The Eye and Wheel of Providence, Chapter 3
CHAP. III. Argum. 2.
Argum. 2 THe ſecond Argument to prove there is a divine Providence, may be drawn from the fulfilling of whatſoever hath been foretold, and performing of what hath been promiſed and propheſied of.—To inſtance in ſome few particulars: He promiſed Adam that the ſeed of the woman ſhould bruiſe the head of the Serpent, Gen. 3. the which promiſe was fulfilled and made good in Chriſt, four thouſand years after it was made. He promiſed Abraham that though his ſeed ſhould ſojourn in a ſtrange Land four hundred and thirty years, yet he would at length bring them into the Land of promiſe, and the lot of their inheritance, which promiſe he performed at the time appointed, viz. in the dayes of Joſhua; and in the performance of this promiſe, Gods providence manifeſtly appeared, and many wayes manifeſted it ſelf.
1. In the preſervation of Iſaac, whom his Father was commanded to offer up for a burnt-offering upon Mount Moriah, Gen. 22. As Abraham had already ſtretched out his hand, and was ready to dart the thunderbolt God had put into his hand, he who commanded Abraham to ſtrike, ſtayes his blow, and the Altar of Moriah which was to be the Scaffold of death, became the Theatre of life,Cauſin. hiſt. ſac. l. 2. and his Pile (as one hath well noted) ſerved but to make a Bonfire of joy, and a triumph of the fidelity which Abraham and Iſaac teſtified unto God.
2. By ſending Joſeph into Aegypt, to provide for his Father Iacob, and his Family during the famine. I doubt not but Jacob thought God would provide for the preſervation of himſelf and his Family; but how far was it from his thoughts, that Joſeph ſhould be the inſtrument of their preſervation, whom he thought long before to have been a prey to ſo me cruell Beaſt. Therefore when Joſeph makes himſelf known to his Brethren, he tells them, God ſent me before you to preſerve you a posterity in the earth, and to ſave your lives by a great deliverance; ſo now it was not you that ſent me hither but God, Gen. 45.7, 8. Gregory gloſſeth upon the Story of Joſeph thus;Divino judicio quod declinare conati ſunt, renitendo ſervierunt: ideò venditus eſt à fratribus Joſeph ne adoraretur, ſed ideò eſt adoratus quia venditus: ſic divinum conſilium dum devitatur, impletur; ſic humana ſapientia dum reluctatur, comprehenditur. Greg. God ſo ordered it by his providence, that what his Brethren ſought to decline, they were conſtrained to promote, even by their reſiſting of it. Joſeph was therefore ſold by his Brethren, that they might not adore him, and yet he was therefore worſhipped becauſe he was ſold, and they forced to render him duties, as to their Soveraign, not knowing him that was now over their heads, and whom they would have troden under their feet. Joſeph takes not up the government of Aegypt, untill he hath been uſed like a Beaſt, and ſold as a ſlave, even by thoſe who muſt one day be his captives and vaſſals, and he muſt go out of a Dungeon to the Court, and of a Shepherd become Viceroy of Aegypt. Even ſo the divine counſell is accompliſhed in being oppoſed; ſo humane policy is defeated, while men ſeek to promote it.
3. In preſerving Moſes from drowning, contrary to the Kings cruell Commandment. His Mother having hid him three moneths, and being no longer able to conceal him, ſhe deviſeth for him a little Ark made of Reeds, and dawbed it with ſlime and pitch, putting the Child in it, and ſetting it among the Bullruſhes by the River ſide, appointing her Daughter (the Childs Siſter) to watch the ſame, committing the Child to the providence of God, whom ſhe could not preſerve from a bloody Tyrant, depending upon God for the ſafety of her Child. The Child thus placed by the Bank of Nilus, while the prudent Mother looks with horrour on the Tomb of her Son, and her eldeſt Daughter ſtandeth as a Sentinell, to ſee what would become of her little Brother,Babingt. Notes in Exod. 2. Gods providence ſo ordered it, that this cruell Pharaohs Daughter, called of ſome Thermutis, cometh down that way to waſh her ſelf in the River, who deſcending on the Bank of the River, perceived the Cradle wherein little Moſes was; at the ſame time, an happy curioſity incited her to ſend one of her Maids to ſee what it was, who brought to her Lady the little Veſſell, in which was incloſed the honour and proſperity of the people of Iſrael: the poor Babe weeping upon her, begged by tears (as well as it could) ſome pity againſt the cruell Edict of her bloody Father. The Siſter of this found Infant, who looked for nothing leſs than ſuch an encounter, asked if ſhe ſhould fetch a Nurſe for him among the Hebrew women, (the Child utterly refuſing (as Stories ſay) to ſuck an Aegyptian woman then preſent) ſhe willingly conſenteth; the Maid inſtantly brings the Mother of the Child, to whom Pharaohs Daughter gave the charge of nurſing up this Infant: in Pharaohs Court he afterward continueth, (being called the Son of Pharaohs Daughter) as Stephen witneſſeth, till he was forty years old;Act. 7.23. at which time God put it into his heart to leave the Kings Court, that ſo he might become a leader and Captain to the people of God: that he was appointed by God to deliver the people of Iſrael out of their miſerable ſervitude, he knew not, till God revealed it, which ſeemeth to be at the age before-mentioned. One might think that Moſes had been in the moſt likely capacity of delivering his Brethren, when he was ſtiled the Son of Pharaohs Daughter, and was, as Philo the Jew noteth, adopted as the next heir of the Crown, Philo Judaeus in vit. Moſ.and after his adoption, could expect nothing but a Crown and Scepter: yet here behold a ſtratagem of divine providence; Moſes muſt depart out of Aegypt, and leave the Court of Pharaoh, having no other but poverty and miſeries for his companions; he muſt become a fugitive in the Land of Midian, where he exerciſeth the imployment of a Shepherd for forty years together; then God delivereth his people by the hands of Moſes a poor Shepherd, when Moſes the great favourite in Pharaohs Court could not do it. In a word! all the promiſes and propheſies concerning Chriſts conception, birth, life, death, were all in due time accompliſhed, both for matter and manner, ſubſtance and circumſtance; as alſo the threatnings of Chriſt againſt the Jews, the deſtruction of their City and Temple, which plainly prove the Providence of God.