Oxen do all in a moment Remember that great man in whom unbelief was regent 2 Kings 7. He talks of Windows in Heaven and yet the Shop windows on earth were open the next day according to the Prophet's words v. 16. the great man saw the Market but it was no fair one to him for he was trodden to death v. 20. Remember his example not by way of imitation but caution 4. Treasure up more than ordinary dispensations of Providence in which thou hast had a share Hath thy Barrel of Meal wasted not nor thy Cruse of Oyl fail'd not according to that 1 Kings 17. 16. O forget not that hand of Providence which by that time that thou hadst taken out one handful and spent it did cast in another handful Hath God at any time check't a Laban calm'd an Esau crush't an Herod intending mischief O let such displays be written on the heart with a Pen of Iron and point of a Diamond OBSERVATION XIII As there is a general Order or Connexion of things so there 's a more special or signal Method of Providence in and about some Matters CHAP. I. THIS special Method may be considered 1. In regard of God's afflicting men for sin Men have their Method in sinning God hath his in punishing The blushing sinner at first after hath a brow of brass The walking in the counsel of the ungodly makes way for standing in the way of sinners and so for sitting in the seat of the scornful Psal 1. 1. Sin is progressive fresh-men or Novices in the Devil's School quickly aspire after the Doctor 's Chair And as the sinner hath thus his walk of vanity so the Lord doth ordinarily warn before he strikes There is a fiting of the Beacons before the Host or Army of Judgments is landed Sâ—e Gen. 6. 3. Luke 13. 34. 2. In regard of exalting parties and so there is an humbling and abasing work upon their hearts which is preambulatory or goes before As pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall Prov. 16. 18. so the fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom and before honour is humility Prov. 15. 33. Humble your selves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up James 4. 10. The humbling-dispensations which did betide Joseph David with others did lead the dance to exalting-ones 3. In regard of conversion from a state of nature to a state of grace and so there is conviction-work which like the needle enters the cloath Men leap not out of the warm bed of their Lusts into the lap of Evangelical Comforts The Israelites were stung with fiery Serpents ere there was a looking to the brazen Serpent Numb 21. 8. They who are not sensible of the bitings of sin will not regard a Saviour The pricking at the heart awakens men to consideration-work Acts 3. 37. 4. In regard of some more than ordinary service unto which God calleth persons whether for Church or State God is pleased to vouchsafe more than ordinary encouragement when he calleth persons to more than ordinary employment God was at the cost and charges of Miracle after Miracle when he sends Moses to bring his people out of Egypt Exod. 4. Joshua is told by God As I was with Moses so I will be with thee I will not fail thee nor forsake thee Josh 1. 5. Isaiah had an hard Chapter to read unto a stubborn people he was sensible of his own pollution difficulties there were not meerly in fancy's brow the Lord helpeth and encourageth him Isa 6. 5 to the end Paul had an hard task but the Lord sweetens all See Acts 9. 15 16. Acts 26. 15 16 17 18. 5. In regard of some afflictions with which by way of trial God may exercise some and so there 's a previous or preparatory work of Providence God is before-hand with some Cordial against some fainting-fit He strengthens the back before he lays on the burden Christ is transfigured on the high Mountain before Peter James and John Mat. 17. initio and this to corroborate them when he shall shortly be crucified and transfixed with a Spear on Mount Calvary they needed this display of Providence as bladders to bear up when they were like to be plunged even to a questioning whether Christ were the Messiah for so we read Luke 24. 21. but we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel In 2 Cor. 12. 4. mention is made how Paul was caught up into Paradise and in v. 7. there is a relation of one no good one who did catch at Paul's Comforts 'T was well for Paul that he was feasted in the Lord's Dining-room before he was had down into Satan's Dungeon of Temptations Had not the Coat of Mail been first put him on him the thorn in the flesh would have pierced and sorely grieved him To conclude this the Christian's Sun doth shine very gloriously before some notable Eclipse at hand CHAP. II. 1. SEE from whence it is that some judicious Christians do give a notable guess at the issues of matters They live nigh in point of communion to the great Landlord of the World and so know some of his ordinary walks hither and thither one while he useth to walk up the hill another while down into the valley this they know and take notice of Besides the great God is pleased sometimes to tell them whither he is a going Gen. 18. 17 And the Lord said shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do And Amos 3. 7. Surely the Lord will do nothing but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the Prophets It is said of Luther That he had a foresight of the Calamities to come on Germany The Reverend Vsher foretold the time of the late Tragedy in Ireland The Sermons of some pious Ministers have been better understood by their Hearers some years after They who seemed to talk in the Clouds have been acknowledged to speak from Heaven as to what hath fallen out on Earth 2. Beware of crossing and thwarting with such special Methods of Providence and that these ways 1. In not heeding warnings which is the too common sin of men who are as the deaf Adder as the Psalmist describeth Psal 58. 4. 2. In not being abased under humbling-dispensations Some are humbled but not humble Pharaoh had a proud heart notwithstanding all the Plagues Too much of Pharaoh-like heart is to be found where the Rod of God hath lighted For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth and smote him I hid me and was wroth and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart Isa 57. 17. 3. In not improving Convictions Some break Prison from them they with Cain build Cities or with Saul are for Musick few with Paul are wrestling at a Throne of Grace under them Acts 9. 11. Behold he prayeth 4. In a backwardness to set upon such particular work as God calleth unto Moses had encouragement to a miracle yet he draws
that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God 2. From God's doing nothing whilst men are in expectation of great matters to be done Learn 1. What reason there is for men to look to the ground of their Expectations To expect other-what other-when and otherwise than the Lord hath purposed or made some discovery of such a purpose is to build Castles in the air not in the Heavens and what hath not its foundation in Heaven as the Lord is the Founder of it will not have its superstruction on Earth For ever O Lord thy word is seated in heaven Psal 119. 89. Who is he that saith and it cometh to pass when the Lord commandeth it not Lament 3. 37. 2. In the second place Learn from hence to view the folly of wicked men's purposes presumptions designs in their prosecution and persecution of the Saints of God O how often are they disappointed The greedy Dogs often catch not the morsel and when they do they vomit it up again They pay deer for their lust here or hereafter in Hell They have their gnashing of teeth in regard of disappointments before they gnash them in the other World Herod to please the Jews will murder Peter the Lamb is taken but not to be slain till after the Passover and not then for now I know saith Peter of a surety that the Lord hath sent his Angel and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews Acts 12. 12. It is reported how Julian the Emperor Theod. lib. 3. c. 23. intending the Persians being conquered to fall in on Christians with his Army at his return and that one Libanius the Sophister spake to a Christian-School-master of Antioch saying What is the Son of the Carpenter now a doing To whom reply was made how the great Carpenter of the World was making a Coffin And not long after the slain body of Julian was brought to Antioch A good lesson for the Libaniusses and Julians of the World to ponder on OBSERVATION XI There is an admirable adaptation or connexion of things with things whereby this or that is Midwifed or Birthed into the world Or Providence hath its Chain the several Links whereof are set together by an Over-ruling Hand CHAP. I. THE truth of this may be evidenced divers ways 1. This is emblematically described in the Situ verò demonstratur harum conditio quod aliae in aliis dicuntur fuisse id est non solum cohaerentes sed etiam adunatae Providentia Dei adeo ut quemadmodum ex causa unâ inferiore procreantur effecta plurima sic contra ad effectum unum causae plurimae pertineant plurimum Junius word We have a most exquisite picture of this in Ezek. 1. the Wheels there are asserted to have a near neighbourhood v. 16. a wheel in the middle of a wheel to note their implication or connexion and the living creatures are coupled with the wheels in regard of influences for when the living creatures went the wheels went by them and when the living creatures were lift up from the earth the wheels were lifted up v. 19. 2. God doth expresly own such an adaptation Docemur etiam Creaturas omnes esse convenientissimo ordine collocatas ita ut una ab altero pendeat ex earum connexione constituatur sua vis illa concinna mundi harmonia frumentum ut nascatur opus habet terrâ terra pluriâ pluvia est à coelo omnia sunt à Deo qui solus independens rerum omnium concentum efficit moderatur Rivetus in locum or connexion of things with things So in Hos 2. 21 22. And it shall come to pass in that day I will hear saith the Lord I will hear the heavens and they shall bear the earth and the earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oyl and they shall hear Jezreel 3. There are clear exemplifications of this adaptation or connexion 1. In Naturals so in the place mentioned Hos 2. 21 22. so Ps 104. 10 11 12 13 14. 2. In Civils Magistrates are to rule and people to be ruled Rom. 13. 1. And where it is not so there is an adaptation of things in way of punishment Judg. 17. 6. 3. In Sacreds There is a constituted order in the Church 1 Cor. 12. 18. Heb. 13. 17. And not only is there an adaptation this way but likewise in regard of the means of Grace and Grace by the means A connexion there is but yet arbitrary according to the good pleasure of God when and to whom Grace is conveyed by the Means The Apostle Paul asserts a connexion when he thus stateth the matter saying So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God Rom. 10. 17. 4. This adaptation or connexion may be more particularly evidenced if we cast an eye 1. On Organs or Instruments 2. Occasions or Inducements 3. Means 4. Opportunities for the management of matters 1. There is an adaptation in regard of Instruments ministerial In the shop of Providence there are tools of all sorts and sizes If the Lord will punish the Nations he can find an Hammer to knock them down Thou art my battel-ax and weapons of warr for with thee will I break in pieces the nations c. Jer. 51. 20 c. If the day of visitation be come for an Ahab's Family and Baal's worshippers there is a Jehu a rough Captain-General who drives furiously 2 Kings 9. 20. If God will vouchsafe good days to a people he can raise up Political Shepherds such as David of whom it is said he fed them according to the integrity of his heart and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands Psal 78. 72. And as there is an adaptation in regard of Political Instruments so likewise in regard of Ecclesiastical There is a zealous Elijah in times of apostacy and declining from God's Worship and a John the Baptist of whom the Angel saith He shall go before him i. e. Christ in the spirit and power of Elias to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord Luke 1. 17. There is an admirable adaptation in the Church's having not only Elijahs John Baptists but likewise others whose endowments are useful to confute Adversaries as Apollos Acts 15. 28. and to comfort distressed and build up souls in practical way of converse with God See Job 33. 23. 2 Cor. 1. 4. 2. There is an adaptation or suiting of things in regard of occasions or kind of in lets into this or that Both the son's and father's discontents are inducements to Jacob to mind a removal from Laban Gen. 31. 1 2. A report sounds in Pharaoh's ears that Israel fled probably he conceived the Israelites to flye like Hares such who might easily be hunted back again to Egypt and
the sea shall declare unto thee Who knoweth not in all these the hand of the Lord hath wrought this Job 12. 7 8 9. There are four things observable the first whereof is general the other three more special but all of them corroborate or confirm the testimony of Providence That which is general is the admirable and wise disposition of things The Creatures know their ranks and files so in Psal 74. The day is thine the night also is thine thou hast prepared the light and the sun thou hast set all the borders of the earth thou hast made summer and winter v. 16 17. Simul etiam à facili argumentatur Cum talia praestes quotidie quanto facilius potes nos liberare Molleras in loc Note here how the words do not only declare an exact and constituted order in naturals but do likewise imply a rich display of Wisdom in the vicissitudes and successions of distresses and deliverances which are wisely timed by the Providence of God for his people And to this purpose tends the scope of the Psalmist here The things special in the Providence of God are 1. The transcendency or extraordinary visibility of it in some matters Providence oftentimes mounts aloft above the reason of second Causes Thus the Centurion and they that were with him watching Jesus when they saw the Earthquake and what was done they feared greatly saying Truly this was the Son of God Mat. 27. 54. 2. The wonderful adaequateness and proportion of a dispensation An instance for this is that in Judg. 1. 6 7. As I have done saith Adonibezek there so God hath requited me 3. The correspondency or accord of a dispâ—nsation with Divine Predictions and Comminations So the raising up of Cyrus Ezek. 1. 1 2 3 4. compared with Isa 44. 28. and 45. 13. And so likewise the Jews under their calamities might behold the convincing-hand of Providence when their language is Like as the Lord of Hosts thought to do unto us according to our ways and according to our doings so hath he dealt with us Zech. 1. 6. And not only the crushing-dispensations by the Babylonian considered in conjunction with the threatnings of the Prophets carry the more of a convâ—ncing-light in them but likewise those by the Romans fore-told by Daniel and more nearly intimated by our Saviour Mat. 24. 15 16. Luke 23. 28 29 30. I shall here annex what Josephus a Jew hath as pertinent to the matter in hand Antiq. lib 10. c. 11. and so pass to the next Argument At the same time Daniel wrote as touching the Empire of the Romans how it should destroy our Nation and hath left all these things in writing according as God declared unto him so that they who read and consider those things that have happened admire Daniel for the honour God hath dignified him with and find thereby that Epicures err who drive all Providence from human life and affirm That God governeth not the affairs of the World or that the World is administred by an happy and incorruptible essence which causeth all things to continue in their beeing but say that the World is managed by it self by Casualty without any Conductor or such an one as hath care thereof for if it were so and that it were destitute of a Soveraign Governour as we see Ships destitute of their Pilots to be drowned by the Winds and Chariots that have no Drivers to conduct them to beat one against another even so should it ruinate it self By these things therefore that Daniel hath foretold I judg that they are far estranged from the truth that affirm That God hath no care of human affairs for it we see that all things happen casually then happen they not according to this Prophecy 3. From the Absurdities on the contrary 1. The World in regard of the comely oeconomy or administration of it which takes place would not be a World whilst it is a World for if there are evil Angels and these so malicious and mischievous as the word of God affirmeth these would marr the beauty of all and turn all into heaps of confusion were there not a curbing-Providence as is fully declared from Job chap. 1 and 2. and Mat. 8. 31 32. In both which places men may behold Beelzebub with his Companions in the Chains of Providence 2. The Checks of conscience and fears on the spirits of men would be but a false fire and groundless fancy if there were not a Providence and this is contrary to that of the Apostle in Rom. 2. 15. where he speaks of an accusing and terrifying Conscience in the Heathens who stood in some awe of a Deity or a Providence controlling them and punishing them for their mis-deeds The barbarous people of Melita had an observation of Vengeance pursuing Murder as may be collected from Acts 28. 24. 3. A gap to Atheism Brutality and all manner of prophaness would be opened by a Si providentia Dei non praesideat rebus humanis nihil est amplius de religione satagendum August Si autem homo eò devenit ut secum cogitet nullam esse providentiam Deum nostra nihil curare patefecit jam sibi januam ad omnem nequitiam audet quid vis tam dicere tam facere nec ullum repriprimit affectum quaere diabolus ejus rei non ignarus contendit omnibus viribus hominem eo inducere ut divinam providentiam neget Lavat in Job c. 22. denial of God's Providence If this deep be broken up no wonder if a deluge or flood of ungodliness follow What the Apostle doth infer from the denial of the resurrection will be the first use of such a wicked doctrine 1 Cor. 15. 32. Let us eat and drink for to morrow we dye but surely Humanity much more Christianity dictates otherwise CHAP. II. THough the Doctrine of Providence be written with a Sun-beam yet there are some mists and fogs by reason whereof some are at a puzzle and ready to question the truth of God's Providence The great and common Objection is The seeming confusion in the World by reason of the fury and tyranny of some wicked ones who prosper in their attempts on others better than themselves and not only Heathens of the wild Common of the World but others of the enclosed Garden of the Lord have hereupon been staggered as Psal 73. v. 2 3. I shall not here fall in with a large discourse by way of reply to this Objection In short then let it be considered 1. Whatever there is of proper ataxie disorder or confusion is not to be charged on the Lord who is not the author of confusion 1 Cor. 14 33. 2. There is a wise and righteous method of God in all the disorders and confusions of men Providence is in the head of the Creatures observing a goodly order when the Creatures to our apprehension keep neither rank nor file A serious search then being made into the
hearkened unto my counsel 2 Chron. 25. 16. Men live not then half their days according to the probable course of Nature though they dye according to the number of days fore-known or determined by God 3. It may be objected That some are the cause of their own death and so dye before their time according to what is said Eccles 7. 17. Why shouldst thou dye before thy time Ans 1. The same will hold if it had strength as to others being the cause of the death of others as the Jews who killed Christ and yet this horrid fact of theirs was consistent with the stated time of Christ's Ministry on earth as was before proved John 7. 30. John 8. 20. John 13. 1. 2. However some are the cause of their own death yet not without the wise Providence of God either as righteously punishing them 1 Sam. 31. 4 2 Sam. 17. 23. or graciously chastizing them 1 Cor. 11. 30. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep So Josiah is in a sort accessory to his own death and yet he dyes in peace whilst he dyes in warr his death was but a sanctified flea-biting in comparison of the evil to come on his Kingdom he is removed from being a heart-broken Spectator of them and lives not to be the object of a barbarous and insulting Adversary's reproach and cruelty See 2 King 22. 20. with 2 Chron. 35. and 36 chap. Now from what hath been said as touching the extent of Divine Providence to the death of persons these four following Consectaries or Lessons may be commended 1. There is no reason to give way to anxious and disquieting thoughts from the consideration of difficulties dangers casualties which may attend our selves or those related to us in the way or calling in which God by his Providence engageth in according to his word warranting the way or calling There is an irregular fear and disquiet which leaps objectively from the black face of second causes into the hearts of men and women Our Saviour intimates so much in Mat. 10. 28. the disease there is Fears about the body and the cure of this disease is by going into the Shop of Divine Providence where a remedy may be had v. 29. the sweet and serious meditation on Divine Providence is the best Cordial under all fears and disquiets of this nature It comes to be the death of fears and disquiets which referrs to death There is a story of an Husbandman and Sea-man communing together The Husbandman asks the Sea-man Of what Civil Profession his Father was He replies A Sea-man as he was and so likewise was his Grandfather too The Husbandman enquires where his Father died Answer is made At Sea and so did his Grandfather too Hereupon saith the Husbandman Are you not afraid to go to Sea The Sea-man asks the Husbandman of what Profession was his Father and after his Grandfather and it being answered They were both Husbandmen he further asketh where they died Answer is made At home in their beds And are not you saith the Sea-man afraid to go to bed The application of this story is easie and needs not a screw 2. It 's wisdom then for persons to interest themselves in the God of Providence Happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psal 145. 15. there are two great encouragements to look after an interest in God as reconciled to the soul in and through Jesus Christ 1. None go with so strong a guard as they who have thus the Lord for their God Christ tells his Disciples that the very hairs of their head were all numbred Mat. 10. 30. 2. Whatever distresses Saints meet withal suppose a violent death they have a counterpoyson or remedy against the evil of the evils The Lord 's John Baptists lose their heads but not an hair they are then gainers when they seem to be losers There is enough by death to make amends for death Blessed are they which dye in the Lord c. Rev. 14. 13. 3. It may quiet the spirit when God takes away by death Friends Relations acquaintants These dye not at hap-hazzard The God of Wisdom placeth and displaceth persons in the World and all wisely and righteously If Children are with us like Jonah's Gourd for a night and then a Worm eats them to a withering There is no reason to quarrel with the Lord who hath variety of wise Ends in the Gourd-dispensation of this Nature We have reason to quarrel with our unreasonable quarrellings at the Lord 's bereaving us of Relations There was never a Marriage but a Funeral as consequent And yet doth not the Funeral of Relations usher in the Funerals of quietness and thankfulness to God for the loan of comfortable Relations so long If one lend us an hundred pounds for some years freely and after calls for it Is there ground for disquiet and fullenness as if so be there had been no courtesie at all for divers years How often do we forget our selves as men and much more as Christians in matters of this nature The Apostle Paul doth caution against irregular sorrow for death of persons 1 Thess 4. 13. and an excellent Illud quoque quâ justitiâ in omnibus rebus es necesse est te adjuvet cogitantem Non injuriam tibi factam quod talem fratrem amisisti sed beneficium datum quod tam diu pietate ejus tibi uti fruique licuit Seneca de consolatione ad Polybium Copy is left for us to write by when Death sets its cold hand on any of our friends 2 Sam. 12. 22 23. 4. What ground is here for a mortifi'd frame of spirit both to things and persons in the world Our days and the days of others will have their period We and others are like passengers in a Ship who whether they sit walk on the Decks or sleep in the Cabins are in motion towards the Haven The World is rather an Inn than an accustomed Home-Stall or Dwelling-house one generation passeth away and another cometh Eccles 1. 4. It 's folly then for the sons of men to be elbow-deep in the thick clay of the world as if so be they and their wealth their pomp and their pleasures were to abide here for ever Oh that what the Apostle Paul adviseth were engraven on the heart with a pen of Iron and the point of a Diamond But this I say brethren The time is short it remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they bad none and they that weep as though they wept not and they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not and they that buy as though they possessed not and they that use this world as not abusing it for the fashion of this world passeth away 1 Cor. 7. 29 30. 31. SECT 5. That the Providence of God extendeth to the meanest creatures and things trivial or of less moment in human apprehension comes in the last place to be insisted on and this
be said to be ordinary when difficult and pinching-cases do occurr Others beside the Widow of Sarepta can tell stories by way of some kind of equivalent proportion as touching the Meal in the Barrel and the Oyl in the Cruse not wasting and failing 1 King 17. 14. they have been holpen along in their particular Wilderness their little hath gone a great way with them the little Buttery hath been instead of a large Larder and Cellar 3. If due consideration were had to the World one may say That it is a large Wilderness or Desart where the footsteps of the old Wilderness-Dispensation in Moses dayes and the feeding of the multitude in the Desart by Christ may be traced I verily believe saith Luther Non desunt viri docti prudentes qui putant plures homines in orbe terrarum vivere quà m quotannis manipuli frugum crescant numerentur in agris Neque hoc vero est absimile Maxime si inspiciantur urbes maritimae quae quidem sunt populosissimae interdum ne minimum quidem agri possident ex quo frumenta sumaut Unde verò hi homines omnes aluntur ut comedant supersit juxta verbum Domini 2 Reg. 4. 44 ex hac benedictione filii Dei quae facit ut non tantum sem in a in agris sed etiam frumentum in horreis in granariis quin farina in vasculo panis in furno in mensa in ore ventriculo manducantium mirabiliter invisibiliter crescat augeatur Lib. 4. Harm Evang. c. 76. that there do not grow so many sheaves of Corn as there are people in the world and yet we are all fed To this accords the judgment of Leiser who withall relates this story Frederick the third the Emperor at an Assembly of people at Colen when a vast multitude out of many Nations were there met and he doubting provision would come far short for the relief of such a multitude commanded both Men and Loaves to be numbred and when the number of the Men was found far to exceed he feared many would perish with famine but it was otherwise for no one perisht ' they had food to the full and great plenty did remain And thus in answer to the Objection and consequently for the evidencing the wonderful Providence of God in feeding the sons of men CHAP. II. 1. SEE the unbelief and atheism of those who can see no other way than a bloody one for a Nation 's subsistence In the History of the Civil-warrs of France it is recorded that when complaints were made of barbarous and cut-throat out-rages the Duke of Guise answered There is no remedy we have too much people in France I will deal so as victuals may be good-cheap This Man-of-blood little considered of God's Providence which is the Store-house of Provision Had he cast an eye back on Providence towards Canaan a lesser Countrey than France he might have replied O pray pray that the sword may be turned in the plough share and the spear into a pruning-hook Let Atheistical Politicians talk then of their bloody way let Christians remember the milky-one of obedience to God So Deut. 28. 1. And it shall come to pass if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God to observe and to do all his commandments c. the Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure the heaven to give thee rain unto thy land in his season and to bless all the work of thine hand v. 12. 2. Observe the Providence of God in his wise-ordering the affairs of the great House of the World It is said that when the Queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom and the House that he had built and the meat of his Table and the sitting of his servants and the attendance of his ministers and their apparel and his Cup-bearers and his ascent by which he went up unto the House of the Lord there was no more spirit in her 1 King 10. 4 5. There is indeed greater ground for admiration and astonishment in beholding the order and provision of the great House of the World for Solomon's wisdom by which he managed the affairs of his house was but a derived drop of that Providence by which God governs the World 3. Secure a special interest in the great Steward of the World I mean the Providence of God It is said of pious Mr. Hieron that when his Wife was making her moan to him by reason of a large Family of Children whom now he was about to leave to the wide world the time of his dissolution drawing near that then no less graciously than wittily he replied saying God who provideth for the young Ravens will provide for the young Herons Thus said that Man of God and his Family had experience of God's gracious Providence towards them It well becometh Christians then to be acting faith on God's Providence for them and theirs This is a point that our Saviour insists on Mat. 6. 26 c. There are two general Arguments by which this duty is backt The one is from the lesser to the greater If God take care for the fowls of the air which sow not neither do reap nor gather into barns will he not feed the children The other is drawn from the greater to the less If God be a heavenly Father gives a Kingdom spares not his own Son will he not take care for lesser matters so far as they are needful here in this state of pilgrimage This later Argument we have implied there and more express in Luke 12. 32. to which add that of the Apostle in Rom. 8. 32. If it be objected here That many of God's children have their hardships yea some have been starved in prisons and therefore what doth it avail to secure an interest in God's Providence or to act faith thereon A. 1. A Truth is not to be thrown by as a Pebble because of some exception It is a good rule given for the understanding of Solomon's Proverbs how divers of them are to be understood as often or frequently thus The ordinary way of having Corn is by plowing and sowing shall men throw aside all because they have not a good-year of Corn at times David acknowledgeth God's Providence towards him from the womb and from the breast Psal 22. 9 10. yea he had experience of God's bounty in preparing a Table for him Psal 23. 5. yet a time of straits he had when he sent to Nabal for provision 1 Sam. 25. 2. Providence is a wise Steward It is the order of the great House that some be put out of Commons or kept short at least for a time My wants saith one kill my wantonness It 's a hard matter not to have the heart swell when the bags swell The fat pastures make way for exalted hearts and forgetting of God Hos 13. 6. And though this be not the case of others yet God hath wise ends in their debasements