his cause which truth hath been more then once attested by suffering saints so much of the spirit and wisdome of God hath been discovered in their answers that their adversaries and accusers have been non-pluss'd by illiterate men nay filled with astonishment Thus the Apostle Rom. 8. vers 36. For thy names sake we are led as sheep to the slaughter and what followeth why Vers 37. in all these things wee are more then Conquerours through him that loved us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we do over-overcome super-superamus if the cause be Gods we may trust our selves and it in Gods hand and possess our souls in patience when we have this assurance that not an hair of our head shall perish Luke 21. vers 18 19. Reas 3. Therefore God steppeth in to the help of his people in their greatest streights that he may give real testimony of his hearty good will unto them that they may know and their enemies also that they have a friend who will stick to them in the day of their distress affliction is the trial of affection Prov. 17. vers 17. A friend loveth at all times * Hebrew in all times that is in every opportune time in the fittest season now the timings of love the timings of acts of friendship addeth both worth and weight unto it Prov. 15. vers 23. A word spoken in season in his time saith the Hebrew how good is it how good is a word of comfort spoken to a drooping soul in a day of mourning How good is a word of peace spoken by the Lord to a wounded spirit and then when its wounds are fresh and bleeding can any heart but the heart of Experiences conceive what healings those words of Christ brought to the poor woman Luke 7. v. 48. thy sinnes are forgiven thee being spake at that season when her heart was poured out under a deep sence of sinne Who can calculate what revivings of spirit the saint-thief felt from that seasonable Promise To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Luke 23. ver 43. being so rightly timed even in ipso articulo mortis in the very moment before his death and when his conscience was both awakened and wounded with sinne Oh! surely the timeing of love doth marvellously add to the beauty of it and when is it so seasonable as in a day of distress A cup of cold water with one morsel of bread given to a weary and thirsty Traveller is more then a full meal at another time How pleasantly did Iael's milk relish upon Siserah's pallate when he was thirsty Judg. 4 vers 19. A small piece of silver given to a poor man when he wanteth to buy bread for his family is more then a great sum given at a time when his cupboard is full of bread Abrother is born for adversity and sure kindness shewed to a brother in a day of adversity speaketh up love with the loudest accents Now God reserveth his paternal love to such a time and then he unbosometh himself unto his people and at such a time his people read the love of God in the most legible Characters some drops of love taste sweeter then and are owned more then full draughts of love at another time Good Asaph experienced and acknowledged this Psal 73. vers 25 26. Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee None in heaven none on earth No God is above all in this good mans esteem How cometh it to pass that God hath such a glorious high throne in Asaphs heart Oh saith he there is good reason for it and you will say so too when you know what love and good will God hath shewed unto me Oh! I was in such a sinking and dispairing condition That my flesh and my heart failed me heart and hope and help and all were gone I but then The Lord was the strength of my heart my heart stayed upon God as upon a firm rock the Lord was unto me as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land and he is my portion for ever he hath put in security for my everlasting safety Oh behold what manner of love is this and therefore he draweth up this conclusion It is good for me to draw nigh to God to rowle upon God in all my streights These appearances of God do make his love so visible and glorious that Angels and men may read it and say Behold how he loveth them 4. Again God doth hereby more engage his people unto him Reason 4 he maketh them more his own getteth into their very hearts and setteth up his royal standard there There is nothing layeth stronger engagements upon an ingenious person then friendship in a day of adversity Jonathans interposures for David when Saul hunted for his life were so powerful upon Davids spirit that he wanted ways and words to express his sense of them his heart like a vessel of new wine sought for vent even when Jonathan was dead 2 Sam. 9.1 He putteth the question or rather maketh general proclamation Is their yet any left of the house of Saul What Is David afraid of a Corrival in the Kingdom Would he cut of the whole family of Saul to secure the crown upon his own head No this is not the ground of his enquiring but That I may shew him kindness not a word of revenge notwithstanding the hatred and hostility of Saul their father But why kindness Why he explaineth himself For Jonathan sake and again he reneweth his enquiry vers 3. To which Ziba replieth Jonathan hath yet a son who is lame of his feet A son of Jonathan that 's well but he is lame yea lame of his feet and so serviceable neither in Court nor Campe fit neither to stand before a Prince nor to march in the head of an Army No matter I will shew the kindness of God unto him and vers 7. when the lame son of Jonathan is brought David said unto him Fear not it seemeth the remembrance of Sauls cruelty caused a trembling upon his Grand-sons spirit therefore David meets him with a cordial at the very door Fear not for I will surely shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy fathers sake Oh! Jonathan was my friend a dear friend he hazarded his own life to save mine and therefore I am obliged to shew kindness to him even in his posterity in like manner the hearts of Gods people are drawn out unto him under the sence of great deliverances See how Moses and Israel were up in their spirits unto the Lord when they were now brought off from Egypt and beheld their cruel Taskmasters quackened in the red Sea Exod. 15. ver 2. Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song c. The Lord is my strength and my song and he is become my salvation What then Oh! He is my God and I will prepare him an habitation God shall keep house in my heart there shall be
with righteousness Isa 1. vers 25.26 27. and let it not be ill resented that I intreat you to consider how small your springs were which are now spread into broad Rivers how Jacob-like the passage of some have been over this Jordan Gen. 32. vers 10. How much of truth there is in Hannah's Song 1 Sam. 2. vers 7 8. And in Davids Psalm Psal 113. vers 7 8. one ecchoing to another like the Seraphims in Isaiah The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich he bringeth low and lifteth up he raiseth up the poor out of the dust and lifteth up egentem the needy from the dunghil to set them among Princes to make them inherit the throne of glory As David Agathocles Numa Maximinianus c. and that ye would alwayes keep a fresh sense of these three Considerations upon your spirits you that have owned the cause of God and acted in the work of this generation 1. Consideration Cousider how eminent and glorious the appearances of God have been unto you how the arm of God hath been mightily out-stretched for you when you met with opposition to blood and wasting in the Land and that from a numerous and inraged enemy How often the Lord defeated the plots befooled the Councels and broke the power and Armies of them who lifted up themselves against you and Amalek-like fought you in Rephidim when you were upon your march through the Wilderness to the land of promise and who were as Samaritans among you hindering you by force of Armes and weakning your hands by false reports when you were building at least repairing the house of the Lord and the walls of our Jerusalem and yet in the things wherein they dealt proudly God was above them and the same God hath by unparalleld providence kept the sword still in your hands and you still upon the seat of Justice Consid 2. Consider how the Lord hath not joyned you in Copartnership with those that were your enemies dividing the government betwixt you and them which surely not long since would have been owned as a great priviledge by you and as a great mercy by us but the Lord hath put the sole Government of the Nation and the ordering of affaires into your hands You have seen Maries Magnificat made good The Lord hath put down the mighty from their seats and exalted them of low degree Luke 1. vers 52. Are not some of you those of low degree whom the Lord hath exalted to the seat of the mighty Are not you I hope some of you are Eliakims the servants of the Lord whom he hath chosen in Shebna's room Hath he not cloathed you with their Robes strengthened you with their Girdles committed their Government into your hands and made you fathers to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah Isa 22. vers 20 21. Oh that this might be layed to heart and the goodness of the Lord unto you in it that the abuses of the former Government may be remedied not revived that the pride and pomp which was onely like that of King Agrippa and Bernice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a meer phantasie Act. 25. vers 23. a vain shew all worldly pomp and state being no better of former Governours may be lamented not looked after by you may be mourned for not medled with by you the righteousness of Christ being your Robe his cross being your Crown his Gospel being your glory and that with Nehemiah that good Tirshatha you may not onely procure the peace but prevent the oppression of your people that your loynes may be lighter than the little singers of your Predecessors and that you may speak in your deportments the words of Nehemiah chap. 5. vers 14 15. From the time that I was appointed to be Governour in the land of Judah even twelve years I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the Governòur but the former Governours which were before me were chargeable unto the people Yea even their servants bare rule over the people but so did not I because of the fear of God yea also I continued in the work of this wall neither bought we any land Consid 3. Consider how not Magistrates only but Magistraalso hath been strucken at by men whose-spirits and principles were against both Some of whom it may be have sate in Councel with you and have formerly ventured far to lay the Key of Government upon you and upon themselves but since so strangely are they metamorphosed they have hated it may be your persons and opposed your Government so that you may take up Davids complaint Psal 41. vers 9. Mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted which did eat of my bread hath lift up his heel against me compared with Psal 55. vers 11 12 13. Mine equal my guide my acquaintance we took sweet counsell together and walked to the house of God in company Oh! let these and many other considerations of like import dwell upon your spirits and often meditate that though attempts have been made against your persons and places yet the Lord hath secured you in your present standing Oh then Watch ye stand fast in the faith quit your selves like men be strong 1 Cor. 16. vers 13. Oh remember what opportunities ye once had that had ye acted up unto them and vigorously improved the advantages ye once had much of that evil which in later years hath sprung up might have been buried under ground and the smell of the Nation would have been as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed Gen. 27. vers 27. Yet now there is hope in Israel concerning these things may we not hopefully conclude that the Lord hath thoughts of peace and not of trouble towards us Doth not concurrence of the many providences hint good will from the Lord unto us Is it nothing that no weapon which is formed against us doth prosper Sâ—ndercoms Design that no designe takes place no Mine takes fire no plot how secret soever ripeneth without discovery witness the late project of blood and murther against the Protectors person like the old Powder-plot detected in the very nick of time when the fire-work was prepared and placed and the match lighted that all attempts to involve the Nation into war and trouble have been dashed in peeces that still the Nation enjoyes peace and the Gospel-in peace Stir up all your strength for God rise up in all your might for the interest of Zion and for the honour of the Lord of Hosts who hath carried you through all those great changes which your eyes have beheld and hath still kept the helme of Government in your hands notwithstanding all those storms which have been upon the Nation and hath now put a new opportunity into your hands the Lord make you magnanimous and unanimous in the work of the Lord that yet a blessed Reformation may be brought forth by your means that so the people of this land may be known
their own hearts so to give their hearts vent like full vessels in frequent mentioning their preservations unto others it is a commendable practice there is much of God in it It hath the seal of the best men it hath much in it that speaks men to be good and that makes good men much the better See the practice of the Lords people Psa 78.3 4. Which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us we will not hide them from their children shewing to the generation to come or as some translation reads it But to the generation to come we will shew the praises of the Lord his power also and the wonderful works that he hath done parallel to this is that Isa 63.7 I will mention the loving kindnesses of the Lord and the promises of the Lord according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us and the great goodness to the house of Israel Memorare faciam Azkir I will improve my care and interest that the mercies of the Lord may be kept up in the minds and memories of his people so the Apostle 2 Cor. 1.8 9 10. We would not brethren have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia that we were pressed out of measure above our strength insomuch that we dispaired even of life But we had the sentence of death in our selves that we should not trust in our selves but in God which raised the dead who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us What a hystory of his personal dangers and deliverances doth he make 2 Cor. 11.23 to the end That to commemorate and communicate the mercies of God is our duty appears because it is of divine establishment it is the appointment of God himself he hath not left it Arbitrary nor is it a meer humane constitution but it is the institution of the great Law-giver so that to fail in the duty is a transgression of his law and fastens guilt upon the soul And sure 't is the Saints wisdom to take heed of sin and to comply with the whole minde of God Deut. 32.7 8 9. observe also Psal 78.5 6. He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel which he commanded our fathers Here is a law established and a commandment given to inforce the observance of it here 's the people pointed out upon whom the obligation of this law taketh hold and here 's the explanation of this law what it imports to wit That they should not hide but shew forth the wonderful works which the Lord hath done and that not onely to their brethren whose lives might probably be finished as soon as theirs and so the remembrance of those great things might dy also but to their children who according to the course of nature might live to celebrate the memorial of them when their carcasses were mouldred unto dust As the great works of God are not usually the work of one generation onely but begun in one and compleated in another so God would not have them be the wonder of one generation onely he would not have one age wear out the remembrance of those great deliverances upon which he hath laid out so much of his wisdom power mercy goodness justice c. Therefore their children must know them nay the children which were yet unborn must hear of them nay it must not stay here but even they must stand up and declare them to their children and so a careful remembrance must be kept up of mercies by a succession of ages until time be swallowed up into eternity much of the Passeovers institution had an eye to perpetuate the memoriall of Israels Exodus out of Egypt so the golden pot of Manna the twelves stones set up at the brink of Jordan and many other things were the appointment of God as standing records of some glorious mercy which fully speak forth the mind of God that he would have his people report his acts of kindness and good will unto them O then be exhorted to the practice of this duty the fruits it bringeth forth are very precious 1. Fruit. It will bring a Saint into more acquaintance with God the soul hereby comes to a more experimental knowledge of God when he beholds the banner of love displayed over him and considers those precious attributes of mercy goodness wisdom and power which were engaged for him in the day of his distress Oh! this begets more heart-familiarity and makes a servant of the Lord more earnest in his enquiries after God as it is among men when a man is brought into great straights either for estate or life and a stranger takes pity on him and through many difficulties procures safety and diliverance for him Oh how great a sence of this kindness will be upon the spirit of an ingenuous person how will he be often speaking of it and the more he thinks and speaks of it the more earnestly will he desire to know the man that hath done such great things for him Just so it will be with a good man when he hath been in a necessitous condition knew not what to do nor which way to turn him Refuge failed him no man cared for his soul he looked on his right hand and beheld but there was no man that would know him as was Davids case Psal 142.4 Nay farther his brethren were far from him his acquaintance utterly estranged his kinsfolks failed him his familiar friends forgot him his own servants counted him for a stranger Nay his breath was strange to his own wife as was Jobs case Job 19.13 14 15 16 17. when a Saint hath been brought to these exigents and then the Lord hath come in brought him off with his own arm hath brought salvation to him Oh what a sence of mercy will this beget How will a Saint awak his glory to speak of this How will he bewail his ignorance of God and follow on to know the Lord How will he press after a most inward acquaintance with the Lord who hath done such great things for him when Moses was fled into Midian and beheld the flaming bush on mount Horeb Exod. 3.3 He said I will turn aside and see this great sight why the bush is not burnt he contemplated the power and omnipotency of God in it and what farther meaning the Lord had in that great miracle and when the Lord had spake with and commissioned him to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt he enquires into the name of that God who proffers so far on the behalf of an afflicted people vers 13. and would not sit down untill God had told him that his name was I AM THAT I AM or I will be what I will be Eheich being the same with Jah and Jehovah which imply First Gods perfect absolute and simple being in and of himself Secondly Mr. Leigh 2. book of his body of Diuinity page
133. Such a being which giveth being unto other things and upon whom they depend Thirdly Such a God as is true and constant in his promises ready to make good whatsoever he hath spoken nay when Moses had been upon the mount with God forty days ank forty nights And the Lord had spoke unto him face to face as a man speaketh to his friend Exod. 33.11 yet having experienced so much the power and wisdom of God and having brought forth the children of Israel by so many signs and wonders out of Egypt and all by the immediate commands and communications of God himself he could not rest in that knowledge of God he had already attained but goes higher vers 18. And beseecheth God to shew him his glory he would not stay a little until he came to heaven which could not be long his glass being now almost run out but he would have a full vision of God in all his glory here he would know all and a great deal more then frail man was capable to know of that God from whom he and his people had received such glorious such eminent deliverances Oh sure if people did more observe and count over the mercies of God Personal and National there would not be such a dedolent ignorance of God as there is God would not be such a stranger in our hearts houses towns and countries Ah how many houses may a man come into nay how many towns may he rid through and meet with very few that know any thing of God to purpose or that can give any considerable account of him though his appearances of late have been so glorious amongst us Oh that of Israel is sadly true of England Isa 1.3 The Ox knoweth his owner and the Ass his masters crib but Israel hath not known my people hath not understood The Lord heal this great ignorance and pardon it and quicken up all to keep up a sense of those great things God hath done for us 2. Fruit. This frequent discoursing of mercies healing redeeming quickning and soul-converting mercies c. will more endear God unto the Saints it will unite the heart into a more holy affection unto God Cant. 8. vers 5. When the Church came out of the Wilderness leaning upon her Beloved when Christ was with her in the Desart and brought her forth from a wilderness where she was at loss in her self which way to go and what to do how to get her wants supplied how to have her life secured how to get her feet directed and how to free her self from those briars and thorns wherewith she was intangled and Christ had then come in had born her up upon everlasting Arms and had brought her forth into the plain field Oh how is she affected with this at what a pitch of love doth her spirit soar how doth she press upon Christ how would she get into the heart of Christ and bring Christ into hers vers 6. she puts up this request unto him Set me as a seal upon thy heart for love is strong as death which conquers all men jealousie is cruel as the grave which spares none and is never satisfied the coals whereof are coals of fire which have a most vehement flame many waters cannot quench love neither can the floods drown it if a man would give all the substance of his house for love it would be utterly contemned What a Pyramid of love is here What an unquenchable flame What a pearl of great price is here and what is the fuel of this great fire What oyle doth kindle it and what preserves it Surely a strong and lively sense of Christs great affection to her when in the wilderness So were our thoughts and discoursings more upon wilderness-grace wilderness-convictions wilderness-illightenings wilderness-preservations and wilderness-deliverances our hearts would be more heated with holy affections towards God then they are Oh sure If there be any water at the bottome of the Well this Bucket will draw it up if any love in the heart sense of mercies will bring it forth and the more we discourse of mercies the greater will be our sense of them Nay farther a serious pondering of and a savoury discoursing over mercies received will bring forth a strong affiance in the people of God it will marvellously scatter those fears and desponding thoughts which too often seize upon the best in a day of distress and will excellently prevail with the heart to bring it off from creature-shiftings and seekings to stay upon God Tribulation worketh pationce and patience experience we should never so fully experience the power providence goodness and faithfulness of God if we should alwayes sail upon a quiet sea if our estate was ever prosperous if the scale of adversity were not sometimes the heavier but when we are cast upon rough and rocky seas when we are brought into streights and know not what to do why then we see what a God can do what bowels mercies and tender-heartedness there is in a good God toward us Alas men as men and the best men are but men sometimes and in some cases are apt to fancy God to be like themselves as streight-hearced and incompassionate as themselves to persons in distress but now when an adverse condition hath put it to the trial then they have found it otherwise That as high as the heaven is above the earth so great is his mercy toward them that fear him Psal 103. ver 11. Nay as the heavens are higher than the earth so are Gods wayes wayes of mercy to his afflicted ones higher than mans wayes And his thoughts thoughts of goodness and good will to his oppressed ones above mans thoughts Isa 55. vers 9. Now this experience workketh hope hope of succour and relief from the Lord in an evill day this works an holy boldness in the Saints makes them lift up their heads and hearts with comfort and say Supplies will come Deliverance will come we will stand still and wait for the salvation of our God They rowl themselves upon God when new troubles do arise quiet their spiritswith an expectancy of help from the Lord their sure friend their tried friend their good friend and in an high way of beleeving speaks Davids language Why art thou cast down O my sonl why art thou so disquieted within me hope thou in God for mercy will come supplies will come I have found the Lord to be a good God a faithful friend that never failed me a present help in the needful time of trouble Indeed men may fail as not being able to help but God is Omnipotent he can do abundantly above what we can ask or think or men may fail as being wearied out with often helping I but the everlasting God the Lord the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not neither is weary Again man may fail as not knowing the straits we are in or how to bring us out I but our heavenly Father knoweth the
things we stand in need of and how to deliver his out of every temptation Lastly man may fail being changed in his uffection unto us I but there is no variableness nor shadow of turning with God he loves with an everlasting love These Considerations do caray on the Saints with an holy triumph in their saddest pressures and they say with David I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God Psal 43. vers 5. I might multiply Scripture presidences abundantly upon this head but that it is done already in another place Oh friends gather up your experiences and lay them by you among your choisest treasures you will finde them to be singularly useful to you in an evill time and to others also your experiences being faithfully reported to them will comfort quiet and beget holy affiances in them when they are brought into greatest streights Psal 34. vers 2. My soul shall make her boast of God the humble shall hear thereof andbe glad Rejoyce in tribulation This was the end proposed by the onely wise God Psal 78. vers 7. why his people should shew forth his marvellous works namely that their posterity might be taught that excellent lesson of living by faith that they might set their hopes on God that they might beleevingly expect help from a faithful from an Almighty God Fruit 4. A lively sense of mercy received leads the soul on in Gods wayes it is a notable friend to Religion and provokes unto love and good works That soul thrives best heaven-ward which is most in the sense and serious meditation of the goodness of the Lord this will carry on the soul amain for God What a gracious frame was Jacobs spirit in when he had the lively apprehensions of rich mercies and great deliverances upon it Gen. 35. vers 2 3. Jacob said unto his houshold and all that were with him put away the strange gods that are among you and be clean and change your garments and let us arise and go to Bethel and I will make there an Altar unto God and why to Bethel or why make an Altar unto God Oh there is good reason for it He answered me in the day of my distress and was with me in the way which I went There is very much in this passage and much to the present purpose and therefore I shall intreat your stay a while to observe the carriage of this good man there being much teaching in it and that in many particulars 1. Observe from hence That Family-reformation lyes by way of special care and duty upon the Governour of it The Master of a Family is vested with authority from the Lord to command the exercise of Religion in his own house he may authoritatively act within his own precincts and that for God It will not answer the demands of God nor satisfie conscience when awakened that he hath walked in the wayes of God himself and kept up close and closest communion with the Lord if he voluntarily connive at the wickedness of his family and leave them to their own carnal liberty in the things of God he ought to put to his own hand and move the wheels of Religion in his family and command his houshold to fear the Lord God himself gave this testimony of Abraham whose children we are if beleevers and ought to walk in the footsteps of his faith I know him that he will command his children and his houshold after him that they shall keep the way of the Lord Gen. 18. vers 19. ut faciant that they shall do it that they shall keep close to the way and act up to the commands of God It is too much the fault of Family-governours though good to slacken their family care in matters of Religion the best are too remiss in this point and if dealt withall what is the answer of many I hope my family walks orderly I see no ill carriages among them I do not observe a spirit of opposition in any of them to the wayes of God I allow them not in any vicious course they have no command nor countenance from me in any wayes that are evill This is something and more than a great many can say and speak in truth but this comes short of the pattern here proposed besides in matters that relate to your own interest you will see them do your own business you will often stand by them when they dress your horses it may be when they feed your hawks and your hounds ye will observe whether your worldly affairs prosper in their hands ye will follow them into the fields and meadows and see that your own work be done and that seasonably and throughly now why do you not see to the work of the Lord also if a groom be wanting out of your stable ye will misse him and ask for him nay if he give you not a good account ye will chide him or turn him away but when do ye misse him at the worships of God he may come late or not at all to the publick ordinances or family duties and hardly be mist or if mist get off upon easie terms a soft reproof will serve the turn like that of Ely's to his sons 1 Sam. 2.23 24. Why do you such things and do no more so Oh this is a Nationall fault and I fear there is much wrath bound up in it ye see another manner of spirit in Abraham he commands both children and servants to keep the way of the Lord I question not but ye use the imperative mood in your own and why not in the Lords work Ye are good Gramarians for your own and why not for the Lord's interest Masters may in civility entreat à nd gently treat their servants but if they refuse and be stublorn both the authority of a Master and the duty of a Christian obligeth them to command in the case of religion and if commands prevail not David's practice is a worthy pattern Psal 101. ver 7. He that worketh deceit shall not tarry in my house he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight now to defraud God and their own souls is the greatest Mirmah the highest peice of cousenage if they pack for any fraud let them pack for that Surely if they do not couzen you in temporalls they make you go much to back-harrow in spirituals they steal away much of your comfort hinder much of that sweet communion which ye and your family might keep up with God if they do not set fire on your houses they make the wrath of God impendent over them for the curse of God which is the most dreadfull scarefire hangeth over the house where the swearer dwelleth and how few families can be found out wherein a swearer dwells not Oh that such a spirit of reformation in the power of it was upon all Governours of families as was here upon Jacob Oh that they were men of resolution like unto Joshua who resolvedly
and lift up the shield of faith to receive and quench his fiery darts by considering 1. That the same afflictions that is temptations are accomplished in your brethren that dwell in the world you are not single in this temptation though that is much the thoughts of tempted ones Satan doth not fight you with a new weapon that lately past the forge 2. That you stand related to and are in covenant with that God who is the God of all grace who hath all weapons ready for war in his Armory and can supply a tempted Saint with those graces suddainly and fully which he stands in need of 3. That your relation to the God of all grace is founded upon Jesus Christ and evidenced by your effectual calling for you are called into his eternal glory by Jesus Christ not unto implying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that grace gives the soul an entrance into glory effectual vocation is a call from heaven into heaven the soul is taken up into heaven from the time of its new birth as to the certainty of it and safe keeping unto it 4. That your suffering condition will not be long it is the Lord not Satan who times your temptations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you shall suffer but a while sharpe they are and therefore termed sufferings yet but short therefore phrased awhile hence Rev. 2.10 You shall have tribulation ten dayes that is your imprisonment shall be short 5. That your temptations shall be in order to your establishment the God of all grace will make you perfect establish strengthen settle you your sufferings shall be in order to your setling your temptation in order to your consolation parallel to that 2 Cor. 4.17 Our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory O then do but in the hour of temptation draw up the main body of your experiences and evidences of Gods love in Christ unto you and Satan cannot hurt you though his main battail be against you though he may pluck of some rath grapes he shall never destroy your Vintage though he may pick up some scattered ears he shall never carry away your harvest and though he may trouble you in your passage to heaven he shall never keep you out of heaven what a day of comfort is this unto the foul 3. Are you summoned by the King of terrors do his batteries play upon you are there breaches made in your mud-walls is there a mine sprung and your life in all likelihood to be blown up Why the lively sense and evidence of grace received will like a cordial water warm your hearts and stay up your spirits at such an hour as this is that light of life within you if heeded will clear up the counsels of God unto you as to your after and eternal well-being it will convince you of Gods soveraignty conquer your renitency and make you bow head and heart with much submission to the father of spirits this will ballance and ballast your souls too and poise them evenly between hope and fear that neither shall be inordinate and that in two particulars 1. Where grace sits at the helm of Government in the soul it brings the unruly passions into subjection to the divine pleasure and preserves the Saints from over-much hoping of life seeing their dayes are determined and their bounds set and antidotes them against overmuch fearing of death seeing the number of their mouths are with God Job 14.5 6. the indefinite is equivalent to an universal so that it was not Jobs single case but the common lot of all mankind and therefore you may safely argue that all the rare feasts which Paracelsus professed to do for the lengthening of mens lives the use of all remedies cannot make you out-live nor the missing of them cause you to fall short of those bounds which God in his secret and irreversible decrees hath set you This consideration will much quiet your hearts in God when you have the sentence of death within your selves it will excellently prevent that distemper which is an evil that I have seen even amongst the Saints of God viz. an over-eager desire of life and a greedy catching at any hopes thereof even to some neglect of that preparation and those precedaneous duties which the seriousness of death and eternity do call for at their hands not that I condemne a modest and humble desire of life or a sober use of means and medicines in order thereunto onely propound this as a cure of that heart-distemper mentioned and to perswade my self and others to say with David Here I am let the Lord do to me as seemeth good unto him 2 Sam. 15.26 2. Your gathering up your experiences of converting renewing adopting and accepting grace in Jesus Christ will fill your souls with ravishing comforts upon an everlasting account even then when your nearest friends fill your heads with weepings sighings and sad lamentings as seeing your dying breath draw faint and short and other symptomes of death report your change to be very near you will then gather up your spirits as old Jacob did his feet and not be afraid to speak with your enemy in the gate the gate of eternity Oh grace improved will shew you your names written in the Lambs book of life will give you some foretasts of those joys which are in the presence of God will lead you in a vision of the Spirit into your fathers house that you may see those mansion places of glory which are prepared for you and will open your eyes that you may see the Angels of God those blessed ministering spirits waiting at your pillows to waft your souls into the everlasting embraces of your dear Redeemer that you may say with the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.1 to still the sobbings of your sad relations We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building with God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens Dr. Kendall in his answer to Mr. John Goodwin p. 53. That with Moses you may dye upon the mount of vision and with David full of riches and honor in a spiritual sense Oh this consideration will make death-tokens love-tokens and represent death as a messenger from your dear Jesus who brings the glad tidings of everlasting life if you fall by an arrow yet is that arrow shot by the hand of God in more love then Jonathans was to David if by a stroke of the pestilence yet that pestilence is no Plague but somewhat a harsher plaster of all miscries whatever be the fury of the disease it is but a chariot of fire to carry you to heaven None of the blessed Fathers ever complained of the untowardness of the way so happy are they in being seized of their inheritance among the Saints in light though they were hurried thither through the darkest valley of the shaddow of death Thus that learned Author