.. • "" ........ ~ . .... Of EMJion• ~ ow this is the very Cafe here, 1 Ptt, •• 5. We are kept a4 with ag 11 ard of' BooK 1 • oztldun zmto $_'1/vation, fays the Apo!\le there ; and God knows how to ~ pi'eferve the righteous, as in 2 Pet,.1., and fuffers not the temptation to af.. ,. iaulr, unlefs there be need, as in 1 Pet. '· 6. Wherei11 .J'e greatly rejo 1 u •"., . . . thougl! now for a Jetifoll (zf 11eed /;e) ye art i11 heavwejs through manifold • · ~·mptatzon! : and only to the end to glonfie h1! Grace m the Hfue, as vtrje 7• 1tiollows; That the trzal of' ~our fcmh, bewg much more pruioM thafl if • gold that perijbeth, thoughzt bt trzed wzth fire, mzght /;(found zmto prmje .' •· • • • and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jefus Chrijl. And God bath infi~ nite ancHlrange ways to keep and prefervethem from fin, and to deliver out of Temptation. Sarah, when in bed with Abimelu~,as fome have thought, I rtj/razned thu, fays God to Abtmtltch. So Jofeph s Brethren were with· held from killing him; and V avidwas kept from cruelty and rage by Abi- ., gails wifdom, 1 Sam. 25. 21. compared with verf p, B. H· 'lJavid faid to Abzgait, Blelfed be the Lo~dGod of Ifrael, which fent thu thi& day to , '"eetme; msd /;lejJed /;e thy advict; and 6teffed6t thou which hrsfl lupt me this day fr-om comzng to Jhed blood, andfrom avengingmy Jetf wzth my own hand ;.for i11 very dud, M the Lord God of Ifrael li~eth, which hath kept me back from hurting thu, txcept thou hiidfl hafted mzd comt to mut mt, furely therr h,zd ttot bun !tft to Nabal, by the morning light, an~ that pijfeth again{/ the waU. In this care, though the righteous may be fcarctly faved, as the fame Pettr fpeaks, yet they are furely faved: For all that hinders is ordere~ and contrived ; --or to give another Infiance. *' C ·• Thetl\uthors and Contrivers of Romcmces, or teigned Stories; they ufual· lyj deligl. with themfelves to exalt and magnifie fuch and f~Ich perfons, whom t~ey make great and glorious in the end, or conclufion and ilfue, but do tell ' ou fiorits about them.fir,fi, and oil along of the greatefi hazards, encounters, perijs, difficulties and extremities by the way, which they run through; and thofeoften fuch, a..he that reads !lands wondering, how and by what means they,fhall be delivered out of them: But !\ill the Author of them bath aforeh~nd invented w~ysby which deliverances, rationally fuppofable, fhould !\ill be wrougb.t unto a glory: And this is a Rule and Law obferved by fuch, in framing (uch Stories, that th.ey will be fure never to fet down fuch or fuch pe· rils, or put them into writing, if they had not aforehand the thoughts and I– dea's of rational ways of delivering them out of them, and themfelves being the Fidioners and Fra~rs of all thofe Stories, both of the one and the other, have all afore them of what they do invent to fet down, as their pleafure is; they can and may aforehand order and frame a thoufand di!trelfes, and !\ill as many {\range deliverances, as they will, yet fo as to be fure to make a pleafant and joyful clofe at la!\, Now the Great and Soveraign Ood had the foie power and foveraignty of or– dering and difpofing of all about his People of Antiquity, afore the world was, or themfelves were: And to be fure,he could untoa reality of effed, contrive, and with an infallibility difpofe of the various Conditions, and the Ilfues and Events of them, and of all things about them, with fuch an interchangeable mixture difperfed amongn them, as his W1fdom faw meet: And his Grace defigning Gl01y at lafi invincibly to be the Goal or Price to be arramed, his Wifdom and ·Grace can and will order all, fo as to be fure of that Event ; and he doth, and could do this, and el!edually carry it on with more iacility and eafinefs, than ever the'greatefi Wits can or have done their Projedions and Intentions, concerning thofe Ilfues of their Fancies, as they fer themfelves to magnifie and exalt them. Our very thooghts and purpofes are far lefs the Creatures and Figments of our minds, (which yet they are fiiled, Hr6r. 4• 12, 'l· compared with Gen. 6. 5.) than all tWngs that really are come to pafs and exifi, and are brought into being, (as the Apofiles word is) which he calls into being, Rom. 4· and that in their Exi!lencies, than are or were the Crea– tures of his Infinite Powet, Wifdom, and Soveraignty, for whofe pleafure they were created, Rev. 5· utt. and he can and doth bring all his refolved thoughts and contrivances that come into hi! mind, his will and purpofe, more eafily to pafs, than the grearefi Underfianding can invent, or having invented, can
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