Secondly, There are as many Mysteries in Providences, as §2there are in Prophecies: and many Texts of Providence are as hard to understand, as many Texts of Scriptures are. Gods way is in the Sea, his paths are in the great waters, and his footsteps are not known. His judgements are unsearchable, and 1his ways are past finding out. And yet when clouds and darkness are round about him; righteousness and judgement are the habitation of his Throne. When his Judgements are a great deep; yet then his righteousness is like the great Mountains. There are many Mysteries in nature, and many mysteries of State which we are ignorant of; and why then should we wonder, that there are many mysteries in Providence, that we do not understand. Let a man but seriously consider, how many possible deaths lurk in his own bowels, and the innumerable Hosts of external dangers, which beleaguers him on every side; how many invisible Arrows fly ⟨p. 163⟩about his ears continually; and yet how few have hit him, 2and that none hitherto have mortally wounded him; and it will doubtless so far affect his heart, as to work him to conclude, that great, and many, and mysterious, are the Providences that daily attend upon him. Vives reports of a Jew, that having gone over a deep River on a narrow plank in a dark night, and coming the next day, to see what danger he had escaped, fell down dead with astonishment. Should God many times but open to us, the mysteriousness of his Providences, they would be matter of matter of amazement and astonishment to us. I have read, that Marcia a Roman Princess being great with child, had the Babe in her killed with lightning, she her self escaping the danger. What a mysterious Providence was this? Gods Providence towards his Servants, is as a wheel in the midst of a wheel; whose motion, 3and work, and end in working, is not discerned by a common eye. The actings of Divine Providence are many times so dark, intricate and mysterious, that it will pose men of the most raised parts, and of the choicest experiences, and of the greatest Graces, to be able to discern the ways of God in them. There are many mysteries in the works of God, as well as in the word of God. But,
Secondly, There are as many Mysteries in Providences, as §2there are in Prophecies: and many Texts of Providence are as hard to understand, as many Texts of Scriptures are. Gods way is in the Sea, his paths are in the great waters, and his footsteps are not known. His judgements are unsearchable, and 1his wayes are past finding out. And yet when clouds and darkness are round about him; righteousness and judgement are the habitation of his Throne. When his Judgements are a great deep; yet then his righteousness is like the great Mountains. There are many Mysteries in nature, and many mysteries of State which we are ignorant of; and why then should we wonder, that there are many mysteries in Providence, that we do not understand. Let a man but s•riously consider, how many p•ssible deaths lurk in his own bowels, and the innumerable Hosts of external dangers, which beleaguers him on every side; how many invisible Arrows fly ⟨p. 163⟩about his ears continually; and yet how few have hit him, 2and that none hitherto have mortally wounded him; and it will doubtless so far affect his heart, as to work him to conclude, that great, and many, and mysterious, are the Providences that daily attend upon him. Vives reports of a Jew, that having gone over a deep River on a narrow planck in a dark night, and coming the next day, to see what danger he had escaped, fell down dead with astonishment. Should God many times but open to us, the misteriousness of his Providences, they would be matter of matter of amazement and astonishment to us. I have read, that Marcia a Roman Princess being great with child, had the Babe in her killed with lightning, she her self escaping the danger. What a mysterious Providence was this? Gods Providence towards his Servants, is as a wheel in the midst of a wheel; whose motion, 3and work, and end in working, is not discerned by a common eye. The actings of Divine Providence are many times so dark, intricate and mysterious, that it will pose men of the most raised parts, and of the choicest experiences, and of the greatest Graces, to be able to discern the wayes of God in them. There are many mysteries in the works of God, as well as in the word of God. But,
- 1Psalm 77. 19. Rom. 11. 33. Psalm 97. 2. Psalm 36. 6.
- 2I have read of a Father and h•s Son, who being shipwrecked at Sea, the Son sailed to shore upon the back of his dead Father. What a strange mysterious Providence was this! Pl••. Nat. H•st. lib. 2. cap. 51.I have read of a Father and h•s Son, who being shipwrackt at Sea, the Son sailed to shoar upon the back of his dead Father. What a strange mysterious Providence was this! Pl••. Nat. H•st. lib. 2. cap. 51.
- 3Ezek. 1. 16.
