Scripture why things are not is plain and positive if an eye be had to the Lord's Dominionship Thus in 2 Chron. 15. where it is said There was no peace to him that went out nor to him that came in c. v. 5. And how so for God did vex them with all adversity v. 6. Like unto this is that in Jer. 47. 6 7. O thou sword of the Lord how long will it be ere thou be quiet put up thy self into thy scabbard rest and be still How can it be quiet seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Ashkelon and the sea-shore there hath he appointed it The Lord could if he had pleased have given to the people existent in those black times better hearts and so they had had better times or might have vouchsafed fat times of prosperity and plenty and so they might be spiritually punisht with blindness of mind and hardness of heart That therefore there is no peace the sword is not still and quiet is from the Lord though sin doth intervene as the procuring-cause of such sad dispensations 3. The verity or faithfulness of God is concerned herein why things are not as well as why they are There are predictions which reach the denial of this or that to be All flesh shall not be cut off any more by the waters of a flood neither shall there any more be flood to destroy the earth spake the Lord to Noah Gen. 9. 11. No success for an Ahab at Ramoth-Gilead 1 King 21. 28. Shall he prosper shall he escape that doth such things or shall he break the Covenant and be delivered Ezek. 17. 15. So not a bone of Christ to be broken because the Scripture so fore-told John 19. 36. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many Heb. 9. 28. 4. There is a rich Treasure-house of Mercy in this seemingly empty house of Things not to be It 's not beyond infinite Power and affronted Justice and contriving Wisdom to elevate the most smarting troubles that are in the world above what they are The Lord knows how to find out new ones and to put more teeth and sharper ones into the old ones Yea the worm that dieth not and the fire that goeth not out can be made to bite deeper and burn fiercer Not only is there mercy in the non-constitution of new smarts or heightning old ones but in keeping off such smarts for the kind of them as others are made the subject of That Judgments which have an existence have not a respective existence to thee is from the Lord's mercy Moses notes this in his speech to the Israelites Deut. 7. 15. And the Lord will take away from thee all sickness and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt which thou knowest upon thee but will lay them upon all that hate thee 5. The Prayers of Saints do objectively respect things which are not but to be and things which are but not to be So Daniel prays for the release from the captivity Now therefore O our God hear the prayer of thy servant and his supplications and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate feâ— the Lords sake Dan. 9. 17. see more Psal 51. 7 8 9 10 11 12. Rev. 6. 10. 6. If God hath not the Negative voice who hath Find him out truly that we may come and worship him But who is the that saith anâ— it cometh to pass when the Lord commandeth iâ— not Lam. 3. 37. To deny the Lord's Prerogative in Negatives is to pull the Crown from his head or to make him a God of the Hills not of the Plains because victory is not in the Plains he hath nothing to do there he may get him gone to the Hills and there be positive in his actings But away with this Syrian language 1 King 20. 23. CHAP. II. 1. CHARGE not the Lord foolishly with want of power when things are not thus and thus brought to pass Thinkest thou saith Christ to Peter that I cannot now pray to my Father and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels but how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be Mat. 26. 53 54. 2. Look more to God and less to the Creatures when they give not down their Milk If there be a lock set upon their virtues forces operations remember in whose hand the key is If some who should be and sometimes have been Melchizedecks bringers forth of bread and wine for refreshment Gen. 14. 18. become Nabals hide-bound ones and insulting-ones 1 Sam. 25. 10 11 12. be not startled at it eye God in all their hearts are hardned to soften thine their ears are shut that so thy mouth may be the more opened to pour out thy prayer at a Throne of Grace to God who hath wise ends in such a Dispensation Be humbled then for sin before the Lord who hath all the Creatures at his beck and at whose girdle hang all the keys for unlocking any Creature whatsoever see Isa 59. 1 2. 3. Bless God for Negative Mercies If the Lord were not the cause why things are not what had been your case in regard of miseries All the temporal evils inflicted on others are Memorandums for thy thankfulness The Lord 's withholding Satan from falling in on thee with this or that temptation at such a nick of time doth call for thy acknowledgment There is besides a with-holding Providence a limiting one when Satan is let loose as in Job his case All this may lesson to say as David Bless the Lord O my soul Psal 104. 1. That Psalm is a Meditation on the Providence of God and the Psalmist there observeth the Providence of God in Negatives There are four observables there 1. Why things are and consequently are not in regard of their continued beeings for if God with-hold his influences the Creatures are a nigrum nihil an empty nothing this in v. 30. Thou sended forth thy spirit they are created and thou renewest the face of the earth 2. Why things are not in regard of their operations The Water is a fluid body and would quickly diffuse it self And why not Thou hast set a bound that they the Waters may not pass over that they turn not again to cover the earth v. 9. 3. Why things are not in such a conjunction The beasts of prey are not ordinarily abroad when man is this in v. 22 23. the Sun ariseth they gather themselves together and lay them down in their dens man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening 4. VVhy things are no longer in regard of duration or time for their existencies This we have in v. 29. Thou hidest thy face they are troubled thou takest away their breath they dye and return to their dust OBSERVATION IV. There is a wise Platform of things drawn forth by God or The administration of things in the World is according to the Draught of Divine
Providence at the top thereof Behold the Lord stood above it Gen. 28. 13. He that was above had an eye on what was beneath I saw the Lord saith Micaiah sitting on his throne c. 1 King 22. 19 c. God's Providence is there Visioned-forth or set out to Micaiah In the first Chapter of Job there is a Providential scheme or draught of what was to take place in Job's case there Ezekiel's Vision of the Wheels is a confutation of the Wheel of Fortune They who know God have the Wheel of Providence to meditate and discourse of 2. From positive Assertions in Scripture The Lord looketh from heaven he beholdeth all the sons of men from the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth he fashioneth their hearts alike he considereth all their works Psal 33. 13 14 15. The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good Prov. 15. 3. Behold the fowls of the air for they sow not neither do they reap nor gather into barns yet your heavenly Father feedeth them Are ye not better than they Mat. 26. See also Mat. 10. 29. 3. From Divine Assumptions and Appropriations of the work of Providence to God himself When the Lord answered Job out of the Whirl-wind how doth he challenge to himself a supream Agency in and over the Creatures Who saith he provideth for the Raven his food Job 38. 41. And in Isa 45. 7. I form the light and create darkness I make peace and create evil I the Lord do all these things 4. From Expostulations Checks Comminations bottomed on the consideration of Divine Providence So Psal 50. These things hast thou done and I kept silence thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thy self but I will reprove thee and set them in order before thine eyes Now consider this ye that forget God lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver v. 21 22. And so likewise in Psal 94. Vnderstand O ye brutish amongst the people and ye fools when will ye be wise He that planted the ear shall he not hear He that formed the eye shall he not see He that chastiseth the heathen shall he not correct He that teacheth man knowledg shall he not know v. 8 9 10. 5. From the Religious forms of speech by which are implied the verity of God's Providence extending to affairs in the world Thus saith the Lord of Hosts the God of Israel As yet they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the Cities thereof when I shall being again their captivity The Lord bless thee O habitation of Justice and Mountain of Holiness Jer. 31. 23. For that ye ought to say If the Lord will we shall live and do this or that James 4. 15. I trust saith Paul to tarry a while with you if the Lord permit 1 Cor. 15. 7. 6. From Prayers made to God The Scripture hath no Altar for an unknown God We are not taught to pray to Fortune to our own Wills Saints or Angels None of these are the Father which is in Heaven whose is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory The Orthodox Prayers of Saints are demonstrations that they were not Heterodox in the point of Providence they acknowledged a Providence on earth who were ever and anon looking up in prayer to the God of Heaven See Ezra 8. 21 22 31. Neh. 2. 4 with 18. Rom. 1. 10. And thus I have shewed how there is a Providence This was an old Article of the Saints Creed I shall for further clearing up the point 1. Lay down other Arguments 2. Reply to some Objections 3. Draw some Consectaries or Inferences Of these in their order CHAP. I. 1. FRom God himself And so observe 1. That the appellations or titles given to Him are implications of the thing He is Jehovah who gives the Creatures their beeing and operation Acts 17. 28. He is the Judg of all the earth Gen. 18. 25. He is the King of all the earth Psal 47. 7. He is the First Cause I will hear the heavens and the heavens shall hear the earth c. Hos 2. 11. * Non sanè multum interesse utrum quis Deos esse neget an eos omni procuratione atque actione privet mihi enim qui nihil agit esse omninò non videtur Cicer. lib. 2. de nat Deor. To deny then his Providence is to take up the Bucklers against these no less glorious than true Appellations of his But 2. His glorious Attributes of Power Goodness Wisdom Justice are as so many demonstrations of his Providence for all these the World existing are not dormant These Attributes are richly interwoven in the works of Providence The Scripture saith unto Pharoah Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up that I might shew my power in thee and that my Name might be declared throughout all the earth Rom. 8. 17. Thou art good and dost good Psal 119. 68. O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all the earth is full of thy riches Psal 104. 24. But God is the Judg he putteth down one and setteth up another Psal 75. 7. Lastly The Lord's creation of the World doth according to the Logick of the Scripture infer his Providence For 1. He is called the faithful Creator 1 Pet. 4. 19. The Lord leaves not the stately House of the World after he hath erected it 2. Considerations or Motives for supportation and consolation are couch'd in God's creation of the World so that they who have an interest in God may hope for a display of his Attributes in his government of the World so in Isa 40. Hast thou not known hast thou not heard That the everlasting God the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not neither is he weary c. v. 28 29. 3. There is an indissoluble or firm knot knit betwixt the Lord's creating and governing the World for what is Providence but a kind of continued Creation and therefore that word is used to set forth Providence by in Scripture see Psal 51. 10. and 104. 30. Isa 43. 7. Again to acknowledg God the Creator and some other the Governour is to rob the Lord of his glory against which robbery he vehemently protesteth as in Isa 42. 8. Lastly observe in Isa 45. the same God there who made the Earth and created Man upon it in v. 12 raised up Cyrus and prospered him in v. 13. There is no reason then to break the band of amity or alliance betwixt Creation and Providence which the Lord so conjunctively owneth and appropriateth to himself see Jer. 27. 5 6. 2. From Providence it self There is an intrinsecal or inbred light in Providence by which it is seen But ask now the beasts and they shall teach thee and the fowls of the air and they shall tell thee or speak to the earth and it shall teach thee and the fishes of
See 1 Cor. 4. 11 12. Rev. 2. 9. 3. They who have a care to please God have experience of God's care over them notwithstanding their straits David though denied by a surly Nabal yet had provision brought in by means of a wise Abigail Jeremiah finds fair quarter amongst the Chaldeans Jer. 39. 11 12. The brethren which dwelt in Judea had relief sent to them in the time of the great dearth Acts 11. 28 29. God's Providence is seen as in straits so in the helps handed in under them 4. Suppose some are starved by enemies yet what is this more if the Lord take them out of the world this way than to dye on their beds when a man's life abhorreth bread and his soul dainty meat Job 33. 20. A man dyes who hath victuals but no stomach as he dyes who hath a stomach but no victuals Moreover God knows how to salve up this sharp dispensation 1. He can abate the pain and torment of hunger as one said If you take away my meat God can take away my stomach See Exod 34 28. 2. The Lord may then feast them with other kind of meat as Christ speaketh John 4. 32. 3. They are honoured by God to be starved Non fovetur in metallis lecto culcitris corpus â—…d refrigerio solatio Christi Humi jac nt fessa laboribus viscera sed poena non est cum Christo jacere Squalent sine balneis membra situ sorde deformia sed spiritualiter intusabluitur quod foris carnaliter sordidatur Cyprian lib. 3. Epist 25. as well as others to be burnt for his sake Suffering for Christ any way is honourable See Mat. 5. 11 12. Phil. 1. 29. 4. They will not look like Starvelings one day the vile body will become a glorious body Phil. 2. 21. OBSERVATION XX. The Lord bears up the World by bearing down Sin in the World CHAP. I. AS God's Providence is seen in making provision for the world so in bearing down sin in the World The World would quickly be resolved into a Chaos or heap of confusion did not the Providence of God exert it self and that particularly in and about the sins of men who having since the fall of our first Parents destructive Principles wrapt up in their natures would certainly give the product of such Principles in black and bloody Conclusions were there not a Providence which did counter work them by bearing down sin and these ways amongst others First By ushering in good tidings of a Saviour for whose sake the World is spared from destruction for time is now vouchsafed for the ingathering of a chosen generation Adam and so all mankind were dead in law Judgment was to take place Christ the Seed of the Woman steps in becomes a Surety and bruiseth the head of the Serpent Gen. 3. 14 15. He shall said the Angel to Joseph save his people from their sins Mat. 1. 21. the tares then are spared till the Wheat be gathered Mat. 13. 29 30. Secondly By an inward work of sanctification promoted in the hearts of redeemed ones by Christ who saith the Apostle Paul gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. 2. 14. There is a two-fold bearing down of sin here to be considered 1. A bearing of it down in Saints for they are justified by Christ and sanctified by the Spirit 1 Cor. 6. 11. a stop is put to sin in them yea to such sins which were destructive to human society for such sins were to be found amongst the Corinthians before conversion in regard of their reigning power v. 9 10 11 of the same Chapter 2. Bearing of it down by Saints and that 1. In regard of their common and general Calling as Christians so they do or at leastwise are to live it down and pray it down in others The best Saint may contribute something as a polish't shaft in the hand of the Lord to wound sin The Lord in his Providence hath cast Saints as Salt up and down the World and were it not for this Salt there would be such an ill savour that it would be time to set the World on fire See Mat. 5. 13 14 15 16. Phil. 2. 15. 1 Pet. 2. 11 12. 2. In regard of some Calling special and so 1. As Magistrates These as Saints are to use their authority and power for Christ Job brake the jaws of the wicked and pluck't the spoil out of his teeth Job 29. 17. When I saith David shall receive the congregation I will judg uprightly Psal 75. 2. 2. As Ecclesiastical Ministers who may be said to bear down sin 1. In regard of the real conversion of some Sin receives a killing-blow from the preaching of the word see Acts 26. 18. Rom. 10. 17. 2. In regard of moral illumination of others whereby some for a time at least are curbed Mark 6. 20. Notorious evils are the proper fruit of the Tree of Ignorance Gen. 20. 11. 1 Pet. 1. 14. with chap. 4. v. 3 4. The very checking in of vile lusts may give a check to terrible Judgments which break in on persons and places otherwise The filthy lust of some of the Benjamites made soul work amongst their Tribe Their burning-lusts ended in the burning of their City see Judg. 19. 25. with Judg. 20. 40. Thirdly By way of prevention Though men have a seed-plot of sin in their hearts yet some of the seeds at some times lye there as dead So in Exod. 34. 24. I will cast out the nations before thee and enlarge thy borders neither shall any man desire thy land when thou shalt go to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year God hath variety of ways to hush and still the cry of Robbery Spoil and Cruelty He who made the Soul of man knows how to have access to the door of every affliction and so to set a lock and key on it Fourthly By way of inhibition There are the stirrings of sin but they are but stirrings The shackles of restraint are clapt on by Providence Lust hath conceived but it bringeth not forth to allude to that in James 1. 15. The birth of the Project is an abortive Now how Providence doth block up the lusts of men so that though there be consultation and resolution yet the design walks not abroad into the field but is confined within doors may call for our admiration rather than discussion A comprehensive recital of the many ways which Providence hath to lay siege to the hearts of men is not to be expected It 's not for a Cock-shell-understanding to take in the Ocean A few drops then of that River which Providence cuts a channel or trench for the keeping in of sinners so that they sally not out and do that mischief which might be done may here be put together and that in the Vessel of the Sanctuary I mean according to Scripture 1.