ALthough there be nothing in the World so much removed from the Eye of Sense as the Substance of the Essence of God is; yet there is nothing more known by its Acts and Operations. The direst Beams of the Divine Majesty that flow from his Being and Essence, these are [Page 2] too illustrious for our dim and bleared Eyes to gaze upon. But then the Rayes of his Wisdom and Power, Goodness, Justice, and Holiness reflected upon us from the Creature, these discover God unto us, and make him known, who in his Essence is a great Deep, an eternal Abyss unto our Eyes; so that although there be nothing in the World less known than the very Being or Essence of God; yet there is nothing more clear, more visible in its Acts, Effects, and Operations, than God's Attributes are, his Wisdom, Power, Goodness, &c. his Essence (as I may say) it is all covered with thick Darkness, veyl'd with Clouds from our Eye, but the Rayes of those Attributes shine through those Clouds: So that as we see the Light of the Sun many times when we cannot see the Sun it self, the Body there­of being hidden under a Cloud. So may we see the Lustre and Glory of the Wis­dom, Power, and Greatness of God, while we cannot see his Essence, nor pry into the Deep of God himself. Which I conceive will instruct us as a Preparation to under­stand [Page 3] the Words, The Lord is known, &c. Which words are an absolute and plain Pro­position of themselves, therefore I shall not any way divide or lessen them, lest also I should at the same time cut the Nerves of the Truth, and make it weak by being mi­nute and obscure, which in it self is as it were a strong and an entire Body; but I shall speak unto them by making these Que­stions upon them:

I. What is the Judgment of God here said to be executed?

II. When may God be said to be known in the Sense spoken of in the Words?

III. How may we understand more remark­ably the Judgments of God? Or thus, How or by what means do the Judgments that God executes in the World, make the same God known unto us?

First, What is meant by the Judgments here spoken of? I answer, by Judgment exprest by the Hebrew Mishpat, we are to understand the righteous Sentences, and ho­ly Decrees of God past upon Man, or Man­kind, in order to Reward or Punishment; and also the Execution that is made upon the passing of these Sentences. So the Jew­ish Masters tell us, It is to judge according to Truth, and execute also according to that Judgment whether it be in Matter of Punishment or Reward. And then if you would know the particular Sense, wherein the Word is taken here, there's no Questi­on but it refers to the worst Sense (that is to say) an Act of Judgment, the Execution of it, as the latter part of the words shew, The Wicked is snared in the Work of their own Hands. Look in what Sense the Judgment of God is said to be executed in the latter part of the Text, in that Sense it is taken in the former part: but the Judgment execu­ted is spoken in respect of Punishment of [Page 5] Offenders; therefore so is it to be taken in the former part also.

Secondly, When may God be said to be known in the Sense spoken of in the Words?

I answer, When so much of his Wisdom, Power, Justice, Righteousness, Holiness, or any other of the Divine Attributes, is dis­covered and made known unto the Sons of Men, as that every Man that will consider may indeed observe and take Notice of; that he that hath an ear, may hear; and he that hath an Eye, may see, if he please. We are not here to think that God speaks of the Metaphysical, or Phylosophical Knowledge of his Essence; No, that's too high for us; but he speaks of Moral Knowledge of his Attributes, or indeed rather of a sober and pious, and humble Acknowledgment of them. So that then God may be said to be known when his Wisdom, Power, Good­ness are acknowledged in these Providences and Dispensations that he exerciseth and acts among the Sons of Men. The Holy Scrip­tures [Page 6] they were not (generally at least, and in the largest Extents of them) designed to instruct Philosophers, and to discipline and teach Men of great and raised parts and un­derstandings only, but they were as well aimed to enlighten, to inform, to teach, and instruct Men of lower and weaker Ca­pacity. As the Sun doth not only shine up­on the Cedars of Lebanon, upon the tallest and bravest Plants of the Wood, the Trees of the Forest; but also upon the lower Brambles and Bushes; in like manner, God (who would have all to be saved) doth not so cause the Holy Scriptures to be drawn, penn'd, or Written, that they should only be understood by Men of greatest Parts (I mean in the general, or things necessary) and of highest Attainments; but also, that what is necessary should be drawn out of them, even by Men of lower and meaner Under­standings. And hence it comes to pass when we find the Knowledge of God spoken of in Scripture, it is not to be understood Philosophical, Notional, Metaphysical Know­ledge of his Being and Essence (for this is [Page 7] above all Capacities) but we are to under­stand common and ordinary acknowledg­ment of those wonderful and glorious Attri­butes of God shining in his Providence, made known in his Works, appearing in all those Exercises of that Providence in the World, and amongst Mankind.

Thirdly, How, and by what means does the Judgments which God executes in the World make him known unto the Sons of Men.

I answer first in the General, That God's Judgments they are generally suited and strangely accomodated unto the Time, Op­portunity, and also unto the Nature of those things that are at such times upon the Wheel, or upon the Anvil, when those Judgments are discovered and are executed in the World. The Wisdom of Divine Providence it makes it self known every where unto a seeing and considering Eye; and if we will but take notice of things, we may see the Lines of Divine Wisdom and [Page 8] Knowledge drawn upon every thing, we may discover the Footsteps of Righteousness and Justice generally in God's Judgments, of his Intendments, and of his Designs in the World.

But to fall into particulars: All God's Judgments are seasonable, and the most re­markable in these Particulars.

1. They often surprize the Sinner in the very act of Sin; they arest the Hand that is lifted up to strike; they cut off the Head that is plotting and contriving to destroy; they fall in upon the Sinner just in such a nick of time either as he was ready to do the Evil, or while he was just doing of it; and this is a great and a singular Discovery of the Providence of God in these Affairs. Men, they do indeed follow and set as it were the Contrivances and Plottings of Evil Men at a great Distance; they do trace the Works of Darkness in the Dark, and so they often miss that which they follow; the Sinner escapes in a Crowd, or a Mist of his [Page 9] own making, and so gets off without any Punishment to them here in this World. But now God he hath an Eye in every Attom of the Sun, and his Eye-Beams they point in­to every Corner of Man's Heart. He stands by when all the Contrivances and Machina­tions of wicked men are upon the Wheel; stands by though he do not partake or com­municate with them. He listens unto all the Plots that are made; nay, he hears without listening; for he is in the very Heart that thinks, in the very Head that contrives; and with the Voiee, the Tongue that speaks, though it whisper never so gently, never so softly, yet then he only can give Strength to it to move. And now when Plots are laid, and Designs contriv'd, and Instruments of Death are forged, and are big, and ready upon the Anvil; when the Innocent is de­signed for slaughter, and when the Righte­ous is swallowed up in hope; and when the Prey is already devoured in the Expectation of the Devourer, then doth God often times strike in, and fall upon the Necks of those evil Persons.

You may observe God takes Pleasure (at least in many signal Evils) to choose the ve­ry time of Sin for the time of Punishment: Ʋzziah stretches out his Hand to support the Ark, which was not to be touched by any such Person, and he is in the same Moment smitten dead, touched himself by the Hand of the Lord, and taken away in the twinckling of an Eye, 1 Chron. 13. 9, 10. again Ʋzziah the King, he arrogates to himself to execute the Priests Office, he invades the Work that was put into the Hands of other Persons, and in the same Moment he was smitten with Leprosy, 2 Chron. 26. 19. Thus also was it with Corah, Dathan, and Abiram, they were surprized in the very Act of their Rebellion. God thus deprehends, seizes, and arests a Sinner, even in the very Act and Exercise of Sin; when he stops him in the full Ca­rear, and lays hold upon him while he was just falling upon the Evil designed, this shews that it is God that strikes, and that it is his Wisdom, and his Justice that interposeth in such a case as this is.

[Page 11]2. If God doth fall upon the Sinner by some remarkable, visible, and extraordina­ry Judgment; this is an other Demonstration of God's Providence, and such as may well be said to be in Judgment amongst the Sons of Men. If God shall fill the World with Darkness at Noon-day; if God should draw an Eclipse over the Eye of the World, that is to say upon the Face of the Sun, at an extraordinary time, in an extraordinary man­ner, as he did at our Saviour's Death, would we not all say, and must we not needs acknowledge, that the Hand of God is here?

So when the Veil of the Temple was rent (the Temple it self being in good Re­pair) and divided asunder, as it was at our Saviour's Death; was not this a visible De­monstration of the Interposition of God's Power and of his Providence here in the World? The Fate also of the Rebels in Is­rael (before instanced in) was the more re­markable, in that by a Prophesy, Moses had [Page 12] foretold that some strange Death should fall upon them, Then the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, Numb. 16. 31, 32. So again we find those Two Hundred and Fifty Persons that offered strange Fire unto God, these are taken away by a strange Fire; this is a Demonstration of God's Justice, and of their Iniquity.

3. God's Judgments again are often Exe­cuted when the Wicked have brought things to such a pass as that the Righeous are al­most ruined, and are in the greatest danger, then God appears at such a time, and this Appearance demonstrates him to be God, and makes him known amongst Mankind; In the mount will the Lord be seen, Gen. 22. 14. God often lets Wickedness arrive and swell into great Tides, unto great Excesses and Inundations; he often suffers the Winds to blow, and the Sea to arise, and the Waves to swell until the Sides of the Ves­sel crack, the Cordage be broken; until the Church as it were be ready to sink, and the mighty Waters ready to pass over it; [Page 13] and then in a Moment he stills the Winds, he allays the Fury of these Tempests that overflow; he makes the Face of the Waters smooth like Glass, and he heals the Breach­es of the Vessel, and knits the joints there­of together again.

And when God deals thus with his Church, this is a Demonstration that there is a Pro­vidence awake and alive in the World, that takes Notice of things, even when they are brought to the greatest Hazards, and in the greatest Dangers and Extremities. God loves sometimes for the clearer demonstrati­on of his Providence, to let things go to dangerous Points, unto very dreadful hazard­ous Cases; he sometimes placeth his People upon the Brink of the Pit; and sets his Church as it were upon the Brow of a Rock, upon a great Precipice; but then he so orders things again, that he interposes in times of greatest Danger; he rescues the Prey out of the Mouth of the Lyon; he plucks the Firebrand out of the Fire, and he smites out those Teeth that were ready to devour; this shews the [Page 14] Wisdom, and Power, and demonstrates the Providence of God.

4. God interposes sometimes also in the midst of great Affairs; when great Designs are upon the Whell, and great things are driving on towards an Issue, then God de­lights to intervene and shew himself.

God sits in the Centre of the great Wheel of Providence, that rules and governs all the World; he turns the Primum Mobile, he moves the first moveable, he turns the high­est Sphere; and though he move the lesser Wheel, or the lower Affairs also, yet we are sure the great and mighty Affairs are go­verned by none but God; if a Hair of a Man's Head do not fall without the Providence of God, how much less the Man himself? If every Man, every single Person be the Con­cernment of Divine Providence, how much more those Persons that are God's Vicegerents, Princes, Magistrates, and Men in place; for they have a double Relation to God, as Men, and as Men in Power. And there­fore [Page 15] you shall find that God makes mention of the very Name of Cyrus many Years be­fore he was born, and calls him his Servant, nay his Anointed Servant, and that though Cyrus was a Heathen Prince, but then he was a Prince, and a Prince that God design­ed to make use of in the Restauration of his Church, and return of his People out of the Captivity of Babylon, Isa. 45. 1. Again, Dan. 2. 22. 'Tis said he changeth times and seasons, and therefore these changes are in a peculiar manner attributed unto the provi­dence, and unto the Dispensations of God's Wisdom, and to his Power; for who can remove Mountains, but he that lifted them up? and who can exalt the Valleys but he that laid them low? and who can change Times, but the Author of Time it self, and the Father of Eternity? And therefore, al­though thou wouldest not observe the Pro­vidence of God in lesser Affairs; though thou wouldst not hear the Voice thereof whispering in small things; yet when Divine Wisdom and Power thunder from Heaven, when they appear in several great and won­derful [Page 16] Revolutions and Transactions in the World, surely he that is not verily blind, he must see at such a time as this is, when the Hand of the Lord hath been so long and so dreadfully lifted up, who can be so blind as not to see God's Hand here? or who so hard, and so obdurate as not take notice of the Judgments and of the Righteousness of God in such a case as this is?

5. If God interpose and execute Judg­ment upon the Enemies of the Church, when they are in their greatest Confidence, greatest security, this doing appears to be such as that it owns no other Author but God himself, Isa. 36. 18, 19, 20, &c.

Observe here what wonderful, proud, signal Confidence appears in Rabsheka, and then see the Issue that falls upon this Confi­dence, Chap. 37. 36. How many Thou­sands one Angel slew in one Night. Ob­serve, God delights sometimes to check the Insolence, and astonish the pride of vain Persons, and of those that lift up themselves [Page 17] in Iniquity against him. And that he may do this more effectually, he astonishes them in their greatest confidence, he destroys them in their highest Security, and weakens them in the very Flower of their Strength: signal Disappointments are generally attribu­ted unto God, and so are signal Deliveran­ces also: When we see such Effects wrought as cannot well own any second Cause, upon whom can we Father these Effects but upon the first Cause only, that is to say, upon God himself?

If God shall by weak means produce great ends: If he shall cut off the Head of a Gy­ant by the Hand of a Son of Jesse: If he shall scatter a Conspiracy by the Light of a Candle: If he shall remove a Mountain by a weak Arm, this must needs make God known by the Judgments which he exe­cutes.

6. If God find out and execute Judg­ment upon wicked Persons in their greatest Secrecies, when they thought no Eye had seen, [Page 18] when they were persuaded so thick a Dark­ness had been drawn over the Face of their Designs, that none could pierce nor make a Discovery of it; then for God himself to unfold and unveil the Monster! this shews that God is Judge indeed: He revealeth deep and secret things, saith Daniel, He knoweth what is in darkness, and the light dwelleth with him, Dan. 2. 22.

In these Six Particulars may God be said to be known by the Judgments which he executes.

And thus indeed, and in all these Re­spects was God known by the great Delive­rance he vouchsafed to us in the Discovery of this late horrid Conspiracy, against the Life of our present gracious Sovereign, King WILLIAM, and in him against our Religion, Lives, Laws and Liberties: and in the great Judgment that he has exercised upon some of the wicked Contrivers of our Destruction. In all these Particulars now mentioned, did God make himself known.

[Page 19]1. He surprized them in the very midst of their Sins; he seized upon them in the very Bowels of the Plot; he broke the Vessels while it was upon the Wheel; and he dasht the Instruments of Death in Pieces, even while they were preparing, while they were forging, or rather just forg'd upon the Anvil.

2. God did also remarkably confound and scatter those wicked Contrivers away; no sooner did the Day break upon their De­signs, and the Light peep upon them; no sooner was the least Discovery made, but like Men amazed, even at their own Evil; like Men afraid of the Monster that they themselves had formed, hatched, and con­trived, they run away, they divide, they scatter, they loose themselves they know not where; so strangely did God confound and amaze them so soon as ever they were discovered.

[Page 20]3. God discovered them also in the very nick of Time, when the Monster was at the very Gates of the Womb, when it was just striving for Birth, when it was just ready to devour the Prey, when the Day and Hour fixed for the Execution of their black Treachery, and unparallel'd baseness was al­ready arrived, and welcomed by the hellish Content and rejoicing of the Assassinators, then did God point at the Evil by a Beam from Heaven, then did he discover the Plot that was laid, and so prevented it by the same Discovery.

4. Great Affairs were now upon the Wheel, and great Persons were at work: the Safety of Christendom, the Peace of Europe, the Establishment of our reformed Religion were depending. The Person of his sacred Majesty, the chief Patron of this Cause of God, and the main Obstacle to the Designs of the Tyranny that makes Head against Europe was therefore struck at.

They well guess'd that the Cedar of our Lebanon once fallen, they might hew down the Shrubs with less difficulty; or that the Sprigs which before were defended by his Shade, would be crush'd by his Fall: That the Peers and Commons assembled in Parlia­ment, though in themselves strong Props and Pillars of our State, yet could not long stand, the Foundation and Centre of their Strength being once rased: Yea, that the United Forces, the Confederate Princes would reel at least, before so mighty a Shock.

Providence therefore appeared signally, in preventing so common a Ruine; where­in not a single Nation only, though mighty and numerous; but the whole Interest of divers States were concerned; and from which, had it taken effect, many Kingdoms might have dated their Misery.

5. How secure and confident were these wicked Contrivers at this time! the Trai­tors [Page 22] being cherished by the Goodness they ingratefully conspired against: Goodness free from jealousy, as it was from Injustice and Oppression; and the Vipers seeing them­selves nourished in the Royal Bosom, thought they might unsuspected sting the Princely Breast.

Thus secure they had already swallowed the Prey in hopes, they had shared and di­vided the Nations, assigned the Keys of Eng­land to be the Holds of a Foreign Tyrant; they had cantoned us into several Tribes for themselves to seize on, and each had marked his intended Vassals.

They had resolved, (and that with great Confidence) to have blown up all our Secu­rities in a Moment, and to have amaz'd the World with an Act of Villany, surpassing the most accursed Treasons of all Ages past.

In Assurance of Success they insulted and divided the Spoil in their Thoughts; all [Page 23] things (but especially his Majesty's being a­bove little Distrusts, and full of Love which thinketh and suspecteth no Evil) conspired to favour their Treachery; which so hight­ned their Expectations, that they imagined the Thunderbolt now might be against the Thunderer himself, and that Lightning might be taught or constrained to ravish Heaven, and their designs move against the Will of Providence, and God's Designs in the World.

6. These wicked men thought that no Eye had seen them; like cunning Workmen they laid the Works of Darkness in the dark; and contrived those secret and evil Designs with very great and signal Secresy: But God rent the Veyl of the Pit that they digged; and he broke the Day upon them, and so the snare it self was broken also.

God would not that our Religion, and Laws, and Liberties, and Prince and People should be surpriz'd in a Moment into Death, Confusion and Slavery.

He would not (so great was his gracious Providence) that the Reformation which had been first produced with so much La­bour and Toyl; which had been the Fruit of so great Councils, so many Martyrs, so many Prayers and Tears, so many signal and great Endeavours and Examples; he would not, I say, that all this should be blasted in a Moment, by the Contrivances of wicked and desperate Persons.

He had lately restored to England her Priviledges and Liberties, which were well nigh enslaved by Arbitrary Power; had anointed a David to bless and govern his Is­rael, a Prince whose Vertue equals his Great­ness, and whose Dignity receives a Lustre from his Piety, and he would not deprive us of a Mercy which we have as yet but tasted enough of to increase our Desires after its continuance; he would not subject us to the same Yoke of Tyranny he had but lately rescued us from: He would not that the Crown so lately fixed, should so soon [Page 25] fall from the Head of him, who had found Mercy not to stain its Glory with any unjust, or unprincely Action. Therefore for this Deliverance we have great Cause to bless him this Day, and for ever. And since God has preserved a King dear to us as our Lives and Religion; let us make a return of Thankfulness proved in Zeal to the Honour of God and Religion, and in all Loyalty to the Power preserved over us. Our Zeal to Religion should discover it self in aiming at those Ends for which it was given, scil. The Peace of the Church, and the Peace of the State, and the Safety of our own Souls. Let every Man that pretends to hate the Su­perstition of the Church of Rome, hate the Treachery and the Rebellion of their Princi­ples also: What Advantage will it be to curse the Pope at Rome, and to nourish Po­pish Principles under our own Roof, nay, in our own Hearts?

To conclude, That Religion that makes us good Men, will make us good Subjects al­so; and if it do not make us good Subjects, [Page 26] without doubt it hath not made us good Christians: For it is one indispensible Law of Christian Religion, that we obey Magi­strates, that we submit unto those Authori­ties that God hath placed over us; and if we do not submit to them, neither do we submit to God's Laws. Let us therefore take care that none of us be deficient in the same Duty, but let us obey God, and let us obey Laws, and live in Peace, in mu­tual Love one of another, and this is the way to be happy here, and happy hereafter also.