the unquenchable fire He loves them as his own Son Joh. 17.26 27. Who can tell the love God bears to his Son the same love he bears to his Saints His name is love his nature is love his Son is the token of his love his Spirit is the earnest of his love the Gospel his love letter Hence it is that they are so happy who are committed to Gods keeping because he is so loving a Guardian All the while that his people suffer he doth sympathize and he will support them As a tender father he proportions the burden to the strength of his childrens back He doth like a Lutanist to use Chrysostoms similitude who will not let the strings of his Instrument be too slack lest they mar the musick nor suffer them to be too hard screwed up lest they break He who taught the Husbandman to use several instruments for the threshing of several sorts of grain and not to turn the cart wheel about upon the Cummin Isa 28.25 will certainly himself not suffer his people to be afflicted aboue what they are able 2 Cor. 10.13 His love will set all his other Attributes at work for his peoples good His Wisdom will contrive his Power will act and his Faithfulness will perform whatsoever he promiseth for the comfort of his Church and all because he loveth them What would not David have done for Absolom whom he affecteth so dearly when Absolom rebelled against him and sought his life his heart relented towards Absolom out of love What a charge doth he give his Captains concerning him Deal gently for my sake with the young-man even with Absolom What will not God do for his chosen whom he loveth when they wander and run from him he followeth after and wooeth them For the iniquity of his covetousness I was wroth and smote him I hid me and was wroth and he went on frowardly in the way of his own heart Mark Here is a childe in a great crime his Father corrects him and instead of kissing the rod he kicks at the hand that holds it He went on frowardly in the way of his own heart Well what is the fruit of this frowardness you might expect greater severity upon such contumacy surely if few stripes will do no good many must be laid on or if the rod will not do the ax might be used But lo what love doth I have seen his ways and will heal him I will lead him also and restore comforts to him and to his mourners Isa 57.17 18 19. Well though he be undutiful yet he is my child I will throw away my rods and draw him with the cords of love though he freez under the nipping frosts yet he will thaw under my warm beams 13. He is the most Faithful friend He is constant in his love Some are able and loving also for a time but their love like a candle though it burn a little in a closs room and calm weather is easily blown out by a stormy wind If a Christian be called to the cross he is like the Deer that is shot by the herd pushed out of their company but God is a lasting yea an everlasting friend his love like the Sun can never be abated much less extinguished by the greatest tempest but is always going forth in its full strength A brother is born for adversity A friend loveth at all times Prov. 17.16 Such a friend is God who when few men will never fails to appear for his suffering servants 2 Tim. 4.16 17. Basil ventured very far for a persecuted friend and being blamed for it answered Ego aliter amare non didici I have learned not to love otherwise The Antients pictured friendship in the shape of a fair young man bare headed with his breast open meanly apparelled with this inscription on his cloaths To live and to dye with you and this on his Forehead Summer and Winter and with this on his heart Prope longè far and near God is such a friend as will never disown or deny his people In the furnace the three children shall have his presence where ever he is absent When men are mutable and appear as Tertullian saith of the Peacock all in changeable colours use their friends as we do Sun-dials look no longer on them nor regard them then the Sun shineth on them God is a faithful creator 1. Pet. 4.19 will be sure to mind the house that he hath built and that most of all when it s out of repair and ready to fall Bucholcerus upon his friends going to Court to teach the Prince Electors children told him I will give you one piece of counsel which may do you good whilst you live His friend hearkned to him I commend saith he to you the faith of Devils Take heed whom you trust Indeed there are many men like ponds clear at the top and mud at the bottom fair in their tongues but foul in their hearts The greatest mens words are often like dead mens shoes he may go barefoot that trusteth to them But O what a faithful friend is God who never faileth his he is such a Physician as will be sure to visit his Patients often when sick although he may pass by their doors when they be well He is faithful to his promise his Word is the truth Col. 1.5 His Church is the Pillar of truth not to bear it up but to hold it out 1 Tim. 3. his Sacraments the seals of truth he himself is the Lord God of truth Psal 34.5 Who feares to be deceived when truth promiseth He keeps his promise to a word Quis falli tâ—… m at cum promittâ—t veritas Aug. confes lib. 11. cap. 1. Ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls that there hath not one good thing failed of all that the Lord promiseth Josh 23.14 The birth of the promise will answer their conception and they bring forth in full feature and glory God is usually better but never in the least worse then his word In sacra scriptura non solum bonitas est quod praecipitur faelicitas quod promittitur sed etiam veritas quod dicitur Hugo His promise is equivalent to possession He keeps touch with his people in the time of performance to a day The self same day Israel marched out of Egypt Ex. 2.4 The four hundred and thirty years were that very day expired nay to a night Dan. 5.30 In that night was Belshazer the King of the Chaldeans slain When the big-bellied promise had gone its full time the seventy years being then expired it could not stay till morning for its delivery but fell in labour that very night and was safe delivered The promises are the flowers of which the cordial Julips are made which refresh you in fainting hours but as Gods love is the root upon which they grow so his faithfulness is the hand that must bring them to you T is your happiness that your riches lye
THE Pastors Farevvell AND VVish of VVelfare TO HIS PEOPLE OR A Valedictory Sermon By GEORGE SWINNOCK M. A. Preacher of the Gospel late at Great-Kimbel in the County of Bucks Oportet ut praedicatores sint fortes in praeceptis compatientes infirmis in exhortationibus blandi Greg. in Job Mor. 30. Finally Brethren farewel Be perfect be of good comfort be of one minde live in peace and the God of love and peace shall be with you 2 Cor. 13.11 LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Three Crowns in the lower end of Cheap-side over against the great Conduit 1662. TO His Honoured and Courteous Friend Mistris Mary Beresford VVife of the VVorshipful Iohn Beresford Esq THere are two things which I have always judged chiefly requisite in a Pastor as he standeth related to his people viz. Labour and Love The former is a work of the Head the latter of the Heart faithful labour will speak his love and sincere love will sweeten his labour Labour without love is unacceptable to God as a sweet perfume without fire it cannot send forth its pleasant fragrant savour Love without labour is unprofitable to men like Rachel its beautiful but barren both together as soul and body are the essential parts of a man are the whole of a Minister Whether to my power I discharged my trust or no in these partitulars whilest the Divine providence continued me in your Parish I must leave to his judgement whose eyes behold and whose eye-lid try the Children of men nay whether I did not many times so labour as to prejudice my own body that I might serve and profit others souls but sure I am when I left you I could not better manifest my love to you then by commending you to him who will never leave nor forsake his people It s the saying of Euripides That a faithful friend in adversity is better then a calm Sea to a weather beaten Mariner Indeed the world is full of false lovers who use their friends as we do candles burn them to the snuff and when all their substance is wasted trample them under their feet and light others but God to his chosen is as the Ivy clasping about a wall which will as soon dye as desert it Extreamity doth but fasten a trusty friend whilst he as a well wrought Vault is the stronger by how much more weight he beareth Though many men are as ponds dry in the heat of Summer when there is most need of them yet the blessed God dealeth not so with his Saints but his help is nearest when their hardships are greatest When they walk in the valley of the shadow of death he is with them How great a happiness it is to be under the favour and influence of this God can never be fully known on this side Heaven The Prince of Orange had a mirror say some which perfectly represented the beauty of the naturat Sun But this Sun of Righteousness is ever in a great degree Eclipsed to us who dwell in this lower World Here we know but in part Pompey who presumed to enter the holiest of all when he came out was asked what he saw he answered that the house was fall of a cloud Indeed He maketh darkness his secret place and yet is pleased to let so much of his glory and goodness be seen in the glass of his word as may cause us to admire and affect him and also assure us that he is the chiefest good Somwhat of that felicity which floweth from his favour you will find in some measure discovered in the ensuing discourse which I present to you as a small acknowledgement of my great ingagements to you Lycurgus the Lacedemonian Law-giver made no Law against ingratitude as thinking it impossible for any man to degenerate so much as to be unthankful I esteem it my duty to retain the former favours in memory which I and mine have received from your self and my Honoured friend your Husband and I know not better how to testifie my gratitude then by endeavouring to my power your everlasting welfare and that you may come to your graves in a full age as a shock of corn in its season It s a mercy to be full of days a far greater mercy to be full of grace but to be full of days and full of grace is one of the most blessed beautiful sights in this World I hope you are passed from death to life because you love the brethren but your Age calleth upon you to ensure your effectual calling The truth is death borders upon our births and our Coffins hang over our Cradles but though according to the saying of Epaminondas we may salute young persons with Good-morrow or welcome into the World yet we must salute old persons with Good-night for they are leaving the world The nearer it is tonight the harder we should work when we know if our work be not done in this day of life we are undone for ever Natural motions are swiftest at last The stream of grace must run with greatest speed when its emptying it self into the Ocean of glory The good Lord enable you to be more and more upright and abundant in well doing and so bless your whole Family with his fear and favour that when Death shall break it up ye may be preferred from his lower house of prayer to his upper house of praise where is fulness of joy and where are pleasures for evermore Which is the desire of Your Servant in the blessed Saviour George Swinnock There is extant of this Reverend Authors these six other Treatises all sold by Thomas Parkhurst at the lower end of Cheapside The Christian-mans Calling or a Treatise of making Religion ones Business wherein the Nature and Necessity of it is discovered as also the Christian directed how he may perform it in Religious Duties Natural Actions his particular Vocation his Family Directions and his own Recreation to be read in Families for their Instruction and Edification The first Part. The Door of Salvation opened by the Key of Regeneration or a Treatise containing the Nature Necessity Marks and means of Regeneration as also the duty of the Regenerate Heaven and Hell Epitomized or the true Christian characterized The beauty of Magistracy in an Exposition of the 82 Psalm where is set forth the necessity Utility Dignity Duty and Morality of Magistrates The fading of the flesh and the flourishing of faith or one cast for eternity with the only way to throw it well There is in the press the Second Part of that practical Piece of Divinity entituled The Christian-mans Calling Containing Directions for our dealings with all men carriage in all conditions whether in prosperity or adversity in all companies good or bad in solitariness on the week day from morning to night in visiting the sick upon a dying bed ACTS 20.32 And now Brethren I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and
his gracious presence alone which gives success to every enterprize His blessing can turn not onely Water into Wine temporal mercies into spiritual benefits but even poison into wholsom food every stone thrown at you by your enemies into a precious stone he can cause the wrath of men as the hunter useth the rage of the Dogs for his own ends to work not onely for his praise but also for your profit as a wise Governour meeting with opposite factions in a state while each studieth and striveth to undermine the other serveth his own ends and secureth his own interest by both The wise and powerful God while wicked men plots against his people makes them to conspire for his people The worlds actings are against the Saints intentionally in regard of the malice of their hearts but they are for the Saints eventually in regard of Gods over-ruling hand That Knife which wicked men endeavour to thrust into some vital part of the beleiver to kill him doth but light upon some imposthume and thereby tend to his cure The scorching Sun of persecution doth but ripen him for a glorious harvest Now to this God who can blow upon all his enemies plots and they perish who can breath with his spirit upon his peoples actions and they prosper who can cause all his providences to tend to your spiritual profit and eternal peace I commend you and my prayer shall be Psa 20.2 3 4. The Lord hear you in the day of trouble and the name of the God of Jacob defend you send you help from his sanctuary and strengthen you out of Zion grant you according to your hearts gracious desires and fulfil all your counsels For your further comfort know that this God to whom ye are commended is an able friend a loving friend and faithful friend and therefore it is the greatest good I can do for you First God is the most able Friend To have a friend at Court is a great courtesie because such a one can command much but what is it then to have God for your friend who can command all things God is able to do more for you then you can ask or think He is thirty times called Almighty in Job He can do above all expressions beyond all apprehensions What cannot he do for you who made the whole World of nothing and hangs the massy earth upon nothing He is able to defend you from whatsoever is hurtful There is a Dialogue between an Heathen and a Jew after the Jews return from Captivity all Nations round about them being enemies to them The Heathen asked the Jew how he and his country men could hope for any safety because saith he every one of you is a silly sheep compassed about with fifty Wolves I but saith the Jew we are kept by such a Shepheard as can kill all those Wolves when he pleaseth God can with a breath a puff blast all the plots of his enemies and cause their persons to perish how happy are they then who have him for their strong hold The Egyptians had an Idol called Baalzephon Lord of the watch Tower whose Office was to fright such fugitive Jews as fled from their Masters but it seems he was a sleep when the Israelites marcht out of Egypt in a full body God is pleased to call himself the watchmen of his people but he is such a watchman as neither slumbereth or taketh those short sleeps by day nor sleepeth or hath any long sleep by night his eyes never close all his thoughts are waking thoughts for the good of his people If enemies come before them He is the Lord of Hosts If behind them he is their rere-ward It was said of the Palladium in Troy that whilst that Image remained there the City was impregnable and that till the Greeks found out a stratagem to steal that Idol away they could not take it Whatever fancy there was in that this is a truth that God is the defence of a people and while he is present they are safe Are your dangers bodily he can bear off those blows No evil can arrest you without leave from this King Al his Servants are Courtiers and thereby priviledged persons He can make an hedge about your selves your houses and all that ye have as about Job 1. and 10. and then neither men not Devils can make a gap for any to enter and injure you Hesiod speaks of thirty thousand Demy-Gods that were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Keepers of men The true God keepeth his in a Pavilion as a Prince his Favourite from the mischeif of others envy and malice Psa 31.20 If afflictions be near he will not be far off He ventures his fortune in the same bottom with his people When thou passest through the fire I will be with thee and through the waters it shall not come nigh thee Isa 43.2 If the Church be a burning bush it will not be consumed because God is in it As it is safe in the fire so also in the Water though it be a Vessel as that wherein the Disciples were sailing in a rough Sea tost up and down with tempestuous winds and boystrous Waves nay filled almost with waters and ready to sink yet there is no fear because Christ is in it for though he seem to sleep waiting onely for a fit opportunity to manifest and magnifie his power yet when the storm comes he will be sure to awake and with his word of command to cause a calm The Church as Hierom saith of Arcturus semper versatur nunquam mergitur is much tossed but never drowned God is in the midst of her she shall never be moved he shall defend her and that right early God is said to ride on the Heavens for his peoples help Deu. 33.26 27. That is either he will come speedily as the heavens move swiftly for his peoples deliverance he will not delay till it be too late but prevent them with his love Or he hath power and will command all his creatures to be serviceable to his Churches safety he rideth on the Heavens for thy help As a man that rides on an horse can command it or turn it and wind it with a curb and bit which way he pleaseth so can the Omnipotent God command the Heavens and all their Host for his peoples help Though enemies come with open mouth to swallow the Church up quickly yet she will be gravel in their teeth and should they ever take her down as the Whale did Jonah yet God will force them to vomit her up again and make them find by woful experience that she is too hard a morsel for the strongest persecutors stomachs to digest Are your fears spiritual God is able to be your defence It s probable your suspicions are great that you shall fall off or fall away The World is a slippery place but he is able to keep you from falling Jude v. 4. We are apt to fall on the right hand by its