3. Providential dispensations are discoveries of the wis- dom of God in disposing of the condition of his people, so
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as they may best glorify him. To dispute against the con- dition wherein at any time we are cast by his providence, is to rise up against his wisdom in disposing of things to his own glory.
These things being premised, it is easy to give light and evidence to the assertion laid down.
I might go through the stories of God's dealings with the nations of the world, and his own people amongst them, and manifest in each particular, that still his design was the establishment of his people's proper interest. But instead of instances, take two or three testimonies that occur: Deut. xxxii. 8. ' When the Most High divided to the na- tions their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel:' from the beginning God hath so ordered all the nations of the world, that they may bear a proportion to what he hath to do with his people; that he may so order and dispose of them, as that his design to- wards his own may be accomplished. Amos ix. 9. 'For, lo, I will command and will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth :' all the stirs and commo- tions that are in the world, are but God's siftings of all the nations, that his chosen ones may be fitted for himself, and not lost in the chaff and rubbish. Heb. xii. 26, 27. ' Whose voice then shook the earth ; but now he hath promised, say- ing. Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also hea- ven. And this word, yet once more, signifieth the remov- ing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken, may re- main :' all the. shakings of the nations are, that the unshaken interest of the saints may be established. Isa. li. 15, 16. ' But I am the Lord thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared, the Lord of hosts is his name. And I have put my words in thy mouth, and have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people :' heaven and earth, and all things therein, are disposed of, that Zion may be built and established. All God's works in this world lie in a subserviency to this end and purpose. Doth God at any time prosper an evil,
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or a wicked nation ? an antichristian nation? is it for their own sakes? Doth God take care for oxen? hath he delight in the prosperity of his enemies? No: it is only that they may be a rod in his hand for a little moment, and a staff for his indignation against the miscarriages of his people. Isa. X. 5. ' O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.' This in such a season is their proper interest, to glorify God in distress. Doth he break, ruin, and destroy them, as sooner or later he will leave them neither root nor branch ? All that he doth to them is a recompense for the controversy of Zion. Isa. xxxiv. 9. ' For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.'
We see not perhaps at this day, wherein the concern- ment of the remnant of God's people doth lie, in the great concussions of the nations in the world : we know not what design in reference to them may lie therein. Alas ! we are poor short sighted creatures, we know nothing that is before us ; much less can we make a judgment of the work of God, in the midst of the darkness and confusion that is in the world, until he hath brought it to perfection. All lies open and naked to his eye, and the beauty of all his works will one day appear. The true and proper interest of his people, so as they may best glorify him in the world, is that which he is pursuing in all these dispensations.
The grounds, reasons, and foundations of this truth, in the counsel, from the love, and attributes of God, the re- demption in the blood of Jesus, I must not now pursue. This one thing I shall only offer : The state of Zion, of the people of God, being much to depend upon the disposals of them whom God by his providence raiseth up to rule and govern- ment among the nations ; though sometimes he sets up men whose hearts and minds are upright with himself, yet he will not trust his own to their mercy, and the variableness of their wills in general ; but will so dispose, alter, weaken, and strengthen them, to set them up, and pull down, that it shall be their interest, to which they will always abide faith- ful, so to deal with his people, as he will have them dealt with, that they may best glorify him in their generations.