the keeping of their Soul to him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator Shall God display his glory before us under the character and Title of a Creator and shall we yet fear man shall he do this to us when we are under a suffering condition and that on purpose that we might commit our Souls to him in well doing and be quiet and shall we take no notice of this Who art thou that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die and of the Son of man that shall be made as grass and forgettest the Lord thy maker that hath stretched forth the Heavens and laid the foundations of the earth c. Isa. 51.12 13. Had God concealed himself as to his being a Creator yet since he presenteth himself unto us by his word under so many excellent Titles as are given to no other God besides methinks it should make us bold in our God but when for our relief he shall add to all other that he verily is a Creator this should make us rest in hope indeed Every Nation will have confidence for their own Gods though but Gods that are made with hands though but the work of the Smith and Carpenter And shall not we trust in the name of the Lord our God who is not only a God but a Creator and former of all things Mich. 4.5 Consequently the only living and true God and one that alone can sustain us We therefore are to be greatly blamed if we overlook the ground such ground of support and comfort as presenteth it self unto us under the Title of a Creator But then most of all if when we have heard believed and known that our God is such we shall yet be afraid of a man that shall die and forget the Lord our Maker We I say have heard seen known and believed that our God is the Creator The heavens declare his glory and the firmament sheweth his handy work and thus he has shewed unto us his eternal power and Godhead Rom. 1.20 Behold then thou fearful worm Jacob the Heavens the Sun the Moon the Stars behold the Earth the Sea the Air the fire and Vapors Behold all living things from Leviathan and Behemoth to the least that creepeth in the Earth and Waters Yea behold thy self thy Soul thy Body thy fashion thy building and consider thy God hath made even all these things and hath given to thee this being yea and all this also he made of that which doth not appear Heb. 11.1 2 3. This is that which thou art called to the consideration of by Peter in the Text when he letteth fall from his apostolical meditation that thy God is the Creator and commandeth that thou in thy suffering for him according to his will shouldest commit the keeping of thy Soul to him as unto a faithful Creator He that has the art thus to do and that can do it in his straights shall never be trodden down His God his faith his faith his God are able to make him stand For such a man will thus conclude that since the Creator of all is with him what but Creatures are there to be against him So then what is the Ax that it should boast it self against him that heweth therewith or the Saw that it should magnifie it self against him that shaketh it as if the rod should shake it self against him that lifteth it up or as if the staff should lift up it self as if it were no wood Isa. 10.15 Read also the 40th of Isaiah from the 12 to the last verse and then speak if God as Creator is not a sure confidence to all the ends of the earth that trust in and wait upon him As Creator he hath formed and upholdeth all things yea his hands have formed the crooked Serpent wherefore he also is at his bay and thou hast made the Dragon in the Sea And therefore it follows that he can cut and wound him and give him for meat to the Fowls and to the beasts inheriting the wilderness if he will seek to swallow up and destroy the Church and People of God Job 26.13 Ps. 74.13 14. Isa. 51.9 Ezek. 29.3 4. Ninthly A Creator is God the God unto whom they that suffer according to his will are to commit the keeping of their Souls the Creator and doth he take charge of them as a Creator Then this should teach us to be far off from being dismayed as the heathens are at his tokens for our God the Lord is the true God the living God the King of eternity Jer. 10.1 2 10. We should tremblingly glory and rejoyce when we see him in the World though upon those that are the most terrible of his dispensations God the Creator will sometimes mount himself and ride thorough the earth in such Majesty and glory that he will make all to stand in the Tent doors to behold him O how he rode in his chariots of Salvation when he went to save his people out of the land of Egypt how he shook the Nations Then his glory covered the heavens and the earth was full of his praise His brightness was as the light he had horns coming out of his hand and there was the hiding of his power Before him went the pestilence and burning coals went forth at his feet He stood and measured the earth he beheld and drove asunder the nations the everlasting mountains were scattered the perpetual hills did bow his way is everlasting Then saith the Prophet I saw the Tents of Cushan in affliction the Curtains in the land of Midian did tremble Was the Lord displeased against the rivers was thine anger against the rivers was thy wrath against the Sea that thou didst ride upon thy horses and thy chariots of salvation Habbak 3. So David The earth shook and trembled saith he the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken because he was wroth There went up a smoke out of his nostrils and fire out of his mouth devoured coals were kindled by it He bowed the heavens also and came down and darkness was under his feet And he rode upon a Cherub and did flie he did flie upon the wings of the wind He made darkness his secret place his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed hailstones and coals of fire The Lord also thundred in the heavens and the Highest gave his voice hail-stones and coals of fire Yea he sent out his arrows and scattered them and he shot out lightning and discomfited them Then the chanels of waters were seen and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke O Lord at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils Psal. 18. from verse 7. to verse 15. These are glorious things though shaking dispensations God is worthy to be seen in his dispensations as well as in his word though the nations tremble at his presence O that thou wouldest rend
God he will honour yea will put some of his glory upon them but they shall be honoured There is none can tell what God can do He can make those things that in themselves are most fearful and terrible to behold the most pleasant delightful and desirable things He can make a Gaol more beautiful than a palace restraint more sweet by far than liberty And the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the treasures in Aegypt Heb. 11.26 'T is said of Christ That for the joy that was set before him he indured the Cross and despised the shame Heb. 12.2 But Secondly As there is in God a sufficiency of power to uphold so there is in him also a sufficiency of comfort and goodness to imbolden us I mean communicative comfort and goodness Variety of and the terribleness that attends afflictions call not only for the beholding of things but also a laying hold of them by faith and feeling now this also is with God to the making of his to sing in the night Paul and Silas sang in Prison the Apostle went away from the Council rejoycing when they had shamefully beaten them for their Preaching in the Temple Acts 5. But whence came this but from an inward feeling by faith of the love of God and of Christ which passeth knowledge Hence he says to those under afflictions fear none of those things that you shall suffer There are things to be suffered as well as places to suffer in and there are things to be let into the soul for its imboldening as well as things to be shewed to it Rev. 2.20 Rom. 5.5 Now the things to be suffered are many some of which are thus counted up they were Tortured had cruel mockings and scourgings they were stoned were sawn asunder were slain with the sword were tempted They wandred about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins being destitute afflicted tormented Heb. 11.35 These are some of the things that good men of old have suffered for their profession of the name of Jesus Christ. All which they were inabled by him to bear to bear with Patience to bear with rejoycing knowing in themselves that they had in heaven a better and an induring substance Heb. 10.32 33 34 35 36. And it is upon this account that Paul doth call to mind the most dreadfull of his afflictions which he suffered for the Gospel sake with rejoycing and that he tells us that he was most glad when he was in such infirmities Yea it is upon this account that he boasteth and vaunteth it over Death Life Angels principalities powers things present things to come height depth and every other creature for he knew that there was enough in that love of God which was set on him through Christ to preserve him and to carry him through all 2 Cor. 12.9 10. Rom. 8.37 38 39. That God has done thus a thousand instances might be given and that God will still do thus for that we have his faithful promise Isa. 43.2 1 Cor. 10.13 To the adversaries of the Church these things have also sometimes been shewed to their amazement and confusion God shewed to the King of Babylon that he was with the three children in the Fiery Furnace God shewed to the King of Babylon again that he would be where his were though in the Lyons Dens Dan. 3.24 chap. 6.24 25 26. Also in later days who so reads Mr. Fox's Acts and Monuments will also find several things to confirm this for truth God has power over all plagues and therefore can either heighten or moderate and lessen them at pleasure He has power over Fire and can take away the intolerable heat thereof This those in the Marian days could also testifie namely Hauks and Bainham and others who could shout for joy and clap their hands in the very flames for joy God has power over hunger and can moderate it and cause that one meals meat shall go as far as forty were wont to do This is witnessed in Elias when he went for his life to the mount of God being fled from the face of Jezabel 1 King 19.8 c. And what a good nights lodging had Jacob when he fled from the face of his Brother Esau When the earth was his Couch the Stone his pillow the Heavens his canopy and the shades of the night his Curtains Gen. 28.12 13 14 15 16. I can do all things said Paul through Christ strengthening me And again I take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persecutions in distresses for Christs sake But how can that be since no affliction for the present seems joyous I answer though they be not so in themselves yet Christ by his presence can make them so For then his power rests upon us When I am weak saith he then I am strong then Christ doth in me mighty things For my strength saith Christ is made perfect in weakness in affliction for the Gospel sake For when my people are afflicted and suffer great distress for me then they have my comforting supporting imboldning and upholding presence to relieve them An instance of which you have in the three children and in Daniel made mention of before But what think you did these servants of the God of Jacob feel feel in their souls of his power and comforting presence when they for his name were suffering of the rage of their enemies While also one like the Son of God was walking in the Fire with the three and while Daniel sat and saw that the hands of Angels were made Muzzels for the Lyons mouths I say was it not worth being in the Furnace and in the Den to see such things as these O! the grace of God and his spirit and power that is with them that suffer for him if their hearts be upright with him if they are willing to be faithful to him if they have learned to say here am I when ever he calls them and what ever he calls them to Wherefore when Peter saith 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 He concludes that how outragious furious merciless or cruel soever the enemy is yet there with him they shall find help and succour relief and comfort For God is able to make such as do so stand Eighthly We will now come to touch upon that which may more immediately be called the reason of this exhortation For although all these things that have been mentioned before may or might be called reasons of the point yet there are that in my judgment may be called reasons which are yet behind As First Because when a man has by faith and prayer committed the keeping of his soul to God he has the advantage of that liberty of soul to do and suffer for God that he cannot otherwise have He that has committed his soul to God to keep is rid of that care and is delivered from the fear of its
the heavens that thou wouldest come down saith the Prophet that the mountains might flow down at thy presence Isa. 64.1 2. We know God and he is our God our own God of whom or of what should we be afraid Psal. 46. When God roars out of Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem when the heavens and the earth do shake the Lord shall be the hope of his people and the strength of the children of Israel Joel 3.16 Every man stayeth up or letteth his spirit fall according to what he knoweth concerning the nature of a thing He that knows the Sea knows the Waves will toss themselves he that knows a Lyon will not much wonder to see his Paw or to hear the voice of his roaring And shall we that know our God be stricken with a pannick fear when he cometh out of his holy place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity We should stand like those that are next to Angels and tell the blind world who it is that is thus mounted upon his steed and that hath the clouds for the dust of his feet and that thus rideth upon the wings of the wind we should say unto them this God is our God for ever and ever and he shall be our guide even unto death Our God! the Creator He can turn men to destruction and say Return ye children of men When our God shews himself 't is worth the while to see the sight though it costs us all that we have to behold it Some men will bless and admire every rascally Jugler that can but make again that which they only seem to marr or do something that seems to out go reason yea though they make thundrings and noise in the place where they are as though the Devil himself were there Shall Saints then like slaves be afraid of their God the Creator of their own God when he renteth the heavens and comes down when God comes into the world to do great things he must come like himself like him that is a Creator Wherefore the Heavens and the earth must move at his presence to signifie that they acknowledge him as such and pay him that homage that is due to him as their God and great Creator We that are Christians have been trained up by his Son in his School this many a day and have been told what a God our Father is what an arm he has and with what a voice he can thunder how he can deck himself with Majesty and excellency and array himself with beauty and glory How he can cast abroad the rage of his wrath and behold every one that is proud and abase him Job 40.9 10 11. Have we not talked of what he did at the red Sea and in the land of Ham many years ago and have we forgot him now Have we not vaunted and boasted of our God both in Church Pulpit and Books and spake to the praise of them that in stead of stones attempted to drive Antichrist out of the World with their lives and their blood and are we afraid of our God He was God a Creator then and is he not God now and will he not be as good to us as to them that have gone before us or would we limit him to appear in such ways as only smile upon our flesh and have him stay and not shew himself in his heart-shaking dispensations until we are dead and gone what if we must go now to Heaven and what if he is thus come down to fetch us to himself If we have been wise as Serpents and innocent as Doves If we can say neither against the Law of the Jews neither against the Temple nor against Caesar have we offended any thing at all of what should we be afraid let Heaven and Earth come together I dare say they will not hurt us Our Lord Jesus when dilating upon some of the great and necessary works of our Creator puts check before-hand to all uncomely fears to such fears as become not the faith and profession of a Christian Brother saith he shall deliver up the Brother to death and the Father the Child and the children shall rise up against their Parents and cause them to be put to death And ye shall be hated of all men for my names sake What follows ver 28. fear them not And again in ver 31. fear ye not Mat. 10. So again Mat. 24. Nation shall rise against Nation there shall be famines pestilences and earthquakes c. They shall deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you Many shall be offended and shall betray one another And many false Prophets shall arise and deceive many And yet for all this we are bid not to be afraid for all these things with all other are ordered limited enlarged and straitned bounded and buffeted by the will and hand and power of that God unto whom Peter bids us commit the keeping of our Souls as unto a faithful Creator ver 4. to ver 11. Mark 13.5 to the 9. To wait for God in the way of his judgements doth well become a Christian To believe he loves us when he shews himself terrible to us is also very much becoming of us Wherefore has he given us grace is it that we should live by sence Wherefore has he sometimes visited us is it that our hearts might be estranged from him and that we still should love the World And I say again wherefore has he so plainly told us of his greatness and of what he can do is it not that we might be still when the World is disturbed and that we might hope for good things to come out of such providences that to sence look as if themselves would eat up and devour all Let us wait upon God walk with God believe in God and commit our selves our Soul our Body to God to be kept Yea let us be content to be at the dispose of God and rejoyce to see him act according to all his wonderous works For this is a posture highly becoming them that say of God he is their Father and that have committed the keeping of their Soul to him as unto a Creator A comely thing it is for the Soul that feareth God to love and reverence him in all his appearances We should be like the Spaniel-dogg even lie at the foot of our God as he at the foot of his Master yea and should be glad could we but see his face though he treads us down with his feet Ay says one Son I could if I thought this high God would regard me and take notice of my laying of my Soul at his foot while I suffer for his word and truth in the World Why do but see now how the holy Ghost for our help doth hedge up that way in at which unbelief would come that their might as to this be no room left for doubting For as he calleth the God unto whom we are bid to commit the