A SERMON Preached before the KING AT WHITEHALL, Novemb. 5. 1696. By Sir WILLIAM DAWES, Baronet, D. D. and Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty. Published by His Majesty's Special Command. The Second Edition. LONDON: Printed for Thomas Speed, at the three Crowns, near the Royal-Exchange in Cornhill, MDCLXXXXVI. A SERMON Preached before the KING AT WHITEHALL, Nou. 5th. 1696. Job, Chap. V Vers. 12. He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. HE, that is, God, of whom we have express mention in the 8th Verse of this Chapter, I would seek unto God, saith Eliphaz to Job, and unto God would I commit my cause, and then, having spoken very great things of God in the 9, 10, and 11 Verses, he goeth on to set forth his Praise, in these Words of my Text; He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, etc. The word, which we here render crafty, is used in a double sense in Scripture, sometimes in a good, but most commonly in a bad one. In the 12th Chap. of Prov. v. 23. and in other places of that Book it is Translated prudent: but generally it stands to denote such as are wickedly cunning; as in the 83d Psal. v. the 3d, They have taken crafty counsel against thy People; wickedly crafty no doubt, since it was against the People of God; and in the same sense you may meet with it, in several other places of Holy Writ. And that this sense, tho' a very bad one, belongs to the crafty in my Text, seems to me to be very plain from their being represented there as Enemies to God, as such whose devices he would disappoint; And, in this opinion I am farther confirmed by the Vulgar Latin, which renders the Word, which we here Translate crafty, * Maligm wicked or malicious. This than I take to be the meaning of my Text, that, with how much art and subtlety soever wicked Men may lay their plots and ill designs, there is a God, who both can, and frequently doth disappoint and baffle them, make them vain, and of none effect. Psal. 33.10. That God can do this will be denied by none who Believe a God, an Omniscient and Omnipotent God; and that he actually doth it, by none that own his Providence; and I hope I speak to such only at present, as do both. I shall not therefore spend any time needlessly, in the proof of a truth, which I look upon here as granted; but immediately proceed to make the best use and improvement I can of it, with respect to the design of our present Meeting. And, in order to this, I will endeavour, in my following Discourse, First. To show how, and in what cases we may reasonably suppose the disappointments of crafty men's devices to be from God. And from hence, Secondly. To make you sensible, how eminently God's Hand appeared in those Deliverances of this Nation, from the devices of crafty Men, which we this Day Commemorate. And then Thirdly and Lastly, conclude with some Practical Inferences from the Whole. First. I am to show how, and in what cases we may reasonably suppose the disappointments of crafty men's devices to be from God; from him I mean, not as the common effects of his Ordinary Providence, for in this sense all events whatsoever must necessarily be acknowledged to come from him: but as the Extraordinary Effects of his particular and special Providence, as his own more immediate and proper doing. And here I shall not insist upon those which are plainly Miraculous, that is, either above or contrary to Nature, because these are allowed on all hands to belong to God; but on such only, as either visibly are the immediate effects of Natural Causes, or at least are capable of being ascribed to them: and being so, make it difficult to determine, when they are, or are not the effects of nature, when of nature proceeding in her common course, and when of nature, in a more than usual manner, influenced and directed by God. Now though it is absolutely impossible, in such a nice case as this, full of perplexity and variety, to lay down such perfect and exact Rules, as shall clearly and effectually reach and decide all questions about this matter: yet we may certainly go a great way towards it, if we heedfully observe these which follow. First then, when a disappointment shall be brought about, in a way, though not miraculous, yet evidently strange, surprising and unusual, we ought in reason to place this to God's account. Thus, for example, when those very means, by which crafty Men intent to accomplish their designs, shall defeat and blast them; when those, that are engaged in a bad cause, shall all on a sudden be struck with a panic fear, and forsake the defence of it; when a considerable number of Conspiators, all Men of art and contrivance, shall neglect to make provision against their Discovery, in some very plain and obvious case, and thereby spoil their whole Plot; when a man, of notoriously lewd and wicked principles, shall in an instant become scrupulous, and think himself obliged in Conscience to reveal his ungodly devices, and his accomplices in them, and by so doing destroy a very hopeful design. In these and many other such like cases, of which we want not instances in History, I dare appeal to any man of sense, whither it is not more agreeable to reason to ascribe such disappointments to God: Job 5.9. who doth marvellous things without number: Psal. 14.6.9. who turneth the way of the wicked upside down: by whom sinners are made afraid, Isa. 33.14. Job 12.17. Prov. 21.1. and Hypocrites surprised with fearfulness: who leadeth Counsellors away spoiled, and maketh the Judge's fools: and who turneth the heart of Man which way soever he pleaseth than merely because there is a Simple possibility, not a Moral one, of their being the events of natural chance, to force them upon her. Secondly. The Hand of God is apparently visible in those Disappointments, which involve Men either in those very Mischiefs, which they had prepared for others, or at least in others, for their grievousness and soreness not unlike them. Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 9 cap. 9 As when Maxentius not only failed of his design against Constantine's Life, but perished by that very same deceitful Bridge, which he had laid for him; as when a parcel of base and inhuman Traitors, that Plot and Contrive how they may take away their Prince's Life, not only are defeated in their Purposes, but are brought to a scandalous and miserable end themselves; This plainly seems to be the doing of him, who delights to recompense Men according to their deeds, Jer. 25.14. and to make the Mischief of the Wicked return upon their own heads, Ps. 7.16. and their violent deal come down upon their own pates. Thirdly. When the Devices of wicked Men shall luckily meet with a disappointment, just at that very time, when they are ripe and ready for execution, this is another very probable sign of its being from God. Judit. 9.11. For he is a God of the afflicted, and helper of the oppressed, an upholder of the weak, a Protector of the forlorn, a Saviour of such as are without hope. He can indeed, if he thinks fit, confound and baffle men's devices, even in the very beginning of them: but he seems oftentimes to suffer them to thrive and prosper for a while, purely for this end, that he may dash them, in the very critical moment, when they think themselves infallibly secure of their enterprise: and by administering such wise and seasonable relief to his servants, take away from them even all pretences of ascribing it to blind and undesigning chance. Fourthly. When good Men, at the very time of their Praying for their Enemy's disappointment, shall obtain their desire; there can be no doubt then who it is that grants it. Thus when the Enemies of Theodosius were disappointed in their Designs of routing him entirely, Socrat. Scholast. Eccl. Hist. l. 5. cap. xxv. by a Tempestuous Wind, which arose immediately, upon his supplicating God for Aid, and fought so strongly against his Enemies, as to change the Face of the Day, and give him, who but just before was declining apace, at first an eminent Advantage, and at last a Complete Victory over his Enemies: To what cause shall we ascribe this Disappointment? Shall we say, that Fortune heard his Prayer, and came to his Relief? alas! she is deaf and cannot hear, or, if she could, cannot hasten her pace one jot. Or shall we say, that she luckily happened to come, without design, just as he was Praying, and so made her deliverance look like an Answer to his Prayers? this is highly improbable; but it is more than probable, that it came from him who heareth prayer, Psal. 65.2. Ps. 148.8. who helpeth his servants when they cry unto him, and can make even Winds and Storms fulfil his Word. Fifthly. When a great number of unexpected accidents shall, as it were, conspire to begin, carry on, and at last consummate any notable disappointment, as in the case of Haman, Esther, c. 5, 6, 7, 8. who was defeated in his purposes against Mordecai and the Jews, by many strange and unaccountable accidents meeting together, as you may read in his Story; in such a case there seems to be too much art and contrivance for Fortune to lay a Claim or Title to. She may indeed possibly, now and then, by the casual concurrence of two or three happy accidents, get the praise of a lucky hit; but, that she should bring any long train of accidents together, which shall all serve to promote and farther the same end, is very hard to be believed by us, who know her variableness and uncertainty. And to whom then can such disappointments as these be attributed? To whom, but him, who has the Management and Superintendency of all Accidents, and therefore can Connect and Range them together in such an useful order, that, for a considerable time together, they shall all, without interruption, be subordinate and helpful to each other. But I forbear being too particular, lest I should be tedious. Lastly then, let it suffice to observe, once for all, that, there are any extraordinary instances of Power, Wisdom and Goodness, visible in the disappointments of Wicked men's Designs, they ought then to be looked upon, as God's special doing. For where shall we expect to see God, if not there, where his Attributes appear in a more than ordinary Lustre and Brightness, and do, as it were, call us to him? Where shall we acknowledge his special and immediate presence, if not there, where we cannot, without a manifest contempt of his honour, deny it? When therefore any Plot or Design, that has been laid with all the Art and Contrivance of Human Policy, and fortified with all the Power of Human Strength, so that it seems to Men Infallible, and absolutely uncapable of being defeated, shall, after all, miscarry, and come to nothing; then are we in reason bound to say, Behold he that is Mighty in strength and Wisdom hath done this, yea, Job 36.5. Psal. 67.11. Prov. 8.14. the Arm of him, to whom Power belongeth, and the Counsel of him, who is Understanding, hath brought it to pass. And to the same Author ought we to ascribe those disappointments, by which and very signal and eminent good is obtained; as the relief of the oppressed, the helping them to right that suffer wrong, the preservation of the public Peace of a Nation, the saving a whole Kingdom from ruin and the like. These are great and noble ends, worthy the care and Providence of God, and moreover such as, he himself has assured us, he delights to farther and promote. And therefore there can be do doubt, but that, when disappointments evidently tend to such ends as these, God has more than a little share in the management and ordering of them. But there are three cases more especially, in which we should be very careful to give God the glory of the disappointment of wicked men's devices, and those are, when they are levelled against his Church, his Anointed, and his peculiar People. He has so frequently, both in words and actions, declared himself to be in an especial and extraordinary manner, the Protector and Guardian of these, that we cannot without Impiety suppose any weapon formed against them ●hould be made unprosperous, without his particular direction; we cannot without a kind of Sacrilege, ascribe the good that befalls these, to any other cause, than that Providence, which is always watching over them for their Good. These are all the signs, that I can at present think off, whereby we may know the disappointments of crafty men's Devices to be from God. And, by the help of these, I hope I shall find it an easy matter, Secondly. To make you sensible how eminently God's hath appeared in those Deliverances of this Nation, from the Devices of crafty Men, which we this day Commemorate. Deliverances I say, for they are double; our Ears have been pleased with the Story of the one, and our Eyes blessed with the Sight of the other, and even at this day we feel and enjoy the happy effects of both. Happy effects indeed! even our Laws, our Liberties, our Properties, our Lives, and, what is still abundantly dearer to us, than all these, our Religion. If we look back to the days of old, what a glorious and surprising scene of Providence may we there view. Have not our Fathers told us, what, a crafty race of Men, crafty even in the worst of senses, conspired at once both against them and God: against God's People, against God's Anointed, against God's Religion; against their Lives and Fortunes, against their Prince and Government, against their way of Worship and Salvation? Have they not told us, how cunningly and how secretly their enemies hid their Plot in the dark caverns of the Earth, how successfully they throve in it, for a long time, and how near they brought it to execution; how little, in the mean while they themselves dreamt of their danger, and how unable they were to prevent it? Have they not told us all this? Yes, and, to our comfort, a great deal more: They have told us, how their God, in whom they trusted, came suddenly and seasonably to their relief: what a wonderful and unexpected accident he sent, not many days before that on which they were destined for slaughter, to inform them of the danger they were in, and to warn them to provide against it: How wisely and how powerfully he defeated all the Deep-laid and Infallible Contrivances, as they then no doubt thought them, who had the Blessings of Infallibility upon them, of his and their Enemies: How justly he retorted the mischiefs, they had designed for his People, upon their own heads: and How gloriously he preserved his Truth and his Anointed from becoming a prey to Idolatrous and Bloodthirsty Men, and suffered not his Heritage to be brought to confusion. And, from these remarkable circumstances of their deliverance, they have wisely and piously inferred, that it was the Lord's doing, and Religiously devoted this day to his Service, as an argument not only of their sense of his goodness, but also of their thankfulness for it. But we need not go so far backwards, to behold God stretching out his Arm for our deliverance. We may all remember, and certainly we shall never forget it! how very lately the wicked offspring of the same race of crafty Men, whom I mentioned before (whose custom it is to observe our Saviour's commands by halves, and to put on the cunning of the Serpent, without the Innocency of the Dove,) were industriously, contriving our ruin. Not so secretly indeed as the others, but no less dangerously, because their openness had Power and Authority to support it. Nay, so far had they prevailed in their designs, that they had more than began to profane and defile God's Sanctuary, more than began to pillage and oppress his People. But I love not to repeat such Melancholy Truths; It is enough to say our case was bad, and, as we then thought, desperate; but he, whose thoughts are not as our thoughts, Isa. 55.8. did not think so; and happy was it for us that he did not. He saw and had compassion on our tears, saw in what need we stood of a Deliverer, and he immediately became one to us. And that we might, even from the beginning of our Deliverance, know it to be from him, he began it, with an Happy Omen, on this very Day, on which he had done such wonderful things for our Forefathers in times past. Nor did it want other marks of being his: It was commenced, carried on and perfected in Wonders, his Enemy's courage forsaking them, unaccountable fears laying hold on them, and making them to stagger like drunken Men, Ps. 107.27. and to be at their wit's end: It came in Judgement to make his enemies feel those evils which they had not only threatened, but in part executed against others: It came in season, when they began to Lord it over his heritage, with an high hand: It came to answer the earnest cries and importunities of his Servants: It came attended with a mighty concurrence of lucky accidents, and, in a word, it came with such extraordinary power, wisdom and goodness, to pull down the strong holds of the wicked, to turn all their craft into foolishness, and to preserve and secure the true Religion, and the true servants of it, that we have no Room to doubt, from whence it came. Oh! Blessed Day, which God himself has marked with double Characters of Joy! We may now vie with our Forefathers, for instances of the Divine favour and Protection, and hope that we are not worse, than they were, because we have not fared worse. It is indeed a marvellous Love, wherewith God has loved us. Oh let us study how we may repay it, in acts of Duty and Obedience. But this advice will more properly belong to my Third Head, under which I now come to make some practical inferences from the whole. And, Is it then manifest that the great, and wise, and good God, who beholds and overrules all the most secret Counsels of the crafty, has, in a most illustrious manner, twice even on the same day, defeated and confounded all the promising and hopeful devices of our enemies against us? Methinks the consideration of this should, 1. Discourage them from attempting us any more. When they see the Providence of God so zealously engaged on our behalf, it is not greater wickedness, than it is folly, to fight against it; Prov. 21.30. for there is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel, I may safely add, nor power against the Lord. They can never prevail against us without his leave: and he has hitherto given them but very small ground to hope that they shall obtain it; So far has he been from shining upon their Counsels, that he has showed his displeasure and dslike of them, in repeated disappointments, thereby plainly forbidding them to tempt him any more. The Egyptians, when they pursued the Israelites to the Red Sea, and saw the hand of God divide it, to make a passage for them, argued very wisely, in saying, Let us flee from the face of Israel, Exod. 14.25. for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians. And certainly, were not our enemies more hardened than the egyptians, they would argue in like manner, and say of us; Behold the Keeper of Israel, who neither slumbereth nor sleepeth, watcheth over this People for their Defence, and therefore it is in vain to hope that any design, which we can Form against them, shall prosper. I am sure, had they Argued thus some years ago, they had saved themselves a great deal of shame and trouble; but, as the wise Providence of God has ordered it, which knows how to bring good out of evil, it is well for us, that they did not. For their frequent Disappointments of late, and especially that last Signal one, which is fresh upon ours, and, I dare say, upon their Minds too, are such new and evident Testimonies of the Divine Love and Care over us, as must certainly Damp their Spirits, and abate the Heat of their Designs against us. 2. This Consideration should encourage us, in all our straits and difficulties, to place our hope and confidence in God; In God, I say, who hath already given us such glorious and happy tastes and earnests, not only of his Ability, but also of his readiness and willingness to help us. What, tho' our case, to Human fight, seem dark and melancholy, tho' our enemies lay close siege to us, and their devices, appear to be contrived with so much art and cunning, and supported with so much strength and power, that they can hardly possibly fail of success; Must we Despair because of this, Why so? Ought we not rather to Argue thus with ourselves? Were we never before in as bad a case? Were we never reduced to such straits before? And who then delivered us out of them? Who indeed but he whose arm is still as long as ever, whose power and will to save is still the same. Let us not fear then, neither be dismayed, but in our greatest dangers still confide in him that hath redeemed us, and say, as David did upon a like occasion, 1 Sam. 17.37. The Lord that delivered our Forefathers from the Gunpowder Plot, and ourselves from another, that would as certainly, tho' not so suddenly, have proved fatal to us, shall deliver us likewise from the snares now laid for us. To him then let us commit our cause, Psal. 33.18. Let us hope in his mercy, and his eye will be upon us, Psal. 37.5. let us trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass. 3. It should likewise encourage us to make our earnest Prayers to God for help in time of need. There is no motive, which can so powerfully engage Men to seek unto God, as a firm belief that they shall obtain what they seek for, that they shall ask and have. And this we have abundant reason to believe concerning ourselves, from those many favourable and gracious Answers which God hath given to our prayers hitherto. Psal. 61.2, 3. From the end of the earth, saith David unto God, will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: for thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong Tower from the enemy. God has been a shelter to us likewise, therefore let us cry unto him in the time of trouble. More especially at this time, when the devices of our enemies are many, and their strength great against us, let us entreat him to be our deliverer. Psal. 83. Keep not thou silence O God, v. 1, 2, 3, 4. hold not thy peace, and be not still O God. For lo thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lift up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. They have said, come, and let us cut them off from being a Nation: that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. But, O Lord, Psal. 25.6. Remember thy tender mercies, and thy loving kindnesses which have been ever of old: and give not thy Sceptre unto them that be nothing, Esther 14.11. and let them not laugh at our fall, but turn their devices upon themselves, and make him an example that hath begun this against us. 4. And lastly, Since God hath done such wonderful things for us, we must be sure not to forget to glorify him. This, he has plainly told us, he expect from us: I will deliver thee, saith he, and thou shalt Glorify me. Psal. 50.15. Glorify him, by acknowledging his Salvation, by confessing that our own arm did not save us, but his right hand, and his arm, Psal. 44. 3●. and the light of his countenance, because he had a favour unto us. Glorify him, by rejoicing in it: We will rejoice in his Salvation, because the Heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made, Psal. 9.14.15. in the net which they hide is their own foot taken. Glorify him by declaring his works, Ps. 45.11, 12. by telling the people of his do, by speaking of the glory of his Kingdom, and talking of his power; by making known to the sons of Men his mighty acts, and the glorious Majesty of his Kingdom. Glorify him, Ps. 26.7. by having his praise continually in our mouths, by declaring his name unto our brethren, by praising him especially in the midst of the great congregation, and by publishing all his wondrous works with the voice of thanksgiving. But, above all, Glorify him, by our lives and conversations, by behaving ourselves as becometh those, whom the Lord hath redeemed, and delivered from the hand of the enemy. This, this is that sacrifice with which God is well pleased: for behold to obey and to do justice is better and more acceptable to him than sacrifice. 1 S●m. 15.23. Prov. 2●. 3. Let this then be our way of Glorifying God: Let us be careful not only to honour him with our lips, but also to order our Conversation aright, that so we may both praise him worthily for past Deliverances, and engage him to show us his salvation in the times to come. If we do this we may safely defy all the strength and cunning of our enemies, and apply those words of God to them, which he spoke by the mouth of his Holy Prophet Isaiah, Ch. 8. v. 9, 10. Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces: and give ear all ye of far countries': Gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken to pieces: Gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken to pieces. Take counsel together and it shall come to naught. Speak the word, and it shall not stand, for God is with us. THE END.