before seemed to clash and contradict one another in the buslnesi of our salvation, have a sweet agreement and accomplishment: Truth and righteousness do in him meet with mercy and peace, in a blessed agreement. What a lovely sight is this ! and how plea- sant to behold ! - O, if, with Habakkuk, chap. ii. ver. 3. we would but stand upon our watch-tower, to take due observations of pro- vidence, what rare prospects might we have ! Luther understands it of the word of God, q. d. I will look into the word, and observe there how God accomplisheth all things, and brings them to pass, and how his works are the fulfilling of his word. Others (as Cal- vin) understand it of man's own retired thoughts and meditations, wherein a man carefully observes what purposes and designs God hath upon the world in general, or upon himself in particular, and how the truth and righteousness of God in the word, work them- selves through all difficulties and impediments, and meet in the mercy, peace, and happiness of the saints at last. Every believer (take it in which sense you ^vill) hath his watch-tower^ as well as Habakkuk. And give me leave to say, it is an angelical employ^ ment to stand upon it, and behold the consent of God's attributes, the accomplishment of his ends, and our own happiness in the works of providence. For this is the very joy of the angels and saints in heaven, to see God's ends wrought out, and his attri- butes glorified in the mercy and peace of the church. Rev. xiv. 1, 2, 3, and 8.
2. And as it is a pleasant sight to see the harmony of God's at- tributes, so it is exceeding pleasant to behold the resurrection of our own prayers and hopes as from the dead. Why, this you may often see, if you will duly observe the works of God's provi- dence towards you. We hope and pray for such and such mercies to the church, or to ourselves ; but God delays the accomplish- ment of our hopesj suspends the answer of our prayers, and seems to speak to us, as Hab. ii. 3. " For the vision is yet for an ap- *' pointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie : Though " it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not ** tarry." But we have no patience to wait the time of the pro- mise, our hopes languish and die in the interim ; and we say with the despondent church, Lam. iii, 18. " Our hope is perished from " the Lord ;** but, oh, how sweet and comfortable is it to see these prayers fulfilled, after we have given up all expectation of them ! May we not say of them, as the scripture speaks of the restoration of the Jews, it is even Itfefrom the dead. This was David's case, Psal. xxxii. 22. He gave up his hopes and prayers for lost, yet he lived to see the comfortable and unexpected returns of them. And this was the case of Job, chap. vi. 11. he had given up all ex- pectation of better days, and yet this man lived to see a resurrection
THE MYSTERY OF rROVIDEXCE. 441
of all his lost comforts with advantage. Tliink how tliat change and unexpected turn of providence affected his soul. It is with our hopes and prayers as witli our alms, " Cast thy bread upon the " waters, for thou shalt find it after many days," Eccl. xi. 1. Or as it was with Jacob, who had given over all hopes of ever seeing his beloved Joseph again ; but when a strange and unexpected pro- vidence had restored that hopeless mercy to him again, O how ravishing and transporting was it ! Gen. xlvi. 29, 30.
3. What a transporting pleasure is it, to behold great blessings and advantages to us wrought by providence out of those very things that seemed to threaten our ruin and misery ? And yet by due observing the ways of providence, you may, to your singular comfort, find it so. Little did Joseph think his transportation into Egypt had been in order to his advancement there ; yet he lived with joy to see it, and with a thankful heart to acknowledge it, Gen. xlv. 5. Wait and observe, and you shall assuredly find that promise, Rom. viii. 28. working out its way through all pro- vidences. How many times have you been made to say, as David, Psal. cxix. 71. " It is good for me that I have been afflicted.*" O what a difference have we seen betwixt our afflictions at our first meeting with them, and our parting from them ! We have en- tertained them with sighs and tears, but parted from them with joy, blessing God for them, as the happy instruments of our good. Thus our fears and sorrows are turned into praises, and songs of thanksgiving.
4. What unspeakable comfort is it for a poor soul, that sees no- thing but sin and vileness in itself, at the same time to see what an high esteem and value the great God hath for him ! This may be discerned by a due attendance to providence, for there a man sees goodness and mercy following him through all his days, as it is, Psal. xxiii. 6. Other men prosecute good and it flies from them, and they can never overtake it ; but goodness and mercy follow the people of God, and they cannot avoid or escape it : It gives them chase day by day, and finds them out, even when they sometimes by sin put themseves out of the way of it. In all the providences that befal them, goodness and mercy pursues them. O with what a melting heart do they sometimes reflect upon these things ! And will not the goodness of God he discouraged from Jollowing me, notwithstatiding all my vile affronts and abuse ^ of it informer mer^ cies? Lord, whata,m J that mercy should thu^ pursue me, when ven- geance and wrath pursue others as good hy nature as I am ? It cer- tainly argues the great esteem God hath of a man, when he thus follows him with sanctified providences (whether they be comforts or crosses) for his good. And so much is plain, from Job vii. 1§, " Lord, what is man, that thou shouldst visit him every morning,
442 DIVINE CONDUCT ; OR,
'' and try him every moment ?" Certainly, God's people are his treasure, and by this it appears that they are so, that he withdraws not his eye from them, Job xxxvi. 7. I say not, that God's favour and respect to a man, may be concluded singly from his provi- dences ; but sanctified providences may very much clear it to us ; And when it doth so, it cannot but be matter of exceeding great
5. To conclude ; what is there in all this world, that can give a soul such joy and comfort, as to find himself by every thing set on and furthered in his way to heaven ? And yet this may be discerned by an heedful attendance to the effects and issues of providence.
How cross soever the winds and tides of providence at any time seem to us, yet nothing is more certain, than that they all con- spire to hasten sanctified souls to God, and fit them for glory.