one in delivering the Saints from the danger the other in causing it to fall upon the contrivers and is therefore celebrated with a double note of attention in these observable strokes the righteousness of God shines forth in repaying his peoples enemies in their own coin nec lex est justior ulla quam necis Artifices arte perire suâ— Thus Haman did eat the first-fruits of that tree which his own hands planted and thus Ierusalem becomes a burthensome stone to all that burthen themselves with it Zech. 12. 3. 4. Admire and adore the Wisdom of your God in those great and unexpected advantages which arise to you out of those very dangers and designs of your enemies that threatened your ruine the very hands of your very enemies are sometimes made the instruments of your advancement and enlargement your persecutions become your priviledges the Motto of the Palm tree fitly becomes yours Suppressa Resurgo In three things the Wisdom of God makes advantage out of your troubles 1. In fortifying your Souls and Bodies with suitable strength when any eminent trial is intended for you So it was with the Apostles 2 Cor. 1. 5. As the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation by Christ. God lays in suitably to what men lay on mercilesly Christ would not draw the poor timorous disciples out of Ierusalem unto hard encounters until first he had endued them with power from on high Luke 24. 49. 2. The Wisdom of your God can and often doth make your very troubles and sufferings instead of so many ordinances to strengthen your Faith and fortifie your Patience So the heads of Leviathan became meat to his people inhabiting the Wilderness Psal. 74. 14. And so the Plots of Balak and Balaam were designed by God to be as a standing instructing ordinance for the encouragement of his peoples Faith in future difficulties Micah 6. 5. O my people remember now what Balak King of Moab consulted and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal that ye may know the righteousnes of the Lord. q. d. You cannot but remember how those your enemies courted me with multitudes of Offerings to deliver you up into their hands and how faithfully I stood by you in all those dangers that Plot discovered at once the policy of your enemies and the righteousness of your God 3. His Wisdom is discovered to your advantage in permitting your dangers to grow to an extremity on purpose to magnifie his goodness and increase your comfort in your deliverance from it Psal. 126. 1. When the Lord turned our captivity we were as them that dreamed Proportionable to the greatness of your dangers will your joys be SECT III. WEll then if the Wisdom of God shines forth so gloriously in the times of his peoples trouble be perswaded by Faith to enter into this Chamber also it is a Chamber where a believing Soul may enjoy the sweetest rest and quietness in the most hurrying and distracting times shut the door behind you and improve this Attribute to your best advantage 1. Enter into this Chamber by Faith believe firmly that the management of all the affairs of this world whether publick or personal is in the hands of your All wise God more particularly exercise your faith about the Wisdom of God in these things 1. Believe that the Wisdom of God can contrive and order the way of your escape and deliverance when all doors of hope are shut up to sense and reason we know not what to do said good Iehoshaphat but our eyes are unto thee q. d. Lord though I am at a loss and see no way of escape thou art never at a loss The Lord saith Peter knoweth how to deliver the Godly out of temptation Divine wisdom hath infinite methods and ways of deliverance unknown to man till they are opened in the event 2. Believe that the Wisdom of God can turn your greatest troubles and fears into the choicest blessings and mercies to you I know saith Paul that this shall turn to my Salvation Phil. 1. 19. meaning his bonds and sufferings for Christ. Divine wisdom can give you honey out of the carcase of the Lyon cause you to part with those afflictions admiring and blessing God for them which you met with fear and trembling as suspecting your destruction was imported in them 3. In consideration of both these resign up your selves to the wisdom of God and lean not to your own understandings Commit thy way unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established Prov. 16. 3. When Melancthon was oppressed with cares and doubts about the distracting affairs of the Church in his time Luther thus chides him out of his despondency Desinet Philippus esse rector mundi do not thou presume to be the Governour of the world but leave the reins of Government in his hand that made it and best knows how to rule it Let God alone to chuse thy lot and portion to order thy condition and manage all thy affairs and let thy Soul take its rest in this quiet Chamber of Divine wisdom But then 2. Be sure to shut thy door behind thee and beware lest unbelief anxieties fears and doubts creep in after thee to disturb thy rest and shake thy faith in this point we are apt in two cases to be stumbled in this matter 1. When subtle and cunning enemies are engaged against us this was Davids case 2 Sam. 15. 31. One told David saying Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom and David said O Lord. I pray thee turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness When he heard Ahithophel was with the Conspirators it greatly puzled him Though a whole Conclave of Politicians be against us yet if God be with us let us not fear 2. When our own reason intrudes too far and offers its dictates too boldly in the case we are apt to say in the arrogancy of our own reason we cannot be delivered but O that we would learn to resign it up to the Wisdom of God The Lord knows how to deliver the godly When the question was asked the Prophet Ezek. 37. 3. Can these dry bones live He answers Lord thou knowest That 's excellent counsel Prov. 3. 5. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding 3. Improve the Wisdom of God for your selves in all difficult and distressful cases 1. Beg of God to exercise his wisdom for you when enemies conspire against you So did David 2 Sam. 15. 31. Lord turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness O 't is the noblest and surest way to vanquish an enemy it was but asked and done 2. Comfort your selves with this whenever you are at a loss in your own thoughts and know not what to do then commit all to Divine conduct let God Steer for you in a Storm he loves to be trusted Psal. 37. 5. Commit thy way unto the Lord trust also in him and he shall
of Justification Origen Contra Marchionet Charles The Eighth A Play Lesley Historia Scotorum Man of Sin Lightfoot on Lucan Dr. Charleton's Anatomical Lectures Flavel's Husbandry Boys's Sermons Prynn's Power of Parliaments Burnets Thesaurus Behin's Remains Manley of Usury Brown against Quakers Seamans Calendar Mariners Calendar Seamans Practise Norwood's Trigonometria Large Octavo Pool's Nullity Wilson's Scriptures Durham of Scandal Dr. Trapham's Treatise of Iamaica Cloud of Witnesses Rutherford's Examen Sclater of Grace Bayfield De Capitis Danvers of Baptism Flavell's Two Treatises His Preparation for Sufferings Small Octavo Wars of Hungary History of Jewels Moral Gallantry Flavell's Saint Indeed Token for Mourners Roma Restituta Curious Destillatory History of Iapan and Siam Looking Glass for Children Hugh's Disputations Religio Stoici Petton on the Covenant Queens Wells Moreland of Interest Miltoni Logica Grey of Faith Sydenham's Works Rushworth's Solomons Remembrance Gales Idea Binning's Miscellanies Kirkwood's Grammatica A PRACTICAL TREATISE OF Fear c. Isaiah 8. v. 12 13 and part of the 14. Say ye not a confederacy to all them to whom this people shall say a confederacy neither fear ye their fear nor be afraid v. 13. Sanctifie the Lord of hosts himself and let him be your fear and let him be your dread v. 14. And he shall be for a sanctuary CHAP. I Wherein the Text and Context are opened the Doctrines propounded and the general method stated THere is not more diversity found in the outward features than in the inward tempers and dispositions of men some are as timorous as Hares and start at every sound or yelp of a dog others are bold as Lions and can face dangers without trembling Some fear more than they ought and some before they ought and others when they ought not at all The carnal person fears man not God the strong Christian fears God not man the weak Christian fears man too much and God too little There is a Fear which is the effect of sin springing from guilt and hurrying the soul into more guilt and there is a fear which is the effect of grace springing from our love to God and his interest and driving the soul to God in the way of duty The less fear any man hath the more happiness except it be of that fear which is our happiness and our excellency It cannot be said of any man as it is said of Leviathan Iob 41. 33. that he is made without fear those that have most fortitude are not without some fears And when the Church is in the storms of persecution and almost covered with the waves the stoutest passengers in it may suffer as much from this boisterous passion within as from the Storm without and all for want of throughly believing or not seasonably remembring That the Lord High Admiral of all the Ocean and Commander of all the winds is on board the Ship to steer and to preserve it in the storm A pregnant instance hereof is furnished to our hands in this Context where you find the best men trembling in expectation of the worst events both on the Church in general and themselves in particular Their hearts were moved like the trees of the wood shaken with the wind Chap. 7. v. 2. And indeed if their dangers were to be measured by sense only their fears were not above the value of the cause yea their dangers seemed to exceed their fears for it was the invasion of a forein and cruel enemy even the Assyrian who were to break in upon them like a breach of the Sea and overflow the land of Immanuel v. 7. The Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river strong and many even the King of Assyria and all his glory and he shall come up over all his channels and go over all his banks And as the 7. verse resembles the enemy to waters which quickly drown the countrey into which they break so the 8 verse tells you how far they should prevail and how near it should come to a general and total ruine He shall pass through Iudah he shall overflow and go over he shall reach even to the neck and the stretching ouâ— of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land O Immanuel All the body should be under water except the capital City which remained above water Having thus described the power and success of the invading enemy in the 9 and 10 verses he derides their plots and combinations assuring them that although God for just and holy ends would permit them for a time to afflict his people yet in the issue all their councels and cruelties should recoyl upon themselves and end in their own ruine and confusion And thereupon Isaiah is commanded to encourage the feeble and trembling hearts of such as feared God in those distracted and frightful times v. 11 12 13. The Lord spake unto me with a strong hand and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people saying say ye not a confederacy c. God speaking to the Prophet by a strong hand imports the strong and mighty impression that was made upon his heart by the Spirit of Prophecy Wherein the Lord did as it were lay his hand upon him as a man doth upon one to whom he is about to impart some special secret in a familiar way q. d. Come hither Isaiah drawing him to him at the same instant with a friendly hand take deep notice of what I am now to give thee in charge both with respect to thy self and my elect people that follow thee say not you a confederacy to all them to whom this people shall say a confederacy i. e. let not these frightful tidings work upon you as they do upon Ahaz and the common multitude with him who are so terrified and scared with the approching dangers that all their councels thoughts and studies are taken up in preventing it by making a confederacy or league with the Assyrian or if that cannot be then with some Forein power that may secure them against the Assyrian but their eyes are not all to me for protection and deliverance they expect more from Egypt than from Heaven from a broken reed than from the rock of ages Fear not you their fear Their fear drives them from God to the creature it first Distracts them and then Ensnares them But on the contrary see that thou and all the faithful in the land with thee do sanctifie me in your hearts and make me your fear and your dread i. e. rely upon me by faith in this day of trouble and see that you give me the glory of my wisdom power and faithfulness by relying intirely upon those my attributes engaged for you in so many tried promises And do not betake your selves to such sinful and vain shifts as those do that have no interest in me nor experience of me This is the general scope and design of the Text wherein more particularly you have 1. An evil practice
Iehoshaphat 2 Chro. 20. 2 3. Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat saying there cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria and behold they be in Hazazon Tamar which is Engedi and Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord. He set himself i. e. he composed and fixed his heart for Prayer in the time of so great a fright and terrible an Alarm But it is rare to find such constancy and eveness of mind as this in like cases it is with most in great frights as the Prophet describes the condition of the Jews Isaiah 22. 2 3. when the City of Ierusalem was besieged and the enemy came under the walls of it that which a little before was the joyous City or as some read the revelling City is now in such a panick fear that it is full of stirs and tumults some run up to the tops of the houses either to hide or bewail themselves or take a view of the dreadful enemy without others prevent the sword of the enemy and die by fear before hand their own apprehensions of misery killed them before the sword of any other enemy once touched them but you read of none that ran into their closets to seek the Lord the city was full of stirrs but not of prayers alas Fear made them cry to the mountains rather than to God ver 5. The best men find it hard to keep their thoughts from wandering and their minds from distraction in the greatest calm of peace but a thousand times harder in the hurries and tumults of fear 5. The sinfulness of Fear consists in the power it hath to dispose and incline men to the use of sinful means to put by their danger and to cast them into the hands and power of temptation The fear of man bringeth a snare Prov. 29. 25. or puts and lays a snare before him Satan spreads the net and Fear like the stalking horse drives men right into it It was fear which drew Abraham that great believer into the snare of dissimulation to the great disparagement of Religion for it was somewhat an odd sight to see Abimelech an heathen so schooling an Abraham for it as he did Gen 20. 9. And for the same evil you find God chiding his people in Isaiah 57. 11. And of whom hast thou been afraid or feared that thou hast lied and hast not remembred me There is a double lie occasioned by Fear one in words another in deeds Hypocrisie is a lie done a practical lie and our Church History abounds with sad examples of dissimulation through fear 't is Satans great engine to make his Tempations victorious and successful with men SECT III. 3. There is an holy and laudable Fear a Fear which is our treasure not our torment the chief ornament of the Soul its beauty and perfection not its infelicity or sin viz. the awful filial fear of God natural fear is a pure or simple passion of the Soul Sinful fear is the disordered and corrupt passion of the soul but this is the natural passion sanctified and thereby changed and baptized into the name and nature of a Spiritual grace This fear is also mentioned in my Text and prescribed as an Antidote against sinful fears it devours carnal fears as Moses serpent did those of the Enchanters It 's one of the sorest judgments to be in the fear of man day and night Deut. 28. 65 66 67. and one of the sweetest mercies to be in the fear of God all the day long Prov. 23. 17. The fear of men shortens our days Isaiah 22. 34 but the fear of the Lord prolongeth our days Prov. 10. 27. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life Prov. 14. 27. But the fear of man a fountain of mischiefs and miseries By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil Prov. 16. 6. but by the fear of man men run themselves into evil Prov. 29. 25. This Fear is a gracious habit or principle planted by God in the soul whereby the soul is kept under an holy awe of the eye of God and from thence is inclined to perform and do what pleaseth him and to shun and avoid whatsoever he forbids and hates 1. It is planted in the soul as a permanent and fixed habit it is not of the natural growth and production of mans heart but of supernatural infusion and implantation Ier. 32. 40. I will put my fear into their inward parts To fear man is natural but to fear God is wholly supernatural 2. This gracious fear puts the soul under the awe of Gods eye Psal. 119. 161. my heart standeth in awe of thy word 'T is the reproach of the servants of men to be eye-servants but it is the praise and honour of Gods servants to be so 3. This respect to the eye of God inclines them to perform and do whatsoever pleaseth him and is commanded by him hence fearing God and working righteousness are connected and linked together Acts. 10. 35. If we truly fear God we dare not but do the things he commands and if his fear be exalted in our hearts to an high degree it will enable us to obey him in duties accompanied with deepest self denial Gen. 22. 12. Now I know thou fearest God seeing thou hast not with held thy son thine only son from me 4. This fear ingageth and in some degree inableth the soul in which it is to shun and avoid whatsoever is displeasing to God and forbidden by him in this Ioâ— discovered himself a true fearer of God he would not touch what God had forbidden and therefore was honoured with this Excellent Character He was one that feared God and eschewed evil Iob. 1. 3. And thus of the several kinds of Fear CHAP. III. Shewing the various uses of Fear both Natural Sinful and Religious in the Government of the world by providence SECT I. HAving taken a brief view of the several kinds and sorts of Fear that are found among men our nextâ— work will be to open the Uses of them in the Government of this world for one way or other they all subserve the most wise and holy purposes of God therein And we will first enquire into 1. The Use of Natural Fear Which if we well consider it will be found exceeding necessary and useful to make man a governable creature by Law and consequently the order comfort and tranquillity of the world necessarily depends upon it How immorigerous and intractable would the corruptions of mans nature make him and uncapable of any moral restraint from the most flagitious and barbarous crimes had not God planted such a passion as this in his nature which like a bridle curbs in the corrupt propensions thereof If fear did not clap its manacles and fetters upon the wild and boysterous lusts of men they would certainly bear down all milder motives and break loose from all ingenuous bands of restraint the world would inevitably be filled with
dangers when the feet of them that carried out the dear servants of God in bloudy winding sheets to their graves stand at the door to carry us forth next if providence loose their chain and give them a permission so to do and our fears on this account are heightned by considering and revolving these four things in our thoughts which we are always more inclined to do than the things that should fortifie our faith and heighten our Christian courage as 1. We are very apt to consider that as the same race and kind of men that committed these outrages upon our brethren are still in being and that their rage and malice is not abated in the least degree but is as fierce and cruel as ever it was Gal. 4. 29. As then he that was born after the flesh perseouted him that was born after the Spirit even so it is now So it was then and just so it is still the old enmity is entailed upon all wicked men from generation to generation multi adhuc sunt qui clavum sanguine Abelis rubentem adhuc circumferunt Cain 's club is to this day carried up and down the world stained with the bloud of Abel as Bucholtzer speaks 't is a rooted antipathy and it runs in a bloud and will run as long as there are wicked men from whom and to whom it shall be propagated and a devil in hell by whom it will not fail to be exasperated and irritated 2. We know also that nothing hinders the execution of their wicked purposes against us but the restraints of providence should God loose the chain and give them leave to act forth the malice and rage that is in their hearts no pity would be shewen by them or could be rationally expected from them Psal. 124. 1 2 3 4 5 6. We live among Lions and them that are set on fire of hell Psal. 57. 4. the only reason of our safety is this that he who is the keeper of the Lions is also the shepherd of the sheep 3. We find that God hath many times let loose these Lions upon his people and given them leave to tear his lambs in pieces and suck the bloud of his Saints how well soever he loves them yet hath he often delivered them into the hands of his enemies and suffered them to perpetuate and act the greatest cruelties upon them the best men have suffered the worst things and the Histories of all ages have delivered down unto us the most tragical relations of their barbarous usage 4. We are also conscious to our selves how faâ— short we come in holiness innocency and spiritual excellency of those excellent persons who have suffered these things and therefore have no ground to expect more favour from providence than they found â— we know also there is no promise in the Scriptures tâ— which they had not as good a claim and title as ouâ—â—selves With us are found as great yea greater sin than in them and therefore have no reason to please our selves with the fond imaginations of extraordinary exemptions If we think these evils shall not come in our days 't is like many of them thought so too and yet they did and we may find it quite otherwise Lam. 4. 12. Who would have thought that the enemy should have entered in at the gates of Ierusalem The revolving of these and such like considerations in our thoughts and mixing our own unbelief with them creates a world of fears even in good men till by resignation of all to God and acting faith upon the promises that assure us of the sanctification of all our troubles as that Rom. 8. 28. Gods presence with us in our troubles as that Psal. 91. 15. his moderation of our troubles to that measure and degree in which they are supportable Isai. 27. 8. And the safe and comfortable outlet and final deliverance from them all at last according to that in Rev. 7. 17. We do at last recover our hearts out of the hands of our fears again and compose them to a quiet and sweet satisfaction in the wise and holy pleasure of our God 5. Cause 5. Our immoderate love of life and the comforts and conveniencies thereof may be assigned as a proper and real ground and cause of our sinful fears when the dangers of the times threaten the one or other did we love our lives less we should fear and tremble less than we do It is said of those renowned Saints Rev. 12. 11. They overcame by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their Testimony and they loved not their lives unto the Death They overcame not only the fury of their enemies without them but their sinful fears within them and this victory was atchieved by their mortification to the inordinate and immoderate love of life certainly their own fears had overcome them if they had not first overcome the love of life It was not therefore without very great reason that our Lord injoyned it upon all his disciples and followers to hate their own lives Luke 14. 26. not absolutely but in comparison and competition with him i. e. to love it in so remiss a degree as to slight and undervalue it as a poor low thing in such a comparison he foresaw what sharp tryals and sufferings were coming upon them and he knew if the fond and immoderate love of life were not overcome and mortified in them it would make them warp and bend under such temptations This was it that freed Paul from slavish fears and made him so magnanimous and undaunted indeed he had less fear upon his spirit though he was to suffer those hard and sharp things in his own person than his friends had who only Sympathized with him and were not farther concerned than by their own love and pity He spake like a man who was rather a spectator than a sufferer Acts 20. 24 25. none of these things move me saith he Great soul not moved with bonds and afflictions how did he attain so great courage and constancy of mind in such deep and dreadful sufferings It was enough to have moved the stoutest man in the world yea and to have removed the resolutions of any that had not loved Christ better than his own life but life was a trifle to him in comparison with Jesus Christ for so he tells us in the next words I count not my life dear unto me q. d. 'T is a low priz'd commodity in my eyes not worth the saving or regarding on such sinful terms O how many have parted with Christ peace and eternal life for fear of losing that which Paul regarded not And if we bring our thoughts closer to the matter we shall soon find that this is a fountain oâ— fears in times of danger and that from this excessive love of life we are rack'd and tortured with ten thousand terrors For 1. Life is the greatest and nearest interest men naturally have in this world and that which
not within its reach till our own fears drive us into it the recoyling of our spirits from some eminent danger may cause the pulse of a true Christian to intermit and faulter how regular soever it beats at other times this will cause great trepidation and timidity in men that are sincere and upright and that is it that brings the snare over their souls Aaron was a good man and Idolatry he knew to be a great sin yet fear prevailed with that good man to give too much way to that great evil Exod. 32. 22. Thou knowest the people that they are set upon mischief saith he in his own excuse in the matter of the golden calf q. d. Lord I durst do no otherwise at that time the people were violently and passionately set upon it had I resisted them it might have cost me dear It was fear that prevailed with Origen to yield so far as he did in offering incense to the Idol the consideration of which fact brake his heart to pieces It was nothing but fear that made David play the fool and act so dishonourably as he did I Sam. 21. 12. Fear is a snare in which Satan hath caught as many souls as in any other of his stratagems and toyls whatsoever It were easy to give instances so many and so sad as would inlarge this head even to tediousness but I chuse rather to come to the particulars wherein the danger of this snare of the Devil consists And 1. Herein lies the ensnaring danger of sinful fear that it drives men out of their proper station out of their place and duty beside which there is none to be found but what is Satans ground The subtle enemy of our salvation is aware that we are out of Gun shot beyond his reach whilst we abide with God in the way of our duty that the Lord is with us whilst we are with him and there is no attempting our ruine under the wings of his protection If ever therefore he meaneth to do any thing upon us he must get us off that ground and from under those wings and there is nothing like fear to do this then we are as the birds that are wandring from their nests Prov. 27. 8. or like Shimei out of his limits 2. Fear is usually the first passion in the soul that beats a parley with the enemy and treats with the tempter about terms of rendition and as the French proverb is The Castle that parlies is half wone 'T is fear that consults with flesh and bloud whilst faith is ingaged with God for the supply of strength to endure the siege we have a sad and doleful instance of this in Spira he tells us how his own fears betrayed him by parlying with the tempter for thus Mr. Bacon in the History of his life records the occasion of his fall Whilst Spira was tossing upon the restless waves of doubts without Guide to trust to or Haven to flee to for succour on the sudden Gods spirit assisting he felt a calm and began to discourse with himself in this manner Why wanderest thou thus in uncertainties Unhappy man cast away fear put on thy shield of faith where is thy wonted courage thy goodness thy constancy Remember that Christs glory lies at the stake suffer then without fear and he will defend thee he will tell thee what thou shalt answer he can beat down all danger bring thee out of prison raise thee from the dead consider Peter in the dungeon the Martyrs in the fire c. Now was Spira in reasonable quiet being resolved to yield to those weighty reasons yet holding it wisdom to examine all things he consults also with flesh and bloud thus the battel renews and the flesh begins in this manner Be well advised fond man consider reasons on both sides and then judge how canst thou thus overween thine own sufficiency as thou neither regardest the examples of thy progenitors nor the judgment of the whole Church dost thou not consider what misery this days rashness will bring thee unto Thou shalt lose all thy substance gotten with so much care and travel thou shalt undergo the most exquisite torments that malice it self can devise thou shalt be counted an Heretick of all and to close up all thou shalt die shamefully What thinkest thou of the loathsome stinking Dungeon the bloudy Ax the burning Faggot Are they delightful c. Thus through fear he first parlied with the Tempter consulted with flesh and bloud and at last fainted and yielded 3. 'T is fear that makes men impatient of waiting Gods time and method of deliverance and so precipitates the soul and drives it into the snare of the next temptation Isai. 51. 14. The Captive exile hasteth to be delivered out of the pit any way or means of escape that comes next to hand saith Fear is better than to lie here in the pit and when the soul is thus prepared by its own fears it becomes an easy prey to the next temptation by all which you see the mischief that comes by fear in times of danger 4. Effect 4. Fear naturally produceth Pusillanimity and cowardliness in men a poor low spirit that presently faints and yields upon every slight assault it extinguisheth all Christian courage and magnanimity where ever it prevails and therefore you find it joyned frequently in the Scriptures with discouragement Deut. 1. 21. Fear not neither be discouraged with fainting and trembling Deut. 20. 3. Let not your hearts faint fear not and do not tremble with dismayedness Deut. 31. 6. and faint heartedness Isai. 7. 4. these are the effects and consequents of sinful fear And how dangerous a thing it is to have our courage extinguished and faintness of heart prevail upon us in a time when we have the greatest need and use of courage and our perseverance peace and eternal happiness rely and depend so much upon it let all serious Christians judge 't is sad to us and dishonourable to Religion to have the hearts of women as it 's said of Egypt Isai. 19. 16. when we should play the men as the Apostle exhorts us 1 Cor. 16. 13. We find in all ages those that have manifested most courage for Christ in time of trial have been those whose Faith hath surmounted Fear and whose hearts were above all discouragements from this world Such a man was Basil as appears by his answer to Valens the Emperor who tempting him with offers of preferment received this answer Offer these things said he to children and when he threatned him with grievous sufferings he replied threaten these things to your purple gallants that give themselves to pleasure and are afraid to die And this was the spirit of courage and magnanimity with which the generality of the Primitive Christians were animated they feared not the faces of Tyrants they shrunk not from the most cruel torments and it redounded not a little to the credit of Christianity when one of Iulians Nobles present
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
of mine O that we could do as Abraham did Rom 4. 21. We have the same Attribute but alas we have not such a Faith as his was to improve it It is easie to believe the Almighty power of God in a calm but not so easie to resign our selves to it and securely rest upon it in a Storm of adversity But oh what peace and rest would our Faith procure us by the free use and exercise of it this way to assist your faith in this difficulty wherein we find the faith of a Moses sometimes staggered Let me briefly offer you these four following encouragements 1. Consider how your gracious God hath engaged this his Almighty power by Promise and Covenant for the security of his people God pawned it as it were to Abraham in that famous promise Gen. 17. 1. I am the Almighty God walk thou before me and be perfect And Gen. 15. 1. Fear not Abraham I am thy shield Say not this was Abraham's peculiar priviledge for if you consult Hos. 12. 4. and Heb. 13. 5 6. you will find that Believers in these days have as good a title to the promises made in those days as those worthies had to whom they were immeately made 2. If you be Believers your relation to God strongly engageth his power for you as well as his own promises Surely saith God they are my people children that will not lie so he became their Saviour Isa. 63. 8. We say Relations have the least of Entity but the greatest of efficacy you find it so in your own experience let a wife child or friend be in eminent danger and it shall engage all the power you have to succour and deliver them 3. This glorious power of God is engaged for you by the very malice and wickedness of your enemies who will be apt to impute the ruine of the Saints to the defects of power in their God from whence those excellent arguments are drawn Numb 14. 15 16. Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak saying because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness And again Deut. 32. 26 27. you shall find the Lord improving this argument for them himself if they do not plead it for themselves he will I would scatter them into corners I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy left their adversaries should behave themselves strangely and lest they should say our hand is high and the Lord hath not done all this O see how much you are beholding to the very rage of your enemies for your deliverances from them 4. To conclude the very reliance of your Souls by faith upon the power of God your very leaning upon his arm engages it for your protection Isa. 26. 3. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee Puzle not your selves therefore any longer about qualifications but know that the very acting of your faith on God the recumbency of your Souls upon him is that which will engage him for your defence how weak and defective soever thou art in other respects 2. Having thus entered by Faith into this Chamber of Divine power the next counsel the Text gives you is to shut the door behind you i. e. after the acting of your faith and the quiet repose of your Souls upon Gods Almighty power then take heed lest unbelieving fears and jealousies creep in again and disturb the rest of your Souls in God you find a sad instance of this in Moses Numb 11. 21 23. After so many glorious acts and triumphs of his Faith how were his heels tripped up by diffidence which crept in afterwards good men may be posed with difficult providences and made to stagger The Isâ—aelites had lived upon miracles many years yet Psal. 78. 20. Can he give bread also Good Martha objects difficulty to Christ. Ioh. 11. 39. By this time he stinketh O 't is a glorious thing to give God the glory of his Almighty power in difficult cases that we cannot comprehend See Zech. 8. 6. If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days should it be also marvellous in mine eyes saith the Lord of hosts Difficulties are for men but not for God because it is marvellous in your eyes must it be so in Gods Various objections will be apt to arise in your hearts to drive you out of this your refuge As 1. Objection O but the long continuance of our troubles and distresses will sink our very hearts Isa. 40. 27. Why sayest thou O Jacob and speakest O Israel my way is hid from the Lord and my judgment is passed over from my God Sol. But O wait upon God without fainting Heb. 2. 3 The vision is yet for an appointed time but at the end of it shall speak and not lie though it tarry wait for it because it will surely come it will not tarry 2. Objection O but our former hopes and expectations of deliverance are frustrated Ier. 8. 15. We looked for peace but no good came and for a time of health and behold trouble Sol. O but yet be not discouraged see how the Psalmist begins the 69 Psal with trembling and ends it with triumph the husbandman waiteth and so must you 3. Objection But there is no sign or appearance of our deliverance Sol. What then this is no new thing Psal. 74. 9. We see not our signs there is no more any Prophet neither is there any among â—s that knoweth how long 4. Objection But all things work contrary to our hope Sol. Why so did things with Abraham yet see Rom. 4. 18. against hope he believed in hope 3. Observe further with delight the out goings and glorious workings of Divine power for you and for the Church in times of trouble this is sweet entertainment for your Souls 't is food for Faith Psal. 74. 14. Thou breakest the heads of Leviathan in pieces and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness and here I beseech you behold and admire 1. It 's mysterious and admirable protection of the Saints in all their dangers They feed as Sheep in the midst of Wolves Luke 10. 3. they lie among them that are set on fire Psal. 57. 4. Their habitation is in the midst of deceit Ier. 9. 6. Yet they are kept in safety by the mighty power of God 2. Behold and admire it in casting the bonds of restraint upon your enemies that though they would yet they cannot hurt you our dangers are visible and our fears great but our security and safety admirable Isa. 51. 13. Thou hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressour as if he were ready to destroy and where is the
the unchangeableness of his loves trust in the name of the Lord stay thy self upon the God when thou walkest in darkness and hast no light Isa. 50. 10. Thus shut thy door 3. Improve the unchangeabless of God to thy best advantage in the worst times by drawing thence such comfortable conclusions as these 1. If God be an uchangeable God in his promises and in his love to his people what should hinder but the people of God may live happily and comfortably in the saddest times and greatest troubles upon earth As sorrowful yet always rejoycing as poor yet making many rich as having nothing and yet possessing all things 2 Cor. 6. 10. Certainly nothing ought to quench a Christians mirth that is not able to separate him from the love of Christ Rom. 8. 35. 2. If God be an unchangeable God in his love to his people then it becomes all that have special interest in this God to be unchangeable and immoveable in the ways of their obedience towards him God will not cast you off see that you cast not off your duties no not when they are surrounded with difficulties he loves you though you often grieve him by sin see that you still love him though he often grieve and burden you by affliction he will own you for his people under the greatest contempts and reproaches of the World see that you own and honour his ways and truths when you are under most reproach from a vile World CHAP. X. Opening the Care of God for his people in times of trouble as the fifth Chamber of Rest to Believers SECT 1. CAre in the general Notion of it as it is applyed to the Creature imports the studiousness and solicitousness of our thoughts for the safety and welfare of our selves or those we love and highly value Now though there be no such thing properly in God at whose dispose and pleasure all events are and to whose counsels and appointments all difficulties must give way yet he is pleased to accommodate himself to our weakness and express his regard and love to his people by such things as one creature doth to another to which it is endeared by relation or affection To this purpose we find many significant Synonomous expressions in Scripture all importing the careof God over his people in a pleasant variety of notion and expression as Nah. 1. 7. The Lord is good a strong hold in the day of trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him He knoweth them i. e. he hath a special tender and careful eye upon them to see their wants supplyed and to protect them in all their dangers for in the common and general sense he knoweth them that trust not in him as well as those that do and further to clear this sence of the place it is said Ps. 40. 17. The Lord thinketh on them Importing not only simple cogitation but the immoration or abiding of his thoughts upon them as our thoughts are wont to do upon that which we highly esteem especially when any danger is near it And yet farther to clear this sense it is said Iob 36. 7. He withdraweth not his Eye from the righteous As when Moses was exposed in the Ark of Bulrushes where his Life was in eminent hazards by the waters of Nilus upon one side and the Egypan Cut-Throats on the other his Sister Miriam kept watch at a distance to see what would be done to him Her eye was never off that Ark wherein her dear Brother lay fear and care engaged her eye to keep a true watch for him Thus the Lord withdraweth not his eye from the righteous To the same purpose is that expression Deut. 33. 3. Yoa he loved the People all his Saints are in thy hand That which we dearly love and prize above ordinary we keep in our own hands for its security as not thinking it safe enough in any other hand or place And once more Isa. 49. 16. God is said to engrave them upon the Palms of his Hands alluding to what is customary among men who when they would charge their memories with something of special concernment use to change a Ring or bind a Thred about the Finger to put them in mind of it Thus is the care of our God expressed to us in Scripture notions The amount of all which is given us in that one proper and full expression of the Apostle 1 Pet. 5. 7. He careth for you To open this Chamber of Divine care as a place of sweetest rest to our anxious and perplexed minds in times of difficulty and hazard it will be necessary that you seriously ponder Of the care of God 1. The Grounds and Reasons 2. The Extent and Compass 3. The Lovely Properties 1. The grounds and reasons of Gods care for his people which are 1. The strict and dear Relations in which he is pleased to own them Believers are his children and you know how naturally children engage and draw forth the Fathers care for them This is the argument Christ uses Matth. 6. 31 32. Therefore take no thought saying what shall we eat Or what shall we drink Or wherewithal shall we be cloathed For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things Children especially when young disquiet not themselves about provions for back or belly but leave that to the care of their Parents from whom by the tye and Bonds of Nature and Love they expect provision for all those wants Every one takes care for his own much more doth God for his own Children and indeed he expects his children should live upon his care as our children in their minority do upon ours 2. Gods precious estimation and value of them engages his constant care for them Believers are his Jewels Mal. 3. 17. his peculiar people 1 Pet. 2. 6. his special portion or treasure in this world Deut. 32. 9. and as such he prizes and esteems them above all the people of the earth and accordingly exerciseth his special care in all the dangers they are here exposed to Special love engageth peculiar care 3. The dangers and fears of the people of God in this world are many and great and were it not for the Lords assiduous and tender care over them they must necessarily be ruined both in soul and body by them The Church is God's Vineyard its Enemies as so many wild Boars to root it up Upon this account he saith Isa. 27. 3. I the Lord do keep it lest any hurt it I will keep it night and day And indeed it is well for Israel that he that keepeth it never slumbereth nor sleepeth Psal. 121. 4. that our houses are in peace that we and our dear relations fall not as a prey into cruel and bloody hands skilful to destroy that we find any rest or comfort in so evil and dangerous a world it is wholly and only to be ascribed to the care of God over us and ours 4. Jesus Christ hath solemnly recommended
resignation and the clearer that relation and interest is the more bold and confident those acts of Faith will be Psal. 86. 2. Preserve my soul for I am holy O thou my God save thy servant that trusteth in thee And again Psal. 119. 94. I am thine save me I speak not here of the first act of Faith which flows not from an interest but gives the Soul an interest in God Nor do I say that poor doubting and timorous Believers whose interest in him is dark and dubious have no warrant to resign themselves and their concernments into his hands for it is both their right and duty to do it But certainly the clearer our interest is the more facile and comfortable will those acts be 4. The committing acts of Faith imply a full acknowledgement and owning of Gods power to protect us be the danger never so imminent Psal. 31. 15. My times are in thy hand deliver me from the hands of mine enemies and from them that persecute me q. d. O Lord I am fully satisfied my life is not at the dispose of mine enemies 't is not in their hands but in thine all the traps and snares they lay for it shall not shorten one minute of my time I know thine hand is fully able to protect me and therefore into thine hands I resign my self and all I have 5. Resignation involves in it an expectation of help and safety from God when we see no way of security from men O Lord saith Iehoshaphat We have no might nor no strength neither know we what to do but our eyes are unto thee 2 Chron. 20. 12. So David Psal. 62. 5 6. My soul wait thou only upon God for my expectation is from him he only is my rock and my salvation he is my defence I shall not be moved 6. Resignation to God implies the leaving of our â—elves and our concernments with him to be disposed of according to his good pleasure the resigning Soul desires the Lord to do with him what he will and is content to take what lot Divine pleasure shall cast for him 2 Sam. 15. 25. And the King said unto Zadok carry back the Ark of God into the city if I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord he will bring me again and shew me both it and his habitation but if he thus say I have no delight in thee behold here am I let him do to me as seemeth good unto him And so much of the Nature of this Duty that we may understand what to do 2. Next let me shew you what encouragements you that are the people of God have to this duty and they will appear to be great and many 1. The Sovereignty and Absolute Dominion of God over all Creatures is a singular encouragement to commit our selves into his hands and trust him over all Psal. 59. 9. Because of his strength will I wait upon thee for God is my defence If a man were in danger amidst a great Army of rude and insolent Souldiers and were to put himself under the protection of any one it should be the General of that Army to chuse in such a hand he cannot but be safe all the Souldiers being at his beck Christian the God into whose hands thou committest thy self is Lord General of all the Hosts and Armies in Heaven and Earth how safe must thou then be in his hands 2. The unsearchable and perfect Wisdom of God is a mighty encouragement to commit our selves into his hands with him is plenteous redemption Psal. 130. ult i. e. Choice and variety of ways and methods to save his people we are but God never is at a loss to find a door for our escape 2 Pet. 2. 9. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation 3. The infinite tenderness and compassionateness of our God is a sweet encouragement to resign and commit our selves and all we have into his hands his mercy is incomparably tender towards his people infinitely beyond whatever any creature felt stirring in its own bowels towards another that came out of its bowels Isa. 49. 15. This compassion of God engageth the two forementioned Attributes viz. his Power and Wisdom for the preservation and relief of his people as often as distresses befall them Yea 4. The very distresses his people are in do as it were awaken the Almighty power of God for their defence and rescue our distresses are not only proper seasons but powerful motives to his saving power Deut. 36. For the Lord shall judge his people and repent himself for his servant when he seeth that their power is gone and there is none shut up or left God makes it an argument to himself and his people Plead it as an argument with him be not far from me for trouble is near for there is none to help 5. We have already committed greater and weightier concernments into his hand than the dearest interest we have in this World we have intrusted our souls with him 1 Pet. 4. 19. 2. Tim. 1. 12. Well therefore may we commit the lesser who have intrusted the greater with him what are our lives liberties estates and relations compared with our Souls and the eternal safety and happiness of them 6. The committing act of Faith is the great and only expedient to procure and secure the peace and tranquillity of our minds amidst the distractions and troubles of the present World the greatest part of our affliction and trouble in such days is from the working of our own thoughts these torments from within are worse than any from without and the resignation of all to God by Faith is their best and only cure Proverbs 16. 3. Commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established A blessed calmness of mind a sweet tranquillity and settlement of thoughts follows immediately hereupon Psal. 94. 19. Oh then leave all with God and quietly expect a comfortable issue and for the better settlement and security of thy peace in times of distraction and trouble I beseech thee Reader carefully to watch and guard against these two evils 1. Caution Beware of Infidelity and distrustfulness of God and his Promises which secretly lurks in thy heart and is hugely apt to bewray it self when great distresses and troubles befall thee thou wilt know it by such Symptomes as these 1. In an over hasty and eager desire after present deliverance Isa. 51. 14. The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed and that he should not die in the pit nor that his bread should fail The less Faith always the more impatience and the more ability to believe the more patience to wait 2. It will discover it self in our readiness to close with and catch at sinful mediums and methods of deliverance Isa. 30. 15 16. And this is the handle of temptation and occasion of Apostacy But he that believeth will not make haste Isa. 26. 18. No more hast than good speed 3. It will
his people 2. Beyond the line of all Creature expectations Eph. 3. 20. God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think He doth so in Spirituals as appears by those two famous Parables Luke 15. 19. 22. And am no more worthy to be called thy son make me as one of thy hired servants But the Father said to his servants bring forth the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet The Prodigal desired to be but as an hired servant and lo the fatted Calf is 〈◊〉 for him and musick to his meat and the gold ring upon his finger And in Matth. 18. 26 27. The Debtor did but desire patience and the Creditor forgave the Debt O thinks a poor humbled Sinner if I might have but the least glimpse of hope how sweet would it be But God brings him to more than he expects even the clear shining of assurance It is so in Temporals the Church confesses the Lord did things they looked not for Isa. 64. 3. And in both Spirituals and Temporals this power moves in an higher Orb than our thoughts Isa. 55. 8 9. My thoughts are not your thoughts nor my ways your ways but as far as the heavens are above the earth so are my thoughts above your thoughts The earth is but a punctum to the Heavens all its tallest Cedars Mountains and Pyramids cannot reach it He speaks as was said before of Gods pitying pardoning and merciful thoughts and shews that no Creatâ—re can think of God as he doth of the creature under sin or under misery Our thoughts are not his eitâ—er First by way of simple cogitation we cannot thiâ—k such thoughts towards others in misery by way of pity or under sin against us by way of pardon as God doth Nor Secondly are our thoughts as Gods in respect of reflexive comprehension i. e. We cannot conceive or comprehend what those thoughts of God towards us are when we fall into sin or misery jâ—st as he thinks them they are altered debased and straitened as soon as ever they come into our thoughts See an excellent instance in Gen. 48. 11. I had not thought to see thy face and lo God hath shewed me all thy seed A surprizing providence and thus the Divine power works in a Sphere above all the thoughts prayers and expectations of men 3. It works beyond all probabilities and rational conjectures of men this Almighty power hath â—â—ted deliverances for the people of God when things have been brought to the lowest ebb and all the means of salvation have been hid from their eyes We have diverse famous instances of this in Scripture wherein we may observe a remarkable gradation in the working of this Almighty power It is said in the 2 Kings 14. 26 27. The Lord saw the affliction of Israel that it was very bitter for there was not any shut up nor any left nor any helper for Israel A deplorable state how inevitable was their ruine to the eye of sense Well might it be called a bitter affliction Yet from this immediate power arose for them a sweet and unexpected Salvation and if we look into 2 Cor. 1. 9 10. we shall find the Apostles and choicest Christians of those times giving up themselves as lost men all ways of escape being quite out of sight for so much those words signifie We had the sentence of death in our selves i. e. We yielded our selves for dead men But though they were sentenced to death yea though they sentenced themselves this power which wrought above all their thoughts and rational conjectures reprieved them And yet one step farther in Ezek. 37. 4 5 6 7. The people of God are there represented as actually dead yea as in their graves yea as rotted in their graves and their very bones dry like those that are dead of old so utterly improbable was their recovery Yet by the working of this Almighty power which subdueth all things to it self their graves in Babylon were opened the breath of life came into them bone came to bone and there stood up a very great Army it was the working of this power above the thoughts of mans heart which gave the ground of that famous Proverb Gen. 22. 14. In the Mount of the Lord it shall â—eseen And the ground of that famous Promise Zech. 14. 7. At evening time it shall be light i. e. Light shall unexpectedly spring up when all men according to the course and order of Nature expect nothing but increasing darkness How extensive is the power of God in its glorious operations SECT III. LEt us view the power of God in its relation to the promises for so it becomes our Sanctuary in the day of trouble if the Power of God be the Chamber 't is the Promise of God which is that Golden ' Key that opens it And if we well consult the Scriptures in this matter we shall find the Almighty power of God made over to his people by promise for many excellent ends and uses in the day of their trouble As 1. To uphold and support them when their own strength fails Isa. 41. 10. Fear thou not for I am with thee be not dismayed for I am thy God I will strengthen thee yea I will help thee yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness And which of the Saints have not sensibly felt these everlasting arms underneath their spirits when afflictions have pressed them above their own strength So runs the promise to Paul in 2 Cor. 12. 9. My grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness i. e. It is made known in thy weakness Our weakness adds nothing to Gods power it doth not make his power perfect but it hath the better advantage of its discovery and puts forth it self more signally and conspicuously in our weakness as the stars which never shine so gloriously as in the darkest night 2. To preserve them in all their dangers to which they lie exposed in Soul and Body 1 Pet. 1. 5. You are kept saith the Apostle by the mighty power of God Kept as in a Garison this is their arm every morning as it is Isa. 33. 2. O Lord be gracious unto us we have waited for thee be thou their arm every morning our salvation also in the time of trouble The Arm is that member which is fitted for the defence of the body and for that end so placed by the God of Nature that it may guard every part above and below it but as good they were bound behind our backs for any help they can give us in some cases It is Gods Arm that defends us and not our own This invisible power of God makes the Saints the worlds wonder Psal. 71. 7. I am as a wonder to many but thou art my strong refuge To see poor defenceless Creatures preserved in the midst of furious enemies that is just
matter of wonder but God being their invisible refuge that solves the wonder to this end the Power of God is by promise engaged to his people 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 And thus they subsist in the midst of dangers and troubles as the burning Bush the Emblem of the Church did amidst the devouring flames Exod. 3. 3. 3. To deliver them out of their distresses so runs the Promise Psal. 91. 14 15. Because he hath set his love upon me therefore will I deliver him I will set him on high because he hath known my name he shall call upon me and I will answer him I will be with him in trouble I will deliver him and honour him And Ier. 30. 7. Alas for that day is great so that none is like it It is even the time of Jacob's trouble but ye shall be saved out of it And surely there can be no distress so great no case of Believers so sorlorn but 1. It 's easie with God to save them out of it Are they to the eye of Sense lost as hopeless as men in the grave Yet see Ezek. 37. 12. O my people I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves and bring you into the land of Israel And he doth whatever he doth easily with a word Ps. 44. 4. Thou art my king O God command deliverances for Jacob. And it requireth no more violent motion to do it than he that swimeth in the water uses Isa. 25. 11. A gentle easie motion of the hand doth it 2. And as the power of God can deliver them easily so speedily Their deliverance is often wrought by way of surprizal Isa. 17. 14. Behold at evening tide trouble and in the morning he is not So the Church prays in Pâ— 126. 4. turn again our captivity as the streams in the South The Southern Countreys are dry the streams there come not in a gentle and slow current but being occasioned by violent sudden spouts of Rain they presently overflow the Countrey and as soon retire So speedily can the power of God free his people from their dangers and fears 3. Yea such is the excellency of his delivering power that he can save alone without any contribution of Creature aids So Isa. 59. 16. He wondered that there was no intercessour therefore his hand brought salvation unto him and his righteousness sustained him We read indeed Iudg. 5. 23. Of helping the Lord but that is not to express his need but their duty we have continual need of God but he hath no need of us he uses instruments but not out of necessity his arm alone can save us be the danger never so great or the visible means of deliverance never so remote 4. Once more let us view this Chamber of Divine power as it is continually opened by the hand of providence to receive and secure the people of God in all their dangers 'T is said 2 Chro. 16. 9. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to shew himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him Where you have an excellent account of the immediacy universality and efficacy of Divine Providence as it uses and applies this Divine power for the guard and defence of that people who are its charge he doth not only set Angels to watch for them but his own eyes keep Sentinel even those seven eyes of Providence mentioned Zech. 3. 9. which never sleep nor slumber for they are said to run continually to and fro and that not in this or that particular place only for the service of some more eminent and excellent persons but through the whole earth 'T is an encompassing and surrounding providence which hath its eye upon all whose hearts are upright all the Saints are within the line of its care and protection the eye of Providence discovereth all their dangers and its arm defends them for he shews himself strong in their behalf The secret but Almighty efficacy of Providence is also excellently described to us in Ezek. 1. 8. where the Angels are said to have their hands under their wings working secretly and undiscernibly but very effectually for the Saints committed to their charge Like unto which is that in Hab. 3. 4. where it is said of God that He had horns coming out of his hands and there was the hiding of his power The hand is the instrument of action denoting Gods active power and the horns coming out of them are the glorious raies and beams of that power shining forth in the salvation of his people O that we could sun our selves in those chearful and reviving beams of Divine power by considering how gloriously they have broken forth and shone out for the salvation of his people in all Ages So it did for Israel at the Red Sea Exod. 15. 6. So for Iehoshaphat in that great streight 2 Chron. 20. 12 15. And so in the time of Hezekiah 2 Kings 19. 3. 7. Yea in all ages from the beginning of the World the Saints have been sheltered under these wings of Divine Power Isa. 51. 9. 10. Thus Providence hath hanged and adorned this Chamber of Divine power with the delightful Histories of the Churches manifold preservations by it SECT IV. HAving taken a short view of this glorious Chamber of Gods power absolutely in it self and also in relation to his promises and providences it remains now that I press and perswade all the people of God under their fears and dangers according to Gods gracious invitation to enter into it shut their doors and to behold with delight this glorious Attribute working for them in all their exigencies and distresses 1. Enter into this Chamber of Divine power all ye that fear the Lord and hide your selves there in these dangerous and distressful days let me say to you as the Prophet did to the poor distressed Iews Zech. 9. 12. Turn ye to your strong hold ye prisoners of hope Strong holds might they say Why where are they The walls of Ierusalem are in the dust the Temple burnt with fire Sion an heap what meanest thou then in telling us of our strong holds Why admit all this yet there is Satis praesidii in uno Deo Refuge enough for you in God alone as Calvin excellently notes upon that place Christian art not thou able to fetch a good subsistence for thy Soul by Faith out of the Almighty power of God The renowned Saints of old did so Abraham Isaac and Iacob met with as many difficulties and plunges of trouble in their time as ever you did or shall meet with yet by the exercise of their faith upon this Attribute they lived comfortably and why cannot you Exod. 6. 3. I appeared saith God unto Abraham Isaac and Jacob by the name of God Almighty They kept house and feasted by Faith upon this name