the people thus bespeaks them there hath not failed one word of all his good promise 1 King 8.56 All his Promises are Yea and Amen made in Christ and confirmed and made good by him Now the Promises of mercy are sure footing for our faith and serve highly to fix and establish our hope I had perished saith David in mine affliction but that thy word was my hope Psal 119. This gave him comfort So as he professeth at the 114 verse Thou art my hiding-place and my shield I hope in thy word And so emphatically again Psal 130.5 I wait for the Lord my soul doth wait And in his word do I hope The Promises are as so many Magazines for relief Mines for supply Springs for consolation Breasts for refreshment They are as the clefts of the Rock and secret places of the stairs for the souls security and protection They are as an anchor of hope sure and stedfast as the Apostle elegantly calls them Heb. 6.19 which if well fastened the ship is sure so that neither wind or wave can move it There cannot be more venom in a judgement than there is balm in a Promise This was that bare up Davids soul and Christ too whom he typifies even Gods Promise of not leaving his soul in Hell nor suffering his holy one to see corruption Act. 13.35 This upheld Jonas's spirit from sinking under all his temptations and distractions and his faith and hope from drowning even when his body was swallowed up he did not throw all over-board but yet lookt towards his holy Temple Jonah 2.4 To which the Promises were peculiarly made Though the gate of mercy seemed shut all hopes of pardon cut off mountains of opposition stood in the way of his faith yet he looks up and by faith over-looks all faith in the Promise made him row against winde and tide and bear against all the difficulties and disasters of providence and hope not only against reason but sense too and believe over not bare difficulties but seeming impossibilities also When David was driven out of all hopes of the Kingdom so as peremptorily to conclude he was cast out of Gods sight should fall by the hand of Saul and all God had said was but a story and his Prophet Samuel a tale a lie he recovers himself from under all these wrestlings and animates his soul by the remembrance of the Promise I had fainted but that I believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the Land of the Living Though God does not alwaies fulfill his threatnings but revokes them on repentance wherefore the Jews counted not him a false Prophet that foretold Judgements though they came not to pass yet he alwaies fulfils his Promises to them that fear him and hope in his mercy This staid Abrahams faith therefore under all apparent contradictions Rom. 4.21 He that promised would perform Fifthly Exemplaria Providentiae The experiments of his Providence are another sure ground and bottom of hope Experience is the breeder of Hope Rom. 5.4 They which have tried God cannot but trust â—iâ—n For the Lord will not forsake his People This was the ground of Davids confidence 1 Sam. 13.37 when he went out against huge Goliah The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the Lion and out of the paw of the Bear he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine one deliverance assures another And it is no less the Argument of his Prayer in several Psalms Psal 27.9 Thou hast been my help leave me not neither forsake me O God of my salvation Thou hast O Lord taken the care of me hitherto expose me not now as a destitute Oâ—phan to the wide world Psal 31 2 3. Be thou my strong rock for thou art my rock and my fortresâ— Psal 42.8 9. All thy waves and billows are gone over me yet the Lord will command his loving-kindness in the day-time I will say unto God my rock when he was almost sunk even about drowning he catcheth hold on the bough of former experience seasonably and opportunely and so saves himself So Psal 71.5 9. Thou art my hope from my youth cast me not off in the time of my old age So vers 17 19. Thou hast taught me O God from my youth now also when I am old and gray-headed O God forsake me not There 's his Prayer and see how his Faith gets up and rises still higher and higher from hope to assurance verse 20. Thou which bast shewed me great and sore troubles shalt quicken me again and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the Earth And as he ends the Psalm so he begins it Verse 1 2 3. In thee O Lord I put my trust let me never be put to confusion be thou my strong rock and habitation for thou art my rock and my fortresse When the Out-works are taken then he retreats to the principal Fort when a Christians present evidences are darkened or hopes discouraged he may and ought to fly to the experience of Gods former gracious dealings and comfortable manifestations to look back to the days of old and years of ancient times and call to remembrance his former Songs under his present sufferings These will bear him up as in the dayes of old upon Eagles wings I was under such a temptation but the Lord strengthened me under such an affliction but God delivered me Thus David Psal 28.7 The Lord is my strength and my shield my heart trusted in him and I am helped He goes to God by a Periphrasis Psal 17.7 Shew thy marvelous loving-kindness O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee And thus the Church Psal 22. and 44. Our Fathers trusted in thee We have heard what thou didst for our Fathers in the dayes of old And shall not the Fathers unto the Children praise thy truth So Psal 115.12 The Lord hath been mindfull of us he will bless us S. Psal 74.12 God is my King of old Thou didst divide the Sea by thy strength thou brakest the heads of the Dragons in the waters Thou brakest the heads of Leviathan in pieces Awake awake put on strength O arm of the Lord Art not thou it that hath cut Rahab and wounded the Dragon It 's all along observable how the Church and People of God have stood upon this Giants shoulder of former experience in their pleadings and wrestlings with him for future mercies And in an especial manner those two solemn and signal deliverances out of Egypt and from the red Sea as God makes them a constant argument for obedience to him so do they of confidence upon him And thus the Church in the Lamentations in the saddest dumps of her affliction recurrs to her experience Lam. 3.26 It 's good a man should both quietly hope and wait for the salvation of the Lord. Thus the Apostle argues against wants and necessities Hebr. 13.5 from the Promise And against dangers from the experiments of
an Ark Heb. 11.7 which the prophane and secure world flouted and derided This was Lots security in the overthrow of Sodom his soul was vexed with their filthy conversation 2 Pet. 2.7 8. And the Apostle makes him a president his deliverance a ruling case so as to argue and draw up a firm conclusion from it for all the godly under like circumstances verse 9. This tenderness of conscience was that which removed Josiah out of the dint of suffering 2 King 22.19 Jealousie of sinning is the best security against suffering Such as fear Gods Name shall have the bright side of the cloud when others have the dark he will be to them a Sun when to the rest a fire This holy carriage protected Jeremiah and kept him out of captivity and exempted Baruch and gave him his life for a prey Gods mourners who gave him their testimony by wearing his livery shall also have his mark of distinguishing favour Ezek. 9. They are pluckt as brands out of the fire We may invert that of the Prophet Ezekiel and make the subject the predicate cap. 7.16 They who are as Doves of the Valleys mourning for their iniquity shall escape They who feared the Lord and thought on his Name minded Religion and made it their business had a book of remembrance written Mal. 3.16 Phinehas's zeal procures him the covenant of Gods peace Numb 25.8 Secondly A fiducial recumbency God saves them that trust in him and because they trust in him Psal 37. ult He that believes shall never be confounded God is a buckler to them that trust in him Prov. 2.8 The scope of the whole 91 Psalm is to assure preservation to them that exercise faith in God and keep in viis in waies of strict and close walking with him Not an absolute faith that God certainly will protect and deliver for that cannot be without a special revelation but a stedfast faith and firm dependance on God and his power and providence both as able and willing to do it Jobs confidence in God gave him assurance of his being his salvation This obtained a special priviledge for Obedmelech Jer. 39. ult Thy life shall be for a prey to thee because thou hast put thy trust in me saith the Lord. And this gave Daniel a marvelous yea miraculous protection Dan. 6.22 23. Innocency was found in him and he believed in his God Thirdly A praying importunity When Gods Spirit is poured out from on high and his stir up themselves to take hold on God plead and wrastle call and cry being his remembrancers day and night Psal 32.6 And so Zeph. 2.3 Seek the Lord all ye meek of the earth which have wrought his Judgement seek righteousness seek meekness it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lords anger in the most desolating Judgements God reserves a remnant and they are the seeking praying ones Joel 2. ult Whosoever shall call on the Name of the Lord shall be delivered So Psal 91.14 15. Fourthly A perfect and exact integrity He saves the upright in heart Psal 7.10 He compasseth them about with favour as a shield The way of the just is uprightness thou most upright doest weigh the path of the Just Isa 26.7 Integrity is the ground of hope This gave Job a certainty of his coming out of affliction and of a glorious restauration Job 13.18 I have ordered my cause I know I shall be justified This was that Hezekiah pleaded under Gods correction Isa 38.3 And Nehemiah under his enemies rage and opposition Think upon me my God for good Christs Righteousness is only pleadable at the bar of Gods Justice but our own in the Court of his mercy A man may as well rear a building on a quagmire or quick-sand as build a just hope on Hypocrisie but righteousness is a sure soundation The morning star being once up and visible it 's never very dark Such as walk alwaies in the view of their uprightness have alwaies some glimmerings of comfort and are never hopeless and desolate This was Gods own assignation of the reason of Noahs deliverance Gen. 7.1 Thee only have I found righteous in this generation He that walks uprightly walks securely When men are upright to God to men exercise a conscience void of offence in duties of the first and the second Table keep themselves from their iniquities and have respect to all Gods Commandments and whatsoever comes on them do not forget God and his Covenant they are upon the fairest ground of security The Prophet Amos puts them into not a bare capacity but at least a probability of mercy Amos 5.15 Hate the evil seek good and establish Judgement in the gate it may be the Lord God of Hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph Nay the Prophet Isaiah goes further and puts them under a certainty Isa 33.16 When Hypocrites were bundled as thorns or packt as brands into the devouring fire of Gods wrath who should abide now He that walketh righteously He shall dwell on high his place of defence shall be the munition of Rocks bread shall be given him his waters shall be sure Fifthly A resolved singularity and couragious zeal and magnanimity for God in the worst of times both as to doing and suffering When Christians shine with an eminent lustre of piety like stars in a dark night with greater brightness and burn with an holy zeal as fire in frosty weather alwaies hottest are none such of the times and do not only keep themselves untainted from the sins they embrace but se on the duties they oppose resolving with Joshua that they and their house will serve the Lord and with Daniel that they will as formerly notwithstanding all prohibitions to the contrary make their supplication to the God of Heaven They will keep up private family duties publick attendances though all give them up maintain those duties of Religion most zealously strenuously and industriously that are most momentous though most opposed and despised dancing before the Lords Ark though laughed to scorn by the Michaels of the world Though Princes speak against them they will meditate and speak of Gods statutes They will appear for God when all appear against him as did Elijah whom God wonderfully secured and Paul whom he stood by miraculously and Luther whose language was fiat justitia ruat Coelum whom God signally protected at Worms and elsewhere though he were the only butt his pretended holiness then had to shoot at When a man is resolved to consult duty and not safety to suffer before he sins to burn in a fiery furnace before bow to a graven Image and with an holy fortitude to stand up for God against the sins of the time and place though he hath none to back him though all the neighbourhood Town City be otherwise affected as it was with him as to Baals Altars and Paul to the Athenian worships and is determined to venture all for God and in his Cause with a Caesarem
sets down this infallible maxim draws up this most comfortable conclusion for faith to â—ive and feed upon here in the words Happy is â—he that hath the God of Jacob for his help c. In which words are observable two general parts First A general and indefinite Proposition of comfort Happy is he that hath Jacob's God for his help whoever he be he is really blessed Secondly A more particular Exposition and Illustration or if you will a tacite imposition of duty whose hope is in the Lord his God In the former the comfortable Proposition we have something implyed and something expressed Two things are supposed and being coucht in the bowels of the words deducible thence by way of Illation or Inference First A famous and significant description of God the God of Jacob. Secondly A tacite assertion of the sufficiency of his power and providence over or his mercy and goodness towards his people Their Help First A description of God and that first in respect of his nature or the verity and reality of his being and existence He is styled here by way of elegancy or emphasis the God of Jacob. Saith Mollerus to discern and distinguish the true God of Israel from all Heathenish Deities and to explode all fictitious gods and worships thereunto As the true God is the God of Jacob so the God of Jacob is the only true God He is God alone and there is no other besides him The gods of the Heathen are all vanity they have eyes and see not ears and hear not c. Psal 115.5 6. But our God is in the Heavens and doth whatsoever he pleaseth He alone is he whom all mercy and good must be expected from and so all prayer and supplication directed to To whom should a people seek but unto their God his prerogative it is to hear prayers and to him shall all flesh come Secondly This Title or Appellation serves also to describe him in his special relation to his people We finde him called by our Psalmist Psal 132.5 The Mighty God of Jacob. He is indeed the God of the whole Earth but in a peculiar manner the God of Israel Matth. 15.31 In Judah is he known his Law goes forth from Zion and his Word proceeds from Jerusalem The Heathen have not known his Law and although by those vestigia creatoris those darker impressions made in creation and providence they can feel after him and so trace his Divine Essence yet they understand little of his Law or love And as in a special way he hath made himself known to his people so he bears a singular respect to them and takes a particular care of them It 's observable in Scripture that he stiles not himself so frequently in his revelations of himself to them the God of Heaven and Earth though that also be title full of incouragement but the God of Abraâ—â—m Isaac and Jacob as if he had born such â—oice good will and had such a peculiar care â—r those three men as to over-look all the world â—esides them So near and intimate relation have â—ods people to him as their interests are mutualâ—â— involved and twisted in a reciprocal and coâ—enant-bond They are his he is their portion â—heir Beloved is theirs and they be his They â—re called by his Name the Saints are stiled his Holy Ones and the Church is termed expresly Christ Yea he condescends to be called by their â—ame he assumes the name of Jacob Psal 24.6 This is the generation of them that seek him that â—eek thy face O Jacob. And of Israel too Ezra 10.2 set now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing The very name Jacob acquired upon his conquest Gen. 32.28 And that the whole Church is denominated by Psal 31.3 Let Israel hope in the Lord Although he be the God of all by Creation all creatures being the works of his hands Psa 100.3 Act. 17.26 27. yet he is the God and Father of his people in Christ his Father and their Father Joh. 20.17 And by way of choice and covenant Deut. 7.6 For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people to himself above all people upon the face of the earth They are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a people raised and elevated above the ordinary make and common stamp of the residue of mankind There is a mutual stipulation between God and them Deut. 26.17 18. Psa 50.5 Thou hast avoucht the Lord this day to be thy God and the Lord hath avoucht thee this day to be his peculiar people The mutual Indentures of the Covenant of Grace run thus Ye shall be my people and I will be youâ— God Ezek. 36.18 Sancti quasi sanciti As God hath obliged himself to them in bonds of mercy and loving-kindness so have they reingaged themselves to him in bonds of duty and allegiance Who is this that ingaged his heart to approach unto me may be understood of Christ or of true Christians Jer. 30.21 One shall say I am the Lords and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob and another shall subscribâ— with his hand unto the Lord and surname himself by the name of Israel a metaphor from volunteers who enter their names into the common muster-rolls and engage into a Sacramentum militare a military Oath to cleave to their Captain and faithfully to follow their colours So indeared an union and communion is between Goâ— and his people as himself describes it under thâ— most near and affectionate relation of Father and child as appears in that gracious promise he make to David concerning his Son Solomon 1 Chron 17.13 I will be his Father and he shall be my Son by which interpellation he also treatetâ— David himself Christ and all the faithfull Psal 89.26 27. He shall cry to me Thou aâ— my Father Also I will make him my first-bornâ— Yea because a man must forsake Father and Mother to cleave to the wife of his bosom he court his people though in their widowhood and 〈◊〉 under some seeming disadvantages for respect anâ— affection with conjugal imbraces and that noâ— by way of complement as to what he intends to â—e but good assurance of what he actually was â—nd is and will be for ever Isa 54.8 For thy Maker is thine husband And as he said of that â—aternal Nemo tam Pater quam Coelestis None â—ach a Father as our Heavenly Father Nemo tam â—ater nemo tam pius So saith our Law of those â—uptial Obligations Vxor splendet radiis Mariti Gods Church and People shine with the beams â—f him their endeared and ever-loving Husband And so much for the first the description of God both in this his absolute and relative consiâ—eration Secondly follows the implicit affirmation of â—he sufficiency or rather agency and efficiency of his Providence together with the manner of its â—onveyance to his people He is their
men build Castles in the Air and dream of more mercy than they finde true dream they eat and when they awake are an hungry The godly carry a low sail and commonly dream of less The world is commonly worse than its promises God ordinarily better than his word Sinners meet with less Saints more than they expected God with a breath blows the wicked into destruction and with a breath commands his peoples deliverance Their ruin is sudden how does desolation come upon them in a moment and they are consumed with Gods terrours When Babylon is so pleased with her self that she courts her self like a Lady God can make her a Widow As gliding waters melting snales untimely births so is their prosperity and as a sudden flame or unlookt for Hâ—rricane comes their misery Psal 58.9 And no less expected are Sions reparations It 's compared to a Creation Isa 65.18 which is suddenly effected a generation which is in instanti Nay before she travelled she brought forth Isa 66.7 8. She is delivered before her time and without pain and yet does not miscarry Yea and as her deliverance comes unexpectedly as to time so to means likewise Micah 4.10 Be in pain and labour to bring forth O Daughter of Sion like a woman in travel Thou shalt go even to Babylon there shalt thou be delivered An enemy shall become her Midwife who sought to be her murderer It 's but the shine of Gods face and his people are saved Psal 80. ult But the turn of his hand and his people are delivered Zech. 13. He saies return his word can do it as well as his work Psa 90.3 Judgements come on foot but mercy on horseback on the wing skipping over the hills and leaping over the mountains No sooner do Gods people cry to him in prayer but he eccho's to them in mercy Isa 58.9 Then shalt thou call and the Lord shall answer Thou shalt cry and he shall say here am I. As Gods people answer to his voice commanding Speak Lord thy Servants hear so he answers to their voice petitioning Call upon me and I will answer thee Jer. 33.3 He cuts short his work in righteousness Rom. 9.28 Secondly Gradually though salvation comes suddenly yet not simul semel all at once is it compleated and perfected It 's compared to light which creeps upon the Air pedetentim by little and little The dawning of the day goes before the high noon God works for his people 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after divers waies and manners by piece-meals and inches as it were Sion is not built in a day God could destroy his peoples lusts and their enemies together but he slaies them not lest they should forget He could at once perfect the building of grace in the soul and work of reformation in his Church but he chuseth to let it have its stages first laies the foundation then laies on the superstructures and so at last perfects the fabrick that so he may have the greater tribute and revenue of praises and acclamations coming into his Grace God is a God that waits to be gracious to his people but he is also a God of Judgement They shall get ground but yet must be fighting they shall have supply yet must be waiting The prudent Father will not give his child his whole portion into his hand at once nor the discreet friend trust all the stock he intends to his friend together but help them by degrees according to their necessities and occasions thereby to engage their continual dependance upon them Lesser motions are ordinarily quick but great motions slower God gives the wicked Prodigal all in hand whom he hath no further thoughts of good will and purposes of grace and love unto but in respect of his people he does all for eternity and therefore with the skilfull Artists draws not up his work in haste but takes time to make it the more beautiful and admirable God is the Saviour of his people and yet sometimes like the curious Limner hides his work till the whole draught be compleated Isa 45.15 Verily thou art a God that hidest thy self O God of Israel the Saviour He carries on the work in a very hidden and mysterious way by so many aenigma's and riddles of providence as his footsteps cannot easily be traced nor his handy-work searcht out to perfection There are many hitherto's in his mercies and salvations many Ebenezers 1 Sam. 7.12 He called the name of it Ebenezer saying Hitherto hath the Lord helped us Thirdly He helps opportunely and seasonably in the very present emergency and strait in the hour the nick of trouble Opportunity is the Salt that seasons any mercy Now God times all his helps and succours to his people As he dealt with Christ so with them In an acceptable time he hears them and in the day of salvation he helps them He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a God at a pinch In the Mount will he be seen when his own arm shall be the more conspicuous or when his people are in eminent and imminent dangers When the murdering-knife is putting to Isaac's throat he plucks back Abraham's hand When the Canon is discharging against the Jews then he muzzles the mouth of it Deut. 32.36 For the Lord shall judge his people and repent himself for his Servants when he seeth that their power is gone and there is none shut up or left When the siege can hold no longer and there 's none left in the fenced Cities more than in the open Plains then forthwith comes relief This is the day of Jacob's trouble alas for that day is great and there is none like it but he shall be saved out of it Jer. 30.7 Daies of great trouble are daies of glorious salvation When Israel was in a very great distress like to be swallowed up by the Ammonites and upon their applications to God he turns them off with a protestation that he would deliver them no more yet pleading the instancy of their oppression and begging relief in the present exigency Deliver us only we pray thee this day His soul was grieved for their misery and his pity became sollicitor to his power in order to their succour and redress Judg. 10.16 When the soul like Jonah in the Whales belly is even swallowed up of sorrow and out of the depths the belly of Hell cries to the Lord He will hear him God â—ath said He will bring his people back from the â—epths both of Earth and Sea Psal 68.22 Psal â—1 20 Prayer put up to Heaven by a soul ready â—o sink in the mire as being able to finde no standing is alwaies in an acceptable time That â—s mollâ—ssimum fandi tempus Psal 69.13 Gods help is limited to no time but there are usually two special seasons when the fruit of mercy is full ripe and God plucks it off the tree of providence and throws it into the laps of his people either when their enemies condition is high and
deliverances for Jacob. Yea this is a firm coâ—clusion of her faith Isa 33.22 The Lord is oâ— Judge our Law-giver our King he will save 〈◊〉 They are stiled his portion and heritage Isa 54 1â— Deut. 32.9 As he is their so they his portioâ— and he will not suffer that to be wasted and eâ—bezelled His Jewels in comparison of whom aâ— the world besides are but as so much lumbeâ— Mal. 3.17 He will not admit their spoil oâ— plunder His Turtle Psal 74.19 which hath aâ—waies a sympathy with its mates affliction Hiâ— beloved favourites for whom he hath a choicâ— respect and endeared affection in whom hâ— takes singular delight and complacency Psaâ— 18.19 and 60.5 Their heart is set on God and his heart on them and because he loveth them he compasseth them with favour as with a shield Psal 5.12 The apple of his eye Zach. 2.8 Now as the eye is the tenderest part of the body so is the apple of the eye They are his hidden ones for privacy and value worth and excellency more excellent than their neighbours the least meanest of them more worth than all the world a people of whom the world is not worthy Heb. 11.38 His precious ones Isa 43.4 In comparison of whom all other are but vile in his account His holy ones Psal 86.2 which he will not suffer the world to prophane His chosen ones or the people of his choice The Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself and Israel for his peculiar Treasure Psal 135.4 His redeemed ones or the people of his purchase Isa 43.3 which he will in no wise lose either by fraud or violence his Garden or Paradise wherein he delights Isa 58.18 His Vineyard which he both â—â—ters and watches every moment Isa 27.3 〈◊〉 a word his Jacob and Israel against whom â—â—ere is no inchantment or divination Numb 13. â—nd the work of his hands which he will in â—o case forsake Psal 138. ult And concerning â—hich he will not only be intreated but also comâ—anded Isa 45.11 There is a mutual interest â—â—d propriety between God and his People God â—â—th made over himself to them in the Covenant 〈◊〉 Grace and they have reobliged themselves to 〈◊〉 They are said to have surrendred or given â—o themselves to the Lord 2 Cor. 8.5 He shall â—â—â—se our inheritance for us saith the Psalmist â—sal 47.4 They have a stock of prayers going â—â—th God and he hath a stock of mercy and â—ory going with them Their interests are so â—â—ited and twisted together as they cannot be â—â—vered His cause is concern'd in his People â—â—d his own honour highly ingaged upon their â—ccount yea the vindication of all his Attriâ—utes his Power Wisdom Holiness Mercy and Goodness Truth and Faithfulness is obliged in â—heir sublevation which else would be wholly â—â—â—t and utterly impaired in the world They â—re so linked in an holy league and sacred conâ—â—deracy with him That it 's observable in â—heir addresses to him in prayer against their â—nemies they level them as against Gods interest and not their own and all they need request is only that God may be glorified So Daâ—id Psal 83.2 Lo thine enemies make a tumult and they that hate thee have lift up the head He doubts not to call his Gods enemies And so Asa in his solemn supplications put up to God oâ— the approach of that innumerable host against him 2 Chron. 14.11 O Lord saith he thou art 〈◊〉 God let not man prevail against thee Not us buâ— thee As Gods glory is bound up in the samâ— bundle with his Peoples eternal so is it also witâ— their temporal salvation Secondly In respect of the manifold Promise and Engagements he hath made to them Goâ— hath ingaged for their security and bounâ—â— himself for their protection as well as thâ— provision so far as is necessary They are stiled The People of his Covenant Psal 111.12 And thâ— stipulation is mutual They are in covenanâ— with God obliged to his service and devoted tâ— his fear O Lord truly I am thy Servant I aâ— thy Servant saith David Psal 116.16 They are engaged to walk in his waies and to be founâ— faithful And God is a God in covenant witâ— them and as they never leave him so will he never leave them in their enemies hand Psal 37.33 As they defend his glory so will he their intereâ—â— and cause If God be a God keeping Covenant even with them while in lesser things they some times break with him Psal 89 34. Much more will he keep Covenant with them while aâ— they fear him Though salvation be far from thâ— wicked his salvation is with them that fear him And as they are included in a general Covenant so have they entailed upon them many graciouâ— promises of special protection He hath said He will never leave nor forsake them Heb. 13.5 The same promise he made to all Israel Deut. 31.8 and made good to Joshua in person he also accomplisheth to all Believers He will not forâ—â—ke his People or cast off his Inheritance He will have compassion on his dwelling-place he will comfort Sion and chuse Jerusalem They have Gods promise for help and deliverance in the day of trouble Psal 50.15 which is good security They are under a reserved promise under the Judgements of Sword Famine or Pestilence Amos 9.8 Isa 33. Psal 91.10 Which kind of promises though not absolute engagements yet are seasonable directions and comfortable incouragements 〈◊〉 times of calamity and affliction They are alwaies prisoners of hope for by the blood of the Covenant God will send them out of the pit wherein there is no water Zach. 9.11 Covenants of old were confirmed by Sacrifices Psal 50.5 Jer. 34. Et caesa jungebant faedera porca Virgil The Lord Jesus Christ by the blood of his Covenant hath bought outward and common as well as saving and eternal mercies for his People Thirdly In regard of those conditions of obtaining Divine Help which are ever found in them They are under a fitness and aptitude of disposition to receive it There are four conditions or qualifications especially which make them meet for this divine influence which are to be found in them The first is of Humility or spiritual Poverty Psal 34.8 The Lord is nigh to them that are of a broken heart and saveth them that be of a contrite spirit He beholds the proud afar off as scorning his tuition but he graciously beholds the humble Isa 66.2 In him the fatherless finde mercy A Father of the fatherless and Judge of the Widow is he out of his holy habitation Psal 68.5 6. The Lord helpeth those that are cast down The Lion puts as it were into his bosome those that bow before him or he down at his feet but tears in pieces them that run away from him or bid resistance to him so generous and noble is his nature and disposition satis est prostrasse And so doâ—s the Lion of the Tribe of Judah he
is a Lion to lofty and sturdy sinners but a Lamb to depressed and dejected souls Such as advance themselves to the Throne God brings down to the footstool but to those that patiently bear the Cross he reacheth forth the Crown He revives the spirits of the humble and the hearts of the contrite ones Secondly Prayer and Invocation Gods People are a praying people a generation of seekers and such commonly are speeders God sends none away that so come to him with a non inventus He never said to the seed of Jacob seek ye my face in vain They seek his face righteousness and strength and he is found of them When Jehosaphat was compassed about with the Syrian Host and had no way to fly but up to Heaven he cries to the Lord and he helped him 2 Chron. 18.31 The Saints alone betake themselves to God and his help run to him as their Sanctuary others fly from Gods presence run to the Rocks and the tops of the ragged Rocks call to the hills and the mountains but a child of God goes only and tells his Father and before him laies open his cause As good Hezekiah did when Rabshaketh came out against him O Lord I am oppressed undertake for me or the Church Isa 33.2 Be thou our Arm every morning and our salvation in the time of trouble They only sensibly need and so alone crave and implore divine succour And God will not suffer his People to lose the precious treasure of their prayers Psal 145.18 19. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him to all that call upon him in truth He will fulfill the desire of them that fear him he will also hear their cry and save them So Psal 91.14 15. Because he hath set his love upon me therefore will I deliver him I will set him on high because he hath known my Name he shall call upon me and I will answer him That God who prepares his Peoples heart to pray prepares also his own ear to hear and he that promiseth to hear before we call will never deny to hearken when we cry unto him Ideo premuntur justi ut pressi clament clamantes exaudiantur saith Calvin Oppressions and afflictions make man cry and cries and supplications make God hear Psal 141.1 2. Spreading forth our hands in believing and servent prayer is the only way of grasping mercy God hath given full assurance by promise of grants on such applications even under the inffliction of the greatest judgements and calamities 1 King 8 37. 2 Chron. 6.28 If publick mercy does not yet particular at least alwaies follows as an answer of prayer Psal 32.6 For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found There 's the voice of prayer What is the Eccho of mercy appears in the very next words Surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh to him Thirdly Faith and dependance on God and expectation from him He that comes unto God and goes not away as he comes sad from his presence must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him It 's the periphrasis that David describes him by The Saviour of them that trust in him Psal 17.7 In this hope and confidence the Prophet placeth mans blessedness Jer. 17.7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord whose hope the Lord is The Lord is a buckler to them that trust in him Psal 18.30 God is to his People whatsoever by faith they make him Faith makes all that is in God a mans own it engageth all Gods Attributes and sets them at work for his People it obligeth him in point of honour to come in for their relief Who will be found so unworthy as to fail them that trust to him If a friend trust to us for supply counsel assistance we will by no means disappoint him Nay if an enemy delivers himself up into our hands and confides in us for secresie we will not be so disingenuous as to betray him much less will God ever prove unfaithful to us while we are faithful to him Faith calls in help from Heaven it saith to God as the men of Macedonia to Paul Come over and help us God is known in her Palaces to be a refuge Our Fathers trusted in thee and were not confounded Psal 22.5 Unbelief hinders establishment but Faith ushers in prosperity It 's a riddle to Philosophy to fetch strength from another to undergo a burden but Faith hath a secret vertue to fetch strength from God either as to doing good or bearing evil The Lord takes pleasure in them that fear him that hope in his mercy Psal 147.11 He is a Sun and Shield to them that trust in him Psal 84.12 Hope in him never makes the soul ashamed God never forsakes such as are dependants by faith upon him They that trust in him shall never become desolate David urgeth this frequently in this book of Psalms for help and protection Psal 57.1 Be merciful to me O God for my soul trusteth in thee Psal 86.2 Psal 7.1 O thou my God save thy Servant that trusteth in thee So Psal 71.1 In thee O Lord do I put my trust let me never be put to confusion It 's observable that Gods being a rock and a refuge are joyned in Scripture Psal 46.1 God is his Peoples refuge which they fly to their habitation they continually resort to and therefore he becomes their help Though creatures are broken reeds and crackt cisterns yet God was never a broken staff a dry and barren wilderness to his People Now Gods children are not only an humble and a praying but a believing and depending people As the child hangs on its Mothers breasts so do his children on their Fathers bowels We finde holy David usually professing his confidence in his God Psal 62.1 Truly my soul waiteth upon God from him cometh my salvation And so verse 5. My soul wait thou only upon God for my expectation is from him The Lord is my strength and therefore is become my salvation Psal 118.14 The People of God know his Name and therefore will trust in him Psal 9.10 They are a people who will not lie by falseness to their profession and principles or vain confidence in second causes or creature-comforts a poor afflicted people that trust in the Name of the Lord that will not lie nor do iniquity Zeph. 3.12 13. The hypocrite leans on his house as Job speaks his parts priviledges profession common grace The wicked man trusts in chariots and horses armies and navies his riches and revenues power and carnal policies shifts and devices friends wit or wealth Psal 49. But what saith the pious and devout soul he breaths forth himself in David's dialect Psal 20.7 Some trast in chariots and in horses but we will remember the Name of the Lord. A Saint leans only on the staff of Jacob the holy one of
gives gifts even to the rebellious comfort he is the Father of mercies and God of all consolations He knows our wants yea and our thoughts long before and when we know not what to ask yet he knows what to give He is able to help against sin its guilt its strength against temptations though Satan be mighty he is Almighty against afflictions from himself or oppositions from the world The shields of the earth are his and he can weild them as he pleaseth Psal 47.9 His very intueri is operari and one smile of his beatifical face is able to create more sollace than all the frowns of the world can sadness or discomfort This was the pillar of Abraham's faith Rom. 4.21 Knowing what he had promised he was able to perform Secondly A voluntate Men oft-times are willing to help but not able and many times able but not willing but God is as willing as able He is alwaies ready to succour and relieve his People he is a God that waits to be gracious yea he is already engaged Call upon me and I will answer thee Thirdly Ab instantia auxilii from the presentness and instancy of his help He is a present help in time of trouble Men oppressed oft miscarry through help at a distance but the Lord is alwaies near at hand to his people he is their arm every morning and in the evening the God of their life God is in the midst of her and she shall not be moved God shall help her and that right early Psal 46.5 I am God and not man the holy one of Israel in the midst of thee Hos 11.9 He comes in the nick seasonably and opportunely and brings salvation if need be on the wing Isa 31.5 As birds flying so will the Lord of Hosts defend Jerusalem defending also he will deliver it and passing over he will preserve it Veni vidi vici is his motto he is slow to punishment but quick to deliverance Then thou shalt call and the Lord shall answer thou shalt cry and he shall say here I am Isa 58.9 He is oft nearest when he seems furthest off As he cuts short his work in righteousness in respect of the wicked so he brings near his righteousness to his People Isa 46.13 It shall not be far off and his salvation shall not tarry Fourthly A fidelitate from his faithfulness in helping The reason of mens failure is either want of ability or want of fidelity but God is faithful who hath promised By promising he hath made himself a debtor and he will not stand alwaies engaged much less break his promise His faithfulness cannot fail The husband may be unfaithful to the wife the father to the son the Prince to the subject but God will never be unfaithful to his People Men may intend help but be unexpectedly disappointed or pretend it and yet really hinder there is oft a conjunction of forces where no union of hearts and affections God made the woman to be a meet help to the man and faithfulness is one of the principal duâ—â—es that flows from conjugal relations but yet â—â—t-times they prove unfaithful yea perfidious â—s Dalilah did to Sampson but God will never â—ail them that trust in him He keepeth truth for â—er vers 6. Fifthly A constantia from the perpetuity and â—nchangeableness of his help This the Psalmist â—ere adds by way of confirmation of his assertion â—f blessedness vers 10. The Lord shall reign for â—â—er God alwaies lives and reigns Men die â—one generation comes another goes and none â—ayes but God ever lives as the Patron and Proâ—ector of his People The King of Heaven never â—ies under all the changes and vicissitudes in this â—wer Region of the world he still abides a God who changeth not He is a standing help to which â—he soul may go and resort on all occasions Psal â—1 2 He will not forsake the work of his hands â—he is a never fading and failing refuge Nevertheless saith the Psalmist I am continually with thee â—hou hast holden me by my right hand Thou shalt â—uide me with thy counsel and afterward receive â—e to glory Psal 73.23 24. We may let go our â—old of God but he will never let go his hold of â—s by his grace we are kept from falling and â—y his mighty power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are guarded to salvation Let the Psalmists inference conclude this point Psal 48. ult For this God is our God for ever and ever he will be our guide even unto death And so much for the priviledge or the blessing pronounced Secondly Follows the propriety or benedidiction applied in this pronoun his his help whence observe First A Saint and he alone hath a special interest and propriety in God Others may have a common but they only a saving interest God may give the men of the world something from himself but he hath made himself only over to his People They may call all their own but God but these can call God theirs when they have nothing else Abraham gave the Sons of Keturah portions but reserved Isaac the Inheritance Jehosaphat gave his other Sons gifts but Jehoram the Kingdom The earth God hath given to the children of men but the Lord is the portion of his Peoples Inheritance Psal 16.5 Influence flows from interest and interest flows only from union O God saith David my God Thou art my God and I will praise thee He who is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is in him their God and Father This new name none knows but he that receives it Secondly Observe Saints only can be just expectants of divine help and influence His help and salvation is to them that fear him Fiducial recumbency on God flows only from the consideration of our interest in him and is founded on this bottom that he is a God in covenant with us He is first the God of Jacob and then an help that is the order here My God and then my salvation Job 13.16 He is a peculiar help to his People The title he hath assumed to himself is the God of their salvation Indeed he is an help to others in a larger sense but by way of peculiarity or singular specialty the only help of his elect They alone are others are not under any distinguishing promise but rather a threatning Isa 65..13 Behold saith God my Servants shall eat but ye shall be hungry my Servants shall drink but ye shall be thirsty they shall rejoyce but ye shall be ashamed And they only coming within compass of the promise and so having a right to the mercy of it can only jâ—stly hope and confidently expect it The wicked hath no hope They alone can come with boldness to the Throne of Grace and beg it in the time of their need Wicked men have no God to go to and how can they ever hope to come to God in an evil who in a good day have run away from
we joyned to him by the same spirit does he dwell in our hearts by faith is he in us and we in him and abides in us as the hope of our glory our interest in him is a sure and infallible evidence of our interest in the Father He is the only Jacobs ladder whereby we can climb up to communion with the God of Jacob. His foot is on Earth but his top in Heaven The second is our covenant obligation to him I entred into a covenant with thee saith God and thou becamest mine Ezek. 16.8 Isa 55.3 There is a mutual covenant between God and his People as he hath engaged for their salvation so have they for his service O Lord I am thy Servant quoth David and so the Church Micah 4.5 For all people will walk every one in the name of his God and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever She gives up her self to God not only in a way of single considence but resolute obedience The relations are mutual between God and his People he becomes theirs and they his They are betrothed in the marriage-covenant to him in judgement righteousness tender mercies and faithfulness and they know the Lord. Art thou then O soul brought into covenant with God hast thou broken off that accursed league with sin and Satan by righteousness and engaged thy soul solemnly to become a faithful servant to him as thy only Liege-Lord and no other Art thou resolved to fear love and serve him in holiness and righteousness all the daies of thy life and to glorifie him in thy soul body and spirit which are his Thy engagement for his glory is an hopeful sign of his engagement for thy good Thirdly Intimate acquaintance and indeared communion with him Abraham had great interest in God and as great acquaintance with him We may see in Sodoms case how boldly he goes to him Friendship with God breeds an holy familiarity So Moses had a large share in Gods favour and God spake to him face to face and he talked with him again as a man with his familiar friend There are sweet communications of counsel between God and a gracious soul Our fellowship is with the Father 1 Joh. 1.3 David was a man after Gods own heart and had intimate acquaintance with God went to him by faith and prayer on all occasions It 's good for me saith he to draw near to God and one daies communion with him is worth a thousand It was said of Charls the great he conversed more with God than men As all communion is founded in union so true union discovers it self by flowing forth in acts of communion Now Christian what communion maintains thy soul with God in prayer private secret in meditation in publick Ordinances Is it thy meat and drink thy joy and rejoycing to work righteousness and meet him in his waies Thou canst have no interest in God if thou livest without him in the world nor canst call him Father truly if thou hast not or dost not know him Fourthly Sympathy and fellowship with him Gods interest and the souls are not two but one they are like two Turtles if one dies the other never lives comfortably after but sorrowing for the loss of her Mate God is sensible of and well-pleased with all the good done to his People his language is Inasmuch as ye have done it to these ye have done it to me And his people are affected with and rejoyce in all the glory is brought to him and had rather lose their comfort than their God should lose his honour They desire he alone should be magnified and are willing to be made stirrups for him to rise by though it be by their utter downfall And as they are satisfied in each others good so sensible of each others evil God sympathizeth with his Peoples sufferings In all their afflictions he is afflicted And they with his affronts and injuries The interest of God lies nearer their hearts than any thing else in the world They count not their own lives dear so they may but save his honour and so he be magnified though they be reproached impoverished imprisoned bamshed pâ—rsecuted they think themselves well apaid What sympathy hast thou with Gods cause and interest dost thou account the glory brought to him as good done to thee and take the injuries he suffers as offered to thy self Canst thou wish thy self a shield to sence off those dishonours which are cast on the face of thy Lord and Master Art thou meek as a Lamb in thy own cause but fierce as a Lion in Gods zealous for the Lord God of Israel how art thou affected when thou hearest his holy Name torn by the black mouths of the wicked and their tongues set on fire from Hell when thou seest his Creatures abused his Ordinances prophaned his People trampled under foot his Truth despised his Attributes blasphemed his Sabbaths unhallowed his Worship polluted If thou beest in the relation of a Son thou wilt not endure to see one spit on thy Fathers face or an ingenuous Servant wilt not bear thy Masters wrong behind his back Fifthly Suitable affections Where there is interest in God all the affections of the soul have their out-goings after him Thou hast First An high esteem and valuation of him Whom have I in Heaven but thee Interest raiseth estimation The Father esteems his Child and the Husband his Wife and so vice versà above all other though they be deformed and others beautiful they weak and others healthful they rich and others poor they ignorant and others learned and knowing because of their propriety in them A Saint values God above all the world above all things visible or invisible counts all loss dross and dung in comparison of him He alone is to him the Pearl of true price Gods People are precious to him above all others and so is he to them likewise They will part with all for him preferring him before all and venture all rather than lose their hold of him or sacrifice their interest in him omnia levia preterquam quod tui carendum How stands their esteem poised Secondly Thou hast an ardent and affectionate love towards him I will love the Lord my strength saith holy David Psal 18.1 Self-interest makes a man love his own Whom believing we love The applications of faith are alwaies seconded with the imbraces of love He that hath God for his God hath had experience of his love in Christ some tastes of his love shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost and he cannot but love him by whom he was first loved This love constrains him Amor meus Pondus meum Does mercy love misery and shall not misery love mercy beauty affect deformity and shall not deformity re-affect beauty glory shine on dust and they not reflect on glory Nimis durus animus qui etsi amorem non vult impendere tamen non vult rependere Bernard
be used if a blessing expected Faith hath a piercing eye and a powerful hand a receptive faculty to take in the comfort of the Promise and a reverberative to return and reflect its benefit received in waies of duty and obedience Hoping to the end and girding up the loyns of our minds are paired 1 Pet. 1.13 In order to a progress in our spiritual Journey The sweetness of the Promise drawn out incourageth and engageth in obedience to the command The Plow-man ploweth and Seeds-man soweth in hope Expectation of reward edgeth to work Disuse and neglect of means doth not trust God but tempt him True confidence spurs up to duty especially to prayer Trusting and calling are coupled in Scripture Zeph. 3.2 Hope of speeding puts a man on seeking Hope of an expected end put holy Jeremiah on praying Jer. 19. And of salvation holy Paul on labouring and suffering reproach on active and passive obedience 1 Tim. 4.10 Thirdly Ad commorandum to take the soul off all carnal dependance and stay it by a firm dependance on God alone The hoping soul goes not to creatures to second causes leans on none of these broken staves and vain confidences but rejects and renounceth them all both upon a spiritual and temporal account It 's the brand and mark of an Hypocrite even carnal confidence It 's the character of a Christian to have no confidence in the flesh Phil. 3.3 He does not only call himself of the holy City but staies himself on the God of Israel in truth Isa 10.20 A Christian will not have two strings to the bow of his trust The Psalmist puts a direct opposition to trust in God and all other trusts Psal 40.4 Blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his trust and respecteth not the proud nor such as turn aside to lyes And the Church solemnly professeth her rejection of all humane helps in time of her straits Psal 44.6 I will not trust to my bow neither shall my sword save me not to the bow but the arm that helps to do it And so she seals a renunciation of all creature-aids and assistances Hos 14.3 Ashur shall not save us we will not ride upon horses Carnal men like weak and ignorant people go first to the Kitchin and then to the Physitian When Ephraim saw his sickness and beheld his wound he goes to the Assyrian and sends to King Jareb to heal him But the Church eccho's to Gods call Jer. 3.22 23. In vain is salvation expected from Hills or Mountains in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel We come unto thee for thou art the Lord our God She goes first to the Lord and then to the Physitian Fourthly Ad componendum to pacifie the soul and make it wait patiently the returns of providence Jacob waited for Gods salvation and Joseph of Arimathea for the Kingdom of God I waited patiently for the Lord saith David Psal 40.1 As they who watch for the morning Psal 130. As the poor traveller beweildred all night longs for the mornings approach to direct him in his passage and the industrious labourer waits the morning light and dawning of the day that he may go about the work of his calling or the vigilant souldier and diligent watchman desires the break of day when they may be relieved so doth a gracious soul wait for his God The Church was resolved thus to wait upon the Lord. Micah 7. Though an Atheist will wait no longer a Saint will both wait for instruction and consolation Hopes conclusions are Gods time is the best time The vision is but for an appointed time it will come and not tarry wait for it If deliverance comes not this it may come another way If mercy comes not to day it may come to morrow It 's better staying a day too long than having salvation come an hour too soon The expecting soul waits for the hope of righteousness by faith yea he hopes to the end for the grace to be brought at the revelation of Christ 1 Pet. 1.13 He waits till the Lord be gracious he is not too quick or hasty hasty births he knows are commonly abortive he will not make more haste than good speed he understands it 's but manners to wait the Lords leisure and attend his pleasure God waited long for his coming in in a way of duty it 's but meet he should wait for his approaches in a way of mercy If God could stay so long for his conversion it 's but reasonable he should stay for his consolations Resolved he is to wait so long as God pleases for incomes of mercy and wholly resolves his will into the will of his Maker even let 's it be buried and swallowed up of it with a Father not my will but thy will be done Carnal men would limit God to their desires and scant him to their time they are for duty to morrow but mercy and salvation to day Now mercy must come or never But a Christian would not have his time Gods but makes Gods time his and whatsoever pleaseth God therefore pleaseth him It 's not saith true hope for us to know the times and seasons better to wait for the Lords salvation Better want of mercy in a way of waiting and dependance than its approach without it Does God delay he does not deny is mercy deferred it is not resolved against does God withdraw hide his face seem to slight and cast out his Peoples prayer yet I will not give over praying waiting believing and expecting I will yet attend the motions of providence in the use of means and though God seems to cast us off yet we will never cast off him Fifthly Ad elevandum to raise the soul above all worldly expectations He that by hope hath gotten his foot up to Heaven looks upon all this inferiour world only as an inconsideral point Our conversation saith the Apostle is in Heaven whence we look for the Saviour Heavenly expectations and heavenly conversation go together Alexander when he once received a report of the American world gave all the Kingdoms he had conquered amongst his Captains and upon this division being asked what he had left to himself answered spem majorum annorum the hope of further years A Christian hearing of the Alsufficiency of God and glory of Heaven of so much in scriniis in hope is willing to part with whatsoever is in hand and like a provident and foreseeing person will part with all in possession for what he hath in reversion so did those worthies Heb. 11.13 A carnal man useth God and enjoys the world a Saint useth the world but enjoyeth God only Sixthly Ad corroborandum to fortifie and confirm the soul against all opposition Abraham rowed against the stream Hope will ride the storm It may be said of hope what the Apostle speaks of charity it endures all things There is the work of faith labour of love and patience of hope 1 Thes 1.3 I will hope
industrious Trades-man in his waiâ—s of providence to get the world God can blast the fairest hopes and greatest designs whatsoever And as he can ruin by the hand of friends so he can save by the hand of an enemy when there is no healer unto a soul or people he can he can yet do the cure what is designed and intended for evil he can work good out of and order for good to his People And as he hath ability enough so readiness to work for his People Though Father forsakes children as Herod did his Antipater and Husband Wife as did Henry the eighth and Prince his Favourites as Ahashuerus did his subject Mordâ—cai and Haman his Courtier yet he will never forsake his People And he can facilly help too in the greatest extremities It 's but a turn of his hand a shine of his face and look of his countenance and we are saved And he is a sure steady and faithful help that will stand by us to the end and in the end And have not our souls had plentiful experience and is there any thing that can more fortifie and strengthen faith than the remembrances of his past succours Psa 61.3 4. Oh therefore perswade we our souls by all these twisted Arguments and lay them under a perpetual and irrevocable obligation to hope in the Lord. O you that are young men you that are old men for the Psalmist calls on all sorts of men to trust in the Lord you that are coming into the world make him the hope of your youth and you that are going out of the world make him the staff of your age You can never trust God too much nor the Creature too little Hope in him for your bodies for your souls in good daies in evil under private evils under publick Are you cast into a troublesome world as indeed you are in this present generation going to Sea in a storm never such a ruffle in the world yet cast your Anchor on God When your credits estates liberties health wealth trade religion your all lies at the stake still depend upon him In times of greatest hurlyburly distraction and confusion yet be found waiting for him and his salvation Were you in prison in exile in a wilderness do not despair Gods presence is with his People wheresoever they are cast God can be with you in a prison as he was with Joseph in a dungeon as with Jeremiah in a Lions den as with Daniel nay if you were in Hell with Jonas he can make it an Heaven to you God is with his to the end of the Earth he can supply all your wants even spread a table for you in the wilderness relieve all your straits rid you out of all your dangers deliver you from all your fears do for you beyond your thoughts desires or hopes Should or does it go ill with Sion are the Church and People of God low do her enemies grow high insolent and triumph Is the Church upon the Cockboat of distractions are there great disorders and confusions abroad divisions and unsettlements at home impediments in the way of reformation so as ye look for peace and no good comes and for healing but behold a time of trouble go to God who governs the world and the Church too He steers the ship and though now tossed with the tempestuous waves of animosity pride and contention will yet command a calm and bring it safely to shore Deliverance shall come the way he hath appointed and the day he hath determined too if not this or that yet another day and another way He hath made a standing promise that no weapon formed against her shall prosper Isa 54.17 And though Gebal Ammon and Amaleck should joyn together their heads hearts and hands and unite in never so many deep contrivances close conspiracies and factious cunning stratagems bold and daring attempts strong combinations Though Papists and Atheists Jews Turks and Devils should all enter a league and confederacy yet shall they be broken though they dig as deep as Hell the counsels of Heaven would undermine them and divine providence counterwork them Isa 29.15 Though they lay the train of never so cruel and politick a design God would blow it up and return the blisters upon their own faces In the worst of times it 's your duty to hope for better baec non durabunt aetatem God will give these an end also he will create on every dwelling place of Mount Sion 't is a Gospel-promise and upon her Assemblies a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night as he did to Israel in the wilderness to whose pillar of cloud and fire the Prophet alludes For upon all the glory shall be a defence And though there be never so many lets in the way of mercy God is able to turn hinderances into furtherances poysons into medicines destructions into deliverances O therefore at all times and seasons in all cases and conditions go to God as your help and hope And if you would know how to make your applications to him and at what special times and seasons you should hope and depend upon him take a short account in a few particulars First What are the special seasons we should go to God in I answer no time is amiss There is as welcome going to God in a Sun-shine as in a storm There is no time of addresse to God but 't is an accepted time There may be a time when God will not be found but never any when he will not be sought In time of felicity when we sit under the warming influence of gracious providence God spreads a table for us and our cups overflow with his goodness This is one of the most noble but yet one of the most difficult exercises of faith When a man enjoys the fulness of the creature yet to rest purely upon the Creator It was an high pitch of Paul when having nothing yet to be as having all things but yet a far higher attainment when having all things yet to be as having nothing This is one of the sublimest acts faith can possibly exert But the ordinary use of hope is in daies of adversity when the soul eats the bread of carefulness and drinks the wine of astonishment When the waters come into his soul and all Gods billows are ready to cover him and swallow him up A tempest is the seasonable time for the Believer to throw out the anchor of his hope especially when a man â—s First Under pursuits of divine wrath Gods terrours drink up his spirit his arrows stick fast in him and his hand presseth him very fore While God is killing his people should be trusting There 's no way under those but of running from God unto God from the bar of his Justice to the Throne of his Grace from him as an angry Judge to him as a reconciled Father from him as the destroyer of sinners to him as the Saviour of
veho in his mouth if I perish I perish and can confidently look danger bonds death in the face being willing with Paul for the hope of Israel to be bound with this chain Act. 28.20 As holy fear so this invincible faith and undaunted courage is an evident token of salvation and that from God Phil. 1.28 Whom in the world should God help if not them that help with him or stand close to if not those who stand fast to him distinguishing duty shall certainly be rewarded with distinguishing mercy Secondly At what special times may Gods People look for help in time of mens violence and oppression Let me resolve that one question in case the cause of the People of God should be brought to an extremity and leave it with them as a fortification of their hopes and spirits Now though as it 's impossible for us infallibly to determine the periods of Gods grace to sinners when abused so the times and seasons of his giving out mercy and salvation to his People when wanted times being in his hand yet so far as we have the Scripture for our guide we may assign some particular and extraordinary cases wherein help is promised and so may be justly expected As First When Gods Cause lies a bleeding and the general concern and interest of Religion is at stake God is jealous for his great Name Thus Joshua pleads when Israel fell before their enemies in battel cap. 7.9 And Jeremiah cap. 14.9 We are called by thy Name leave us not and vers 21. Do not abhor us for thy Names sake do not disgrace the Throne of thy glory When the enemy houted Gods People pointing with the finger at them These are the People of the Lord he had pity for his holy Name Ezek. 36.21 When the whole interest of Religion and Gods people must go off at a blow God will step between the Axe and them We have such a memorable example of this in Gods deliverance of the whole body of the Jews from Haman's conspiracy as the defeatment thereof may be a standing encouragement to his people in all ages Secondly When a cloud of reproach and scandal is cast upon his Peoples innocency and integrity and thereupon ariseth an unjust oppression of them This was Job's case all along his Friends falsly accused him but his God did compurgate him and so Davids as appears almost in every Psalm where he now appeals to God and makes protests of his innocency as Psal 7.3 then prays for relief Psal 38. ult and 71.11 12. and 109.26 professeth his hope in God notwithstanding Psal 35.15 promiseth himself redress Psal 37.6 So Jeremiah cap. 20.11 and the Church Mic. 7.8 10. who promise themselves salvation and prophesie their enemies destruction upon their slanders and scandals cast upon them God will take part with his people what is done to them he takes as done to himself whether in way of kindness or abuse As they vindicate his Name and glory in the World so will he theirs from all reproach put upon it Thirdly When there is a failure and disappointment of all humane help This is the Psalmists argument Psal 44. ult and the ground of his plea Psal 79.8 Let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us for we are brought very low When Pharaoh said The Israelites were intangled the Wilderness had shut them in God comes and cuts a passage for them Exod. 14.3 God commonly helps his People at the lowest the taking the weakest part is to him no disadvantage When vain is the help of man and the cause is concluded desperate for want of an Advocate then God is called in by our Prophet Psal 12.1 Help Lord for the godly man ceaseth Cum nemini obtrudi potest Psal 116.6 I was brought low and he helped me When Sion is called an Outcast and no man seeks after her then God chooseth to have mercy on her Jer. 30.17 Fourthly When the Enemies of Gods Truth and Cause blaspheme his Name and insult and triumph over his people Whom hast thou reproached saith God to Rabshaketh Isa 37.23 There 's the ground of his appearance against him The King of Heaven may pardon his Peoples rebellions but revilings are too saucy for subjects to give or the infinite and eternal God to bear from a vile worm a sinfull and mortal creature It 's time for God to arise when wicked men thus make void his Law and so far usurp upon his Supremacy and Prerogative as to offer a competition with him who he or they shall be Lord Controller in the World When the Assyrians talked blasphemously that God was the God of the hills and not of the valleys therefore did he deliver them into Israel's hand 1 King 20.28 God dare wrastle or engage with them though on disadvantagious ground This argument the Church useth for deliverance Psal 74.10 and strongly urgeth Psal 79.10 11 12. and the cruelty and blasphemy of the enemy may prevail with God sometimes when cannot the Prayers of his Saints and People Isa 47.6 7 8. God will save the afflicted People and bring down the high and proud looks Psal 18.27 It 's observable when God assigns to his people the reason of the expulsion of the Nations and the introduction of Israel in their room he gives it thus Not for your righteousness but their wickedness Deut. 9.5 when Saints holiness cannot avail for mercy sinners iniquity may call for justice Fifthly When the spirits of the Saints begin to despond and fail and yet are carried out with serious humiliation for their sin and recovering these fits and qualms with out-goings of Faith and Prayer to Heaven When Christ comes there will scarce be Faith in the Earth when the hearts of Gods people begin to swoon he will contend no longer lest their spirits should fail before him When the wicked are flesht and pufft up with vain hopes God breaks their bones asunder and their horn in pieces when Gods people are as dry bones he lifes and fleshes them Ezek. 37. When the Question is asked By whom shall Jacob arise for he is small the answer is The Lord repented for this Amos 7.2 3. God will not always suffer the rod of the wicked to rest on the lot of the righteous lest he puts forth his hand to iniquity Psal 125.3 God passes by his People when as tall Cedars and beholds them when low and weak Shrubs he delights in them when in an abject low condition and shews them mercy When the Locusts do most over-run the Cassians then the Seleucidian Birds come and are their devourers and destroyers God is willing his people sometimes should be brought to that pass that they know not whither to turn that so they may know what their God can and will bring about for them When Gods people are laid upon their backs then is a fit time for him to take them up into his arms and put them into his bosom Especially when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled by their