(1.) By working without means. God is not bound to the road of nature, or tied to the course of second causes ; he can create where he doth not find ; therefore when God is represented as an object of trust to his people this expression is used : 1 Peter iv. 19, ' Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator ; ' as one that is able to create where nothing is found. So God promiseth, Hosea i. 7, ' I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.' These were the only means they could pitch upon to re-establish themselves, but, saith the Lord, I have a purpose to save them, but it shall not be by these. God would do it by an invisible sway and turn of things, that they should enjoy the mercy but not see the means. So Isa. xlviii. 7, ' They are created now, and not from the beginning ; even before the day when thou heardest them not, lest thou shouldst say. Behold, I know them.' Sometimes God by an immediate sovereignty will help us : Mat. iv. 4, ' Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.' Sometimes God will not reach out a supply by the ordinary means, but by the powerful word of his providence or commanded blessing.
(2.) By working with unlikely means. There is nothing so evil or FO inconsiderable but God can work by it. In the story of Joseph (which is one of the fairest draughts of providence), a lie cast him into prison, and a dream fetched him out ; so evil a thing as a lie, and so inconsiderable a thing as a dream. So the Lord makes use of the neglect and errors of men. Possidonius hath two remarkable stories
342 SERMONS UPON GENESIS XXIV. 63.
in the life of Austin ; one was that in travel he lost his way and found his life, for he escaped an amhush of the Donatists. At another time, being to preach, he forgot both his text and matter, and fell upon that which through the blessing of God converted Firmius. Omni- potency needeth no outward advantage. So in public deliverances. God's instruments are usually despicable, A straw is as good as a spear in the hands of omnipotence. Most of the judges that rescued Israel were taken from the plough and sheepfold. So for judgments ; God by weak means punishes sinners. Egypt was plagued with flies and lice ; they were strong to execute God's word.
(3.) By working with contrary means. Christ used clay and spittle, that one would think should put out the eyes, to restore sight to the blind man. Joseph was first made a slave and then a favourite ; his brethren first sell him and then worship him ; he is cast into the dungeon to be preferred to court. There are strange contrivances and contrarieties in providence ; the way seemeth contrary to the aim, and the means disproportionable to the end. When we see great con- fusions in the world, we wonder how this should tend to God's glory and the church's good, and are apt to say, as Joshua, chap. vii. 9, ' What wilt thou do unto thy great name ? ' and as the prophet, Amos. vii. 2, ' By whom shall Jacob arise, for he is small ? ' We wonder how God means to save when Babylon destroyeth, and how confusion and mischief can end in order and beauty. But God knows the suffi- ciency of his own power, and is able to bring about these things, to bring light out of darkness, and one contrary out of another.
2. The acts of providence ; they are three — conservation, guberna- tion, and ordination.
[1.] Conservation, conserving and keeping all creatures in their being. Therefore the apostle saith, Heb. i. 3, ' He upholdeth all things by the word of his power ; ' Isa. xxii. 23, 24, ' I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place, and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's liouse, and they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house.' If God should take away the shoulder of his providence, all things would return to their first nothing, and vanish and disappear ; as a seal upon the waters, the impression is defaced as soon as the seal is gone. Providence is a continual creation ; everything that is kept in working and being is, as it were, newly born, newly brought forth, newly produced. Nay, Chrysostom saith it is /juei^ov re, something greater than creation. As it is more to support a burden long in the air than to raise it up from the earth, so it is more to keep all things from returning to nothing than to educe and bring them out of nothing. That is the reason why the Holy Ghost speaks in the present tense : Ps. civ. 2, ' Who stretcheth out the heavens like a curtain ; ' and Isa. xl. 22, ' It is he that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.' It is not in the future tense, because God is always a stretching them out. So our Saviour : John V. 17, * My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.' Though there be a cessation of work in regard of new kinds, yet there is a continuation of work in regard of their preservation and God's providential influence. The power which raised from nothing must still preserve from nothing : Kom. xi. 36, ' For of him, and through him, and to him, are all