them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose And Hebr. 12.10 He chastiseth us for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness And hear but David out of his own experience Psal 119.71 75 v. It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes and I know O Lord that in very faithfullness thou hast afflicted me But for the better confirmation and explication of this truth because it is a truth that flesh and blood will hardly believe that God in his severest providences should intend our good There are these three queries that would be satissied Frst What good it is that God doth intend in his severest providences towards his Children And secondly Who they are that shall experimently find this Doctrine verified of them And thirdly How or with what limitation this Doctrine must be understood Frist What good it is that God doth intend his people Briefly there is a fourfold good that God intends unto his people in his corrections and chastisements and in the wayes of his severity towards them 1. In reference to their sins 2d In reference to their graces 3d In reference to their present comforts 4th In reference to their future hopes First In reference to their sins God intends a fourfold good 1. To prevent sin 2d To discover sin 3d To imbitter sin And 4th To destory sin First God in reference to the sins of his people intends this good to them namely to prevent sin If Saint Paul such a heavenly man or an earthly Angel as one cals him had need of a thorne in his flesh to prevent that spirituall pride and self exaltation that otherwise he might have fallen into O How much more have we need of some affiction to prevent those sins that otherwise we might run into That as Physitians tell us they have two sorts of medecines They have Preventing Physick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well as healing Physick so God makes afflictions to be preventing Physick as well as healing Physick unto his own Children And as Themistocles said in the like case Periissem nist Periissem If I had not been undone I had been undone So may many a child of God say if God had not hedged up my way with Thornes I had run post to the pit of hell and had rushed upon the rock of my own ruin long before this time That is one good in reference to sin to prevent it Secondly Another good God intends his people by afflictions in reference to their sin is to discover it in standing waters you cannot see the mud that lies at the bottom of the Pool but when once the water is removed then the mud is discovered So here while we are at peace and case in times of prosperity and whiles we are not emptied from vessel to vessel we are setled upon our lees as 't is said of Moab Jer. 48.11 and the dregs and mud of our corruptions are not discovered but now when we are emptied from vessel to vessel that is emptied of our outward enjoyments and of our outward comforts and God begins to take the rod into his hand then he makes us reflect upon our selves and to say as Job did in the day of his distress Job 13.23 24. Make me to know my transgression and my sin Remarkeable is that speach of the Shunamitish woman unto Elijah 1 King 17.18 Art thou come to call my sin to remembrance and to slay my son Pray marke the death of her son made her reflect upon her sin she would not have called her sin to remembrance but that her son was now ready to be taken away affliction it is a sharp tyrant I but it is a just judge it represents our condition truly to us and lets us see the inside of our selves it doth discover self to self a man never comes to know himself and to know the plague of his own heart so well as when the rod of God is upon his back that is a second good afflictions work in reference to sin to discover it And thirdly God intends this good to his people in reference to sin to imbitter it that in the bitterness of sorrow we may tast the bitterness of sin that is the cause of sorrow that we may see and say as in Jerem. 2.19 'T is an evill and bitter thing that we have forsaken the Lord our God and that his fear hath not been in us And brethren sin it is a very bitter thing nay sin is bitterness it self Hos 12.14 Ephraim hath provoked him to anger most bitterly in the Hebrew it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephraim hath provoked him with bitternesses Sin it is that which caused the Lord Jesus Christ to drink that bitter cup of trembling It would have made all the men on earth nay all the Angels in heaven to have sunk under the burden of that wrath that he drunk of so that sin is I say a bitter thing and therefore God afflicts us to imbitter sin to us and that we should be in bitterness for sin as a man is in bitterness for the loss of an onely childe Zech. 12.10 And then fourthly In refrence to sin God afflicts us to destroy sin to make a separation between sin and the soul A sucking child that loves the mothers breast yet you know when Worm-wood is laid upon the breast then the child loaths it and is willing to leave it and it becomes but a â—a dead breast to him though before he delighted in it So likewise when God is pleased to imbitter sin he doth as it were kill the sin to us and makes us willing to leave it though before we did dearly love it and indeed it is but fit and equall that that sin which hath been contracted with joy should be dissolved with sorrow sin is so rooted and setled in the heart that a separation cannot be made without a great deal of sorrow but when once we feel the smart of sin then we can say with holy Job Job 34.32 That which I know not teach thou me and if I have done iniquity I will doe no more And saies he Once have I spoken but I will not answer Job 40.5 yea twice but I will proceed no farther This then is the first Good God intends his Children in the severest of his providences in reference to sin to prevent it discover it imbitter it and destroy it But then secondly God intends another good unto his people in the severest of his providences in reference to their graces both to try their graces and likewise to exercise their graces First To try their graces God he sometimes proves and tries his Chidren whether they be legitimate Children or whether they be bastards yea or no Psal 66.10 For thou O God hast proved us thou hast tryed us as silver is tryed And Hebr. 12.8 If yea be without chastisement whereof all are partakers
than our own lives It is observable that Christ teacheth us to pray for Gods glory before our own salvation Hollowed be thy name before thy Kingdome come The honour of God was so wonderfully dear to him Now this brings most honour to God when you as his faithfull servants can own his truth when most disown it As that Souldier doth most honour his Captain who stands his ground when all his fellow Souldiers turn their backs so this is that which will honour God indeed if you stick to him when others fall off and fall away Nay thirdly Consider this is that which will bring most honour to your selves and your profession for look as for a man to be evill in the best of times to be evill amongst those that are good this is the height of impiety So on the contrary for a man to be good amongst those that are evill this is the height of Piety 't is a very easie matter to be good amongst those that are good to be good in good times when it is a credit and an honour to professe Religion hypocrites you know when they come amongst these that are godly they will appear to be godly Judas when he was in the School of Christ carryed himself so fairly and inoffencively that all the Disciples suspected themselves rather than Judas and said Master is it I But now when a man can own the truth when others oppose it and despiseit when a man fears God at that time when others cast off fear and sticks to truth when others are ashamed of truth When a man likewise keeps his warmth amongst frozen Christians and his Spirituall life amongst dead and drowsie Christians and his Spirituall groweth amongst decaying and declining Christians This is the Honour this is the Crown of Christianity And then fourthly Consider this If you be good in the worst of times certainly God will take care of you and the less encouragement you have from men the more encouragement you shall have from God and the less you are owned by men the more you shall be owned by God God had a care of these poor Captives this basket of good Figs were carryed Captive into the Land of Bâ—bylon I but God was with them he stood by them as I should have spoken to that point if time would have given me leave and God did own and acknowledge them so God will own and honour you and stand by you and strengthen and support you and cause all your afflictions to work for your good he will but prove you that he may doe you good in the latter end this is the second Use a Use of exhortation Thirdly and lastly Vse 3 It may serve greatly for the encouragement and consolation of the godly in the worst of times let the times be never so desparate you see God will have a Number some that will be faithfull to him that will own him and his cause that will help to bear up his truth and Name that will hold fast their profession without wavering 't is true indeed the Church of Christ may be like a Ship tossed but it can never be overturned it may be tossed because it is upon the Sea but it can never be overturned because Jesus Christ is in it The Church may be drenched in sorrow but it cannot be drowned in misery Therefore we should bear up our hearts in the very worst of times and we should still cleave unto God that he may cleave unto us let us lift up those hands that hang down and those feeble knees there are more with us than against us if one God be with us it is more than if ten thousand worlds were against us And know this we shall never have cause to repent of our cleaving to God though in the worst of times And so much shall suffice to have spoken of this second Doctrine which is drawn from the first particular of the second branch of the Text the explication of the Type I had thought to have spoken to the other particular namely the application of it to these poor Captives So will I acknowledge them I will own them I will take speciall notice of them that are carryed away Captive of Judah The Doctrine I should have spoken to from hence is this That God doth own his people Doct. and acknowledge them in the day of their dangers and distresses He owns them by being present with them and he owns them by supporting of them and he owns them by delivering of them and he owns them because he bears a love to them no change of condition can change his affections towards them O! the faithfullness of our God you see freinds stand aloof off many times in the day of adversity but God is a faithfull friend he is ever nearest when trouble is near and when he brings us into the worst condition he is usually the best God unto us The Psalmist hath a sweet passage Psal 22.24 For he hath not abhorred nor despised the affliction of the afflicted neither hath he bid his face from him but when he cryed unto him he heard him God doth not despise the affliction of his people as the manner of some is in the day of their distress then they hide away their faces and will not own nor know those that are afflicted It is a great comfort and encouragement that God will own his people when the world will not own them and that God will be with them and stand by them and stick to them when the world rejects them casts them off and stands at a distance from them I will acknowledge them saith God But I see the time is too far spent and I will not further intrench either upon your patience or my own strength So much shall suffice for this time SERMON III. Jeremiah Chap. 24. Verse 5. Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel Like these good Figs so-will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah whom I have sent out of this place into the Land of the Caldeans for their good YOu may remember how far I proceeded in opening this Text unto you in two Sermons the the last Lords day I have done with the Explication of the Type like these good Figs being the first particular of the second branch of the Text namely the Message it self I come now unto the Application of this Type of the good Figs unto these poor Captives and the Application of it if you look upon the Text is wholly comfortable and the comfort God reacheth out unto them under the Type of these good Figs is three fold First He tels them he would acknowledge them whom he had sent away Captive of Judah Secondly He tels them that it was he that had sent them out of that place into the Land of the Caldeans And thirdly He tels them that it was for their Spiritual profit and advantage it was for their good Every one of these will afford us a
point of Doctrine and I shall by Gods assistance give you them in this and another Sermon in the afternoon We will begin with the Application of this Message in the first way of comfort saies God So will I acknowledge them that are carryed away Captive of Judah So will I acknowledge them that is I will own them I will take speciall notice of them Mine eyes and my heart shall be toward them although I have sent them away Captive into Bahylon yet notwithstanding they shall know that I am their freind and I am their father still and that I have not cast them off The point of Doctrine then that I would commend to you from hence is this That God doth graciously acknowledge Doct. and own his servants in the day of their dangers and distresses Psal 31.7 Thou hast considered my trouble thou hast known my soul in adversity And that is a comfortable Scripture Ps 22.24 he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted neither hath he hid his face from him but when he cryed unto him he heard him God doth not abhor nor despise the affliction of his poor afflicted servants he doth not hide away his face from them he doth no look aside as if he regarded them not in the day of their distresses God owned his people Israel in Egypt when they were among the Brickilns when they were making their Pots when they were poor Bondslaves Exod. 4.22 saies God there to Moses Go to Pharaoh and say Thus saith the Lord Israel is my son even my first born and therefore let him go As if the Lord should say although Israel be amongst the Pots yet he is my son still and although he be under Bondage yet he is my first born still How passionately and affectionately doth God speak Act. 7.34 I have seen I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt the ingemination of the word shewes the earstness of Gods affections as I may call them not that God hath affections but it is spoken after the manner of men because he doth that which men doe when their affections and bowels yearn toward those that are in misery and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel But for the explication of the Point It may be demanded First How doth God own and acknowledge his people in the day of their dangers and distresses And then secondly why doth he own them First How doth God own them I answer God owns them three waies First By being present with them Secondly By supporting of them And thirdly By delivering them First God owns his people in the day of their distresses by being present with them Psal 91.15 He shall call upon me and I will answer him I will be with him in trouble And Isa 43.2 When thou passests through the waters I will be with thee and through the Rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burned neither shall the flame kindle upon thee So in Isa 63.9 In all their affliction he was afflicted and the Angel of his presence saved them If Joseph be in Prison God will be with him there If Job be on the dunghil God will be with him there If Jeremiah be in the dungeon God will be with him there If Daniel be in the Lions-den God will be with him there Nay when his Children pass through the valley of the shadow of death when they pass as it were by the gates of hell yet notwithstanding his rod and his staff do then comfort them as he once said thy presence O Lord it can sweeten Lawrence his Gridiron the presence of God it can turn a Prison into a Pallace it can turn a very hell into a heaven what makes heaven to be heaven but Gods presence and what makes hell to be hell but Gods absence Now for God to be present thus with his people in their trouble this is one way of his owning them Secondly God doth own his people in their distresses by supporting them by upholding them with the right hand of his righteousness that their burthens shall not be too heavy for them but either he will proportion their burthens to their shoulders or their shoulders to their burthens that they shall stand under them Isa 41.10 Fear thou not for I am with thee be not dismayed for I am thy God I will strengthen thee yea I will help thee yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness And this is that which David found in his own experience Psal 94.17 18 19. Vnless the Lord had been my help my soul had almost dwel◠in silence when I said my foot slippeth thy mercy O Lord held me up In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts refresh my soul It is storied of one Theodorus whom Julian the Apostate caused to be rackt à nd tortureed and put to extream torments that in the midst of his torments there was an Angel as Theodoret tels the story in the likeness of a young man that stood by him and with a linnen cloath did wipe the sweat from off him and powred cool water upon his vexed and tortured limbs and by that means did refresh and comfort him and our blessed Saviour you know in that agony when he sweat drops of blood had an Angel with him to comfort him God knows how to comfort and support his Children and to stand by them in the greatest of their distresses and so he owns them And then thirdly God owns his Children by delivering them out of all their distresses Psal 34.19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivereth him out of them all And that is a very remarkeable Scripture Jeremiah 50.33.34 Thus saith the Lord of hosts the Children of Israel and the Children of Judah were oppressed together and all that took them Captives held them jast they refused to let them go but their redemer is strong the Lord of hosts is his Name he shall thorowly plead their cause that he may give rest unto the Land and disquiet the in habitants of Babylon God will not alwaies let the rod of the wicked rest upon the lot of the righteous And thus you see that God owns his people in their distresses But then why doth he own them The reason is this briefly because his children are very dear unto him he looks upon them as his jewelt Mal. 3.17 a text you know I have heretofore opened unto you he looks upon them as his precious ones as the dearly beloved of his soul he looks upon them as the apple of his own eye and therefore no change of condition in his children can make God change his love and affections towards them and though God may sometimes cast them into the furnace of affliction it is onely to purge away their dross and he loves them when in the fire as well as when they are out of it and he is