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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B08803	Several discourses concerning the actual Providence of God. Divided into three parts. The first, treating concerning the notion of it, establshing the doctrine of it, opening the principal acts of it, preservation and government of created beings. With the particular acts, by which it so preserveth and governeth them. The second, concerning the specialities of it, the unseachable things of it, and several observable things in its motions. The third, concerning the dysnoēta, or hard chapters of it, in which an attempt is made to solve several appearances of difficulty in the motions of Providence, and to vindicate the justice, wisdom, and holiness of God, with the reasonableness of his dealing in such motions. / By John Collinges ...	Collinges, John, 1623-1690.	1678 (1678)	Wing C5335; ESTC R233164	689,844	860

but he findeth that such knowledg as David saith was too wonderful for him In my Text he doth referre pedem draw his foot backward I will go back saith he I will wade no further O the depth There are some truths and ways of God which are unsearchable We may discourse a little and more generally of them but we shall never be able to find the bottom of them It is wisdom for us in time to retreat and cry O the depth But what depth is this The blessed Apostle tells you of the wisdom and knowledg of God in man knowledg and wisdom are two differing habits a man may be a knowing man yet not a wise man Knowledg apprehends things Wisdom directs the practice to the best ends of humane life Knowledg is a speculative habit Wisdom a practical habit In God also though he be but one simple act we may conceive a difference betwixt Wisdom and Knowledg but in this Text possibly it is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one thing expressed by two terms he is speaking of the wisdom the unsearchable wisdom of God in some particular acts of his Providence How unsearchable are his Judgments and his ways past finding out Here are two terms Judgments and Ways Both again here signifie 1. the same thing Judgments in Scripture sometimes signifie the ways and statutes of God because of the Justice and righteousness that is in them By Justice God measureth his own Words and Laws 2. Sometimes the Term signifieth corrections and chastisements because God measureth out all these likewise in Justice and in them acteth as a righteous Judg But here doubtless Judgments and ways signifie the same thing All Gods ways are Judgments ways of Justice and Equity and Righteousness The term ways is also used in more senses than one Sometimes it signifies the way of Duty wherein we ought to walk towards God or the course of mens actions so you read of the way of the wicked the way of sinners here it is applied to God and signifies The course and series of his actions towards his creatures so it signifies here Of these Judgments and ways of God of this wisdom and knowledg of God it is said They are unsearchable they are past finding out Vnsearchable that is such as we can by no means search out by no means come to the bottom of The only Proposition I shall insist upon from these words is this Prop. The ways of Gods counsels and Providence are unsearchable and not to be found out In the handling of this Proposition 1. I will endeavour to prove it to you that it is so 2. I will shew you how far it is our duty to behold and to search into them and to shew you also wherein they are unsearchable and not to be found out Then I shall make some application Let us first see how this is established from Scripture Eccles 8.17 Then I beheld all the works of God that a man cannot find out his work that is done under the Sun yea though a man labour to seek it out yet he shall not find it yea though a wiseman thinketh to know it yet he shall not find it A Text which must be understood of Gods works of Providence The Wiseman saith a man cannot find them out yea though a man labour to seek it yet he shall not find it He that spake this was Solomon a man to whom God had given Wisdom above all that had been before him and said that there should be none after him who should be like unto him He tells us ver 16 That as he was indued with Wisdom enriched with this Talent so he had not laid it up in a Napkin but had made it his business to improve it I have saith he applied my heart to wisdom and to see the business which is done on the earth V. 17 you have the conclusion That the ways of God were not to be found out yea though a wise man think to know it yet he shall not find it out Psalm 36.6 His righteousness is like a great mountain his judgments are a great deep Not a deep only but a great deep The Sea is called a great deep there is no sounding the bottom of it in many places For saith the Apostle what man knoweth the things of a man but the spirit of a man that is within him even so no man knoweth the things of God but the spirit of God and it must be so if we consider the infiniteness of the Divine Light Wisdom and Understanding His understanding is infinite Psalm 147.5 Now it is said of the works of God In wisdom hath he made them all There is the infinite wisdom of God in the works and contrivances of his Providence The Apostle telleth us he dwelleth in that light to which none can approach 1 Tim. 6.16 and so he walks in that light which none can see and fully comprehend There is no searching out of his understanding Isa 40.28 The way of the Lord is like the way of an Eagle in the air of a Serpent upon a Rock not to be seen not to be tracked Incomprehensibilis Dei sapientia inter angustias humanae rationis coarctari non potest It is the saying of a grave Author Gods unsearchable incomprehensible wisdom cannot be cooped up within the straits of humane Reason but the Doctrine is experimentally and de facto evident enough In the second place here may arise a Question How far our duty extendeth as to the ways of Divine Providence for certainly we have a duty a great duty incumbent upon us to Divine Providences I remember it is the saying of Cicero Si vera est sententia quorundam philosophorum qui omnino nullam rerum humanarum procurationem docent habere Deos Quae potest esse pietas Quae Religio Quae sanctitas Cicero de Nat. Deorum If the opinion of some Philosophers who deny that the Gods exercise any providence or take any care of humane affairs be true What piety can there be What Religion What Holiness A sentence which will let us know that there were some amongst the Heathens that were less Atheists than some amongst those who are called Christians Now the case is the same supposing this Divine Procuration or Providence if we may not or do not at all take notice of it Let me therefore discourse a little concerning the duty of man with reference to the Providence of God and then I shall shew you the boundaries of it and wherein it is unsearchable I shall open the first in three or four particulars 1. It is doubtless the duty of Gods people To see and behold the works of the Lord indeed we cannot but see them they are before our eyes every day But my meaning is to behold the things that are done in the earth as the works of the Lord. There are too many that do see and not see they see pluckings up and plantings of Nations and Families but

take away his life pursueth him with an Army from place to place David had a pitiful company with him is forced to flee to Gath there to dissemble himself mad would any one have thought that had seen David among the Philstines scrambling on the walls that he should ever have been King over Israel and Judah At length Saul and Jonathan the next heir are slain in Battel then Ishbosheth is set up but yet after all these oblique and seemingly contradictory motions of Providence it cometh home to the promise David is setled in the Throne of Israel and Judah 4. Let a fourth instance be that of the Gospel Church God had promised that he would set his King upon the holy hill of Zion Psalm 2.6 v. 8 That he would give him the heathen for his inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession and promises of this nature are everywhere multiplyed by the Prophets Isaiah especially Our Lord when he ascended up into Heaven gave out a Commission to his Disciples in order to this effect Go preach and baptize all Nations c. Now at the first the Providence of God seemed to move as if the thing should presently have been done You read Acts 2 That the Spirit of God descended and there were then at Jerusalem saith the Text devout men of every Nation under Heaven Parthians Medes Elamites Mesopotamians Jews Cappadocians men of Pontus Asia Phrygia Pamphilia Egypt Lybians Cyrenians Romanes Cretes Arabians and heard the Apostles in their own language speaking of the great works of God Here were now Preachers made for all the World would not one have thought that surely at this time all the ends of the Earth should have been given unto Christ Peter at one Sermon converts two thousand soon after there were five thousand added to the Church But all on the sudden the Providence of God turneth the Gospel groweth out of repute and the Apostles that preached it too both with Jews and Gentiles James is put to death Peter hardly escapes The Church the only Gospel church God had at that time at Jerusalem was scattered and broken the Apostle complains That they were made as the filth of the world and as the off scouring of all things The Jews persecute them the Gentiles in all places rise up against the Preachers of the Gospel bonds stripes and imprisonments waited for the Apostles in all places where they came Paul saith he thought that God had set them forth as men appointed unto death spectacles to the World Angels and men Few of the great Ministers of the Gospel died their natural death the Christians were a sect everywhere spoken against all courses almost imaginable taken to root them out of all places for three hundred years together But at length the Providence of God cometh in a great measure to work up to the direct fulfilling of the many promises of this nature Constantine an Emperour of a great part of the World ariseth and commandeth and encourageth the preaching of the Gospel And thus it came to be spread and accepted in most known parts of the World Indeed there is hardly any instance can be given of any great work of Providence respecting Churches Nations or particular persons as to which this Observation will not justifie it self 5. For another instance may we not bring in if not all yet very many of your particular Souls who fear the Lord. You also upon believing receive the promises The promises are made of old but we receive them we come to have a title to them in the day when God opens our eyes and opens our hearts to a receiving of the Lord Jesus Christ turning our hearts from dead lusts and sins to serve the living God In that day I say we have a first right to all the Promises whether respecting joy and peace or spiritual strength and assistances Now very-often at the first of our conversion the Providence of God moves directly towards them the Soul finds a great life to Duty a great zeal against sin great joy and peace in believing glimpses of the glory of God But after this very ordinarily follow very dark hours and the Soul like Jonah cryes out of the belly of Hell The Soul that feareth the Lord and obeyeth the voice of his Servant yet walketh in the dark and seeth no light cryeth out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and hath a thousand fair and foul days in its journey to Heaven I know particular cases must here be excepted but I speak of the ordinary Methods of Divine Providence with Souls whom God bringeth to glory 6. I will conclude this Discourse with the instance of the great work of Providence in the Reformation of his Church in this latter age whether you look upon it in Germany France or England In Germany it began with Luther an eminent Servant of of God though like Elias of like passions and infirmities with other men how strangely did the Providence of God in the beginning work towards the accomplishment of it That Luther who was a poor Monk should be preserved to plant the Doctrine of the Gospel and should diffuse it so far as he did and be preserved to do it against all the rage both of the Pope and Emperour 28 or 29 years was a great favour of Providence to the infantile Reformation but afterwards how the Providence of God gave check to it is sufficiently known yet it kept its ground and gained For England we know from our story That King Hen. 8 laid the first stone we also know how Providence at first favoured the work during all the reign of Edward the sixth but in Queen Maries time for five years together it seemed to move directly cross the Popish Superstitions were restored in all parts of the Nation Multitudes burnt for the profession of the Gospel others fled into foreign parts to secure their lives But the Providence of God returned again to its work in the time of Queen Elizabeth But I have spoken enough to justifie the Observation Let me in the next place endeavour to give you a reasonable account of these transverse motions of Providence not that I dare presume to give you the reasons why God moveth thus or thus for who hath been his Counsellor at any time but so far forth as to shew you that these motions of Providence are approvable to our Reason so as we may judg the Lords ways but proportioned to his wise and great designs 1. In the first place certainly one reasonable account to be given of these motions must be the variety of designs which the Providence of God ordinarily carries on together I have hinted this to you before suffer me here to enlarge a little upon it again I then compared Providence to a man of great business and dealings in the World who though London or some other great place be in his Eye as the end of his Journey where his business lies

Vse 1. In the first place let then all men that live upon the Earth praise the Lord but especially such as are superiors and rulers over others and more especially such as are his Church The Psalmist Psal 135.1 calls to all saying Praise the Lord praise ye the name of the Lord and ver 19 20 21. He calleth in particular Bless the Lord O house of Israel Bless the Lord O house of Aaron Bless the Lord O house of Levi you that fear the Lord bless the Lord Blessed be the Lord out of Zion which dwelleth at Hierusalem 1. This observation calleth to all the sons and daughters of men to bless the Lord. We are all sociable creatures and much of the comfort of our lives lyeth in our societies and fellowships one with another either in our family-societies or in our civil-societies or in our Church-societies We should think it a life worse than death to be condemned to live like a wild Ass alone in the wilderness Now there are some lusts of men that would spoil us of all this comfort God peculiarly sets himself against them and makes these the marks for his arrows of vengeance The Jews said of the Centurion He hath loved our nation and hath built us a synagogue We may say of our good God he hath loved mankind for he hath taken care to preserve order in humane societies and severely to chasten the invaders upon the rights of others What an ingagement doth this lay upon all men to praise the Lord Certainly sirs there is a great deal of praise and glory and homage due to God from all men as they are concerned in their several societies There is a great deal of glory due to God from families for his testimony against those lusts of men such as are murtherers and adulterers which in a short time would spoil all the comfort of those societies Certainly every family is bound to worship God and to walk with God But particularly 1. Let Rulers praise the Lord. Let all the Princes of the Earth give homage to him that ought to be served they are more especial marks for furious and ambitious mens lusts Gods Providence as you have heard is eminently seen in preventing their dangers in revenging their harms 2 Sam. 23.3 4 5. Surely then as David saith those that rule over men should be just ruling them in the fear of the Lord their light should be like the light of the morning without clouds God hath not only set them up as lights upon an hill but he hath made his special Providence to be a lanthorn about them that 't is rarely that the wind of sedition and treason prevails to blow them out and then 't is ordinarily for some eminent Provocation of God But I am not speaking to persons in that capacity You that are parents praise the Lord Gods special Providence you see reacheth you and in a great measure secureth you from that great heart-ach of rebellious and disobedient children I know you will say How then cometh this to be the great affliction of many good parents To which I answer 1. There is many a good parent may have been but like good old Ely too indulgent and cockering to their children ordinarily God keepeth up the authority of parents over their children until themselves have prostituted it and in the rebellion and disobedience of their children they may read their own sin and see as much cause to be humbled for that as any thing else as David in the case of Adonijah 1 King 1.5 6. And herein the goodness of God towards parents will be seen that if he doth not upon their endeavours secure to them the duty of their children yet he will not fail to revenge their quarrels against them 2. Let the poor and weak of the earth praise the Lord he hath declared himself the father of the fatherless and the judg of the widows a refuge for the oppressed Psal 68.5 Exod. 22.5 Psal 10.11 How are all the widows and fatherless children all the poor and oppressed people of the world bound to praise and to serve this God who hath taken upon himself the special patronage and protection of them This indeed would be the best use we could possibly make of this Observation relating to the special Providence of God if it might lay a special obligation upon all those who are thus especially concerned to magnifie God as their great patron and defender And how can they praise God more effectually than in doing those particular duties which concern them all in their respective relations or with reference to those peculiar circumstances of Providence under which they are acted I shall add but one branch of Application more and indeed it is not a new Use for it is a part of our praise and homage which we owe unto God upon this Reflexion viz. Vse 2. To all to take heed of those sins which God in his word declares himself more eminently to abhor and in the execution of Providence doth most severely punish All sin is in it self a filthy and abominable thing and the just object of every good mans hatred for should not we hate what God hateth and what hath of all things the greatest opposition to God yes we ought to hate it with a perfect hatred But such is the naughtiness of our heart that we are not so led to an hatred and abhorrence of sin from the intrinsecal evil and obliquity of it as from the dangerous and pernicious consequence of it Death eternal death is the wages of every sin but this being only matter of faith to bold sinners none having ever come from the dead to give them an account of those flames the punishments of sin in this life are those things which most deter carnal sensual men But if men will look no further nor believe any more yet let this lay some law upon us and make us afraid of those sins which I have instanced in being such whose judgment the Providence of God seldom letteth sleep so long as to another life Let this mind us not to meddle with them that are given to change that curse Kings and Rulers in their bed-chambers and are of turbulent and unquiet spirits always plotting and contriving seditions and treasons and disturbances to civil governours it is very rarely that God suffereth their designs to come to issue or their persons to come to the grave in peace 2. What a law should it lay upon the rich and great men of the earth to take heed of violent perverting justice and judgment of turning away the causes of the widows and the fatherless in judgment To consider that he who is the highest doth consider the matter and there is one higher than the highest of them who abuse their power to trample the poor under foot If men be not turned Atheists and have banished all the fear of God from their eyes and hearts it must a little give them law and lay

Divine Providence extends to all these 1. To such things as have meer Beings As to the Heavens Extol God saith the Psalmist Psal 68.4.33 Who rideth upon the Heavens Gods riding upon the Heaven signifies his influence upon them and his Rule and Governance over them Our Saviour telleth us That he maketh his Sun to shine and his Rain to fall upon the just and unjust yea and God makes it a thing proper to him to give rain and the Scripture telleth you of his giving it and withholding it at his pleasure as in the days of Elijah Job 9.7 God is said to be he who commandeth the Sun and it riseth not and sealeth up the stars For the Earth he is said to hang it upon nothing and certainly so great a weight would not hold there long if it were not held up 2. For those things which have not a meer Being but life also they are the herbs and plants and flowers He causeth the grass to grow for the cattel Psal 104.24 Psal 147.8 He maketh the grass to grow on the mountains He cloatheth the grass of the field which to day is and to morrow is cast into the Oven 3. For those Beings which have life and sense He feedeth the fowls of the air Matt. 6.18 Not a sparrow falls to the ground without him he called for the flies and locusts c. against Pharaoh 4. For the most perfect Beings viz. such as have not only Being life sense but Reason also These are either Angels or Men. Providence reacheth to both of these it reacheth to the good Angels he commandeth all his Angels to worship Christ he maketh his Angels Spirits and his Ministers a flaming fire Heb. 1.6 7. and ministring Spirits for the good of his Elect. How frequently do you read in Scripture of Gods government of his Angels in sending them upon his messages For the Devils the Old Testament tells you of his employing them against Ahab of his commissionating them against Job And the New Testament plentifully declares their subjection to the Son of God For Men the Scripture speaks abundantly My Text telleth you He preserveth man and beast In short there is hardly a leaf in Scripture but abundantly confirmeth this piece of Divine Providence in one particular or other Secondly I say the Providence of God extendeth not only to all Beings but to all the Motions and Actions of Beings upholding them to their motions governing all their actions The grass groweth not the sparrow falleth not the Lilly groweth not without our Father he hath made the Ordinances for the Sun and Moon and Stars for the day and night It is he that thundereth out of Heaven 1 Sam. 7.10 2 Sam. 22.14 The Scripture every-where asserteth the influence of God upon the natural motions of all creatures nor is it to be excluded from the voluntary Actions whether good or bad As for good actions he moveth to them he assisteth in them As to bad actions he upholdeth as to the natural action but hath nothing to do with the malice and wickedness of it but to govern it when shewed to his own wise ends The Scriptures are infinite which might be produced in the proof of this What can be plainer than that of our Saviour speaking of good actions Joh. 15.3 Without me you can do nothing that of the Apostle Phil. 4.13 I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me and again He giveth to will and to do For bad actions He suffered all Nations to walk in their own ways Act. 14.16 And the Psalmist saith Psal 76.10 Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee and the remainder of wrath thou shalt restrain Thirdly The Providence of God extendeth to all omissions cessations or suspensions of actions yea and to all irregularities of natural motions or actions It was from God that the fire did not naturally act to consume the three children nor the Lions to devour Daniel though in their Den that the Sun stood still in the Valley of Ajalon that it went backward as appear'd by the shadow upon the Dial of Ahaz and so as to actions depending upon the will of man Gen. 20.6 God saith to Abimelech that he suffered him not to touch Sarah Jacob telleth his Wife Gen. 31.7 that God suffered not Laban to hurt him Multitudes of Scriptures might be produced in this case 4. Lastly The Providence of God extendeth to all events Events are reducible to two heads they are either such as are good and grateful to us or such as are evil and afflictive The hand of Providence is in both There is no good event but is from God he is the fountain of good the author of every good and perfect gift evil events are from him Is there any evil in the City saith God by Amos and I have not done it Afflictions spring not out of the dust saith Job But the holy Scripture is so full of proof of this as I need not give particular instances especially considering that it hath been recognized by the children of God in Scripture and is so by every one of us so often as we either praise God for any receit of good or deliverance from evil or pray unto him for the collation of any good thing or prevention or removal of any evil Thus now I have confirmed the Doctrine of Divine Providence and also shewed you the extent of it I should now come to discourse of the particular acts of it but first let me make some application of this general discourse of Providence so far as I have carried it on In the first place observe from hence Vse 1 how unreasonably and Atheistically any deny the Providence of God and that in the extent of it Atheistically for it is all one to deny a God as to deny the Providence of God If there be a God there must be an infinite Being filling all places infinitely active all eye all ear all understanding doing all that from his most perfect Essence which we do by the help of our senses or any of our faculties Now that God should fill all places see hear understand all things motions actions events and not rule and govern all to the wise ends of his own glory having a power so to do is to fancy that of God which cannot be presumed of a man like our selves Those therefore that deny Providence must have deceived their souls with some false idea's and conceptions of God and set up an idol in their hearts instead of the true and living God Either a finite and limited Being not filling Heaven and Earth or a dead lazy dull careless inactive Being All which is indeed to blaspheme to deny God instead of acknowledging him 2. As it is Atheistical so it is most irrational I have formerly discoursed that and therefore shall refer you to it To fancy that the world could be preserved or governed in that order in which we see it without an infinite God giving conduct to

Reign and the necessity of it Isa 52.7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings that publisheth peace that bringeth good tidings of good that publisheth salvation that saith unto Zion thy God reigneth It is good news to all the World that God reigneth but particularly to Sion to the Church and the people of God to the whole visible Church it is good tidings but particularly to the invisible part that is militant here on Earth and the individual members thereof 1. This Doctrine first is of great use to comfort them against and under all their disturbances for things which happen to the Church in general or themselves in particular A ship at Sea were but in an ill case if it were not for him that sate at the Helm a skilful Pilot there ordereth her well enough so as the winds serve his design so it is with the Church tossed with winds and waves she is only safe in the Lords government of all the affairs of the World Luther I remember saith thus of himself I saith he have often attempted to prescribe God ways and methods in the government of his Church and other affairs I have said Ah Domine hoc velim ita fieri hoc ordine hoc eventu I would have this thing thus done in this order with this event But saith he God did quite contrary to what I asked of him Then saith he I thought with my self what I would have had was not contrary to the glory of God but would have been of great use for the sanctifying of his Name In short it was a brave design well advised but undoubtedly God laught at at this wisdom of men and said Go to now I know you are a learned man and a wise man But it was never my manner to allow Saint Peter or Saint Martin or any other to instruct teach govern or lead me Non sum Deus passivus sed activus I am not a passive but an active God That great man and Melancthon were two famous Instruments in the Reformation of Germany but of different tempers Melancthon was a man of a more mild and gentle Spirit and melancholick timerous temper Luther was of a more fierce and bold temper Melancthon would often write very troubled Letters to Luther about the state of the Church affairs Luther would constantly make use of this argument from the Governing-Providence of God to support Melancthon Melancthon saith he Let God alone to govern the World The Lord reigneth It pleaseth God so to order it in his Providence that the face of affairs relating to the Church often looks very sadly and there is nothing which giveth the spirits of the people of God a greater disturbance Now all these disturbances are caused from our Not-attending to this Principle which yet every good Christian professeth to receive and to believe Were we but rooted and grounded in the faith of this one Principle That the Kingdom of God ruleth over all and that he exerciseth a special care and Government relating to his Church and ruleth the World with a special regard to the good of his little flock we could neither be immoderately disturbed for the concern of the glory of God nor yet for the Church of God 1 Chron. 16.31 Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoyce and let men say amongst the Nations the Lord reigneth let the Sea roar and the fulness thereof let the fields rejoyce and all that is therein Then shall the trees of the wood sing out at the presence of the Lord because he cometh to judg the Earth Say therefore unto Zion Thy God reigneth Let Papists rage and Atheists scoff and threaten and do what they can Let all their Favourites take counsel together and join hand in hand when they have done all they can they will find that the Lord reigneth And this is enough to say unto Sion or to any of her sons and daughters Two things are sufficient in the most troublesom and tumultuous times to still support and comfort the spirits of Gods people 1. That the Lord reigneth and hath an unquestionable superintendence upon all the Beings of his creatures all their motions and all their actions He is higher in power than the highest of them 2. That this God is our God The Psalmist hinteth both in that excellent 46 Psalm v. 10 Be still and know that I am God I will be exalted amongst the Heathen I will be exalted in the Earth The Lord of Hosts is with us The God of Jacob is our refuge Let not therefore those that fear the Lord trouble themselves about the motions of the World and commotions in it about the ragings of lewd men against the interest of Christ Let them not trouble themselves further than is their duty viz. to be sensible of the rebukes of Divine Providence The Lord reigneth He that sitteth in the heavens laugheth The Lord shall have them in derision and shall one day speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure and let the World know that yet he hath set his King upon his holy hill of Sion I remember a passage of Luther Si nos ruamus ruet Christus unus Christus scilicet magnus ille regnator mundi c. If we perish saith he Christ must fall too Christ that great Governour of the World 2. If we did consider this as we might or ought we should also see as little reason to be disturb'd as to the concerns of our own Souls with the fear of two things as to their own Souls ordinarily the people of God are troubled 1. The prevailings of their own lusts and corruptions 2. The prevailings of Satans temptations This Doctrine of Divine Providence excellently serveth to still our unquiet spirits as to either of these troubles If the Lords Kingdom be over all both these fears must be vain and causeless for supposing the faithfulness of the Promises Sin shall not have dominion over your mortal bodies God shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly He will with the temptation give an happy issue If the Lords Kingdom be over all neither shall corruption prevail nor Satan by temptations prevail to destroy the work of God in our Soul or to prevent us or hinder us as to the Kingdom which God hath prepared for us for as he that hath promised is faithful or cannot repent or lye so he is powerful and hath a dominion over all beings persons things c. My father saith Christ is greater than all none can pluck you out of my fathers hand 3. Lastly It affords us a relief against the sad prospect we have almost continually before our eyes of the malicious actions of wicked and ungodly men There is and always was a generation in the World which sleep not unless they do mischief they are continually devising mischievous devices against the little flock of Christ Their counsels designs works have a plain and

they see nothing of God in these effects They say not this is the Lords doing and therefore it is not marvellous in their eyes They see Pestilences sweeping away Cities and Families fires laying populous Cities waste Enemies breaking in upon Countries and strangely over-running them the hand of God sweeping away whole Families but they see nothing of God in them they consider these as terrible things as misfortunes to which the state of Humane affairs is subjected their Eyes are upon the visible wheels that turn these things but they see not the wheel within the wheel the Psalmist calleth to us to come and behold the works of the Lord what desolations he hath wrought in the earth Men see desolations wrought in the Earth but they see them not as the work of the Lord as desolations wrought by him This is what the Psalmist complained of and for which he prayeth against them Psalm 28.4 5 Give them according to the works of their hands c. Because they regard not the work of the Lord nor regard the operations of his hands he shall destroy them and not build them up This is a sign of an Atheistical heart to see great changes and not to see God in them the Heathens had more of Religion than this came to I remember the Poet in his description of the ruine of Troy bringeth in Venus taking Aeneas of his mettal in the last defence of his Country and from taking Revenge on Helena the cause of it by shewing him the gods at every corner and post of the City helping the Grecians to fire it and to over-turn the walls of it It is very sad that amongst Christians there should be any that in the great changes which God worketh in Nations Cities Families cannot see the great and living God at work and using creatures but as instruments in his hand but this is but a seeing and beholding the works of Providence highly useful for the production of pious affections and such acts of duty as God requireth We have a further Duty than this incumbent upon us 2. It is not only our Duty to see and behold but wistly to consider and observe these things Psalm 107.43 Whoso is wise will observe these things and he shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord a Text which in this discourse I shall make a further use of Observation implieth the application of our minds unto the passages of Divine Providence which are before our eyes as we must not be careless and forgetful hearers of the word of God so we must not be careless and forgetful observers of the works of God It is said Gen. 37.11 that Jacob observed the saying Josephs saying in the repetition of his Dream relating to eminent providential workings So it is said Luke 2.19 That when upon the birth of our Saviour the Angels had spoke to the Shepherds and the Shepherds had published the glad tidings which they had brought to the City That all who heard it wondred at those things which were spoken by the Shepherds Mary kept all these sayings and pondered them in her heart To see a thing is one thing to make our minds to stand upon it to consider it and to ponder upon it is another thing This is also our Duty as to meditate on the Lords words so to meditate on the Lords works twice the Psalmist hath it I will meditate on all thy works Psalm 143.5 I muse on the works of thy hands So Psalm 77. v. 12 I will meditate also on all thy works and talk of thy doings It is our great fault that we suffer the impression of Gods works to go off our hearts too soon We hear of great changes we see great desolations God works in Kingdoms Cities and Families at first they make a little impression upon us we startle at them but by the next day they are as a tale that is told the sound is out of our ears the impression is off our minds this is now not to observe the works of the Lord not as we ought to consider the operation of his hands 3. It is thirdly our Duty modestly and humbly to search out the causes of Providences towards our selves especially We are commanded to hear the Rod and who hath appointed it Thus did Josephs brethren Gen. 42.21 when they were in prison they said one to another We are verily guilty concerning our Brother when we saw the anguish of his soul when he sought to us and we would not hear therefore is this distress come upon us Job prays Job 10.2 Shew me wherefore thou contendest with me this is but a searching and trying our ways an excellent help and necessary medium in order to a true repentance Indeed it is our great errour that we are very prone to search out the causes of severe Providences upon others The Barbarians seeing a Viper cleave to Pauls hand conclude him a Murtherer but we are very slow and backward to enquire into the meritorious causes of Gods severe Dispensations to our selves Yet as to others as it is our Duty to observe the Providences of God to them so we may modestly and humbly search out the causes of them Thus did Jeremiah venia praefata having first recognized God in the Justice and righteousness of his proceedings Jer. 12.1 Righteous art thou O Lord in thy Judgments when I plead with thee yet let me talk with thee of thy Judgments why doth the way of the wicked prosper c So the Prophet Habbakuk ch 1.13 Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he But as to this searching into the causes of Divine Providences I put in those two words modestly and humbly Indeed God is so plain and open in his Judgments sometimes that the provocation is wrote and that in capital Letters in the front of the punishment Thus it was in the case of the Sodomites the Egyptians the Benjamites Sauls bloody house Haman the final destruction of the Jews c and thus it is still very often The Drunkard dies in his drunkenness but it is not always so The Judgments of the Lord are a great deep This enquiry therefore into causes must be modest and humble we must no more caecutire in revelatis as to the works of God than as to the word of God if we see a blood-thirsty and deceitful man not living out half his days a Dart striking through the liver of the Adulterer these are open things And when we see prophane vile wretches devouring those that are more righteous than they when we see God plaguing men according to his own heart chastening them every moment not giving them time to swallow their spittle These are secrets of Divine Providence of which we must be careful that we pass no ungrounded censure yea and we must search humbly too Our judgment in these cafes will amount to no more than a