The Dead Saint Speaking to Saints and Sinners Living, Treatise 6 · Query 1
1. Quere.
1 For the firſt of theſe, That God doth do great wonders for his Church, even ſuch things as are above our thoughts, above our hopes, above our expectations, above our reaſon to conceive, above our faith to beleeve.
The whole Scriptures are but the Annals, or the records of the wonders which God hath done for his Church and people. You can all tell me, what wonders God did for his people in Egypt. The Pſalmiſt tells you ſo, Pſal. 78.12. Marvellous things did hee for them, in the ſight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt. And you know what wonders hee did for them at the Red-ſea, when there was nothing but death before them, death behind them, they were ſurrounded with death. Yet then God unbared his arm, and cauſed the Red-ſea to divide it ſelf,Vehiculum. Sepulchrum. which became a paſſage to the one, and a grave to the other.
And wonders hee did for them in the wilderneſs. Not a day without a wonder; Every day was the Birth of a wonder. Hee gave them bread from heaven: he gave them water out of the rock. Read the 78 Pſalm at your leaſure, and the 9. chap. of Nehemiah, and in them you ſhall ſee a little Chronicle of the great wonders, which God hath done for his Church and people.
But to the Doctrin, That God doth do wonders for his Church and people.
1 God hath wonderfully diſappointed great plots, and deſperate counſels, and deſigns againſt them.
Wee will give you an inſtance of this in Hamans time. Haman had a deſperate plot for the ruine of the Church and people of God, you may read it in the 3d. of Eſther 8, 9, 10. to the end. In brief, it was this: To overthrow and put to death all the Jews, upon pretence, that they kept not the Kings laws. Here was their plot.
The diſappointment of it you ſhall read in the 6. 7, 8. Chapters. The means whereby this deſign was broken, was but ſmall, and therefore the greater was the wonder, the more viſible was the hand of God. The breaking of the Kings ſleep, was the breaking of this deſign, as you read, Eliſh. 6. beginning — The King could not ſleep well, what then? Could hee not lye ſtill in his bed? No, he muſt have a book, and that book, the book of Chronicles: and that Book muſt bee opened; where accidentally, (though ſurely guided by Providence) hee opens and reads that paſſage recorded concerning Mordecai, where was regiſtred his faithfullneſſe in diſcovering and diſappointing of a murther intended againſt the King. Wherupon God ſet this act of faithfulneſs ſo cloſe upon the Kings heart, that hee could not reſt till Mordecai was rewarded for it. And this reward muſt be Hamans ruine, his advancement, Hamans abaſement. And this was the riſe of Hamans diſappointment.
The like you have, Dan. 6.4, 5. There was a great deſign the Nobles had againſt Daniel. They ſaw Daniel was faithfull to the King, and they could find no way to inſnare him, unleſſe it were in ſomething that concerned the law of his God. And therein, if they could find any thing in his obedience to God, that might render him diſobedient to the King; they ſhould then have their deſire of him.
And therefore their Plot was this, To make a Decree, that who ever ſhould ask any Petition either of God, or man, for the ſpace of th…y dayes, ſave only of the King, he was to be thrown into the den of Lyons.
Well; the Plot took according to the Deſire of their hearts: for notwithſtanding this decree, Daniel made his Prayers and ſupplications to his God, three times a day, as you ſee in the 10, 11. verſes.
Upon this they go and tell the King: Haſt not thou, O King, made a Decree, that none ſhould ask any Petition of God or man, ſave of thee? &c. Here is one Daniel of the Captivity, who regards not thee O King, nor the decree thou haſt ſigned: But makes his Supplication three times a day, verſ. 13.
And what was this now, but to render him to the King, factious, ſeditious, a Rebel, a Traytor, One who cared not for King, nor Law? Though indeed Daniel was a better ſubject than the beſt of them; though they would have rendred him rebellious to the King, becauſe he was obedient to his God.
But mark the iſſue of it. God diſappointed them in their deſign, and brought their own plot upon their own Pates. Daniel was preſerved by the Lyons that ſhould have deſtroy'd him, as they did afterward them. The like of the three Children.
I might go down to our days, The Powder-plot: Eighty-Eight: and God knows how many ſince.
2 God hath wrought wonderfull deliverance for his Church. Deliverances wonderful, and the way he hath wrought them was,
1 Sometimes by ſmall means. For weakneſſe and ſtrength is all one with God; as Aſa confeſſed, when that Great Army came againſt him, 2 Chron. 14.11. It is all one with thee, to help with many or with few. Infinite wiſdome and power knows no difference. As the Mariner turns about the greateſt ſhip with a ſmall rudder.
No means can bee ſo contemptible; but he can make it ſuccesful to his own purpoſes.
As the greateſt means will bee no priviledge, without Gods concurrence: ſo the ſmalleſt means ſhall be no prejudice, if God wil concur.
Wee read, God hath ſometimes armed natural Cauſes, Sunne, Moon, Stars, Hail, Wind: All which, were wonders, againſt the enemies of the Church.
The Stars in their courſe were ſaid to fight againſt Siſera. The Lord ſlew the enemies of Joſhua with Hail; and the Moabites with the Sun ſhining upon the water.
And wee read in the Eccleſiaſtical History, that the Chriſtians, being to fight againſt the Barbarians, were in a great diſtreſſe for water: And upon their Prayer, God ſent them abundance of rain, to refreſh their Army: But incountred their enemys with Thunder and fire from heaven. In remembrance of which, the Romans called the Chriſtian Legion foreign: Fulminatrix, The thundring Legion.
And ſometimes God hath armed other cauſes, putting ſtrength into weak and contemptible means, for the deliverance of his Church. God hath oftentimes delivered his Church by ſuch inſtruments, as the enemies before would have looked upon with ſcorn, as upon caſt and deſpicable Creatures.
As God hath weakned and infatuated them, hee hath intended to deſtroy: ſo hath hee ſtrengthned and guided with a ſpirit of wiſdome, ſuch as hee hath intended for the deliverance of a Church.
You ſee Cyrus comparatively a weak Prince; yet God made him an inſtrument to overthrow the moſt ſtrong and puiſſant people in the World, the Babylonians; and by him to deliver his Church.
Deborah a Woman; and yet God raiſed her up for the deliverance of his Church.
So you ſee God doth it by ſmall means.
2. Sometimes God works the deliverance of his Church without means. And this is more wonderful.
When God looks about and ſees there is no man, then doth his right hand bring ſalvation. When the Channel of Creature-helps is dry, when the ſtream of ſecond cauſes doth not runne: Then doth God himſelf ſtand up for the defence and deliverance of his Church and People; and creates deliverance out of nothing.
What God doth by means, hee can do alone. What hee doth mediately, hee doth ſometimes immediately from himſelf. The Angel ſlew an hundred foureſcore and five thouſand, 2 King. 19.35.
Wee read, when Julian went to war againſt the Perſians, hee vowed to his Idol-Gods, that when hee returned, hee would give them a ſacrifice of all the Chriſtians in the Empire.
Here was now no means for the deliverance of the Church. But God undertaketh the work himſelf, ſmiting him from Heaven with an unknown blow, and by that delivered his Church.
The like alſo of Maximius, and of Herod, Act. 12.23. Though there bee weakneſs below, yet there is ſtrength above: Though means bee wanting, yet hee can create means, or hee can work without. God and Faith, work beſt alone.
3. Sometimes God works the deliverance of his Church by contrary means. And this is yet a more wonderful way.
God doth often work his works by Contraries, hee brings good out of evil, Life out of Death, &c. As the Phyſitian doth order poiſons and deſtructive ingredients to phyſical, uſeful, and healthful purpoſes: So thoſe things which in themſelves are againſt us, God in ſingular wiſdome and mercy, turns them for us. That which hath been uſed as the means of ruine, hath God often turned to the means of raiſing a Church and People.
This is like the opening of the blind mans eyes with Clay. One would think it ſhould rather put out the eyes of a ſeeing man, than give ſight to a blind man. But if Chriſt do undertake the work, though the means bee never ſo contrary, it ſhall bee effectual.
Thus you ſee that God doth often do wonders for the good of his Church and People.