Should I here recite the pleasures and advantages resulting from an humble and heedful eyeing of the methods of Providence, it would look more like a booh in an epistle, than an epistle in a book. One taste of spiritual sense will satisfy you better than all the ac- curate descriptions and high encomiums that the most elegant pen can bestow upon it.
My Lord, It is not that eminent station that some persons retain (in civil respects) above the vulgar, that will enable them to pene- trate the mysteries, and relish the sweetness of Providence better than others, (for, doubtless, many that live immediately upon Pro- vidence for daily bread, do thereby gain a nearer acquaintance ^vith it, than those vrhose outv/ard enjoyments flow to them in a more plentiful and stated course) but those that excel in grace and expe- rience ; those that walk and converse with God, in all his dispen- sations towards them, these are the persons who are most fully and immediately capable of these high pleasures of the Christian life. The daily flow and increase whereof in your lordship's noble per- son and family, is the hearty desire of
,. ^ , Your Lordship's most
at Dartmouth, C HumbU ScTVant,
^"^•"'""•^ JOHNFLAVEL,
EPISTLE TO THE READER.
To the ingenuous Readeus, those especially who are the heedful Observers of the Ways of Providence.
M. HERE are two ways whereby the blessed God condescends to manifest himself to men, liis zvo7'(l, and his xvorhs. Of the written word we must say, No words like these were ever written since the beginning of time, which can (as one speaks) take life and root in the soul, yea, doth it as really as the seed doth in the ground ; and are fitted to be engraffed and naturalized there, so as no coalition in nature can be more real than this, James i. 21. This is the most transcendent and glorious medium of manifestation : " God hath magnified his word above all his name," Psal. cxxxviii. 2- However, the manifestation of God by his works, whether of creation or providence, have their value and glory : But the prime glory and excellency of his providential zvorls consists in this, that they are the very fulfillings and real accomphshments of his writ- ten word. By a wise and heedful attendance hereunto, we might learn that excellent art, which is (not unfitly called by some sci&ntia architectonica) an art to clear the mysterious occurrences of Pro- vidence, by reducing them to the written word, and thei^e lodge them as effectsin their proper causes. And, doubtless, this is one of the rarest essays men could pursue against atheism, to shew, not only how providences concur in a most obvious tendency to con- firm this great conclusion, T7i2/ word is truth ; but how it some- times extorts also the confession of a God, and the truth of his loord, from those very tongues which have boldly denied it* yEschyles *, the Persian, relating their discomfiture by the Gre- cian army, makes this notable observation : " When the Grecian " forces hotly pursued us, (saith he) and we must needs venture *' over tile gi-eat water, Strymon, then frozen, but beginning to *' thaw, when a hundred to one we had all died for it ; with mine *' eyes I then saw many of those gallants whom I had heard before " so boldly maintain, there was no God, every one upon their " knees, with eyes and hands lifted up, begging hard for help and " mercy, and entreating that the ice might hold until they got
* ^schylee in Tragced.
340 THE El'ISTLE TO THE HEADER.
•* over.'*' INiany thousand seals liath Providence forced the very enemies of God to set to his truth, which greatly tends to our con- firmation therein ; but especially to see how the xcord and provi- dences of God do enlighten each other ; and how the scriptures contain all those events, both great and small, which are disposed by Providence in their seasons : And how n(^t only the promises of the word, are, in the general, faithfully fulfilled to the church, in all her exigencies and distresses, but, in particular, to every member of it ; they being all furnished by Providence with mul- titudes of experiences to this use and end. O how useful are such observations !
And as the profit and use, so the delight and pleasure result- ing from the observations of Providences, are exceeding great. It vnW doubtless be a part of our entertainment in heaver,^ to view with transporting delight how the designs and methods w^re laid to bring us hither : And what will be a part of our blessedness in heaven may be well allowed to have a prime ingrediency into our heaven upon earth. To search for pleasure among the due obser- vations of Providence is to search for water in the ocean : For Pro- vidence doth not only ultimately design to bring you to heaven, but (as intermediate thereunto) to bring (by this means) much of heaven into your souls in the way thither.
How great a pleasure is it to discern how the most wise God is providentially steering all to the port of his own praise and his peo- ple's happiness, whilst the whole world is busily employed in ma- naging the sails and tugging at the oars with a quite opposite de- isign and purpose .'' To see how \\\^^ jyromote his design by opposing it, a.T\d JlcIJil his will by resisting it, enlarge his church by scattering it, and make their rest come the more sweet to their souls by ma- king their condition so restless in the world. This is pleasant to observe in general : But to record and note its particular designs upon ourselves ; with what profound wisdom, infinite tenderness, and incessant vigilancy it hath managed all that concerns us from first to last is ravishing and transporting.
O vrhat an history might we compile of our o^mi experiences, whilst with a melting heart we trace the footsteps of providence all along the way it hath led us to this day : and set our remarks upon its more eminent performances for us in the several stages of our lives !
Here it prevented^ and there it deUvc-rd. Here it directed, and there it corrected. In this it grieved, and in that it relieved. Here was the poison, and there the antidote. This providence raised a dismal cloud, and that dispelled'it again. This straitened, and that enlarged. Here a want, and there a supply. This relation K'ithered, and that springing up in its room. Words cannot express the
THE fePTSTLE TO THE READER. 84l
)iigli delights and gratifications a gracious heart mqy find in si ch employment as this.