II. The actings of God's providence in carrying on the interest of Christ, shall be exceedingly unsuited to the rea- sonings and expectations of the most of the sons of men.
Some trees must be plucked down, and some raised up ; yea, high trees thrown down, and the low caused to flourish. There is the issue of God's thus dealing in respect of others, ' all the trees of the field,' &c. By the ' trees of the field' are meant men of all sorts, that are concerned in these transactions.
And ^herein you may observe two things : something intimated, and that is, an unwillingness in men to own these dispensations of God; hence the Lord undertakes himself to set on a conviction upon them, as a thing of great diflBculty : and something expressed, which is the conviction itself, that shall in the issue fall upon them, notwithstanding all their reluctancy. Hence also are these two observations :
Observation 1. Men are exceeding unwilling to see and own the hand of God in those works of his providence, which answer not their reasonings, interests, and expecta- tions.
Observation 2. The Lord will not cease walking contrary to the carnal reasonings of men in his mighty works, for the carrying on the interest of the Lord Jesus, until his hand be seen, owned, and confessed.
For what remains concerning the assurance of the ac- complishment of all this from the engagement of his name, I shall only add. That the power and faithfulness of God are engaged in the carrying on the things of the kingdom of Christ, to the conviction of the most stubborn opposers.
I begin with the first.
I. In the carrying on the interest of Christ and the gos- pel, God will work wonderful providential alterations.
Alterations among the trees of the field, nations, states, and men on earth. When the beg-innino; of the saints' de- parture from under the dominion of antichrist was followed with wars, tumults, and destructions, it was objected to Luther, That that doctrine could not be of God, which was
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attended with such desolations : he replied, according to the vigour of his spirit, ' Ego nisi turaultus istos viderem, Christum in mundo esse non crederem;' * Did he not see those tumults, he would not believe that Christ was come forth into the world.' The Lord tells you how he will bring on his kingdom. Hag. ii. 6, 7. * I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land.' And, ' I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come,' &c. The 'desire of the nations,' is to be brought in by the 'shaking of the nations.' They are to be civilly moved, that they may be spiritually established. Neither are they only to be shaken, but also to undergo great alterations in their shakingg. Heb. xii. 27. 'This word. Yet once more, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things that cannot be shaken may remain.' They must have a removal, as well as a shak- ing ; fiiTa^taLv, ' a change,' a translation. Most nations in their civil constitution lie out of order, for the bringing in of the interest of Christ ; they must be shaken up, and new disposed of, that all obstacles may be taken away. The day of the gospel is not only terrible in its discovering light, and as it is a 'trying furnace;' Mai. iii. 2. but also in its devouring fury, as it is a ' consuming oven ;' chap. iv. 1 .
There are three principal seasons of the Lord's eminent appearance to carry on the kingdom of Christ and the gos- pel, and all attended with dreadful providential alterations : and unto one of these heads may all particular actings be reduced.
L The first is, the promulgation of the gospel among the Jews by the Lord Christ himself, and his apostles : what this was attended withal is graphically described, Matt, xxiv. 6, 7. ' And ye shall hear of wars, and rumours of wars ; for nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places.' And the close of it you have, ver. 29. ' Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be shaken.' The Judaical state in all the height and glory of it was utterly consumed, so that all flesh, all the Jews, were in danger of utter destruction.
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ver. 22. Their own historian himself, a Jew, afl&rming, that from the foundation of the world never was there such de- struction and desolation brought upon any nation. Which words of his are a comment on that prediction of our Saviour, Matt. xxiv. 21. and the reason of this eminent desolation you have; Isa. ix. 5, 6.
2. The second is, in the farther carrying on of the gos- pel, after the destruction of Jerusalem, throughout the world of the Gentiles, subject then in a great proportion to the Roman empire. And what is the issue hereof? The open- ing of the six seals immediately follows thereon; Rev. vi. Which after manifold and various alterations, end in that dreadful dissolution of the pagan empire, which you have described from ver. 14. to the end.