those that never loved his Piety yet would commend his Learning and Gifts as being beyond exception if not abve compare About the year 1660. being discharged from the publick exercise of his Ministry he returned back into England and in and about London spent the greatest part of fifteen years without any call to his old work in a setled way but for about these five years last past hath been more known by his constant Preaching of which we need not speak but let them that heard him speak for him or if they should be silent his Works will do it He was a Person of excellent Parts strong Reason great Judgment and which do not often go together curious Phansie of high Improvements and general Learning as having been all his days a most diligent and methodical Student and a great Redeemer of time rescuing not only his restless hours in the Night but his very walking time in the Streets from those impertinencies and fruitless vanities which do so customarily fill up mens minds and steal away their hearts from those better and more Noble objects which do so justly challenge their greatest regards This he did by not only carefully watching as every good Christian should do but constantly writing down his Thoughts whereby he both govern'd them better and furnished himself with many materials for his most elaborate Discourses His chief Talent was his Preaching Gift in which to speak modestly he had few equals To this therefore as that for which his Lord and Master had best fitted him neglecting the practice of Physick in which he had arrived at a considerable measure of knowledge he did especially addict himself and direct his Studies and even when Providence denyed him opportunities yet he was still laying in more stock and preparing for work against he might be called to it When he was in Employment none that heard him could justly blame his retiredness he being even when most private continually at work for the Publick and had he been less in his Study he would have been less liked in the Pulpit His Library furnished tho not with a numerous yet a curious Collection of Books was his Workhouse in which he laboured hard all the Week and on the Lords Day made it appear he had not been idle and that tho he consulted his privacy yet he did not indulge his Sloth He was somewhat reserved where he was not well acquainted otherwise very free affable and communicative where he understood and liked his company He affected not much Acquaintance because be would escape Visitants well knowing how much the ordinary sort of Friends were apt to take up of his time which he could ill spare from his beloved Studies meeting with fevv that could give him better entertainment vvith their company than he could give himself alone They had need be very good and very learned by whose converse he could gain more than by his own Thoughts and Books He was a true Son of the Church of England in that sound Doctrine laid down in the Articles of Religion and Taught by our most famous ancient Divines and Reformers and a real follower of their Piety as well as a strenuous maintainer of the Truth they professed His Preaching was mostly practical yet rational and argumentative to his hearers understandings as well as affections and where controversies came in his way he shewed great Acuteness and Judgment in discussing and determining them and no less skill in applying them to practice So that he was indeed a workman that needed not to be ashamed being able by sound Doctrine both to exhort and convince gain-sayers Some have thought his Preaching too high for vulgar Hearers and it cannot be denyed but his gifts were suited to the more intelligent sort of Christians yet it must withal be said that if he were sometimes deep he was never abstruse he handled the great Mysteries of the Gospel with much clearness and perspicuity so that if in his Preaching he were above most it was only because most were below him Several considerable Treatises on some of the most important points of Religion he finished in his ordinary course which he hath left behind him in the same form he usually writ them for the Pulpit This comes out first as a Prodromus to several others designed to be made publick as soon as they can be with conveniency transcribed which if the Lord will and spare life shall be attested with our hands and whatever any else shall publish can be but imperfect Notes his own Copies being under our revisal at the request of his Friends taken from him in the Pulpit in which what mistakes do often happen every one
knows and we have found by experience in the case of this very Author more than once This was thought fit to be said to secure the reputation of the Dead and prevent the abuse of the Living These Sermons might have come out with the solemn ceremony of large recommendations the Authors worth being so well known to his Preaching so highly esteemed by the most eminent Ministers about the City but it was judged needless his own works being sufficient to praise him One thing more is to be added That such as he is here such he is in his other Pieces so that thou hast here Reader a specimen of the strain and Spirit of this holy Man this being his familiar and ordinary way of Preaching and these Sermons coming out first not as if they were the non-such of what he left behind him but because they could soonest be dispatched and to obviate the injuries might else be done by spurious Treatises both to him and thee and likewise by this little tast to gratifie the Appetites of such who having been his Auditors did long even with greediness to feast themselves again upon those excellent truths which in the delivery were so sweet to them Perhaps too it may quicken their appetites who never heard him it may be never yet heard of him If thou like this Cluster Fear not but the Vintage will be ansvverable If this little earnest be good Metal the vvhole sum vvill be no less currant That a Blessing from Heaven may be upon this vvork and upon thee in Reading and Studying the Nature and Beauty and Ends of Divine Providence and that the Lord of the Harvest especially vvhen so many are dayly called home vvould send forth more and more such labourers into the Harvest is the hearty prayer of Thine in the Lord. Richard Adams Edward Veal A Discourse of Divine Providence 2 Chron. 16.9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole Earth to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him IN the beginning of the Chapter you find Baasha King of Israel raising walls about and Fortifying Ramah a place about twelve miles from Jerusalem the Metropolis of Judah intending by that means to block Asa up because Ramah lay just upon the road between Jerusalem and Samaria the seats of the two Kings ver 1. Baasha was probably afraid of the Revolt of Israel to Judah upon that Reformation of Religion wrought by Asa and therefore would Fortifie that place to be a hinderance and to intercept any that should pass upon that account And to this purpose makes great preparation as appears ver 6. for with the provision Baasha had made for the fortification of Ramah Asa after the seizing of these materials builds two Towns Gaba and Mizpah Asa seeing Baasha so busie about this Design and fearing the consequence of it hath recourse to carnal policy rather than to God And therefore enters into league with Benhadad a neighbour tho an Idolatrous Prince and purchaseth his assistance with the Sacrilegious price of the Treasure of the Temple v. 2 3. And hereby engageth him to invade the King of Israels Territories that he might thereby find work for Baasha in another part and so divert him from that Design upon which he was so bent v. 3. Go break thy league with Baasha that he may depart from me Benhadad is easily perswaded by the quantity of gold c. to break his League and make an Inroad and proves victorious and takes many Cities where the Magazines and Stores were laid up v. 4 Baasha now to save his country and make head against his enemies is forced to leave Ramah whereupon Asa who watched his opportunity seizeth the materials he had left for the fortifying of Ramah and puts them to another use ver 5.6 Hanani the Seer is presently sent by God with a threatning of War because he applies himself to a heathen Prince rather than to the Lord of Hosts v. 7. his sin is aggravated by Gods former kindness to him and experience he had given him of his miraculous Providence in his success against that vast Army of the Ethiopians and Lubims or Lybians and that upon his recourse to or reliance on God And that he should afterwards have recourse to the arm of flesh was a disparagement to Gods providential kindness v. 8. He further aggravates his sin by the consideration of Gods general providential care of his creatures and the particular end of it and of all his providences viz. the good of his Church and people v. 9. For the eyes of the Lord c. eyes of the Lord in Scripture signifie 1. His knowledge Job 34.21 For his eyes are upon all the waies of man and he sees all his goings Heb. 4.13 all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat spinam dorsi in mactatis anima libus per spinam omnia apparent interiora itaut nihil latere potest Glassius Vol. 3.1.106 2. His Providence 1. For good So it notes his Grace and good Will so his Eyes and his Heart are joyned together 1 Kings 9.3 mine eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually viz. in his Temple the place which he had hallowed to put his Name there for ever Psal 32.8 I will guide him with mine eye that is I will counsel him and direct him in a gracious and a favourable way Therefore to be cut off from the eye of the Lord is to be deprived of his favour Psa 31.22 for none can be cut off from a simple knowledge of God So Zech. 3.9 seven eyes upon one stone that is the Providence of God was in an especial manner with Christ in the midst of his Passion 2. For evil So it notes His anger and vindictive justice Isa 3.8 their doings are against the Lord to provoke the eyes of his glory Kindness and anger appear first in the eye one by its pleasantness the other by its redness Run that notes diligence and care an industrious inspection into all things Psal 119.32 I will run the ways of thy Commandments noting speed and diligence In the Verse we have I. A description of Gods Providence II. The end of it I. The description of Gods Providence 1. The immediateness of it his eyes his own eyes not anothers Not like Princes who see by their Servants eyes more than by their own what is done in their Kingdoms his care is immediate Though Angels are the Ministers of his Providence the Guardians and Watchers of the World yet God is their Captain and is alwaies himself upon the Watch. 2. Quickness and speed of Providence run His eyes do not only walk but run the round they are not slumbering eyes nor drowzy eye lids their motion is quick and nimble 3. Extent of Providence the whole Earth all things in the Earth all the hairs on the Heads of
out of an enmity to providence He tempted Christ to be his own Carver thereby to put him upon a distrust of his Father's care of him Matt. 4.3 Command that these stones be made bread as though God could not provide for him which design of the Devil is manifest by our Saviour's answer This is to prostitute Providence to our own lusts and to pull it down from the government of the World to be a Lacky to our sinful pleasure to use means which God doth prohibit is to set up Hell to govern us since God will not govern our affairs in answer to our greedy desires 'T is to endeavour that by God's curse which we should only expect by God's blessing For when God hath forbid sinful wayes severely threatned them perhaps cursed them in examples before our eyes what is it but to say that we will rather believe God's curse will further us than his blessing 'T is to disparage his blessing and prefer his curse to slight his wisdom and adore our folly When we go out of God's way we go out of God's protection we have no Charter for the blessing of providence without that condition Psal 37.3 trust in the Lord and do good so shalt thou dwell in the Land and verily thou shalt be fed to do evil then is not to trust in God or have any regard to his providential care 6. When we distrust God when there is no visible means A distrust of God renders him impotent or false and mutable or cruel and regardless and what not We detract from his power as if it depended upon creatures or that he were like an Artificer that could not act without his Tools As if God were tyed to means and were beholding to creatures for his operating power as if that God who created the World without instruments could not providentially apply himself to our particular exigencies without the help of some of his creatures If he cannot work without this or that means you did expect your mercy by it supposeth that God hath made the creature greater than himself and more necessary to thy well-being than himself is or else we conceit him false or foolish as if he had undertaken a task of government too hard for him as if he were grown weary of his labour and must have some time to recruit his strength or as if he were unfaithful not walking by rules of unerring goodness or if we acknowledge him wise and able and faithful yet it must then be a denyal of his gracious tenderness which is as great as his power and wisdom and a perfection equal with any of the rest If his careing for us be a principal argument to move us to cast our care upon him as it is 1 Pet. 5.7 casting all your care upon him for he careth for you Then if we cast not our care upon him it is a denial of his gracious care of us This is to imagine him a tenderer governour of beasts than men as though our Saviour had spoke a palpable untruth when he told us not an hair of our heads doth fall without his leave as if he regarded Sparrows only and not his Children or else it implies that God cannot mind us in a crowd of business in such multitudes in the World which he hath to take care of But certainly as the multitude of things doth not hinder his knowledge of them so neither do they hinder his care The arms of his goodness are as large to embrace all creatures as the eyes of his Omniscience are to behold them From this root do all our fears of the power of men grow Isa 51.12 13. who art thou that art afraid of a man that shall dye c. and forgettest the Lord thy maker that hath stretched forth the heavens c Our forgetfulness at least if not a secret denial of God's Power in the works of Creation and Providence ushers in distrust of him and that introduceth a fear of man If they that know his name will put their trust in him Psal 9.10 for thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek thee Then a distrust of him discovers an ignorance and inconsideration of his name and his wayes of working and implies his forsaking of his creature He that trusts in any thing else besides God denies all the powerful operations of God and conceives him not a strength sufficient for him Psal 52.7 That man doth not make God his strength who trusts in the abundance of his riches How gross is it not to trust God under the very sence of his powerful goodness but question whether he can or will do this or that for us When we will have jealousies of him when he doth compass us round about with mercy and encircle us with his beams 't is to question whether the Summer-Sun will warm me though it shine directly upon me and I feel the vigor of its beams upon my Body much more base is this then to distrust him when we have no means What doth this imply but that he cares not what becomes of his Children that no advantage can be expected from him that his intentions towards us are not gracious even whiles we feel him 7. Stoutness under God's afflicting or merciful hand is a denial or contempt of providence This was the aggravation of Belshazzars Sin Dan. 5.23 and the God in whose hand thy breath is and whose are all thy wayes hast thou not glorified he glorified not God in the way of his providence but was playing the Epicure and was sacrilegiously quaffing in the vessels of the Temple when the City was besieged he seemed to dare the providence of God upon a presumption that the City was impregnable by reason of Euphrates and the provision they had within their walls which Xenophon saith was enough for Twenty years yet was taken that night when the hand-writing was And by how much God's judgments have been more visible to us and upon some well known by us or related to us so much the greater is the contempt of his providential government as v. 22. and thou his Son Belshazzar hast not humbled thy heart though thou knewest all this c. he had known God's judgments upon his Grandfather Nebuchadnezzar a Domestick example of God's vindicating his government of the World and yet went in the same steps so Jer. 5.3 4. thou hast consumed them but they have refused to receive correction they have made their faces harder than a rock what is the reason the Prophet renders it v. 4. they are foolish for they know not the way of the Lord nor the judgment of their God Correction calls for submission but those like a Rock under God's hand were correction-proof they would not consider the ways of God's Providence and the manner of them T is as if by our peevishness we would make God weary of afflicting us which is the worst case can happen This is God's complaint of the ten Tribes Hos 7.9
before he would use his interest in the Kings favour Nehem. 2.4 then the King said unto me for what dost thou make request So I prayed to the God of Heaven and I said unto the King c. So Abraham's Steward puts up his request to God before he would put the business he came upon in execution Gen. 24.12 David frequently in particular cases 1 Sam. 23.9 2 Sam. 2.1 2 Sam. 19.23 God only doth what he pleaseth in Heaven and in Earth He only can blese us he only can blast us Shall we be careless in any undertaking whether we have his favour or no 'T is a ridiculous madness to resolve to do any thing without God without whose assistance and preserving of us we had not been able to make that resolution 2. Trust Providence To trust God when our Ware-houses and Bags are full and our Tables spread is no hard thing but to trust him when our purses are empty but a handful of meal and a cruse of Oil left and all ways of relief stopt herein lies the wisdom of a Christians grace Yet none are exempted from this duty all are bound to acknowledg their trust in him by the dayly prayer for dayly bread even those that have it in their Cupboards as well as those that want it The greatest Prince as well as the meanest beggar Whatever your wants are want not faith and you cannot want supplies 'T is the want of this binds up his hand from doing great works for his Creatures The more we trust him the more he concerns himself in our affairs The more we trust our selves the more he delights to cross us for he hath denounced such an one cursed that maketh Flesh his arm * Jor. 17.5 though it be the best flesh in the world because it is a departing from the Lord. No wonder then that God departs from us and carries away his blessing with him While we trust our selves we do but trouble our selves and know not how to reconcile our varions reasons for hopes and fars but the committing our way to the Lord renders our minds calm and composed Prov. 16.3 commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be astablished Thou shalt have no more of those quarrelling disturbing thoughts what the success shall be 1. Trust providences in the greatest extremities He brings us into straits that he may see the exercise of our faith Zech. 3.12 I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. When we are most desolate we have most need of this exercise and have the fittest season to practise it he is always our refuge and our strength but in time of trouble a present help Psal 46.1 Daniel's new advancement by Belshazzar but a day before the City was taken by the Enemy * Dan. 5.29 the King slain and no doubt many of his Nobility and those that were nearest in Authority with him it being the interest of the Enemy to dispatch them was a danger yet God by wayes not expressed preserved Daniel and gave him favour with the Conqueror God sometimes leads his people into great dangers that they may see and acknowledg his hand in their preservation Daniel had not had so signal an experience of Gods care of him had he been in the lower condition he was in before his new preserment God's eye is always upon them that fear him not to keep distress from them but to quicken them in it and give them as it were a new life from the dead Psal 33.18 19. To deliver their Soul from death and to keep them alive in famine God brings us into straits that we may have more lively experiments of his tenderness in his seasonable relief If he be angry he will repent himself for his Servants when he sees their power is gone because then the glory of his providence is appropriated to himself Deut. 32.36 39. See now that I even I am he and there is no God with me I kill and I make alive No Creature can have any pretence to share in it He delights thereby to blow up both our affections to him and admirations of him and store up in us a treasure of experiments to encourage our trusting in him in the like straits We should therefore repose our selves in God in a desart as well as in the Cities with as much faith among Savage beasts as in the best company of the most sociable men * Durant de Tentat p. 168. And answer the greatest strait with Abraham's Speech to Isaac God will provide For we have to do with a God who is bound up to no means is at no expence in miraculous succors who delights to perfect his strength in the Creatures weakness We have to do with a God who only knows what may further our good and accordingly orders it what may hinder it and therefore prevents it He can set all causes in such a posture as shall conspire together as one link to bring about success and make even contrary motions meet in one gracious end as the Rivers which run from North and South the contrary quarters of the world agree in the surges of one Sea Though providences may seem to cross one another they shall never cross his word and promise which he hath magnified above all his name And his Providence is but a servant to his Truth 2. Trust it in the way of means Though we are sure God hath decreed the certain event of such a thing yet we must not encourage our idleness but our diligence Though Moses was assured of the victory when Amalek came armed against him yet he commands Joshua to draw up the valiant men into a body himself goes to the Mount to pray and is as diligent in the use of all means as if he had been ignorant of God's purpose and had rather suspected the rout of his own than his Enemies forces Neither doth Joshua afterwards though secured by promise in his conquest of Canaan omit any part of the duty of a wise and watchful General he sends spies disciplines his forces besiegeth Cities and contrives stratagems Providence directs us by means not to use them is to tempt our Guardian where it intends any great thing for our good it opens a door and puts such circumstances into our hands as we may use without the breach of any Command or the neglect of our own duty God could have secured Christ from Herod's sury by a miraculous stroke from Heaven upon his Enemy but he orders Joseph and Maries flight into Egypt as a means of his preservation God rebukes Moses for praying and not using the means in continuing the Peoples march Exod. 14.15 Wherefore criest thou unto me speak unto the children of Israel that they go forwards To use means without respect to God is proudly to contemn him to depend upon God without the use of means is irreligiously to tempt him in
both we abuse his providence In the one we disobey him in not using the means he hath appointed in the other presumptuously impose upon him for the encouragement of our laziness Diligence on our part and the blessing on God's Solomon joyns together Prov. 10.4 The hand of the diligent makes rich but v. 22. The blessing of the Lord maketh rich So Eccles 9.1 Our works are in the hand of God our works but God's blessing God's blessing but not without our works It was the practice of good men Jacob wrestles with God to divert his Brother's fury yet sends a Present to his Brother to appease him * Gen. 32.9 13. David trusts in the name of the Lord his God in his duel with Goliah but not without his sling Our labour should rather be more vigorous than more faint when we are assured of the blessing of providence by the infallibility of the promise 3. Trust providence in the way of the precept Let not any reliance upon an ordinary providence induce you into any way contrary to the command Dan. 1.8 9 10 c but Daniel purpojed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the Kings meat Daniel had many inducements from an appearance of providence to eat the Kings meat his necessity of a compliance in his captivity probability of preferment by learning the wisdom of the Countrey whereby he might both have advanced himself and assisted his Countrey-men the greatness of the consideration for a Captive to be fed from the Kings Table the ingratitude he might be accused of for despising so kind a treatment but none of these things moved him against a command because the Law of God forbad it he would not eat of the King's meat Daniel might have argued I may wind my self into the King's favour do the Church of God a great service by my interest in him which may be dasht in pieces by my refusal of this kindness but none of these things wrought upon him No providences wherein we have seeming circumstances of glorifying God must lead us out of the way of duty this is to rob God one way to pay him another God brought Daniel's ends about he finds favour with the Governour his request is granted the success is answerable and all those ends attained which he might in a sinful way by an ill construction of providence have proposed to himself all which he might have missed of had he run on in a carnal manner This this is the way to success Psal 37.5 Commit thy way unto the Lord trust also in him and be shall bring it to pass Commit thy way to the guidance of his providence with an obedience to his precept and reliance on his promise and refer all success in it to God If we set up our golden Calfs made of our own ear-rings our wit and strength and carnal prudence because God seems to neglect us our fate may be the same with theirs and the very dust of our demolisht Calf may be as bitter Spice in our drink as it was in theirs 4. Trust him solely without prescribing any methods to him Leave him to his wise choice wait upon him because he is a God of judgment * Isa 30.28 who goes judiciously to work and can best time the executions of his will The wise God observes particular periods of time for doing his great works John 2.4 my hour is not yet come woman what have I to do with thee Which man is no competent Judge of I will do this miracle but the season is not yet come wherein it will be most beautiful God hath as much wisdom to pitch the time of performance of his promise as he had mercy at first to make it How presumptuous would it be for the shallow world a thing worse than nothing and vanity to prescribe rules to the Creator Much more for a single person a little Atom of dust infinitely worse than nothing and vanity to do it Since we had no hand in Creating the world or our selves let us not presume to direct God in the government of it Job 38.4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth declare if thou hast understanding Would it not be a disparagement to God to stoop to thy foolish desires yea would you not your selves have a lower conceit of him if he should degrade his wisdom to the wrong biass of your blind reason Thirdly Submit to providence 'T is God's right to govern the World and dispose of his Creature 't is his glory in heaven to do what he will * Psal 115 3. But our God is in the Heaven he hath done what soever he pleased let us not by our unsubmissive carriage deprive him of the same Glory on earth he brings to pass his will by wayes the Creature cannot understand 'T is the wisest speech in that medley of fooleries the Turkish Alcoran * Deus triumphat in sua causa c. We must walk by the rule of reason which God hath placed in us for our guide yet if Providence brings to pass any other event contrary to our rational expectations because it is a clear evidence of his will we must acquiesce As when a Traveller hath two wayes to come to his journeys end the one safe the other dangerous reason perswades him to chuse the safest way wherein he falls among thieves now having used his reason which in that case was to be his director he must acquiesce God's Providence bringeth forth an event which he could not without violence to his reason avoid And therefore it is a great vanity when a man hath resolved the most probable way in a business and fails in it to torment himself because though our consultations depended upon our selves yet the issues of them are solely in the hand of God It concerns us therefore to submit to Gods disposal of us and our affairs since nothing can come to pass but by the will of God effecting it or permitting it If the fall of a Sparrow is not without his Will * Matth. 10.29 much less can the greater events which befall men the nobler Creatures be without the same concurrence of Gods pleasure therefore submit For 1. Whatsoever God doth he doth wisely His acts are not sudden and rash but acts of Counsel not taken up upon the present posture of things but the resolves of Eternity As he is the highest wisdom so all his acts relish of it and he guides his will by Counsel Eph. 1.11 Who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will If God took Counsel in Creating the World much more in laying a platform of government much more in the act of government for men can frame models of government that can never reduce them into practice Now God being infinitely wise and his will infinitely good it must needs be that goodness and wisdom are the rules whereby he directs himself in his actions
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
to David's Scepter which concurred both with Gods purpose and promises but sprung from an ill cause a disdain to be checked by Ishbosheth though his King for an unjustifiable act for having too much familiarity with one of Sauls Concubines †2 Sam. 3.6 7 8 9 10. And from this animosity he contrives the de posing of Ishbosheth and the exaltation of David yet dissembles the ground and pretends the promise of God to David v. 18. for the Lord hath spoken of David By the hand of my servant David I will save my people Israel out of the hand of the Philistines He is the first Engine that moves in this business and by him and his correspondents after his death v. 17. the business is brought about by Gods over-ruling hand wherein Gods promise is accomplished and David a type of Christ and the great Champion for the Church against its enemies round about is advanced Very remarkable is the advancement of Mordecai in order to the advancing the Jews as well as preserving them when the necks of all the visible Church God had in the World were upon the block Haman ignorantly is the cause of this preferment of Mordecai and at that time too when he came to petition for his death Esther 6.4 He was come to speak to the king to hang Mordecai upon the gallows which he had prepared for him The King asks him what should be done to the man whom the King delights to honour v. 16. He imagineth that the Kings question did respect himself lays out a Scheme of what honour he was ambitious of v. 8 9. which was by the King designed for Mordecai and Haman made the Herald to proclaim him Here Haman not only a wicked man in himself but the greatest Enemy Mordecai and the whole Church of God had is made unwittingly an instrument to exalt Mordecai and in him the whole Church of God 3. In enriching the Church or some persons in it whereby it may become more serviceable to God How wonderful was it that when the Israelites were abominated by the Egyptians God should so order their hearts that the Egyptians should lend them Gold and Jewels * Exod. 12.35 36. and dismiss them with wealth as well as safety and not so much as one person molest them till they arrived at the Red Sea The very gain and honour of the Enemies is sometimes consecrated to the Lord of the whole Earth Micah 4.13 Arise and thresh oh daughter of Sion I will make thy horn Iron and thou shalt beat in pieces many people and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord and their substance to the Lord of the whole earth This was when many Nations were gathered against Sion v. 11. The wealth of the Sinner is laid up for the just Pro. 13.22 And God sometimes makes the wicked unwittingly to themselves in their carking be the factors for good men into whose lap providence pours the fruit of their labour God gave Cyrus the spoils of Babilon and the treasures of Croesus to enable him to furnish the Jews with materials for building the Temple Isa 45.3 4. 45.3 4 and I will give thee the treasure of darkness and hidden riches of secret places speaking of Cyrus that thou mayest know that I the Lord which call thee by thy name am the God of Israel for Jacob my servants sake c. That he might acknowledge him the God of Israel and lay his wealth out in the service of God and the service of Jacob his servant 2. As bad persons so bad things are ordered to the good of the church whether they be sinful evils or afflictive 1. Sin 1. A mans own sin Onesimus runs from his Master and finds a spiritual Father his being a runnagate is the occasion of his being a convert By flying from his Master he becomes a Brother in the Lord * Phil. 10 12 16. What Joseph's brethren sinfully intended for revenge against their brother and security from their Fathers checks who acquainted Jacob with their miscarriages God ordered for the preservation of them who were the only visible Church in the World Their sin against their Brother contrary both to their intentions and expectations became the means of their safety God makes the remainders of sin in a good man an occasion to exercise his grace discover his strength and shew his loyalty to God 2. Other mens sins That might be in Sarah but a beady passion for hearing her Son mocked By Ishmael that made her so desirous to have the bondwoman and her son thrust out * Gen. 21.10 but God makes use of it to make a separation between Isaac the heir of the Covenant and Ishmael that he might not be corrupted by any evil example from him God orders Abraham to hearken to her voice because in Isaac his seed should be called * ver 12. And the revengeful threatning of Esau was the occasion of Jacob's flight whereby he was hindred from marrying with any of the people of the Land by whom he might have been induced to Idolatry * Gen. 2.7.3.46 Why should we mistrust that God that can make use of the Lusts of men to bring about his own gracious purposes 2. Commotions in the World There is the eye of God that eye which runs to and fro throughout the whole Earth in the Wheels of worldly motions even in the most dreadful providences in the World that stare upon men with a grim countenance * Ezek. 1.18 their wings were dreadful and their wings were full of eyes All the overturnings in the World are subservient to the Churches interest though they are not visibly so unless diligently attended * Broughton on Revel 13. Sect. 177. God orders the confusions of the world and is in the midst of the tumults of the people Psal 29.10 11. The Lord sits upon the flood yea the Lord sits King for ever the Lord will give sirength to his people the Lord will bless his people with peace He sits upon the flood as a Charioteer in his Chariot guiding it with holy and merciful intentions to his people to give them both strength and peace in the midst of them and as the issue of them By Water and Floods is frequently meant tumults and confusions in the World If it were not so why would our Saviour encourage his Disciples and all their Successors in the same profession to lift up their heads when they hear of wars if their redemption * Luk 21.25 26 27 28. were not designed by God in them they are all testimonies of the nearer approaches of Christ in power and glory to judge the Earth and glorifie his people Gods great end in the shaking of Nations is the performing those gracious promises to his Church which yet remain unaccomplisht These earthquakes in the world will bring Heaven to the Church The great revolutions in the Eastern part of the world the ruine of the Babylonian Empire
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
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
me much more look us into it his thoughts and his eyes move together 5. In fear of wants The power of the Governor of the World cannot be doubted His love as little as it seems fince it hath moved him to prepare Heaven to entertain his people at the end of their Journey will not be wanting to provide accommodation for them upon the way since all things both good and bad are at his beck and under the government of his gracious Wisdom His eyes run to and fro through the whole Earth not only to defend them in dangers but supply them in wants for his strength is shewed both ways Doth he providentially regard them that have no respect for him and will he not employ his power for and extend his care to them that adore and love him and keep up his honour in the World He will not surely be regardless of the afflictions of his Creatures His people are not only his Creatures but his new Creatures their bodies are not only created by him but redeemed by his Son The purchase of the Redeemer is joyned to the Providence of the Creator If he took care of you when he might have damned you for your sins will he not much more since you are Believers in Christ And he cannot damn you Believing unless he renounce his Sons Mediation and his own Promise A natural man provides for his own much more a Righteous man Prov. 19.22 A good man leaves an inheritance to his children much more the God of Righteousness a God who hath his eye always upon them His eye will affect his heart and his heart spirit the hand of his Power to relieve He hath prepared of his goodness for the poor Psal 68.10 6. 'T is comfort in the low estate of the Church at any t i me Gods eye is upon his Church even whilst he seems to have forsaken them If he seem to be departed it is but in some other part of the Earth to shew himself strong for them where ever his eye is fixed in any part of the World his Church hath his heart and his Churches relief is his end Though the Church may sometimes lye among the Pots in adirty condition yet there is a time of Resurrection when God will restore it to its true glory and make it as white as a Dove with its Silver Wings * Psal 68.13 The Sun is not alway obscured by a thick Cloud but will be freed from the darkness of it God will judge his peole and repent himself concerning his servants * Psal 135.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Comfort himself 'T is a comfort to God to deliver his People and he will do it in such a Season when it shall be most comfortable to his Glory their Hearts The very name Hierusalem some derive from Jireh Salem God will provide in Salem The new Jerusalem is the title given to Gods Church Rev. 1. and is still the object of his Providence and he will provide for it at a pinch Gen. 22.14 Jehovah Jireh God will raise up the honour and beauty of his Church Great men shall be servants to it and employ their strength for it when God shall have mercy on it * Isa 60.10 11 12. Yea the Learning and knowledg of the world shall contribute to the building of it v. 13. The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee the fir-tree the pine tree and the box together to beautifie the place of my sanctuary It shall be called the city of the Lord the Sion of the holy one of Israel that she may know that the Lord is her Saviour and her Redeemer the mighty one of Jacob. As Christ rose in his Natural so he will in his Spiritual Body If Christ when dead could not be kept from Rising Christ now living shall not be hindred from raising and helping his Church His own Glory is linked with his Peoples security and though he may not be moved for any thing in them because of thehir sinfulness he will for his own name because of its Excellency * Ezek 36. Ezek. 36.22 I do not this for your sakes O house of Israel but for my holy names sake As Sorrows encreased upon the Israelites the nearer their Deliverance approached Because this Method of God is the greatest startling even to good men let us consider this a little that God doth and why God doth leave his Church to extremities before he doth deliver it Take the Resolution of this in some propositions 1. 'T is indeed Gods usual method to loave the Chuch to extremity before he doth command help You never heard of any eminent Deliverance of the Church but was ushered in by some amazing distress The Israelites were not saved till they were put in between Sea Hills and Forts that their Destruction was inevitable unless Heaven relieved them Pharaoh resolves to have his will and God resolves to have his but he lets him come with his whole Force and open mouth at the Israelites backs and then makes the Waters his Sepulchre Constantine the man-child in the revelation was preceded by Dioclesian the sharpest Persecutor When his People are at a loss 't is his usual tme to do his greatest works for them God had promised Christ many ages and yet no appearance of him still Promise after Promise and no Performance Psal 40.8 It was then 〈◊〉 come yet many hundred years rowl'd away and no sight of him yet Captivity and affliction and no Redeemer but when the World was over-run with Idolatry the Jews oppressed by the Romans the Scepter departed from Judah Herod an Edomite and stranger King and scarce any Faith left then then he comes The World will be in much the like case at his next coming Luke 18.8 When the son of man comes shall he find faith in the earth there shall be faintings despondency unbelief of his Promise as though he had cast off all care of his Churches concerns 'T is not meant of a Justifying Faith but a Faith in that particular Promise of his coming The Faith of the Israelites must needs begin to flag when they saw their Males murdered by the Egyptians could they believe the Propagation of the Seed of Abraham when murder took off the Infants and Labour and Age would in time the old ones Whilst their Children were preserved the Promise might easily be believed But consider this was but just before their deliverance like a violent Crisis before Recovery He doth then judge his people and repent himself for his servants when he sees their power is gone and there is none shut up or left * Deut. 32.36 He doth so for the wicked many times when the affliction of Idolatrous Israel was bitter when there was not any shut up nor an left nor any helper for Israel then he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the Son of Joash * 2 King 14.26 27. He doth so with private persons Peter might have
for this and other reasons it may be that the times before the Churches last deliverance shall be sharper than any before which our Saviour intimates Matt. 24.21 For then there shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world no nor ever shall be In Discoursing his Disciples of the troubles at the destruction of Jerusalem which was a type of the trouble preceding the end of the World he adds a discourse of what shall be at the end of the World in the last attempt of the enemies of the Church for ver 29. he saith immediately after the tribulatin of those days he speaks of his coming in the Clouds of Heaven with great power and glory And also in the Revelation Rev. 16.18 And there was a great earthquake such as was not since men were upon the earth so mighty an earthquake and so great This perhaps at the pouring out of the seventh Vial may concern the Christian Church as well as the Antichristian Party But the reason why it may be sharper just before that last deliverance than it was in former ages may be because it is the last effort the enemy shall make the last demonstration of Gods power and wisdom for and care of his Church and of Justice upon his enemies in such cases The last season for their multiplying their cries and acting their Faith for such a concern 3. Vs of Exhortation If it be so that the Providence of God is chiefly designed for the good of the Church First Fear not the Enemies of the Church 'T is a wrong to God Fear of Man is always attended with a forgetfulness of God Isa 51.12 13. I even I am he that comforteth you who art thou that art affraid of a man that shall dye and of the Son of Man that shall be made as Grass and forgettest the Lord thy Maker who hath stretched forth the heavens c. 'T is to value the power of Grass above the power of the Creator as though that had more ability to hurt than God to help As if men were as strong as Mountains and God as weak as a Bulrush 'T is a wrong to his Truth hath he not comforted you in his Promise What Creature should then deject you 'T is a wrong to his Mercy is he not the Lord thy Maker Calvin refers this to Regeneration and not Creation Hath he not renewed you by his Spirit and will he not protect you by his strength and that you may not question his power look up to the Heavens which he hath stretched out and the foundations of the Earth which he hath laid And is that Arm which hath done such mighty works too weak to defend that work which is choicer in his eye than either the extended Heaven or the established Earth We vilifie God and defile his Glory when our fear of mans power stifles our Faith in God Isa 8.12 13. Neither fear you their fear nor be affraid sanctifie the Lord of hosts himself and let him be your fear Let the wicked fear the Assyrians and engage in confederacies against them but let your eyes be lifted up to me and my Providence God will either turn away the mouth of the Cannon from the Church or arm it against the shot either preserve it from a danger protect it in it or sanctifie it to the Church and who need fear a Sword in a fathers hand 1. Will you fear man who have a God to secure you The Church belongs to God not to man as a just propriety Isa 43.1 Fear not for I have redeemed thee I have called thee by my name thou art mine when thou passest through the waters I will be with thee c. Thou art mine not mans Thou art mine I am thine I will be with thee as thine I will secure thee as mine Is my Creating is my forming is my redeeming thee to no purpose I will not secure you from trouble but surely my redemption of you the propriety I have in you should secure you from fears in those troubles None shall hurt you whilst I have power to defend you God with us if well considered and believed is sufficient to still those fears which have the greatest outward objects for their encouragement Psal 27.1 The Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be affraid If God be our strength to support us why should the weakness of dust and ashes scare us Alliance to great men and Protection of Princes prop up mens hearts against the fears of others and shall alliance to God be of a weaker efficacy A * Arram in Epist lib. 1. c. 9. Heathen could so argue that knew nothing of Redemption Let the Counsels of Enemies be crafty * Psal 83.3 yet they consult against Gods hidden ones hidden by God whilst Plotted against by men who would fear the stratagems of men whilst protected in an impregnable Tower God hides when men are ready to seize the Prey How did the Angel protect a sincere trembling Lot against the invasion of a whole City and secured his person whilst he blinded his enemies eyes that they could not find the door Instruments cannot design more maliciously than Christ watches over them affectionately Christ hath his Eye to see your works and danger where Satan hath his Thorne Rev. 2.13 2. Will you fear man who have a God to watch over their motions What counsels can prevail where God intends to over-rule their resolves There is no place so close as to keep private resolutions from his knowledge This was the thought of those States-men against whom the Prophet Isaiah thunders Isa 29.15 16. Wo unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord and their works are in the dark surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the Potters Clay Their Counsels were as well known to him as the Potters clay is to the Potter which he can either frame into a vessel or fling away into the Mass from whence he took it God hath not despoyled himself of his Government nor will devolve his right upon any men to dispose of his concerns When men think to act so secretly as though they framed themselves as though Gods eye were not upon them He will watch and trace all their Motions and make them insignificant to their purposes Satan himself the slyest and subtilest agent is too open to God to hide his Councils from him Never fear man till the whole combined Polices of Hell can controul the resolves of Heaven Till God wants Omniscience to dive into their secrets skill to defeat their Councils and an arm to abate their power 3. Will you fear men or devils who have a God to restrain them The great Dragon and General of the Serpents Seed is under a binding power who can bind him not only a thousand fears out a thousand Ages * Rev. 20.2 Have his Seed more force to resist Almightiness than their
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
me of things to come concerning my sons The matter of their Prayers then were that God would order all things for the coming of the Messiah The matter of the Churches Prayer now is that God would order all things for the perfecting the Messiah in his mystical Body The whole frame of Providence is for one intire design 'T is one intire Book with seven Seals * Rev. 5.1 The beginning of a Book as well as the middle hath relation to the end The design of Gods Book of Providence is but one in all the seven Seals and periods of time 4. Consider not only one single act of Providence but the whole scheme to make a conclusion The motions of his eyes are various but all end in discoveries of his strength Men do not argue from one single proposition but draw the conclusion from several propositions knit together 'T is by such a Spritual Logick we are to make our conclusions from the ways of Providence As in the reading Scripture Burges of justification part 2. Serm. 2. p 12. if we take not the whole Period we may make not only nonsense but Blaspehmy as in that of the Palmist Thau art not a God that hath pleasure in unrighteousness If a man should read only thou art not a God and make a full stop there it would be blasphemy but reading the whole verse it is excellent sence and an honourable declaration of Gods holiness Such Errors will be committed in reading the Books of Providence if we fix our eyes only in one place and make a full stop where God hath not made any We judge not of a Picture by the first daught but the last lines not by one shadow or colour but by the whole composure The Wisdom of God is best judged of by the view of the harmony of Providence The single threads of Providence may seem very weak or knotty and uneven and seem to administer just occasion of Censure but will it not as much raise the admiration to see them all woven into a curious piece of branched work Consider therefore Gods ways of working but fully judge nothing till the conclusion for that is to judge before the time Judge not then of Providence at the first appearance God may so lose the glory of his work and vou the comfort Thirdly The third Duty Inquire into providence and interpreat all publick providences by this Rule We must search into it though we are not able to find out all the reasons of it What can be a braver study than that which is the object of Gods eternal counsel We are conformed to God in our Wills when we have the same ends in our motions and we are conformed to God in our understandings when we have the same object of our thoughts Some Providences have their interpretation written in their foreheads we may run and read such as his sifna Judgments in the World which express the very sin for which they are inflicted others are wrapt up in a harder shell and more covers and therefore more labour is necessary to reach the kernel some are too high for our knowledge none for our enquiry 'T is our duty to seek after God though we can never arrive to a perfect know ledge of him Job 1.7 Canst thou by searching find out God canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection He prohibits not the searching though he asserts the impossibility of finding him out to perfection What hath God given us faculties for but to search after him and we must not do it to satisfie our curiosity but to encrease our knowledge and consequently our admiration of his wise and powerful care Diligence must be used too Our first thoughts about things of concernment are usually confused so are our first sights of Providence Providence is a great deep deep things are not seen without stooping down We must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Angels do when they search into the things of the Gospel * 1 Pet. 1.12 But let this aim of God at the good of his Church be the rule of your interpretation Without this compass to steer our judgments by we may both lose and rack our selves in the Wilderness of Providence and fortify our natural Atheism and Ignorance instead of our Faith I must confess the study of Providence is in some respect more difficult than in the former Ages of the World because God seems to manage things in the Church more by his Wisdom than Power which is not so intelligible by man as the sensible effects of his strength That attribute he manifested most in Miraculous ways and the visible Ministry of Angels as we read in Scripture stories now he employs his Wisdom more in ordering second causes in ordinary ways to his own high merciful and just ends Yet since the discovering of Christ God hath given us a rule whereby we may discern much of his Wisdom in the knowledge of his end As the knowledge of Christ removes the Veil from the Scripture in our reading of it * 2 Cor. 3.14 15 16. The same Veil remains in the reading of the Old Testament which Veil is done away in Christ which Veil is still upon the Jews and makes us understand those parts of the Old Testament which otherwise would be utterly obscure so in the reading the Books of Providence the knowledg of this end of God in them will help us to understand the meaning of that which otherwise would non-plus the Reason of man He that knows the end of one that is making a Watch will not wonder at his framing small wheels and filing little pins but he that understands nothing of the design would count it ridiculous for a man so to trifle away his time Without the knowledge of this end we shall expose our selves to miserable mistakes As Plutarch mistook the cause of the ceasing of Oracles ascribing it to the change of the nature of the Soil not affording those exhalations as formerly or the death of the Demons which gave those Oracles He had judged otherwise had be known or believed the rising of a higher power the Sun of Righteousness in the World who imposed silence upon those Angels of darkness the most famous Oracles in the World ceasing about the time of Christ To imagine to interpret the motions of Providence without a knowledge of Christ and the design of God for hi s Church is as vain as to imagine we can paint a sound or understand a colour by our smell Correct Sense by Reason in this work and Reason by Faith To what end hath God prescribed Faith to succour us in the weakness of Reason if it had been capable to understand his ways without it and if we make no use of it upon such occasions Fourthly A fourth Duty Consider the former Providences God hath wrought for the Church in the past Ages Let him not lose the present glory of his past works Psal 102.18 This shall be written
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