VOL. XV. 2 E
CCCCXVlll THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
reformation, and such like things, which never came into their hearts. Therefore that the God of all our mercies and deliverances vv^ould for ever keep alive in your hearts a faithful acknowledgment of his grace, and a practical detestation of those ways which are such a provocation to the eyes of his glory, shall be the constant prayer of,
Your most humble Servant
In our dearest Lord, J. Owen.
From my Study, Ch. Ch. Oxon. Nov. 7.
THE ADVANTAGE OF, &C. 419
SERMON IX.
And all the trees of the field shall knoio that I the Lord have hrouf/ht down the high tree, and have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to Jlourish : I the Lord have spoken it and have done it. — Ezek. xvii. 24.
Although all the works of God's providence, which are ' great, and sought out of all that have pleasure in them,' Psal. cxi. 2. have such a stamp and impress of his own image on them, his wisdom, goodness, pow er, love, that they de- clare their author, and reveal from heaven his kindness, and wrath towards the children of men;* yet such are the preju- dices, lusts, inordinacy of affections and interest of many, that it hath always been a long and difficult task to con- vince them of his presence in them, when it hath been most uncontrollably evident. The Egyptians will wrestle with many a plague, by thinking the * magicians can do so \'^ and the Philistines will try to the utmost whether it be his hand, or a chance that happened to them f ' Lord,' saith the pro- phet, ' when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see ;' Isa. xxvi. 11. Yea oftentimes (especially when judicial blindness is gone forth upon them'^), though they cannot but see his * arm awaked as of old and made bare,' they will not rest in his sovereign disposal of things, but rise up against the works of his revenge and holiness ; like wild beasts that are pursued, when all ways of escape and turning are shut up, they fly in the face of him that follows them : * They repent not of their evil deeds, but bite their tongues for anger, and blaspheme the God of heaven ;' Rev. xvi. 10, 11. Yea, such is the power of deceiveable lusts, that many will admire at the blindness of others in former generations who considered not the works of God (as the Jews in the wilderness), when themselves are under actual contempt of no less glorious dispensations ; like the Pharisees, who bewailed the folly of their fathers 'in persecuting the prophets,' when themselves were endeavouring to ' kill the Son of God ;' Matt, xxiii. 29, 30. To bring then upon the spirits of men, a conviction
" Psal. xix. 1, 2. Rom. i. 18. Acts xxvii. 26, 27. » Exod. vii. 11, 12,
c 1 Sam. vi. 9. <« Isa. vi. 11, 12.
2e 2
420 THE advantagp: of
of the works of God and his righteousness therein, so as to prevail with them to rest in his determination of things, is a task meet only for him, who knows all their hearts within them, and can carry on the issues of his providence, until to a man they shall say, ' Verily there is a reward for the righteous : verily he is a God who judgeth in the earth;' Psal. Iviii. 11. And this is that which the Lord here under- takes to accomplish. ' And,' saith he, ' all the trees,' &,c.
In the preaching and prophesying of Ezekiel, this one thing among others is eminent, that he was 'artifex pa- rabolarum,' a wonderful ' fraraer of similitudes and parables;'* a way of teaching attended with much evidence, clearness, and power.
In particular, he frequently compares the world to afield, or a forest, and the inhabitants of it to the trees therein : an allusion exceedingly proper, considering the great variety, and difference of condition both of the one and the other. The trees of the field are some high, some low, some green, some dry, some strong, some weak, some lofty, some con- temptible, some fruitful, some barren, some useful, some altogether useless : so that you have all sorts of persons, high and low, of what condition, relation, or interest soever, clearly represented by the trees of the field, and these are the trees in my text.
This chapter unto ver. 22. is taken up in a riddle, a pa- rable, with the exposition of it.^ The time being come, that God would destroy the outward visible monarchy of the Jews, for their false worship, tyranny, persecution, and op- pression, he employs the king of Babylon in that work,? who subdues the nation, takes away two kings one after another, and appoints Zedekiah a titulary governor under him.'' But the wrath of God being to come upan them to the uttermost, he also closes with Egypt, rebels against him,' by whose appointment alone he had any right to be a ruler, ver. 16. so way is made by his ruin, to put an end to the kingly reign of the house of David in Jerusalem ; Jer. xxix. 16, 17. The Lord had of old, erected a kingly govern- ment in the house of David, 1 Sam. xvi. 1. 2 Sam. xii. 10. not for any eminency in the government itself, or for the civil