Part 4
(2.) Sins.f God doth often effect his just will by our weakness ; neither thereby justifying our infirmities, nor blemishing his own action. Jacob gets the blessing by unlawful means, telling no less than two lies to attain
it, — I am Esau, and this is venison, — but hereby God brings about the per formance of his promise, which Isaac's natural affection to Esau would have hindered Jacob of.
The breach of the first covenant was an occasion of introducing a better.
Man's sinning away his first stock, wras an occasion tor God to enrich him with a surer. The loss of his original righteousness made way for a clearer
and more durable. The folly of man made way for the evidence of God's wisdom, and the sin of man for the manifestation of his grace ; and by the wise disposal of God, opens a way for the honour of those attributes which would not else have been experimentally known by the sons of men.
3. Casual means. The viper which leapt upon Paul's hand out of the bundle of sticks was a casual act, but designed by the providence of God for
the propagation of the gospel. Pharaoh's daughter comes casually to wash herself in the river, but, indeed, conducted by the secret influence of God upon her, to rescue Moses, exposed to a forlorn condition, and breed him up
in the Egyptian learning, that he might be the fitter to be his kindred's deli verer. Saul had been hunting David, and at last had lodged him in a place whence he could not well escape, and being ready to seize upon him in that very instant of time, a post comes to Saul, and brings the news that the Philistines had invaded the land, which cut out other work for him, and David for that time escapes, 1 Sam. xxiii. 26, 27, 28.
Prop. 3. Keason. Such actions and events of things are in the world, which cannot rationally be ascribed to any other cause than a supreme pro vidence. It is so in common things. Men have the same parts, the same outward advantages, the same industry, and yet prosper not alike. One labours much, and gets little ; another uses not altogether such endeavours, and hath riches flowing in upon him. Men lay their projects deep, and question not the accomplishment of them, and are disappointed by some strange and unforeseen accident. And sometimes men attain what they desire in a dif ferent way, and many times contrary to the method they had projected. This is evidenced,
1. By the restraints upon the passions of men. The waves of the sea, and the tumults of the people are much of the same impetuous natures, and are quelled by the same power : Ps. Ixv. 7, ' Which stilleth the noise of
* Grotius, Num. xxi. 9. ^s naturaliter nocet rot's t Hall, Contemp. book iii. p. 806, 807.
2 CHRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OP DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 23
the sea, and tumult of the people.' Tumults of the people could no more be stilled by the force of a man, than the waves of the sea by a puff of breath. How strangely did God qualify the hearts of the Egyptians will ingly to submit to the sale of their land, when they might have risen in a tumult, broke open the granaries, and supplied their wants, Gen.xlvii. 19, 21. Indeed, if the world were left to the conduct of chance and fortune, what work would the savage lusts and passions of men make among us ! How is it possible that any but an almighty power can temper so many jarring principles, and rank so many quarrelsome and turbulent spirits in a due order ! If those brutish passions which boil in the hearts of men were let loose by that infinite power that bridles them, how soon would the world be run headlong into inconceivable confusions, and be rent in pieces by its own disorders ?
2. By the sudden changes which are made upon the spirits of men for the preservation of others. God takes off the spirit of some as he did the wheels from the Egyptian chariots, in the very act of their rage. Paul was
struck down and changed while he was yet breathing out threatenings, &c.
God sees all the workings of men's hearts, all those cruel intentions in Esau against his brother Jacob, but God on a sudden turns away that torrent of hatred, and disposeth Esau for a friendly meeting, Gen. xxxiii. 4. And he who had before an exasperated malice by reason of the loss of his birth
right and blessing, was in a moment a changed man. Thus was Saul's heart changed towards David, and from a persecutor turns a justifier of him,
confesseth David's innocence and his own guilt : 1 Sam. xxiv. 17, 18, * Thou art more righteous than I, for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have
rewarded thee evil,' &c. What reason can be rendered for so sudden a change in Saul's revengeful spirit, which had all the force of interest to support it, and considered by him at that very time ? For, ver. 24, he takes special notice that his family should be disinherited, and David be his successor in the throne. How suddenly did God turn the edge of the sword and the heart of an enemy from Jehoshaphat, 2 Chron. xviii. 31. Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him, and God moved them to
depart from him. The Holy Ghost emphatically ascribes it to God's motion of their wills, by twice expressing it. But stranger is the preserva
tion of the Jews from Haman's bloody designs, after the decree was gone out against them. Mordecai the Jew is made Ahasuerus's favourite by a strange ' wheeling of providence. First, the king's eyes are held waking, Esther vi. 1, 2, and he is inclined to pass away the solitariness of the night with a book, rather than a game, or some other court pastime ; no book did he fix on but the records of that empire, no place in that voluminous book but the
chronicle of Mordecai' s service in the discovery of a treason against the king's life ; he doth not carelessly pass it over, but inquires what recompence had been bestowed on Mordecai for so considerable a service, and this just before Mordecai should have been destroyed. Had Ahasuerus slept, Mordecai and all his countrymen had been sacrificed, notwithstanding all his loyalty. Could this be a cast of blind chance, which had such a concatenation of evi dences in it for a superior power ?
3. In causing enemies to do things for others which are contrary to all rules of policy. It is wonderful that the Jews, a people known to be of a stubborn nature, and tenacious of their laws, wherein they differed from all the nations,
should in the worst of their captivities be so often befriended by their con querors, not only to rebuild their city, and re-edify their temple, but at the charge of their conquerors too. The very enemies that had captived the Jews, though they knew them to be a people apt to rebel : that the people
24 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 CHRON. XVI. 9.
whose temple they had helped to build would keep up a distinct worship and difference in religion, which is usually attended with the greatest animosities ; and when they knew it to be so strong in situation as to be a fort as well as a place of worship ; that for this their enemies should furnish them with materials, when they were not in a condition to procure any for themselves, and give them money out of the public exchequer, and timber out of the
king's forest, as we read, Ezra i. 1, 2, 4, 7; iv. 12, 15, 19; vi. 4, 5, 8, 9, 11; Neh. ii. 8. And all this they looked upon as the hand of God : Ezra,
vi. 22, ' The Lord hath turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them,
to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God.' And the heathen Artaxerxes takes notice of it. Cicero tells us, that in his time gold was
carried out of Italy for the ornament of the temple. They had their rites in religion preserved entire under the Roman government, though more
different from the Roman customs than any nation subdued by them. Dion and Seneca, and others, observe, that wherever they were transplanted they prospered and gave laws to the victors. And this was so generally
acknowledged, that Haman's cabinet counsel (who were surely none of the meanest statesmen) gave him no hopes of success, when he appeared against Mordecai, because he was of the race of the Jews, Esth. vi. 13, so much did God own them by his gracious providence. They were also so entire in all their captivities before their crucifying of our Lord and Saviour, that they count their genealogies.
4. In infatuating the counsels of men. God sets a stamp of folly upon the wisdom of men, Isa. xliv. 25, ' that turns the wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolishness, and makes their counsels as chaff and
stubble.' Isa. xxxiii. 11, * Ye shall conceive chaff, and bring forth stubble.' Herod was a crafty person, insomuch that Christ calls him fox.* How foolish was he in managing his project of destroying Christ, his supposed competitor in the kingdom ! When the wise men came to Jerusalem, and brought the news of the birth of a king of the Jews, he calls a synod of the ablest men among the Jews ! The result of it is to manifest the truth
of God's prediction in the place of our Saviour's birth, and to direct the wise men in their way to him. Herod had no resolutions but bloody con cerning Christ, Mat. ii. 3-8. God blinds his mind in the midst of all his craft, that he sees not those rational ways which he might make use of for the destruction of that which he feared : he sends those wise men, mere strangers to him, and entrusts them with so great a concern ; he goes not himself, nor sends any of his guard with them to cut him off immediately upon the discovery, but leaves the whole conduct of the business to those he had no acquaintance with, and of whose faithfulness he could have no assurance. God crosses the intentions of men. Joab slew Amasa because he thought
him his rival in David's favour, and then imagined he had rid his hands of all that could stand in his way; yet God raised up Benaiah, who drew Joab
from the horns of the altar, and cut him in pieces at Solomon's command. God doth so order it, many times, that when the most rational counsel is given to men, they have not hearts to follow it. Ahithophel gave as suit
able counsel for Absalom's design as the best statesman in the world could give, 2 Sam. xvii. 1,2, to surprise David while he was amused f at his son's rebellion, and dejected with grief at so unnatural an action, and whilst his forces had not yet made their rendezvous, and those that were with him were
* This is a singular inadvertence on the part of the author. It was not the Herod who slew the babes at Bethlehem whom our Lord so designated.— Ed.
f That is, his attention was occupied, or perhaps it mav be a misprint for 'amazed.' —Ed.
2 CHRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 25
tired in their inarch. Speed was best in attempts of this nature. David in all probability had been cut off, and the hearts of the people would have
melted at the fall of their sovereign. But Absalom inclines rather to Hushai's counsel, which was not so proper for the business he had engaged in, ver. 7-14. Now this was from God. ' For the Lord had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom.' So foolish were the Egyptians against reason, in entering into the Bed Sea after the Israelites ; for could they possibly think that that God, who had by a strong hand and an army of prodigies brought Israel out of their captivity, and conducted them thus far, and now by a miracle opened the Ked Sea and gave them passage through the bowels of it, should give their enemies the same security in pursuing them, and unravel all that web he had been so long a working ?
5. In making the counsels of men subservient to the very ends they design
against. God brings a cloud upon men's understandings, and makes them the contrivers of their own ruin, wherein they intend their own safety, and gains honour to himself by outwitting the creature. The Babel projec tors, fearing to be scattered abroad, would erect a power to prevent ; and this proved the occasion of dispersing them over the world insuch a confusion that they could not understand one another, Gen. xi. 4, 8. God ordered
Pharaoh's policies to accomplish the end against which they were directed. He is afraid Israel should grow too mighty, and so wrest the kingdom out of his hands, and therefore he would oppress them to hinder their increase, which made them both stronger and more numerous. . Exercise strengthens men, and luxury softens the spirit. The Jews fear if they suffered Christ to
make a farther progress in his doctrine and miracles, they should lose Caesar's favour, and expose their country as a prey to a Kornan army : this caused their destruction by those enemies they thought by this means to prevent ; God ordering it so, that a Koman army was poured in upon them which swept them into all corners of the earth. Priests and Pharisees sit close together
in counsel how to hinder men's believing in Christ, and the result of their consultation was to put him to death, and no man then would believe in a dead person, not capable of working any miracles, John xi. 47—50, for the amusing of the people ; and by this means there were a greater number of believers on him than in the time of his life, according to his own prediction,
John xii. 32, 'And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.' 6. In making the fancies of men subservient to their own ruin. God brings about strange events by the mere imaginations and conceits of men, which are contrary to common and natural observation, and the ordinary course of rational consequences, 2 Kings iii. 22, 23. The army of the Moabites which had invaded Israel thought the two kings of Judah and Israel had turned their swords against one another, because the rising sun had coloured those unexpected waters and made them look red, which they took for the blood of their enemies, and so disorderly run without examination of the truth of their conceit ; but instead of dividing the spoil, they left their lives upon the
points of the Israelites' swords. So the Syrian army are scared with a panic fear, and scatter themselves upon an empty sound, 2 Kings vii. 6. Thus a dream struck a terror into the Midianites, and the noise of the broken potsherds made them fear some treason in their camp, and caused them to turn their
swords into one another's bowels: Judges vii. 19-22, ' The Lord set every man's sword against his fellow.'
Quest. First, If God's providence orders all things in world, and concurs to every thing, how will you free God from being the author of sin ?
Answer, in several propositions.
26 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 CHRON. XYI. 9.
1. It is certain God hath a hand about all the sinful actions in the world. The selling Joseph to the Ishmaelites was the act of his brethren ; the send
ing him into Egypt was the act of God : Ps. cv. 17, * He sent a man be fore them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant ;' Gen. xlv. 8, * It was not you that sent me hither, but God,' where Joseph ascribes it more to God than to them. Their, wicked intention was to be rid of him, that he
might tell no more tales of them to his father. God's gracious intention was to advance him for his honour and their good ; and to bring about this
gracious purpose, he makes use of their sinful practice. God's end was righteous, when theirs was wicked. It is said God moved David to number
the people : 2 Sam. xxiv. 1, ' The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go number Israel and
Judah.' Yet Satan is said to provoke David to number the people : 1 Chron. xxi. 1, ' And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to num ber Israel.' Here are two agents ; but the text mentions God's hand in it out of justice to punish Israel ; Satan's end, no question, was out of malice to destroy. Satan wills it as a sin, God as a punishment : God, say some, permissive, Satan efficaciter. In the most villanous and unrighteous action that ever was done, God is said to have an influence on it. God is
said to deliver up Christ : Acts ii. 23, ' Him, being delivered by the deter minate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain :' Acts iv. 28, ' For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.' Not barely as an act of his presence, but his counsel, and that determinate, i. e. stable and irrever sible. He makes a distinction between these two acts. In God it was an
act of counsel, in them an act of wickedness, ' by wicked hands ;' there was God's counsel about it, an actual tradition : Rom. viii. 32, ' He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all.' All the agents had several ends. God in that act aimed at the redemption of the world,
Satan at the preventing it, Judas to satisfy his covetousness, the Jews to preserve themselves from the Roman invasion, and out of malice to him for so sharply reproving them. God had a gracious principle of love to mankind, and acted for the salvation of the world in it ; the instruments had base principles and ends, and moved freely in obedience to them. So in the affliction of Job, both God and Satan had an hand in it : Job. i. 12,
'The Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power ;' ver., 11, ' Touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face ;' their ends were different: the one righteous, for trial; the other malicious, against
God, that he might be cursed; against Job that he might be damned. God's end was the brightening of his grace, and the devil's end was the ruin of his integrity, and despoiling him of God's favour.
2. In all God's acts about sin there is no stain to God's holiness.* In second causes, one and the same action, proceeding from divers causes, in respect of one cause, may be sinful ; in respect of the other, righteous. As when two judges condemn a guilty person, one condemns him out of love to justice, because he is guilty ; the other condemns him out of a private hatred
and spleen : one respects him as a malefactor only, the other as a private enemy chiefly. Here is the same action with two concurring causes, one being wicked in it, the other righteous. Much more may we conceive it in the concurrence of the Creator with the action of the creature.
(1.) God moves every thing in his ordinary providence according to their particular natures. God moves every thing ordinarily according to the nature he finds it in. Had we stood in innocency, we had been moved
* Senguer. Metaph. lib. ii. cap. 15. sect. 5.
2 CHRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 27
according to that originally righteous nature ; but since our fall we are moved according to that nature introduced by us with the expulsion of the other. Our first corruption was our own act, not God's work ; we owe our creation to God, our corruption to ourselves. Now, since God will govern his creature, I do not see how it can be otherwise, than according to the present nature of the creature, unless God be pleased to alter that nature. God forces no man against his nature ; he doth not force the will in conver sion, but graciously and powerfully inclines it. He doth never force nor incline the will to sin, but leaves it to the corrupt habits it hath settled in
itself: Ps. Ixxxi. 12, * So I gave them up to their own hearts' lusts, and they walked in their own counsels ;' counsels of their own framing, not of God's. He moves the will, which is sponte mala, according to its own nature and counsels. As a man flings several things out of his hand, which are of several figures, some spherical, tetragons, cylinders, conies, some round and some square, though the motion be from the agent, yet the variety of their motions is from their own figure and frame ; and if any will hold his hand upon a ball in its motion, regularly it will move according to his nature and figure ; and a man by casting a bowl out of his hand, is the cause of the motion, but the bad bias is the cause of its irregular motion. The power of action is from God, but the viciousness of that action from our own nature. As when a clock or watch hath some fault in any of the wheels, the man that winds it up, or putting his hand upon the wheels moves them, he is the cause of the motion, but it is the flaw in it, or defi ciency of something, is the cause of its erroneous motion ; that error was not from the person that made it, or the person that winds it up, and sets it on going, but from some other cause ; yet till it be mended it will not go other wise, so long as it is set upon motion. Our motion is from God, — Acts
xvii. 28, 'In him we move', — but not the disorder of [that motion. It is the foulness of a man's stomach at sea is the cause of his sickness, and not the pilot's government of the ship.
(2). God doth not infuse the lust, or excite it, though he doth present the object about which the lust is exercised. God delivered up Christ to the Jews, he presented him to them, but never commanded them to crucify him, nor infused that malice into them, nor quickened it ; but he, seeing such a frame, withdrew his restraining grace, and left them to the conduct of their own vitiated wills. All the corruption in the world ariseth from lust in us, not from the object which God in his providence presents to us : 2 Peter
i. 4, ' The corruption that is in the world through lust.' The creature is from God, but the abuse of it from corruption. God created the grape, and filled the vine with a sprightliness, but he doth never infuse a drunken frame into a man, or excite it. Providence presents us with the wine, but the precept is to use it soberly. Can God be blamed if that which is good in itself be turned into poison by others ? No more than the flower can
be called a criminal, because the spider's nature turns that into venom which is sweet in itself. Man hath such a nature, not from creation, wherein God is positive, but from corruption, wherein God is permissive. Providence brings a man into such a condition of poverty, but it doth not encourage his stubbornness and impatience. There is no necessity upon thee .from God to exercise thy sin under affliction, when others under the same exercise their graces. The rod makes the child smart* but it is its own stubbornness
makes it curse. In short, though it be by God's permission that we can do evil, yet it is not by his inspiration that we will to do evil ; that is wholly from ourselves.
(3.) God supports the faculties wherewith a man sinneth, and supports a
28 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 CflRON. XYI. 9.
man in that act wherein he sinneth, but concurs not to the sinfulness of
that act. No sin doth properly consist in the act itself, as an act, but in the deficiency of that act from the rule. No action wherein there is sin but may be done as an action, though not as an irregular action. Killing a man is not in itself unlawful, for then no magistrate should execute a malefactor for murdering another, and justice would cease in the world ; man also must divest himself of all thoughts of preserving his life against an invader ; but to kill a man without just cause, without authority, without rule, contrary to rule, out of revenge, is unlawful. So that it is not the act, as an act, is the sin, but the swerving of that act from the rule, makes it a sinful act. So speaking, as speaking, is not a sin, for it is a power and act God hath endued us with, but speaking irreverently and dishonourably of God, or falsely and slanderously of man, or any otherwise irregularly, therein the sin lies ; so that it is easy to conceive that an act and the viciousness of it are separable. That act which is the same in kind with another, may be laudable, and the other base and vile in respect of its circumstances. The mind wherewith a man doth this or that act, and the irregularity of it, makes a man a criminal. There is a concurrence of God to the act wherein we sin, but the sinfulness of that act is purely from the inherent corruption of the creature ; as the
power and act of seeing is communicated to the eye by the soul, but the seeing doubly or dimly is from the viciousness of the organ, the eye. God hath no manner of immediate efficiency in producing sin ; as the sun is not the efficient cause of darkness, though the darkness immediately succeeds the setting of the sun, but it is the deficient cause. So God withdraws his
grace, and leaves us to that lust which is in our wills : Acts xiv. 16, ' Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways.' He bestowed no grace upon them, but left them to themselves. As a man who lets a glass fall out of his hand is not the efficient cause that the glass breaks, but its own brittle nature ; yet he is the deficient cause, because he withdraws his support from it. God is not obliged to give us grace, because we have a total forfeiture of it. He is not a debtor to any man, by way of merit, of anything but punishment. He is indeed in some sense a debtor to those
that are in Christ, upon the account of Christ's purchase and his own pro mise, but not by any merits of theirs.
(4.) God's providence is conversant about sin as a punishment, yet in a very righteous manner. God did not will the first sin of Adam as a punishment, because there was no punishment due to him before he sinned, but he willed the continuance of it as a punishment to the nature sub ratione boni. This being a judicial act of God, is therefore righteously willed by him. Punishment is a moral good. It is also a righteous thing to suit the punishment to the nature of the offence ; and what can be more righteous than to punish a man by that wherein he offends ? Hence God is said to give up men to sin, — Kom. i. 26, 27, ' For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections,' — and to send
* strong delusions that they may believe a lie.' And the reason is rendered, 2 Thess. ii. 12, ' that they all might be damned who believed not the truth,
but had pleasure in unrighteousness.' What more righteous than to make those vile affections and that unrighteousness their punishment which they make their pleasure, and to leave them to pursue their own sinful
inclinations, and make them (as ,~the psalmist speaks) Ps. v. 10, * fall by their own counsels ' ? A drunkard's beastliness is his punishment as well as his sin. Thus God delivers up some to their own lusts, as a punishment
both to themselves and others, as he hardened Pharaoh's heart for the de struction both of himself and his people.
2 CHRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 29
(5.) God by bis providence draws glory to bimself and good out of sin.
It is the highest excellency to draw good out of evil, and it is God's right to manifest his excellency when he pleases, and to direct that to his honour which is acted against his law. The holiness of God could never intend sin as sin. But the wisdom of God foreseeing it, and decreeing to permit it, intended the making it subservient to his own honour. He would not per mit it but for some good, because he is infinitely good, and could not by reason of that goodness suffer that which is purely evil, if by his wisdom he could not raise good out of it. It is purely evil, as it is contrary to law ; it is good ratione finis, as God orders it by his providence ; yet that good ness flows not from the nature of sin, but from the wise disposal of God.
As God at the creation framed a beautiful world out of a chaos, out of matter without form, and void, so by his infinite wisdom he extracts honour to himself out of the sins of men. As sin had dishonoured him at its entrance, in defacing his works and depraving his creature, so he would make use of the sins of men in repairing his honour and restoring the creature. 1 It is not conceivable by us what way there could be more congruous to the wisdom and holiness of God, as the state of the world then stood, to bring about the death of Christ, which in his decree was necessary to the satisfac
tion of his justice, without ordering the evil of some men's hearts to serve his gracious purpose. If we could suppose that Christ could commit some capital crime, for which he should deserve death, which was impossible by reason of the hypostatical union, the whole design of God for redemption had sunk to the ground. Therefore God doth restrain or let out the fury of
men's passions and the corrupt habits of their wills to such a degree as should answer directly to the full point of his most gracious will, and no further. He lets out their malice so far as was conducing to the grand design of his death, and restrains it from everything that might impair the truth ,of any prediction, as in the parting his garments, or breaking his bones. If God had put him to death by some thunder or otherwise, and after raised him, how could the voluntariness of Christ appear, which was necessary to make him a perfect oblation ? How would his innocency have appeared ? The strangeness of the judgment would have made all men believe him some great and notorious sinner. How then could the gospel have been propagated ? Who would have entertained the doctrine of one whose innocency could not be cleared ? If it be said, God might raise him again, what evidences would have been had that he had been really dead ? But as the case was, his enemies confess him dead really, and many wit nesses there were of his resurrection.
[1.] God orders the sins of men to the glory of his grace. As a foil serves to make the lustre of a diamond more conspicuous, so doth God make use of the deformities of men to make his own grace more illustrious, and convey it with a more pleasing relish to them. Never doth grace appear more amiable, never is God entertained with so high admirations, as by those who, of the worst of sinners, are made the choicest of saints. Paul often takes occasion, from the greatness of his sin, to admire the un searchable riches of that grace which pardoned him.
[2.] God orders them to bring forth temporal mercies. In providence
there are two things considerable. First, Man's will. Secondly, God's purpose. What man's will intends as a harm in sin, God in his secret purpose orders to some eminent advantage. In the selling of Joseph, his brothers intend the execution of their revenge ; and God orders it for the
advancement of himself, and the preservation of his unrighteous enemies,
30 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 CHRON. XVI. 9.
who might otherwise have starved. His brothers sent him to frustrate his dream, and God to fulfil it. Our reformation and return from under the yoke of antichrist was, hy the wise disposal of God, occasioned by the three great idols of the world, the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life ; lust, covetousness, and ambition, three vices notoriously eminent in Henry the Eighth, the first instrument in that work. What he did for the satisfaction of his lust is ordered by God for the glory of his mercy to us. And though the papists ^upon that account reflect upon our Reformation, they may as well reflect upon the glorious work of redemption, because it was in the wisdom of God brought about by Judas his covetousness, and the Jews' malice.
[3.] God orders them for the glory of his justice upon others. Nathan had threatened David that one in his house should lie with his wives in the
sight of the sun, 2 Sam. xii. 11. Ahithophel adviseth Absalom to do so,
not with any design to fulfil God's threatening, but secure his own stake, by making the quarrel between the father and the son irreconcilable, because he might well fear that upon a peace between David and Absalom he might
be offered up as a sacrifice to David's justice. God orders Ahithophel's counsel and Absalom's sin to the glory of his justice in David's punishment. The ambition of Vespasian and Titus was only to reduce Judea to the Roman province after the revolt of it. But God orders hereby the execution of his righteous will in the punishment of the Jews for their rejecting
Christ, and the accomplishment of Christ's prediction. Luke xix. 43, ' For the days shall come, that thy enemy shall cast a trench about thee,' &c. To conclude ; if we deny God the government of sin in the course of his providence, we must necessarily deny him the government of the world,
because there is not an action of any man's in the world, which is nnder the government of God, but is either a sinful action or an action mixed with sin.
God therefore in his government doth advance his power in the weakness, his wisdom in the follies, his holiness in the sins, his mercy in the unkind-
ness, and his justice in the unrighteousness of men;* yet God is not defiled with the impurities of men, but rather draws forth a glory to himself, as a rose doth a greater beauty and sweetness from the strong smell of the garlic
set near it.f
Quest. 2. If there be a providence, how comes those unequal distributions to happen in the world ? How is it so bad with good men, as if they were the greatest enemies to God, and so well with the wicked, as if they were the most affectionate friends ? Doth not virtue languish away in obscurity, whiles wickedness struts about the world ? What is the reason that splendid virtue is oppressed by injustice, and notorious vices triumph in prosperity ? It would make men believe that the world was governed rather by a blind and unrighteous, than by a wise, good, and just governor, when they see things in such disorder, as if the devil had, as he pretends, the whole power of the world delivered to him, Luke iv. 6, and God had left all care of it to his will.
Ans. This consideration has heightened the minds of many against a providence. It was the notion of many heathens,^ when they saw many who had acted with much gallantry for their countries afflicted, they ques tioned whether there were a superintendent power over the world. This hath also been the stumbling-block of many taught in a higher school than
* Vid. Ovid Amor. lib. iii. Eleg. iii. v. 1, and v. 27. t Boetius de Conso. lib. i. j See instances in Jackson. Vol. i. 8, chap. iv. sect. 5.
2 CHKON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 31
that of nature, the Jews : Mai. ii. 17, ' Ye say, every one that doth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them ; and where is the
God of judgment?' Yea, and the observation of the outward felicities of vice, and the oppression of goodness, have caused fretting commotions in
the hearts of God's people ; the Psalm Ixxiii. is wholly designed to answer
this case. Jeremiah, though fixed in the acknowledgment of God's righteous ness, would debate the reason of it with God : Jer. xii. 1, ' Righteous art thou,
0 Lord, yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments : Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper ? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously ? Thou hast planted them ; yea, they have taken root : they grow ; yea, they
bring forth fruit.' He perceiving it a universal case, — ' Wherefore are all they happy,' &c. — did not know how to reconcile it with the righteousness
of God, nor Habakkuk with the holiness of God: Hab. i. 13, 'Thou art of purer eyes than to behold iniquity : wherefore boldest thou thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than
he ? ' In point of God's goodness, too, Job expostulates the case with God : Job x. 3, ' Is it good unto thee that thou shouldst oppress ? that thou shouldst despise the work of thy hands ? and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?' You see upon the account of holiness, righteousness, goodness, the three great attributes of God, it hath been questioned by good men, and upon the account of his wisdom by the wicked Jews.
Am. 1. Answer in general, Is it not a high presumption for ignorance to
judge God's proceedings ? In the course of providence such things are done that men could not imagine could be done without injustice ; yet when the whole connection of their end is unravelled, they appear highly beauti ful, and discover a glorious wisdom and righteousness. If it had entered into the heart of man to think that God should send his Son in a very low
estate to die for sinners, would it not have been judged an unjust and unreasonable act, to deliver up his Son for rebels, the innocent for the criminals, to spare the offender and punish the observer of his law ? Yet when the design is revealed and acted, what an admirable connection is there of justice, wisdom, mercy, and holiness, which men could not conceive of! It
will be known to be so at last in God's dealing with all his members. We are incompetent judges of the righteousness and wisdom of God, unless we were infinitely righteous and wise ourselves ; we must be gods, or in another state, before we can understand the reason of all God's actions. We judge according to the law of sense and self, which are inferior to the
rules whereby God works. « Judge nothing then before the time,' 1 Cor. iv. 5. It is not a time for us to pass a judgment upon things. A false judgment
is easily made, when neither the counsels of men's hearts, nor the particular laws of God's actions, are known to us. In general it is certain, God doth righteously order his providences ; he may see some inward corruptions in good men to be demolished by afflictions, and some good moral affections, some useful designs, or some services he employs wicked men in, to be rewarded in this life.
Ans. 2. God is sovereign of the world. He is sui juris : ' The earth is his, and the fulness thereof,' may he not ' do what he will with his own' ? Mat. xx. 15. Who shall take upon them to control God, and prescribe laws to him how to deal with his creatures ? Why should a finite understanding prescribe measures and methods to an infinite majesty ?
Ans. 3. God is wise and just, and knows how to distribute. If we question his providence, we question his wisdom. Is it fit for us, who are but of yesterday, and know nothing, to say to an infinite wisdom, What dost thou ? and to direct the only wise God to a method of his actions ? His own
32 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 CHRON. XVI. 9,
wisdom will best direct him to the time when to punish the insolence of the wicked, and relieve the miseries of his people. We see the present dis pensations, but are we able to understand the internal motives ? May
there not be some sins of righteous men's parents that he will visit upon their children ? some virtues of their ancestors, that he will reward even in their wicked posterity ? He may use wicked men as instruments in some service. It is part of his distributive justice to reward them. They aim at these things in their service, and he gratifies them according to their desires. Let not, then, his righteousness be an argument against his pro vidence ; it is righteous with God not to be in arrears with them. Some times God gives them not to them as rewards of any moral virtue, but puts power into their hands, that they may be instruments of his justice upon
some offenders against him: Isa. x. 5, the staff in the Assyrian's hand was God's indignation. Ans. 4. There is a necessity for some seeming inequality, at least, in order to the good government of the world. Can all in any community of men be of an equal height ? A house hath not beams and rafters of an equal bigness, some
are greater and some less. The world is God's family. It is here as in a family ; all cannot have the same office, but they are divided according to the capacities of some persons, and the necessity of others. Providence would not be so apparent in the beauty of the world, if all men were alike in their stations. Where would the beauty of the body be, if all the mem bers had one office, and one immediate end ? Man would cease to be man, if every member had not some distinct work, and a universal agreement in the common profit of the body. All mankind is but one great body, con stituted of several members, which have distinct offices, but all ordered to the good of the whole ; the apostle argues this excellently in a parallel case of
the diversities of gifts in the church : 1 Cor. xii. 19, * If all were one mem ber, where were the body ?' ver, 23, * Those members of the body which we think to be less honourable, upon those we bestow more abundant
honour ; ' ver. 24, ' God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked.' What harmony could there be, if all the voices and sounds were exactly the same in a concert ? Who can be delighted with a picture that hath no shadows ? The afflic
tions of good men are a foil to set off the beauty of God's providence in the world.
Ans. 5. Unequal dispensations do not argue carelessness. A father may give one child a gayer coat than he gives another, yet he extends his fatherly care and tenderness over all. According to the several employments
he puts his children upon, he is at greater expense, and yet loves one as well as another, and makes provision for all. As the soul takes care of the lowest member, and communicates spirits to every part for their motions ;
so though God place some in a higher, some in a lower condition, yet he takes care of all : God ' divides to every man as he will,' 1 Cor. xii. 11. Every man hath a several share, according to God's pleasure, of a goodness in the world, as well as of gifts in the church.
Ans. 6. Yet upon due consideration the inequality will not appear so great as the complaint of it. If the wants of one, and the enjoyment of another, were weighed in the balance, the scales might not appear so
uneven ; we see such a man's wealth, but do you understand his cares ? A running sore may lie under a purple robe. Health, the salt of blessing, as one calls it, is bestowed upon a labourer, when many that wallow in abun dance have those torturing diseases which embitter their pleasures. If some want those worldly ornaments which others have, may they not have more
2 CHBON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 33
wisdom than those that enjoy them (the noblest perfection of a rational crea
ture) ? Prov. iii. 13, 14, ' The merchandise of it is better than the mer chandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold:' Prov. xv. 16, ' Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure, and trouble therewith.' As some are stripped of wealth and power, so they are stripped of their incumbrances they bring with them. One hath that serenity and tranquillity of mind, which the cares and fears of others will not suffer them to enjoy, and a grain of contentment is better than many pounds of wealth. It is not a desirable thing to be a great prince, attended with as many cares and fears as he hath subjects in his empire. He made a true estimate of his greatness, that said he would not stoop to take up a crown if it lay at his feet. But more particularly to the parts of the case.
1. It is not well with bad men here.
(1.) Is it well with them who are tortured by their own lusts ? What peace can worldly Brings bestow upon a soul filled with impurity ? In 2 Cor. vii. 1, sin is called filthiness : Can it be well with them that have nasty souls ? Is it well with them who are racked by pride, stung with cares, gnawn with envy, distracted by insatiable desires, and torn in pieces by their own fears ? Can it be well with such who have a multitude of vipers in their breasts, sticking all their stings into them, though the sun shine, and the shadows drop upon them ? You are spectators of their felicity, but do
you understand their inward gripes ? Prov. xiv. 13, ' Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful.' Can silken curtains or purple clothes confer a happi ness upon those who have a mortal plague-sore poisoning their bodies, and are ready to expire ? Sin is their plague, whatever is their happiness. 1 Kings viii. 38, sin is called the plague of the heart. Their insolent lusts are a far greater misery than the possession of all the kingdoms in the world can be a happiness.
(2.) Is it well with them who have so great an account to make, and know
not how to make it ? Those that enjoy much are more in God's debt, and therefore more accountable. The account of wicked men is the greater, because of their abundance ; and their unfitness to make that account is the greater, because of their abuse. Would any reckon themselves happy to be called upon to give an account of their stewardship for talents, and know not how to give a good account of one farthing ? Luke xvi. 2, * Give an account of thy stewardship.'
(3.) Is it well with them who are the worse for what they have ? Is it a happiness to command others, and be more slaves to the worst of creatures
than any can be to them ? The wicked man's well-spread table sometimes proves his snare, Ps. Ixix. 22, and his destruction is bound up in his very
prosperity : Prov. i. 32, « And the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.' Prosperity falling upon an unregenerate heart, like the sun and rain upon bad ground, draws forth nothing but weeds and vermin. Would you think it your happiness to be masters of their concerns, and slaves to their pride ? Is a stubbornness against God so desirable a thing, which is strengthened by those things in the hands of the wicked ?
(4.) Is it well with them who in the midst of their prosperity are reserved for justice ? Can that traitor be accounted happy, that is fed in prison by the prince with better dishes than many a loyal subject hath at his table, but only to keep him alive for his trial, and a public example of justice ? God raises some for greater falls. Miserable was the felicity of Pharaoh, to be raised up by God for a subject to shew in him the power of his wrath, Exod. ix. 16. It is but a little time before they shall be ' cut down as grass, and wither as the green herb,' Ps. xxxvii. 2. None would value the conVOL. i. c
84 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 OHRON. XVI. 9.
dition of that soldier, who, leaping into a river to save a king's crown, and putting it upon his own head, that he might be enabled to swim out with it, was rewarded for saving it, and executed for wearing it. God rewards wicked men for their service, and punishes them for their insolence.
2. Neither is it bad here with good men, if all be well considered.
Other men's judgment of a good man is frivolous, they cannot rightly judge of his state and concerns, but he can make a judgment of theirs :
1 Cor. ii. 15, * A spiritual man judgeth all things, but he himself is judged of no man.' No man can make a sound judgment and estimate of a right eous man's state in any condition, unless he hath had experience of the like in all the circumstances, the inward comforts as well as the outward crosses. For,
(1.) Adversity cannot be called absolutely an evil, as prosperity cannot be called absolutely a good. They are rather indifferent things, because they may be used either for the honour or dishonour of £rod. As they are used for his honour, they are good, and as used for [his dishonour, they are evil. The only absolutely bad thing in the world is sin, which cannot be, in its own nature, but a dishonour to God. The only absolutely good thing in the world is holiness, and a likeness to God, which cannot be, in its own nature, but for his glory. As for all other things, I know no true satisfac
tion can be in them, but as they are subservient to God's honour, and give us an advantage for imitating some one or other of his perfections. Crosses in the Scripture are not excluded from those things we have a right to by
Christ, when they may conduce to our good : 1 Cor. iii. 22, * Life and death, things present, and things to come, are yours, and you are Christ's.' Since the revelation of the gospel, I do not remember that any such com plaint against the providence of God fell from any holy man in the New Testament; for our Saviour had given them another prospect of those things. The holy men in the Old Testament comforted themselves against this objection by the end of the wicked which should happen, and the rod cease, Ps. Ixxiii. In the,New Testament we are more comforted by the certain operation of crosses to our good and spiritual advantage, Eom. viii. Our Saviour did not promise wealth and honour to his followers, nor did he think it worth his pains of coming and dying, to bestow such gifts upon his children. He made heaven their happiness, and the earth their hell ; the cross was their badge here, and the crown their reward hereafter ; they seemed not to be a purchase congruous to so great a price of blood. Was
God's providence to Christ the more to be questioned because he was poor ? Had he the less love to him because he was ' a man of sorrows,' even while he was a God of glory ? Such groundless conceits should never enter into
Christians, who can never seriously take up Christ's yoke without a pro viso of afflictions, who can never be God's sons without expecting his corrections.
(2.) God never leaves good men so bare, but he provides for their neces
sity : Ps. Ixxxiv. 11, ' The Lord will give grace and glory, and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.' If any thing be good, an upright man may expect it from God's providence ; if it be not good, he should not desire it : Howsoever grace, which is necessary for preparing thee for happiness and glory, which is necessary for fixing thee in it, he will
be sure to give ; we have David's experience for it in the whole course of his life, Ps. xxxvii. 5.
(3.) The little good men have is better than the highest enjoyments of wicked men : Ps. xxxvii. 16, ' A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked ;' not better than many riches of the wicked,
2 CHRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 35
but better than the riches of many wicked, better than all the treasures of the whole mass of the wicked world. Others have them in a providential
way, good men in a gracious way : Prov. xvi. 8, * Better is a little with righteousness, than great revenues without right,' without a covenant right. Wicked prosperity is like a shadow that glides away in a moment, whereas
a righteous man's little is a part of Christ's purchase, and part of that inheritance which shall endure for ever : Ps. xxxvii. 18, « Their inheritance
shall be for ever,' i. e.9 God regards the state of the righteous, whether good or evil, all that befalls them. God doth all with a respect to his everlasting inheritance. No man hath worldly things without their wings. And though the righteous have worldly things with their wings, yet that love whereby they have them hath no wings ever to fly away from them. How can those things be good to a man that can never taste them, nor God in them ?
(4.) No righteous man would in his sober wits be willing to make an ex
change of his smartest afflictions for a wicked man's prosperity, with all the circumstances attending it. It cannot therefore be bad with the righteous in the worst condition. Would any man be ambitious of snares that knows the deceit of them ? Can any but a madman exchange medicines for poison ? Is it not more desirable to be upon a dunghill with an intimate converse with God, than upon a throne without it ? They gain a world in prosperity, a righteous man gains his soul by afflictions, and possesses it in patience. Is the exchange of a valuable consideration ? God strips good men of the enjoyment of the world, that he may wean them from the love of it ; keeps them from idolatry, by removing the fuel of it ; sends afflictions that he may not lose them, nor they their souls. Would any man exchange
a great goodness * laid up for him that fears God,' Ps. xxxi. 19, for a lesser goodness laid out upon them that are enemies to him ?
Who would exchange a few outward comforts with God's promise, inward comforts with assurance of heaven, godliness with contentment, a sweet and spiritual life, sovereignty over himself and lusts, though attended with suf ferings, for the government of the whole world ?
(5.) It is not ill with the righteous in afflictions, because they have high advantages by them. That cannot be absolutely evil which conduceth to a greater good ; as,
First, Sensible experiments of the tender providence of God over them. If the righteous had not afflictions in this life, God would lose the glory of his providence, and they the sweetness in a gracious deliverance from them,
in ways which* makes the affliction the sweeter as well as the mercy ; they would lose the comfort of them, in not having such sensible evidences of
God's gracious care.
The sweetness of the promises made for times of trouble would never be
tasted : Ps. xxxvii. 19, ' They shall not be ashamed in the evil time ;' that is, they shall be mightily encouraged and supported. God's people do best understand God's strength when they feel the smart of men's malice : 2 Tim. iv. 17, ' The Lord stood with me, and strengthened me.' He had never felt so much of God's strength if he had not tasted much of man's wickedness in forsaking him. Ps. xxxvii. 39, ' He is their strength,' when in times of trouble they experiment more of his care in preserving them, and his strength in supporting them, than at other times. Abundance of consolations are manifested in abundance of sufferings, 2 Cor. i. 5, 1 Peter iv. 13, 14. A greater sense of joy and glory lights upon them in a storm of persecutions. Men see the sufferings of the godly, but they do not behold that inward peace which composeth and delights their souls, worth the whole
mass of the world's goodness, and pleasures of the unrighteous.
36 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PEOVIDENCE. [2 CHRON. XYI. 9.
Secondly, Inward improvements, opportunities to manifest more love to God, more dependence on him, the perfection of the soul : 1 Tim. v. 5,
' Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusts in God, and con
tinues in supplications and prayers night and day.' There is a ground of more exercise of trust in God and supplication to him. The poor and desolate have an advantage for the actual exercise of those graces, which a prosperous condition wants. God changeth the metal by it ; what was lead and iron he makes come forth as gold : Job xxiii. 10, ' When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.' Crosses and sufferings, which fit good men for special service here, and eternal happiness hereafter, can no more be said to be evil, than the fire which refines the gold, and prepares it for a
prince's use. If there were not such evils, what ground could you have to exercise patience ? what heroic acts of faith could you put forth without difficulties ? how could you believe against hope, if you had not sometimes something to contradict your hopes ? And if a good man should have a confluence of that which the ignorant and pedantical world calls happiness, he might undervalue the pleasures of a better life, deface the beauty of his own soul, and withdraw his love from the most gratifying as well as the most glorious object, unto that which is not worth the least grain of his affection.
Thirdly, Future glory. The great inquiry at the day of Christ's appear ing will be, how good men bare their sufferings, what improvements they had ; and the greater their purity by them, the greater will be their praise
and honour : 1 Peter i. 7, * That the trial of your faith,' viz., by manifold temptations, ' may be found to praise, and honour, and glory, at the appear ing of Jesus Christ.' For a good improvement by them, they will have a public praise from God's mouth, and a crown of honour set upon their heads. Providence sends even light afflictions as so many artificers, to make the crown more massy and more bright : 2 Cor. iv. 17, * Works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.' They are at work about a good man's crown while they make him smart. They prepare him for heaven, and make it more grateful to him when he comes to possess it. A Christian carriage in them prepares for greater degrees of glory. Every stroke doth but more beautify the crown.
Fourthly, Sufferings of good men for the truth highly glorifies the pro vidence of God. This is a matter of glory and honour : 1 Peter iv. 16, 'If any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed ; but let him glorify
God on this behalf.' They thereby bear a testimony to the highest act of providence that God ever exercised, even the redemption of the world by the blood of his Son. And the church, which is the highest object of his providence in the world, takes the deeper root, and springs up the higher ; the foundation of it was laid in the blood of Christ, and the growth of it is furthered by the blood of martyrs. The carriage of the righteous in them makes the truth they profess more valued. It enhanceth the excellency of religion, and manifests it to be more amiable for its beauty than for its dowry, since they see it desirable by the sufferers, not only without worldly enjoyments, but with the sharpest miseries. This consideration hath wrought upon many to embrace the religion of the sufferers. If it
reaches as far as death, they are but despatched to their Father's house, and the day 'of their death is the day of their coronation; and what evil is there in all this ?
Fifthly, To conclude ; this argument is stronger (upon the infallible right
eousness of God's nature) for a day of reckoning after this life, than against providence. It is a more rational conclusion that God will have a time to
2 CHRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 87
justify the righteousness and wisdom of his providential government, and
"repair the honour of the righteous, oppressed by the injustice of the wicked. And indeed, unless there be a retribution in another world, the question is unanswerable, and all the reason in the world knows not how to salve the holiness and righteousness of God in his providential dispensations in this
life, since we see here goodness unrewarded and debased' to the dunghill, vice glorying in impunity, and ranting to the firmament. We cannot see how it can consist with the nature of God's wisdom, righteousness, and holiness, if there were not another life, wherein God will manifest his right eousness in the punishing sin and rewarding goodness ; for it is impos sible that a God of infinite justice should leave sin unpunished, and grace unrewarded, here or hereafter. The Scripture gives us so full an account of a future state, that may satisfy all Christians in this business.
The wicked rich man is in his purple, and Lazarus in his rags ; yet
Abraham's bosom is prepared for the one, and an endless hell for the other. Jeremiah resolves the case in his dispute with God about it: Jer. xii. 3,
' Pull them out like sheep to the slaughter, and prepare them for the day
of slaughter.' They are but fattening for the knife .of justice; and the day will come when they shall be consumed like the fat of lambs in the sacrifice, which shall wholly evaporate into smoke ; so the psalmist resolves it in Ps. xxxvii. 20, a psalm written for the present case. God laughs at their
security in a way of mockery: Ps. xxxvii. 13, 'The Lord shall laugh at him, for he sees that his day is coming,' — God's day for the justification of his proceedings in the world, and the wicked man's day for his own destruc tion, wherein they shall all be destroyed together, Ps. xxxvii. 38 ; the whole mass of them in one bundle. Who then will charge God with unequal distributions at that day, which is appointed for the clearing up of his righteousness, which is here masked in the world ? Who can be fond of
the state of the wicked ? Who would be fond of a dead man's condition, because he lies in state, whose soul may be condemned, whilst his body, with a pompous solemnity, is carried to the grave, and both body and soul, joined together at the resurrection, adjudged to eternal misery ?
Quest. 2. What hath been said in this will also answer another question, Why God doth not immediately punish notorious offenders, since the best governments in the world are such as call the violators of the law to a speedy account, to keep up the honour of justice ? Thus the Epicures charge God with neglects of providence, because if he doth punish wicked men, it is later than is fit and just : * Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set
in them to do evil,' Eccles. viii. 11. Delay of justice is an encouragement to sin.
Ans. 1. This is an argument for God's patience, none against his pro vidence. Should he make such quick work, what would become of the world ? Could it have held out to this day ? If God had instantly taken revenge upon those that thus disparage his providence, the frame of such an objection had not been alive. No man is so perfectly good but he might fall under the revenging stroke of his sword, if he pleased to draw it.
Suffer God to evidence his patience here, since after the winding up of the world he will have no time to manifest it. God doth indeed sometimes send the sharp arrow of some judgment upon a notorious offender, to let him understand that he hath not forgotten how to govern ; but he doth not always do so, that his patience may be glorified in bearing with his rebel lious creature.
Ans. 2. God is just in that wherein the question supposeth him unjust ;
88 A DISCOUBSE OF DIVINE PBOVIDENCE. [2 CHRON. XYI. 9.
he suffers wicked men to continue to be the plagues of the places where they live, and the executioners of his justice upon offenders against him;
Ps. xvii. 13. The wicked are God's sword, Jer. xlvii. 6. Those that God would stir up against the Philistines are called the sword of the Lord, Isa. x. 5. Asshur is said to be the rod of his anger; would it consist with his
wisdom to drop the instruments out of his hand as soon as he begins to use them ? to cast his rods out of his hand as soon as he takes them up ? The rules of justice are as much unknown to us as the communications of his goodness to his people are unknown to the world.
Ans. 3. Let me ask such a one whether he never injured another man, and whether he would not think it very severe, if not unjust, that the offended person should presently take revenge of him ? If every man should do the like, how soon would mankind be despatched, and the world
become a shambles, men running furiously to one another's destructions for the injuries they have mutually received ! Do we praise the lenity of parents to their children, and dispraise the mercy of God, because he doth not presently use his right ? Is, then, forbearance of revenge accounted a virtue in a man, and shall it be an imperfection in God ? With what reason can we thus blame the eminent patience of God, which we have
reason to adore, and which every one of us are monuments of ? The use is, — Use 1. Of information. How unworthy and absurd a thing is it to deny providence ! Some of the heathens fancied that God walked his circuit in heaven, or sat with folded arms there, taking no cognizance of what was done in the world.
Some indeed, upon some .great emergencies, have acknowledged the mercies and justice of God, which are the two arms of his providence. The bar
barians his justice, when they saw a viper leap upon Paul's hand, Acts xxviii. 4, they say among themselves, ' No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffers not to live.' The mariners in Jonah implored his mercy in their distress at sea ; yet they generally attributed affairs to blind chance, and worshipped fortune as a deity. For this vain conceit the psalmist calls the atheist fool : Ps.
xiv. 1, 'The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.' Potiphar acknowledged it, he saw that the Lord was with Joseph, and favoured his designs : Gen. xxxix. 3, ' And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all things that he did to prosper in his hand.' It will not be amiss to consider this, for the root of denial of providence is in the hearts of the best men, especially under affliction. Asaph was a holy man, Ps. Ixxiii. 13, saith he, 'Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.' He had taken much pains with his heart, and had been under much affliction: ver. 14, 'All the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.' And the consideration of this, that he should have so much affliction with so much holiness, so strangely puzzled him, that he utters that dreadful speech, as if he had a mind to cast off all cares about the worship of God, and sanctifying his heart, and repent of all that he had done in that business, as much as to say, Had I been as very a villain as such or such a man, I might have prospered as well as they, but I was a fool to have any fear of God.