great soever your losses have been you may well be content I will put you in minde of some things which God hath left you which are far better than those things which he hath taken from you 1. God hath left you his Holy Word in the reading and meditation whereof you may delight your self night and day Ps 1.1,2 Now Gods word is more worth than all the Gold and Silver in the world Psal 119.22 The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of Gold and Silver And with this David comforted himself when he was robbed and spoiled of his goods by the means of wicked and ungodly men ver 61. You may see also Psal 19.10 and Psal 119.14 2. God hath left you himself for your portion and though a man hath lost all that he had in the world as long as he hath God for his portion he is well enough When the Jews who were carried captive into Babylon were spoiled of all their goods and had seen their dwellings burnt with fire they comforted themselves with this that they had God still for their portion Lam. 3.24 The Lord is my portion saith my soul therefore will I hope in him All things in all Nations compared with God are less than nothing and vanity Isa 40.17 All Nations before him are as nothing and they are counted to him less than nothing and vanity And why then should a man that enjoyeth this great God for his portion not rest satisfied in God but disquiet himself for that which is less than nothing and vanity 3. God hath left you his Spirit which is in you and shall abide with you to teach sanctifie and comfort you as long as you live John 14.16,17 I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of truth he dwelleth with you and shall be in you When David had offended the Lord in the matter of Uriah he wat more afraid of having the Spirit of God takenaway than of losing his Kingdom and therefore he doth not pray take not my Kingdom but take not thy Holy Spirit from me Psal 51.11 And though he was told by Nathan that the Sword should never depart from his house and that God would raise up evil against him from his own house 2 Sam. 12.10,11 Yet he resolveth if God would but pardon his sin and continue his Holy Spirit with him his tongue should sing aloud of his Righteousness Psal 51.12,14 4. God hath left you the true riches which are far better than all the riches of this world To be rich in Grace is better than to be rich in Money or Houses or Lands or any other worldly thing He that is rich in worldly Possessions but is not rich towards God is a miserable man Luke 12.19,20,21 but he that is rich in Grace though he be a very poor man as to worldly things is an happy man for he is an heir of the Kingdom of Heaven James 2.5 There is not any one Grace of the Holy Spirit but it is much better than all the Riches of the world I will instance in three or four Graces by which a man may give judgement of the rest 1. Wisdom and Understanding by which we know God and the things of God is of such a precious Nature that there is nothing in the world worthy to be compared with it Prov. 3.13,14,15 Happy is the man that findeth wisdom and the man that getteth understanding for the merchandize of it is better than the merchandize of Silver and the gain thereof than fine Gold She is more precious than rubies and all the things that thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her 2. Faith is more precious than all the gold in the world 1 Pet. 1.7 That the tryal of your faith being much more precious than gold that perisheth Faith is not only as precious but more much more precious than Gold 3. The fear of the Lord that is precious treasure Isa 23.6 The fear of the Lord is his treasure 4. A meek and a quiet spirit is a rich ornament far above gold or silver for these only commend us to men but a meek and a quiet spirit is an ornament of great price in the sight of God 1 Pet. 3.3,4 5. God hath left you all the promises he hath not taken away one promise from you The covenant which comprehends under it all the promises is in all things ordered and sure 2 Sam. 23.5 When God makes the greatest alterations in our conditions there is no alteration in his covenant Psal 89.34 My covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips Isa 54.10 The mountains shall depart and the hills be removed but my kindeness shall not depart from thee neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee Though you should have lost all that you have you are as rich in promises as ever and the promises are more worth than the whole world and may you not then quiet your mindes with what promises God hath left you seeing you have promises not only for the life to come but also for the supply of all your wants in this present life 1 Tim. 4.8 Phil. 4.19 6. God hath blessed you with all spiritual blessings in Christ where they shall not where they cannot be taken from you You have lost only earthly blessings you have not lost any one spiritual blessing Now this may be a great comfort to you that notwithstanding what you have lost yet you are still blessed with all spiritual blessings The Apostle Paul who had suffered the loss of all things for Christ Phil. 3.8 was not troubled for his losses when he considered what God had laid up for him in Christ but breaks out into blessing and praise Ephes 1.3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ SECT 9. 9. Consider what God hath laid up for you in Heaven and that will quiet and comfort your hearts though your goods be spoiled and your houses burnt and you have lost all the estate that you have in the world Heb. 10.34 Ye took joyfully the spoiling of your goods knowing in your selves that ye have in Heaven a better and a more enduring substance There are such excellent things treasured up for you in Heaven that the tongues of men are not able to express the goodness or the greatness of them Psal 31.19 O how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee We have seen many desirable and excellent things with our eyes and possibly we may have heard of better things than ever we saw and we can conceive of better things in our minds than ever we saw or heard of but those things which the Lord hath prepared for us in Heaven are far better
without reflecting upon Christ for he is in himself a consuming fire But when we look upon God in and through Jesus Christ then we may see him to be a reconciled Father 2 Cor. 5.19 and to be the Father of Mercies and the God of all comfort 2 Cor. 1.3 3. If we would take up our rest in God we must labour to get and to keep Gods Presence with our Souls When we enjoy Gods gracious and blessed presence we finde that in God that giveth us rest and satisfaction under our greatest troubles Exod. 33.14 My presence shall go with thee and I will give thee rest Moses had been brought up by the space of forty years in Pharaohs Court where he had fared deliciously every day and he was now in a dry barren solitary Wilderness which afforded nothing that was good but was attended with many evils as Serpents and Scorpions c. What manner of place this Wilderness was we may see Jer. 2.6 Deut. 8.15 Here he was to continue and wander up and down by the space of forty years and that in the midst of a perverse and froward people that in all their straits did murmur against him for bringing of them out of the Land of Egypt his troubles sometimes were so great that we finde him praying to God to kill him out of hand and to make a sudden dispatch of him that he might not see his wretchedness Numb 11.15 Yet though the troubles he met with in the Wilderness were exceeding great and many and of long continuance viz. forty years his soul had rest in God by vertue of the Divine Presence that went along with him We may see also the virtue and power that is in Gods Presence to quiet and satisfie the Soul in the times of greatest trouble in Jer. 46.27,28 Jacob shall return and be in rest and at ease and none shall make him afraid fear thou not O Jacob my servant saith the Lord for I am with thee In the former part of the Chapter the Lord had threatned very sore calamities that they should be compassed about with fear on every side ver 5. that the Sword should devour round about and be satiate and made drunk with blood ver 10 14 c. and though these calamities should fall most upon other Nations Jacob was not to go wholly unpunished but was to have a share therein yet Jacob having a promise of Gods presence should thereby have rest and ease in all his troubles 4. We must maintain and keep our communion with God The oftner we draw near unto God the oftner we shall finde him drawing near to our souls according to what we finde James 4.8 Draw nigh to God and God will draw nigh to you and the oftner God draws nigh to our souls the more delight and contentment we shall finde in him The Psalmist speaking of such as approach unto God saith they shall be satisfied with the goodness of Gods House Psal 65.4 Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and cansest to approach unto thee that he may dwell in thy courts we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house even of thy Holy Temple There is much in conversing with good men for the filling and satisfying the spirit of one that is truly gracious he hath his greatest delight in the company of the Saints and Servants of God Rons 15.24 If first I be somewhat filled with your company Psal 16.2,3 My goodness extendeth not unto thee but to the Saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight If there be such delight and satisfaction in conversing with good men there must needs be much more in conversing with the great God One main cause of the disturbance of our mindes when we meet with crosses is immoderate thirsting after the things of this world communion with God will take off this kinde of thirst from the souls John 4.14 Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life The oftner we go to God the more we shall ask and crave of him and the more we ask of God the more and better things we shall receive from him in order to the satisfying of our souls Psal 105.40 The people asked and he satisfied them with the bread of heaven Were but our desires after God greater we should finde more abundant satisfaction in him for He satisfieth the desire of every living thing Psal 145.16 5. If we would take up our rest and satisfaction in God we must set our love upon him As it is between a man and his Wife if a man have an entire love to his Wife he will be so satisfied in her that he will have no hankerings after any other women so much is implyed Prov. 5.18,19 Rejoyce with the wife of thy youth let her be as the loving hinde and pleasant roe let her breasts satisfie thee at all times and be thou ravisht alwayes with her love So it is between a man and God when a man hath an entire love to God he will be so abundantly satisfied in God that he will have no great desire after any other thing besides God compare Psal 18.1 with Psal 73.25 I will love thee O Lord my strength Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee When God hath set his love upon his people he resteth satisfied in them Psal 87.2 The Lord loveth the gates of Zion The Lord hath chosen Zion This is my rest for ever Psal 132.13,14 Zeph. 3.17 He will rejoyce over thee with joy he will rest in his love he will joy over thee with singing So also it will be with us when we have set our love upon God we shall then take up our rest in God 6. We must labour to get good evidences of Gods love to our souls and get our interest in God made clear Clear and well-grounded apprehensions of our interest in God and of Gods love to our souls do tend much to the bringing of our souls to take up their rest and satisfaction in God Deut. 33.23 O Naphthali satisfied with favour Psal 90.13 O satisfie us early with thy mercy that we may be glad and rejoyce all our dayes John 14.8 Shew us the Father and it sufficeth us When we know the Father and know him to be our God and Father in Christ we have enough we have that which sufficeth us 7. If we would take up our rest in God and abide satisfied in him when ever any thing disquiets our mindes and we have any load and burden upon our Spirits we must repair to Jesus Christ and cast our selves and our burdens upon the Lord Jesus in so doing we shall finde grace and vertue coming out of the Lord Jesus to preserve and sustain our souls in a quiet peaceable satisfied frame in all
all that they owe but are disabled by Gods providence 3. Cry to God that 〈◊〉 would finde out some way for you and raiâ—… up some supplies whereby you may be able to pay you Debts When one of the Sons of the Prophets was felling a beam and the axe head fell into the water he cries out to the Prophet 2 Kings 6.5 Alas Master for it was borrowed And the widow that was in debt crieâ—â—o Elisha to help her and he did help both the one and the other The God of Elisha is more merciful and can do greater things than Elisha therefore do you that are in debt cry unto the Lord and see what he will do for you The willingness of God to help poor Debters to get out of Debt may be seen several waves I will mention two 1. God wrought two Moracles for this end to enable those that were in debt to pay their debts The one was the multiplying the Widows oyl 1 Kings 4.1 to the 8. verse The other was the making iron to swim that the axe that was borrowed might be restored to the owner 1 Kings 6.5,6,7 Now Gods working Miracles to help poor people pay their debts may encourage those that are in debt to cry to God to help them 2. God commandeth us to own no man any thing Rom. 13.8 And we need not doubt but God is willing to help us to keep his Commandments And as you should cry to God to help you out of debt so also humble your souls for your sins for sometimes contracting of debts is inflicted as a judgement for sin Deut 28.15,43,44 If thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God to observe to do all his Commandments The stranger that is within thee shall get above thee very high and thou shalt be very low he shall lend to thee and thou shalt not lend to him he shall be the head and thou shalt be the tail The Lord hath promised concerning such as are careful to keep his Commandments that he will not only help them to pay their debts but he will so bless them that they shall have no need of borrowing but shall be in a capacity to lend to others Deut. 15.4,5,6 The Lord thy God shall greatly bless thee Only if thou carefully hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God and thou shalt lend unto many Nations and shalt not borrow The like is promised Deut. 28.12,13 The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season and to bless all the work of thine hand and thou shalt lend unto many Nations and shalt not borrow And the Lord shall make thee the head and not the tail and thou shalt be above only and thou shalt not be beneath if that thou hearken unto the Commandments of the Lord thy God which I command thee this day to observe and to do them Plead these promises with God and encourage your selves to hope in God to finde out some way whereby you may pay your debts And if God do answer your Prayers and raise up means for you whereby to get out of debt pay off your debts as fast as you can When God had multiplyed the oyl of the widow that was in debt the Prophet giveth her this advice 1 Kings 4.7 Go sell the oyl and pay thy debt and live thou and thy Children of the rest 4. It hath been the lot of men fearing God to die in debt and not to leave wherewithal to pay their debts We read of one of the Sons of the Prophets who did fear God that died in debt and left no goods behinde him not any thing in the house but a pot of oyl so that the Creditors came to seize upon his Children for bond-men 2 Kings 4.1,2 There cried a certain woman of the Wives of the Sons of the Prophets unto Elisha saying Thy servant my husband is dead and thou knowest that thy Servant did fear the Lord and the Creditor is come to take unto him my two Sons for Bond-men and Elisha said unto her What hast thou in the house and she said thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house save a pot of oyl So that if after all your endeavours you should not be able to pay your debts but should die in debt and leave nothing behinde you this may be some comfort that this hath been the condition of some eminent Servants of God for such was this widows husband he was one of the Sons of the Prophets he was known to be a man fearing God Thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord. Yet he died in debt and left not any thing to pay his debts withal 5. If you should be unable to pay your debts that you owe to men yet make sure you get your debts that you owe to God blotted out of Gods Book of Remembrance Our sins are our debts Mat. 6.12 Forgive us our debts compared with Luke 11.4 Forgive us our sins We should be more solicitous about getting these debts paid than any whatever and because we have nothing of our own to pay we should go to the Lord Jesus who is our surety and desire him to undertake for us What is said of the men of Israels resorting to David 1 Sam. 22.2 Every one that was in distress and every one that was in debt and every one that was discontented gathered themselves unto him and he became a captain over them The like should we do when we have any thing burdens and discontents and troubles our mindes whether it be debt or any other distress we should resort unto Jesus Christ and he will give us ease Mat. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest SECT 6. Obj. 6. I am brought into much misery and great straits already by my losses and may in a little time go through a great deal more and this doth much disquiet my minde Answ 1. Murmuring will not lessen your misery but encrease it for there is more evil in the least sin than in the greatest affliction murmuring will not procure you enlargement out of your straits but rather cause God to lay more burden upon you until he hath humbled and subdued your spirit and caused you to accept of the punishment of your iniquity 2. Call not your afflictions wherewith God correcteth you for to promote your spiritual and eternal welfare your misery rather account them a part of your happiness James 5.11 Behold we count them happy which endure Job 5.17 Behold happy is the man whom God correcteth therefore despise not thou the chastning of the Almighty Psal 94.12 Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest O Lord and teachest out of thy law We should be so far from disquieting our selves because of our afflictions that we should account it a matter of great joy when God is pleased to exercise us with divers temptations James 1.2 My brethren
Psal 119.162 I rejoyced at thy Word as one that findeth great spoyl He esteemed that acquaintance that he got with Gods Word in his afflictions more than thousands of gold and silver Psal 119.71,72 It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy Statutes The Law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of Gold and Silver Psal 19.9,10 The Judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether more to be desired are they than Gold yea than much fine Gold 4. If God stir you up to seek after and make sure of himself for your portion now you have lost the portion you had in this world if you get God for your portion your losses will be abundantly made up in God When David was robbed and spoiled of his goods he saith God dealt well with him and why he gave him himself for his portion Psal 119.61 The bands of the wicked have robbed me yet he adds Ver. 65. Thou hast dealt well with thy servant and what made him say God dealt well with him when he was spoiled of all that he had you may see the ground was he had God for his portion Ver. 57. Thou art my portion O Lord. 5. If God shall give you Communion with himself if he shall be pleased to lift up the light of his countenance upon you and give you his blessed and gracious presence in his affliction he gives you that which is better than all this world Psal 73.25 There is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee Psal 4.6,7 There be many that say Who will shew us any good Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their Corn and Wine encreased The lowest condition in this world with the enjoyment of God is better than the highest and best estate without God Psal 84.10 A day in thy Courts is better than a thousand I had rather be a door-keeper in the House of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness The Wilderness is an uncomfortable place Canaan was a Land flowing with milk and honey yet Moses Chuseth to abide in the Wilderness with Gods presence rather than to go into Canaan without the presence of God Exod. 33.15 If thy presence go not with me carry us not up hence SECT 16. 16. Let the loss of your substance and habitation stir you up to make sure of a better house and better substance in heaven There is an house and substance in heaven as well as here upon earth Joh. 14.2 In my Fathers House are many Mansions Heb. 10.34 Ye have in Heaven a better and an enduring substance Now when we have lost or are in danger to lose our houses and substance on earth it should put us upon making sure of heaven Heb. 13.14 Here have we no continuing City but we seek one to come Heb. 11.9,10 By faith he sojourned in the Land of Promise as in a strange Country He looked for a City which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God The Apostle Paul being without a certain dwelling place 1 Cor. 4.11 made sure of heaven 2 Cor. 5.1 We know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens It is very uncomfortable for the body to want an habitation There was great wailing in Zion when the Inhabitants thereof were cast out of their dwellings Jer. 9.19 A voice of wailing is heard out of Zion How are we spoiled we are greatly counfounded because we have forsaken the land because our dwellings have cast us out But it will be far more uncomfortable for our souls to want a dwelling place with God in heaven there will be great weeping and wailing by all those that shall be shut out of the Kingdom of Heaven If a mans dwelling here on earth be burnt or other wayes destroyed he may get as good in another place but he that faileth of a dwelling in heaven must dwell with devouring fire and with everlasting burnings Mat. 25.41 Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels Such as shall not be admitted to dwell with Christ have another habitation provided for them and that is among the Devils in flaming â—ire If a man be deprived of a convenient habitation here it continueth but a little while a few dayes will put an end to his misery but he that faileth of a dwelling with God when he dieth is miserable to all eternity If you say What shall we do that we may be sure of an house in heaven and go to dwell with God when we dye I answer 1. We must open our souls to Jesus Christ and receive him into our hearts and let him dwell with us and then we shall surely dwell with him The Lord Jesus stands at the door of our hearts and knocks and calls to us to open our hearts to him Cant. 5.2 It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh saying Open to me my sister my love my dove my undefiled Rev. 3.20 Behold I stand at the door and knock if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me Now after we have opened the door to Christ and received him into our hearts we must let him dwell with us we should let him dwell in our thoughts we should let him dwell in our affections we should let him dwell in our conversations which we do when we order our conversations by his word and make Christ the end of our conversations Now if we receive Christ and let him dwell in our hearts we shall surely dwell with him for ever 1 John 5.11,12 This is the record that God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath life 2. We must not suffer any sin to dwell either in our hearts or conversations Evil motions and vain and sinful thoughts will be often coming into our mindes but we must not let them dwell there but we must endeavour to cast them out as ost as they come into our mindes This God expects from all those that expect salvation Jer. 4.14 O Jerusalem wash thine heart from wickedness that thou mayest be saved How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee God will not let evil dwell with him Psal 5.4 Thou art not a God that hast pleasure in wickedness neither shall evil dwell with thee and therefore if we would dwell with God we must purge our selves from our sins They that do not depart from iniquity Christ will say to them even to every one of them Depart from me Luke 13.27 Depart from me all ye workers of iniquity 3. We must devote our selves to the service of Christ and if we serve the Lord Jesus whilst we are in this world we shall