advancement. For Cod to save in an or- dinary way, wisdom would not be so much taken notice of. But when he goes strange- ly to work, and saves in that very way in which we think he will destroy ; now, his wisdom shines forth in a most glorious con- spicuous manner. God would make Israel victorious, and what way doth he go in? He lessens Gideon's army, Judg. \di. 2., *' Tlie people that .are with thee are too many;" he reduceth the army of two and thirty thousand to three hundred, and by taking away the means of victory, makes Israel victorious. God had a design to bring his people out of Egypt, and a strange course he takes to effect it : he stirred up the hearts of the Egyptians to hate them, Ps. cv. 2j., " He turned their heart to hate his people." The more they hated and op- pressed Israel, the more God plagued the Egyptians, and the more glad they were to let Israel go, Exod. xii. 33. The Egyp- tians were urgent upon Israel, that they might send them out of the land in haste. God had a mind to save Jonah when he was cast into the sea, and he lets the fish swallow him up, and so bring him to the shore. God would save Paul, and all that were in the ship with him, and there was no way to save them, but the ship must break, and they all came safe to land upon the broken pieces of the ship, Acts xxvii. 44. In reference to the church, God oft goes by contrary means, — makes the ene- my do his work ; he can strike a straight stroke by crooked sticks, God hath oft made his church grow and flourish by per- secution. " The showers of blood have made her more fruitful," Julian. Exod. i. 10., " Come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply;" and that way they took to suppress them, made them multiply; v. 12., " llie more they afflict- ed them, the more they multiplied ;" like ground, the more it is harrowed, it bears the better crop. The apostles were scat- tered by reason of persecution, and their scattering was like the scattering of seed ; they went up and down, and preached the gospel, and brought daily converts. Paul was put in prison, and his bonds were a means to enlarge the gospel, Phil. i. 12. — 3. The >visdom of God is seen in making the
most desperate evils turn to the good of his children. As several poisonable ingredi- ents, wisely tempered by the skill of the artist, make a sovereign medicine, so God makes the most deadly afflictions co-operate for the good of his children. He purifies them, and prepares them for heaven, 2 Cor. iv. 17. These hard frosts hasten the spring-flowers of glory. The wise God, by a divine chemistry, turns afflictions into cor- dials. God makes his people gainers by losses, and turns their crosses into bless- ings.— 4. Tlie wisdom of God is seen in this, that the sins of men shall cai-ry on God's work ; yet that he should have no hand in their sin. The Lord permits sin, but doth not approve it. He hath an hand in the action in which sin is, but not in the sin of the action. As in the crucify- ing of Christ, so far as it was a natural ac- tion, God did co cur ; if he had not given the Jews life and breath, they could not have done it ; but, as it was a sinful action, so God abhorred it. A musician plays upon a viol out of tune : the musician is the cause of the sound, but the jarring and discord is from the viol itself; so men's natural motion is from God, but their sin- ful motion is from themselves. A man that rides on a lame horse, his riding is the cause why the horse goes, but the lameness is from the horse itself. Herein is God's wisdom, the sins of men shall carry on his work*, y6t he hath tio hand in them. — 5. The wisdom of God is seen in helping in desperate cases. God loves to shew his wisdom when human help and wisdom fail. Exquisite lawyers love to wrestle witii ni- ceties and difficulties in the law, to shew their skill the more. God's wisdom is ne- ver at a loss ; but when providences are darkest, now appears the morning-star of deliverance : Ps. cxxxvi. 23., " Who re- membered us in our low condition." Some- times God melts away the spirits of his enemies. Josh. ii. 24. Sometimes he finds them other work to do, and sounds a re- treat to them, as he did to Saul when he was pursuing David; " The Philistines are in the land." " In the mount will God be seen." When the church seems to be upon the altar, — her peace and liberty ready to be sacrificed, — now comes the angel. — 6.
OF THE WISDOM OF GOD.
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