A Complete Body of Divinity, Sermons · 44 (Question 11 cont.)
SERMON XLIV.
TO the preceding Deſcription we may adjoyn, for farther Illuſtration, this Diſtinction, viz That the Providence of God is either Immediate or Mediate. This doth not conſtitute divers ſorts of …, but … a divers reſpect that is to be put upon it, for there are both of thoſe in every Providence, that befalls the Creature: only according to the more or leſs appearing of the latter, we are wont to Denominate it: As will appear by conſidering of them.
1. IMMEDIATE Providence, is that whereby God by Himſelf takes Care of all things as their abſolute Cauſe: And this is fully Expreſs, Act. 17.28. In Him we live, move and have our Being. He never doth any thing ſo by Mea…, but that He Himſelf is immediately concern'd, and acting in it: There is nothing done but He is the Doer of it. And there is a double Immediacy we are to aſcribe to Him.
(1) THERE is an Influential Vertue goes forth from Him with reſpect to the Entity which appears in every Effect. There is no Operation of the Creature wherein this vertual Influence doth not exert it ſelf: hence all things that come to paſs are Attributed to Him: no Creature could do any thing, at any time, if He did not derive the Vertue unto it from Himſelf by which it doth it: Only here we muſt diſtinguiſh, between the Entity and the Irregularity of the Action; of which we may afterward have occaſion to conſider: But it is on this account that Second Cauſes have the title of Inſtruments put upon them, Iſai. 10.5. O Aſſyrian, the Rod of mine Anger, &c.
(2) THERE is alſo an Immediacy of the Divine Preſence with every Effect that is wrought in the World. God himſelf is preſent with it, not only by His Vertue, but alſo His Being: His Omnipreſence hath already been ſpoken to; and we are to obſerve, That He is not an Idle Spectator, but an Agent in all; Amos 3.6.
2. MEDIATE Providence, is that whereby God looks after the Affairs of the World, by improving of Secondary Cauſes, in the carrying on His … Deſign. Tho' both the Being & Opperations of Second Cauſes are from the Firſt Cauſe Efficiently, yet they are the next Cauſes of their own Actions Formally: And hence, with reſpect to ſuch Effects as are produced by them, God is ſaid to work Mediately, (i. e.) in and by them, becauſe they do nothing but what He enableth them to do by His Influence, as well as Determines by His Decree. And here Three Concluſions may be Obſerved,
1. THAT God could as well Work all without them, as with them. It is all one to Him as to Ability which way he Works: It is as eaſy to Him to bring about His Projects without the Mediation of Second Cauſes, as by it: for when there are never ſo many of theſe at Work, they muſt be all of them Influenced and Enabled by Him; elſe they can do nothing: If He be with them, let them be never ſo Mean, they proſper; if He be away, be they never ſo Potent, they fail 2 Chron. 14.11. Lord, it is nothing with Thee to holy, whether with many, or them that have no p…r.
2. THAT hence, God doth not uſe Me… in Inſtruments, through any Defect of Vertue is …, but out of the Abundance of his Goodneſs. He wants not Vertue, for He gives them all them; but He is willing to put ſome dignity of Efficien…y upon the Creature; and by th… … Cauſes to render His own Efficien…y the mo… Obſervable Hence, in the … … nent Works of …rovidence, God uſeth ſuch Men many times as have the leaſt Aptitude or A… ty in them to bring them about, A mo… 5.9. … ſtrengtheneth the ſpoiled againſt the ſtrong, 2 Chron. 24.24. 1 Cor. 1.27, 28. Judg. 7.2.
3. THE Second Cauſe Acts, tho' Med…ely, yet as Properly and Really, as if there were … Firſt Cauſe. The Being and the Actings of the one, do not deſtroy the Being and the Actings of the other; No, not in the very ſame Actions God Acts Efficiently and Influentially; the Creature Acts Inſtrumentally and Formally: God Acts as the Firſt & Supream; the Creature as the Second, as a Subordinate Cauſe.
USE 1. THIS tells us, That we are … ſo much concerned to engage Second Cauſes as the Firſt. We are then Strong, not when we … compaſſed about with a Multitude of Secondary Auxillaries, but when we have God on our …. The Foundation on which true Faith builds it's Confidence, is not Means or Inſtruments, but God alone; who can afford us Help in all Caſes, either with, or without the Means as He ſees meet. This may quiet us at our loweſt Ebbs; Dan. 3.17. Our God is able to Deliver. It may ſatisfy as when we have none ſhut up or left; (Rom. 8.32.) Make ſure of this, and no matter how Many, how Mighty, how Crafty they be who are againſt us.
USE 2. TO Teach us to diſtinguiſh of the Good or Evil which befalls us by Mediation of Second Cauſes. As theſe have an Influence, and are Voluntary, ſo we may obſerve their Good or Ill Will; But as there is an Immediacy of God's Efficiency in theſe very things, ſo we … to Submit and Adore: This diſtinction … obſerved in Shimei's Curſing. In ſum, A… the Action comes from the Creature, ſo we are to reflect upon that in it; but as it comes to us we are to look beyond the Creature, to Him who doth all things according to His Holy Counſel.
III. WE are now to conſider the Kinds and Parts of God's Providence.
Firſt, THE Kinds of Providence are T… viz, Ordinary & Extraordinary. God can provide for His Creatures in an Ordinary way, or He can go in an Extraordinary Path: He hath more Ways than one to Provide for His Creatures in. We may conſider theſe ſeverally:
[1.] THE Ordinary Providence of God is that …ereby He Provides for His Creatures according to the Order He put them into in the Creation. It is therefore called Ordinary, becauſe it is that which for the moſt part God follows in the way of His Providence: And becauſe there is an Order or Method preſcribed in it; we may briefly take it up in a few Concluſions.
1. IN His Ordinary Providence God uſeth the Creatures, and ſets Second Beings on Work. God's Ordinary Providence is Mediate; He makes Uſe of Heaven, Earth, many Senſitive and Inſenſitive Creatures, every one in their Places, to be improved according as His Infinite Wiſdom ſees moſt ſuitable, in the ſeveral Stations they are in … God doth not Ordinarily Provide for, and Maintain His Creatures, without their Inſtrumental Agency in it: He ſets them to Work, & He Himſelf Works in and with them.
2. AMONG theſe Second Cauſes, there is a certain Order obſerved by the Providence of God in the improving of them. There is a Subordination of one Cauſe to another; they are Tied together, and follow one the other, as ſo many Links in a Chain, ſo a… that one goes before, and upon that another follows in it's Courſe: We have an Account of it; Hoſ. 2.21, 22. I will hear ſaith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they ſhall hear the earth, and the earth ſhall hear the own, and the …ine, and the oyl, and they ſhall … Je…re…. And it is God who puts every one of theſe to Act in it's Place. The Husbandman …ſt firſt Manure his Ground, and then caſt in the …eed; the Heavens muſt then Diſtill… their … and …iſt with their Influences; the … muſt receive them; and the Plan… muſt … them to it, and by Degrees come to Maturity, &c. And there are ſo many various Steps and G…dations in theſe things: And God is in the Top of all.
3. THESE Second Cauſes in their Order, Act … Natural Principle … according to the Law of Nature; which was imprinted upon them is their Creation. There is a Nature put into the things themſelves by the God of Nature, deriving from the Vertue & Efficaciouſneſs of that Word which was left upon them when they were Made, when God ſaid, Let them be ſo, and they … ſo; which Impreſſion remains on them to Perpetuity; and is their very Nature; ſo as that they have in them a Natural Vertue and Diſpoſition, enclining them ſo to Act and exert themſelves in the O…er which God firſt ſtated them is, when He Made them: And when the thing Acts according hereunto, it then Acts Naturally and not Forcedly:
4. THE Law of Nature, or thoſe Rules imprinted on the Natures of things, was moſt Harmonious & Agreeable to their Natures. Herein the Wiſdom of God Diſplays it ſelf, in that He put a fitneſs into every Creature to Serve to it's Ends, and conſequently uſeth it in his Providence according to that Fitneſs; ſo that he follows this Courſe in His Ordinary Providence to Guide and Order all Creatures according to the Inclination & Capacity of their Natures: things meerly Natural according to Inſtinct, and R…ional Beings by Direction of their Reaſon.
5. THESE Rules, by which God carries on the Affairs of the World in the Courſe of His Ordinary Providence, are Unchangable. They are ſetled invariable Rules: God may go from or beſide theſe Rules if He will; but that is Extraordinary Providence, as we ſhall hear; but the Rules themſelves alter not; they are Ordinances made for Perpetuity: Hence ſuch Expreſſions about them; Jer. 31.35, 36. Thus ſaith the Lord, which giveth the ſun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the … and of the ſtars for a light by night, which divideth the ſea when the waves thereof …ore; the Lord of hoſts is his name. If thoſe ordinances depart from before me, ſaith the Lord, then the ſeed of Iſrael alſo ſhall …aſe from being a nation before me for ever. Chap. 33.20. Thus ſaith the Lord, If you can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there ſhould not be day & night in their ſeaſon: Then may alſo my covenant be broken with David my ſervant, &c. The Rule of the Creature is always one, in the ſame Caſe and Reſpect; that … Obligation Natural to go in the ſame Pain, and cannot go out of it by it felf: God gave it a … at Firſt, and it abides under it as long as — Sun and Moon endure; and hence it comes to paſs that we are ordinarily able to Judge of Effects in their Cauſes; only remembring that God Rules all.
USE 1. THIS tells us, That we cannot Depend upon the Ordinary Providence of God, but in the uſe of Means. Hence that Preſcription, Gen. 3.19. In the ſweat of thy face ſhalt thou eat bread. If we will Live in this World, we muſt ſo lean upon the Hand of God, as to be employed in ſeeking our Livelihood; whence we may conclude it neceſſary, that every one have a Particular Calling, and uſe Diligence in it. There is no Contradiction between Truſting in God for our Supply, Maintenance, Defence, and uſing all regular Endeavours for the obtaining of them. They that pretend to Truſt God's Providence, in a neglect of regular Endeavours, do not indeed Truſt it, but Mock it. God indeed would not have our Secular Employments hinder our Religious Duties, in their Seaſon; but he would have us Diligent in our Place. He could Give us all without our ſtriking one ſtroke; but He hath appointed another way, and our Faith and Obedience muſt go together; the Diligent Hand makes Rich, but Sloth, and Poverty, and Rags, and Shame muſt be expected to go together.
USE 2. LEARN hence, That our ordinary Supply and Livelihood, is not in our Hands, but depends on the Providence of God. It is He who Orders and diſpoſeth of Second Cauſes in their Subordinate Station, according to His own Pleaſure; ſo that when we have done all that we can do, laid out our beſt Prudence and utmoſt Diligence for the advancing of our Deſigns we muſt ultimately reſolve all into His Providence The Husbandman Plows his Ground, and Sows his Seed; he hath gone as far as he can at the preſent, but the Seed may Rot in the Ground, &c. The Merchant wiſely conſiders and Adventures his Eſtate, and hopes for a good Return, but how many Caſualties are there out of his Hands? All that we have now to do is to Commend it to God, believing in the Promiſe, that He will Provide for us in the way of our Duty, and according to His Sovereign Wiſdom. If we fear Him, He hath ſaid that we ſhall not Want; and He hath the Ordering of all Second Cauſes in His Power, and is able to Command His Bleſſing upon us, by helping them to Work ſuitably, and preventing ſuch Caſualties as they are in their own Nature liable unto. Whether therefore we ſucceed, or be diſappointed, we muſt acknowledge it to Him, and not po… too much upon Second Cauſes.
[2.] THE Extraordinary Providence of God is that whereby He Provides for His Creatures, by skipping over, or inverting the Order of the Natural Courſe of things. And this Providence is that which we call Miraculous. Not to inſiſt upon this, Let us take up the opening of it in a few particulars.
1. A Miracle is a Work that is above the Power of Second Cauſes to produce. It exceeds the force of the Operation of the Second Being; and it is therefore called a Wonder in Scripture; for tho' there be ſome Wonders that be not properly Miracles, ſince there may be a ſecret Natural Influence, the Cauſe whereof we cannot diſcern, which is the ground of our Admiration, yet there is no Miracle but what is Wonderful: Such therefore is a True Miracle, as no Second Being can Effect by it's own Vertue; ſuch as for the Sun to ſtand ſtill, and go back; a Man born Blind, to have his Sight reſtored; a Virgin to Conceive; a Dead Body to be reſtored; and Diſeaſes healed with a Word, and many the like: In which though God may uſe Men in the Operation, yet they do nothing at all to the Production of them, but the whole Efficiency is of God.
2. A Miracle is the overpaſſing of Second Cauſes. It is a Working of Effects Per Saltum, or all at once; and for this Reaſon it is above the Power of the Creature, which Acts according to the Laws of Nature, which are here over-skipped: In Ordinary Providence we muſt Plow, Sow, &c. before we can have Bread; but God can skip over all theſe Media, and multiply a few Loaves to the Feeding of many Thouſands: If the Corn had been encreaſed by Sowing, it muſt have taken a long Time, but He did it at a Word; and that, not by making any New Matter in the Creation; but by cauſing that Matter to become Bread immediately, which in the Ordinary Way muſt have paſt through many Succeſſive Changes before it could have come to that.
3. God is the only Author & Efficient of Miracles. Men may be Moral Cauſes of them, by Prayer; as Elias, when he Prayed for Fire, &c. and for the reſtoring of the Dead Child's Life: Or when God uſeth them as ſuch by whom he will ſhow the Miracle; as Peter … in healing the Impotent Man: But H…ſi…al Cauſes they cannot be; No, not ſo much as Inſtrumental: Hence they deny it to themſelves, and aſcribe it to Chriſt, Acts 3.12, 13. Ye Ale… of Iſrael, why m…rvel ye at this? … look ye ſo earnest… … us, as though by our … power or …ineſs, are had made this man to walk. The God of Abraham, and of Iſaac, and of Jacob, the God of our Fathers, hath glorified his Son Jeſus. And their being done in His Name, proves Him to be God. Whenever a Miracle is wro't, that is the Finger of God.
4. MIRACLES are a plentiful Teſtimony as to the Divine Omnipotency. There is nothing which doth more be ſpeak the Almighty Power of God than theſe; it Commands Men to …, that he can do every manner of thing; and His Power is not limited: Chriſt therefore gives that as a Reaſon why the Man was born Blind, Joh. 9.3. That the works of God ſhould be manifeſt in him: There was a Miracle to be wro't in him.
5. MIRACLES have been uſually wrought by God for Signs. They are ſenſible Signs: The working of them, if we conſult the Scripture, was on purpoſe to be an uncontrolable Conviction of ſomething to Men: Sometimes to Ratify His Promiſes, Exod. 4. beg. Sometimes to convince them of Apoſtacy, 1 Kings 13.3, 4, 5. Sometimes to eſtabliſh a Doctrine, as the Miracles wrought by Chriſt and his Apoſtles. God was not wont to Work Miracles meerly for themſelves, but for ſome Spiritual End, as every where we may obſerve in Scripture.
USE 1. HENCE then, Satan by himſelf, … Instruments, can Work no Miracle: His … are called, Lying Wonders, 2 Th…ſ. 2.9. … knows the Nature of things better than … do, and can therefore apply them to Operations that we are not able to ſee into, ſo as … ſee the Reaſon of the Connection between the Cauſes and Effects whence we are aſtoniſh … them; but his Signs are uſually Lying; … meer Impoſtures, & jugling Tricks, that have … Reality in them, but a deception of our Senſes.
USE 2. THIS may teach us to Depend upon God, even then when there is no poſſibility of … doth appear from Second Cauſes; or according … the Order & Courſe of Nature. If Ordinary Supply fails, God hath Magazines Infinite, to Relieve the Neceſſities of His People out of; … altho' Miracles do not ſo frequently appear … formerly, becauſe the Goſpel is Ratifyed to Men, yet thus far may & ought the People of God to Truſt & Confide in Him, viz. To Believe and Rejoice in Him, when the Fig-tree doth … Bloſſom; as knowing, that as His Fidelity cannot Lye; ſo His Omnipotency is not grown Work. Nor hath God ſaid, He will not Work a Miracle for His People, we know that He can; & tho' we are to Serve His Ordinary Providence, yet we are not to caſt away our Confidence, when Springs are dried up; but conclude, that either God hath reſerved ſome Means which we foreſaw not; or to before that His Right Hand will appear … way or other for His People's Safety & Help.
[JULY 14. 1691.]