First. 1 shall undertake the proof and defence of this great truth: That the affairs of the saints in this world are certainly conducted by the wisdom and care of special Providence.”
And herein 1 address myself with cheerfulness to perform, as well as I am able, a service for that Providence, which hath, throughout my life, performed all things for me,” as the text speaks.
There is a twofold consideration of Providence, according to its twofold object and manner of dispensation: the one is general, exercised about all creatures, rational and irrational, animate and inanimate; the other special and peculiar. Christ hath a universal empire over all things, Ephes. i. 22, the head of the whole world, by way of do- - minion; but a head to the Church, by way of union and special influence, John xvii, 2. The Saviour of all men, but especially of them that believe,” 1 Tim. iv. 10. The Church is his special care and charge; he rules the world for her good, as a head consulting the welfare of the body.
Heathens generally deny providence; and no wonder, since they denied a God: for the same arguments that prove one, will prove the other. Aristotle, the prince of heathen philosophers, could not, by the utmost search of reason, find out the world’s origin, and therefore concludes, it was from eternity. The Epicureans did, in a sort, acknowledge a God, but yet denied a providence, and wholly excluded him from any interest or concern in the affairs of the world, as being inconsistent with the felicity and tranquillity of the Divine Being, to be diverted and cumbered with i the care and labour of government. This assertion is so repugnant to reason, that it is a wonder they themselves blushed not at its absurdity; but I guess at the design, and one of them speaks it out in broad language. They foresaw that the concession of a providence would impose an eternal yoke upon their necks, by making them accountable to a higher tribunal for all they did; and that they must necessarily pass the time of their sojourning here in fear, whilst all their thoughts, words, and ways, were strictly noted and recorded, in order to an account, by an all-seeing and righteous God; and therefore they laboured to persuade themselves that was not, which they had no mind should be. But these atheistical and foolish conceits fall flat before the undeniable evidence of so great and clear a truth.
Now my business here is not so much to deal with professed atheists, who deny the existence of God, and consequently deride all evidences brought from Scripture, of the extraordinary events that fall out in favour of that people who are called his; but rather to convince those who professedly own all this, yet, never having tasted religion by experience, suspect, at least, that all these things which we call special providences to the saints, are but natural events, or mere contingencies: and thus, whilst they profess to own a God and a providence, (which profession is but the effect of their education,) they do, in the mean time, live like atheists, and both think and act as if there were no such things; and really I fear this is the case of the far greatest part of men of this generation.
But if it were indeed so, that the affairs of the world, in general, and more especially those of the saints, were not conducted by divine Providence, but, as they would persuade us, by the steady course of natural causes; besides which, if at any time we observe an event to fall out, it is merely casual and contingent, or that which proceeds from some hidden and sceret cause in nature; if this indeed were so, let those who are tempted to believe it, rationally satisfy the following demands: First demand. How comes it to pass that so many signal mercies and deliverances have befallen the people of God, above the power and against the course of natural causes; to make way for which, there hath been a sensible suspension and stop put to the course of nature? It is most evident that no natural effect can exceed the power of its natural cause. Nothing can give to another more than it hath in itself; and it 1s as clear, that whatsoever acts naturally, acts necessarily. Fire burns to the utmost of its power; waters overflow and drown all that they can. Lions, and other rapacious and cruel beasts, tear and devour their prey, especially when hungry; and as to arbitrary and rational agents, they also act according to the principles and laws of their natures. A wicked man, when his heart is fully set in him, and his will stands in a full bent of resolution, wili certainly, if he have power in his hand, and opportunity to execute his conceived mischief, give it vent, and perpetrate the wicked devices of his heart; for, having once conceived mischief, and travailing in pain with it, he must, according to the course of nature, bring it forth, as it is in Psal. vii. 14. But if any of these inanimate, brutal, or rational agents, when there is no natural obstacle, have their power suspended; and that when the effect is near the birth, and the design, at the very article of execution, so that though they would, yet they cannot hurt; to what, think you, is this to be assigned and referred? Yetso it hath often been seen, where God’s interest hath been immediately concerned in the danger and evil of the event. The sea divided itself in its own channel, and made a wall of water on each side, to give God’s distressed Israel a safe passage, and that not in a calm, but, when the waves thereof roared,”’ as it is in Isa. li. 15. The fire when blown up to the most intense and vehement flame, had no power to singe one hair of God’s faithful witnesses, when, at the same instant it had power to destroy their intended executioners at a greater distance, Dan. iii. 22. Yea, we find it hath been sometimes sufficient to consume, but not to torment the body, as in that known instance of blessed Byneham, who told his enemies the flames were to him as a bed of roses. The hungry lions put off their natural fierceness, and became gentle and harmless, when Daniel was cast among them for a prey. The like account, the
church history gives us of Polycarp and Dionysius Areopagita, whom the fire would not touch, but stood after the manner of a ship’s sail, filled with the wind about them. —
Are these things according to the course and law of nature? To what secret natural cause can they be ascribed? In like manner, we find the vilest and fiercest of wicked men have been withheld, by an invisible hand of restraint, from injuring the Lord’s people. By what secret cause in nature was Jeroboam’s hand dried up, and made inflexible at the same instant it was stretched out against the man of God? 1 Kings xiii. 4. No wild beasts rend and devour their prey more greedily than wicked men would destroy the people of God who dwell among them, were it not for this providential restraint upon them. So the psalmist expresses his case in the words following my text: “My soul is among lions, and I lie among them that are set on fire.” The disciples were sent forth as sheep into the midst of wolves, Matt. x. 16. It will not avail, in this case, to object by saying that those miraculous events depend only upon Scrip-ture testimony, which is not assented to by the atheist: for, beside all that may be alleged for the authority of that testimony, (which is needless to produce to men that own it,) what is it less than every eye sees or may see at this day? Do we not behold a weak, defenceless handful of men, wonderfully and, except this way, unaccountably preserved from ruin in the midst of potent, enraged, and turbulent enemies, that fain would, but cannot destroy them, when as yet no natural impediment can be assigned why they cannot?
And if this puzzle us, what shall we say when we see events produced in the world, for the good of God’s chosen, by those very hands and means which were intentionally employed for their ruin? These things are as much beside the intentions of their enemies, as they are above their own expectations; yet such things are no rarities in the world. Was not the envy of Joseph’s brethren, the cursed plot of Haman, the decree procured by the envy of the princes against Daniel, with many more of the like nature, all turned, by a secret and strange hand of Providence, to their greater advancement and benefit? Their enemies lifted them up to all that honour and preferment they had.
Second demand. How is it, if the saints’ con- ry cerns are not ordered by a special Divine Provi- dence, that natural causes unite and associate themselves for their relief and benefit in so strange a manner as they are found to do? Tt is undeniably evident, that there are marvellous coincidences of Providence confederaling and agreeing, as it were, to meet and unite themselves to bring about the good of God’s chosen. There is a like face of things, showing itself in divers places at that time when any work, for the good of the church, is come upon the stage of the world; as when the Messiah, the capital mercy, came to the temple, then Simeon and Anna were brought thither, by Providence, as witnesses to it: so, in the reformation work, when the images were pulled down in Holland, one and the same spirit of zeal possessed them in every city and town, that the work was done in the night. He that carefully reads the history of Joseph’s advancement to be the lord of Egypt, may number in that history twelve remarkable acts or steps of Providence, by which he ascended to that honour and authority; if but one of them had failed, in all likelihood the event had done s0 too; butevery one fell in its order, exactly keeping its own time and place. So, in the church’s deliverance from the plot of Haman, we find no less than seven acts of Providence strangely concurring to produce it, as if they had all met by appointment and consent, to break that snare for them; one thing so aptly suiting with and making way for another, that every careful observer must needs conclude this cannot be the effect of casualty, but wise counsel. Even as in viewing the accurate structure of the body of a man, the figure, position, and mutual respects of the several members and vessels have convinced some, and is sufficient to convince all, that it was the effect of Divine wisdom and power; in like manner, if the admirable adapting of the means and instruments employed for mercy to the people of God be heedfully considered, who can fail to confess, that as there are tools of all sorts and sizes in the shop of Providence, so there is a most skilful hand that uses them; and that they could no more produce such effects of themselves, than the axe, saw, or chisel, can cut or carve a rude log into a beautiful figure without the hand of a skilful artificer.
We find, by manifold instances, that there certainly are strong combinations and predispositions of persons and things, to bring about some issue and design for the benefit of the church, which they themselves never thought of. “They hold no intelligence, communicate not their counsels to each other, yet meet together, and work together, as if they did; which is as if ten men should all meet together at one place, and in one hour, about one and the same business, and that without any fore-appointment betwixt themselves. Can any question that such a meeting of means and instrua ments, is certainly, though secretly, overruled by some wise invisible Agent.
Third demand. 1f the concerns of God’s people be not governed by a special Providence, whence is it that the most apt and powerful means, employed to destroy them, are rendered ineffectual; and weak, contemptible means, employed for their defence and comfort, crowned with success? This could never be, if things were wholly swayed by the course of nature. If we judge by that rule, we must conclude, the more apt and powerful the means are, the more successful and prosperous they must needs be; and where they are unfit, weak, and contemptible, nothing can be expected from them. Thus, reason lays it according to the rules of nature; but Providence crosses its hands, as Jacob did in blessing the sons of Joseph, and orders quite contrary issues and events. Such was the mighty power and deep policy used by Pharaoh to destroy God’s Israel, that, to the eye of reason, it was as impossible to survive it, as for crackling thorns to abide unconsumed amidst devouring flames; by which emblem, their miraculous preservation is expressed, Exod. iii. 2; the bush was all in a flame, but no consumption of it. The heathen Roman emperors, who made the world tremble, and subdued the nations under them, have employed all their power and policy against the poor, naked, defenceless church, to ruin it, yet could not accomplish it, Rev. xii. 3, 4. Oh, the seas of blood that heathen Rome shed in ten persecutions! yet, the church lives; and, when the dragon gave his power to the beast, Rev. xiii. 2, that is the state of Rome became anti-christian, oh what slaughters were made by the beast in all his dominions! so that the Holy Ghost represents him as drunken with the blood of the saints, Rev. xvii. 6. And yet all will not do; the gates, that is the powers and policies of hell, cannot prevail against it. How manifest is the care and power of Providence herein! Had half that power been employed against any other people, it had certainly swallowed them up immediately, or, in the hundredth part of the time, worn them out. How soon was the Persian monarchy swallowed up by the Grecian, and that again by the Roman! Dioclesian and Maximine, in the height of their persecution found themselves so baffled by Providence, that they both resigned the government, and lived as private men. But, in this wonderful preservation, God makes good that promise, Though 1 make a full end of all nations, yet will I not make a full end of thee,” Jer. xxx. 11. And again, No weapon formed against thee shall prosper,” Isa. liv. 17. On the contrary, how successful have weak and contemptible means been made for the good of the church! Thus, in the first planting of Christianity in the world, by what weak, contemptible instruments was itdone! Christ did not choose the eloquent orators, or men of authority in the courts of kings and emperors, but twelve poor mechanics and fishermen; and these not sent together in a troop, but some to take one country to conquer it, and some another; the mostridiculous course, in appearance, for such a design as could be imagined; and yet, in how short a time was the gospel spread, and the churches planted by them in the several kingdoms of the world! This the psalmist foresaw by the spirit of prophecy, when he said, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger,” Psal. viii. 2. At the sound of rams’ horns,
Jericho is delivered into the hands of Israel; see Josh. vi. 20. By three hundred men, with their pitchers and lamps, the huge host of Midian is discomfited, Judges vii. 19. The Protestants besieged at Beziers in France, are delivered by a drunken drummer, who, going to his quarters at midnight, rang the alarm bell of the town, not knowing what he did, and just then their enemies were making their assault. And, as weak and improbable means have been blessed with success to the church in general, so, to the preservation of its particular members also. A spider, by weaving her web over the mouth of an oven, shall hide a servant of Christ, (Du Moulin) from his enemies, who took refuge there in the bloody Parisian massacre. A hen shall sustain another many days at the same time, by lodging her egg every day in the place where he had hid himself from the cutthroats. Examples might be easily multiplied in the case; but the truth is too plain and obvious to the observation of all ages to need them. And can we fail to acknowledge a Divine and special Providence overruling these matters, when we see the most apt and potent means for the church’s ruin frustrated, and the most silly and contemptible means succeeded and prospered for its good?
Fourth Demand. - If all things be governed by the course of natural causes, how then comes it to pass that men are turned, like a bowl by a rub, out of the way of evil, unto which they were driving on with full speed? Good men have been engaged in the way to their own ruin, and knew it not; but Providence hath met them in the way, and preserved them by strange diversions, the
meaning of which they understood not until the event discovered it. Paul lay bound at Cesarea; the high-priest and chief of the Jews request Festus, that he might be brought bound to Jerusalem, having laid wait in the way to kill him: but Festus, though ignorant of the plot, utterly refuses it, but chooses rather to go with them to Cesarea, and judge him there; by this rub, their bloody design is frustrated, Acts xxv. 3, 4.
Possidonius, in the life of Augustine, tells us that the good father going to teach the people of a certain town, took a guide with him to show him the way; the guide mistook the usual road, and ignorantly fell into a by-path, by which means he escaped ruin by the bands of the bloody Donatists, who, knowing his intention, way-laid him to Kill him in the road. - And as memorable and wonderful are those rubs and diversions which wicked men have met with in the way of perpetrating the evils conceived and intended in their own hearts. Laban and Esau came against Jacob with mischievous purposes, Gen. xxxi. 24, but no sooner are they come nigh 10 him, than the shackles of restraint are immediately clapt upon them both, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprises. Balaam runs greedily for reward to curse Israel, but meets with an unexpected check at his very outset; and though that stopped him not, but he tried every way to do them mischief, yet he still finds himself fettered by an effectual bond of restraint that he can no way shake off, Numb. xxii, 25—38. Saul, the high-priest’s blood-hound, breathes out threatenings against the church, and goes, with a bloody commission, towards Damascus, to hale the poor flock of Christ to the slaughter; but when he comes nigh to the place, he meets an unexpected stop in the way, by which the mischiel is not only diverted, but himself converted to Christ, Acts ix. 1—4. Who can fail to see the finger of God in these things?
Fifth demand. 1f there be not an overruling Providence, ordering all things for the good of God’s people, how comes it to pass that the good and evil which is done to them in this world is accordingly repaid into the bosoms of those who are instrumental therein?
1. How clear is it to every man’s observation, that the kindnesses and benefits any have done to the Lord’s people have been rewarded with full measure into their bosoms! The Egyptian midwives refused to obey Pharaoh’s inhuman command, and saved the male children of Israel; for this the Lord dealt with them, and built them houses, Exod. i. 21. The Shunammite was hospitable, and careful for Elisha, and God recompensed it with the desirable enjoyment of a son, 2 Kings iv. 9. 17. Rahab hid the spies, and was exempted from the common destruction for it, Heb. xi. 31. Publius, the chief man of the island of Melita, courteously received and lodged Paul after his shipwreck; the Lord speedily repaid him for that kindness, and healed his father, who lay sick at that time of a bloody flux and fever, Acts xxviii. 7, 8.
In like manner, we find the evils done to God’s people have been repaid by a just retribution to their enemies.
Pharaoh and the Egyptians were cruel enemies to God’s Israel, and designed the ruin of their poor innocent babes; and God repaid it by smiting all the first-born in Egypt in one night, Exod. xii. 29.
Haman erected a gallows fifty cubits high for good Mordecai; and God so ordered it, that he himself and his ten sons were hanged on it. And indeed it was but meet that he should eat the fruit of that tree which he himself had planted, Esther vii. 10.
Ahithophel plots against David, and gives counsel, like an oracle, how to procure his fall; and that very counsel, like a surcharged gun, recoils upon himself, and procures his ruin; for, seeing his good counsel rejected, (good politically, not morally,) it was now easy for him to guess at the issue, and so at his own fate, 2 Sam. xvii. 2, 3.
Charles 1X. most inhumanly made the very canals of Paris to stream with Protestant blood, and soon after, he died miserably, his blood streaming from all parts of his body.
Stephen Gardiner, who burnt so many of God’s dear servants to ashes, was himself so scorched up by a terrible inflammation, that his very tongue was black, and hung out of his mouth; and in dreadful torments he ended his wretched days.. Maximinus, that cruel emperor, who set forth lis proclamation, engraven in brass, for the utter abolishing of the Christian religion, was speedily smitten, like Herod, with a dreadful judgment, swarms of lice preying upon his entrails, and causing such a stench, that his physicians could not endure to come nigh him, and for refusing it were slain. Hundreds of like instances might easily be produced to confirm this observation. And who can fail to see by these things, that verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth?”
Yea, so exact have been the retributions of Providence to the enemies of the Church, that not only the same persons, but the same members, that have been the instruments of mischief, have been made the subjects of wrath. The same arm, which Jeroboam stretched out to smite the prophet, God smites. The emperor Aurelian, when he was ready to subscribe the edict for the persecution of the Christians, was suddenly cramped in his knuckles that he could not write, »
Mr. Greenhill, in his exposition upon Ezekiel xi. 13, tells his auditory, that there was one then present in the congregation, who was an eye-witness of a woman scofling at another for purity and holy walking, who had her tongue stricken immediately with the palsy, and died thereof within two days.:
Henry IL of France, in a great rage against a Protestant counsellor, committed him into the hands of one of his nobles to be imprisoned, and that with these words, that he would see him burnt with his own eyes: but mark the righteous providence of God: within a few days after, the same nobleman, with a lance put into his hands by the king, did, at a tilting match, run the said lance into one of the king’s eyes, whereof he died. 2
Yea, Providence hath made the very place of sinning the place of punishment: In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, shall dogs lick thy blood,” 1 Kings xxi. 19, and it was exactly fulfilled, 2 Kings ix. 26. Thus Tophet is made a burying-place for the Jews, until there is no room to bury; and that was the place where they had offered up their sous to Moloch, Jer. vii. 31, 32. The story of Nightingale is generally known, which Mr. Fox relates, how he fell out of the pulpit and broke his neck, whilst he was abusing that Scripture.
And thus the Scriptures are made good by Providence: Whoso diggeth a pit, shall fall therein; and he that rolleth a stone, it shall return upon him,” Prov. xxvi. 27; and with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again,’ Matt. vii. 2. If any yet say, These things may fall out casually, that many thousands of the enemies of the Church have died in peace, and their end been like other men: we answer with Augustine, if no sin were punished here, no providence would be believed; and if every sin should be punished here, no judgment would be expected. But, that none may think these events to be merely casual and accidental we yet further demand.
Sixth demand. If these things be merely casual, how is it that they square and agree so exactly with the Scriptures in all particulars?
We read, Can two walk together, except they be agreed?”’ Amos iii. 3. If two men travel in one road, it is likely they are agreed to go to the same place. Providences and Scriptures go all one way; and if they seem at any time to go divers or contrary ways, be sure they wiil meet at the journey’s end; there is an agreement betwixt them so to do. Doth God miraculously suspend the power of natural causes, as in the first demand was opened? Why, this is no accidental thing, but what harmonizes with the word: When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt
1 John i. 10
a5 not be burnt, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee,” Isaiah xliii. 2. a
Do natural causes unite and associate themselves for the good of God’s people? Why, this is no more than what is contained in the promises, and is but the fulfilling of that Scripture, all is yours, for ye are Christ’s,” 1 Cor. iii. 22, that 1, the use, benefit, and service of all the creatures are for you, as your need shall require.
Are the most apt and powerful means employed for their ruin, frustrated? Who can but see the Scriptures fulfilled in, and expounded by, such providences? See Isa. xlv. 15—17, and Isa. viii. 7—10, expounded by 2 Kings xviii. 17, &e.
See you at any time a rub of Providence diverting the course of good men from falling into evil, or wicked men from committing evil? How loudly do such providences proclaim the truth and certainty of the Scriptures, which tell us, that the way of man is not in himself, neither is it in him that walks to direct his steps,” Jer. x. 23; and that “a man’s heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps,” Prov. xvi. 9.
Do you see adequate retributions made to those that injure or befriend the people of God? When you see all the kindness and love any have shown the saints returned with an overplus into their bosoms, how is it possible but you must see the accomplishment of those Scriptures in such providences? The liberal soul deviseth liberal things, and by liberal things he shall stand,” Isa. xxxii. 8, and 2 Cor. ix. 6. And when you see the evils men have done, or intended to do, to the Lord’s people, recoiling upon themselves, he is perfectly blind who sees not the harmony such providences bear with these Scriptures, Psal. exl. 11, 12; vii. 14—16; ix. 16.
Oh what exact proportions do providences and Scriptures hold! Little do men take notice of it. Why did Cyrus, contrary to all rules of state policy, freely dismiss the captives, but to fulfil that Scripture, Isa. xlv. 13? So that it was well observed by one, That as God had stretched out the firmament over the natural, so he hath stretched out his word over the rational world; and as the creatures on earth are influenced by those heavenly bodies, so are all creatures in the world influenced by the word, and do infallibly fulfil it when they design to cross it. ~~ -
Seventh demand. 1f these things be contingent, how is it that they fall out in such remarkable nicks and junctures of time, which makes them so greatly observable to all that consider them?
We find a multitude of providences so timed to a minute, that, had they fallen out ever so litle sooner or later, they had signified butlittle to what they now do. Certainly it cannot be casualty, but counsel, that so exactly nicks the opportunity. Contingencies keep to no rules.
How remarkable to this purpose was the tidings brought to Saul, that the Philistines had invaded the land, just as he was ready to grasp the prey! 1 Sam. xxiii. 27. The angel calls to Abraham, and shows him another sacrifice, just when his hand was giving the fatal stroke to Isaac, Gen. xxii. 10, 11. A well of water is discovered to Hagar just when she had left the child as not able to see its death, Gen. xxi. 16. 19. Rabshakeh meets with a blasting providence, hears a rumour that frustrated his design, just when ready to give the shock against Jerusalem, Isa. xxxvii. 7, 8. So when Haman’s plot against the Jews was ripe, and all things ready for execution, On that night could not the king sleep,” Esther vi. 1. When the horns are ready to gore Judah, immediately carpenters are prepared to drive them away, Zech, 1. 18—21. How remarkable was the relief of Rochelle, by a shoal of fish that came into the harbour when they were ready to perish with famine, such as they never observed before or after that time. Mr. Dodd could not go to bed one night, but had a strong impulse to visit, (though unseasonable,) a neighbouring gentleman, and just as he came, he meets him at his door, with a halter in his pocket, just going to hang himself. Dr. Tate and his wife, in the Irish rebellion, flying through the woods with a sucking child, which was just ready to expire; the mother, going to rest it upon a rock, puts her hand upon a bottle of warm milk, by which it was preserved. A good woman, from whose mouth I received it, being driven to a great extremity, all supplies failing, was exceedingly plunged into unbelieving doubts and fears, not seeing whence supplies could come, when lo! at that very time, by turning some things in a chest, unexpectedly she lights upon a piece of gold, which supplied her present wants, till God opened another door of supply. If these things fall out casually, how is it they observe time so very exactly? That is become proverbial in Scrip-ture. In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen,’ Gen. xxii. 14.
Eighth demand. Lastly, were these things casual and contingent, how can it be that they should fall out so immediately upon, and consonantly to, the prayers of the saints? So thatin many providences they are able to discern a very clear answer to their prayers, and are sure they have the petitions they asked of him, 1 John v. 15. _—,
Thus when the sea divided itself, just upon Israel’s cry to Heaven, Exod. xiv. 10. When so signal a victory is given to Asa, immediately upon that pathetical cry to heaven, Help us O Lord, our God!” 2 Chron. xiv. 11, 12. When Ahithophel shall go and hang himself just upon that prayer of distressed David, 2 Sam. xv. 31. When Haman shall fall, and his plot be broken, just upon the fast kept by Mordecai and Esther, Esth. iv. 16. Our own Speed, in bis History of Britain, tells us that Richard I. besieged a castle with his army; they offered to surrender, if he would save their lives; he refuses, and threatens to hang them all. Upon this, an archer charged his bow with a square arrow, making first his prayer to God, that he would direct the shot, and deliver the innocent from oppression: it struck the king himself, whereof he died, and they were delivered. Abraham’s servant prayed for success, and see how it was answered, Gen. xxiv. 45. Peter was cast into prison, and prayer was made for him by the church, and see the event, Acts xii. 5—12. I could easily add to these the wonderful examples of the return of prayers which was observed in Luther, and Dr. Winter, in Ireland, and many more; but I judge it needless, because most Christians have a stock of experience of their own, and are well assured that many of the providences that befall them are, and can be, no other than the return of their prayers.
And now, who can be dissatisfied on this point, that wisely considers these things? Must we not conclude that, he withdraweth not his eye from the righteous?”” Job xxxvi. 7, and that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him,’’ 2 Chron xvi. 9. [is providences proclaim him to be a God, hearing prayers.
The Second General Head
Having proved that the concerns of the saints, in this world, are certainly conducted by the wisdom and care of a special Providence, my next work is to show you in what affairs and concerns of theirs the providence of God doth more especially appear, or what are the most remarkable performances of Providence for them in this world.
And here I am not led directly by my text to speak of the most internal and spiritual performances of Providence, immediately relating to the souls of his people, though they all relate to their souls mediately and eventually, but of the more ~ visible and external performances of Providence for them. And it is not to be supposed that I should touch ull these neither; they are more than the sands: but that which 1 aim at, is to discourse to you some more special and more observable performances of Providence for you. And we shall begin with