his Children they stand in such a Relation to him as engages him to be careful of them They are born unto him by Regeneration Now we cannot think that the God of Nature who hath imprinted this upon every Creature to take care of its own will himself be found wanting in this The tenderness and care of men and beasts to their little ones is all derived from him and will not then his Love and Care much more exceed theirs He tells us himself that the Mother may forget the Son of her Womb that she should not have compassion on him but the Lord will not forget his people Isa 49.15 Reas 2. They are his Jewels of the greatest price to him his peculiar Treasure Exod. 19.5 He sets a higher price upon them than he does upon all the world beside This he confirms by actions and renders as the reason of some remarkable Providences of his Psal 105.14 He suffered no man to do them wrong yea he reproved Kings for their sakes He values their Ransome at a higher rate for he gives whole Countries and Kingdoms for them Isa 43.3 I gave Egypt for thy ransome Ethiopia and Seba for thee This is a sufficient proof of the high esteem that God hath of them and things which we highly prize we tenderly care for Reas 3. They are his Portion his Inheritance all that he hath set apart for himself in the World Psal 4.3 The Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself Deut. 32.9 The Lords portion is his people Jacob is the Lot of his Inheritance These are mighty expressions enough to astonish us That God who is Lord of of all the World who hath Heaven and Earth and all that is therein should as it were quit his Interest in all the rest and count it inconsiderable and little worth in comparison of a few that he hath chosen out of it who were as bad as the rest excepting in what they are beholding to him for and are made better by his choice Reas 4. His Honor depends upon these they are the only people that lay his Concernments to heart and take care of his glory others do serve and help forward his designs in the world but they do it not out of design they mind only their own things but his people design to serve and honor him and mind his glory as their greatest interest in the world Phil. 1.20 21. As always so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body whether it be by life or death for to me to live is Christ and to dye is gain The glory of Christ is that which a Christian aims at in life and death yea he makes every particular action subservient to this 1 Cor. 10.31 Whether ye eat or drink or whatever ye do do all to the glory of God Now it is no wonder if God take care for those who take care for him if they design his glory much more does he their preservation Reas 5. Because he hath dearly purchased them he hath bought them at a dear rate he hath bought them at first with a great price not of filver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Beside this he oftentimes makes a providential purchase of them by giving men and people for them Isa 43 3. Now we know that the things which we purchase dearly we lay up safely and keep them carefully because we will not lose the cost and charge we have been at Thus God reasons from former mercies to future preservations Isa 43.4 Since thou hast been precious in my sight thou hast been honourable and I have loved thee therefore will I give men for thee and people for thy life Reas 6. He is careful of them because they love him these are the people of all the world that love God therefore they are the people that he minds above all the world he hath their hearts and therefore they have his Psal 91.14 When God had spoken of his care of his people and their safety from the Pestilence he adds this as the Reason Because he hath set his love upon me therefore will I deliver him Reas 7. The Reason of all Reasons is He hath set his love upon them Psal 146.8 The Lord loveth the righteous John 16.27 The Father himself loveth you Nay so great is the Love of God to his people that he is called Love 1 John 4.16 Now those whom we love we take care of we consider not so much their merit or demerit if they be in danger but we feel in our selves what they suffer and we can no more forbear to prevent an evil that we see coming upon them or labour to remove it when it is come than we can forbear to seek out for help for our selves if we were in the same case God's Love makes him sympathize with his people in all their sufferings therefore he sayes by the Prophet Isa 63.9 In all their afflictions I was afflicted with them wonder not then at what follows the Angel of his presence saved them in his love and in his pity he redeemed them and he bare them and carried them all the dayes of old Where Love is so powerful to cause such a sense of affliction it must needs awaken our care and stir up all our circumspection to prevent or remove the evil which fall upon us in falling upon those we love Thus I have endeavoured to make this Truth clear yet before I improve it I must remove some objections out of the way Obj. 1. How does the Care of God appear for his people seeing we find that they have often been made a prey to the wicked and the Scripture gives an account of hard things that they have suffered under them Ans The Scripture which gives us account of their sufferings tells us also of their preservation under those troubles so that rightly considered they do not darken but clear the Providence of God How did God preserve Israel in Egypt Exod. 3.2 though the bush burned with fire it was not consumed And as the Apostle says concerning himself and the Primitive Christians 2 Cor. 4.9 Though they were persecuted yet they were not forsaken 2. God's Care of his people appears in this That he encreased them by their Troubles as well as preserved them under them Exod. 1.12 the more they afflicted them the more they multiplied and grew and it hath been the experience of the Christian Church That the blood of the Martyrs hath been the Seed of the Church 3. His Care appears greatly in caring for their souls he sanctifies these troubles to them and does them a great deal of good in the trying and strengthening of their Graces 1 Pet. 1.7 The tryal of your Faith being much more precious than Gold Rom. 5.3 4 5. We glory in tribulation knowing that tribulation worketh patience and patience experience and experience hope Nay he does not only do them good at present but makes way for
glory 2 Cor. 4.17 Our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory 4. Though he hath often given them up into the hands of wicked men that they might shew their malice and hatred against them yet he never gave them up to the wills of such he hath not left wicked men at their own liberty to do as they pleased but God hath reserved to himself the ordering and proportioning of their troubles to their strength he hath appointed what they shall suffer for number how many blows they shall bear for weight how heavy they shall be and for time how long they shall continue 5. God hath always had such a Care of them that they have never perished under their afflictions Though they have fallen yet they have not perished They have laid down their lives but they have not lost them Their lives have not been taken away but upon such terms as they have been willing to part with them and in which they are gainers Phil. 1.21 He that could say To him to live was Christ could also say to dye is gain therefore he comforted himself in this That though he might lay down his life in those troubles which he underwent at Rome yet he should have a considerable value for it for Christ should be manifested in his body whether it were by life or death Obj. 2. Scripture and Experience both tell us That all things fall alike to all Eccles 9.2 3. so that love or hatred is not to be known by any thing before us Ans 1. This must be understood of outward things only thus far That wicked men have their shares in the good things of this life and good men have their part in the evil things of it There is no outward good but the wicked have enjoy'd nor no outward trouble and affliction but hath befallen the righteous and as they have their shares of these so they have but a share of them the good have not all the evil nor the wicked all the good of this world and there is reason for this because the wicked have their good things here and the good have their evil things 2. Though all things do fall alike to all yet all things do not work alike to all God's care is seen in ordering those things which befall his people for their good in making those things good in the conclusion which are evil in themselves whereas those things which are good in themselves or at least reputed so among men are for the hurt of those who enjoy them when they fall into the hands of wicked men Psal 11.6 Upon the wicked he shall rain snares There is nothing that such a one enjoys but it is a snare to him to entangle and hold him fast till God cast him into Hell whereas the same things are helps to a good man to bring him to Heaven Rom. 8.28 All things work together for good to those that love God So that although Good and Evil be dispensed promiscuously among good and bad and they seem to fare all alike yet does God under these carry on distinct and different works of Mercy and Judgment of Mercy to the good for their Salvation and of Judgment to the wicked for their hardning So that herein is seen the Providence of God towards his people that he furthers their Salvation by those things which are an occasion of hardening others and by those Providences which are common to them and others he carries on a special design of Grace and Mercy to them So that there is a vast difference betwixt those things which seem to be the same For though the godly have all the troubles in the World which any other do meet withall yet they have not the Wrath and Displeasure of God in them but a secret assistance and support under them and though the wicked have all the outward blessings that God bestows upon his own yet they have not the Love of God in and through them and his Blessing with them as the godly have 3. Though outward things are not sufficient to discover Love or Hatred they alone are not proofs of one or other yet it is unquestionably true That the Love and Hatred of God do run thorough these things also God orders and disposes outward things in his love to the Godly and though sense cannot discern his Love by these yet Faith can often see it thorow them and the outward Providences of God speak his displeasure to the wicked yea he often times gives them those things in wrath in which they blessed themselves and when they have both finished their races and they shall both look back upon their lives from Eternity they will both agree in this That they were in nothing more unlike than in that in which they seemed to be alike Obj. 3. But we see that not only the godly do partake of the same Judgements which befall the wicked but the wicked also do share in the same mercies and preservations with the righteous they also are preserved in time of danger with the other no judgement but takes away as good as it leaves behind it and leaves as bad as it takes away where then is seen God's care of his people Ans There is a great difference betwixt the Judgments and Mercies of the good and bad though they seem to be the same and to sence without difference For the Mercies of the godly are indeed sent in Mercy to his people he orders one Mercy towards another a temporal Mercy towards a spiritual one and one Mercy is a pledg of another so that a good man can say often times by Faith as Leah did Gen. 30.11 Behold a troop cometh And as David reasoned from his deliverance from the Lyon and the Bear to his deliverance from the Philistins so can a good man reason from one Mercy of any kind to another but if God give any thing to a wicked man that seems a Mercy it is but to prevent a greater Mercy a Temporal to prevent a Spiritual he gives them temporal Rewards here for any service they do him to take off their claim to any hereafter Again if he send any Judgment upon his people it is not to destroy but to prevent destruction he sends temporal judgments to prevent spiritual he afflicts them here that they might not perish with the World but to the wicked he sends one judgment to make way for another thus all the Judgments which fell on the Egyptians in their own Land made way for their overthrow at the Red Sea For this must be observed That though publike Judgments do spare bad as well as good and both seem to be alike wonderfully delivered from it yet it is with a great difference One is a preservation from the Evil and the other a reservation for some greater Evil. We read That the Mourners in Jerusalem were marked Ezek. 9 4. that they might be
the connexion of the 1 2 3 verses of the 91. Psal He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shaddow of the Almighty What is the meaning of this but that he that makes God his refuge in danger shall be safe under his protection from this general proposition David takes up a particular resolution to depend upon God I will say of the Lord he is my refuge and my fortress my God in him will I trust And from thence he infers for his own the comfort of all that do thus Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome Pestilence The connexion of the 9. 10. verses of this Psalm are no less considerable than these Because thou hast made the Lord which is my refuge even the most high thy habitation there shall no evil befall thee neither shall the Plague come nigh thy dwelling Where such a particular act of Faith goes before preservation from the evil commonly follows and this is always the fruit of special grace Secondly Where preservation is in mercy there is found an acceptance of life and liberty and peace and what ever we enjoy in this as from the hand of God taking all from him Faith is a Grace that fetches all from God and gives all to him it hath to do with God in every thing and looks over and beyond every creature and means to him if Faith apprehend a danger it takes its preservation from it as well as its deliverance out of it equally from God This we see in David Psal 18.2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer my God my strength in whom I will trust my buckler and the horn of my Salvation and my high tower David gives God all those titles which we give to those things from whence we expect or receive help whatever men fly too or depend upon in time of danger that is God unto David therefore he ascribes all the deliverance that he had from trouble to the Lord alone he takes his life as given him by the Lord ver 16.17 He sent from above he took me he drew me out of many waters he delivered me from my strong enemy And as he acknowledges his preservation from danger so he also confesses all the good that he injoys to be peculiarly from the Lord. Psal 23.5 Thou preparest a table for me in the presence of mine enemies thou anointest my head with oil my cup runneth over Thus where God gives any thing in mercy he gives a heart to acknowledg the mercy to be from him and to eye God particularly in it Thirdly A high esteem of the mercy that comes in such a way The season and the conveyance of the mercy do much advance the price of it To live in dying times to be safe when others are in danger to be in peace when others are in trouble is a mercy to be highly prized To have all these at such a time is much but to have them in answer to prayer to have them through the Promise and Covenant of Grace is a great deal more To have these not as the fruit of common providence but of special grace and fatherly care ' sets a great lustre upon the mercy and makes it very precious in the esteem of the soul We see David was much affected with deliverance that the Lord gave him Psal 116. Because it was in a time of great trouble and danger v. 3. The sorrows of death compassed me And because he saw the hand of God eminently in it v. 6. The Lord preserveth the simple I was brought low and he helped me He prized it the more because it came as an answer to his prayers v. 1. I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplications And cheifly because through all this he saw that God had a singular care of him and a high esteem of his life and not only of his but of all those that fear him ver 15. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints Fourthly Then preservation from danger comes in special mercy to us when the same impressions are found upon our spirits which the affliction sanctified should have wrought upon us When the keeping off of an Evil doth work the same things that this should have produced if it had come and had been sanctified to the soul then the preservation from this is in mercy to the soul As for example Art thou in health when others are sick Art thou free when others are shut up Hast thou life and strength when others are upon beds of languishing Then enquire Dost thou find those workings of thy heart as are suitable to a gracious spirit upon a sick bed Dost thou see the vanity of the World the shortness of time Dost thou mourn for the loss of time as they do who are going into Eternity And art thou careful to call thy Evidences together Dost thou see the preciousness of thy soul the weight of Eternity the excellency of Christ and of an Interest in God as if thou wert upon a Death-bed Oh then thy preservation is a mercy to thee for these should have been the gracious fruits of such a condition if thou hadst been brought into it for God hath done that good by keeping off the affliction which he should have done thee by it if it had fallen upon thee and had been blest unto thee Fifthly Then Preservation is in love when it is accompanied with a singular love to God Thou wilt find thy heart not only in love with God but thou wilt call upon thy heart more and more to love God This was David's care to engage his heart to God because of that singular providence of his over him Psal 116.1 He is also much affected with the goodness of God towards his people he therefore stirs up others to love him in respect of his Providence Psal 31.19 20 23. Oh how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of men thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavillion from the strife of tongues Hence he takes occasion ver 23. to call upon men to love God O love the Lord all ye Saints for the Lord preserveth the faithful and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer It is but reasonable that when we see more of God's love in any Providence it should engage us to put in more of our love into every duty We should be full of affection and zeal for the glory of that God who we see cares for us Thirdly We shall know whether this Preservation be in mercy by those things which follow it First If there be found in us a care to keep those impressions alive which were made upon our hearts in the time
of danger and trouble and our preservation under it Many men have some sence of the Mercy and Goodness of God in time of great danger and seem to be affected with their deliverance but these are only made by some extraordinary Providence these things do not abide upon their spirits whereas a good man labours to keep all the impressions that are made upon his heart either under affliction or by any Mercy fresh and lively that so the frame of his heart may be bettered and that he may get a sound and good constitution of soul Secondly There will be found in us a great care to live up to the engagements of such a condition as we see it was in David Psal 116.8 9 12 13 14 17. Thou hast delivered my soul from death mine eyes from tears and my feet from falling What follows the sense of this Mercy see in the following verses I will walk before the Lord in the Land of the living What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me I will take the Cup of Salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people I will offer to thee the sacrifice of Thanksgiving and will call upon the Name of the Lord. Thus we see David's mercies had an influence upon his whole life as his outward condition is better'd so his whole life is better'd made more holy and conform to the will of God He considered not only what engagements God had laid upon him by his deliverance but also what engagements he had upon himself For there are duties which spring out of the Mercies which we have received and there are duties which arise out of the promises which we have made to God upon condition of deliverance and a good man considers both these David had an eye to the former when he said What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits And he had respect to the latter when he sayes I will pay my vows unto the Lord And God expects it at our hands that we should call to mind the Promises that we make in time of trouble snd the best of God's People have need to be minded of them for we are apter to make them than to keep them We may see this in Jacob who was ready to make a vow in his affliction Gen. 28.20 21 22. And Jacob vowed a vow saying If God will be with me and keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on so that I come again to my fathers house in peace then shall the Lord be my God and this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be Gods house But when God had given him not only food and raiment but had multiplied him greatly he must be called upon to make good this vow Gen. 35.1 And God said to Jacob Arise go up to Bethel and dwell there and make there an Altar unto God that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy Brother We should learn of the Mariners in Jonah who made vows after they were delivered Many will make them before and forget them afterward but a good man either makes them after deliverance or makes good those that he made before It is good to take up our vows when our troubles are ceased and to turn them into Resolutions to confirm and strengthen them as our Mercies are perfected Psal 23.6 From the experience that David had of the Mercy and Goodness of God he takes up a resolution to follow God as long as he lived he determines to stick close to God in his prosperity who stuck to him in his affliction Thirdly There will be an enquiry after work and service for God how he may be serviceable in his generation He is not satisfied with general service neither but is ready to enquire Whether God hath any particular service for him to do in the World unto which he hath preserved him God had a peculiar Work to employ Moses in therefore he wonderfully preserved him in that time of common Calamity and brought him up in Pharoah's Court. And when a man that understands God's wayes and ends meets with singular preservations he is ready to ask What hath God to do for me in the World that he thus preserves me when many others are taken away and he labours to find out that Work if there be any such This is certain that God doth nothing in vain he still proposeth an end to himself and his ends are the promoting his own glory and interest in the World And doubtless his peculiar Works have peculiar Ends And commonly what God chiefly intends that he sets upon our hearts to seek after or to comply with when it is offered unto us as we see in Moses God had preserved him for the deliverance of his people out of Egypt And see how it was upon his heart before ever the Lord appeared to him Exod. 2.12 Nothing doth more bespeak our lives to be given us in Mercy than when we value our Lives by our Work when we can say with Paul To me to live is Christ I know nothing worth a living for but Christ I am resolved while I live to labour for him and to apply my self to that peculiar Work to which he hath appointed me and for which he hath so often preserved me Fourthly A holy confidence in God for time to come a dependance on him and resolution to trust in him in all the straits that we shall meet withall Faith grows stronger by all the answers and rerurns of prayer If God give in any thing as a mercy by special preservation it fortifies the soul against doubts and difficulties for time to come and a man is able then to reason from experience as Paul does 2 Cor. 1.9 10. We had the sentence of death in our selves that we might not trust in our selves but in God which raiseth the dead who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will deliver By these and such like Experiences you shall be assured that your preservations are the fruit of Divine Love and that there was more then a common Providence in your safety You are the saved of the Lord and happy upon this account But if the workings of thy heart have been contrary to these suspend thy joy thou hast less cause than thou art aware of to rejoice in thy preservation from this wasting Judgment It may be but a reservation for some greater evil But you will say Can there be a worse Evil than this I tell thee Yes Perhaps God may reserve thee for some judgment that may take thee away when thou art less aware of it Nay if God only suffer thee to live and to be vile and prophane after such a deliverance to abuse his patience and long suffering and fill up the measure
of thy sins This will be a greater judgment then the Pestilence which thou hast escaped The Apostle speaks to such an one as thou art Rom. 2.4 Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance Mark what is the issue of such a frame as this is ver 3. But after thine hard and impenitent heart treasurest up wrath against the day of wrath It had been better for thee that thou hadst been taken away and sent to hell long ago then thou shouldst live to treasure up more wrath against that day of wrath and to make thy eternal condition so much the more intollerable Let me therefore perswade thee to look back again and again how it hath been with thee under this dreadful visitation and consider thy self how hath it left thee Did it find thee stupid and insensible of danger as many have been or timerous if so Whether did thy fears drive thee only to the Physitian to their directions for thy security and not unto God And now the danger is something blown over thou art left as vain as unfruitful yea as prophane as before thou sayst in effect as they did Jer. 7.10 We are delivered to do all these abominations If this be thy case thou art amiserable man or woman thou art none of those whom Moses magnifies in this place whom he admires as a happy people And if thou believest this to be a truth stir up thy self to seek after an interest in this divine providence Labour for a life suitable to a saved one then shalt thou indeed have cause to rejoyce in thy deliverance for the good of providence is not seen by the visible effects of it but is legible in the hearts and lives of the saved The Use that you should make of this truth all you that are under these gracious impressions of providence or sincerely labouring after them should be First Look upon your mercies as they are be sure to acknowledg God in all that you have and enjoy give him the glory of his goodness and truth take your lives out of his hand and say it is the Lord that hath saved me alive this day Set up your Eben-Ezer hitherto the Lord hath helped me Call nothing common that you have though your lives and preservations may seem common mercies because many have been preserved as well as you yet if you consider what hath been said you will find cause to account your lives singular and special mercies because there is more in them than there is in others you have been preserved by a gracious providence whereas others have escaped by a general providence you have been saved in mercy whereas others have been reserved in judgment Nothing will conduce more to the quickning of your spirits and to raise them up to live like your selves than a true estimate of your mercies for this will make you sensible of your engagements and these considered will quicken you to your duties Secondly Love God There is nothing more natural than this that we shall love those who love us and take the most care of us in our greatest dangers This is that which David urges upon all the people of God not onely to love him every one for the care that God hath of him but every one to love him for the care that he hath of all the faithful Psal 31.23 Oh love ye the Lord all ye his Saints for the Lord preserveth the faithful And let it seem but a reasonable thing to you to grant 〈…〉 God a peculiar interest in your hearts and lives who have a special interest in his providence Thirdly Be careful to pay your vows that you have made to the Lord in the time of danger Consider as well the duties which spring out of your promises made to God as those which arise out of his providence towards you and make conscience of both Time was when you valued your lives and the lives of your relations at a great rate you offered freely and largely for your selves and them when trouble was near O do not undervalue them now think that enjoyment of them now to be as much worth as ever you did esteem them Seeing God has taken you at your word and has given you what you desired be sure you make your word good and give him what you promised Fourthly 〈…〉 Be of good courage strengthen your selves in God from the experience that you have had of his goodness and truth and live in a constant dependance upon him and hope in him for the time to come that will be an evidence that you believe this truth and it will be an honouring of Gods providence Nothing can be more rationally deduced from this truth than a comfortable reliance upon God It is the inference of the Holy Ghost from the Premises Psal 31.24 When he had asserted the Providence of God over his people in these Words The Lord preserveth the Faithful He exhorts or infers this Be of good courage and he shall strengthen your hearts all ye that hope in the Lord. Last of all This truth speaks to every man after this manner You see nothing can make a man happy which cannot render him safe a great part of our happiness in this life lying in a freedom from evil rather than in the enjoyment of good which 〈◊〉 the happiness of the life to come And there is nothing so much contributes to our safety as an interest in Divine providence Can riches honours art interest in men say thus to thee and make it good Psal 91.5.6 Thou shalt not be afraid of the terrour by night nor for the arrow that flyeth by day nor for the Pestilence that walketh in darkness nor for the destruction that walketh at noon-day But God can speak thus to thy soul and cause thee to walk without fear in the valley of the shaddow of death Make hast then and interest thy self in God and improve this by Faith and prayer it is the best preservative thou canst provide for thy self and Family Prov. 18.10 The name of the Lord is a strong Tower the righteous runneth into it and is Safe Nay here is shelter for Thine as well as Thee Prov. 14 26. In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence and his Children shall have a place of Refuge Would'st thou be good to thy self and to thy Family make God thine That thou mayest dwell in the secret of the Lord and abide under the shaddow of the Almighty And time and experience will confirm thee in this truth that they are safe whom God keeps and happy whom he saves and with David thou wilt conclude Psal 144. verse 15. Happy is that people that is in such a case Yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord. FINIS