Grosey's Messages

Providence of God  Boston

Matthew 10: 29.— Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing ? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.

Our Lord is here encouraging his disciples against all the troubles and distresses they might meet with in their way, and particularly against the fear of men, by the consideration of the providence of God, which reaches unto the meanest of things, sparrows and the hairs of our head. Sparrows are of a mean price and small value; and yet, for as mean as they are, God preserves them, guides and disposes of all things concerning them, so that one of them cannot fall to the ground by shot or any other way, without his sovereign ordering and disposal.

The instruction deducible from the text is,

Doctrine.  There is a providence that extends itself to the least of things.

I. I am to shew that there is a providence. This appears,

1. From plain scripture-testimonies ; as Psal. ciii. 19. 'His kingdom ruleth over all.' Acts xvii. 28. 'In him we live, and move, and have our being,' Eph. i. 11.—'Who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.' Providence is also held forth by a threefold scripture-emblem. Chiefly, (1.) Mount Moriah, which upon occasion of the miraculous preservation of Isaac, and a ram to be put in his room in order to be sacrificed, was called Jehovah Jiteh, i. e. The Lord will provide, Gen. xxii. 14. (2.) Jacob's ladder, on which God appears managing all things. Gen. xxviii. (3.) Ezekiel's wheels, where there was a wheel in the middle of a wheel, denoting the agency of the first cause, and the superintending and directing providence of God, Ezek. i.

2. From the nature of God, who being independent, and the first cause of all things, the creatures must needs depend upon him in their being and working. He is the end of all things, wise, knowing how to manage all for the best; powerful to effectuate whatever he has purposed; and faithful to accomplish all he has decreed, promised, or threatened.

3. From the harmony and order of the most confused things in the world. Every thing appears to a discerning eye to be "wisely ordered, notwithstanding the confusions that seem to take place. What would become of the world, if there were not a providence seeing men that despise all order, and would fain give loose reins to their lusts and unbridled inclinations, are always the greatest party, and would overpower and destroy the smaller and most virtuous party ? Herein the truth of providence clearly appears. The extraordinary judgments that have pursued and been inflicted upon wicked men, and the remarkable deliverances that have been granted to the church and people of God in all ages, do loudly proclaim a providence.

4. From the fulfilment of prophecies, which could not possibly be without a providence to bring them to pass.

II. Let us, in the next place, consider the object of providence, or that which it reacheth and extendeth to. And this is all the creatures, and all their actions, Heb. i. 3.—' Upholding all things by the word of his power,' Psal. ciii. 19. 'His kingdom ruleth over all.' The angels are subject to this providence, Neh. ix. 6. ' Thou, even thou art Lord alone, thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all things that are therein, the seas and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all, and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.' So are also the devils, these infernal spirits, Matth. viii. 31, 'If thou cast us out (said they to Jesus), suffer us to go away unto the herd of swine.' It reacheth natural things, as clouds, snow, winds, &c. as appears from Psal. civ. cxlvii. and from daily observation. Casual things are ordered by providence, as lots, Prov. xvi. 33. ' The lot is cast into the lap : but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.' So in the case of accidental manslaughter, Exod. xxi. 13. ' If a man lie not in wait, and God deliver him into his hand.' There is nothing so mean but providence extends to it, such as the falling of a sparrow, and the numbering of the hairs of our head. It is God that feeds the fowls and the young ravens that cry. He clothes the lilies and grass of the field, that have no hand of man about them. He made lice, frogs, &c. a plague to scourge Pharaoh and his people, worms to eat up Herod, &;c. In a special manner providence is conversant about man, forming him in the womb, ' Hast thou not poured me out as milk (says Job), and curdled me like cheese ? Thou hast clothed me with flesh and hast fenced me with bones and sinews,' Job x. 10, 11.—bringing him forth out of his mother's bowels, and holding him up thereafter, Psal. Ixxi. 6. His heart is in the Lord's hand, and all his thoughts and inclinations are under his control, Prov. xxi. 1.  He directs and orders all his steps. The most free acts of the creature's will are governed by superintending providence. All their good actions, John xv. 5. ' Without nie ye Can do nothing.' So also their evil actions, Acts iv. 27, 28. ' For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done,' Gen. xlv. 7- ' God sent me before you,' says Joseph to his brethren, though they had wickedly sold him into Egypt.

1. God by his providence preserves all the creatures. This preservation of the creatures is an act of providence, whereby they are preserved in their being and power of acting, Heb. i. 3. ' Upholding all things by the word of his power.' In this God sometimes makes use of means, and sometimes acts without means. AVe have both described, Hos. ii. 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 corn, and the wine, and the oil, and they shall hear Jez-reel.' He preserves the heavens immediately, the earth, the corn, the wine, and the oil, &c. mediately. And thus by his providence he provides all things necessary for the preservation of all things ; Psal. cxlv. 15, 16. ' The eyes of all wait upon thee, and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.' This act of providence is so necessary, that nothing could subsist one moment without it. For there is no necessary connexion betwixt the being of the creatures this moment and their being the next; and as they could net give themselves a being, so they cannot continue it, but must be upheld by God as a ball in the air, Heb. i. 3. There is a continual efflux of providence necessary for preserving and upholding the creatures in their being, otherwise they would be independent, and could preserve themselves, which is grossly absurd.

2. God does not only preserve the creatures, but governs and manages them, which is the second act of providence ; whereby he disposes of all things, persons, and actions, according to his will, Prov. xxi. 1. ' The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water : he turneth it whithersoever he will, Prov. xvi. 33. ' The lot is cast into the lap: but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.' Chap. xvi. 9. ' A man's heart deviseth his way ; but the Lord directeth his steps.' And this act of providence is also necessary : for as the creature cannot be or exist without God, so neither can it act without him, Acts xvii. 21. ' For in him we live, and move, and have our being.' God does not make man as the carpenter doth the ship, which afterwards sails without him ; but he rules and guides him, sitting at the helm, to direct and order all his motions : so that whatever men do, they do nothing without him : not only in their good actions, where he gives grace, and excites it, working in them both to will and to do of his good pleasure : but also in their evil actions, wherein they are under the hand of Providence, but in a very different manner.

God over-rules all to a good end. God has one end in wicked actions, and the sinner another. The sinner minds and intends evil, but God means and designs good by them all. So Joseph's brethren, in their cruelly selling him for a slave, meant evil to the poor youth; but God, in that dispensation meant it for good, and brought much good out of it to Joseph, and his father and brethren. Thus the Jews crucified Christ out of malice against him; but God by that crucifixion intended satisfaction to his justice for the sins of men, and the redemption and salvation of an elect world. Thus God brings good, the greatest good out of the worst of evils. What greater evil or more atrocious wickedness can be imagined, than the violent death of the innocent Son of God, who went about doing good, and was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners ? and yet what a rich and astonishing good resulted therefrom, even glory to God, and peace and good-will towards men!

1. God's providence is most holy, Psal. cxlv. 17- ' The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.' Even though providence reach to and be conversant in sinful actions, yet it is pure; as the sun contracts no defilement, though it shine on a dunghill. For God is neither the physical nor moral cause of the evil of any action, more than he who rides on a lame horse is the cause of his halting. All the evil that is in sinful actions proceeds and flows from the wicked agent, as the stench of the dunghill does not proceed from the heat of the sun, but from the corrupt matter contained in the dunghill.

2. It is most wise, Isa. xxviii. 29. ' This cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.' Infinite wisdom always proposes the most excellent ends in all its operations, and uses the best methods for accomplishing its ends. However perplexed confused, and void of wisdom providential administrations may appear to us poor mortals of narrow, shallow capacities, yet they are the result of the highest wisdom and the deepest counsel, as proceeding from and directed by him whose name is the only wise God, and cannot but manage all things with the greatest understanding. And the day will at last come when it

shall be said by the united voice of the whole assembly and church of the first-born, that God hath done all things well: and then the plan of providence will appear in every respect to have been most wise, harmonious and consistent.

3. Providence is most powerful. Hence the Lord says to Sennacherib, the king of Assyria ' I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou earnest,' 2 Kings xix. 28. ' The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.' "Who can resist his will which is almighty ? He can never fail of his end, but all things fall out according to his decree, which is efficacious and irresistible.

PsAL. cvii. 43.— Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord.

Whosoever would walk with God, must be due observers of the word and providence of God, for by these in a special manner he manifests himself to his people. In the one we see what he says ; in the other what he does. These are the two books that every student of holiness ought to be much conversant in. They are both written with one hand, and they should both be carefully read, by those that would have not only the name of religion, but the thing. They should be studied together, if we would profit by either; for being taken together, they give light the one to the other; and as it is our duty to read the word, so it is also our duty to observe the work of God, Psal. xxviii. 5

1. The object these things ; that is, the dispensations of providence. These are the things the Psalmist would have men to observe. For the design of this psalm is to praise God for his wonderful works of providence in the world, especially in the church. For this cause he sets before us, (1.) Wonderful deliverances wrought by providence, instanced in the seasonable relief given to, (1.) Needy and bewildered strangers, far from their own, ver. 3.—9. (2.) Captives and prisoners, ver. 10,—16. (3.) Sick people at the gates of death, ver. 17-—22. (4.) To seafaring men in a storm, ver. 23.—32. (2.) Strange and surprising changes in human affairs. (1.) Fruitful places made barren, and barren places fruitful, ver. 33.—35. For an instance of which we need but consider this our own country, sometime a forest, for little use but to be a hunting-field, now comfortably maintaining many families, and useful to the nation by its great store. (2.) Mean families raised by a blessing on their husbandry and store, and cast down again from their prosperity by cross providences, ver. 36.—39. (3.) Those that were high in the world abased, and those that were mean and despicable raised to honour, ver. 40, 41. These turns of providence are of use to solace saints, and silence sinners, ver. 42. Now, here is a field opened for serious observation. These and such like things we are called to notice.

That it is not easy to get the flame of wrath quenched when once it is kindled. "We may say this day, as in Psalm Ixv. 5, "By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, 0 God of our salvation." Men's sins may bring that on the creatures which they will not soon get removed. Learn here to beware of kindling the fire by provoking God ! It is easier to keep the sword of vengeance in the sheath, than to got it sheathed again when once drawn. It is dangerous to depend on the praying for mercy on a death-bed, delaying all till then, for then wrath may be gone out, not to be quenched.

(3.) It is dangerous to be concerned with those with whom God hath a controversy : thus, all that belonged to Achan perished with him: Josh. vii. 24, 25, " And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan, the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had ; and they brought them unto the valley of Achor. And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us ? the Lord shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones." Had these oxen and asses been another's than Achan's. they had not perished in the manner they did. Thus the poor creatures lament their relation to sinful men ; and many smart sore upon the occasion of the controversy God has with them with whom they are nearly connected. A companion of fools shall be destroyed. Even those God has a kindness for may smart full sorely for the sake of others; see 1 Kings xiv. 10— 13. Another lesson is,

(4.) That sin is a heavy burden, which none are able to bear up under. 0 sirs ! What think ye of sin, that makes the very earth to groan under it this day ? Isa. xxiv. 20, " The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage, and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fall, and not rise again." Ye walk for the present full lightly under it, but the weight of it ere long, will be felt by the most stupid sinner; a dreadful weight! that makes the whole creation groan. Are not the bands of guilt strong and strait, that thus gird up the heaven and earth, and bind down the creatures, that they

cannot get up their head ? It is an offence to an infinite God, no wonder it doth lay an infinite weight on the offender.— We are instructed,

(5.) That God is a jealous and just God, who will not suffer sin to go unpunished. Deceive not yourselves with misapprehensions of God, like the wicked, who, as in Psalm 1. 21, think him altogether such an one as themselves; for as sweet as sin may be in the mouth, it will be bitter in the belly : Job xx. 12—14, " Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue; though he spare it, and forsake it not, but keep it still within his mouth :— Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him." Therefore, Exod. xxiii. 21, " Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions." He is true to his word, and it cannot fail. He will reverse the order of nature, turn the heavens to brass, and the earth to iron, rather than one word of his fall to the ground.— We may also learn,

(6.) That creatures are ever weak pillars to lean to. You have need of something else to bear your weight, the weight of your comfort, much more of your happiness, for they are not able. There is a vanity that they are under, by reason of which they cannot reach that end: Eccl. i. 2, " All is vanity." They that have not something else to lean to, may soon have nothing to look to at all. 0 what a pitiful idol is the clay god of this world!—We may farther learn,

(7-) That God is a sovereign King, against whom there is no rising up. How can sinners think to escape with their sins, when the whole creation smart for their sakes ? Can we think that the innocent creatures should suffer, and we go free ? Can there be an out-braving him, who makes the earth and heavens groan under his hand ? or a fleeing from him, from whom the whole creation cannot make their escape ?—We are instructed farther,

(8.) That the service of the creatures to sinful man is an imposition on them : Rom. viii. 20, " For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly." Man falling from God, lost the right he had to them. But yet they are kept in his service, which they grudge, and therefore they groan.—Hence it comes to pass, that these servants sometimes becoming masters, hurt him, and dispatch him. The least creature, having a commission for such a service, proves too hard for him, such as a stone in fruit, or a hair in milk.—I only add,

(9.) That the creatures ai'e wearied of the world lying in wickedness, and would fain have it brought to an end : Rom. viii. 19, " For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God." There is a happy day for the restitution of all things; they are longing for that day, when this world, that sink of sin, that stage of vanity, and scene of misery, shall be taken down; and the wicked shall have poured out upon them the deserved curse, with all its effects, centreing in themselves, without burdening others with it in any measure.—I come now,

2. To an use of exhortation. The groans of the creatures are exciting, stirring up groans. So many of them as are about us this day, so many preachers have we to provoke us to the duty we profess to be engaged in.—They cry to us,

(1.) Humble yourselves under the hand of God. He has laid them low, and shall not we lie low before him, since for our sake they are cast down. The noisy waters are now silent as a stone under his hand, the lofty mountains have laid aside their ornaments, and every thing mourns after its kind. Come down, then, from your pride and obstinacy ; yield yourselves to the God that made you, lie low in the dust, and join issue with the rest of the creation. —They cry,

(2.) Repent, repent; for he is a God that will not be mocked, and though he long forbear, lie will be avenged on impenitent sinners at last. He has been long pleading with us to let our sins go, and he is saying now, as to Pharaoh, Exod. ix. 2, 3, " For if you refuse to let them go, and wilt hold them still; behold the hand of the Lord is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep ; there shall be a very grievous murrain." Harden not your hearts to keep fast the bane of strife betwixt God and yon, lest it fare with you as it did with Pharaoh, on whose person God's hand fell heavy at last.—They cry,

(3.) Pray, pray. "When the heathen mariners were at their prayers in a storm at sea, it was a shame for Jonah to be sleeping; Jon, i. 4. The creatures, as they can, are crying to the Lord ; shall we be more brutish than they, and be silent at such a time ? I've have been praying in the congregation; it would be a promising thing, and no more but duty, if families and particular persons were fasting and praying : Zech. xii. 12, " And the land shall mourn, every family apart." There is much work in families otherwise, to take care of them. 0 ! then, will yon not do that which is so needful for yourselves and them ?—I exhort you,

(4.) To reform, for the sake of these you would not involve in ruin with yourselves. For, Eccl. ix. 18, " Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroyeth much good." We see how the poor creatures are ruined in this way. But it is not them only : Achan troubled the camp of Israel, God has threatened to pursue his quarrel to the third and fourth generations. If one in the family be seized with the plague, it is enough to carry away the whole.—Be exhorted,

(5.) To endeavour to reform others, for your own sakes. The fire in your neighbour's house may come to burn down yours, if you do not help to quench it. It is thought that Achan's sons perished with him, because they concealed and laboured not to put away their father's sin.

(6.) Seek to find your comfort and happiness only in the enjoyment of God and Christ. Then in the time of famine you may rejoice in the God of salvation, like the prophet Habakkuk, chap, iii, 17. It is a sad matter we should again be so ready to trust the deceiving world, and to lean again to that broken reed that hath so often failed us, and pierced through our hand. Seek it in God, where it can never fail, in the everlasting covenant, that will be a portion of which ye may always be sure.

(7.) Fear God, and stand in awe of him. As the sight of the drawn sword makes him in some measure afraid that wields it, so the sight of God's judgments should fill us with the dread of his majesty : Psalm cxix, 120, " My flesh trembleth for fear of thee ; and I am afraid of thy judgment," When the sea was raging, and Jonah awakened, he was impressed with fear and reverence of him that made it, Jonah i, 9, God would have the hearts of people awed ■with his works; and it is contempt of God not to be so,

(8.) Labour to get a renewed right to the creatures. Our first charter was lost by Adam at his fall: and as the estates of rebels fall of course to the crown, so our right to the creatures was forfeited, and they fell back into the hands of him that gave them. We must get a ne(v right through Jesus Christ, by faith in him, if ever we would have true comfort in the creatures. I own a wicked man has a sort of right to the creatures: Psalm cxv. 16, " The earth hath the Lord given to the sons of men," By the same law that God hath said. Thou shalt not kill, he has made them over to us. This is a providential right, but it is not a covenant-right. It is but like the right the forfeited condemned man has to his meat till the hour of his execution.

Lastly, To those that are godly, I would beseech you to long for that blessed day for which the creatures are groaning. You have good reason, as well as they. Long for the day this stage shall be taken down, whereon so much sin and misery are acted, when all that Adam put wrong shall be completely righted by Jesus Christ.