Providence Handled Practically

By Obadiah Sedgwick

Like his Puritan colleagues, Sedgwick was a wise observer of providence. In "Providence Handled Practically," he shows how the over ruling hand of God should be considered as it comes to bear on the life of the Christian and the church. After briefly explaining the words of Matthew 10:29-31, he distinguishes between God's general and special providence. Then follows an extensive discussion of the practical use of this doctrine. The author's Thanksgiving sermon, entitled "Haman's Vanity," which was preached before the House of Commons is added as an appendix to this work. Here, Sedgwick draws a parallel between Haman's plot to decimate the Jews and a Royalist plot that was hatched in London to seize the Parliamentary leaders.

This edition has been edited for modern readers and has an introductory essay by Joel R. Beeke and Matthew Winzer.

Read it, pass it along to a friend, and be comforted by the God who promises to never forsake the works of His own hands.

Table of Contents:

1. God's General Providence over All Creation
2. God's General Providence over His Church and People
3. Learn to Depend on Providence
4. Don't Vex Your Mind (1)
5. Don't Vex Your Mind (2)
6. Wait on Providence
7. Be Content and Apply Providence Quietly
8. Glean Comfort from Providence
9. The Duties of God's Church 

Appendix - Haman's Vanity

• Language: English
• Publisher: Reformation Heritage Books
• Release date: Sep 23, 2021
• ISBN: 9781601788993

Book preview

Introduction

The Heidelberg Catechism defines the providence of God as the almighty and everywhere present power of God; whereby, as it were by His hand, He upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures; so that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, and all things come, not by chance, but by His fatherly hand (Q. 27). This comprehensive definition accents the vast chasm between the modern view of providence and that of the Reformation and post-Reformation era.

Providence and the Modern Man

As science has advanced, the relationship between secondary causes and their effects in the world has become better known. Sadly, this has led many to ascribe the working of all things to the creature, whether under the laws of science or forces of nature, and has resulted in robbing the First Cause, the Creator and Sustainer of all things, of the glory that belongs to Him alone.

Christians who believe that everything is working together for their good find it impossible to take a naturalistic view of the world in its past, present, or future. They ascribe the preserving and governing of all things to the most holy, wise, and powerful working of divine providence. This supernatural worldview, in which the whole of life is regarded as being guided by God’s caring inspection, is expressed in Psalm 32:8: I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye—that is, with singular care and providence. The greatest events and the smallest details of life, the most joyful situations and most adverse circumstances, the most virtuous deeds and the most vicious actions of men—all are guided by the eye of providence for the eternal well-being of God’s people. Thus, when the Psalmist calls upon the righteous to be glad in the Lord and rejoice (v. 11), it is not a weak invitation to think positively about the future so all will be well, but an imperative that calls for satisfied jubilation in the Lord.

Knowing that all things are under the guiding hand of providence should never lead to the idea that how one lives makes no difference. He who rules all things is the moral Governor of the world, and as such God weighs our actions and repays them accordingly. He who is all-knowing makes the sins of sinners known; He also causes the rewards of the righteous to go before them. The lessons of providence may be clearly learned in the histories of individuals, families, societies, churches, and nations; and as wisdom beckons men to heed her voice, she says, Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord (Ps. 107:43).

The Puritans and Providence

As avid students of God’s sovereignty, the Puritans understood and applied the doctrine of providence. They sought to mine the depths of Scripture for ways in which God works with the world. Their findings were clear and precise, and serve to comfort Christians with the all-sufficiency of God.

The Puritans’ interest in divine providence is expressed in a variety of forms. Numerous sermons were preached on providence, both in congregations and before Parliament. The seventeenth century was such a trying time of fires, wars, and plagues that those of us living in comfort today find it difficult to imagine. In such contexts, Puritan ministers sought to discern the difficulties around them, reinforce a sense of the overarching control of God, and cultivate comfort among believers. Thomas Brooks’s The Mute Christian under the Smarting Rod is a classic example of Puritan encouragement to those suffering bitter providences.

Many Puritan writers traced the providential hand of God in history. Stories of sea-deliverances and other significant occurrences were recorded to make Christians aware that history is not aimless happenstance. A prime example is Increase Mather’s A History of God’s Remarkable Providences in Colonial New England. Modern readers look disparagingly upon works like this, surmising that the Puritans read too much into events; yet, regardless of one’s assessment of the Puritan interpretation of providential occurrences, we must admit that we err on the other side by disregarding the divine hand at work around us.

Notable Puritan systematic yet devotional treatments of the doctrine of providence include Stephen Charnock’s A Discourse of Divine Providence, John Flavel’s Divine Conduct, or the Mystery of Providence Opened, and the present volume, Obadiah Sedgwick’s The Doctrine of Providence Practically Handled—reprinted here as Providence Handled Practically. Sedgwick’s work is to be commended for its conciseness, rendering it a valuable introduction to the important topic of God’s providence.

Obadiah Sedgwick (c. 1600–1658)

Born about 1600, Obadiah Sedgwick was the son of Joseph Sedgwick, vicar of St. Peter’s, Marlborough, Wiltshire. He entered Queen’s College, Oxford, in 1619, but transferred to Magdalen Hall, where he received a bachelor’s degree in 1620 and a master’s degree in 1623. For a few years, Sedgwick served as chaplain to Lord Horatio Vere of Tilbury, accompanying the lord to the Netherlands. In 1626, Sedgwick tutored Matthew Hale, who was to become one of the most respected lawyers of the time. Hale later defended Christopher Love before the high court.

After ordination, Sedgwick served as chaplain in 1628–1629 to Horace, Lord Vere of Tilbury, in the Low Countries. In 1630, Sedgwick received a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Oxford. That same year, he became curate and lecturer at St. Mildred, Bread Street, London, where he was a very popular preacher. Bishop Juxon censured and suspended Sedgwick in 1637 for nonconformity. Sedgwick took refuge at the Earl of Warwick’s house in Essex. In 1639, Sedgwick succeeded John Dod in the ministry at Coggeshall, Essex. With the opening of the Long Parliament, Sedgwick regained the lectureship at St. Mildred’s.

In 1642, Sedgwick was commissioned as a member of the Westminster Assembly in which he played a prominent role. He was appointed to a committee of nineteen to work on the Confession of Faith, and to a committee of twenty to respond to the Independents’ Reasons. He felt some sympathy for the Independents, though he strongly opposed rigid Independent views. When Philip Nye, an outspoken Independent, appealed for liberty of conscience from what he called the dangers of established Presbyterianism, Sedgwick requested that Nye be expelled from the assembly. Robert Norris describes Sedgwick as one of the assembly’s liveliest and most colorful preachers (The Preaching of the Assembly, in To Glorify and Enjoy God, ed. John L. Carson and David W. Hall, p. 74). During the civil wars, Sedgwick was asked to preach before Parliament at least fourteen times—more than any other minister except Stephen Marshall. Five of those sermons were published. He was also asked to be a licenser of the press for books of divinity.

Sedgwick minced no words in preaching before Parliament. In An Ark Against a Deluge (1644), he told the House of Commons that they should abhor the very thought of tolerating all opinions in the church, saying, This was such a monstrous prodigy, such an intolerable way of confusion, such mocking of the people of God. The end result of such toleration, he concluded, would be that every person makes an ark of his own fancy (p. 19).

In 1645, Sedgwick resigned from Coggeshall, where he was succeeded by John Owen, and became rector of St. Andrew’s, Holborn, London. The following year, he moved to St. Paul’s, Covent Garden, where he was instrumental in the conversion of many.

In 1651, Sedgwick petitioned Parliament for the release of his Presbyterian friend, Christopher Love. Two years later, he was appointed to the commission of triers to examine candidates for the ministry. Failing health forced him to resign from St. Paul’s in 1656. He was succeeded by his son-in-law, Thomas Manton.

Sedgwick retired to Marlborough, where he died in 1658. He left each of his four children a sizable inheritance and was buried beside his father at Ogbourne St. Andrew, Wiltshire. His older brother, John, was also a Puritan minister.

Sedgwick was a prolific writer. Three of his books have been reprinted recently: The Doubting Believer, The Anatomy of Secret Sins, and Christ’s Counsel to His Languishing Church (for additional details, see Meet the Puritans, Joel R. Beeke and Randall J. Pederson [Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2006], pp. 516–519).

Sedgwick on Providence

Like his Puritan colleagues, Sedgwick was an astute observer of providence. Providence Handled Practically shows how the ruling hand of God should be considered as it comes to bear on the life of the Christian and the church. After briefly explaining the words of Matthew 10:29–31 (Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows), Sedgwick presents the following doctrines: That God has a providence which extends to all the creatures and everything about them, and, That God has in a more singular way a special providence over His church and people. This is seen in God’s dealings towards the church, the means and ways that are used for its preservation, and in the blessed outcomes of all occurrences.

Next, Sedgwick shows how to use this doctrine. He urges us to depend on God’s providence, which he then describes, and he explains the motives for obedience. He exhorts us to desist from disquieting the mind with perplexing thoughts and he provides remedies for combating our vexing cares about the deadness of means, the crossness of events, the weakness of our condition, the strength of present afflictions, etc. We must wait upon providence and carefully observe its mysterious ways in various times and seasons, Sedgwick says. Here also is the basis for solid directions to work the heart into a state of contentment with our present portion and estates—not that we should content ourselves with being ignorant of the Lord’s purposes, for we are advised to apply ourselves to the ways of God’s providence to find blessing and comfort in them. Finally, Sedgwick shows us how to quiet ourselves under the injuries that we are likely to sustain in this life.

What follows is rare indeed: comforts for the church that flow from the consideration of God’s purpose and counsel, power and might, tenderness and affection, wisdom and skill, fidelity and truth, and stability and constancy, by which He singularly cares and provides for His church. This is also a call to reformation since judgment begins at the house of God, as well as calls to fervent and humble prayer for His blessing and to implicit trust in His providence.

As an appendix to this work we include the author’s Thanksgiving sermon, titled Haman’s Vanity, which Sedgwick preached before the House of Commons June 15, 1643. The preacher draws a parallel between Haman’s plan to decimate the Jews and a Royalist plot that was hatched in London to seize the Parliamentary leaders. In Sedgwick’s words, This unhappy plot (had it taken effect) might have proved the funeral of all our sanctuaries; the grave of all our religion; the doomsday of all our liberties; the ruin of country, of city, of Parliament, of all. As with Haman’s conspiracy, however, divine providence brought hidden intrigues to light and resulted in the capture and confession of the rebels in May 1643.

To the present edition of Providence Handled Practically we added section headings for ease of navigation through the work. We also updated the language for modern readers and replaced Latin phrases and quotations with English translations. Our prayer is that these modifications will make reading less tedious, and that the book will be used as a cherished primer on divine providence. Read it, pass it along to a friend, and be comforted by the God who promises to never forsake the works of His own hands.

—Joel R. Beeke and Matthew Winzer

— 1 —

God’s General Providence over All Creation

Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

—Matthew 10:29–31

The words of our text contain a comfort for the disciples (and with them, to all the church of Christ) against all their oppositions, persecutions, and miserable evils, which are drawn from the providence of God. The church is like a ship at sea, endangered by waves and winds; but divine providence sits at the helm, powerfully guiding and preserving it.

Objection: That which the apostles might most fear was the endless and boundless rage of wicked men, who had power in some measure answerable to the malice.

Solution: Christ responds in verse 28 saying, Fear ye not; He uses two arguments for this command.

First, evil men can, at worst, kill the body. That which is more precious is safe, for they are not able to kill the soul. Second, nothing can befall you without a providence. Your Father is not idle; He is not asleep. He does not forget you or your condition; He regards you, watches over you, and will order in a wise and gracious sweetness, every concurrence for His glory and your good, so that not the least thing shall befall you but that which He directs and orders.

Objection: We doubt these words, they might reply.

Solution: Do not doubt, says Christ. What do you think of the sparrows, which fly up and down? No man notices them; one man hunts them, and another man kills them for his pleasure; yet not one of them may fall to the ground without your Father ordering it to occur, and permitting it to be so. It does not come by an idle chance, but by His working providence. Do you think that any evil or anything shall befall you without your Father taking notice of it, ordering it, and governing it? No, if God has an eye for the sparrows, you may be confident that He has a special care for you; not only the great moments of your life and death are ordered by Him, but even the