On the contrary, how successful have weak and contemptible means been made for the good of the church ? Thus in the first planting of Christianity in the world, by what weak contemptible instruments was it done ? Christ did not chuse the eloquent orators^ or men of authority in the courts of kings and emperors^ but twelve poor mechanics, and fishermen 5 and these not sent together in a troopj but some to take one country to conquer it, and some another : The most ridiculous course (in appearance) for such a de- sign as could be imagined ; and yet in how short a time was the gospel spread, and the churches planted by them in the several kingdoms of the world ? This the Psalmist foresaw by the spirit of prophecy, when he said, ** Out of the mouth of babes and suck- *' lings hast thou ordained strength, to still the enemy and the ** avenger,'' Psalm viii. S. At the sound of rams horns Jericho is delivered into the hands of Israel ; See Josh. vi. 20. By three hundred men with their pitchers and lamps, the huge host of Midian is discomfited, Judg. vi. 19. The protestants^he^iegedm Beziers in France, are delivered by a drunken drummer^ who, going to his quarters at midnight, ,rang the alarm-bell of the town, not knowing what he did ; and just then were their enemies making the assault. And as weak and improbable means have been blessed with success to the church in general, so to the preservation of its particular members also. A spider by weaving her web over the mouth of an oven, shall hide a servant of Christ, Du Moulin, fromi his enemies, who took refuge there in the bloody Parisian massacre. A hen shall sustain another many days at the same time, by lodging her egg every day in the place where he had hid himself from the cut-throats. Examples might be easily multiplied in the case ; but the truth is too plain and obvious to the observation of all ages, to need them. And, can we but acknowledge a divine and special providence over-ruling these matters, when we see the most apt and potent means for the church's ruin frustrated, and tlie most
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• Acts and Mon. Vol III. p. 974.
856 DIVINE CONDUCT ; OR,
silly, and contemptible means succeeded and prospered for its good ?
If all things be governed by the course of nature, and force of natural causes, How then comes it to pass that men are turned (like a howl hy a ruh) out of the way of'ev'il^ unto which they were driving on with full .speed ? Good men have been engaged in the way to their own ruin, and knew it not ; but providence hath met them in the way, and preserved them by strange diversions ; the meaning of which they understood not, until the event discovered it. Paul lay bound at Cnesarea ; the high priest and chief of the Jews request Festus, that he might be brought bound to Jerusalem, having laid wait in the way to kill him : But Festus (though ignorant of the plot) utterly refuses it, but chooses rather to go with him to Caesarea, and judge him there. By this rub, their bloody design is frustrated, Acts XXV. 3, 4.
* Possidonius, in the hfe of Augustine, tells ua, that the good father going to teach the people of a certain to^Mi, took a guide with him, to shew him the way : The guide mistook the usual road, and ignorantly fell into a by-path, by which means he escaped ruin by the hands of the bloody Donatist, who, knowing his intention, way-laid him, to kill him in the road.
And as memorable and wonderful are these rubs and diversions ■wicked men have met with in the way of perpetrating the evils con- ceived and intended in their own hearts, f Laban and Esau come against Jacob with mischievous purposes ; but no sooner are they come nigh him, but the shackles of restraint are inunediately clapt upon them both, so that their hands cannot perform their enter- prizes. Balaam runs greedily, for reward, to curse Israel ; but meets with an unexpected check at his very out-set, and though that stopt him not, but he essayed every way to do them mischief, yet he still finds himself fettered by an effectual bond of restraint, that he can no way shake off. Num. xxii. 25, — 88. Saul, the high priest's blood-hound, breathes out threatenings against the church, and goes with a bloody commission towards Damascus, to hale the poor flock of Christ to the slaughter ; but when he comes nigh the place, he meets an unexpected stop in the way, by which the mischief is not only diverted, but himself converted to Christ, Acts ix. 1, 2, 3, 4. Who can but see the finger of God in these things !
If there be not an over-ruling providence, ordering all things for
* Possid. in vit. Aug, 7, cap, 15, f Gen. xxxi. 24.
THE MYSTERY OF PROVIDENCE. 357
the good of God's people, How comes it to pass, that the good and evil which is done to them in this world, is accordingly repaid into the bosoms of them that are instrumental therein ?
1. How clear, is it to every man's observation, that the kindnesses and benefits any have done to the Lord's people, have been re- warded with full measure into their bosoms ? The Egi/ptian mid-- reives refused to obey Pharaoh's inhuman command, and saved the male-children of Israel ; for this the Lord dealt well with thenr, and built them houses, Exod. i. 2L The Shunamite was hospitable and careful for Elisha, and God recompensed it with the desirable enjoyment of a son, 2 Kings iv. 9, 17, 31. Rahab hid the spies, and was exempted from the common destruction for it, Heb. xi. 31. PubliUs, the chief man of the island Melita, courteously received and lodged Paul after his shipwreck ; the Lord speedily repayed him for that kindness, and healed his father, who lay sick at that time of a bloody flux and fever. Acts xxviii. 7, 8.
In like manner, we find the evils done to God's people have been repaid, by a just retribution, to their enemies*.
Pharaoh and the Egyptians were cruel enemies to God's Israel, and designed the ruin of their poor innocent babes ; and God re- paid it, in smiting all the first-born of Egypt in one night, Exod. xii. 19.
Haman erected a gallows, fifty cubits high, for good Mordecai; and God so ordered it, that he himself and his ten sons were hanged on it ; and, indeed, it was but meet that he should eat the fruit of that tree which he himself had planted, Esth. vii. 10.
Ahithophel plots against David, and gives counsel like an oracle^ how to procure his fall ; and that very counsel, like a surcliarged guri, recoils upon himself, and procures his ruin : for, seeing his good counsel rejected (good politically, not morally) it was now easy for him to guess at the issue, and so at his own fate, 2 Sam. xvii. 23.
Charles the ninth, most inhumanely made the very canals of Paris to stream with Protestant blood; and soon after he died miserably, his blood streaming from all parts of his body.