Having disproved their confidence, he proceeded to rectify
it by pressing them to a holy and reverent remembrance of God's providence and
their own frailty.
For ye ought to say, If the Lord will. - Here a
doubt ariseth. Must we always of necessity use this form of speech, or such an
express exception and reservation of providence? I answer -
(1.) It is good
to accustom the tongue to holy forms of speech; it is a great help: the heart
is best when there are such explicit and express exceptions of providence: 'If
the Lord please,' 'If the Lord will,' 'If it please the Lord that I live.' A
pure lip becometh a Christian, that they may be distinguished by their holy
forms, as others are by their oaths, rotten speech, and unholy solicitations.
Besides, it is useful to stir up reverence in ourselves, and for others'
instruction. Such forms are confessions of divine providence and the
uncertainty of human life.
(2.) The children of God use them frequently: 1
Cor. iv. 19, 'But I will come unto you shortly, if the Lord will;' so 1 Cor.
xvi. 7, 'I must tarry a while with you, if the Lord permit;' so Rom. i. 10,
'Making request, if by any means I might have a prosperous journey to come unto
you;' so Phil. ii. 19, 'I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you
shortly.' The children of God know that all their goings are ordered by the
Lord; therefore they often use these reservations of his will and power. See
also Gen. xxviii. 20, and Heb. vi. 3.
(3.) The very heathens, by the light
of nature, were wont to use these forms with some religion, and would seldom
speak of any purpose of theirs without this holy parenthesis. Plato bringeth in
Alcibiades asking Socrates how he should speak, he answereth, Before every work
thou must say, If God will. The Greek sun theooi, by the leave or blessing of
God, was commonly used in the beginning of every undertaking. What was the
practice of the oriental nations, with the story in Bensira, you may see in
Gregory's 'Observations on some Passages of Scripture.' cap. 20. And for the
story of the great Turk's murdering one of his Bassas for mentioning a
confident purpose without any reservation of God's pleasure, you may see it in
Lorinus and Salmeron on this place.
(4.) When we use these forms, the heart
must go along with the tongue: common speeches, wherein God's name is used, if
the heart be not reverent, are but profanations. It is Austin's counsel, Do you
learn to have in your hearts what every one hath in his tongue: the speeches
are common, but the signification is useful.
(5.) It is not always
necessary to express these forms: though there must be always either implicitly
or expressly a submission to the will of God, yet we cannot make it a sin to
omit such phrases. The holy men of God have often purposed things to come, and
yet not formally expressed such conditions; as in the third epistle of John,
ver. 10, 'Wherefore when I come, I will remember his deeds;' and Rom. xv. 24,
'Whensoever I take my journey to Spain, I will come to you,' &c., and in
other places.
Obs. All our undertakings must be referred to the will of
God; not only sacred, but civil actions. Our journeys must not be undertaken
without asking his leave; as Jacob, Gen. xxviii. 20 and xxiv. 12, 'O Lord God
of Abraham thy servant, send me good speed this day.' No wonder, if this be
neglected, that you meet with so many cross accidents; they do not come from
your hard luck, but your profane neglect. But what is it to submit all our
actions to the will of God? I answer -
(1.) To measure all our actions by
his revealed will, that is the rule of duty; we can look for no blessing but
upon those ways that suit with it. There must be a submission to his secret
will, but first a conformity to his revealed will. Lust hath its
thelèmata, its wills, Eph. ii. 2; but we are to serve the will of God
till we fall asleep, Acts xiii. 36.
(2.) We must the more comfortably
undertake any action when we see God in it: Acts xvi. 10, he gathered that God
had called him to Macedonia. So when we see God, in the sweet means and course
of his providence, or by inward instinct, guiding and leading us, we may with
more encouragement walk in the way that he hath opened to us.
(3.) When in
our desires and requests we do not bind the counsels of God: Mat. xxvi. 39,
'Not my will, but thine be done.' In temporal things we must submit to God's
will, both for the mercy, the means, and time of attainment. Creatures, that
cannot ascribe to themselves, must not prescribe to God and give laws to
providence, but must be content to want or have as the Lord pleaseth: if
anything succeed not well, the Lord would not; that is enough to silence all
discontents.
(4.) We must constantly ask his leave in prayer, as before was
urged.
(5.) We must still reserve the power of God's providence, 'If the
Lord will,' 'If the Lord permit.' God would not have us too carnally confident;
it is good to inure the soul to changes. Two things we should often consider to
this purpose, and they are both in the text: -
(1st.) The sovereignty and
dominion of providence: the Lord can blast your enterprise, though managed with
never so much wisdom and contrivance; he can nip it in the bud, or check it in
the very article of execution; and I have observed that usually God is very
tender of his honour in this point, and usually frustrateth proud men that
boast of what they will do, and conceive unlimited purposes, without any
thought of the check they may receive in providence. It is a flower of the
imperial crown of heaven, and the bridle that God hath upon the reasonable
creature, to dispose of the success of human affairs; therefore herein God will
be acknowledged: Prov. xvi. 9, 'A man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord
directeth his steps.' Man designeth, but the execution dependeth wholly upon
God's will and providence. In peremptory resolutions there is a contest between
us and heaven about will and power; therefore in such cases the answer of
providence is more express and decisive to the creature's loss, that God may be
acknowledged as Lord of success, and the first mover in all means and causes,
without whom they have no force and efficacy.
(2d.) Consider the frailty
and uncertainty of your own lives; our being is as uncertain as the events of
providence. If we live and God will, are the exceptions of the text, and do
imply that there must be a sensible impression of our own frailty, as well as
of the sovereignty if providence, that the heart may the better submit to God.
It is said, Ps. cxlvi. 4, 'His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth;
in that very day his thoughts perish.' Frail men are full of thoughts and
projects; this they will do, and that they will do; go to such a city, promote
their interests by such an alliance, gain so much by such a purchase, and then
they will raise up some stately fabric which shall continue their name and
memory to succeeding generations, and all this because they do not mind the
earth which they carry about them, and how soon the hand of providence is able
to crumble it into dust. Certainly man will never be wise till he is able to
number his days, and doth sufficiently possess his soul of the uncertainty of
his abode in the world, Ps. xc. 12.
Obs. We shall live, and do this or
that. - Mark! it is not enough that God suffer us to live, but he must also by
the same will suffer us to do or act. The point is, that God's will concurreth
not only to our lives, but actions. We may live, and yet not be able to do
anything for the promotion of our designs: for if God suspend his concurrence,
the creatures cannot act, at least not with any towardliness and success, which
quite crosseth the doctrine of the heathen philosophers. Seneca said, Quod
vivamus, deorum munus est; quod bene vivamus, nostrum - that we live, it is by
the benefit of the gods; that we live well, it is of ourselves. So Tully:
Judicium hoc omnium mortalium est, &c. - this is the judgment of all men,
that prosperity is to be sought of God, but wisdom to be gotten by ourselves.
But in the scriptures we are taught otherwise, not only to seek success of God,
but direction; he giveth abilities to perform, and a blessing when the action
is finished. Without the efficacious as well as permissive will of God, we can
do nothing; he must give us life, and all things necessary to action. We must
not only look up to him as the author of the success, but the director of the
action. It is by his conduct and blessing that all things come to pass. Our
very counsels and wills are subject to the divine government, and he can turn
them as it pleaseth him, Prov. xxi. 1; and therefore we must not only commit
our ways to his providence, but commend our hearts to the tuition of his
Spirit. In short, all things are done by his will, and must be ascribed to his
praise.
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