Iud. 5. So in Ezekiel's vision a part even of those hairs which were spared were afterwards cast into the fire Ezek 5. 4. Preservation from the dominion of sin and the wrath to come is peculiar to Gods own people but as for temporal deliverances we cannot infer that conclusion 2. Nor yet can we say that all Gods people shall be preserved that promise Zeph. 2. 3. leaves it upon a may be many a precious Christian hath fallen in the common calamity they have been preserved in but not from trouble But it is usual with God to preserve some in the sorest judgments And the grounds of it are 1. Because some must be left as a seed to propagate and preserve the Church which is perpetual and can never fail he never so overthrows nations as Sodom was overthrown Isa. 1. 9. this was the ground of that promise Ier. 30. 11. For I am with thee saith the Lord to save thee though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee yet will I not make a full end of thee And of that plea Amos 7. 2. O Lord God forgive I beseech thee by whom shall Iacob arise for he is small Except the Lord had left a small remnant we had been as Sodom Remarkable to this purpose is that Scripture Isa. 6. 13. But yet in it shall be a tenth and it shall return and shall be eaten As a Teyl-tree and as an Oak whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves So the holy seed shall be the substance thereof This preserved remnant is the holy seed by which the Church is propagated and continued Psal. 102. 28. 2. Because God will even in this world own and reward the fears and sorrows of his people for the sins of the times and sufferings of the Church with the joy and comfort of better times and a participation of Sions consolation so Isa. 66. 10. Rejoyce ye with Jerusalem ye that have mourned for her They that have sown in tears do sometimes live to reap in joy Psal. 125. 6. they shall say as Isa. 25. 9. Lo this is our God we have waited for him and he is come to save us And those that live not to reap down in this world the harvest of their own Prayers and tears shall be no losers a full and better reward shall be given them in heaven Isa. 57. 22 3. Because the preserved remnant of Saints are they that must actually give unto God the glory of all his providential administrations in the world both of judgments and mercies upon others and towards themselves They that go down to the pit do not celebrate his praise the living the living they praise him Isa. 38. 18 19. Thus when God turned back Sion's captivity the Remnant of Saints that were preserved were they that recorded his praise Psal. 126. 1 2. Then was our mouth filled with laughter And fully to this sense is that Scripture Psal. 102. 19 20 21. He delivers those that are appointed to death i. e. That men had doomed to death That they may declare the name of the Lord in Sion and his praise in Jerusalem 4. The hiding of the Saints in evil days is the greatest discovery of the hand of God in the world when he hides them he shews himself and that both to the Saints and to their enemies It is one of the most glorious mysteries of providence that ever the world beheld viz. the strange and wonderful protection of poor helpless Christians from the rage and fury of their mighty and malicious enemies though they walk visibly among them yet they are as it were hid from their hands but not from their eyes So Ier. 1. 18. You find God made that Prophet among the envious Princes and against an enraged and mighty King As a defenced City and as an iron pillar and as a brazen wall And indeed it was easier to them to conquer and take in the strongest Fort or Garison than that single Person who yet walked day by day naked and open among them So Luther a poor Monk was made invincible all the Papal power could not touch him for God hid him All the world against one Athanasius and yet not able to destroy him for God hid him This is the display of the glorious power of God in the world and he hath much honour by it Well then if there be a God that takes care of his own in evil days do not you be distractingly careful what shall become of you in such times you cannot see how it is possible for you to escape buâ— 2 Pet. 2. 4 5 6. the Lord knows how to deliver when you do not Little did Lot know the way and manner of his preservation till God opened it to him nor Noah till God contrived it for him There was no way to be contrived by them for escape He that knew how to deliver them can deliver you also Leave your selves to Gods dispose it shall certainly be to your advantage the Church is his peculiar care Isa. 27. 3. I the Lord do keep it I will water it every moment lest any hurt it I will keep it night and day The more you commit your selves to his care the more you engage it Isa. 26. 3. Thou wilt keep him in prefect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee He will certainly find a place of safety for his people under or in Heaven Neither be too much dejected when the number of visible professors seems but small think not the Church will perish when it is brought so low This was Elijah's case he thought he had been left alone that Religion had been preserved in his single person as the Phoenix of the world but see 1 Kings 19. 18. God hath enough left if we were in our graves to continue Religion in the world it concerns him more than you to look to that CHAP. V. Evincing the fourth Proposition viz. That God usually premonisheth the World especially his own of his judgments before they befal them SECT I. GOd first warns and then smites he delights not to surprise men when indignation was coming he tells his people of it in the Text and admonisheth them to hide themselves Surely the Lord will do nothing but he revealeth his secrets to his servants the Prophets Amos 3. 7. Thus when the flood was to come upon the old world he gave them one hundred and twenty years warning of it Gen. 6. 3. compared with 1. Pet. 3. 19. So when Sodom was to be destroyed God would not hide it from Abraham Gen. 18. 17. Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I do The like discovery was made unto Lot Gâ—â— 19. 12 13 14. So when the Captivity was at hand Ezekiel was commanded to give the Iews solemn warning of it from God Ezek. 3. 17. Hear the word at my mouth and give them warning from me And when their City and Temple was to be destroyed by
perfoming his Promises we shall find it is built upon stable and unshaken pillars viz. 1. The Holiness of his Nature 2. The All-sufficiency of his Power 3. The Honour of his Name 4. The Unchangeableness of his Nature 1. The Faithfulness of God is built upon the perfect Holiness of his Nature by reason whereof it is impossible for God to lie Tit. 1 2. Heb. 6. 18. The deceitfulness of men flows from the corruption of the Humane Nature but God is not as man that he should lye neither as the son of man that he should repent â—hath he said and shall he not do it Or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good Numb 23. 19. If there be no defect in his Being there can be none in his working if his Nature be pure Holiness all his ways must be perfect Faithfulness 2. It is built upon the All-sufficiency of his Power whatsoever he hath promised to his people he is able to perform it men sometimes falsifie their promises through the defects of ability to perform them but God never out-promised himself if he will work none can lett Isa. 43. 13. He can do whatsoever he pleaseth to do Psal. 135. 6. The Holiness of his Nature engageth and the Almightiness of his Power enables him to be Faithful 3. The glory and Honour of his Name may assure us of his Faithfulness in making good the Promises and all that good which is in the promises to a tittle for wherever you find a Promise of God you also find the Name and Honour of God given as security for the performance of it and so his name hath ever been pleaded with him by his people as a mighty argument to work for them Ioshuah 7. 9. What wilt thou do to thy great name q. d. Lord thine Honour is a thousand times more than our lives it is no such great matter what becomes of us but ah Lord it is of infinite concernment that the glory of thy Name be secured and thy faithfulness kept pure and unspotted in the world So again Exod. 32. 11 12. And Moses besought the Lord his God and said Lord why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people which thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand Wherefore should the Egyptians speak and say for mifchief did he bring them out to â—lay them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth turn from thy fierce wrath and repent of this evil against thy people q. d. It will be sad enough for the hands of the Egyptians to â—all upon thy people but infinitely worse for the tongues of the Egyptians to fall upon thy Name 4. The unchangeableness of his Nature gives us the fullest assurance of his Faithfulness in the Promises Mal. 3. 6. I am the Lord I change not therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed Gods unchangeableness is his peoples indempnity and best security in the midst of dangers whilst there is not yea and nay with God there should be no ups and downs offs and on s in our faith that which gives steadiness to the Promises should give steadiness also to our expectations for the performance of them and so much briefly of the Faithfulness of God absolutely considered in the Nature and grounds of it 2. Next let us view the Faithfulness of God as it relates to the many great and precious Promises made unto his people for their security both in their Concernments 1. Temporal 2. Spiritual 1. We find the Faithfulness of God pawned and pledged for the security of his people in their Spiritual and eternal concernments against all their dangers and fears threatning them on that account and that more especially in these three respects 1. It is given them as their great and best security for the Pardon of their sins 1 Iohn 1. 9. If we confâ—ss our siâ—â—s he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse â—s from all unrighteousness Our greatest danger comes from sin Guilt is a fountain of Fears a pardoned Soul only can look other troubles in the face boldly As Guilt breeds fear so Pardon breeds Courage and Gods Faithfulness in the Covenant is as it were that Pardon-office from whence we fetch our discharges and acquittances Isa. 43. 25. I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake The promises of remission are made for Christs sake and when made they must be fulfilled for his own that is his Faithfulness sake 2. It is engaged for the perseverance of the Saints and their continuance in the ways of God in the most hazardous and difficult times this was the encouragement given them 1 Cor. 1. 8 9. Who shall also confirm you unto the end that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Iesus Christ God is faithful by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Iesus Christ our Lord. Ah Lord might those Corinthians say the Powers of the World are against us Suffering and Death before us a Treacherous and fearful heart within us Ay but yet fear not Christ shall confirm you whosoever opposes you though the World and your own hearts be deceitful yet comfort your selves with this your God is Faithful 3. The Faithfulness of God is given by promise for his Peoples security in and encouragement against all their sufferings and afflictions in this World â— Thes. 3. 2 3. That we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men for all men have not faith but the Lord is faithful who shall stablish you and keep you from evil He prays they may be delivered from absurd treacherous and unfaithful men who would trapan and betray them to ruine but this is proposed as their relief that when the treachery of men shall bring them into trouble the Faithfulness of God shall support them under and deliver them out of those troubles they shall have Spiritual supports from God under their deepest sufferings from men 1 Pet. 4. 19. 2. Gods Faithfulness is engaged for his peoples indempnity and security amidst the Temporal and outward evils whereunto they are liable in this world and that either to preserve them from troubles Psal. 91. 1 2 3 4. or to open a seasonable door of deliverance out of trouble 1 Cor. 10. 13. In both or either of which the hearts of Christians may be at rest in this troublesome world for what need those troubles fright us which either shall never touch us or if they do shall never hurt much less ruine us SECT III. HAving taken a short view of Gods Faithfulness in the Promises it will be a lovely sight to take one view of it more as it is actuated and exerted in his Providences over his people believe it Christians the Faithfulness of God runs through all his works of providence whenever he goes forth to work in the World Faithfulness is the girdle of his loins Isa. 11. 5.
with a great and terrible God and is scared with apprehensions of his infinite and eternal wrath Than which no evil is or can be greater You see at what height Christs conflict with it wrought when it made him sweat as it were great clots of bloud Of all temporal evils death is the greatest and therefore Iob calls it the King of terrours Iob 18. 14. or the most terrible of terribles Thuanus relates two strange instances of the fear of death One of a certain Captain who was so terrified with the fear of death that he poured out a kind of bloudy sweat from all parts of his body Another is of a Young man condemned for a small matter by Sixtus Quintus who was so vehemently terrified with the fears of death that he shed a kind of bloudy tears These are strange and terrible effects of fear but vastly short of what Christ felt and suffered who grapled with a far greater evil than the Terrors of death even the wrath of an incensed God poured out to the full and that immediately upon him But yet evil as evil is rather the object of hatred than of fear it must be an imminent or near approaching evil which we see not how to escape or put by that provokes fear and rouzes this Lion And therefore the Saints in glory are perfectly freed from fear because they are out of the reach of all danger Nor do we that are here in the midst of evils fear them till we see them approching us and we see not how to avoid them To hear of Fire Plague or the Sword in the Indies doth not affright us because the evil is so remote from us It 's far enough off we are in no danger of it but when it is in the Town much more when within our own dwellings we tremble Evil hurts us not by a simple apprehension of its nature but of its union and all propinquity is a degree of union as a learned Divine speaks And its worth Observation that all carnal security is maintained by putting evils at a great distance from us As it is noted of those secure Sensualists Amos 6. 3. they put far from them the evil day the meaning is not that they did or could put the evil one minute farther from them in reality but only by imagination and fancy they shut their own eyes and would not see it lest it should give an unpleasing interruption to their mirth and this is the reason why death puts the living into no more fear because it is apprehended as remote and at an undetermined distance whereas if the precise time of death were known especially if that time were near it would greatly scare and terrifie This is the nature of natural Fear the infelicity of nature which we all groan under the effects of It is in all the creatures in some degree but among them all none suffer more by it than man for hereby he becomes his own tormentor nor is any torment greater than this when it prevails in an high degree upon us Indeed all constitutions and tempers admit not the same degrees of fear some are naturally couragious and stout like the Lyon for magnanimity and fortitude others exceeding timorous and faint-hearted like the Hare or Hart one little dog will make an hundred of them fear and flee before him Luther was a man of great courage and presence of mind in dangers Melancthon very timorous and subject to despondency thus the difference betwixt them is expressed in one of Luther's Letters to him I am well nigh a secure spectator of things and esteem not any thing these fierce and threatning Papists I much dislike those anxious cares which as thou writest do almost consume thee There might be as great a stock of grace in one as in the other but Melancthon's grace had not the advantage of so stout and couragious a temper of body and mind as Luther's had Thus briefly of natural Fear SECT II. THere is a Fear which is formally and intrinsically sinful not only our infelicity but our fault not our simple affliction and burden but our great evil and provocation and such is the fear here dissuaded called Their Fear i. e. the fear wherewith carnal and unbelieving men do fear when dangers threaten them and the sinfulness of it lies in five things 1. In the spring and cause of it which is unbelief and an unworthy distrust of God when we dare not rely upon the security of a divine promise nor trust to Gods protection in the way of ouâ— duty This was the very case of that people Isai. 30. 15. Thus saith the Lord the holy one of Israel in returning and rest shall ye be saved in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength and ye would not but ye said no for we will flee upon horses therefore shall ye flee and we will ride upon the swift therefore shall they that pursue you be swift one thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one c. Thus stood the case Sennacherib with a mighty Host was ready to invade them this puts them into a fright in this distress God assures them by the mouth of the Prophet That in returning and rest they should be saved in quietness and confidence should be their strength The meaning is never perplex your selves with various councels and projects to secure your selves under the wings of Egypt or any other Protector but with a composed quiet and calm temper of mind rest upon my power by faith take my promises for your security this shall be your salvation and your strength more effectual to your preservation than Armies Garisons or any creature defence in the World one act of faith shall do you better service than Pharaoh and all his forces can do But ye said no q. d. we dare not trust to that a good horse will do us more service at such a time than a good promise Egypt is a better security in their eye than Heaven This is the fruit of gross infidelity And as wicked men do thus forsake God and cleave to the creature in time of trouble so there is found a spice of this distrustfulness of God producing fear and trouble in the best men It was in the Disciples themselves Matth. 8. 26. Why are ye fearful O ye of little faith A Storm had befallen them at Sea danger began to threaten them and presently you find a storm within their fears were more boisterous than the winds and had more need of calming than the sea and it was all from their unbelief as Christ tells them the less their faith the greater their fear If a man can but rely upon God in a promise so far as he is enabled to believe so far he will reckon himself well secured Illyricus in his Catalogue of the witnesses relates this remarkable passage of one Andreas Proles a godly aged Divine who lived somewhat before Luther and taught many
wraps up all other inferiour interests in it self Iob 2. 4. Skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life It is a real truth though it came from the mouth of the father of lies afflictions never touch the quick till they touch the life liberty estates and other accommodations in this world receive their value and estimation from hence if life be cut off these accidents perish and are of no account Gen. 25. 32. Behold I am at the point to die said Esau and what profit shall this birthright do to me 2. Life being naturally the dearest interest of men in this world the richest treasure and most beloved thing on earth to a natural man that which strikes at and endangers life must in his eyes be the greatest evil that can befall him on this account death becomes terrible to men yea as Iob calls it the King of Terrors Iob 18. 14. The black prince or the prince of clouds and darkness as some translate those words Yea so terrible is death upon this account that the very fear of it hath sometimes precipitated men into the hands of it as we sometimes observe in times of pestilence the excessive fear of the Plague hath induced it 3. Though death be terrible in any shape in the mildest form it can appear in yet a violent and bloudy death by the hands of cruel and merciless men is the most terrible form that death can appear in 't is now the King of terrors indeed in the most ghastly representation and frightful form in its scarlet Robes and terrifying formalities In a violent death all the barbarous cruelty that the wit of our enemies can invent or their malice inflict is mingled together in a violent death are many deaths contrived into one and it oftentimes approaches men by such slow and deliberate paces that they feel every tread of 〈◊〉 foot as it advanceth towards them Moriatur ut sentiat se mori Let him so die said the Tyrant that he may feel himself to die yea and how he dies by inch-meal or slow and lingring degrees this is exceeding frightful especially to those that are of a more soft and tender nature and temper who must needs be struck through with the terrours of death except the Lord arm them against it with the assurance of a better life and sweeten these bitter apprehensions by the foretasts of it This is enough of put even sanctified nature into a consternation and make a very gracious heart to sink unless it be so upheld by Divine strength and comfort And hence come many very many of our fears and terrors especially when the same enemies that have been accustomed to this bloudy work shall be found confederating and designing again to break in upon us and act over â—gain as much cruelty as ever they have done upon ouâ— brethren in times past 6. Cause To conclude many of our sinful fears and consternations flow from the influences of Satan upon our phantasies They say winds and storms are ofâ— times raised by Satan both by sea and land and I never doubted but the Prince of the power of the air by Gods permission can and often doth put the world into great frights and disturbances by such tempests Iob 1. 19. He can raise the loftiest winds pour down roaring showers rattle in the air with fearful claps of thunder and scare the lower world with terrible flashes of lightning And I doubt not but he hath by the same permission a great deal of influence and power upon the fansies and passions of men and can raise more terrible storms and tempests within 〈◊〉 â—han ever we heard or felt without us he can by leave from God approach our Phantasies disturb and trouble them exceedingly by forming frightful Idea's there for Satan not only works upon men mediately by the ministry of their external senses but by reason of his Spiritual angelical nature he can have immediate access to the internal sense also as appears by diabolical dreams and by practising upon that power of the Soul he influences the pastions of it and puts it under very dreadful apprehensions and consternations Now if Satan can provoke and exasperate the fury and rage of wicked men as it is evident he can do Rev. 2. 10. and so disturb our Fansies and influence our passions as there is no reason to doubt but by leave from God he can do as well as he can go to the magazines and store-houses of thunder lightnings and storms O what inward storms of Fear can he shake our hearts withal and if God give him but a permission how ready will he be to do it seeing it is so conducible to his design for by putting men into such frights he at once weakens their hands in duty as is plain from his attempt this way upon Nehemiah Chap. 6. 13. and if he prevail there he drives them into the snares and trains of his temptations as the fisherman and fowler do the birds and fishes into their nets when once they have flusht and frighted them out of their coverts And thus you have some account of the principal and true causes of our Sinful Fears CHAP. V. Laying open the sinful and lamentable effects of slavish and inordinate Fear both in carnal and regenerate persons SECT I. HAving taken a view in the former Chapters of the Kinds and Causes of Fear and seen what lies at the root of Slavish Fear and both breeds and feeds it what fruit can we expect from such a cursed Plant but gall and wormwood fruit as bitter as death it self Let us then in the next place examine and well consider these following and deplorable effects of Fear to excite us to apply our selves the more concernedly to those directions that follow in the close of this Treatise for the cure of it And 1. Effect The first Effect of this sinful and exorbitant passion is distraction of mind and thoughts in duty both Cicero and Quintilian will have the word tumultus a tumult to come from timor multus much fear 't is a compound of those two words much fear raises great uproars and tumults in the Soul and puts all into hurries and distractions so that we cannot attend upon any service of God with profit or comfort It was therefore a very necessary mercy that was requested of God Luk. 1. 74. That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear For it is impossible to serve God without distractions till we can serve him without the slavish fear of enemies The reverential fear of God is the greatest â—pur to duty and choicest help in it but the distracting fears of men will either wholly divert us from our duty or destroy the comfort and benefit of our duties 't is a deadly snare of the Devil to hinder all comfortable intercourse with God It is very remarkable that when the Apostle was giving his advice to the
lose our carnal friends estates liberties and lives than part with Christs truths and a good Conscience as Zuinglius said What sort of death should not a Christian chuse what punishment should he not rather undergo yea into what vault of hell should he not rather chuse to be cast than to witness against truth Conscience 3. A natural death in Christ may be as safe to our selves but a violent death for Christ will be more beneficial to others by the former we shall come to heaven our selves but by the latter we may bring many souls thither The bloud of the Martyrs is truly called the seed of the Church Many waxed confident by Pauls bonds his sufferings fell out to the furtherance of the Gospel and so may ours In this case a Christian like Samson doth greater service against Satan and his cause by his death than by his life If we only die a natural death in our beds we die in possession of the truths of Christ our selves but if we die Martyrs for Christ we secure that precious inheritance to the generations to come and those that are yet unborn shall bless God not only for his truths but for our courage zeal and constancy by which it was preserved for them and transmitted to them By all this you see that death to a Believer is great gain it 's great gain if he only die in Christ it 's all that and a great deal more added if he also die for Christ And he that is assured of such advantages by death either way must needs feel his fears of death shrink away before such assurances yea he will rather have life in patience and death in desire he will not only submit quietly but rejoyce exceedingly to be used by God in such honourable imployment Assurance will call a bloudy death a safe passage to Canaan through the Red Sea It will call Satan that instigates these his instruments and all that are imployed in such bloudy work by him so many Balaams brought to curse but they do indeed bless the people of God and not curse them The assured Christian looks upon his death as his wedding day Rev. 19. 7. And therefore it doth not much differ whether the horse sent to fetch him to Christ be pale or red so he may be with Christ his love as Ignatius call'd him He looks upon death as his day of enlargement out of Prison 2 Cor. 5. 8. and it is not much odds what hand open the door or whether a friend or enemy close his eyes so he have his liberty and may be with Christ. O then give the Lord no rest till your hearts be at rest by the assurance of his love and the pardon of your sins when you can boldly say the Lord is your help you will quickly say what immediately follows I will not fear what man shall do unto me Heb. 13. 6. And why if thy heart be upright mayest thou not attain it Full assurance is possible else it had not been put into the command 2 Pet. 1. 10. The sealing graces are in you the sealing spirit is ready to do it for you the sealing promises belong to you but we give not all diligence and therefore go without the comfort of it Would we pray more and strive more would we keep our hearts with a stricter watch mortifie sin more throughly and walk before God more accurately how soon may we attain this blessed assurance and in it an excellent cure for our distracting and slavish fears 8. Rule Let him that designs to free himself of distracting fears be careful to maintain the purity of his conscience and integrity of his ways in the whole course of his conversation in this world Uprightness will give us boldness and purity will yield us peace Isa. 32. The work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever Look as fear follows guilt and guile so peace and quietness follows Righteousness and sincerity Prov. 28. 1. The wicked flee when none pursueth but the righteous are bold as a Lyon His confidence is great because his Conscience is quiet the peace of God guards his heart and mind There are three remarkable steps by which Christians rise to the height of courage in tribulations Rom. 5. 1 2 3 4. First they are justified and acquitted from guilt by faith v. 1. Then they are brought into a state of favour and acceptation with God v. 2. Thence they rise one step higher even to a view of Heaven and the glory to come V. 3. and from thence they take an easy step to glorying in tribulations v. 4. I say 't is an easy step for let a man once obtain the pardon of sin the favour of God and a believing view and prospect of the glory to come and it is so easy to triumph in tribulation in such a station as that is that it will be as hard to hinder it as to hinder a man from laughing when he is tickled Christians have always found it a spring of courage and comfort 2 Cor. 1. 12. This is our rejoycing even the testimony of our Consciences that in all sincerity and godly simplicity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in this world Their hearts did not reproach them with by-ends in Religion their Consciences witnessed that they made not Religion a cloak to cover any fleshly design but were sincere in what they professed and this enabled them to rejoyce in the midst of sufferings An earthen vessel set empty to the fire will crack and fly in pieces and so will an hypocritical formal and meer nominal Christian but he that hath such substantial and real principles of courage as these within him will endure the trial and be never the worse for the fire The very Heathens discovered the advantage of Moral integrity and the peace it yielded to their natural Consciences in times of trouble Nil câ—nscire tibi nullâ pallescere culpa hic murus aheneus estc It was to them as a wall of brass much more will godly simplicity and the sprinkling of the bloud of Christ upon our Consciences secure and encourage our hearts This Atheistical Age laughs Conscience and purity to scorn but let them laugh this is it will make thee laugh when they shall cry Paul exercised himself or made it his business To have always a Conscience void of offence both towards God and towards men Acts 24. 16. And it was richly worth his labour it repayed him ten thousand fold in the peace courage and comfort it gave him in all the troubles of his life which were great and many Conscience must be the bearing shoulder on which the burden must lie beware therefore it be not galled with guilt or put out of joynt by any fall into sin 't is sad bearing on such a shoulder Instead of bearing your burdens you will not be able
small according to the assisting grace we receive from above if he leave us in a common and light trial to our own strength it will be our over-match and if he assist us in great and extraordinary trials we shall be more than Conquerours At one time Abraham could offer up his only son to God with his own hand at another time he is so afraid of his life that he acts very unsuitable to the character of a Believer and was shamefully rebuked for it by Abimelech At one time David could say Though an Host encamp against me I will not fear At another time he feigns himself mad and acted beneath himself both as a man and as a man enriched with so much faith and experience At one time Peter is afraid to be interrogated by a Maid at another time he could boldly confront the whole Council and own Christ and his truths to their faces In extraordinary trials we may warrantably expect extraordinary assistances and by them we shall be carried through the greatest how often soever we have failed in smaller trials 2. The design and end of God in giving us experience of our own weakness in lesser troubles is not to discourage and daunt us against we come to greater which is the use Satan here makes of it but to take us off from self-confidence and self-dependence to make us see our own weakness that we may more heartily and humbly betake our selves to him in the way of faith and fervent supplication 4. Plea But some will object that they cannot help their fears and tremblings when any danger appears because fear is the disease at least the sad effect and Symptome of a disease with which God hath wounded them a deep and fixed melancholy hath so far prevailed that the least trouble overcomes them If any sad afflictive providence befal or but threaten them their fears presently rise and their hearts sink sleep departs thoughts tumultuate the bloud boyls and the whole frame of nature is put into disorder If therefore the Lord should permit such great and dreadful trials to befal them they can think of nothing less than dying by the hand of their own fears before the hand of any enemy touch them or which is a thousand times worse be driven by their fears into the net of temptation even to deny the Lord that bought them Answer This I know is the sad case of many gracious persons and I have reason to pity those that are thus exercised O 't is an heavy stroke a dismal state a deep wound indeed But yet the wisdom of God hath ordered this affliction upon his people for gracious ends and uses hereby they are made the more tender and watchful circumspect and careful in their ways that they may shun and escape as many occasions of trouble as they can being so unable to grapple with them I say not but there are higher and nobler motives that make them circumspect and tender but yet the preservation of our own quietness is useful in its place and 't is a mercy if that or any thing else be sanctified to prevent sin and promote care of duty This is your clog to keep you from straying 2. And when you shall be called forth to greater trials that which you now call your snare may be your advantage and that in divers respects 1. These very distempers of body and mind serve to imbitter the comforts and pleasures of this world to you and make life it self less desirable to you than it is to others they much wean your hearts from and make life more burdensome to you than it is to others who enjoy more of the pleasure and sweetness of it than you can do I have often thought this to be one design and end of Providence in permitting such distempers to seize so many gracious persons as labour under it and providence knows how to make use of this effect to singular purpose and advantage to you when a call to suffering shall come this may have its place and use under higher and more spiritual considerations to facilitate death and make your separation from this world the more easie to you for though it be a more noble and raised act of faith and self denial to offer up to God our lives when they are made most pleasant and desirable to us upon natural accounts yet it is not so easie to part with them as it is when God hath first imbittered them to us Your lives are of little value to you now because of this burdensome clog you must draw after you but if you should increase your burden by so horrid an addition of guilt as the denying of Christ or his known truths would do you would not know what to do with such a life it would certainly lie upon your hands as a burthen God knows how to use these things in the way of his providence to your great advantage 2. Art thou a poor melancholy and timorous person Certainly if thou be gracious as well as timorous this will drive thee nearer to God and the greater thy dangers are the more frequent and fervent will thy addresses to him be Thou feelest the need of everlasting arms underneath thee to bear thee up under and to carry through smaller troubles that other persons make nothing of much more in such deep trials that put the strongest Christians to the utmost of their faith and patience And 3dly What if the Lord will make an advantage out of your weakness to display more evidently his own power in your support you know what the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 12. 9 10. And he said unto me my grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness most gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me for when I am weak then am I strong If his infirmities might serve as a foil to set off the grace of God with a more bright and sparkling lustre he would rejoyce in his infirmities and so should you Well then let not this discourage you the infirmity of nature you complain of may make death the less terrible it served to that purpose to blessed Basil as you heard before when his enemy threatned to tear out his Liver he thought it a kindness to have that Liver torn out that had given him so much trouble It may drive thee nearer to God and minister a fit opportunity for the display of his grace in the time of need 5. Plea But what if God should hide his face from my soul in the day of my streights and troubles and not only so but permit Satan to buffet me with his horrid temptations and injections and so I should fall like the Ship in which Paul sailed betwixt these two boisterous Seas what can I suspect less than a shipwrack of my soul body and all the comforts of both in this world and in that to come Answer 1. So far
should make Shipwrack both of our Temporal and Eternal mercies quickly were it not for the guidance of Divine Wisdom 2. To Extricate them when involved in difficulties So 2 Pet. 2. 9. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation They know not how but their God doth they are often at a loâ—â— but he is never So 1 Cor. 10. 13. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it 3. To over-rule and order all their troubles to their good and real advantage So runs that most comprehensive promise Rom. 8. 28. All things shall work together for good to them that love God In the faith whereof Paul concludes Phil. 1. 19. Even this shall work for his Salvation Thus the people of God were sent into captivity for their good Ier. 24. 8. and Ioseph into Egypt Gen. 50. 20. Ye thought evil against me but God meant it unto good to bring to pass as it is this day to save much people alive 2. Let us view the Wisdom of God in its Relation to his Providences for there it shines forth eminently Ezek. 1. 18. The wheels were full of eyes i. e. the motions and Providential revolutions in this lower world are very Judicious and advised motions Non caeco impetu volvuntur rotae It hath a fetch and design which no man understands till it open it self in the event The enemies of the Church are oft times men of the finest brains and deepest policies Herod a Fox for subtilty Luke 13. 32. Iulian and Ahithophel with many others who have digged as deep as Hell in their counsels and laid their designs so sure that they doubted not but to be masters of it yet their hands could not perform their enterprize The wisdom of Providence hath still befooled them and baffled the cunningest head-pieces that ever undertook any design against the Church as fast as ever they arose and here the Wisdom of Providence is remarkable in three things especially 1. In revealing and discovering the secret conspiracies and counsels of the Churches enemies and thereby frustrating their designs Gen. 27. 41 42. Providence as one calls it is the Bird of the air that carries tidings and whistles deeds of darkness Iob 12. 22. He discovereth deep things out of darkness and bringeth out to light the shadow of death And this God hath done both immediately and mediately 1. Immediately 2 Kings 6. 11. What counsel soever the King of Syria took in his Bed-chamber was still discovered by the Lord to the Prophet So true is that Iob 34. 22. There is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves Thus the design of Herod is revealed to Ioseph in a dream But commonly he doth it by means as 1. By giving knowledge of it to some that are under obligations of duty or affection to reveal it to these that are concerned in the danger So Paul's Sisters Son Acts 23. 16. revealed the conspiracy against his life and so the Plot miscarried by revealing it before it was ripe for execution 2. By the failure of some circumstance the whole is brought to light there be many fine threds upon which the designs of Politicians hang if one break the whole design is unravelled Thus the Wisdom of God sometimes prevents his peoples ruine by taking away the speech of the trusty from him and making their own tongues to fall upon themselves 3. By their own confession So Psal. 64. 5 6 7 8. where you have the Plot laid ver 5. They encourage themselves in an evil matter they commune of laying snares privily they say who shall see them The deep contrivance of it ver 6. They search out iniquity they accomplish a diligent search both the inward thoughts of every one of them and the heart is deep Their Plot destroyed ver 7. But God shall shoot at them with an arrow suddenly shall they be wounded The method or way of Providence in destroying it ver 8. So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves all that see them shall flee away Thus hath the Wisdom of our God wrought for us this day beyond all the thoughts of our hearts and oh that it might make such impressions upon all our hearts as follow in the 9 and 10. verses All men shall fear and shall declare the work of God for they shall wisely consider his doing The righteous shall be glad in the Lord and shall trust in him and all the upright in heart shall glory 2. The Wisdom of God discovers it self in behalf of that people who are his own in diverting the danger from them and putting by the deadly thrusts their enemies make at them thus it spoils their game by an unforeseen rub in the green and that especially three ways 1. By making their counsels to jar among themselves in which jars is the sweetest harmony of providence thus the counsel of Ahithophel jars with the counsel of Hushai 2 Sam. 17. 5. 7. by which means David escaped the Pharisees clashed with the Sadducees Acts 23. 7. and by that means Paul escaped 2. By cutting out other work and starting some new design which like a fresh scent puts the dogs to a loss Thus the people of God in Ierusalem were delivered by a diversion 2 Kings 19. 7. Behold I will send a blast upon him and he shall hear a rumour and shall return to his own land and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land so Rabshakeh returned By this means also was David delivered from the hand of Saul 1 Sam. 23. 27. And in this method of Providence that Scripture is often fulfilled Prov. 21. 18. The wicked shall be a ransom for the Righteous and the transgressour for the upright 3. By cutting off the capital enemies of his Church by whose seasonable destruction they are delivered Thus fell Iulian that bitter enemy of the Christians when he was preparing to put his last and most bloudy design against them in execution And thus fell Haman Nero and many more in the very height and heat of their designs against the Church 3. The Wisdom of God gloriously displays it self in causing the designs of the wicked like a surcharged gun to recoil upon and destroy themselves It often falls out with the undermining enemies of the Church as it sometimes doth with them that dig deep Mines in the Earth who are destroyed and buried in their own work Psal. 9. 15 16. The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made in the net which they hid is their own foot taken The Lord is known by the judgments which he executeth the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands Higgajon Selah There is a double â—ercy in this providence