Selected quad for the lemma: sense_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sense_n	believe_v	scripture_n	word_n	5,887	5	4.8689	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66025	A discourse concerning the beauty of providence in all the rugged passages of it very seasonable to quiet and support the heart in these times of publick confusion / by John Wilkins ...; Sermons. Selections	Wilkins, John, 1614-1672.	1649 (1649)	Wing W2177; ESTC R1664	26,998	144

considered we should finde them to be performed in their most comely order and best opportunity As for the two first particulars though they are implyed in the text yet are they more expresly handled in the former verses And therefore I shall passe them over without any further inlargement insisting onely upon this latter as being more directly agreeable to the main scope of the words And t is a subject that in many respects will deserve your more especiall attention T is not commonly treated of And besides it may very much conduce to our contentment to settle our hearts against all those conditions that may be fall us in the world T is of very generall use and concernment sutable to all times and occasions For times of suffering to make us patient and submissive For times of mercy to make us cheerfull and thankfull In brief it extends to all persons relations businesses seasons nothing is more generally usefull then this to have our hearts fully perswaded of that wise order and contrivance which there is in the disposall of every particular event in the world And t is more especially seasonable for times of trouble and confusion when men are apt to mistrust the government of Providence as if he did neglect the care of this lower world and leave all things to their own jarring principles Then I say t is more especially seasonable to vindicate the care and wisdome of Providence to shew that every thing which God doth is best and consequently that these many distractions and confusions under which we suffer are farre better then any other though the most flourishing condition could be And that 's the subject I am now to insist upon The point is this Every particular event is most beautifull in that time which the providence of God hath allotted to it A truth by so much the more seasonable for these times by how much t is now the more difficult to beleeve it The Observation lyes plainly both in the scope of the place and the most obvious sence of the words The Scripture is copious in other proofs to this purpose Deut. 32. 4. His work is perfect and his wayes are judgement a God of truth and without iniquity just and right Not onely his first work of creation is exactly good and perfect but his wayes of Providence also are disposed with judgement and righteousnesse So again Isa. 28. 29. The Lord of hosts is wonderfull in counsell and excellent in working That is every event of Providence is managed pre-ordained by an admirable wisdome and therfore must needs be of excellent contrivance And again Dan. 2. 20 21. Wisdome and might are his he changeth the times and the seasons he removeth Kings and he setteth up Kings Those two attributes of strength wisedome are for the most part put together in Scripture God never shews any argument of his strength but his wisdome is ingaged in it also Those great alterations subversions which happen in the world do not more demonstrate the greatnesse of his power in the doing of them then the greatnesse of his wisdom in disposing of them for the best And again Psal. 104. 24. O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisedome hast thou made them all the earth is full of thy riches Which is as well true of the works of Providence as of the works of creation But this truth is more directly intimated by that vision of Ezekiel in the first Chapter of his Prophesie wherein he doth expresse how all events in the world are wisely disposed of by the care and government of Providence The scope of that vision was to confirm the faith of the Prophet in the certainty of those things which he was to foretell because God himself by whom he was inspired had such a special influence in the orderly managing of all inferior events Though matters might seem to run upon wheels as we say to follow their own courses without any speciall guidance to go at random yet these wheels have eyes in them v. 18. that is there is the eye of Providence which directs them in their revolutions And then besides these wheels are likewise governed by the foure living creatures that is by the Angels of God who are fitted for all their services with foure remarkableendowments 1. With wisdom and prudence typified in that vision by the face of a man 2. Courage and resolution the face of a Lion 3. Sedulitie and diligence the face of an ox 4. Swiftnesse and dispatch the face of an Eagle In all which the Prophet doth at large explain unto us with what deliberate care and forecast the Providence of God doth dispose of all these inferior events This truth may yet be further evidenced from the very light of Nature and the testimony of the Heathen Hence was it that the Ancients did set forth their Gods with Harps in their hands to shew the harmony they observed in the government of the world And Mid●● was condemned to wear Asses ears because he preferred Pans Pipe before Apollo's Lute Humane policy before Divine Providence Nay the devill himself doth acknowledge the wisdom and seasonablenesse of Divine proceedings and therfore would fain have sheltred himself under this pretence Matth. 8. 29. Art thou come to torment us before our time Implying that it would not become the God of order to do any thing untimely And doubtles that must needs be an evident and a great truth which is confest by the mouth of so great a lyar For the further confirmation of this let us a little consider some of those rugged passages of Providence which seem to be performed with the greatest negligence and deformity Look upon the History of Joseph he was you know one of the promised Seed concerning whom God had foretold a superiority and dominion over the rest of his family Now that after this he should be exposed to the treachery of his malicious brethren That besides his nearnesse to slaughter from their hands he should be sold into a far Countrey whence there was no hopes ever to hear of him again That there he should be so endangered by the rage of a lustfull woman and suffer so tedious and unjust an imprisonment all this might seem to be an over-sight and neglect of Providence as if it had forgotten that promotion which Joseph was designed to And yet do but reflect upon the latter part of the story and you shall find how all these misfortunes did mightily conduce not onely to his advancement but alto to the safety and preservation of that whole family which was then the visible Church So that if each of his brethren had given him as much money as they sold him for it had not been so great a kindnesse as he received from their intended crueltie It is an elegant glosse of St. Gregory upon this story Divino judicio quod declinare conati sunt renitendo

that is Those concealed providences wch we do not discern the reason of are of much greater proportion then those that appear We read in that fore-cited place Ezek. 1. 16. of a wheel within a wheel signifying those involutions and intricacies which there are in the wayes of Providence And the Psalmist tels us that His way is in the Sea and his paths in the great waters and his footsteps are not known Psal. 77. 19. As it is in the works of Nature where there are many common things of excellent beauty which for their littlenesse do not fall under our sence they that have experimented the use of Microscopes can tell how in the parts of the most minute creatures there may be discerned such gildings and embroderies and such curious varietie as another would scarse believe Why t is so in the works of Providence there are very many passages of frequent daily occurrence whose excellent contrivance doth not fall under our sence or observation 2. Our own ignorance and short sightednesse and that in a twofold respect 1. We cannot see that end and drift which Providence aimes at in many particulars and therefore no wonder though they seem unto us rude and uncomely We measure things by this false ballance of opinion which weighs onely their outsides and doth not look upon their ends and relations Now the beauty of things doth consist much in their tendency and reference to their proper ends If an ignoraut man that knows not the reason of a Winde-mill or Water-mill should look upon them onely as places of habitation he cannot think them well scituated where they are so much exposed to the violence of winds waves whereas he that understands how the wisdome of the Artificer hath contrived those motions unto usefull ends must needs confesse a beauty and comelinesse in the work T is so likewise in the events of Providence which none can rightly apprehend but he that understands the speciall drift and purposes which they are designed to 2. We cannot see the whole frame of things how sundry particular events in a mutuall relation do concur to make up the beauty of the whole He that can discern onely two or three wheels in a Clock how they move one against another would presently think that there were contrariety and confusion in the work Whereas he that beholds the whole frame and discerns how all those divers motions do joyntly conduce to the same end cannot choose but acknowledge a wise order in the contrivance of it So likewise is it in the frame of times where he alone is fit to judge of particulars who understands how they refer to the generall But now we are but of yesterday and know nothing because our dayes upon earth are as a shadow saith Bildad Job 8. 9. We look upon things according to a short succession and so are not able to discern that beautie which there is in their references to other matters a farre of But now to God a thousand yeers are but as one day He beholds all things whether past or to come in the same instant There is no succession in eternity but all things within the reach of time are present unto that Though in the revolution of a wheel there be a mutuall succession betwixt the parts contained in it yet an eye that is placed without can at the same time discern the whole motion Thus also is it in the revolution of time where though there be a mutuall succession betwixt those things that are contained under time yet God who is without and above it doth at the same view behold all together So that 't is no wonder though many things seeme beautifull to him which to us who are so short-sighted may appear harsh and deformed 2. The 2d Quaerie was this If there be such an over-ruling Providence which doth dispose of all to the best how comes it to passe that there are so many sinfull actions in the world To this I answer two things 1. When men thwart Gods will of Precept they serve his will of Providence Those particular intersts of gain honour pleasure revenge which sway mens desires and actions are wisely contrived to the promoting of Gods decrees and glory When Augustus made the generall tax upon the world His end was to inrich himself and fill his coffers But God used it as a means to fulfill the prophesie of Christs birth at Bethlehem Rehoboam and Jehu and Cyrus had all their severall aymes in those works wherin they were subservient to Providence And they did stil accomplish his counsell in prosecuting their own designes 2. That which in respect of mans execution is wicked and disorderly in respect of Gods appointment is beautiful and comely There could not be any more horrid act then the Betraying and crucifying of our blessed Saviour and yet even in this as it was decreed by the determinate counsell and fore-knowledge of God Act. 2. 23. there was the greatest miracle of divine wisedome that ever was extended to the creature Such depths of policy which all the subtiltie of men or Angels was not able to contrive no nor to suspect {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} as the Apostle cals it Ephes. 3. 10. Interchangeable wisedom of curious variety as the word signifies Now if God could thus mannage the worst action of man to the best advantage of man well then may we conclude that every event of providence is beautifull in its time I have now done with the Explication and Confirmation of the text In the Application it may be usefull for these lessons 1. For Information and that in a twofold respect 1. It may teach us our duty to take notice of and observe the works of Providence 2. It may direct us what to judge of the affairs of these times under which we are fallen 1. If all the events of Providence be so wisely contrived t is certainly then our duty to consider and to take notice of them Psal. 111. 2. The works of the Lord are great sought out of all them that have pleasure therein And again v. 4. He hath so done his marvellous works that they ought to be had in remembrance Now a man cannot be said to seek out or to remember that which he doth not carefully observe T is the chief scope of that Psalm to excite men unto this duty And David makes it a note of pietie for men to delight themselves in the contemplation of Gods works to remember him in his wayes as the Prophet Isaiah speaks This Asaph found by experience to be a speciall Antidote against all diffidence and carnall fears In the 77. Psalm when he was surprized with those sad thoughts Will the Lord cast us off for ever and will he be no more intreated Hatb God forgotten to be gracious c. he presently applyes himself to this remedie v. 11 12. I will remember the works of the Lord surely I will remember thy