enemies and to deliver them out of all dangers And they were in the form of pillars to be a clear evidence to them that the Lord would not leave them nor forsake them but would constantly abide with them until he had brought them past all danger and had delivered them out of all their troubles and until he had given them rest from all their enemies u Act. 12. Thus the Angel of the Lord delivered Peter out of prison and would not leave him untill he had brought him past the first and second ward and through the iron gate into the city where he might secure himself from Herod who sought his life These pillars were also a witnesse to them of the Covenant and Promise which God made to their Fathers that he would give them the land of Canaan for their inheritance and that the people should alwayes remember to the glory of God their miraculous deliverance out of Egypt and the wonderfull goodnesse of God to them all the time they travelled through the vast wildernesse for they had still a pillar to conduct them and God would have a memoriall kept of all his wonderfull works Thus w Josh 24 the Lord commanded Joshua to take twelve stones out of Jordan and to leave them in the place where they should lodge that night to be a perpetuall memoriall that the waters of Jerdan were out off before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord when it passed over Jordan In Nehemiahs time x Neh. 9. 12 19. the Levites in their confession of Gods goodnesse do remember how God brought his people out of Egypt led them by those two pillars though they did highly provoke God by their molten calfe yet he forsook them not in the wildernesse the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day neither the pillar of fire by night y Gen. 19. 26. Lots wife became a pillar of salt because against Gods commandement she looked back toward Sodom z Luk. 17. 32 which great judgement Christ would have to be perpetually remembred a Gen. 31. 45 52. Jacob set up a stone for a Pillar as a memoriall of his integrity to Laban and for a witnesse of the Covenant that was between them Also b Gen. 35. 20 he set a pillar upon Rachels grave for a perpetual memorial of her c 2 Sam. 18. 8. Absalom reared up for himself a pillar in the Kings dale for the perpetuity of his name for he said I have no son to keep my name in remembrance and therefore he called the Pillar after his own name If we do well ruminate upon these things and imprint them in our hearts it will make much for our spiritual consolation for where the holy Ghost doth settle his abode it is to abide there for ever and if we enjoy his blessed presence it is the greatest comfort of our souls He will be as a strong Pillar for us to rest upon when we are assaulted with strong temptations or beset with perills and dangers or any way visited with sorrowes and afflictions he is also such a Pillar of true comfort as will not leave us in any sad condition or misery but will still continue with us untill he hath brought us out of all our troubles dangers and distresses This similitude of a Pillar doth so strengthen our faith and hope in God that nothing shall be able to overthrow the foundation of it This is also great consolation to us that we have the Spirit of truth to bear witness to our spirits that we are in the love and favour of God though the outward man be miserably afflicted perplexed and tormented This consideration will appease the clamours of our sins and the accusations of our consciences and though we are in our own apprehension as quite forsaken of God yet we shall hereby be preserved from sinking under so great a pressure of temptation and though the devill doth aggravate our sins to make us cast off all hope of pardon yet this blessed Spirit will make us look up to Christ by faith as he was upon the crosse and we shall see the guilt of all our sins nailed to the same crosse and the righteousnesse of Christ to be imputed to us which will frustrate the malicious designe of the devill against the salvation of our souls Here also we may find profitable matter for our instruction and edification for it doth teach us to rest firmly upon the aid and assistance of this blessed Spirit in all conditions of life and in all the calamities and tribulations that we shall meet with in this present world It doth also binde us to a thankfull remembrance of all the benefites which we have received from him of all the heavenly endowments which he hath bestowed upon us and of all the spirituall graces which he hath wrought in us that we may imploy them to the glory of God and to the good of our own souls and therefore we ought not to grieve the Holy Ghost nor quench his gracious motions but to yield all willing and ready obedience to his good will and pleasure This doth also teach us to rest upon the promises of God both for provision for succour in time of need and for the salvation of our souls for he that hath promised is faithfull and true and if we wait his appointed time he will assuredly perform it Lastly we must mark and observe what speciall operations of the holy Ghost we have found in our hearts either for the illumination of our understandings in heavenly things or working our perverse wills to the will of God or sanctifying of our affections to newnesse of life that we may glorifie God by our thankfulnesse for them Fourthly the holy Ghost is resembled to a seal for d Eph. 13 14. We are sealed with this holy spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance untill the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory Also Paul saith e 2 Cor. 1. 12 that God hath sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts Also again he saith f Eph. 4. 13. Grieve not the holy Sptrit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption Whatsoever God hath decreed for our preservation and salvation is sealed with this Spirit of Truth and cannot be reversed but is more firm g Esth 8. 8. than the law of the Medes and Persians h 2 Tim. 2. 19. for the foundation of God standeth sure having this seal The Lord knoweth them that are his In times of common calamities God will set 〈◊〉 seal of preservation upon his own servants that thâ—â— shall not be hurt i The Angel that ascended f 〈…〉 East having the seal of the living God cryed with a loud voice to the four Angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea saying hurt not the earth neither the sea nor the
Cor. 1. 3. who is the God of all comfort for thus he saith by his Prophet h Isa 51. 11 12. The redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads they shall obtain gladnâ—sse and joy and mourning shall flee away I even I am he that comforteth you What comfort can we then want if God be our Comforter Secondly if we delight in pleasures heaven will afford us more than our hearts can desire i Psal 36. 8 9. There we shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatnesse of Gods house and he will make us drink of the river of his pleasures for with him is the fountain of life in his light shall we see light Also the Psalmist saith thus k Psal 16. 11 God will shew us the path of life in his presence is fulnesse of joy at his right hand there are pleasures for evermore For heaven is the place of all peace and comfort of all joy and happinesse and of all glory and immortality Thirdly heaven is the place of all security as Abraham said to Dives l Lu. 16. 26 Between us and you there is a great gulf sixed so that they which would passe from hence to you cannot neither can they â—asse to us that would come from thence Also thâ—â— saith Christ m Mat. 25. 10. When the Bridâ—groom cometh and they that are ready are gone in with him to the marriage the door will be shut and theâ— none can go in and none can come out n Mat. 6. 20 â—n heaven we may safely keep our spiritual â—reasure from the moth and rust and from that arch theif the devil If this precious jewel which is our â—ouâ— be laid up in heaven it will be safely kept there for nothing can corrupt it and no theif can steal it away Lastly that which makes up the fulnesse of our joy and happinesse in the Kingdom of heaven is the eternity of it for if we should injoy it but for a time it would greatly lessen the comfort of our felicity there shall be an end of time but there will be no end of our blessed condition in heaven For thus saith the Lord o Isa 65. 17 18. Behold I create new heavens and a new earth and the former shall not be remembered nor come into minde But be you glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create for behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy And again he saith by the same Prophet p Isa 66 22 For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain bâ—fore me so shall your seed and your Name remain Thus saith John q Rev. 2 2. 5. The servants of the lambe shall be in this city of God and they shall reign for ever and ever Paul speaking of the resurrection saith thus r 1 Thes 4. 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Daniel also saith thus Å¿ Dan. 7. 18. And the Saints of the most high God shall take the Kingdome and possesse it for ever even for ever and ever Holy David saith t Psal 37. 18 that the inheritance of the upright shall be for ever Thus it is evident how great our gain shall be by Christ after death and that there shall be no end of our happinesse Consider now that whatsoever we suffer in this life is but for a short time and that the bitternesse of our sorrowes is sweetned with some comforts also that our joy and felicity in heaven is for eternity and that it is no way imbittered with any troubles or vexations that we may patiently and meekly bear whatsoever God shall lay upon us and earnestly desire to be uncloathed of this corruptible body that we may put on the glorious robes of immortality for ever Thus saith Paul u â— Cor. 4. 17 Our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternall weight of glory So likewise if we consider and believe that we have this Gain and advantage onely by Christ it will make us study and labour by all meanes to injoy him and when we have gotten some interest in him to stick close to him by Faith to love him with intire affections and to be obedient to his will and commands Wherefore now if thou hast any holy desire to be freed from all temptations from all sin and from all sorrow vexation and calamity then set the Meditations of thy heart upon the fruition of the Kingdom of Heaven where thou shalt be freed from all these evils though here upon earth they will rush in upon thee Also if thou desirest to injoy all the happinesse that heaven can afford thee and to injoy God himself for ever then look up unto Christ thy Saviour with the eye of faith who hath purchased heaven for thee with his own blood and hath made thee the Son of God by adoption that he might bestow all this upon thee whereof he hath given thee some taste in this life but thou canst not be made perfect in it untill this life is ended u 2 Pet. 1. 10. Give all diligence therefore as Peter saith to make thy calling and election sure by a lively faith in Christ and get the seal of the new Covenant which is the blood of Christ to be stamped upon thy heart that thou mayest carry it to thy grave and then death will give thy soul free passage into the mansions of heaven where this perfect freedome is to be obtained and where this gain of eternall blessednesse is to be gotten Wherefore walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit live not as a citizen of this world but live here as a free denizen of the heavenly Jerusalem having thy minde and the affections of thy heart set upon the holinesse and righteousnesse thereof that thy life and conversation may be pure and holy here upon earth and then thy soul shall live and eternally possesse it after it is dissolved from thy body How CHRIST is our Spirituall life MAn in his first creation had a spirituall life which was free from any spot or stain of sin but he soon lost it by his transgression and defaced this lively image of God that was stamped upon his soul and then in himself he had no ability to recover his lost happinesse This leprosie of sin hath infected all his posterity that proceed from him by naturall propagation which hath brought upon them a spiritual death and layeth them open to eternall death hereafter Though this be our condition by nature yet a Eph. 2. 4 5 6 7. God who is rich in mercy for his great love where with he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickned us together in
comfort if we consider that our salvation dependeth not upon the strength of our Faith but upon the truth of it for the weakest Faith if it be true is effectual to salvation as well as the strongest Also if we consider that faith is a grace which is grounded upon a sure rock even upon Christ Jesus against whom no created power can prevail and that the strength of our Faith doth not consist in our hold upon Christ for then every temptation or gust of affliction would make us let goe our hold and so lose it but it consisteth in that firm and strong hold that Christ hath of us who will not suffer any to pluck us out of his hand according to this of the Psalmist h â—â— 23 23. â—â—â— I am continually with thee thou hast hâ—lden me by my right hand thou shalt guide me with thy counsell and afterward receive me to glory Wherefore though we are brought to so low an â—bb that we have lost the sense of our Faith yet it is a sure evidence that once we did injoy it and that there hath been a spiritual life in us which cannot be but by â—aith and this spiritual life is not quite extinct in us because we have still a spiritual sense though it be of losse The sense of a temporal losse is a manifest sign of a temporal life for a dead man hath no sense either of losse or of gain so likewise the sense of a spiritual losse of that which formerly we did truly injoy is as well an evident sign of a spiritual life as is the sense of a spiritual gain From hence a poor languishing soul may draw much comfort if he doth fear a spiritual desertion because he hath no comfortable sense of his faith for his faith is but clouded the habit of it still remaineth though he cannot discern it As the hearbs in winter are hidden under ground for a time because they are nipt in with the cold frosts and the warmth of the Sun is gone from them but the Sun will return again in his strength and will disperse the cold and bring them again out of the earth by the vertue and strength of his comfortable beames to make them flourish and to be as fruitful as before So it is with Faith it may be kept out of sight for a time if it be nipt with the cold frosts of affliction or if the Sun of righteousnesse hath withdrawn his comfortable beams from it but here is our hope and comfort i Mal 4. 2. that the Sun of righteousnesse will return again with healing in his wings to dispel all afflictions and sorrows to heal all our spiritual wounds and bakslidings from God and to stablish us in the assurance of the love and favour of God The Stability of true Faith VVE are come now in the last place through the assistance of Gods good Spirit to the stability of faith which will satisfie and comfort every distressed soul that is doubtful of his salvation weak in faith and afraid of death and of the last judgement through the wicked suggestions of the devil and by the aggravation of their sinnes Though the apprehension of Gods anger will cloud the sense of our faith though afflictions will sift it and winnow it as wheat though sin will wound it and the devil sometimes foil it yet nothing can kill it and nothing shall be able to overthrow it not the least grain of Gods corn shall fall upon the earth the habit of faith cannot be lost though we may loose the comfort of it for a time for God hath given the gift of perseverance to this faith and to no other So long as we live in the flesh we are subject to many temptations and backslidings from God we are ready to fall into many grosse and dangerous sinnes which will bereave us of all spiritual comfort for the time yet our faith in Christ will appear again and the Sun of righteousnesse will shine upon us for Christ will not suffer us totally and finally to fall away from him for our faith is built upon a sure foundation against which no violence of temptations and no stormes of persecution can prevail a Lu. 6. 48. Christ doth compare a righteous man to him that built an house and digged deep and laid the foundation on a rock and when the floud arose the stream beat vehemently upon that house and could not shake it for it was founded on a rock Christ is the foundation of our faith he is the rock of our salvation b Pro. 10. 30 and therefore as the wise man saith we shall never be removed Thus David sheweth the stability of the faithful c Psal 34. 22 The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate Also thus saith the Psalmist d Psa 125. 1 They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion which cannot be removed but abideth for ever And to make this truth undeniable thus saith Christ himself e John 3. 16 God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Why then should we faint under any temptation Why should we let goe the anchor of our hope If we hold fast to our faith it will not deceive us Christ wll not suffer us to depart from him for ever If we sin God will chastise us and he will hide his face from us but if we repent amend and turn unto him he will have mercy on us he will pity us he will heal the bones which he hath broken and will restore us again to the joy of his salvation There are divers sound reasons to prove the stability of faith in those that belong unto Christ that they shall never totally and finally fall away from grace but they shall be raised up again by repentance though they doe sometimes fall into fearful and dangerous sins The first reason is taken from Gods free election which ever remaineth sure and unchangeable for what he hath decreed in his secret Counsel must stand firm and cannot be altered Thus saith the Apostle f Rom. 8. 29 33 34. God did foreknow some from eternity whom he did elect and predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son whom also he did effectually call and them he justified in the righteousnesse of Christ and those are sure to be glorified for who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect whom he hath justified who is he that condemneth seeing Christ died for us and is risen again and is now at the right hand of God and maketh intercession for us therefore he concludes that nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Also the same Apostle saith in another place g 2 Tim. 2. 19. That the foundation of God standeth sure having this seal