It is a grave and weighty observation of Chry-sostome -f- ; Nothing (saith he) should be grievous and bitter to a Christian, but to pro- voke the displeasure of God. Avoid that, and no affliction or trouble whatever can cast down such a prudent soul ; but even as a spark is easily extinguished in the sea, so will the favour of God extinguish all those troubles. It is with such a soul (saith he) as it was with the heavens ; we think the heavens suffer when they
* We are not to ask counsel of, and put up prayers to God for this end, that his decree may, by this means, be changed, or the course of providence stopped ; but that, by obeying God's law, and observing the usual course of providence, our own eon- sciences may be composed, and filled with joyful hope,
t Chrysost. Horn, in 2 Cor. y'n.
THE MYSTERY OF moVTDENCE, 46Y
are over-spread with clouds, and the sun suffers when it is edipsed ; but there is no such thing, they suffer not when they seem to suf^ fer. Tranquillus Deus tranquillat omnia. Every thing is well, and shall be well, when all is well betwixt us and God. The great consolation of the saints lies in this, that all that concerns them is in the hands of their father. Pene desperassem nisi Christus es^^et ecu put ecclesioe. I had utterly despaired (saith Luther) had not Christ been head of the church. When he i\\?it performs all things is our God, even our God that delights in our prosperity, that rejoices over us to do us good, what ample security is there in the greatest con- fusions and dangers ? When one told Borromeus that there were some that laid wait for his life, his answer was. An Deus est in mun^ do pro nihilo ? What ! is God in the world for nothing ? And as no* table was the reply of Silentiarius in a like case. Si Deus mei cur am non habeat, quid vivo ? If God take no care of me, how do I live, how have I subsisted hitherto ? Though it seems a romance to many (saith a late grave author*) yet we must either quit the scripture, or give credit to this, that the most infallible rules for one to raise his fortune, and ensure a destiny that can controul the stars, are given forth there (viz. in the scriptures) where that evidently is found. Sapiens dominabitur astris, (§- quomodo unusquisquejaher po- test essejhrtunce sua^-f. A good man may even be his own carver.
O that we would but steer our course according to those rare poli- tics of the Bible, those divine maxims of wisdom. Fear nothing but sin. Study nothing so much as how to please God. Warp not from your integrity under any temptation. Trust God in the way of your duty. These are sure rules to secure yourselves and your interest, in all the vicissitudes of this life.
My last work will be to state three or four practical cases a- bout this subject, and so I shall shut up this discourse of provi- dence.
How may a Christian discover the will of God, and his own duty, under dark and doubtfid providences ?
In order to the clearing of this case we are to consider what is meant by the will of God ; what by those doubtful providences that make the discovery of his will difficult, and what rules are to be observed for the clearing up of God's will to ourselves, under such difficult and puzzling providences.
As to the will of God, it falls under a twofold consideration,
• Author of the Fulfilling of Scripture, part 2. p. 223.
f The scriptures shew how a truly wise man may govern the stars, and be the architect of his own fortune.
468 DIVINE CONDUCT ; or.,
to wit, of his secret and revealed will. This distinction is found In that scripture, Deut. xxix. 29. " The secret things belong unto '' the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong " unto us," &c. The first is the rule of his own actions ; the latter of ours : and this only is concerned in the qucei^e.
This revealed will of God is either manifested to us in his word^ or in liis worhs. The fonner is his commanding will, the latter his effecting or permitting will, the one versant about good, the other about evil.
In these ways God manifests his will to men, but yet with great variety and difference, both as to the things revealed, the persons to whom he reveals them, and the degrees of clearness in which they are revealed.
1. As to the things revealed, there is great difference: for the great and necessary duties of religion are revealed to us in the word, with great perspicuity and evidence ; about these there can be no hesitation ; but things of a lower nature, and lesser concern, are left more obscure.
2. As to the persons to whom God reveals his will, there is great difference ; some are strong men, others babes, 1 Cor. iii. 1. Some have senses exercised, others are of weak and dull under- standing, and we know every thing is received according to the ability, and measure, of the person receiving it. Hence it is, that one man's way is very plain before him, he knows what he ought to do : the other is ever and anon at a loss, bivious and uncertain what to do.
3. The manner of God's revealing his will to men is also very different. Some have had special, personal, and peculiar disco- veries of it made to them. So had Samuel about the choice of the person whom he should anoint king, 1 Sam. ix. 15. And so had David, 1 Sam. xxiii. 2, 4, 9, 10, 11, 12. where you find upon his enquii'y of God (likely by the Urim and Thummim, God told him what was his duty, as to that expedition, and what would be the event of it.
But now, all are tied up to the ordinary standing rule of the written word, and must not expect any such extraordinary reve- lations from God. The way we now have to know the will of God concerning us in difficult cases, is to search and study the scriptures, and where we find no particvdar rule to guide us in this, or that particular case, there we are to apply general rules, and govern ourselves according to the analogy, and proportion they bear towards each other.
But now it often falls out, that, in such doubtful cases, we are entangled in our own thoughts, and put to a loss what course to take. We pray with David, that God would make Ms way plain
THE mystehy of rnoviDENCE. 469
hefore tcs, Psalm v. 8. Afraid we are of displeasing God, and yet doubtful we may do so: whether we resolve this way, or that. And this comes to pass not only through the difficulty of the case, but from our own ignorance and inadvertency : and very frequent- ly from those providences that lie before us, wherein God seems to hint his mind to us this way or that, and whether w6 may fafely guide ourselves by those intimations of providence, is doubtful to us.