3. The third thing is, the various ways wherein men practically deny
favours them in sin, rather than the Creator who forbids it. But indeed the fears of conscience evidence a secret belief in men of a just providence, whatever means they use to stifle it; else why is man, upon the commission of some notorious sinful act, afraid of some evil hap to betide him? Why is he restless in himself? There is no sinner, unless extremely hardened, but hath some secret touch of conscience upon notorious enormities; while the work of the law is written in their heart, their conscience will bear witness and accuse them, Rom. 2:15. In the most flagitious courses which the apostle reckons up, Rom. 1:29–32, they cannot put off the knowledge of 'the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death,' that is, worthy of death by the judgment of God, which judgment is discovered in the law of nature.
3. The third thing is, the various ways wherein men practically deny providence, or abuse it, or contemn it.
(1.) When we will walk on in a way contrary to checks of providence, when we will run against the will of God manifested in his providence, we do deny his government, and refuse subjection to him; when we will be peremptory in our resolves against the declaration of God's will by his checks of providence, we contend with him about the government of us and our actions. Such a dispute had Pharaoh with God, notwithstanding all the checks by the plagues poured out upon him, he would march against Israel to take them out of God's hand into his own service again, Exod. 15:9, 'The enemy said, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.' Here is the will of man vaunting against the governor of the world, resolved to dispute God's royalty with him in spite of all the blastings of his designs, and the smart blows he had had from that powerful arm, which cost him and his subjects their lives; they would not understand the taking off their wheels, but would ran headlong into the Red Sea. A remarkable example of this is in a good man not so peremptory in words, but against the revelations of God's mind both by the prophet and his providence; Jehoshaphat had made a league
with Ahab, 2 Chron. 18:1–3, and God had ordered Micaiah to acquaint him with the ill success of the affair they went about, ver.
16, 19, which Jehoshaphat found true, for his own life was in danger, he was hardly beset by the enemy upon a mistake, ver. 31, 32, he had an eminent answer of prayer, for upon his cry he had a quick return;
God engaged his providence over his enemies' hearts for him: ver. 31, 'The Lord helped him, and God moved them to depart from him.'
And for this conjunction and continuance in it against Micaiah's prophecy, God sends a prophet to reprove him, 2 Chron 19:2, 'Should thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord? therefore is wrath upon thee from the Lord;' he reproves him sharply for this confederacy, yet Jehoshaphat after had a signal providence in delivering him from another army, chap. 20:24. Yet after this he goes on in this way, chap. 20:35, 'after this,' i.e., after a reproof by a prophet, after ill success in his league, after eminent care of God in his deliverance, after a signal freeing him from a dangerous invasion in a miraculous way, he enters into a league with Ahab's son, as wicked as his father, ver. 36; he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish, and after that a third prophet is sent to reprove him, and the ships were broken, ver. 37. Here is a remarkable opposition to checks of providence, and manifest declarations of God's will, as if he would be the commander of the world instead of God. Abner's action is much of the same kind, who would make the house of Saul strong against David, though he knew and was satisfied that God had promised the kingdom to David.
(2.) In omissions of prayer. One reason to prove the fools' denying God's government of the world is, that they call not upon the Lord,
Ps. 14:2, 'The Lord looked down from heaven, to see if there were any that did understand and seek God.' 'Tis certainly either a denying of God's sufficiency to help us, when we rather beg of every creature, than ask of God; or a charging him with a want of providence, as though he had thrown off all care of worldly matters: 2 Kings 1:3, 'Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that you go to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron?' Seeking of anything else with a neglect of God, is denying the care of God over his creature. Do we not in this
case make ourselves our own governors and lords, as though we could subsist without him, or manage our own affairs without his assistance? If we did really believe there was a watchful providence, and an infinite powerful goodness to help us, he would hear from us oftener than he doth. Certainly those who never call upon him disown his government of the world, and do not care whether he regards the earth or no. They think they can do what they please, without any care of God over them. The restraining prayer is a casting off the fear of God: Job 15:4, 'Thou castest off fear,' why? 'and restrainest prayer before God.' The neglect of prayer ariseth from a conceit of the unprofitableness of it. Job 21:15, 'What profit should we have if we prayed unto him?' Which conceit must be grounded upon a secret notion of God's carelessness of the world; such fruit could not arise but from that bitter root. But the prophet Malachi plainly expresses it: Malachi 3:14, 'Ye have said it is in vain to serve
God, and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance?' Whence did this arise, but from a denial of providence upon the observation of the outward happiness of the wicked? ver. 15, 'And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.' Sometimes it ariseth from an apprehension that God in the way of his providence dealeth unjustly with as. A good prophet utters such a sinful speech in his passion, 2
Kings 6:33, 'Behold, this evil is of the Lord, what should I wait for the Lord any longer?'
(3.) When men will turn every stone to gain the favourable assistance of men in their designs, and never address to God for his direction or blessing. When they never desire God to move the hearts of those whose favour they court, as though providence were an unuseful and unnecessary thing in the world. It was the case of those Elihu speaks of: Job 35:9, 10, 'They cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty. But none saith, Where is God my maker, who gives songs in the night?'
&c. None in the midst of their oppressions and cries under them, did consider either the power of God in the creation, as he was their maker, nor his providence in the government of the world, as he raised up men from low estates, and gave matter of cheerfulness
even in a time of darkness. This was the charge God by his prophet brought against Asa: 2 Chron. 16:7 (before the text, ver. 9), 'Thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the Lord thy God;' herein thou hast done foolishly,' where he sets a reliance on the creature, and a reliance on God, in direct opposition. In several cases men do thus deny and put a contempt on God as the governor of the world, when we will cast about to find out some creature-refuge, rather than have recourse to God for any supply of our necessities.
Doth not he slight his father's care, that will not seek to him in his distress? This was Asa's sin: 2 Chron. 16:12, 'In his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians.' The Jews think, that one reason why Joseph continued two years in prison, was his confiding too much upon the butler's remembrance of him, and interest for his deliverance, which they ground upon the request he makes to him:
Gen. 40:14, 'But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and shew kindness to me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house.' I must confess the expressions are very urgent, being so often repeated, and seems to carry a greater confidence at present in the arm of flesh than in God. We do not read that Joseph prayed so earnestly to God, though no doubt but being a good man he did. Methinks the setting down his request with that repetition in the Scripture, seems to intimate a probability of the Jews' conceit; or also when we do seek to him, but it is out of a general belief of his providence and sufficiency, not out of an actuated consideration; or when we seek to him with colder affections than we seek to creatures, as if we did half despair of his ability or will to help us; as when a man thinks to get learning by the sagacity of his own wit, his indefatigable industry, and never desires with any ardent affection the blessing of God upon his endeavours.
When we lean to our own wisdom, we distrust the providence of God: Prov. 3:5, 'Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to thine own understanding.' Trust in God, and leaning to our own wisdom, are opposed to one another as inconsistent; or when a man hath some great concern, suppose a suit at law, to think to carry his cause by the favour of friends, the help of his money, the eloquence of his advocate, and never interest God in his business: this is not to
acknowledge God in thy ways, which is the command: ver. 6, 'In all thy ways acknowledge him;' as though our works were not 'in the hand of God,' Eccles. 9:1. This is to take them out of God's hand, and put them into the hands of men. To trust in our wealth, it is to make
God a dead and a stupid God, and disown his providence in the bestowing it upon us. The apostle seems to intimate this in the opposition which he makes between 'uncertain riches,' and 'the living
God,' 1 Tim. 6:17. These, and many more actions suitable to them, are virtual denials of God's superintendence, as though God had left off the government of the world to the wits, or rather follies of men.
These are to magnify the things we seek to, above God, as the chief authors of all our good. It is to imagine him less careful than man, more insufficient than man. It is a departure from a full fountain to a shallow stream; not to desire God's assistance, is either from some check of conscience that our business is sinful, that we dare not interest him in it, or a disowning God's care, as if we could hide our counsels from him (Isa. 29:15, 'Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and they say, Who seeth us, and who knoweth us?'), and bring our business to pass before he shall know of it; at least it is a slighting God's government, since we will not engage
God by prayer in the exercise of it on our behalf, and disdain to acquaint him with our concerns. It is a reflection upon God's wisdom to do so, which the prophet mentions with a woe: Isa. 31:1, 2, 'Woe unto them that go down to Egypt for help: but they look not to the Holy One of Israel! Yet he also is wise.' It is a disparagement to God's providential wisdom, not to look to him in our concerns, yea, and of his righteousness too; 'they look not to the Holy One of Israel.' In this they neither regard his holiness nor his wisdom. When we consult not with him upon emergent occasions, we trust more to our own wisdom, counsel, and sufficiency, than to God's; and set up ourselves as our own lords, and independent upon him, as though we could manage things according to our pleasure.
(4.) When upon the receiving any good, they make more grateful acknowledgment to the instruments, than to God the principal author of it; as if God had no hand in bestowing those blessings upon
them, as if the instruments had dispossessed God of his governing providence, and engrossed it in their own hands. This men are guilty of when they ascribe their wealth to their own wit and fortune, their health to their own care, or the physician's skill; their learning to their own industry, their prosperity to their friends or merits. When men thus return their thank-offering to second causes, and ascribe to them what is due to God, they give the glory of his providence to a miserable creature. Thus was the foolish boasting of the Assyrian:
Isa. 10:13, 14, 'By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom: for I am prudent: for I have removed the bounds of the people,' &c. Belshazzar's offence also, Dan. 5:23, 'Thou hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven: and praised the gods of silver,' as though they were the authors of all thy greatness; so Hab. 1:16, 'They sacrifice to their net, and burn incense to their drag, because by them their portion is fat,' alluding to those that then worshipped their warlike weapons, and the tools whereby they had got their wealth, in the place of God, as the heathen used to do.* How base a usage is this of God, to rifle him of all his glory, and bestow it upon the unworthiest instruments, inanimate creatures! It is as high idolatry as that of the heathens, inasmuch as it is a stripping God of the glory of his providential care, though the object to which we direct our acknowledgments is not so mean as theirs, which was a stock or stone. But is it not the same injury to a person to rifle him of his goods, to bestow it upon a beggar, as to give it to a prince? It is a depriving a man of his right.† Yet, is not this ordinary! Do not men ascribe more to the physician, that saves an eye in danger of being lost by a defluxion, than to God, who hath given them both, with the enjoyment of the light of the sun; yea, more to the medicine than to that God who hath a witness of his deity in every drug? It is as if the kindness a prince shews to his subjects should be attributed to a scullion in his kitchen rather than to himself. This is to 'belie God, and say it is not he,' Jer. 5:12. It is applicable to the case of mercies as well as afflictions and judgments, of which it is properly meant. And this contempt is the greater, by how much the greater mercy we have received in a way of providence: Hos. 2:8, 'She did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold,
which they prepared for Baal;' she that had most reason to know, because she had enjoyed so much; she that had experience how by a strong and mighty hand I brought her out of Egypt into the land now possessed by her: she would not know that I gave her those good things she prepared for Baal. It would be a natural consequence from this Scripture, that those that employ the good things they enjoy upon their lusts, do deny the providential goodness of God in their possession and enjoyment of them, because they prepare God's goodness for their sinful pleasures, as though their own lusts had been the authors of them; and also their instruments, that receive too high and flattering thanks of this nature, are much like Herod, that tickled himself with the people's applause, that his voice was the voice of God, and not of man.
(5.) When we use indirect courses, and dishonest ways to gain wealth or honour. This is to leave God, to seek relief at hell's gates, and adore the devil's providence above God's: when God doth not answer us, like Saul, we will go to the witch of Endor, and have our ends by hell when heaven refuseth us. It is a covenanting with the devil, and striking up a bargain and agreement with hell, and acknowledging
Satan to be the god of the world. No man will doubt but in express covenants with the devil, as witches and conjurors are reported to make, that the devil shall give them such knowledge, such wealth, or bring them to such honour; it is no doubt, I say, but such do acknowledge the devil the god of the world, because they agree by articles to have those things conferred upon them by Satan, which are only in the power of God absolutely to promise or bestow. So when a man will commit sin to gain the ends of his ambition or covetousness, does he not implicitly covenant with the devil, who is the head of sinners, and set up his sin in the place of God, because he hopes to attain those things by sinful means, which are only in the hand of God, and on whom he only can have a dependence? This is the devil's design out of an enmity to providence. He tempted Christ to be his own carver, thereby to put him upon a distrust of his
Father's care of him: Mat. 4:3, 'Command that these stones be made bread,' as though God would not provide for him; which design of the
devil is manifest by our Saviour's answer. This is to prostitute providence to our own lusts, and to pull it down from the government of the world, to be a lacquey to our sinful pleasure; to use means which God doth prohibit, is to set up hell to govern us, since God will not govern our affairs in answer to our greedy desires.
It is to endeavour that by God's curse which we should only expect by God's blessing; for when God hath forbid sinful ways, severely threatened them, perhaps cursed them in examples before our eyes, what is it but to say, that we will rather believe God's curse will further us than his blessing? It is to disparage his blessing, and prefer his curse, to slight his wisdom and adore our folly. When we go out of God's way, we go out of God's protection, we have no charter for the blessing of providence without that condition: Ps.
37:3, 'Trust in the Lord, and do good: so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.' To do evil, then, is not to trust in God, or have any regard to his providential care.
(6.) When we distrust God when there is no visible means. A distrust of God renders* him impotent, or false and mutable, or cruel and regardless, and what not. We detract from his power, as if it depended upon creatures, or that he were like an artificer, that could not act without his tools; as if God were tied to means, and were beholding to creatures for his operating power; as if that God who created the world without instruments could not providentially apply himself to our particular exigencies without the help of some of his creatures. If he cannot work without this or that means you did expect your mercy by, it supposeth that God hath made the creature greater than himself, and more necessary to thy well-being than himself is; or else we conceit him false or foolish, as if he had undertaken a task of government too hard for him; as if he were grown weary of his labour, and must have some time to recruit his strength; or as if he were unfaithful, not walking by rules of unerring goodness; or if we acknowledge him wise, and able, and faithful, yet it must then be a denial of his gracious tenderness, which is as great as his power and wisdom, and a perfection equal with any of the rest.
If his caring for us be a principal argument to move us to cast our
care upon him,—as it is 1 Peter 5:7, 'Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you;' then if we cast not our care upon him, it is a denial of his gracious care of us,—this is to imagine him a tenderer governor of beasts than men, as though our Saviour had spoke a palpable untruth, when he told us, not an hair of our heads doth fall without his leave; as if he regarded sparrows only, and not his children; or else it implies that God cannot mind us in a crowd of business, in such multitudes in the world, which he hath to take care of. But certainly as the multitude of things doth not hinder his knowledge of them, so neither do they hinder his care. The arms of his goodness are as large to embrace all creatures, as the eyes of his omniscience are to behold them. From this root do all our fears of the power of men grow: Isa. 51:12, 13, 'Who art thou, that art afraid of a man that shall die, &c., and forgettest the Lord thy Maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens?' &c. Our forgetfulness at least, if not a secret denial of God's power in the works of creation and providence, ushers in distrust of him, and that introduceth a fear of man. If they that know his name, will put their trust in him: Ps. 9:10,
'For thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee;' then a distrust of him discovers an ignorance and inconsideration of his name and his ways of working, and implies his forsaking of his creatures. He that trusts in anything else besides God, denies all the powerful operations of God, and conceives him not a strength sufficient for him, Ps. 52:7; that man doth not 'make God his strength, who trusts in the abundance of his riches.' How gross is it not to trust God under the very sense of his powerful goodness, but question whether he can or will do this or that for us. When we will have jealousies of him, when he doth compass us round about with mercy, and encircle us with his beams, it is to question whether the summer sun will warm me, though it shine directly upon me, and I feel the vigour of its beams upon my body; much more base is this, then to distrust him when we have no means. What doth this imply, but that he cares not what becomes of his children, that no advantage can be expected from him, that his intentions towards us are not gracious even whiles we feel him!
(7.) Stoutness under God's afflicting or merciful hand, is a denial or contempt of providence. This was the aggravation of Belshazzar's sin:
Dan. 5:23, 'And the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified.' He glorified not God in the way of his providence, but was playing the epicure, and was sacrilegiously quaffing in the vessels of the temple when the city was besieged; he seemed to dare the providence of God upon a presumption that the city was impregnable, by reason of Euphrates, and the provision they had within their walls, which Xenophon saith was enough for twenty years, yet was taken that night when the hand-writing was. And by how much God's judgments have been more visible to us, and upon some well known by us, or related to us, so much the greater is the contempt of his providential government, as ver. 22, 'And thou his son, Belshazzar, hast not humbled thy heart, though thou knewest all this,' &c. He had known God's judgments upon his grandfather
Nebuchadnezzar, a domestic example of God's vindicating his government of the world, and yet went in the same steps; so Jer. 5:3,
4. 'Thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock. What is the reason? The prophet renders it, ver. 4, 'They are foolish: for they know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God.'
Correction calls for submission; but those, like a rock under God's hand, were correction-proof, they would not consider the ways of God's providence, and the manner of them; it is as if by our peevishness we would make God weary of afflicting us, which is the worst case can happen. This is God's complaint of the ten tribes, Hos.
7:9, 'gray hairs are upon them, and they know it not; strangers have devoured his strength,' &c. There was a consumption of their strength; the Assyrians and Egyptians, to whom they gave gifts, had drained their treasure; but they would not consider God as the author, or acknowledge whence their misery came; they would not 'seek God for all this, ver. 10. It is like a man's picking a pocket, or cutting a throat under the gallows in contempt of justice;* whereas good men are both afflicted with, and remember God's judgments.
Eber called his son Peleg, division, because in his days the earth was divided, that in the daily sight of the sun† he might remember that
sharp providence in scattering of the Babel builders. Judgments affect us when they are before our eyes, as the thunder and plagues did Pharaoh; but when they are removed, men return to their beloved ways, as though God had shot away all his arrows, and was departed to mind them no more. Take heed of this, it is a sin highly provoking; God is so tender that his providence should be minded and improved, that a sin of this nature he follows with his displeasure, in this life at least: Isa. 22:12, 13, 'And in that day did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning; and behold joy and gladness, eating flesh and drinking wine: let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die.' When God in any judgment shews himself to be the Lord God of hosts, and calls us to weeping, and we behave ourselves jollily in spite of his government, it is a sin he will remember, and bind the guilt upon us, ver 14, 'And it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die.'
(8.) Envy also is a denial of providence. To be sad at the temporal good, or the gifts of another, as counting him unworthy of them, it is a reflection upon the author of those gifts; an accusing providence of an unjust or unwise distribution.‡ Since God may do what he will with his own, if our eye be evil, because God is good, we intrench upon his liberty, and deny him the disposal of his own goods, as if God were but our steward, and we his lords. It is a temper we are all subject to: Ps. 37:1, 'Fret not thyself because of evil-doers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.' It is peculiarly the product of self-love, which affects the principality in the world, and particularly affects the conduct of God in distributing his goods, that he must not give but to whom they please. It ariseth indeed from a sense of our wants; but the language of it is, God is unjust in his providence to me, because he bestows not upon me that good which he gives to another. It is such a sin that it seems to be a companion of our first parents' pride, which was the cause of their fall. They envied
God a felicity by himself, for they would be like him, they would be as gods. Hence, perhaps, the Jews say Cain denied the providence of God, as envying his brother, because God accepted Abel's sacrifice
and not his. Jonah's passion arose from this pride, for fear he should be accounted a false prophet; whereupon he envies God the glory of his mercy, and the poor Ninevites the advantage of it; he would have
God conform the way of his providence to his pleasure and reputation. Indeed, it is to envy God the honour of his providence in those gifts or good things another possesses, whereby he is instrumental to glorify God and advantage others. Thus, we would direct God what instruments he should employ; when no artificer in his own art would endure to be directed by any ignorant person what tools he should use in his work.
(9.) Impatience under cross providence is a denial and contempt of God's government. Men quarrel with God's revealed will, and therefore no wonder that they quarrel with his providential will; whereby we deny him his right of governing, and slight his actual exercise of his right. As if God were accountable to us for his dispensations, and must have only a respect to us or our humour in his government: Job 18:4, 'He tears himself in his anger; shall the earth be forsaken for thee? and shall the rock be removed out of his place?' Must God alter the scene of his affairs according to our model and platform? And because he doth not observe our rules and methods, must we tear ourselves in anger? This is a secret cursing of God and flying in his face, when we see providence so cross, that there seems to be no help at any time either in heaven or earth: Isa.
8:21, 22, 'They shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upwards. And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness.' Take heed of fretting at God's management of things in the world, or thy own particular concerns; this may lead to a cursing of God, and is indeed an initial secret swelling against him, and cursing of him. Man is ambitious to become a god. Adam's posterity have in one sort or other imitated him. This, [1.] Is a wrong to the sovereignty of providence. It was a good admonition of Luther's to Melancthon, when he was troubled much about the affairs of the church, Monendus est Philippus ut desinat
esse rector mundi. By this temper we usurp God's place, and set ourselves in his throne; we invade his supremacy, by desiring everything to be at our beck, and are displeased with him, because he doth not put the reins of the world's government into our hands; as if we would command his will and become his sovereigns. It is a striving with our Maker for the superintendency, when we will sit judge upon him, or censure his acts, and presume to direct him: Isa.
45:9, 'Woe to him that strives with his Maker. Shall the clay say to him that fashions it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands.' How do men summon God to the bar of their interest, and expostulate with him about his works, why he did not order them thus and thus; and if he doth so, to tell him he hath no hand, no hand of providence in the world! The design of that place is to stop such peevishness and invasions of God's right; I will not have my sovereign will disputed, as if I were but the creature's servant. I am content you should 'ask of me things to come,' ver. 11, and pray to me, but notwithstanding yet to submit to my pleasure, without a peevish endeavouring to wrest the sovereignty out of my hand, and pull the crown from my head.
[2.] It is a wrong to the goodness and righteousness of providence. It is a charging God with ill management, and an implicit language, that if we were the commanders of providence, things should be managed more justly and righteously; as it was Absalom's pretence in wishing to be the king of Israel in David's stead, 2 Sam. 15:4. If patience be a giving God the honour of his righteousness in his judgments—Ps. 119:75, 'I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me;'—impatience must be a charge against God for unrighteousness in his judicial proceedings, and a saying, 'the way of the Lord is not equal,' Ezek. 18:25. It is implied in that complaint, Isa. 58:2, 3, 'They ask of me the ordinances of justice, &c. Wherefore have we fasted, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our souls, and thou takest no knowledge?' We demand justice of thee, since thou dost not seem to do that which is fit and righteous, in not regarding us in our suits, and not bestowing that which we have fasted for. God governs the
world according to his will, our murmuring implies that God's will is not the rule of righteousness. We affront the care of God towards his creatures, as if the products of our shallow reasons were more beautiful and just than God's contrivances for us, who hath higher and more glorious ends in everything, both for ourselves and the world, of which we are members, and for his own glory, to which we ought to subject ourselves, when perhaps our projects tend immediately to gratify some sensual or spiritual lust in us. It is the commendation the Holy Ghost gives of Job, chap. 1:22, 'In all this
Job sinned not, neither charged God foolishly,' as a character peculiar to him, implying that most men in the world do, upon any emergency, charge God with their crosses, as dealing unjustly with them, in inflicting punishment when they think they have deserved rewards. Jeremiah is not innocent in this case: Jer. 20:7, 'O Lord, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived,' in the ill success of his prophecy, as though an immense goodness would, and a sovereign power needed to deal in a fraudulent way with his creatures to bring his ends about.
[3.] It is a wrong to the wisdom of providence. We would degrade his omniscience and wisdom, and sway him by our foolish and purblind dictates; it is as if we would instruct him better in the management of the world, and direct him to a reformation of his methods: Job 40:2,
'Shall he that contends with the Almighty instruct him? He that reproves God let him answer it.' It is a reproving God, and reproofs imply a greater authority, or righteousness, or wisdom, in the person reproving. We reprove God, as if God should have consulted with us, and asked our advice; it is to take upon us to be God's counsellors, and to conclude the only wise God by our imperfect reason: Rom.
11:34, 'Who hath been his counsellor?' It is a secret boasting of some excellency in ourselves, as if God did not govern well, or we could govern better. Shall a silly passenger, that understands not the use of the compass, be angry that the skilful pilot will not steer the vessel according to his pleasure? Must we give out our orders to God, as though the counsels of infinite wisdom must roll about according to the conceits of our fancy? Is not the language of our hearts in our fits
of impatience as prodigiously proud against God's providence as the speech of that monster was against the creation, who said if he had been by God at the creation of the world, he could have directed him to a better platform? All this, and much more, is virtually in this sin of impatience.
(10.) In charging our sins and miscarriages by them upon providence, in this we contemn it. Some think Cain doth so: Gen 4:9,
'Am I my brother's keeper?' Thou art the keeper and governor of the world, why didst thou not hinder me from killing my brother? It is certain the first man did so: Gen. 3:12, 'The woman thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree;' thy gift is the cause of my sin and ruin. It is as certain David laid the sin of Uriah's murder at the door of providence: 2 Sam. 11:25, when he heard that Uriah was dead,
'The sword,' saith he, 'devours one as well as another.' Man conjures up trouble to himself when by his folly he brings himself into sin, and from thence to misery, and then his heart frets against the Lord, and lays the blame both of his sin and following mischiefs upon him:
Prov. 19:3, 'The foolishness of man perverts his way, and his heart frets against the Lord.' There are many other ways wherein we deny or slight providence.
[1.] When we do things with a respect to the pleasure of men more than of God, as though God were careless both of himself and his own honour, and regarded not the principles and ends of our actions.
[2.] In vain boasting and vaunting of ourselves. As Benhadad would have such a multitude of men in his army as that there should not be dust enough in Samaria to afford every man a handful, 1 Kings 20:10, wherein he swaggers with God, and vaunts as if he were the governor of the world; yet this man, with his numerous host, was routed by a troop of lacqueys, ver. 15, 20; they are called 'the young men of the princes.' Such is the folly of men against the orders of God, when they boast in their hearts that their house shall continue for ever, Ps.
49:11.
[3.] Oppression. 'They slay the fatherless, and say, The God of Jacob shall not regard it,' Ps. 94:6, 7. Their denial of providence was the cause of their oppression of the poor, and where this is found in any, it is an argument it ariseth principally from a like cause. This is also made the cause why they eat up God's people as they eat bread, Ps.
14:1, 4.
[4.] Misinterpretations of providence.
Such cursed jealousies had the Jews of God: Num. 14:3, 'And wherefore hath the Lord brought us into this land to fall by the sword? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?' As though God in that mighty deliverance had cheated them with a design to destroy them in the wilderness, when one of those plagues poured out upon Pharaoh being turned upon their heads, had destroyed them in Egypt. So foolish are they to think that God would ruin them upon dry land who might have drowned them as well as their enemies in the Red Sea; so unreasonable is man in his disputes against God.
[5.] In limiting providence. In bounding it to time, manner, and other circumstances, as they did: Ps. 78:41, 'They limited the holy one of Israel, for they remembered not his hand.' As though God must manage everything according to the will of a simple creature. It was a forgetfulness of providence, at least, that was the cause of it.
Use 2. The second use is of comfort. As the justice and righteousness of God is the highest comfort to a good man since the evangelical dispensation, in that he hath to deal with a righteous God, who can as soon deny himself as his righteousness, so it is none of the meanest comforts that we acknowledge and worship that God, who exerciseth himself in a constant government of the world, and leaves not anything to the capriciousness of that which we call fortune and chance. What satisfaction can any man in his sober wits have, to live in a world cast off from all care of the Creator of it? Wisdom without providence would make any man mad, and the greatest advantage would be to be a stupid and senseless fool. Can there be any worse news told to men than this, that let them be as religious as they will, there is no eye above takes notice of it? What can be bitterer to a rational man than that God should be careless of the world?* What a door would be opened by it for all sin in the wicked, and despair in the godly! It is as great a matter of joy to the godly that God reigns as it is of terror to the wicked: Ps. 97:1, 'The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; Ps. 99:1, 'The Lord reigns, let the people tremble.'