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an instrument as in the making and framing of it. The upper heavens fitted to be the everlasting mansion of the saints, the middle heaven to give us light and heat and influence, the air, the lower heaven for breath, the earth for habitation, the seas for navigation, the herbs and plants for food and medicine, &c. Look upon the bodies of living creatures, and tell me if there be not a wise God. Galen saith there are six hundred muscles in the body of man, and every one fitted for ten uses ; so for bones, nerves, arteries, and veins. Whosoever observeth their use, situation, and correspondence of them, cannot but fall into admiration of the wisdom of the maker, who hath thus exactly framed all things at first out of nothing, and still out of the froth of the blood. The wisdom of men and angels cannot mend the least thing in a iiy. The figure, colour, quality, quantity of every worm and every flower, with what exactness is it ordered ! as if God had nothing else to do but to bring forth such a creature into the world as the product of his infinite wisdom.
2. Providence ; God's wisdom is much seen in the sustentation and governing of all things, Eph. i. 11. He ' worketh all things according to the counsel' of his will.' Do but observe a little how all things are put into a subserviency to God's purpose ; sometimes the smallest things occasion events of the highest concernment. The occasion of Joseph's greatness in Egypt was a dream ; a lie cast him into prison, and a dream fetched him out. Sometimes the most casual things to us are the most necessary means to accomplish that Avhich God aimeth at : ' A certain man drew a bow at peradventure, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness,' 1 Kings xxii. 34. Con- tingencies to us are infallible events as to the purposes of God, Voluntary things that depend upon the will of man, fall under the ordination of the will of God ; there is more wisdom shown in ruling a skittish horse than in rolling a stone or dead thing. God showeth his wisdom in guiding the courses of the stars, but much more in dis- posing the heart of man, Prov. xxi. 1. There is nothing so confused but if you look upon it in its result and final tendency, there is beauty and order in it ; the tumults of the world, the prosperity of the wicked, carnal men think them the disgrace and blemish of providence, whereas they are the ornament of it : Ps. xcii. 5, ' Lord, how glorious are thy works ! thy thoughts are very deep.' Man is discontented because he cannot fathom the deep thoughts of providence. Nothing so opposite, so bad, but God can bring good out of it ; the sins of men set forth the beauty of providence, as shadows and black lines in a picture set it off the more ; see Acts iv. 28, and Job v. 12, 13. Christ hath been beholden to his enemies as much as to his friends ; their potent opposi- tion hath occasioned the further increase of his kingdom.
3. In the methods of his grace ; so I call all the transactions of God about the salvation of sinners from first to last ; the rejection of the Jew^s, and calling of the Gentiles : Piom. xi. 33, * Oh ! the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God ; ' the various dispensations used in the church, before the law, under the law, and time of the gospel, these are called TroXuTrotViXo? cro(^ta, the ' manifold wisdom of God,' Eph. iii. 10. Ptedemption by Christ, the great plots of heaven, called the ' hidden wisdom of God in a mystery,' and ' without controversy
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370 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [YeR. 25.
a great mystery,' 1 Tim. iii. 16 ; that which ' angels desire to pry into ; ' God's masterpiece, wherein all things by a rare contrivance are ordered for God's glory and man's good, — the wonder of it will take up our hearts to all eternity ; to see the ruins of the fall so exactly repaired, the glory of God salved, the comfort of man provided for. ^12 ^d6o<i — oh ! the depths of this glorious mystery.
Again, the various acts of love whereby God subdueth sinners to himself ; this taking sinners in their month, and disposing of un- thought-of circumstances and passages of providence in order to their conversion. Once more, the overruling of all events to further the eternal blessedness of the saints, Eom. viii, 28. In all these I have foreborne particular illustrations, that the discourse may not swell up into too great a bulk.
Now, whosoever shall seriously consider these things, will certainly conclude God is wise. But further, consider the usual concomitants of God's wisdom, and then we may come to make some use of this meditation.
Wisdom in God is accompanied with immaculate holiness and in- finite power. In the devils there is great cunning, great power, and much wickedness ; in man there is much shame, little power, and less wisdom. God's power and wisdom are often counted ^ in the expres- sions of scripture : Job ix. 4, ' He is wise in heart, and mighty in power ; ' so Job xxxvi. 5, ' He is mighty in strength and wisdom,' the two formidable properties in an adversary," and the desirable pro- perties in a friend ; so see 1 Cor. i. 25. Again, it is joined with holiness ; he is most wise, and most holy, ' glorious in holiness,' and rich in wisdom.