A discourse concerning prodigies: wherein the vanity of presages by them is reprehended. And their true and proper ends asserted and vindicated / By John Spencer, B.D.

John Spencer

Date:: 1663

Credit: A discourse concerning prodigies: wherein the vanity of presages by them is reprehended. And their true and proper ends asserted and vindicated / By John Spencer, B.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

104/150 (page 82)

$Omnis affio naturalis per minima tranf igitur, ant [aitem per • illai qua funt minora quctm ut fenfumfe- riant. Bac. Org. !• 2. Sec. 7. Zech.4. S. Mat. 13.16 Ezra.4.24. Rev.i2.i.v.: Objedt. Chap. 24. SoU leaftand moll infenfible Agents. We (hall finde great kingdoms inHillory, commencing (Tikeagreat lnow-ball) from a handfull, increafing to a greatnefs (,in the eye of fenfe) immoveable* and at lafl concluding in foyl and dirt. But eipecially obfervable is this ufage of Providence in the management of the affairs of the Church, which (like Chrill the head thereof; fprings as a root out of a dry ground, and was never any great gainer by the wars and arms of Princes. 3. God fomctimes maizes ufe of means great and pompom to fome ends ivcali and little in the eye of fenfe. To what great actions all on the fud- dein, did he llrengthen the hands ©f the King of Sweden ? his victories drew the eyes of the world upon him, and’twas concluded by fome, . that Providence delignM him the Apocalyptic4, Angel which Ihould pour out one of the Vials upon the Beall, when behold, unexpectedly the current of his fuccelTes runs underground, and men engag’d to conclude God had ends more fecret and fpiritual to accomplilhby him, then they imagin’d. 4. God ufually advanceth his great worlds and ends, by paufes and periods. Providence (in the advancement of the church) hath ufually its fines abruptoS' God in the works of Nature doth compendium facerc, * goe the nearellway to his ends *, but in the works of providence he doth, circulum deferibere, goe about, and his work advanceth byfuch flow and filent progrefles *, that in the ifliie, it feems to any but a prudent and fevere obferver, the iflue of time and chance, rather then any lleady and well advis’d underllanding. 5. God hath an unknown variety of means and methods to accomplijbhis purpofes by. He works by any means* by weak, by contrary, by none. He fometimes brings his greatell ends to birth by the midwifry of Teeming cafualties, and little emergencies, which taken afunderare weak and common, but viewed in confort fpeak excellent art and counfel: the obfervation whereof drew forth that Chriftian fpeech ofMachiavel in anEthnick drefs, F atorum via rationcs producen- dorum effeftuum,obfcuriores funt queimut ci nobis intelligi queant. Upon thefe and many more accounts (out of the lines of our prefent Ar¬ gument) the fairell promifes of thefe aClive figns, may quickly prove lies to us and abufe our trull. As for that Moral fignef fomucntalkc of \_The fulnefs of the iniquity of a land’] ’tis to intrude into Gods coun¬ sels to determine when it is* the Ephah Hands by him alone, and he onely knows how near it is to filling. But poflibly, it will here be objected in the words of $ob, JV\y feeing times arc not hidden from the Almighty, doe they that {now him, not fee his days ? i. e. why at leall doe not wife and good men (llyl’d the perfons which hnow God3 in Scripture) fee the times of great mercies or judgements (ufually call’d Gods dayst as was noted before) when as yet at diilance,and approaching ? f ■ Ianfwer, Even good men (like men in a mifljthough they can fee their way, yet cannot fee far before them for very good reafons. j That fo the knowledge of the good or evil of the time to come, might not dillurb the duty of the time prefent. 2. The knowledge^ ol$