is still to seek in every difficulty and gone in every new strait whereas hee who laies up Experiences and can make use of them feed upon them hee shall be inabled thereby to depend upon God in any strait and difficulty whatsoever Thus you see David God delivered me out of the Paw of the Lyon and out of the paw of the Bear and hee will deliver mee out of the hand of this Philistim David feeds on the Lyon And because he hath been my helper therefore under the shadow of his wings will I rejoyce Now in the passing of this duty of dependence upon you I find two things to bee great enemies to it which be you aware of 1. Beware of Obliterating the Notions of God 2. Beware of burying the remembrance of his works 1. Beware of Obliterating the Notions of God Had Moses seen God and had the same Notions and apprehensions of God at the Rock that he had at the Red sea which was a far greater difficulty then to fetch water out of the rock he could have trusted in God for that as well as for the former But those thoughts and conceptions of God were for the present darkened and over-shadowed with Passion and therefore hee could not trust God then So if David had had the same apprehensions of God when he counterfeited himself Mad for fear of Abimelech the King of Gath or when he was pursued by Saul and burst forth into these words I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul which he had at other times as when he saith Ps 27.1 2 3. The Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear the Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid when the wicked mine enemies and my foes came upon me to eat up my flesh they stumbled and fell Though an host pitched against mee my heart should not bee afraid though war bee raised against mee In this will I be confident Or when hee saith to Saul concerning Goliah God that delivered mee out of the Paw of the Lyon c. hee will deliver mee from this uncircumcised Philistim Or when hee saith God is our hope and strength a help in trouble ready to bee found therefore will not wee fear though the Earth bee moved though the mountains bee hurled into the depth of the Sea Hee would not have so fainted in these like or lesse exigences So had Abraham had the same apprehensions of God when hee feigned his wife to bee his Sister which hee had when God made him the Promise of a Sonne or when hee went to sacrifice his Son hee could have trusted and depended on God in this câ—se as well as in the former this difficulty being far short of the other So did Gods people see God at all times as they do at some times they would then be able to depend on God and trust in him in any cases though never so difficult but if they lose the apprehensions and conceptions of God and suffer Passion and fear to raise up a cloud to overshadow and darken their understandings they shall never bee able to beleeve and depend upon God in any difficulty and therefore first hold up the Notions of God of his power wisdom mercy and the like 2 Beware of burying the remembrance of his former works Psal 78.6 7. They were commanded to tell the wondrous works of God to their children that the generations to come might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God Intimating that the best way to keep up their hope and dependance on God was to hold up the remembrance of what hee had done Hee that forgets the one will not be able to do the other And therefore you see it set down as a reason of the Disciples distrust Their hearts were hardned They forgat the miracles of the Loaves Mark 6.52 Intimating that it they had remembred that they had not now been to seek in this present difficulty And indeed the want of the remembrance of former mercies doth cause us to distrust and hinders us in our dependence on God for present and future straits whereas on the contrary holding up the remembrance of former will inable us to hold out in present and future distresses You cannot think his arm is shortned you cannot think God cannot nor can you think God will not that he hath helped before and will help no more for mercy is tyed to the Church by covenant Wicked men may injoy a mercy to day but they can have no assurance to have another to morrow because mercy is not tied to them by Promise or by Covenant But now mercy is tyed to the Church by Covenant by Promise Hee hath tyed his mercy to us by his Truth Psal 25. All his ways are mercy and truth not only mercy but truth All God doth is but Performance of Promises wee hold his mercy by Tenor of truth and may challenge mercy by vertue of his truth And therefore David could say Psal 23.6 surely mercy and goodness shall follow mee all the days of my life Wicked men cannot but the Saints may say Mercy shall follow mee all the days of my life Not in this or that particular but in every passage of Providence as the water followed the children of Israel the rock followed them 1 Cor. 10.4 from one station to another as long as they wandred in that dry and thirsty wilderness 5. Use Doth God do wonders for his Church Then it is good being on the Churches side They have a God with them that can do wonders for them what though our enemys have skill power strength and multitude yet we have a God who is stronger than the strongest wiser then the wisest who can over-power and overplot our enemys who alone can do wonders for us As Plutarch said of the Scythians that though they had no musick nor vines yet they had Gods among them So whatever is wanting to a people if they have God with them there is a plentifull supply of all You may set God against all and hee can weigh down all advantages When Charls the Fift Emperor of Germany sent his Herald with challenge again Francis the First King of France Hee commanded the Herald to proclaim him with all his Titles Styling him Emperor of Germany King of Castile King of Aragon of Naples and of Scicile Francis commanded his Herald to proclaim as often King of France as the other had titles of honor by all his Countries Implying that France alone was more worth than all the Countrys the other had So when our adversaries do glory in their strength in their skill in their power and multitudes let us oppose God against them whom they oppose and there is enough to weigh down what ever advantage the arm of flesh can have against us we have a God with us whiles wee are with him with his cause with his truth And hee can do wonders for us 6. Use Doth
shall come to the Church with full tide and stream of lust lifting up his head puffing at God glorying in his sin and shame Nay perhaps Come with purpose to contemn to scorn the Dispenser And to see this man return home by the Ministery of a weak man wounded slain laid upon his back crying out with the Publican God bee merciful to mee a sinner or with Paul Lord what wilt thou have mee to do I am willing to do any thing to suffer any thing c. Here is a wonder well may wee say in the voice of the Prophet What ails thee thou Jordan that thou art driven back Thou sea that thou fleddest And as the birth of a Christian so 2 In the life 2. The life of a Christian in grace is wonderful It is a mysterious life A life hid from the world for 1. The seat of this life is hid and secret 2. The principle and spring of this life is secret and mysterious 3. The Nourishment mysterious 4. The conveyance of nourishment 5. The comforts of this life All wonders Nothing in Grace but wonders 3 In Perseverance 3 When God shall hold up a mans heart to fear him to seek him to beleeve in him in times of darknesse and temptations Here is a wonder All the workings of Faith are wonders but especially in temptations and Desertions 1 That a man by Faith should conquer a troop of fears silence an Army of doubts answer a throng of disputes and carnal-reasonings overcome all the powers of darknesse to chase ten thousands Devils before him which all the power of earth cannot do Here is a wonder 2 That a man by Faith should hold up his head under the burden and guilt of many thousand sins the lest of which would sink the soul if Faith did not cast all this upon the Lord. 3 That a man by faith should bee a rock in the midst of a storm and stand immoveable when the winds blow and the billows rage when heaven and earth seem to come together as you see David did Psal 27.1 2 3. and Psal 46.1 2 3. I will not fear though the earth be removed though the mountains bee hurled into the midst of the Sea 4 When God shall keep alive a little spark of grace in the midst of a sea of corruptions hold up his own work in the mids of all Counter-workings and oppositions of sinne and Satan Here is a wonder 5. When God shall make a man willing to sacrifice his goods liberty life rather than to wound his Conscience and offend his God This is a wonder which without the power of God could not bee wrought 6. VVhen God shall bear up the spirits of the Saints with joy and comfort in the absence of all created comforts as you see Hab. 3.17 Although the fig-tree shall not blossome nor shall fruit bee in the vine c yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation Nay in the presence of all created discomforts to stand up and rejoyce under the frowns menaces scorns scourges prisons persecutions of men imbrace the stake kiss the chains smile on the terrors of death rejoyce with Stephen under a shower of stones Here are Wonders 7 When God doth turn all the afflictions nay all the sins of his Church and People to the good of his People to humble them more cast them out of themselves cast them upon the hold of Faith the exercise of Prayer make them more watchful more careful more exact Here 's a wonder Secondly God works wonders for the body for the outward condition of the Church for the good of his people 2 Gods Wonders for the Body in regard of the outward man 1 God doth often restrain the wickedness and malice of men against his Church that though they bee never so full of Hell and fury yet they shall not bee able to vent it against the Church and People of God Thus you see it was with Rabshakeh when hee came with purpose to destroy Jerusalem yet God put his hook into his nose and his bridle into his lips Hee restrained him as you see in 2 King 19.28 32 33. And this made David to say when the Princes took counsel together to take away his life My times are in thy hands Psal 31.15 Though they bee never so full of malice their designs bee never so bloody yet my times are in thy hands they shall not bee able to hurt mee though they consulted yet hee knew they could not act God could restrain them God hath the Devil much more wicked men in a chain and they cannot go a jot further than hee gives them chain and that shall bee no further than for his own Glory and the good of his Church as hee tells us Psal 76.10 Surely the wrath of man shall turn to thy Praise and the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain Though wicked men bee never so full of wrath and fury against the Church yet they shall vent no more than what shall turn to the Glory of God nay the Praise of God so much as his People shall have cause to praise him for The remainder of wrath though never so full hee shall restrain They shall burst before they shall vent any of it to the hurt of his People And this is a great wonder His setting bounds to the fury of men as hee doth to the raging of the Sea Hitherto shalt thou go and no further restraining the malice of men against the Church is as great a wonder as to see a Milstone hang in the Air and not fall down 2 God doth often calm and still the raging fury of wicked men against his Church and People Hee doth not only bound them but still them And thus you see it was with Esau Hee came forth with rage and bloody-purposes against Jacob to bee revenged on him for all But you see how God calmed him In stead of killing him hee falls upon his neck and kisses him It was God that did it And therefore it is said Gen. 33.10 That Jacob saw the face of Esau as the face of God It was not Esau but God that hee saw in Esaus face Hee saw God appearing in the wonderful changing and calming of his spirit who came with such fury against him And this was the fruit of his wrestling and praying the night before 3. VVhen God doth carry on great purposes with weak and contemptible Power makes weak means successful to do great purposes and effects This is a wonder and a wonder God often doth as you see in Asa 2 Chron. 14.11 It is nothing with thee to help whether with many or with them that have no Power As the Mariner can turn about the greatest ship with the smallest Rudder So God who ever sits at the Helm and steeres and governs all can bring about his own purposes by weakest means As hee brought Jeremy out of the dungeon with old rotten rags good
is the stage on which God will act all his Wonders and it cannot bee long before this frame bee dissolved and this stage bee taken down If Saint Johns time were the last hour surely ours are the last minute But yet God will not take down the stage till all hath been acted which hee hath ingaged himself to do for his Church Now I say God hath ingaged himself to destroy that man of sinne to make his Church glorious Read at your leasure how much God hath promised to do for his Church in Isa 60. throughout Glorious Promises which though they had a gradual accomplishment in the first Preaching of the Gospel yet not so fully as the Words there hold out which yet must bee made good and therefore it is yet to be expected Hitherto the Church hath been buried up under reproach scorn and persecution hitherto sufferings Prisons Fires stakes they have been the Portion of the Church As yet though we have had our Lucida intervalla our Respites and Breathings The Church of God hath been like Noahs Ark tossing and fluctuating upon the Billows and devouring waves of troubles and Persecutions And the Saints under the Altar the blood of the slain crys How long Lord holy and true though they say How long yet they say Holy and true They give God the glory of his truth and faithfulnesse Though hee defer the accomplishment of what he hath promised yet hee is true of his promise And hath God ingaged himself to make his Churches glorious and that before the end of all things And is the day so neer to an End And is God faithfull is hee true of his Promise why this may something perswade with us that notwithstanding the present oppositions and troubles God is now comming in with mercy and deliverance to his Church and People And God hath not left us without home-hopes that the work is begun That mighty Spirit of Prayer which God hath poured out upon his People That increase of light and knowledge the weakning of the man of sinne in those two Limbs whereon hee hath stood so strongly Germany and Spain that numerous increase of converts within these few years All which are fore-running signs of the Rising Condition of the Church God doth not use to beget Children to the Murderers nor to increase the number of his People to fatten the sword of the enemy Indeed when God hath intended to bring judgements upon a People Hee hath taken his People away hee hath lessened the number as hee tells us Isa 57.1 Hee takes them away from the evil to come but hee never increaseth them against judgements As the lessening presageth judgement so when he increaseth them it is a presage of mercy Every one that is now brought in every Convert we have is a Pledge to this Nation that God will nor destroy this Nation Nay it is an evidence that God will do great things for us Act. 7.17 It is said When the time of Promise drew nigh the people grew and multiplyed in Egypt Their growing was a sign of their rising their increase discovered the promised mercy was not far off And these are the hopeful signs that the day of the Churches redemption draws nigh and is even at the doors As Christ said of the fig-tree when you see the Fig-tree bud and put forth her leaves know that Summer is nigh So when you see these things you may know that the Churches Redemption is at hand God is risen upon his throne and will not sit down if our sins do not make him repent till hee have made his Church glorious in the earth And now having told you my thoughts and that which perswades with me to hope that God will do a wonder for us yet I must tell you again that you may not bee discouraged with the sad appearance of things that wee may suffer many throws many pangs much opposition and perhaps some bloud before these things God will save us From trouble by trouble He will bring us through a Sea and through the wildernesse unto Canaan Yet I will say as Joshuah did Numb 14.8 If the Lord hath any delight in us hee will bring us into this Land God seldome doth great things without great commotions Paul and Silas were not delivered out of Prison but by an Earthquake Though it bee grievous to see yet it is that wee fear And wee must not forsake a good cause because of opposition This were to leap out of the ship because the winds blow to bee impatient of the Ark because the billows rise to seek our safety in the midst of Danger This assure your selves Though Earth and hell should fight against you your safety lyes on Gods side in Gods cause and there is no safety elsewhere These things I suggest to you by way of Cautional advise that when you see these things you may not be troubled As Christ said to his Disciples These things I tell you before that when they do come to passe your hearts may not bee troubled So these things I tell you before that though God will deliver us from trouble yet it will bee by trouble though hee save us yet it shall bee by fire that when you see these things you may not bee troubled when you see storms to fall oppositions and troubles to arise you may not bee moved from your own stedfastness I tell you this is necessary advice a seasonable admonition to you lest the oppositions and seeming contrarieties of Gods proceedings should weaken your faith and move you from your own stedfastnesse The best of us are too apt to live by sense and not by faith by works and not by the Word by Gods outward appearances and proceedings of Providence and not by Promises And therefore out Faith doth wane or increase according as God doth let out or restrain himself in the ways of his Providence when God doth let out himself to succour and releeve his Church when wee see deliverance in the Promise and deliverance in his outward proceedings too then wee can believe but if God do any way restrain himself or his outward Proceedings do seem to walk contrary to his own Promises Though perhaps that bee the next way for the performance of his Promises As you see it was with Joseph with Israel in Egypt where the Promise spake one thing and Gods outward proceedings seemed to speak another In this case wee are ready to give up all and thus did David I shall one time or other perish by the hand of Saul and therefore wee should learn this lesson in some kinde to shut our eyes to the works of God and look upon the Word of God Not only to look upon the outward proceedings of Providence but upon the stability and truth of the promise and see the Word say Yea when the Works seem to say Nay and conclude because the Promise saith it shall bee though all secondary means whereby the Promise should bee performed say It
is that the Lord said c. And Aaron held his peace Why what was his tryal why it was the loss of his Sons the loss of his Eldest Sons when they were young and without posterity in the first day of their Ministration in the sight of all the Congregation and by so fearful a Judgement as fire from the Lord and in the act of their sin offering strange fire Nay and which some think was joyned with Drunkenness too whereupon immediatly follows the prohibition of Wine So that the Congregation might suspect they went but from fire to fire from a destruction by fire to a preservation in fire from a temporal to an eternal burning Yet now in all this mark the Power of Faith Moses having declared the Author God the cause their sin It 's said Aaron was dumb and held his peace Auditâ voluntate Dei silet having heard the Will of God hee was mute and silent his Tongue was chained up hereby confessing saith Calvin Justo Dei Judicio extinctos esse That they were slain by the Just Judgement of God The like you see in Eli when Samuel had declared what God had said to him concerning the destruction of his house why saith he It is the Lord let him do what pleaseth him 1 Sam. 3.18 And remarkable was that in Job You may read in the first Chapter how one wave came upon the neck of another 1. The Sabeans fell upon his Oxen and his Asses and slew his Servants 2. Another comes and tells him Fire from Heaven had burnt up his Sheep 3. A third tells him The Caldeans had taken away his Camels 4. A fourth hee comes and tells him His Sons and his Daughters were eating and drinking and a wind blew down the house on their heads and buried them all in one grave His whole stock was lost in one day Nay Hee lost not his stock of Cattel only but of his Children also My Brethren these were great trials enough to put a man out of patience enough to make the most composed man besides himself To lose his goods his Cattel his Substance and all in a day Nay to lose his Sons and his Daughters which were his whole Posterity the stay and hope of his Family yea and all at once at one clap and that so suddenly yea and in the midst of their merriments These were great Tryals where Yesterday it might have been said who so rich as Job now to day who so poor as Job Yet mark here now the Power of Faith how it silenced the Soul In stead of murmuring hee fell down and worshiped and said The Lord hath given the Lord hath taken away Blessed bee the Name of the Lord. Thus you see the Power of Faith And my Brethren you had need of Faith As the Apostle said of Patience So I of Faith You have need of Faith As you walk in the way of this life you shall meet with such things as will move you as will put you besides your selves If Faith do not settle and compose you you cannot bee undique sursùm like a Dye light upon your square if Faith bee not your bottom You may have crosses and losses before you die You may lose your Husbands your Wives your Children your Goods Jobs lot may befall you And every one of these may cause a man to rise up against himself may cause an uproar in the Soul Wee are not Stoicks wee are not without Passions nor sinfull-Passions mutinous-Affections And therefore wee had need of something in the Soul to sway and keep down these unruly distempers And this is only Faith which can stil and calm the soul in all storms and tempests A man without Faith in such a case as this is like a naked man in a storm like an unarmed man in a battel like a Ship unballanced and unanchored in a Tempest A man without Faith is under no command Passions of Anger Fear Grief and all command him And Passion without Faith is violent breaks down all banks drowns overwhelms and destroies the Soul And therefore you had need of something to ballance the Soul to charge the Soul to calm and still the Soul in such a condition Now you see Faith is an Heart-calming an Heart-quieting and stilling-Grace which it doth after this manner 1. Imperiously 2. Perswasively 1. Sometimes Imperiously and that either 1. Commanding or 2. Checking the Soul 1 Imperiously commanding the Soul Laying charge on the Soul to bee quiet to bee still My Soul bee silent to Jehovah said David As Christ did the Waters and the Wind. Peace and bee still and there was a great calm So here when the Waves are up and threaten to overflow the banks to overwhelm the soul Faith laies her command upon the soul Peace and bee still No more words Leave your murmurings Leave your impatiency Thus sometimes Faith calms the soul 2. Imperiously checking the the soul You do not well to bee angry You do not well to grieve You do not well to bee discontented to bee impatient You offend God cause him to scourge you more to lay more load upon you seeing you bear this so impatiently As the Town-Clerk of Ephesus stilled that uproar with these words Act. 19.40 Wee shall verily bee called in question for this dayes uproar seeing there is no cause can bee given-of this concourse So Faith doth sometimes lay the tumults in the soul You shall verily bee called in question one day for this Passion this Discontent this Murmuring this Uproar seeing no cause can bee given that you should quarrel with God as you do 2. Faith doth sometimes calm the Soul in a Mild and perswasive-way wherein it reasons with the Soul Why art thou so much cast down oh my Soul Why art thou so troubled so disquieted within mee In which reasoning Faith will take an Argument of Patience 1. From the Author of Afflictions That is God Afflictions troubles arise not out of the dust but from God which was the ground of Davids patience I was dumb c. Because it was thy doing So of Jobs The Lord hath given the Lord hath taken away So in case of Shimei his cursing David David did not bite at the stone and never minde the thrower but hee looks up discovers the hand as well as the stone Let him alone It may bee God hath bid him go forth and curse David 2. Sometimes from the ground of Gods dealings and that is sin Faith produceth sin to bee the cause For this cause and this stops the mouth Psal 51. That thou mayest bee just when thou judgest This laies a Soul in the dust makes a man accept of the punishment of his iniquity As you have the phrase Levit. 26.41 That is lye down justifie God clear God in all his dealings bee so far from murmuring that the Soul will take Gods part in all clearing God and condemning it self Thus you see the Church Wherefore doth a living man complain A man for the
light into the world saith Christ that whosoever beleeveth in mee should not abide in darknesse The least touch of Christ by Faith doth raise up and revive the Soul in this sad Condition As the dead man was raised to life and revived but by touching the dead bones of Elisha 2 King 13.21 so the Dead Soul if it do but touch the Dead and crucified body of Christ by Faith is raised up and revived Such a vertue and influence comes from Christ as doth raise up and comfort the Soul Thus Faith doth raise the heart by laying hold of Christ He who raised up himself will raise up all his members If our head had been still under water wee had then perished but he being risen will raise us up also being his members 4 Faith inables a man to put up Soul-raising-prayers indites Soul-raising-prayers strong Prayers and cries to God As Prayer helps Faith So Faith helps Prayer It inables a man to wrestle with God now in the Dark of desertion as it did Jacob in the Dark of the Night Yea and to wrestle with him by his own strength the strength of his Covenant of his promise of his Christ In which Encounter Faith will take up arguments 1 From it self 2 From God 1 From it self By presenting its miserable Condition in the absence of God That all his own work is ready to sink and dy to come to nothing if hee help not Oh! will Faith say Lord my flesh fails my heart fails my strength fails my spirit fails Oh! Come down before I dye come strengthen the things that are ready to dye in me This argument David took up Psal 143.7 Hear me speedily O Lord my spirit fails Oh! Hide not thy face from mee lest I bee like unto them that go down into the Pit So Psal 39.10 12 13. Take thy plague from mee I am consumed by the stroke of thy hand c. Hear my prayer O Lord hearken to my cry Keep not silence at my tears for I am a stranger with thee a sojourner as all my Fathers were Oh! spare a little that I may recover strength before I go hence and be no more 2 Faith will take up arguments from God 1 From the justice and truth of God He hath promised never to leave nor forsake his people 2 From the immutability of God Thou art JEHOVAH thou changest not therefore the Sons of Jacob are not consumed Mal. 3.6 Thou never repentest of thine own work Thou never hast wooed my heart to lose it again Thou never tookest my heart to leave it again and take thy heart clean away Thou never didst set thy heart on mee to take it off again 3 From the power of God Abraham at a plunge was supported with this strong staff of Comfort when though by Gods command hee was to sacrifice his Sonne Isaac yet hee accounted that God was able to raise him up even from the dead Heb. 11.19 Lord if thou wilt thou canst Mat. 8.2 4 From the mercy of God Lord thou art gracious and merciful ready to relieve It 's true I am a sinner but thou art a Saviour I am sinful but thou art mercifull I am impious but thou art gracious I have done that Ego admisi undè me damnare potes Tu non amisisti undè me salvare soles for which thou mightest damn mee but thou hast not lost that by which thou mayest save mee True I am not worthy of a smile from Heaven I have deserved to bee sent from darkness here to everlasting darkness hereafter from this partial to total and universal darkness But Lord proportion not thy dealings to mee according to my deservings from thee Let not the strong God take a pattern from my weakness good God do not ever remember my evil least thou forget thine own goodness thine own mercy O bone Do-â—â— mine noli recordare malum moum ne obliviscaris bonum tuum But thou who art found of them who seek thee not Oh! Be mercifully found of a soul who seeketh thee Thus will Faith work it self out of trouble and gather arguments to prevail with God for deliverance It will take up arguments From Soul-raising-Attributes From Soul-raising-Promises From Soul-raising-Relations From Soul-raising-Experiences It will incompass God with Gods own strength And God cannot because hee will not deny God will not reject his own strength not strive against his own mercy not resist his own Spirit not falsifie his own Truth but will raise up and revive the Soul Thus you see Faith is a Soul-raising-Grace Where Unbeleef holds the soul under water buries the soul in these sad conditions Faith raiseth up and reviveth it A beleeving soul cannot long lye under trouble If all the Power Truth and Mercy of God will fetch him out hee shall bee sure to bee delivered Faith ingages and sets a work all these to help Oh! The Reason my Brethren why you lye so long in spiritual Agonies buried up in spiritual troubles is because you let not Faith come in to work for you let Faith have her perfect work and it will raise you Sixteenth Royalty 16. Faith is an Heart-chearing-Grace 16. Royalty Faith is an Heart-chearing Grace Faith is such a Grace as doth chear and comfort the soul with unexpressible Consolations It is such a Grace as makes an inlet of all the Consolations of God into the Soul Faith brings a report to the Soul that God is his God Christ is his Christ that his Name is written in the Book of Life his sins are pardoned his soul shall bee saved And such news as this must needs fill the soul with unexpressible Consolations with joyes unspeakable and full of glory All other joyes are but mad and disorderly joyes They are carnal not spiritual outward not inward joyes they are but painted not true Joyes imaginary not real Joyes unsatisfying not tull Joyes inconstant not stable Joyes The best false Raptures Anabaptistical Illusions not true Joyes But this Joy The Joy of Faith it is grounded joy it is 1. A spiritual Joy for the Nature of it 2. A Hearty Joy for the Nature of it 3. A Satisfying Joy for the fulness of it 4. A Constant Permanent Joy for the duration of it My Joy shall no man take from you Alas what are all other joyes to the Joy of Faith The least morsel of this Joy is worth all the full meals of worldly delights The least gleaning of this Joy is worth the whole Harvest of carnal mirth The least drop of this is worth an Ocean of any other There is more moisture in one drop of this than in a flood of temporal and carnal delights True Joy grows upon the stock of Faith Where there is no Faith there is no true Joy Faith is the Root and Joy is the Fruit. It is call'd The Joy of Beleevers Beleevers are the Subjects of it and a Joy in Beleeving Beleeving is the Root of it Rom. 5.1.2 Being justified by Faith wee have
been so great but it was to part with his Isaac a Child of many prayers and of many promises and in whom his heart delighted 6. And again if hee had been to part with him in the ordinary way of nature by natural death the tryal not so great but hee was to part with him in a Sacrifice wherein hee was to bee mangled and cut in peeces 7. But yet had another been the executioner of his child it had been some mitigation But Abraham himself must bee his executioner hee must do this sad act And not to do it among his friends who perhaps might have stept in and comforted him in this tryal but hee was to go three dayes journey to an unknown place and there hee was to take away the life of him hee loved so dearly Yet herein Abraham obeyed Gods command and therin shewed his sincerity When the Precept of tryal might seem to contradict the Precept of Obedience when his dutiful Obedience to the one might seem to speak his undutifulness to the other yet herein hee declared his sincerity Whereupon God tells him now I know thou loves mee when now thou hast made it known now thou hast discovered thy sincerity seeing thou hast not with-held thy only son Gen. 22.12 here was sincerity now I know thou fearest God The like I might instance in Job in David in Mordecai they had their discovering times times of tryal So that God doth still single out some special times wherein hee discovers the sincerity of his own people And if you would bee ever able to clear your sincerities read the carriage of your hearts at these special times One quarter of an hour may give a man surer evidence of his sincerity or hypocrisy than all the time of his life besides There are five special times wherein you may have the advantage Read your spirits in times of if you bee careful to read your own spirits to clear the sincerity of your hearts 1. In times of darkness and temptation 1. Darkness Read the actings and goings out of your spirits at such times an unsound spirit will now fall from God desist in his duty strike sail But the sound spirit hee will hold closer to God Cujus faciem timer ejus faciem invocaâ— and follow him when hee seems to forsake him Hee will go on to love him although hee bee not able to clear whether ever hee shall bee beloved of him Hee will repent of sin though hee bee not able to evidence whether ever God will pardon sin Hee will go on to obey and serve God though hee bee not able to determine whether ever God will reward his obedience or no. Such like dispositions do now break forth in a sincere heart in the times of greatest darkness which in times of clearer manifestation have no occasion to shew themselves And these are the most undoubtedst evidences of your sincerity which perhaps you shall ever meet withall in your lives As wicked men do discover their greatest corruptions in their highest advancements so Gods people do discover and exert and put forth the highest acts of grace in their lowest and meanest conditions As the Sun shews greatest glory when it is lowest when setting So c. As Christ set out the greatest acts of divinity in his lowest abasements then hee sealed up the beams of the Sun rent rocks graves open the earth trembles c. So the Saints c. This is that the Psalmist saith unto the upright there ariseth light in darkness Where the heart is unsound it is dark in the greatest light so on the contrary there is light in the greatest darkness Hypocrisy is like painted windows which let in no light sincerity is like windows of Glass Times of manifestation 2. See how your hearts and spirits work towards God and towards sin in times of light and clearer manifestations of God Where the heart is unsound comfort doth him no good hee will do something in a storm then perhaps pray c. but hee will do nothing in a calm Comforts make him more careless more loose more remiss in his Christian way Where on the contrary hee who hath a sound spirit as hee is carried strongly towards God when hee with-holds his manifestations so if God do but let in a beam of his Countenance into his soul hee rejoyceth more in it than in a World Nay and these comforts do quicken him to further duty hee cannot lye at anchor but hee must launch out into the deep and lay out himself his parts his abilities c. I have sometimes told you that quickness and comfort may bee separated a man may have comfort without quickness hee may have joy without life But quickening was never separated from comfort A man cannot have joy but there will bee life c. Affections are like tinder and Comfort like sparks not a spark of comfort can fall upon the heart but the whole soul is set a fire and carried strongly on after God Comforts from God ever lead the soul to communion with God Of outward distress 3. See how your spirits do work towards God in times of outward distress and calamities upon you 1 An unsound spirit hee is for the most part proud and impatient under Gods hand and ready to think God doth him wrong in afflicting him But where the spirit is sincere hee is humble hee is patient hee layes his mouth in the dust kisseth the rod and accepteth of the punishment of his iniquity as you see the phrase Levit. 26.41 Example in Aaron 2. Again an unsound spirit hee roars under the lashes Flagella dolent quare flagellantur non dolent cryes under the affliction never complains of the sin As you see Jer. 30.15 Why cryest thou c. But where the heart is sincere no evil troubles him so much as the evil of sin You see it in David when plagued 3. Again an unsound spirit hee desires to have the stroke removed not to have his heart amended The other desires rather the amending of his heart than the removal of the stroke Saith Bernard I had rather God should better my heart than remove his hand rather continue my strokes Malim erudiri quam â—ruâ— than my sins You see this in Job when Gods hand was on him Job 34.32 That which I see not teach thou mee and if I have done iniquity I will do it no more as if hee had said Lord I know not the particular cause of this distress what it is thou aims at what I see not teach thou c. 4. A fourth time Of Prosperity wherein to read your hearts is in times of prosperity An unsound spirit grows worse by mercy mercy deadens sâ—â—â—â—ens his heart Isa 26.10 Let favour bee shewed c. Hazael professed much when hee was low but no sooner advanceâ— but mark then how hee acted against God his Church and people indeavouring to make his raising their ruine So