God do wonders for his Church Then let us fall down and adore this God who can do wonders for us Who would not fear thee O King of Nations saith the Prophet Jer. 10.7 It was the speech of an Heathen King when hee had seen the Wonders that God had done Let all men fear and tremble before the God of Daniel Dan. 6.26 When Christ had done that great wonder in calming the rage of the sea the Text tels us They all fell down at the feet of Jesus and worshipped him Gods wonders for us call out for our Worship of him Fall down then at the feet of this God and Worship him Fall down at the feet of his Power and dread it Fall down at the feet of his Mercy and adore it Fall down at the feet of his Wisdome and admire it Admiration is sutable to Wonders It is said Hee shall bee admired in his Saints When wicked men tremble do you fall down and admire and blesse that God adore that God who alone doth wonders 7. Use Doth God do wonders for his Church 7 Use and are wee now in a sad condition A people that shall bee made a wonder unlesse God do a wonder for us Oh! then let us carry our selves in such a deportment and demeanour as is sutable to such who are expectants that God should do wonders for us Oh! that wee could put our selves in a posture fit for mercy and deliverance Seeing you look for a new Heaven and a new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness saith the Apostle what manner of persons ought you to bee So seeing you look you expect that God should do wonders for you Oh! What manner of persons ought you to bee in Holiness of Life how holy how humble how spiritual ought you to bee in all manner of conversation Oh! take heed of sinning in the face of mercy in the face of deliverance Lye not swear not c. It was a sad aggravation of Israels sin They provoked God at the Red-Sea even at the Red-Sea it is doubled to put a greater Emphasis on it Psal 106.7 It is nothing but our sins which hinders the current and stream of Mercy if these were removed mercy would come amain Whereas on the contrary sin will not only make our but even the good purposes of God to become abortive to us You see it in Jer. 18.9 10. At what time I shall speak concerning a Nation or a Kingdome to build and to plant it If it do evil in my sight that it obey not my voice Then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them Many buds and many blossoms of future deliverance have appeared Oh! it were a sad thing if our sins should blast all these and rob us of the fruit of our hopes of our prayers and tears Our sins put obstructions to all Gods proceedings of Mercy And therefore you see when the Temple was to bee built and great things were to bee done for them The Prophet by way of necessary preparation exhorts the people to repentance to cast away their sins Hag. 1.6 knowing this that though God had begun yet if they continued their sins they would quickly make a stop of Gods mercy God would soon repent of his mercy to them God had brought Israel out of Egypt and brought them near Canaan yet their sins comming betwixt them and Canaan turned them back again into the Wildernesse and there they walk in a Round forty years before they could finde admission into Canaan God is gone out before us triumphing in the greatnesse of his strength preparing a way hewing down difficulties levelling mountains turning all our oppositions into good But if you do not leave your sins you will make God quickly to leave you so to work your own confusion Well then You are all expectants of Mercy let every one of you labour to put himself into a posture fit to receive mercy Let every one walk and demean himself as such as looks for great things from God And then that God that hath begun will assuredly make an end Hee that hath laid the foundation and is laying stone after stone upon it every day will not desist till the building bee perfected 8 Use 8 Use Is it so that God doth wonders for his Church then learn 1. To trust in God You see Hee is a God doing wonders And as Christ said Learn 1 To trust in God Mark 9.23 If thou canst but beleeve All things are possible to him that beleeveth Wonders are possible There is nothing too hard for God to do if there bee nothing too hard for you to beleeve There is nothing difficult but to beleeve Hee that hath conquered and overcome his own unbeleef hath done all All things are possible to the Beleever Do not you stick at beleeving and God will not stick at doing wonders for you Heb. 11.33 34. By Faith they subdued Kingdomes stopped the mouthes of Lions quenched the violence of fire c. As Unbeleef doth imprison Gods power mercy and goodnesse It is said Hee could not do much because of their unbeleef And they limited the holy One of Israel So Faith sets God at liberty sets the power of God at liberty Nay it puts on the power and mercy of God Therefore exercise Faith The time of our trouble should bee the time of our trust As Mordecai said to Esther God set her up for such a time as that So I may say of Faith God set up Faith for such a time as this When means fail when there is nothing but weaknesse below when sense and reason are put to it then is it Faiths work to come in And therefore exercise Faith Let not any difficulty undermine Faith Let not any seeming discouragement come between your souls and the promise Zach. â— 6 Things marvelous to you are familiar with God things wonderful to you are easy to God You have Bibles Oh! that you had Faith to make use of them you would there finde all things are possible with God and therefore nothing impossible to Faith 2. Bee incouraged to Prayer This is the great work of our times 2 To pray to God Faith and Prayer will do wonders Faith and Prayer have had an hand in most of the wonders that ever were done in the Earth These will set the great God on doing wonders for us A Prayer made up of promises and put up by Faith will shew wonders in Heaven and in Earth You read what wonders Gods people have wrought by Prayer They have dryed up the Sea Exod. 14.21 brought fire from Heaven 2 King 1.10 Caused the Sun to stand still Josh 10.13 Vanquisht the enemy Exod. 17.12 Praying-Moses did more than fighting-Joshua The day would fail to tell you of all See what wonders followed upon Davids Prayer Psal 18.6 In my distress I called upon the Lord I cryed to my God hee heard my voice out of his Temple my cry came unto his
signed But makes his Supplication three times a day vers 13. And what was this now but to render him to the King factious seditious a Rebel a Traytor One who cared not for King nor Law Though indeed Daniel was a better subject than the best of them though they would have rendred him rebellious to the King because he was obedient to his God But mark the issue of it God disappointed them in their design and brought their own plot upon their own Pates Daniel was preserved by the Lyons that should have destroy'd him as they did afterward them The like of the three Children I might go down to our days The Powder-plot Eighty-Eight and God knows how many since 2 God hath wrought wonderfull deliverance for his Church Deliverances wonderful and the way he hath wrought them was 1 Sometimes by small means For weaknesse and strength is all one with God as Asa confessed when that Great Army came against him 2 Chron. 14.11 It is all one with thee to help with many or with few Infinite wisdome and power knows no difference As the Mariner turns about the greatest ship with a small rudder No means can bee so contemptible but he can make it succesful to his own purposes As the greatest means will bee no priviledge without Gods concurrence so the smallest means shall be no prejudice if God wil concur Wee read God hath sometimes armed natural Causes Sunne Moon Stars Hail Wind All which were wonders against the enemies of the Church The Stars in their course were said to fight against Sisera The Lord slew the enemies of Joshua with Hail and the Moabites with the Sun shining upon the water And wee read in the Ecclesiastical History that the Christians being to fight against the Barbarians were in a great distresse for water And upon their Prayer God sent them abundance of rain to refresh their Army But incountred their enemys with Thunder and fire from heaven In remembrance of which the Romans called the Christian Legion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fulminatrix The thundring Legion And sometimes God hath armed other causes putting strength into weak and contemptible means for the deliverance of his Church God hath oftentimes delivered his Church by such instruments as the enemies before would have looked upon with scorn as upon cast and despicable Creatures As God hath weakned and infatuated them hee hath intended to destroy so hath hee strengthned and guided with a spirit of wisdome such as hee hath intended for the deliverance of a Church You see Cyrus comparatively a weak Prince yet God made him an instrument to overthrow the most strong and puissant people in the World the Babylonians and by him to deliver his Church Deborah a Woman and yet God raised her up for the deliverance of his Church So you see God doth it by small means 2. Sometimes God works the deliverance of his Church without means And this is more wonderful When God looks about and sees there is no man then doth his right hand bring salvation When the Channel of Creature-helps is dry when the stream of second causes doth not runne Then doth God himself stand up for the defence and deliverance of his Church and People and creates deliverance out of nothing What God doth by means hee can do alone What hee doth mediately hee doth sometimes immediately from himself The Angel slew an hundred fourescore and five thousand 2 King 19.35 Wee read when Julian went to war against the Persians hee vowed to his Idol-Gods that when hee returned hee would give them a sacrifice of all the Christians in the Empire Here was now no means for the deliverance of the Church But God undertaketh the work himself smiting him from Heaven with an unknown blow and by that delivered his Church The like also of Maximius and of Herod Act. 12.23 Though there bee weakness below yet there is strength above Though means bee wanting yet hee can create means or hee can work without God and Faith work best alone 3. Sometimes God works the deliverance of his Church by contrary means And this is yet a more wonderful way God doth often work his works by Contraries hee brings good out of evil Life out of Death c. As the Physitian doth order poisons and destructive ingredients to physical useful and healthful purposes So those things which in themselves are against us God in singular wisdome and mercy turns them for us That which hath been used as the means of ruine hath God often turned to the means of raising a Church and People This is like the opening of the blind mans eyes with Clay One would think it should rather put out the eyes of a seeing man than give sight to a blind man But if Christ do undertake the work though the means bee never so contrary it shall bee effectual Thus you see that God doth often do wonders for the good of his Church and People 2. Quere 2. Wee come now to the second thing The Grounds and Reasons 1. The first is Because hee is a wonderful God Wonderful things beseem a Wonderful God His Name is Wonderful Isa 9.6 And therefore his works are Wonderful This is the inference Psal 86.10 Thou art great and dost wonderful things Every one delights to do actions sutable to themselves sutable to their own greatness When Alexander met with a great difficulty his spirit thus incounters it Jam periculum par animo Alexandri Now here is a danger here is a difficulty fit for the spirit of Alexander to incounter withall here is a work sutable for Alexander to do Great enterprises great difficulties great things befit Great spirits Magnus magna decent And wonderful things befit a wonderful God And upon this ground Gods reliefs come not in until cases are desperate because then hee may discover his great Power And such deliverances are most sutable to the great God Hee could as well hâ—ve saved Lazarus from sickness as have raised him from the grave but hee suffers him to dye bee buried and lye three dayes in the grave that hee might magnifie his power in the raising of him again Hee lets the difficulty go beyond the help of man that you might the better know what the Power of God is 2. The second Reason God doth wonderful things for his people to get himself a wonderful Name that God might bee known in the World Therefore did God execute such fearful Judgements on Pharaoh and wrought so great deliverances for his people that hee might get himself a Name and publish himself to the World Isa 63.12 Special cures win more glory to the Physitian than a thousand ordinary cures so special victories win more honour to a General than a thousand ordinary skirmishes so here special deliverances to God If God should only walk in the ordinary wayes of his Providence in the World his glory would not bee so much seen and advanced And therefore God doth often step out of his
Being justified by Faith wee have Peace with God Rom. 15.13 Now the God of all hope fill you with joy and peace in beleeving An unbeleeving-heart is a stormy heart an unpeaceable-heart All things Above us Within us Quae supra nos Intra nos Infra nos Contra nos Below us are all against us whilst wee are Unbeleevers 1. Above us wee have an angry and displeased God 2. Within us wee have a stormy and troublesome Conscience threatning nothing but death like the troubled Sea casting up mire and dirt as Isaiah speaks Isa 57.20 There is no Peace saith my God to the wicked 3 Below us we have there all the Creatures our enemies ready upon Gods commission to execute his displeasure upon us But now being Beleevers all is at Peace 1. All above us is at Peace The Controversy betwixt God and us is ended Faith takes up the quarrel betwixt God and us Wee have Peace with God Rom. 5.1 2. All within us is at Peace A peaceable God makes all at Peace Tranquillus Deus Tranquillat omnia when once our Peace is made in the Court of Heaven which is upon the first act of beleeving Then follows Peace in the Court of Conscience Peace which passeth all understanding Phil. 4.7 Our rest is to behold God at rest our Peace is to see him at Peace Eum quierem aspicere Quâ—â— esceâ—e est 3. All below us are at Peace with us Wee have Peace with all the Creatures All are now our Friends Job 5.23 The stones of the Field shall bee at league with thee the Beasts of the Field shall bee at peace with thee c. Thou shalt know that Peace shall bee in thy Tabernacle Prov. 16.7 When a mans wayes please the Lord hee will make his enemies to bee at peace with him When before upon our Rebellion with God all the Creatures were our enemies now being reconciled all are made friends 1. Faith makes us the Servants to the God of Peace in whose service there is Peace Prov. 3.17 All his Paths are Peace Every step of Godliness hath Peace with it And the reward of whose service shall bee Peace Psal 29.11 The Lord will bless his people with Peace Psal 85.8 The Lord will speak Peace to his people at the last though they meet with much trouble for the present war within and war without war with lusts war with Satan yet the God of Peace shall tread down Satan under our feet at last and put an end to this war Rom. 16.20 They shall have a Peace in the Conclusion And a Peace after war is the surest and most setledst Peace Psal 37.37 Mark the upright man The end of that man is Peace Though there bee stormes and troubles in the way yet the end of the journey that shall bee Peace A calm after stormes and never shall there arise storme more to all Eternity 2. Faith makes us subjects to the Prince of Peace unto Christ who is called our Peace Ephes 2.14 And our Peace hee is 1. Not only meritoriously by shedding his Blood for the purchase of our Peace Col. 1.20 Christ is our Peace having made Peace through the Blood of his Cross So Isa 53. The chastisement of our Peace was upon him Or that chastisement which did meritoriously procure our Peace was upon him God directed all the war against him that wee might have Peace As Jonah was thrown into the Sea that the storm might cease so Christ upon the Cross into the Grave that God and wee might bee at peace together But Christ is not only our Peace thus meritoriously by procuring Peace for us But also â— Efficiently by working of Peace in us Christ hath not only wrought Peace for us but hee works Peace in us Pacifying our Consciences calming our stormy spirits setling and establishing his Peace in us Christ is called the Prince of Peace as the King is the Fountain of Honours and bestows them where hee will so Christ is of Peace and bestows it when and where hee pleaseth Wee read that Moses was a man of Peace but hee was not a Prince of Peace Hee could not bestow Peace hee could not instill peaceable and calm affections into the mutinous Israelites But Christ hee is not a man of Peace but King of Salem Prince of Peace who is able to bestow Peace who can calm the most stormy and troublesome spirits with as much ease as hee did the Winds and Waters which was but with a word Peace and bee still Now Faith makes us one with Christ who is the Prince of Peace Christ joyned God and us together and Faith joynes Christ and us together in whom wee have Peace John 16 33. â— In mee yee shall have Peace Faith makes us subjects to this Prince of Peace whose Kingdome and reign over his people doth not consist in meat and drink but in Righteousnesse and Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost 3. Faith doth interest us into the Covenant of Peace and therefore being Beleevers wee must needs have Peace I say Faith doth interest us into the Covenant of Peace the Gospel of Peace the alone condition whereof is beleeving Whosoever beleeveth shall bee saved Time was that Hoc age do this was the condition of life do this and live So ran the old Covenant But now Crede Beleeve and bee saved The Law required works It 's called a Covenant of Works but the Gospel Faith It s a Covenant of Grace Made out of meer Grace and performed of meer Grace wherein God promiseth pardon of sins upon meer Mercy and Grace 4. Faith doth instate us into the conditions of Peace Faith gives us the grounds of Peace Justification Reconciliation with God pardon of sin and Sanctification of the whole man As there is no Peace where God is not propitious so there 's no Peace where the sinner is not sanctified A Beleeving heart is an holy heart and an holy heart is a peaceable heart Grace and Peace and Righteousnesse and Peace are still coupled together To shew that where there is no Grace there is no Peace and where there is Grace there is Peace though not ever in the Possession Gratia est bonum initiale Pax est bonum finale and sensible injoyment yet ever in the hope and assurance of the promise of Peace Grace is the root and Peace is the fruit A good Conscience is a continual Feast They who do the work of God shall have the Peace of God Gal. 6. They who walk according to this Rule Peace shall bee on them c. Hence the Psalmist Psal 119 165. Great Peace have they that love thy Law They which love the Law of God shall have the Peace of God Object But you will say Many have Peace who yet are not Beleevers Object And many are Beleevers and yet want Peace Therefore Peace is not a Fruit of Faith Ans Now to meet and to resist this Objection Answ which like a two-edged-sword
from the Death of inward Troubles As the sense of Gods Love the apprehension of his favour is the life of the Soul Psal 30.5 In his favour is Life So the sense of Gods Displeasure is the Death of the Soul Psal 88.10 Shall the Dead arise to praise thee Hee speaks of that spiritual Desertion in which hee was labouring under the sense of Gods wrath and displeasure which hee calls the Death of the Soul Shall the Dead arise to praise thee Shall my Soul dead and sunk with discouragements and apprehensions of thy wrath Shall it arise to praise thee So that this is the Death of the Soul Now Faith doth raise the Soul up from this Death When the Soul seems to bee sunk and buried under the apprehensions of Gods displeasure is slain with discouragements lies gasping and breathing for comfort The least touch of the Promise by Faith doth raise up and revive the Soul and fetches a man to life again All the while that sense works a man sinks deeper and deeper into this sad condition But let sense sit still and Faith come in and act its part and the Soul cannot lye so low in Trouble but it will raise it up Psal 77.10 I said this is my Death yet will I remember the years of the right hand of the most high c. What a precious thing is Faith It is call'd precious Faith And so it is indeed that is able to work such wonders in the Soul in an instant What a Cordial is this when a man is in swounding and fainting-fits that one taste of the Promise by Faith will fetch him to life again when the soul lies in the dust under sad apprehensions heavy Agonies sinking and dying one dram one grain of Faith will fetch him to life again set him on his feet again walking and leaping and praising God This is precious Faith indeed Now for the manner how Faith doth work for the raising up of the Soul from under these spiritual Troubles wee will only adde these particulars 1. Faith doth in this condition look back upon soul-raising-Experiences It causes a man to consider the dayes of old the years of ancient time as David did in the same condition Psal 77.5 It makes a man revive those former experiences of Gods Love those former workings those fore-past evidences those broken Rings Pledges Love-tokens which have passed betwixt God and the Soul Such a time hee took mee up into his Chariot and spake friendly to mee Such a time I sate down under his shadow and his Banner over mee was love Such a time hee took mee down into his Winecellar staied mee with Flaggons Such a time hee brake into my soul discovered himself to mee a Reconciled God gave mee an earnest of his love a testimony that hee manifested himself to mee came and supped with mee gave mee the White stone the Hidden Manna the New Name c. This is the Act of Faith Thus doth it produce the former evidences and experiences of Love and from these doth take up arguments to raise the Soul in this dark condition Why will Faith say Once a Father and ever a Father Once a Friend and never an Enemy Though wee change yet God doth not change With him there is no variableness nor shadow of change His carriage may alter his heart cannot His expression may vary his Affections cannot God hath spoken Peace and hee will never unsay what hee hath said Hee hath given mee sure evidences and hee will never take them away again though hee may withhold the comfort of them Hee that hath been gracious will bee gracious Men shut their hands because they have opened them but because hee hath once opened his hands hee will never shut them 2. Faith looks upon Soul-raising-Promises Such as are not only made for support but for deliverance I will not contend for ever nor will I bee alwayes wroth least the Spirit which I have made should fail before mee and the Soul which I have created I was angry with him I hid my face from him But I will heal him I will lead him also and restore comfort to him and to his mourners Isa 57.16 17 18. For a moment I have forsaken thee but with everlasting kindness have I had compassion on thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer c. Isa 54.8 9 10 11. Zion said the Lord hath forsaken mee My God hath forgotten mee Can a Woman forget her child that she should not have compassion on the Son of her womb Yea they may but I will never forget thee Behold I have Graven thee upon the Palms of my hands thy ways are ever in my sight These and such like promises Faith looks upon It doth not so much look at the Face of God Gods outward carriage and expression in the condition as at the Heart of God and his inward affection which lyes in the Promise Full well Faith knows The Ground of Comfort doth not lye in the Face of God the aspects of God If so then our comforts could not bee stable This alters as wee alter changeth as wee change But the ground of Faiths comfort lyes in the Promises and thither it hath recourse when from Outward appearance it can get no comfort Sense looks upon the face of God onely upon his outward presence But Faith looks upon the Heart of God in the Promise where it sees a Calmy heart under a Stormy countenance inward Smiles though outward frowns Inward Affections of Love under Outward expressions of displeasure As Joseph had the affections of a brother under the expressions of an Enemy Hee could put on expressions of an enemy An angry countenance but yet not put off Affections of a brother A loving heart so is it often with God And therefore Faith doth view him in The Promise hath recourse thither as you see poor David had in the like case Psal 77. to the tenth verse Hee was in sad Conditions and nothing could raise him God absented himself from him Hee fell to Praying to Complaining but yet no comfort came Hee complained and his spirit was overwhelmed Hee was so farre from Ease by this that his Spirit was more opprest Nay Hee cald to remembrance times past All this whie comfort came not in At last hee betakes himself to the Promise hath recourse to the Covenant and then his Soul revived ver 10. Thus Faith looks upon the firmness of the Covenant the stability of the Promise and is raised revived Read Isa 49.14 15. Isa 54. from seven to eleven which are Soul-raising-promises 3 Faith lays hold upon a soul-raising-Christ Upon whom whosoever doth lay hold hee will pull him out of the deepest waters If a man under water have hold of any thing above him it will pull him out hee shall not sink So here when wee are overwhelmed in these deep waters if by Faith the Soul lay hold on Christ it will bear him up and bring him forth John 12.46 I am come a
ordinary paths of Providence and goes in Extraordinaries that hee might discover his Glory and Power and advance his own Name This know that it is Gods great design in the World to advance his own Name and make it glorious to the ends of the Earth This is one way God doth it by even doing wonderful things for his Church Hereby God wins a great deal of honour and praise from the Saints and dread and terror from the wicked as the Scriptures speak You know how terrible was the Name of the God of Israel to all the Earth by those great wonders God had done for Israel in Egypt And therefore this was the argument which David used why God should destroy such as were his enemies and work deliverances for such as were his people That men might know that thou whose Name alone is Jehovah art the most high over all the Earth Psal 83.18 Great Mercies and wonderful deliverances publish and set forth God when smaller cannot do it Great Deliverances publish great Power great Mercy great Wisdome and great Truth God is lost in smaller deliverances but visible in greater They who are unwilling to acknowledge God in lesser are forced to acknowledge him in greater deliverances and to say with them who without doubt were loath enough to acknowledge it Digitus Dei est hic The finger of God is here None but a God could have disappointed such Counsels None but a God could have discovered such Plots None but a God could have removed such Evils None but a God could have wrought such Deliverances 3. The third Reason why God doth wonderful things for his Church is as to get so to uphold his great Name You have an excellent place for this in Deut. 32.27 God was highly displeased with Israel for their provocations of him and hee threatned to destroy them yet after all this hee saith I said I would scatter them into corners and would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely and lest they should say our high hand and not the Lord hath done all this The like you have in 2 King 18.35 Who are there among the Gods of the Countries that can deliver out of my hand so hee vaunted and God suffered him to soare so high that hee might have the greater praise and his Glory bee higher advanced by the greater downfal of such a Lucifer And this was the Argument which Moses urged God withal when hee threatned to destroy the Children of Israel Numb 14.15 Now if thou kill this people 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 hee sware unto them therefore hath hee slain them in the Wilderness As if hee had said Thou hast gotten thy self a Name by the mighty wonders which thou hast done for thy people but if thou shouldest leave now and do no more thou wouldest lose thy glory which thou hast gotten and the Nations would bee ready to charge thee with weakness and impotency that thou wast not able to do what thou hast promised and purposed to do for thy People The like you have in Deut. 9.28 And in Exod. 32.12 And the same Argument you have in Jos 8.9 When God went not forth with the armies of Israel but suffered them to bee smitten by their enemies O Lord saith Joshua what shall I say when Israel turn their backs upon their enemies If it bee thus what will become of thy great Name Arguing by this that there was a necessity for God to do great things for his People still to uphold that great Name hee had gotten which otherwise would fall to the ground Psal 79.9 Help us for the glory of thy Name and deliver us for thy Names sake And an excellent place you have for this in Isa 48.9 10 11. For my Names sake will I defer my wrath and for my Praise will I refrain it from thee that I cut thee not off 4. Reas God doth wonderful things for his People that hee might inherit wonderful praises from his People Therefore doth God work wonderful deliverances for his Church that his Church might return sutable praises to God again Psal 111.4 Hee hath done his wonderful works to bee remembred As if hee had said it was for this end that God did those wonderful works wrought those great deliverances that they might bee remembred that they might bee kept upon the imagination of the thoughts of the heart for ever As in 1 Chron. 29.18 That wee might bee so many living Monuments of thankfulness so many Trumpets to sound forth the praise of his Greatness and Goodness from Generation to Generation And hee that forgets Thankfulness forgets the end of Gods bestowing of Mercy and robs himself of the fruit and effect of the present Mercy and hinders himself of future 5. Reas God doth wonderful things for his Church to adde torture to the Devil and his Children Gods mercies and deliverances to the Saints must needs inrage the Devil and wicked men When Haman had prevailed so far as to get a bloody decree against the Jews hee joyed exceedingly as one that promised to himself the utter ruine of them all Now God stepping in on a sudden and shewing a wonder to disappoint him in his design No man can conceive much less express how much this added to Hamans torture and vexation Hee goeth home and vexeth himself and vexeth in his bed and could have no rest Achitophel was so tortured that his design did not take that hee was impatient of his Life Hee could not ease himself but by destroying himself The like you have of Balak God hath his wayes to make wicked men gnash their teeth before they come to Hell and this is one way to put them in a kinde of hope of having their will upon the godly as they had in the verse before the Text I will pursue I will destroy I will divide the spoil And then on a sudden over-turning all blowing upon their projects bringing all their enterprizes to nought Oh! this doth make them vex and torture their own souls 6 Reason God doth wonderfull things for his Church and People That both our selves and the Generations to come might be quickned and stirred up to trust in him obey him 1. That wee our selves might bee quickned to trust in him And this you see was the fruit of that great deliverance in the text Exod. 14.31 And Israel saw that great work which the Lord had done upon the Egyptians And the People feared the Lord and beleeved the Lord. And this use David made That God that hath delivered mee from the Lyon and the Bear hee will also deliver mee from this uncircumcised Philistine So Psal 63.7 Because thou hast been my helper therefore under the shaddow of thy wings I will rejoyce That