The Eye and Wheel of Providence, Title page – Dedication
THE EYE and WHEEL OF Providence: OR A TREATISE, Proving that there is a divine Providence; Shewing alſo what it is, and what be the parts thereof; together with the extent of it to the Heavens, to the Seas, to the Earth, and all things therein: eſpecially to Man, and all things that concern him. Some Queries touching Providence reſolved; the Objections againſt Providence anſwered; the Conſectaries of this Doctrine, together with the Uſes thereof gathered.
By W. Gearing Miniſter of the Goſpel.
Providentia Dei omnia gubernantur, & quae putatur poena medicina eſt. Hieron. ſup. Ezek.
LONDON, Printed for Francis Tyton at the Three Daggers in Fleetſtreet, 1662.
To the Right Honourable George Lord Booth Baron of Delamere, and to the Noble and Vertuous Lady his Wife.
Right Honourable:
I Suppoſe it was the deſign of God to ſhew unto Jacob in his Viſion of the Ladder, that ſpeciall care his wiſe providence took of him;Gen. 28. that Ladder being a moſt lively draught of Gods faithfull conduct concerning Jacob, and of the univerſall government of the world which is in the hands of God: infinite are the bounds and limits of this Empire; his Scepter extending it ſelf both over the Heavens and over all the earth. The two ſides of the Ladder (as one ſaith) repreſent power and ſweetneſs, Cauſ. Hiſt. ſacr.which are as the two hands of the divine providence, which by divers ſteps goes mounting from earth to Heaven, and thence deſcendeth to the earth again, acting and walking a thouſand wayes at once, through which the world is inſenſibly led to the periods appointed to it. God reſteth himſelf on the top of this Ladder, and from thence ſendeth forth his holy Angels, Greg. Moral.which are (as Gregory ſaith) the Miniſters of divine providence, and ſent forth to miniſter for them that are the heirs of ſalvation.
God continueth this great world by a continuall viciſſitude, the day changing into night, the ſpring into ſummer, ſummer into harvest, harvest into winter, winter into the ſpring: one day is not in every point like another; ſome hot, ſome cold, ſome wet, ſome dry, ſome clear and Sun-ſhiny, ſome dark and gloomy; that giveth a great beauty to the Univerſe. Even ſo it is with Man, who being an Epitome of the great world, is alwayes ebbing and flowing into a perpetuall diverſity of motions; ſometime lifted up in hopes, by and by caſt down in fears, ſometime on the Mount of proſperity, and ſtraightway in the Valley of Bochim. Tùnc eſt tentatio finienda quando finitur & pugna, & tùnc finienda eſt pugna, quando poſt hanc vitam ſuccedit pugnae ſecura victoria. Pr…ſper. l. 5. de cont. vitae.The life of man (ſaith Proſper) is a War without truce, neither is peace to be expected long but in the Tomb. Never a one of mans dayes are like another of them, to teach us to have our hearts unchangeable in the great inequalities and accidents that befall us; and though all things are full of turning and variation about us, yet ſhould we remain immoveable, earneſtly breathing and longing after God. Let the Ship run out East or Weſt, North or South; and let the Wind blow where and when it liſteth, yet the Needle will ſtill look toward the Pole: ſo let things go how they will; let the ſoul be glad or ſad, in joy or heavineſs, in light or darknſs, in temptation or repoſe; let the Sun ſcorch, or the dew cool, the drought or the froſt conſume; yet the point of our heart [our ſpirit] and our will (which is our needle) muſt continually turn and look to God our only ſoveraign good;Rom. 8.38. and if once we firmly reſolve never to forſake God and his wayes; and that neither tribulation, nor diſtreſs, (ſuch ſtraits wherein Chriſtians may be ſhut up, that they can ſee no iſſue out of it) nor perſecution, nor famine, nor nakedneſs, nor perils and dangers occaſioned by theſe, nor ſword, nor fire, nor any other instrument of cruelty, nor death that is ſo dreadfull to nature, nor life which many times is more dangerous to the people of God than death, [life] that is attended with ſo many cares and caſualties, and maketh men for the preſervation thereof to forget their latter end; no nor Angels, nor principalities and powers, not evil Angels, nor ſpirituall wickedneſſes in high places, no nor good Angels,foreign, are put to ſignifie Magiſtrates. Luk. 12.11. Luk. 20.20. Tit. 3.1. But foreign, do promiſcuouſly ſignifie either good Angels, Col. 1.16. & 2.20. Eph. 1.21. or evil Angels, 1 Cor. 15.24. Eph 6.12. (if they ſhould go about to hinder our ſalvation) ſhall ſeparate us from the love that is founded in Chriſt; this will ſerve as a counterpoize to hold our hearts in a holy tranquillity, among all the unequall motions of this life; in all theſe things we ſhall do more than conquer, not only overcome, but take the ſpoils of them, and reap advantage by them.
Gods providence is a Sun that penetrateth every where, and is alwayes in his high noon, the motions whereof though they ſeem oblique, go alwayes strait, and will (ſooner or later) bring the people of God to their deſired Haven, taking them by the hand, and leading them in all their pilgrimages, and both frequently and inſenſibly diverting them from the abyſſes, into which the pride and malice of their enemies would have often hurried them, who ſhall at last be driven to confeſs, that innocence and truth are ſo dear to God, that whoſoever ſhall offend them, ſhall find Heaven arming it ſelf in their defence, and that the Almighty God hath inviſible bands, which the ſtouteſt oppoſers of his providence cannot break, and that divine vengeance which is inexorable, will (firſt or laſt) inflict on them the puniſhments they have deſerved, that it may appear that God in his government of the world, hath reſpect to the pooreſt Chriſtian, and meaneſt Artizan, (who no leſſe enjoyeth this munificence of his bountifull Creator) than the higheſt Prince or greateſt Potentate in the world.
Thrice happy are they that live under the favour of divine providence; every footſtep thereof is a ſpeaking to them in particular, that God will never leave them nor forſake them. Great peace may the ſoul have, when God is the primum mobile, and firſt mover of all his actions: what comfort may he take, when he conſidereth that he walketh in the way his uncreated wiſdome hath marked out for him with his own hand? this conſideration well digeſted, is ſufficient (when things at any time ſeem to go croſs to our deſires, and Gods providences ſeem alſo to contradict his promiſes) to baniſh from us thoſe diſquiets and diſcontents, which extort from us that acquieſcence and confidence, which we ought at all times to have in God, and to make us to reſign our hopes, our joyes, our deſires, our deſigns and interests into the boſome of his providence. How indulgent is God to his children? He ſpreadeth abroad his wings like the Eagle,Deut. 32.11, 12 ſtretcheth them out to cover each of his young ones, who are kept as it were in a neſt: none are ſo ſafely kept as Gods ltttle ones, who have a neſt under them, and a God over them. All Gods benefits are for their good, every feather in his wings helpeth to cover them, his wings reach to the ends of the earth; be a Chriſtian then where he will, God hath a wing of grace or a feather of mercy to reach him: and therefore when at any time we feel the touches of that wiſe hand that manageth our greateſt affairs; this may comfort us, that he will lay no more upon us, than he will give us a way out of, ſeeing he layeth them on us not as an angry Judge, but as a loving Father;Tam pius nemo; tam pater nemo. Tertul. none ſo much affectionate as he, none ſo much a Father as he, ſaith Tertullian. When it raineth, we cannot ſee the end why God ſendeth it through the thick Cloud, but when the ſtorm ceaſeth, we perceive preſently that it hath been profitable, and done good to the earth: ſo while Gods hand is upon us, we often ſee not the benefit of it, but afterward we feel it to our comfort, Pſal. 119.71. The Saints are beautifull in the fire of afflictions: In the dark night of afflictions many glorious lights appear, which lye hidden in the Sun-ſhine of proſperity, ſaith Lactantius.
Many men deal with God as Joab did with Abſalom, who being often ſent for, refuſed to come; at length when Abſalom hath cauſed his barley fields to be ſet on fire by his ſervants, then he cometh to him, 2 Sam. 14.30. So many times when we are in proſperity, God cannot be acquainted with us, nor are we at leaſure to ſerve him,De nido peccati roſtro flagelli percutit. Hieron. but when he rouzeth us out of the neſt of ſin by the bill of afflictions, as Hierom ſpeaketh, then we run unto him, and call upon him. God hovers none in this evil nest, nor nouriſheth any in their ſins; if we expect comfort from him, we muſt be carried on his wings from this pit of corruption. When we are naked, God brings us into the neſt of afflictions, to warm and ripen us there, and to feather the wings of our prayers, that we may ſoar aloft, and fly to the Throne of his grace.—Therefore when men at any time are the inſtruments of our ſufferings, let us not conſider whether we have deſerved thus to be dealt with by them, no… meditate on revenge, thinking how t… pay them again in their own coyn but let us look (not after the ſtone▪ but to the hurler, not to the ſtaff, bu… to the ſtriker; conſidering that t… make oppoſition againſt God, were but to ſtrive againſt the ſtream; a… he did that threw fetters into the Sea, to make it his priſoner, or as another (as wiſe as the former) that went out with a bag to catch the wind. It is great wickedneſs and extream folly, with Job's wife to think we ſhould bleſs God in proſperity, and blaſpheme him in adverſity; this were intolerable ingratitude in the higheſt degree, and with the Perſians, to worſhip the riſing Sun in the morning for a God, and to curſe him at night (being ready to go down) for a Devil, forgetting the benefit they had of his former preſence, and not conſidering the benefit they ſhould reap at his next appearing. Juſt ſo do many men, they neither look backwards to Gods by-paſt benefits, nor yet forward to his future favours, but like Beaſts look only downwards upon their preſent eſtate, never praiſing God for the benefits they have received, nor praying to him for ſuch as they want, and yet may receive.
Afflictions be the beaten path and road that lead to Heaven, trodden and trackt by all the holy Patriarcks and Prophets, Apoſtles and Martyrs, that have gone before us, and that must bet rodden by all the Saints and profeſſors that muſt come after us; therefore we must not look for a peculiar eſtate above all our brethren, but ſeeing it is the lot and portion of all Gods children, we muſt prepare our ſelves to bear our parts with patience. That gold muſt be much beaten and filed, and tried in the fire, that muſt bear the image of the King: the Church is Gods image, which being decayed by Adam, is to be renewed by our conformity to Chriſt. Bernard ſaith, Chriſt our Head was crowned with thorns, his members muſt not think to crown themſelves with Roſe-buds.
And now Right Honourable, I here humbly preſent unto you this Treatiſe of Providence, who have obſerved the various operations of divine providence, and have ſeen the flux and reflux of a thouſand accidents in theſe our dayes: and certainly! God cannot conceal his thoughts, deſigns, and loving kindneſs, from thoſe that obſerve his doings, who admire his ſage providences, and the miraculous conduct of his deſigns. The best improvement of all occurrences, is to conſider all things ſpiritually, turning them to ſpirituall ends and uſes: the living Chriſtian layes things to his heart; his ſearching ſpirit (like the Chymick pots) can refine all that is caſt into it; knowing that all things whatſoever; all accidents and events fall directly, and as it were perpendicularly under the counſell of Gods providence; to the guidance whereof I leave you, praying that the Lord who bleſſed the houſe of Obed-Edom, for lodging the Ark of his Covenant, will bleſs you with all ſpirituall bleſſings in heavenly things in Chriſt. Thus committing your Eſtates to the protection of the Higheſt; my labours to your favourable cenſures, and my ſelf to your commands, I am
My Lord, and Madam, Your Honours in all Goſpel ſervices, W. Gearing. May 26. 1662.