shall be the portion of all ungodly men Matth. 13.41 ver The Son of Man shall send forth his Angels and they shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity them which follow sin devise sin commit sin tempt others to sin he shall cast them into a furnace of fire there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth there is heaviness indeed Then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father If they that fear God be so heavy in this World if the yoak of Christ be so uneasie how intolerable will the misery of wicked men be in another World If those that fear God have had such troubles of Spirit as David That they have roared by reason of disquietness of heart then certainly hypocrites and unbelievers and the enemies of God and godliness the time is coming they shall have such a life that they would be glad it might be at an end but alas it shall never end Rev. 9.6 ver They shall seek death and shall not find it and shall desire to dye and death shall flee from them O beloved if the Godly the pretious Servants the faithful People of the Most High drink of the bitter cup of Gods wrath if they taste the cup of Gods anger sure the wicked shall drink the dregs of it if God afflict those whom he loves how will he punish those whom he hates Vpon the wicked he shall rain snares fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest this shall be the portion of their cup. If Gods people be in heaviness here if they have manifold temptations many sorrows shall be to the wicked hereafter The end of the first Sermon I Now come to the third Observation which is this That the temptations that Gods people are exercised with shall be but for a season and now for a season saith the Apostle if need be the troubles of Gods people shall not last always but for a season or for a little while yet a little while it will not be long it will not always be at this pass it will not always be thus sad with you Light is sown as the Psalmist tells us for the righteous and joy for the upright in heart Though they may have an hour of darkness and though they that are most sincere may have an hour of sorrow yet light is sown for them and as it is sown for them so it shall come up they shall have it Psal 126.6 7. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing pretious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoycing bringing forth his sheaves with him Gods people shall not be always under haches their troubles are but for a season for a while they are but for a season either for a season in this life or at most but for the season of this life First They are manytimes but for a season in this life Gods people manytimes out-live their troubles many temptations that God brings his servants into he brings them out again even in this World their fits of sorrow do not last always though they have their sad paroxismes they have some intermission notwithstanding sad fits and yet they have a deliverance you have heard of the temptations of Job and you have heard of the deliverance of Job Psal 34.19 ver Many are the troubles of the righteous and what shall they always last no the Lord delivers them out of them all and as it was then so it is verified at this time especially those that are the great troubles of the people of God God doth with the temptation make away for escape The Lord took away all Job had but yet he gave him all again nay the Lord Job 42. gave him twice as much as he had before God delivered him out of all his adversity And as it is so sometimes as to Persons so it is as to Nations God manytimes saves his people in this World out of the greatest calamities he brings them with joy and comfort out of them we Read often of Israel the Lord sold them into the hand of their enemies for such and such sins as they were guilty of and yet the Lord raised Saviours to them and delivered them out of the hand of those that hated them God often in wrath remembers mercy towards his people in this World The rod of the wicked saith the Psalmist shall not rest upon the back of the righteous though it may come there yet it shall not stay there God manytimes doth provide a way to escape out of the greatest of his peoples miseries and sometimes he gives them that faith whereby they are confident that deliverance shall come Psal 71.20 21. vers Thou who hast shewed me great and soar troubles shalt quicken me again and shalt bring me up from the depthes of the Earth thou shalt increase my greatness and comfort me on every side He was not so deep in the pit of affliction but God would raise him up again and he was not so surrounded with crosses but God would comfort him on every side Yea confident he was of this and that faith manytimes of deliverance keeps up their Spirits under the sense of their present troubles Psal 27.13 ver saith the Psalmist speaking of the good issue he hoped for I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the Land 〈◊〉 the living the thought of his future salvation did refresh and uphold his Spirit under the sense of his present tribulation Nay Sometimes though Gods people have not that faith to believe they shall be delivered yet he will shew them that mercy to cause deliverance as God is able so he always doth abundantly beyond what his people ask and think if not beyond what they pray for yet beyond what they hope they shall have Psal 31.22 v. I said saith David in my haste I am cut off from before thine eyes but it was far otherwise nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried to thee I was brought to this pass there was no hope of deliverance for me I did not expect to see good day in this World but God did otherwise he dealt graciously with me I went on in my duty and God heard me and as the Psalmist tells us Psal 116.11 vers I said in my haste all men are lyars whoever professed or spoke that any mercy would be shewed him that ever salvation should be wrought for him and that he should be delivered out of the hand of his Persecutors he did believe it was a meer story a very lye and yet the Lord remembred him in his low estate I was brought low and he helped me return unto thy rest O my soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee God did shew him mercy though he did not expect mercy nay such a mercy as to be delivered in this World I shall one day fall
in two respects first before we loved him 1 Joh. 4.10 19. Herein is love in that he loved us first and secondly God loves us as before we loved him so when we had nothing to render us lovely to him Rom. 5.8 While we were sinners ungodly in our wickedness when we had nothing but sin and corruption in us not that he loved his peoples sins but their persons when the whole head was sick and the whole heart faint nothing but sores and putrifying corruptions yet he loved his people though he hated their corruptions he loved them and loved them before they had grace Ephes 1.4 5 6. ver Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will To the praise of the glory of his grace c. Secondly As God loved us undeservedly so constantly Jesus Christ having loved his own he loves them to the end A friend loves at all times saith Solomon in time of adversity as well as prosperity there are few such friends in the World but God is such a friend he loves his people when others care not for them God will love you that are his people always at all times Isa 54.10 The mountains shall depart and the hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee He hath taken you into an everlasting covenant with him and else where they are call'd everlasting hills because they last as long as the World lasteth but there will come a time when they shall be broken and the Earth shall be no more Oh but his love is everlasting when time shall be no more Vse II. Secondly If this be so then let them that have grace take heed of offending God a wise man will be willing to please and loth to displease such a Father as he is take heed of doing evil in the sight of God stand in awe and sin not for all iniquity is abomination in the sight of God God loves you oh do not provoke him Vse III. Again thirdly Doth God love his people then let us love them that fear God and walk in his ways Ephes 5.1 Be followers of God as dear children God loves the righteous First Hereby we shall resemble God Secondly Hereby we evidence our love to God 1 Joh. 4.20 Thirdly Hereby you will evidence Gods love to you if you love those that are Gods 1 Joh. 3 14. We know we are passed from death to life be 〈◊〉 we love the Brethren and 18.19 vers Let us not love only in word but in deed and in truth Vse IV. Fourthly Doth God love his people then let us not be troubled though the World hate us what though men regard us not remember this if thou fearest God God loves thee rejoyce in this oh Saints thou that art the servants of God though thou art not the favourite of great men thou art the favourite of the great God And hath given us everlasting consolation Everlasting consolation that is everlasting happiness everlasting life it is therefore call'd everlasting consolation because the happiness of mans life is the comfort of his life comfort in Scripture and consolation is taken for happiness Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Mat. 5.4 That is they shall be brought into that glorious happiness Luk. 16.25 Son remember that thou in thy life time receivest thy good things and Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented He is comforted that is he is made blessed as appears in the opposition of the words but thou art tormented Luk. 6.21 Blessed are you that weep but you shall laugh it is not taken in that sense we commonly take laughing in but ye shall be made happy that is the meaning and so 〈◊〉 24. Woe to you that are rich now for you have received your consolation 〈…〉 are rich in self conceit in prid 〈…〉 vain glory that boast in the multitud◠of your riches you have received your consolation as if he should say you have all the happiness you are like to have they shall have no more From whence this Point Doct. God hath given his people everlasting happiness God hath given it them in the promise of the Word Luk. 12.32 Fear not little flock it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom and ere long they shall have the performance of it God is giving everlasting consolation it is not long ere thou shalt receive it Vse And if it be so then be not dejected at short tribulation and the troubles you meet with in the World why though you be afflicted for a moment Yet the rod shall not always lye upon the back of the righteous Psal 125. and Psal 126.5 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy Psal 30.5 Weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning the night of this World may be a night of affliction but in the morning we shall have joy and comfort Joh. 14.1 Let not your hearts be troubled saith our Saviour and we know saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.1 When this earthly tabernacle shall be dissolved we have a building of God a house not made with hands c. as soon as you dye your trouble shall end and your joy then begins and then no man shall be able to take that joy from you Joh. 16.22 God will hide his face from you no more Isa 54.7 For a moment have I hid my face from thee but with great Mercies will I gather thee And good hope through grace this is taken two waies Doct. I. As God gives his people everlasting happiness so he gives them hope of it Rom. 15. vers 13. He is call'd the God of hope as the object of our hope so the Author of it Secondly Good hope Do. II. The Saints hope of happiness is a good hope Good in the rise of it the work of God in the nature of it the work of the Spirit in the end of it it makes People good therefore let us all labour for it Doct. III. The ground of Peoples hope of Everlasting happiness is meerly through the grace of God The Saints everlasting happiness is from the free grace of God Rom. 6.23 The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord Ephe. 2.8 For by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God And if it be so Vse Why then I mighty shew you it is not from man's deserving that he hath happiness man cannot merit Heaven it is not from the desert of man for mans merit and God's free grace are quite opposite one to another I should have show'n the folly of that opinion that hold men may merit happiness from God For First they must do that which is good And Secondly that only And Thirdly by his own strength Fourthly
of Jesus Christ and 2. Thes 3.3.4 The Lord is faithful who shall stablish you and keep you from evil Means IV. The last direction I shall give you look to recompence of reward Heb. 11. that made Moses leave all the pleasures of the World the pleasures of sin which were but for a season look to that reward to them that keep close to his commands Psal 84. vers 11. For tht Lord God is a Sun and Shield the Lord will give grace and glory no good thing will he withhold from those that walk uprightly now what would you have more what can you desire more Walk but uprightly God will never disappoint you you may believe him Jam. 1.12 Blessed is the man that endureth Temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the Crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him I shall conclude all this Exhortation with the Direction and Exhortation of the spirit of God Rev. 2.7 To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the Tree of life and vers the 10. Be faithfull to the death and I will give thee a Crown of Life Oh take notice of the advice given to the Church of Philadelphia Rev. 3.11 Hold fast that thou hast that no man take thy Crown and Rev. 22.12 Behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according as his Work shall be God will render to every man according to his Workes Rom. 2.7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory honour and immortality eternal life Eternal life should be the end of all our Preaching and your hearing so the Apostle Rom. 10.1 Brethren my hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved this was the portion of Scripture I first took to discourse upon when I first came amongst you and the desire of my Soul was that your Soules should be saved and I desire still that I and my People may serve the Lord and therefore I wish the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all and the Lord grant that they which love not grace may have grace wrought in their hearts and that you that have grace may grow in grace more and more I wish even your perfection I dare not appeal unto Heaven as Paul Act. 20. but this I pray that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and in all judgment 1 Thes 5.23 And the very God of peace sanctifie you wholly and I pray God that your whole Spirit Soul and Body may be perserved blamless unto the â—omming of our Lord Jesus Christ Heb. 13.20 21. and the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus that great Shepheard of the Sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God even our Father who hath loved us and hath given us Everlasting consolation and good hope through grace comfort your hearts and stablish you in every good word and Work Amen FINIS 1 Pet. 1. vers 6. Wherein ye greatly rejoyce though now for a season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold Temptations THough many Saints have but a small Portion in this World yet there is alotted to them a goodly heritage in another world though they are not filled with the good things of the earth yet they are promised which is better the glory of Heaven though they have but a little in Possession yet they have much in reversion and though many of them be Poore many times as to the things they have in hand ye they are very Rich as to what they have in hope These Saints to whom Peter Writes were Pilgrims and Strangers here on Earth scatttered up and down the World they had no certaine abode no continuing City yet they sougâ—… on that was to come they looked for a City whose Builder and Maker was God Silver and Gold many of them either had none or very little and as to the Possessions of the Earth their Portion was not great Houses and Lands they were either denyed or deprived of they suffered the Spoiling of their goods yet they were begotten to a lively hope unto an inheritance better then this world affords unto an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for them and that they might know it was not only reserved for them but to be obtained by them the Apostle tells them They should be kept by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation which now as it was promised them should ere long be manifested ready to be revealed in the last time and the Apostle having shewed what they had hopes of he shews what effect this their hope had upon them namely much joy and Alacrity in the minds of their present Sufferings and Calamities as the words I have read do declare unto you Wherein ye greatly rejoyce c. In which Verse we may Observe First The Christians great Joy Secondly The Christians great Sorrow I. You have here believers great Joy arising from hopes of their future Salvation in these words Wherein you greatly rejoyce II. The Christians or the Saints great Sorrow arising from sense of their present tribulation Ye are in heavyness through manifold temptations Which Heaviness or which Temptations are set forth First By the time of them Secondly By the ground of them I. By the time of them and that is declared in these words Now for a season II. By the ground of them and that is supposed or intimated If need be Wherein you c. Wherein that is in the hopes of Heaven in the hopes of their inheritance in the hopes of the glory of God and that eternal Salvation that was promised to them and expected by them as the 4. and 5. verses do declare Wherein you greatly rejoyce you though others do not yet you rejoyce others do not rejoyce in the hopes of Heaven they have no right to it no hope of it they have no ground to expect it it is not promised to them nor no ground have they to look for it but you that are the elect the chosen the called people of God you that were as elected by the love so sanctified by the Spirit of God 2. ver Wherein that is in hopes of the glory of God you rejoyce you greatly rejoyce you triumph for joy Though now for a season or though now for a little time you are in heaviness or in grief through manyfold temptations troubles and trials you have in the World The words are not difficult they may afford us these six Instructions From hence we might Observe You are in heaviness through manyfold temptations First That the people of God in this world are exercised with manyfold temptations Secondly That the Saints of the most high
by the hand of Saul and yet Saul died and he lived Gods people I say manytimes they are delivered in this World out of eminent dangers though great though long troubles though soar and though lasting yet they are not everlasting they do not continue as long as their days continue Many have been under great temptations soar persecution and yet have outlived their persecutors David did Saul and Paul did even when they were past hopes 2 Cor. 1.9 10. vers We were pressed out of measure above strength insomuch that we despaired even of life but we had the sentence of death in our selves that we should 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 yet deliver us and he tells Timothy 2 Tim. 3.10 11. vers of the great troubles and persecutions that came to him but out of them all the Lord delivered him and so in the same Epistle 2 Tim. 4.16 17. ver when he was brought before Nero all men forsook me yet God did not forsake me the Lord stood with me and strengthened me and I was delivered out of the mouth of the Lyon though he was very near unto death yet his life was preserved God did make with that soar temptation a way to escape The troubles of Gods people shall be but for a season sometimes they are but for a season in this life Secondly At the most they shall be but for the season of this life they shall last no longer so one Paraphrases upon the words they are but for a season as long as this short life lasts so long you may be afflicted if there be occasion for it but then there is an end of all 2 Cor. 4.17 vers Our light affliction which is but for a season but for a moment it shall not be hereafter it shall be but here while the moment of this life lasts then it vanishes away when our lives go if we fear God all our troubles will go away with them there is a time for every thing this present time is the time of the Saints afflictions the time that Gods people suffer this is the time of temptation of all that fear God when this life is at an end afflictions will be out of season there will be none of them when this life ends the suffering of the godly will then be at an end death puts a period to all their troubles they continue but while they have their abode in this earthly tabernacle no longer shall any cross or affliction be their portion Revel 14.13 vers Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them Blessed are they though they seem the most cursed of any people in some respects while they live yet blessed are they when they dye for they rest from their labours that is though not from their labour of service and love to God and his people yet from their labour of sorrow they shall then have no burden of persecution or affliction to bear as no evil shall be done by them so no evil then shall be suffered by them as they shall not know what sin means in another World so neither shall they understand what sorrow means weeping and wailing all tears then shall be wiped from their faces and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads no disturbance of Spirit shall be the Saints lot in another World no evil work nor work of iniquity shall ever follow them mens Pesecutors may follow them to the grave but then they must leave them then your bodies shall go into your graves in peace and your souls shall go to God that gave them to the Spirits of just men made perfect that are without sin and without suffering that are for ever serving God and continually injoying God In Gods presence where Gods people shall be after this World there is no part of their lives that is imbittered to them there is fulness of joy and their is pleasure for evermore at Gods right hand it is not only some little comfort is given them aâ—… this World to bear up their Spirits but there the joy shall be everlasting pleasure for evermore O well may believers say as God by the Prophet Say you to the righteous it shall be well with him though it be very ill with him whiles he lives yet it shall be well with him when he dyes his troubles he shall see they were but for a season though he may have many inconveniences in his earthly tabernacle yet he shall find nothing of dislike when he comes to Gods everlasting habitation Secondly Why is it so Why shall the temptations of the Godly be but for a season Why shall their affliction not last allways I will give you a two fold account of it I. Because of the mercifulness of God he is a God of tender mercy he compassionates all his creatures in all respects but much more them who are not only the work of his hands but the delight of his heart as all that fear and love him are he hath great kindness for them and this account is given why the Lord will not always chide his people he is a merciful God Psal 103.8 9. vers The Lord is merciful and gracious slow to anger and plenteous in mercy and then it follows he will not always chide neither will he keep his anger for ever angry he may be with his children when they are faulty and disobedient But he will not keep his anger forever Why the verses following declare Like as a Father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him for he knows our frame he remembers we are but dust God knows what frail creatures his people are and though some chiding they may bear yet his frowns they are not able to undergo that is the reason God gives why he would not shew himself always displeased with his people he should break their hearts with such thoughts Isa 57.16 17. vers I will not contend for ever neither will I be always wroth why for the Spirit should fail before me and the Soul which I have made the very heart of Gods people would be broken with a long continuance of their troubles and therefore he will in wrath remember mercy as it follows For the iniquity of his covetuousness was I wroth and smote him I hid me and was wroth and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart I have seen his ways and will heal him I will lead him also and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners I know that he is not able always to bear my afflicting hand I will take it of it shall be but a little while the rod is upon his back but it shall not rest there I will manifest my love again to him Isa 54.7 8. vers For a