“Are
not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the
ground
without your Father.” (Matt. 10:29).
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.
In discoursing from this
doctrine, I shall.
I. Show that
there is a providence.
II. Consider
its object.
III.
Explain
the acts thereof.
IV.
Consider
its properties.
V.
Lastly,.
make improvement.
I. I am to show that
there is a providence. This appears,
From
plain scripture-testimonies; as Psalm 103:19. “His kingdom ruleth over all.”
(Acts 17:28). “In him we live, and move, and have our being,” (Eph. 1:11). “Who
worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.”
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.
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.
From
the fulfillment 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. 1:3). —“Upholding all things by the word of his power,” (Ps. 103:19). “His
kingdom ruleth over all.” The angels are subject to this providence, (Neh. 9:6).
“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, (Matt. 8:31),
“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
Psalm 104 and 147. and from daily observation. Casual things are ordered by
providence, as lots, (Prov. 16:33). “The lot is cast into the lap: but the whole
disposing thereof is of the Lord.” So in the case of accidental manslaughter,
(Ex. 21:13). “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 10:10, 11).
--bringing him forth out of his mother’s bowels, and holding him up thereafter,
(Ps. 71:6). His heart is in the Lord’s hand, and all his thoughts and
inclinations are under his control, (Prov. 21:1). 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 15:5). “Without me ye can do nothing.”
So also their evil actions, (Acts 4: 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. 45:7). “God sent
me before you,” says Joseph to his brethren, though they had wickedly sold him
into
III. I proceed to
consider the acts of providence. They are two, preserving and governing the
creatures and their actions.
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, (Jeb. 1:3). “Upholding all things by the word of his power.” In
this God sometimes makes use of means, and sometimes acts without means. We have
both described, (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 corn, and
the wine, and the oil, and they shall hear Jezreel.” He preserves the heavens
immediately, the earth, the corn, the wine, and the oil, &c. mediately. And thus
by this providence he provides all things necessary for the preservation of all
things; (Ps. 145: 15, 16). “The eyes of all wait upon thee, and thou givest them
their meat in due season. Thou openest thing 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 connection betwixt the
being of the creatures this moment and their being the next; and as they could
not give themselves a being, so they cannot continue it, but must be upheld by
God as a ball in the air, (Heb. 1:3). 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.
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. 21:1). “The King’s heart is in the hand
of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will, (Prov.
26:33). “The lot is cast into the lap: but the whole disposing thereof is of the
Lord,” (Chap. 16:9). “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 17:21). “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.
For
understanding this point, how the providence of God reacheth to and is concerned
in sinful actions, we are to consider, that God neither puts evil into the
hearts of men, not stirs them up to it: for, says the apostle, (Jam. 1:13). “God
cannot be tempted with evil; neither tempteth he any man.” And therefore he is
not the author of sin. But,
God
permits sin, when he does not hinder it, which he is not obliged to do. not that
it falls our so as he cannot hinder it, for he is omnipotent, and can do all
things; nor yet as if he cared not what fell out in the world; but he does
wisely, for his holy ends, efficaciously will not to hinder it; Hence we read,
(Acts 14:16). that “God in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own
ways.” He does not permit sin, for that he will not violate or force the
creature’s free will; for God’s providence offers no violence to the will of the
creature; and if so, he should never hinder sin at all, for the same reason. But
certainly he has holy ends in the permission of sin: for thereby his justice,
mercy, wisdom, and love, in sending his Son to save sinners, do conspicuously
appear, which otherwise would have been under an eternal cloud, hid from the
view of men and angels.
For further illustration
of this doctrine relating to the concern of providence in sinful+ actions, we
are to consider them in a twofold respect, as simple actions, or natural actions
of the creature, abstract from any obliquity or deformity cleaving to them; and
as actions having irregularity and pravity in them. Considered as natural
actions of the creature, they are all effected by the providence of God, which
cooperates with, and enables the creature to produce them, in such a manner that
without the efflux of providence the creature could not move a hand or foot, or
perform any action whatever; “for in him we move:” and no action of the creature
simply considered, or as a natural action, can be sinful, but has a goodness of
being in it, and is effected by the influence of providence. As to the pravity
or sin that is in actions, as God decreed the futurition of sin, or permitted it
to take place, and did not hinder it; so all the sin or vitiosity that is in
actions proceeds entirely from the creature, and the evil lusts and passions
that are in his heart.
Thus
a man’s taking up a stone, and throwing it, is a natural action, which the
providence of God enable him to perform; but his throwing it at another man with
an intention to kill him, is permitted by God, otherwise it could not take
place; for if a hair cannot fall form our head without the providence of God,
much less can a man be murdered without it: and the killing of the man by the
throwing of the stone, proceeds entirely from the malice and wickedness that was
in the heart of the murderer, the operation of which God did not hinder, which
he is nowise obliged to do.
God
leaves the sinner so far as he sees meet to the swing of his own lusts, and
denies him restraining grace. Thus it is said of Hezekiah, a godly king, that,
“in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him
to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him,
that he might know all that was in his heart,” (2 Chron. 32:31). And when the
restraint is taken off the sinner, he runs furiously, to evil.
God
bounds sin, and restrains men in their sins, as he does the raging sea, allowing
it to go so far, but no further. He has such a power and command over wicked
men, that they are not masters of their own affections and dispositions, but
many times act quite contrary to what they had firmly resolved and proposed: as
in the case of Laban. He pursued Jacob, when he left Padan-aram, in order to
return into his own country, with a wicked intention to do him hurt, by robbing
him of his wives, children, and cattle; but the Lord restrained him, and
influenced him to enter into a covenant of friendship with the good patriarch,
(Gen. 32). Thus Esau had resolved on Jacob’s death, and went out to meet him
with a purpose to destroy him; but when providence brought them together, it is
said,” Esau embraced Jacob, and fell on his neck, and kiss him.” Thus Balaam
came with an express intention to curse
Lastly,
God overrules 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 brothers, in their cruelty 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 goodwill towards men!
IV.
Our next business is to consider the properties of divine providence.
God’s
providence is most holy, (Ps. 145:7). “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.
It
is most wise, (Is. 28:29). “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 untied 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.
I shall conclude with an
use of exhortation.
Beware
of drawing an excuse for your sin from the providence of God; for it is most
holy, and has not the least efficiency in any sin you commit. Every sin is an
act of rebellion against God; a breach of his holy law, and deserves his wrath
and curse; and therefore cannot be authorized by an infinitely-holy God, who is
of purer eyes that to behold iniquity without detestation and abhorrence. Though
he has by a permissive decree allowed moral evil to be in the world, yet that
has no influence on the sinner to commit it. For it is not the fulfilling of
God’s decree, which is an absolute secret to every mortal, but he gratification
of their own lusts and perverse inclinations, that men intend and mind in the
commission of sin.
Beware
of murmuring and fretting under any dispensations of providence that ye meet
with; remembering that nothing falls out without a wise and holy providence,
which knows best what is fit and proper for you. And in all cases, even amidst
the most afflicting incidents that befall you, learn submission to the will of
God; as Job did, when he said, in consequence of a train of the heaviest
calamities that happened to him, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away,
blessed be the name of the Lord,” (Job 1:21). In the most distressing case say
with the disciples, “The will of the Lord be done, (Acts 21:14).
Beware
of anxious cares and diffidence about your through bearing in the world. This
our Lord has cautioned his followers against, (Matt. 6:31). “Take no thought
(that is, anxious and perplexing thought), saying, What shall we eat? or, What
shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?” Never let the fear of man
stop you from duty, (Matt. 10:28, 29); but let your souls learn to trust in God,
who guides and superintends all the events and administrations of providence, by
whatever hands they are performed.
Do
not slight means, seeing God worketh by them; and he that hath appointed the end
orders the means necessary for gaining the end. Do not rely upon means, for they
can do nothing without God, (Matt. 4:4). Do not despond if there be no means,
for God can work without them, as well as with them; (Hosea 1:7). “I will save
them by the Lord their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by
battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.” If the means be unlikely, he can work above
them, (Rom. 4:19). “He considered not his own body now dead, neither yet the
deadness of Sarah’s womb.” If the means be contrary, he can work by contrary
means, as he saved Jonah by the whale that devoured him. That fish swallowed up
the prophet, but by the direction of providence, it vomited him out upon dry
land.
Lastly,
Happy is the people whose God the Lord is: for all things shall work together
for their good. They may sit secure in exercising faith upon God, come what
will. They have ground for prayer; for God is a prayer-hearing God, and will be
inquired of by his people as to all their concerns in the world. And they have
ground for the greatest encouragement and comfort amidst all the events of
providence, seeing they are managed by their covenant God and gracious friend,
who will never neglect or overlook his dear people, and whatever concerns them.
For he hath said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee,” (Heb. 13:5).
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