should make Shipwrack both of our Temporal and Eternal mercies quickly were it not for the guidance of Divine Wisdom 2. To Extricate them when involved in difficulties So 2 Pet. 2. 9. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation They know not how but their God doth they are often at a loâ—â— but he is never So 1 Cor. 10. 13. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it 3. To over-rule and order all their troubles to their good and real advantage So runs that most comprehensive promise Rom. 8. 28. All things shall work together for good to them that love God In the faith whereof Paul concludes Phil. 1. 19. Even this shall work for his Salvation Thus the people of God were sent into captivity for their good Ier. 24. 8. and Ioseph into Egypt Gen. 50. 20. Ye thought evil against me but God meant it unto good to bring to pass as it is this day to save much people alive 2. Let us view the Wisdom of God in its Relation to his Providences for there it shines forth eminently Ezek. 1. 18. The wheels were full of eyes i. e. the motions and Providential revolutions in this lower world are very Judicious and advised motions Non caeco impetu volvuntur rotae It hath a fetch and design which no man understands till it open it self in the event The enemies of the Church are oft times men of the finest brains and deepest policies Herod a Fox for subtilty Luke 13. 32. Iulian and Ahithophel with many others who have digged as deep as Hell in their counsels and laid their designs so sure that they doubted not but to be masters of it yet their hands could not perform their enterprize The wisdom of Providence hath still befooled them and baffled the cunningest head-pieces that ever undertook any design against the Church as fast as ever they arose and here the Wisdom of Providence is remarkable in three things especially 1. In revealing and discovering the secret conspiracies and counsels of the Churches enemies and thereby frustrating their designs Gen. 27. 41 42. Providence as one calls it is the Bird of the air that carries tidings and whistles deeds of darkness Iob 12. 22. He discovereth deep things out of darkness and bringeth out to light the shadow of death And this God hath done both immediately and mediately 1. Immediately 2 Kings 6. 11. What counsel soever the King of Syria took in his Bed-chamber was still discovered by the Lord to the Prophet So true is that Iob 34. 22. There is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves Thus the design of Herod is revealed to Ioseph in a dream But commonly he doth it by means as 1. By giving knowledge of it to some that are under obligations of duty or affection to reveal it to these that are concerned in the danger So Paul's Sisters Son Acts 23. 16. revealed the conspiracy against his life and so the Plot miscarried by revealing it before it was ripe for execution 2. By the failure of some circumstance the whole is brought to light there be many fine threds upon which the designs of Politicians hang if one break the whole design is unravelled Thus the Wisdom of God sometimes prevents his peoples ruine by taking away the speech of the trusty from him and making their own tongues to fall upon themselves 3. By their own confession So Psal. 64. 5 6 7 8. where you have the Plot laid ver 5. They encourage themselves in an evil matter they commune of laying snares privily they say who shall see them The deep contrivance of it ver 6. They search out iniquity they accomplish a diligent search both the inward thoughts of every one of them and the heart is deep Their Plot destroyed ver 7. But God shall shoot at them with an arrow suddenly shall they be wounded The method or way of Providence in destroying it ver 8. So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves all that see them shall flee away Thus hath the Wisdom of our God wrought for us this day beyond all the thoughts of our hearts and oh that it might make such impressions upon all our hearts as follow in the 9 and 10. verses All men shall fear and shall declare the work of God for they shall wisely consider his doing The righteous shall be glad in the Lord and shall trust in him and all the upright in heart shall glory 2. The Wisdom of God discovers it self in behalf of that people who are his own in diverting the danger from them and putting by the deadly thrusts their enemies make at them thus it spoils their game by an unforeseen rub in the green and that especially three ways 1. By making their counsels to jar among themselves in which jars is the sweetest harmony of providence thus the counsel of Ahithophel jars with the counsel of Hushai 2 Sam. 17. 5. 7. by which means David escaped the Pharisees clashed with the Sadducees Acts 23. 7. and by that means Paul escaped 2. By cutting out other work and starting some new design which like a fresh scent puts the dogs to a loss Thus the people of God in Ierusalem were delivered by a diversion 2 Kings 19. 7. Behold I will send a blast upon him and he shall hear a rumour and shall return to his own land and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land so Rabshakeh returned By this means also was David delivered from the hand of Saul 1 Sam. 23. 27. And in this method of Providence that Scripture is often fulfilled Prov. 21. 18. The wicked shall be a ransom for the Righteous and the transgressour for the upright 3. By cutting off the capital enemies of his Church by whose seasonable destruction they are delivered Thus fell Iulian that bitter enemy of the Christians when he was preparing to put his last and most bloudy design against them in execution And thus fell Haman Nero and many more in the very height and heat of their designs against the Church 3. The Wisdom of God gloriously displays it self in causing the designs of the wicked like a surcharged gun to recoil upon and destroy themselves It often falls out with the undermining enemies of the Church as it sometimes doth with them that dig deep Mines in the Earth who are destroyed and buried in their own work Psal. 9. 15 16. The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made in the net which they hid is their own foot taken The Lord is known by the judgments which he executeth the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands Higgajon Selah There is a double â—ercy in this providence
Corinthians about marriage in those times of persecution and difficulty he commends to them a single life as most eligible where it may be without other sinful inconveniencies and that principally for this reason That they might attend upon the Lord without distractions 1 Cor. 7. 35. He foresaw what streights cares and fears must unavoidably distract them in such times that were most clogged and incumbred with families and relations when a man should be thinking O what shall I do now to to get my doubts and fears resolved about my interest in Christ How may I so behave my self in my sufferings as to credit Religion and not become a scandal and stumbling stone to others His thoughts are taken â—p with other cares and fears O what will become of 〈◊〉 wife and poor little ones what shall I do with â—hem and for them to secure them from danger I doubt not but it is a great design of the Devil to â—eep us in continual alarms and frights and to puzzle â—ur heads and hearts with a thousand difficulties which â—ossibly may never befall us or if they do shall neâ—er prove so fatal to us as we fancy them and all this to unfit us for our present duties and destroy our comfort therein for if by frights and terrors of mind he can but once distract our thoughts he gains three great points upon us to our unspeakable loss 1. Hereby he will cut off the freedom and sweetness of our communion with God in duties and what an empty shell will the best duties be when this kernel is wormed out by such a subtle artifice Prayer as Damascen aptly expresses it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the ascension of the mind or soul to God but distraction clips its wings he can never offer up his soul and thoughts to God that hath not the possession of them himself and he that is under distracting fears possesseth not himself The life of all communion with God in Prayer consists in the harmony that is betwixt our hearts and words and both with the will of God this harmony is spoiled by distractions and so Satan gains that point 2. But this is not all he gains and we lose by distracting fears for as they cut off the freedom and sweetness of our intercourse with God in prayer so they cut off the Soul from the succours and reliefs it might otherwise draw from the promises We find when the Israelites were in great bondage wherein their minds were distracted with fears and sorrows they regarded not the supporting promises of deliverance sent them by Moses Exod. 6. 9. David had an express and particular promise of the Kingdoâ— from the mouth of God which must needs include his deliverance out the hand of Saul and all his stratagems to destroy him but yet when eminent hazards were before his eyes he was afraid and thaâ— fear betrayed the succours from the promise so thaâ— it drew a quite contrary inclusion 1 Sam. 27. 1. 〈◊〉 shall one day perish by the hand of Saul And again 〈◊〉 is at the same point Psal. 116. 11. All men are liars not excepting Samuel himself who had assured him of the Kingdom This is always the property and nature of fear as I shewed before to make men distrust the best security when they are in eminent peril But Oh what a mischief is this to make us suspicious of the promises which are our chief relief and support in times of trouble Our fears will unfit us for prayer they will also shake the credit of the promises with us and so great is the damage we receive both ways that it were better for us to lose our two eyes than two such advantages in trouble But 3. This is not all by our present fears we lose the benefit and comfort of all our past experiences and the singular relief we might have from all that faithfulness and goodness of God which our eyes have seen in former streights and dangers the present fear clouds them all Isai. 51. 12 13. Men and dangers are so much minded that God is forgotten even the God that hath hitherto preserved us though our former fears told us the enemy was daily ready to devour us All these sweet reliefs are cut off from us by our distracting fears and that at a time when we have most need of them 2. Effect Dissimulation and Hypocrisie is the fruit of slavish Fear distraction you see is bad enough but dissimulation is worse than distraction and yet as bad as it is fear hath driven good men into this snare it will make even an upright soul warp and bend from the rules of that integrity and candor which should be inseparable at all times from a Christian Of whom saith God to his Israel hast thou been afraid that thou hast lied and hast not remembred me God finds falshood and charges it upon Fear q. d. I know it was against the resolutions of my peoples hearts thus to dissemble this certainly is the effect of a fright Who is he that hath scared you into this evil It was Abraham's fear that made him dissemble to the reproach of his Religion Gen. 20. 2 11. And indeed it was but an odd sight to see an heathen so schooling and reproving great Abraham about it as he there doth It was nothing but fear that drew his son Isaac into the like snare Gen. 26. 7. And it was fear that overcame Peter against his promise as well as principle to say concerning his dear Saviour I know not the man Matth. 26. 69. Had Abraham at that time remembred and acted his Faith freely upon what the Lord said to him Gen. 17. 1. Fear not Abraham I am thy shield he had escaped both the sin and shame into which he fell but even that great believer was foiled by his own fears and certainly this is a great evil a complicated mischief For 1. By these falls and scandals Religion is made vile and contemptible in the eyes of the world it reflects with much reproach upon God and his promises as if his word were not sufficient security for us to rely upon in times of trouble as if it were safer trusting to our wit yea to sin than to the Promises 2. It greatly weakens the hands of others and proves a sore discouragement to them in their trials to see their brethren faint for fear and ashamed to own their principles sometimes it hath this mischievous effect but it is always improved by Satan and wicked men to this purpose And 3. It will be a terrible blow and wound to our own Consciences for such flaws in our integrity we may be kept waking and sighing many a night O see the mischiefs of a timorous and faint spirit 3. Effect Slavish Fears of the Creature exceedingly strengthen our temptations in times of danger and make them very efficacious and prevalent upon us Prov. 29. 25. The fear of man brings a snare Satan spreads the net but we are
of all creatures on him well studied and believed it would cut off both our trust in men and our fear of men we should soon discern they have no power either to help us or to hurt us but what they receive from above Our enemies are apt to over-rate their own power in their pride and we are as apt to over-rate it too in our fears Knowest thou not saith Pilate to Christ that I have power to crucifie thee and I have power to release thee q. d. Refusest thou to answer me dost thou not know who and what I am Yes yes saith Christ I know thee well enough to be a poor impotent creature who hast no power at all but what is given thee from above I know thee and therefore do not fear thee But we are apt to take their own boasts for truth and believe their power to be such as they vainly vogue it to be whereas in truth all your enemies are sustained by Christ. Colos. 1. 17. they are bounded and limited by Christ Rev. 2. 10. Providence hath its influences upon their hearts and wills immediately Ier 15. 11. Psal. 106. 46. So that they cannot do whatever they would do but their wills as well as their hands are ordered by God Iacob was in Laban's and in Esau's hands both hated him but neither could hurt him David was in Sauls hand who hunted for him as a prey yet is forced to dismiss him quietly blessing instead of slaying him Melancthon and Pomeren both fell into the hands of Charles the Fifth than whom Christendom had not a more prudent Prince nor the Church of Christ a fiercer enemy yet he treats these great and active Reformers gently dismisseth them freely not once forbidding them to preach or print the Doctrine which he so much opposed and hated O Christian if ever thou wilt get above thy fears settle these things upon thy heart by faith 1. That the reins of Government are in Christs hands enemies like wild horses may prance and tramp up and down the world as though they would tread down all that are in their way but the bridle of Providence is in their mouths and upon their proud necks 2 Kings 19. 28. And that bridle hath a strong curb 2. The care of the Saints properly pertains to Christ he is the head of the body Eph. 1. 22 23. Our consulting head And it were a reproach and dishonour to Christ to fill our own heads with distracting cares and fears when we have so wise an head to consult and contrive for us 3. You have lived all your days upon the care of Christ hitherto no truth is more manifest than this that there hath been a wisdom beyond your own that hath guided your ways Ier. 10. 23. A power above your own that hath supported your burdens Psal. 73. 26. A spring of relief out of your selves that hath supplied all your wants Luke 22. 35. He hath performed all things for you 4. Jesus Christ hath secured his people by many promises to take care of them how dangerous soever the times shall be Eccles. 8. 12. Psal. 76. 10. Amos 9. 8 9. Rom. 8. 28. O if these things were throughly believed and well improved fears could no more distract or afflict our hearts than storms or clouds could trouble the upper Region But we forget his providences and promises and so are justly left in the hands of our own fears to be afflicted for it 11. Rule Subject your carnal reasonings to Faith and keep your thoughts more under the government of faith if ever you expect a composed and quiet heart in distracting evil times He that layeth aside the Rules of Faith and measures all thing by the rule of his own shallow reason will be his own bugbear if reason may be permitted to judge all things and to make its own inferences and conclusions from the aspects and appearances of second causes your hearts shall have no rest day nor night this alone will keep you in continual Alarms And yet how apt are the best men to measure things by this rule and to judge of all Gods designs and mysterious providences by it In other things it is the Judge and Arbiter and therefore we would make it so here too and what it concludes and dictates we are prone to blieve because its dictates are backt and befriended by sense whence it gathers its intelligence and information O quam sapiens Argumentatrix sibi videtur ratio humana How wise and strong do its Arguments and conclusions seem to us saith Luther This carnal reason is the thing that puts us into such confusions of mind and thoughts 'T is this that 1. Quarrels with the promises shakes their credit and our confidence in them Exod. 5. 22 23. 2. 'T is this that boldly limits the Divine power and assigns it boundaries of its own fixing Psal. 78. 20 41. 3. 'T is carnal reason that draws desperate conclusions from providential appearances and aspects 1 Sam. 27. 1. and prognosticates our ruine from them 4. 'T is this carnal reason that puts us upon sinful shifts and indirect courses to deliver and save our selves from danger which do but the more perplex and entangle us Isai. 30. 15 16. 5. It is mostly from our arrogant reasoings that our thoughts are discomposed and divided from this fountain it is that they flow into our hearts in multitudes when dangers are near Psal. 94. 19. Psal. 42. 1. All these mischiefs owe themselves to the exorbitant actings and intrusions of our carnal reasons but these things ought not to be so this is beside rule For 1. Though there be nothing in the matters of faith or providence contrary to right reason yet there are many things in both quite above the reach and beyond the ken of reason Isai. 55. 8. And 2. The confident dictates of reason are frequently confuted by experience all the world over 't is every day made a liar and the frights it puts us into proved to be vain and groundless Isai. 51. 13. Nothing then can be better for us than to resign up our reason to faith to see all things through the promises and trust God over all events 12. Rule To conclude exalt the fear of God in your hearts and let it gain the ascendent over all your other fears This is the prescription in my Text for the cure of all our slavish fears and indeed all the forementioned rules for the cure of sinful fears run into this and are reducible to it For 1. Doth the knowledge and application of the Covenant of Grace cure our fears The fear of God is both a part of that Covenant and an evidence of our interest in it Ier. 32. 40. 2. Doth sinful fear plunge men into such distresses of Conscience Why the fear of God will preserve your ways clean and pure Psal. 19. 9. and so those mischiefs will be prevented 3. Doth foresight and provision for evil days prevent distracting fears when they come
the faithfulness of God is built These are immutable things Heb. 6. 18. This Abraham built upon Rom. 4. 21. Being fully perswaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform He accounted him faithful that promised What would you expect or require in the person that you are to trust You would 1. Expect a clear promise and lo you have a thousand all the Scripture over fitted to all the cases of your Souls and Bodies This you may plead with God as David Psal. 119. 49. Remember the word unto thy Servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope So Iacob pleaded Gen. 32. 12. Thou saidst I will surely do thee good These are Gods Bonds and Obligations 2. You would expect sufficient power to make good what he promiseth This is in God as a fair foundation of faith Isa. 26. 4. Trust ye in the Lord for ever for in the Lord Iehovah is everlasting strength Because of thy strength we will wait on thee Creatures cannot but God can do what he will 3. You would expect infinite goodness and mercy inclining him to help and save you why So it is here Psal. 130. 7. Let Israel hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is mercy and with him is plenteous redemption So Moses Exod. 33. 18. I beseech thee shew me thy glory The request was a view of God's Glory The answer is my goodness shall pass before thee which hints to us that though all God's Attributes be glorious yet that he most glories in is his goodness And then 4. You would expect that none of his Promises were ever blotted or staâ—â—ed by his unfaithfulness at any time and so it is here Iosh. 23. 14. not one thing hath failed all are come to pass all ages have sealed this conclusion Thy word is truth thy word is truth 2. Arg. Besides all this you have the encouragement of all former experiences both others and your own as a second Argument to press you to enter into this Chamber of Safety the Faithfulness of God 1. You have the experiences of others Saints have reckoned the experiences of others that lived a thousand years before them as excellent arguments to quicken their Faith So Hos. 12. 4. He had power over the Angel and prevailed he found him in Bethel and there he spake Remember there was a Ioseph with us in Prison a Ieremy in the Dungeon a Daniel in the Den a Peter in Chains an Hezâ—kiah upon the brink of the Grave and they all found the help of God most faithfully protecting them and saving them in all their troubles Suitable so this is that in Psal. 22. 4. 5. Our father 's trusted in thee they trusted and thou deliveredst them they cried unto thee and were delivered they trusted in thee and were not confounded 2. Your own experiences may encourage your faith So Davids did 1. Sam. 17. 37. The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the Lyon and out of the paw of the Bear he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine So did Paul's experience encourage his Faith in 2 Cor. 1. 10. Who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us Thus enter into the Faithfulness of God by Faith 2. Let me beg you to be sure to shut the doors behind you against all unbelieving doubts jealousies and suspicions of the faithfulness of God the best men may find temptations of that nature so did good Asaph though an eminent Saint Psal. 77. 78. Will the Lord cast off for ever and will he be favourable no more Is his mercy clean gone for ever Doth his promise fail for ever more These jealousies are apt to creep in upon the minds of men especially when 1. God delays to answer our Prayers as soon as we expect the return of them we are all in hast for a speedy answer forgetting that seasons of Prayer are our seed-times and when we have sown that precious seed we must wait for the Harvest as the Husbandman doth Even a precious Heman may find a faint qualm of unbelief and despondency seizing him by the long suspension of Gods answers Psal. 88. 9 10 11. 2. T will be hard to shut the door upon unbelief when all things in the eye of our sense and reason seem to work against the Promise It will require an Abraham's Faith at such a time to glorifie God by believing in hope against hope Rom. 4. 18. If ever thou hopâ—st to enjoy the sweet repose and rest of a Christian in evil times thou must resolve whatever thine eyes do see or thy senses report to hold fast this as a most sure conclusion God is faithful and his word is sure and that although Clouds and darkness be round about him yet righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne Psal. 97. 2. O that you would once learn to keep house upon Gods Faithfulness and fetch your daily reliefs and supports thence whensoever you are pressed and assaulted either 1. By Spiritual troubles When you walk in darkness and have no light then you are to live by acts of trust and recumbency upon the most faithful one Isa. 50. 10. Or 2. By Temporal distresses so did the People of God of old Hab. 3. 17 18. He lived by Faith on this Attribute when all visible comforts and supplies were out of sight But especially let me warn and caution you against five principal enemies to your repose upon the Faithfulness of God viz. 1. Distracting cares which divide the mind and eat out the peace and comfort of the heart and which is worst of all they reflect very dishonourably upon God who hath pledged his Faithfulness and Truth for our security against which I pray you bar the door by those two Scriptures Phil. 4. 6. Be careful for nothing but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God And that in 1 Pet. 5. 7. Casting all your care upon him for he careth for you 2. Bar the door against unchristian despondency another enemy to the sweet repose of your Souls in this comfortable and quiet Chamber of Divine Faithfulness you will find this unbecoming and uncomfortable distemper of mind insinuating and creeping in upon you except you believe and reason iâ— out as David did Psal. 42. 11. Why art thou cast down O my soul and why disquieted within me Hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him 3. Bar the door of your heart against carnal policies and sinful shifts which war against your own Faith and Gods Faithfulness as much as any other enemy whatsoever This was the fault of good David in a day of trouble 1 Sam. 27. 1. And David said in his heart I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines Alas poor David
communicate to his people 4. Rule If ever you will subdue your own slavish fears Commit your selves and all that is yours into the hands of God by Faith This Rule is fully confirmed by that Scripture Prov. 16. 3. Commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established The greatest part of our trouble and burden in times of danger arises from the unsetledness and distraction of our own thoughts and the way to calm and quiet our thoughts is to commit all to God This Rule is to be applied for this end and purpose when we are going to meet Death it self and that in all its terrible formalities and most frightful appearances 1 Pet. 4. 19. Let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing as unto a faithful Creator And if this committing act of Faith be so useful at such a time when the thoughts must be supposed to be in the greatest hurry and fears in their full strength much more will it establish the heart and calm its passions in lesser troubles you know what ease and relief it would be to you if you had a Trial depending in Law for your Estates and your hearts were overloaded and distracted with cares and fears about the issue of it If one whom you know to be very skilful and faithful should say to you at such a time trouble not your self any further â—bout this business never break an hours sleep more for this matter be you as an unconcerned Spectator commit it to me and trust me with the management of it I will make it my own concernment and save you harmless O what a burden what an heavy load would you feel yâ—â—r selves eased of assoon as you had thus transferred and committed it to such a hand then you would be able to eat with pleasure and sleep in quietness Much more ease and quietness doth your committing the matter of your fears to God give even so much more as his power wisdom and faithfulness is greater than what is to be found in men But to make this Rule practicable and improveable to peace quietness of heart in an evil day it will be necessary that you well understand 1. What the committing act of Faith is 2. What grounds and encouragements Believers have for it 1. Study well the nature of this committing act of Faith and what it supposes or implies in it for all men cannot commit themselves to God 't is his own people only that can do it nor is it every thing they can commit to God they cannot commit themselves to his care and protection in any way but only in his own ways Know more particularly 1. That he who will commit himself to God must commit himself to him in well doing as the Apostle limits it in 1 Pet. 4. 19. and in things agreeable to his will else we would make God a Patron and Protector of our sins Let tâ—â—m that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their Souls to him in well doing We cannot commit our sins but our duties to Gods protection God is so great a friend to truth and righteousness that in such a case he will not take your part how dear soever you be to him if truth be found on your enemies part and the mistake on yours Think not to entitle God to your errors or failings much less to any sinful designs You may commit a doubtful case to him to be decided but not a sinful case to be protected It is in vain to shelter any cause of your own under his wings except you can write upon it as David did Psal. 74. 22. Thine own cause O Lord thine own as well as mine Lord plead thine own cause 2. He that commits his all to God supposes and firmly believes that all events and issues of things are in Gods hands that he only can direct over rule and order them all as he pleaseth Upon this supposition the committing acts of Faith in all our fears and distresses are built I trusted in thee O Lord I said thou art my God my times are in thy hand deliver me from the hands of my enemies and from them that persecute me His firm assent to this great truth that his times were in Gods hands was the reason why he committed himself into that hand If our times ourlives or comforts were in our enemies hands it were to little purpose for us to commit our selves into Gods hands And here the contrary sences and methods of Faith and unbelief are as conspicuous as in any one thing whatsoever Unbelief perswades men that their lives and all that is dear to them is in the hands of their enemies and therefore perswades them the best way they can take to secure themselves is by complyance with the will of their enemies and pleasing them But Faith determines quite contrary it tells us we and all that is ours is in Gods hand and no enemy can touch us or ours till he give them a permission and therefore it is our duty and interest to please him and commit all to him 3. The committing of our selves to God implies the resignation of our wills to the will of God to be disposed of as seems good in his eyes So David commits to God the event of that sad and doubtful providence which made him flie for his life from a strong conspiracy 2 Sam. 15. 25. And the King said unto Zadock Carry back the Ark of God into the City if I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord he will bring me again and shew me both it and his habitation but if he thus say I have no delight in thee behold here am I let him do to me as seemeth good to him q. d. Lord the conspiracy against my life is strong the danger great the issue exceeding doubtful but I commit it all into thy hand if David may yet be used in any further service for his God I shall see this City and thy lovely Temple again but if not I lie at thy foot to be disposed either for life or death for the earthly or the heavenly Ierusalem as seemeth best in thine eyes This submission to Divine pleasure is included in the committing act of Faith Christian what sayest thou to it Is thy will content to go back that the will of God may come on and take place of it It may be thou canst refer a difficult case to God provided that he will determine and issue it according â—o thy desires but in truth that is no submission or resignation at all but a sinful limiting of and prescribing to God It was an excellent reply that a choice Christian once made to another when a beloved and only Child lay in a dangerous sickness at the point of death a friend asked the mother what would you now desire of God in reference to your Child Would you beg of him its life or
bring it to pass 3. Encourage your selves from this when the Church is in the greatest danger and most sorely shaken O that is a blessed promise Zech. 3. 9. Upon one stone shall be seven eyes Meaning Christ and the Church built on him as the chief corner stone the seven eyes are the seven eyes of Providence which are never all asleep CHAP. VIII Opening that glorious Attribute of Divine Faithfulness as a third Chamber of Security to the people of God in times of distress and danger SECâ— I. HAving viewed the Saints Refuge in the Power and Wisdom of God we next proceed to a third Chamber of Safety for the Saints refuge viz. The Faithfulness of God In this Attribute is our Safety and Rest amidst the confusions of the world and daily disappointments we are vexed withal through the vanity and falsenes of the Creature As to Creatures the very best of them they are but vanity yea vanity of vanity the vainest vanity Eccles. 1. 2. Every man in his best estate is altogether vanity Psal. 39. 5. Yea those that we expect most from give us most of trouble Micah 7. 5. Nearest Relations bring up the rear of sorrows Iob 6. 15. My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook Especially their deceit appears most when we have most need of their help Psal. 142. 4. How great a mercy is it then to have a refuge in the Faithfulness of God as David had I looked on my right hand and beheld but there was no man that would know me refuge failed me no man cared for my soul. And likewise the Church Micah 7. 7. I will look unto the Lord I will wait for the God of my salvation my God will hear me A time may come when you shall not know where to trust in all this world Let me therefore open to you this Chamber of rest in the Faithfulness of God against such a day and this I shall do in a two sold consideration of it viz. 1. Absolutely in its own Nature 2. Relatively in the Promises and Providences of God 1. Absolutely and so the Faithfulness of God is his sincerity firmness and constancy in performing his word to his people in all times and cases So Moses describes him to Israel Deut. 7. 9. Know therefore that the Lord thy God he is God the faithful God And Ioshua appeals to their experience for the vindication of it Iosh. 23. 14. Ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you all are come to pass and not one thing hath failed thereof And it is also fully asserted Ier. 31. 35 36 37. and greatly admired even in the darkest day Lam. 3. 23. Great is thy faithfulness And it is well for us that his faithfulness is great for great is that weight that leans upon it even all our hopes for both worlds for this world and for that to come Tit. 1. 2. In hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began It was a very dishonourable character that Suidas gave of Tiberius Eorum quae appetebat ne quicquam prae se ferebat eorum quae dicebat ne quicquam facere volebat i. e. He never made shew of having what he desired to have nor ever minded to do what he promised to do But God is faithful and that will appear by these following Evidences of it 1. Evidence By his exact fulfilling of his Promises of the longest date So Acts 7. 6. Four hundred and thirty years were run out before the Promise of Israel's deliverance out of Egypt was accomplished yet Acts 7. 17. when the time of the Promise was come God was punctual to a day Seventy years in Babylon and at the expiration of that time they returned 2 Chron. 36. 21. Men may forget but God cannot Isa. 49. 15 16. 2. Evidence By making way for his Promise through the greatest difficulties and seeming impossibilities So to Abraham when old Gen. 18. 13 14. Is there any thing too hard for the Lord At the appointed time will I return unto thee according to the time of life and Sarah shall have a son And likewise to the Israelites Can these dry bones live Ezek. 37. 3. Difficulties are for men not God Gen. 18. 14. What art thou O great Mountain Zech. 8. 6. If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people should it also be marvellous in mine eyes saith the Lord of hosts 3. Evidence By fulfilling promises to his people when their hopes and expectations have been given up So Ezek. 37. 11. Our bones are dry our hopes lost we are cut off for our part And Isa. 49. 14. Zion said The Lord hath forsaken me and my Lord hath forgotten me There may be much unbelief in good men their faith may be sorely staggered yet God is faithful men may question his promises yet God cannot deny himself 2. Tim. 2. 13. 4. Evidence By Gods appealing to his people and referring the matter to their own judgments Micah 6. 3 4 5. O my people what have I done unto thee and wherein have I wearied thee Testifie against me for I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt and redeemed thee out of the house of servants and I sent before thee Moses Aaron and Miriam O my people remember now what Balak King of Moab consulted and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord. q. d. If I have failed in a Punctilio of my promise shew it did not Balak and Balaam court me and try all ways to win me over to them by multitudes of Sacrifices yet I did not desert you So Ier. 2. 31. O generation see ye the word of the Lord have I been a wilderness unto Israel a land of darkness wherefore say my people we are lords we will come no more unto thee Isa. 44. 8. 5. Evidence The Faithfulness of God is abundantly cleared by the constant testimonies given unto it in all Ages by them that have tryed it they have all witnessed for God and attested his unspotted faithfulness to the generations that were to come So did Ioshua 23. 14. All is come to pass and so did Daniel Chap. 9. 4. O Lord the great and dreadful God keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him With which David's testimony concurs Psal. 146. 6. Happy â—s he that hath the God of Jacob for his â—elp whose hope is in the Lord his God which made the heaven and earth the sea and all that therein is which keepeth truth for ever Thus his people have been witnesses in all generations unto the faithfulness of God in his promises the consideration whereof leaves no doubt or objection behind it SECT II. ANd if we enquire into the grounds and reasons why God is and ever must be most Faithful in