The Way to Prosperity, Proposition 1 – Proposition 2
PROPOSITION. I.
It is the Interest, and should be the Desire, of Every people to have the God of Heaven With them. But we are to enquire,
What is implied in that presence of GOD, which we are to be solicitous about?
For Answer to this; There is a Threefold Presence of God, mentioned in the Scripture of Truth.
First, God is Naturally present with all Creatures. He is an Immense Being, and no Creature can be without him. The Apostle thus argued in the Court at Athens, in Act, 17. 27. God is not far from every one of us. No, He is near us all, He is with us all. And Paul could have had the Gentiles themselves confessing it; for besides what their Seneca did own, One of their own Poets had said, Iovis omnia plena. It is the Speech of our God, in Ier. 23. 24. Do not I fill Heaven and Earth, saith the Lord? Yea, That He do's. The Jews call God by the Name of Makom, or of Place, because all things are in Him; this is His Name in the Book of Esther, if I mistake it not. Whether we may count it proper and physical to speak of an Imaginary, Infinite space, beyond the utmost Selvige of the world, replenished with our God alone; yet we are sure that the Heaven of Heavens gives no limits unto His Being; and the Ancients were not mistaken when they said, Deus Ipse Sibi, et Mundus et Locus et Omnia. We cannot so well say, That God is in the World, as we may say, The whole World is in God; & we may say with the Psalmist, in Psal. 139. …. Whither shall I flee from thy presence?
Secondly, God is Gloriously present with the Inhabitants of the Third Heaven. The Heaven of Heavens hath in it most intimate and marvellous manifestations of God. It is the Place, of which we may say, as tis said of that State, in Rev. 21. 23. The glory of God doth lighten it. There the blessed ones have God with them, so that they Alwayes behold His face; and they are satisfied with His likeness for ever. When we come to Heaven, then as in 1. Thes. 4. 17. We shall ever be with the Lord. So the Lord will be with us for ever. Heaven is the Throne of the Most High; He is there as a Prince in his Throne; the Great KING is in a manner very ineffable residing there. To be there, is called in 2. Cor. 5. 4. A being present with the Lord. Hence unto the Heaven, and not unto a Bible, are we directed to make our Corporal Applications in our Prayers, or our Oathes before the Lord.
But Thirdly, God is Graciously present with His people, by being Favourable unto them. And this Gracious presence of God is that which a people ought to be concerned for. It lies in The Engagement of Divine Providence for the Welfare of such a people. God is with us when God is for us.
To particularize,
First, God is with a people by Directing of them. When Israel was to pass thro' the Wilderness, they had that encouragement, in Exod. 22. 15. The presence of God going with them. What was that? Why, They had a cloudy siery Pillar miraculously Leading of them every step of the way; There was a wonderful Pillar which was a Cloud by day, and a Fire by night; the Lower part of which rested on the Tabernacle, while the Upper part was to be seen by the whole Congregation: the Motions of this being managed by the Ministry of Angels, now God was with them, and He led them forth by the right way. A people are often brought into a Wilderness of Difficulties and Emergencies: but if God be with them, He guides them to a good Issue of them all. The Presence of God appears in His Directing and Inclining of a people to such Actions, as may be for His Honour and their Safety, and such Methods, as may extricate them out of all Distresses! When God is with a people, He shapes their Counsels for them, and he disposes them to the Things that should be done. He supplies them with Apprehensions beyond the Reach and Verge of their own Wisdome, and He layes before them Invitations, and Provocations, which as it were push them into the way wherein they should go. When the Jews were upon a Re-Assumption of the desireable things which the Babylonians had deprived 'em of, they took a Right Way to dissappoint all that were desirous to interrupt them in it. We find in Neh. 4. 13. That while those Exercises continued, they waited in a posture agreeable thereunto; and when the danger was over, then they returned every one to his work. How came this to pass? 'Twas because GOD was with them.
Secondly, God is with a People, by Protecting of them. 'Twas the promise of God unto His people, in Isa. 43. 2. When thou passest thro' the Waters, I will be with thee, and thro' the Rivers, they shall not overflow thee. On which Text, blessed Bilney after his Condemnation so sweetly paraphrased, that his Friends caused the whole Sentence to be fairly written on their Tables. A people may be ready to be swallow'd up, by a stormy, gaping Ocean of Troubles, but if God be with them, they shall escape clear of all. The Presence of God is a Defence, a Refuge to the people that are partakers of it. It was said unto David in 2. Sam. 7. 9. I was with thee, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight. When God is with a people, He distracts and confounds their enemies, and He troubles those who trouble them. A people who have God with them, are too strong for all the Malice and Power of their enemies; no Adversary, no Desolation, shall make such a people miserable; they are the Iacob, unto whom in Gen. 28. 15. Behold, I am with thee, and I will keep thee, saith the Lord.
Thirdly, God is with a people by His Assisting and Succeeding of them. When Ioshua had a vast Undertaking in hand, it was said unto him in Cap. 1. 9. Be of good Courage, for the Lord thy God is with thee, whither soever thou goest. q. d. God will Assist thee, and succeed thee, in thy undertakings. The Presence of God will carry a people comfortably through all that they take in hand. If they have Canaanites to subdue; if they have Enjoyments to obtain or preserve, the Presence of God will prosper them in doing all. It was said unto Solomon, in 1. Chron. 22. 11. My son, the Lord be with thee, and prosper thou, and build the house of the Lord thy God. Thus, if the Lord be with a people, they shall prosper in all their Affairs; in every Expedition, they shall come off with Satisfaction; and they shall not miscarry in any of their Applications. This is the Presence of the Lord.
Proposition. II.
The Presence of God with a people in His Outward Providence, has a diverse Foundation and Continuance from His Presence with His People, in the Covenant of Grace. As tis well observed by the great Owen, in a Discourse unto the Parliament, These two are to be carefully distinguished. We must not reflect on the Stability of the New-Covenant, for what Variety and Soveraignty we may see in providential Dispensations, toward this and that people in the world. This matter seems determined by David, in 2. Sam. 23. 5. Tho' my house be not so with God, yet He has made with me an Everlasting Covenant, ordered in all things and sure. David had promises for the prosperity of his House; He had also the sure mercies of the Covenant made over to him in the promises of God. These promises had now a different Establishment; The Sure mercies of the Covenant, were unto him more Absolute and Immutable; but the prosperity of his House, we find under another Law, and subject unto a dreadful Alteration.
To bring these things into the case before us.
God has in the Covenant of Grace, promised, That He will be with His people. This we read in Heb. 13. 5. He hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. The Alsufficient God, who is HEE that answers our Necessities, Let them be what they will; the Unchangeable God, who is HE still, whatever He was to the Saints of old; this God hath said [and how much better is this Autos Eireken than the best Ipse dixit in the world! He hath said it, and this] with multipli'd Negatives, in the Original, heaped one upon another, I will not, I will not leave thee, I will not, I will not, I will not forsake thee. Well, but God is not with a people in His outward Providence just after the manner therein observed.
This Two-fold Presence of God;
First, It has a Diverse Foundation. When we look on the Covenant of Grace, there the Sins of one are expiated by the Sufferings of another; and so, God comes to be with His people, for whom the Atonement is thus Procured. Thus tis said in 2. Cor. 5. 25. Christ was made sin [or a Sin-offering] for us, that we might become the Righteousness of God in Him. Now come to outward Providence, and there you see other measures taken. Here God is with a people, according to those Terms, in Ezek. 18. 20. The Soul that sinneth IT shall dye; one shall not bear the Iniquity of nother.
Again, It hath a Diverse Continuance. When we look on the Covenant of Grace, there God hath bound Himself to be with His people for ever; yea, to see that they shall therefore for ever be with Him. He there saies as in Jer. 32. 40. I will not turn away from them to do them good, but I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me. Now come to outward Providence, and there you see tis otherwise. God is with a people for a while; and upon their misbehaviours and provocations, He changes the Tenour of His Dispensations to them. Tis with them, as it was with that family, in 1. Sam. 2. 30. I said indeed, that thy house should walk before me forever; But now the Lord saies, that be far from me.
The sense of these things will prepare your Thoughts for one Conclusion more, which is,