The Eye and Wheel of Providence, Chapter 35
CHAP. XXXV. Inſtruction ſecond.
Inſtruct. 2 AS we muſt obſerve, So likewiſe we muſt be carefull to remember and not forget God's wonderfull Providences; He hath made his wonderfull workes to be remembred, ſaith the Pſalmiſt, The Rabbines obſerve, that the Children of the Jewes, the night beforeth Paſſeover, uſed to aske their parents, why is it called the paſſeover? th y anſwered, becauſe the Angel paſſed over and deſtroyed us not, &c. Thus ought we to ſpeak publiquely of Gods great mercies for the benefit of our poſterity, to tell what God hath done for our ſoules; that his glory may be declared among all Nations, and his wonders among all people. Joh. Menoch. de republ. Hebr.Pſal. 111.4. They are worthy our remembrance. The works of his hand are verity and judgement, verſ. 7. not onelyonly the words of his mouth, but alſo the works of his hand. When we cannot find out God's mind in his word, we may ſpell it out in his works. God puts Iſrael in mind of their deliverance, Deut. 8.2. Thou ſhalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee theſe fourty years in the wilderneſſe, &c. I brought thee up out of the Land of Aegypt, and redeemed thee out of the Houſe of ſervants, and I ſent before thee Moſes, Aaron, and Miriam. O my people, remember now what Balak King of Moab conſulted, and what Balaam the ſon of Beor anſwered him from Shittim unto Gilgal, that ye may know the Righteouſneſſe of the Lord, Mich. 6.4, 5. Remember the former things of old, Iſa. 46.9. All God's doings are very weighty in themſelves and not to be forgotten. When thou art apt to murmure for the want of any thing, look upon the Rocks, and remember how God made water to flow out of the Rock, to the Iſraelites ready to periſh for thirſt. When thou art in a ſtraight, and ſeeſt the water, let that put thee in mind of God's dividing the red Sea. When thou ſeeſt the Sun, think how God can make it ſtand ſtill for the good of his Children, or go bacward to help forward our Faith. Art thou perſecuted? Remember what God did to Pharoah, Deut. 7.18. and to all Aegypt. When thou art in affliction, then is a time to remember God; When my ſoul fainted within me, I remembred the Lord, ſaith Jonab, chap. 2.7. When God remembred Jonah, he remembred the Lord, and praied unto him.
Many men have quick wits, and fluent tongues, yet are mute reporters of Gods Providences. It is a great ſinne to forget God or to be unmindfull of his works and Properties. It is ſad of the Children of Iſrael, That they did evill in the ſight of God, and forgat the Lord their God, Judg. 3.7. If David did as it were curſe himſelf if he ſhould forget Jeruſalem, Pſal. 137.5, 6. what then ſhall happen to thoſe that ſay to God, depart from us, we deſire not the knowledge of thy waies. God complaineth of ſome, that they had forgotten him daies without number. Jerem. 2.32. many remember but a part of God; his mercy to preſume thereon, Polan. Syntag. de Gratiar. actione.utterly forgetting his judgements. If we forget his word we forſake God; if we obey it not, we do the like, Jerem. 32.33. If we play the Hypocrites, we forget his Providence; and ſo whenſoever we are unmindfull of him, we ruſh into any kind of ſinne, making not God our treaſure, for then our hearts would be with him. Ah! how eaſily do men remember fooliſh jeſts, vain ſports, and tricks of youth; but how ſoon are the word and works of God forgotten by us. David rouzeth up himſelf,Pſal. 77.10, 11, 12. In priſcis rebus veritas nòn ad unguem quaerenda. Diodat. to remember the years of the right hand of the moſt High, To remember the works of the Lord, and his wonders of old, To meditate of all his workes, and talk of all his doings. If thou canſt not remember particular daies, labour to remember the years of the moſt high; in antient things a generall knowledge is ſufficient.
Here I muſt now commend the lawfull uſe of Hiſtory; there we may ſearch after the proverbs and records of the Antients, 1 Sam. 24.13. There we may ſee how others have demeaned themſelves upon divers occaſions and buſineſſes of great importanec:Hiſtoriae utilitas eſt magna faelicitatem participat, &c. Diodor. Sicul. lib. 1. de fabuloſ. geſtis It is (as one obſerveth) a prudent Sate Councellour by whoſe advice a Commonweale, may be framed, Governed, reformed and preſerved: an army well marſhalled and ordered, Towns beſieged and taken, Enemies vanquiſhed, Kingdomes ſubdued, and great victories obtained. In it as in a clear Chryſtall-glaſſe we may behold God's Providence governing the world,Joh. Crompton's Sermon of marriage and the actions of men, which have often ſtrange and unexpected events; and ſometimes reach unto ſuch ends as are quite contrary to the actors intentions; it repreſenteth to us the vices and vertues of great ones; it leaves to poſterity the worthy ſayings and doings of men famous in their generation, for the imitation of their ſurvivors.
But above all Hiſtories, let us be carefull to read the Sacred Hiſtories of God's wonderfull Providences towards his people; this divideth time to us, it acquainteth us with all the paſſages of Gods Providence that have been from the beginning of the world; it keeps God's benefits freſh in our minds; it perfumeth the memorial of the Godly, making piety the more amiable; it teacheth us by the examples of thoſe Worthies that are there mentioned, how we ſhould carry our ſelves upon whom the ends of the world are come. Now that we may the better rub up our memories, we muſt make diligent enquiry after God's wonderfull works. Eliphaz tells Job, That he would not onelyonly declare to him what himſelf had ſeen; but alſo what wiſe men had told from their Fathers, Job 15.17, 18. We ſhould ask of thoſe that have the beſt and moſt experience: we love to hear travellers diſcourſe of other Countries, eſpecially thoſe that know them by experience; and albeit, Art and Learning are good helpes, yet he maketh the beſt Comment upon God's works, that ſpeaketh from holy experience. What a ſhame is it then for old men to be children in underſtanding; many old men are indeed profound in worldly wiſedom, but babes in other things; ſo that even youths may teach the Senatours wiſdom; it is a great judgement when Counſell periſheth from the Antient, Ezek. 7.6. Cyrus in Xenophon Xenophon.reports that the Perſians had a Law enjoyning all men to be ſilent when an Elder ſhould ſpeak,Calliſtratus. to give him the wall when they met him in the ſtreets,Heſychius. and to ſet open and clear the paſſage waies when he ſhould go any journey or voyage.Monſieur Goulart's, Vieillard. In the Antient Roman Commonwealth great Reverence was done to old men; and the Antient Grecians, as Heſychius obſerveth, gave Majeſtick titles to Old men; the Counſels of Old men are more regarded than the ſtrength of young men; it's the beſt Ornament of the hoary head to be full of Heavenly wiſedome, to be able to inſtruct and govern young men in God's wondrous works.