bring it to pass 3. Encourage your selves from this when the Church is in the greatest danger and most sorely shaken O that is a blessed promise Zech. 3. 9. Upon one stone shall be seven eyes Meaning Christ and the Church built on him as the chief corner stone the seven eyes are the seven eyes of Providence which are never all asleep CHAP. VIII Opening that glorious Attribute of Divine Faithfulness as a third Chamber of Security to the people of God in times of distress and danger SECâ— I. HAving viewed the Saints Refuge in the Power and Wisdom of God we next proceed to a third Chamber of Safety for the Saints refuge viz. The Faithfulness of God In this Attribute is our Safety and Rest amidst the confusions of the world and daily disappointments we are vexed withal through the vanity and falsenes of the Creature As to Creatures the very best of them they are but vanity yea vanity of vanity the vainest vanity Eccles. 1. 2. Every man in his best estate is altogether vanity Psal. 39. 5. Yea those that we expect most from give us most of trouble Micah 7. 5. Nearest Relations bring up the rear of sorrows Iob 6. 15. My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook Especially their deceit appears most when we have most need of their help Psal. 142. 4. How great a mercy is it then to have a refuge in the Faithfulness of God as David had I looked on my right hand and beheld but there was no man that would know me refuge failed me no man cared for my soul. And likewise the Church Micah 7. 7. I will look unto the Lord I will wait for the God of my salvation my God will hear me A time may come when you shall not know where to trust in all this world Let me therefore open to you this Chamber of rest in the Faithfulness of God against such a day and this I shall do in a two sold consideration of it viz. 1. Absolutely in its own Nature 2. Relatively in the Promises and Providences of God 1. Absolutely and so the Faithfulness of God is his sincerity firmness and constancy in performing his word to his people in all times and cases So Moses describes him to Israel Deut. 7. 9. Know therefore that the Lord thy God he is God the faithful God And Ioshua appeals to their experience for the vindication of it Iosh. 23. 14. Ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you all are come to pass and not one thing hath failed thereof And it is also fully asserted Ier. 31. 35 36 37. and greatly admired even in the darkest day Lam. 3. 23. Great is thy faithfulness And it is well for us that his faithfulness is great for great is that weight that leans upon it even all our hopes for both worlds for this world and for that to come Tit. 1. 2. In hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began It was a very dishonourable character that Suidas gave of Tiberius Eorum quae appetebat ne quicquam prae se ferebat eorum quae dicebat ne quicquam facere volebat i. e. He never made shew of having what he desired to have nor ever minded to do what he promised to do But God is faithful and that will appear by these following Evidences of it 1. Evidence By his exact fulfilling of his Promises of the longest date So Acts 7. 6. Four hundred and thirty years were run out before the Promise of Israel's deliverance out of Egypt was accomplished yet Acts 7. 17. when the time of the Promise was come God was punctual to a day Seventy years in Babylon and at the expiration of that time they returned 2 Chron. 36. 21. Men may forget but God cannot Isa. 49. 15 16. 2. Evidence By making way for his Promise through the greatest difficulties and seeming impossibilities So to Abraham when old Gen. 18. 13 14. Is there any thing too hard for the Lord At the appointed time will I return unto thee according to the time of life and Sarah shall have a son And likewise to the Israelites Can these dry bones live Ezek. 37. 3. Difficulties are for men not God Gen. 18. 14. What art thou O great Mountain Zech. 8. 6. If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people should it also be marvellous in mine eyes saith the Lord of hosts 3. Evidence By fulfilling promises to his people when their hopes and expectations have been given up So Ezek. 37. 11. Our bones are dry our hopes lost we are cut off for our part And Isa. 49. 14. Zion said The Lord hath forsaken me and my Lord hath forgotten me There may be much unbelief in good men their faith may be sorely staggered yet God is faithful men may question his promises yet God cannot deny himself 2. Tim. 2. 13. 4. Evidence By Gods appealing to his people and referring the matter to their own judgments Micah 6. 3 4 5. O my people what have I done unto thee and wherein have I wearied thee Testifie against me for I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt and redeemed thee out of the house of servants and I sent before thee Moses Aaron and Miriam O my people remember now what Balak King of Moab consulted and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord. q. d. If I have failed in a Punctilio of my promise shew it did not Balak and Balaam court me and try all ways to win me over to them by multitudes of Sacrifices yet I did not desert you So Ier. 2. 31. O generation see ye the word of the Lord have I been a wilderness unto Israel a land of darkness wherefore say my people we are lords we will come no more unto thee Isa. 44. 8. 5. Evidence The Faithfulness of God is abundantly cleared by the constant testimonies given unto it in all Ages by them that have tryed it they have all witnessed for God and attested his unspotted faithfulness to the generations that were to come So did Ioshua 23. 14. All is come to pass and so did Daniel Chap. 9. 4. O Lord the great and dreadful God keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him With which David's testimony concurs Psal. 146. 6. Happy â—s he that hath the God of Jacob for his â—elp whose hope is in the Lord his God which made the heaven and earth the sea and all that therein is which keepeth truth for ever Thus his people have been witnesses in all generations unto the faithfulness of God in his promises the consideration whereof leaves no doubt or objection behind it SECT II. ANd if we enquire into the grounds and reasons why God is and ever must be most Faithful in
Iehoshaphat 2 Chro. 20. 2 3. Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat saying there cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria and behold they be in Hazazon Tamar which is Engedi and Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord. He set himself i. e. he composed and fixed his heart for Prayer in the time of so great a fright and terrible an Alarm But it is rare to find such constancy and eveness of mind as this in like cases it is with most in great frights as the Prophet describes the condition of the Jews Isaiah 22. 2 3. when the City of Ierusalem was besieged and the enemy came under the walls of it that which a little before was the joyous City or as some read the revelling City is now in such a panick fear that it is full of stirs and tumults some run up to the tops of the houses either to hide or bewail themselves or take a view of the dreadful enemy without others prevent the sword of the enemy and die by fear before hand their own apprehensions of misery killed them before the sword of any other enemy once touched them but you read of none that ran into their closets to seek the Lord the city was full of stirrs but not of prayers alas Fear made them cry to the mountains rather than to God ver 5. The best men find it hard to keep their thoughts from wandering and their minds from distraction in the greatest calm of peace but a thousand times harder in the hurries and tumults of fear 5. The sinfulness of Fear consists in the power it hath to dispose and incline men to the use of sinful means to put by their danger and to cast them into the hands and power of temptation The fear of man bringeth a snare Prov. 29. 25. or puts and lays a snare before him Satan spreads the net and Fear like the stalking horse drives men right into it It was fear which drew Abraham that great believer into the snare of dissimulation to the great disparagement of Religion for it was somewhat an odd sight to see Abimelech an heathen so schooling an Abraham for it as he did Gen 20. 9. And for the same evil you find God chiding his people in Isaiah 57. 11. And of whom hast thou been afraid or feared that thou hast lied and hast not remembred me There is a double lie occasioned by Fear one in words another in deeds Hypocrisie is a lie done a practical lie and our Church History abounds with sad examples of dissimulation through fear 't is Satans great engine to make his Tempations victorious and successful with men SECT III. 3. There is an holy and laudable Fear a Fear which is our treasure not our torment the chief ornament of the Soul its beauty and perfection not its infelicity or sin viz. the awful filial fear of God natural fear is a pure or simple passion of the Soul Sinful fear is the disordered and corrupt passion of the soul but this is the natural passion sanctified and thereby changed and baptized into the name and nature of a Spiritual grace This fear is also mentioned in my Text and prescribed as an Antidote against sinful fears it devours carnal fears as Moses serpent did those of the Enchanters It 's one of the sorest judgments to be in the fear of man day and night Deut. 28. 65 66 67. and one of the sweetest mercies to be in the fear of God all the day long Prov. 23. 17. The fear of men shortens our days Isaiah 22. 34 but the fear of the Lord prolongeth our days Prov. 10. 27. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life Prov. 14. 27. But the fear of man a fountain of mischiefs and miseries By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil Prov. 16. 6. but by the fear of man men run themselves into evil Prov. 29. 25. This Fear is a gracious habit or principle planted by God in the soul whereby the soul is kept under an holy awe of the eye of God and from thence is inclined to perform and do what pleaseth him and to shun and avoid whatsoever he forbids and hates 1. It is planted in the soul as a permanent and fixed habit it is not of the natural growth and production of mans heart but of supernatural infusion and implantation Ier. 32. 40. I will put my fear into their inward parts To fear man is natural but to fear God is wholly supernatural 2. This gracious fear puts the soul under the awe of Gods eye Psal. 119. 161. my heart standeth in awe of thy word 'T is the reproach of the servants of men to be eye-servants but it is the praise and honour of Gods servants to be so 3. This respect to the eye of God inclines them to perform and do whatsoever pleaseth him and is commanded by him hence fearing God and working righteousness are connected and linked together Acts. 10. 35. If we truly fear God we dare not but do the things he commands and if his fear be exalted in our hearts to an high degree it will enable us to obey him in duties accompanied with deepest self denial Gen. 22. 12. Now I know thou fearest God seeing thou hast not with held thy son thine only son from me 4. This fear ingageth and in some degree inableth the soul in which it is to shun and avoid whatsoever is displeasing to God and forbidden by him in this Ioâ— discovered himself a true fearer of God he would not touch what God had forbidden and therefore was honoured with this Excellent Character He was one that feared God and eschewed evil Iob. 1. 3. And thus of the several kinds of Fear CHAP. III. Shewing the various uses of Fear both Natural Sinful and Religious in the Government of the world by providence SECT I. HAving taken a brief view of the several kinds and sorts of Fear that are found among men our nextâ— work will be to open the Uses of them in the Government of this world for one way or other they all subserve the most wise and holy purposes of God therein And we will first enquire into 1. The Use of Natural Fear Which if we well consider it will be found exceeding necessary and useful to make man a governable creature by Law and consequently the order comfort and tranquillity of the world necessarily depends upon it How immorigerous and intractable would the corruptions of mans nature make him and uncapable of any moral restraint from the most flagitious and barbarous crimes had not God planted such a passion as this in his nature which like a bridle curbs in the corrupt propensions thereof If fear did not clap its manacles and fetters upon the wild and boysterous lusts of men they would certainly bear down all milder motives and break loose from all ingenuous bands of restraint the world would inevitably be filled with
is not throughly perswaded the ground he stands on is firm and good 't is not to be wondred that men should tremble who seem to feel the ground shake and reel under them 2. Unbelief shuts up the refuges of the Soul in the Divine promises and by leaving it without those refuges must needs leave it in the hands of fears and terrors That which fortifies and emboldens a Christian in evil times is his dependence upon God for protection Psal. 143. 9. I flie unto thee to hide me The cutting off of this retreat which nothing but unbelief can do deprives the soul of all those succours and supports which the promises afford and consequently fills the heart with anxiety and fear 3. Unbelief makes men negligent and careless in providing for troubles before they come and so brings them by way of surprize upon them and the more surprizing any evil is the more frightful it is always found to be we cannot think that Noah was so affrighted at the Flood when it began to swell above all the hills and mountains as all the rest of the world was nor was there any reason that he should having foreseen it by Faith and made provision for it Heb. 11. 7. By faith Noah being warned of God prepared an Ark. Augustine relates a very pertinent and memorable story of Paulinus Bishop of Nola who was a very rich man both in goods and grace he had much of the world in his hands but little of it in his heart and it was well there was not for the Goths a barbarous people breaking into that City like so many Devils fell upon the prey those that trusted to the treasures which they had were deceived and ruined by them for the rich were put to tortures to confess where they had hid their moneys This good Bishop fell into their hands and lost all he had but was scarce moved at the loss as appears by his prayer which my Author relates thus Lord let me not be troubled for my gold and silver thou knowest it is not my treasure that I have laid up in heaven according to thy command I was warned of this judgment before it came and provided for it and where all my interest lies Lord thou knowest Thus Mr. Bradford when the Keepers wife came running into his Chamber suddenly with words able to have put the most men in the world into a trembling posture O Mr. Bradford I bring you heavy tidings to morrow you must be burned and your chain is now buying he put off his hat and said Lord I thank thee I have looked for this a great while it is not terrible to me God make me worthy of such a mercy see the benefit of a prospect of and preparation for sufferings 4. Unbelief leaves our dearest interests and concerns in our own hands it commits nothing to God and consequently must needs fill the heart with distracting fears when eminent dangers threaten us Reader if this be thy case thou wilt be a Magor missabib surrounded with terrours whensoever thou shalt be surrounded with dangers and troubles Believers in this as well as in many other things have the advantage of thee that they have committed all that is precious and valuable to them into the hands of God by Faith to him they have committed the keeping of their souls 1 Pet. 4. 19. and all their eternal concernments 2 Tim. 1. 12. And these being put into safe hands they are not distracted with fears about other matters of less value but can trust them where they have intrusted the greater and enjoy the quietness and peace of a resigned Soul to God Prov. 16. 3. but as for thee thy life thy liberty yea which is infinitely more than all these things thy Soul will lie upon thy hands in the day of trouble and thou wilt not know what to do with them nor which way to dispose of them O these be the dreadful streights and frights that unbelief leaves men in 't is a fountain of Fears and distractions And indeed it cannot but distract and confound carnal men in whom it reigns and is in its full strength when sad experience shews us what fears and tremblings the very remains and relicts of this sin begets in the best men who are not fully freed from it If the unpurged relicts of unbelief in them can thus darken and cloud their evidences thus greaten and multiply their dangers if it can draw such sad and frightful conclusions in their hearts notwithstanding all the contrary experiences of their lives as we see in that sad instance 1 Sam. 27. 1. What panick fears and unrelieved terrors must it put those men under where it is in its full strength and dominion 4. Cause Moreover we shall find many of our Fears raised and provoked in us by the Promiscuous administrations of providence in this world when we read in Scripture That There is oneâ—â—vent to the righteous and to the wicked and all things come alike to all Eccles. 9. 2. That when the sword is drawn God suffers it to cut off the righteous and the wicked Ezek. 21. 3. The Sword makes no difference where God hath made so great a difference by grace it neither distinguishes faces nor breasts but is assoon sheathed in the bowels of the best as of the worst of men when we read how the same fire of Gods indignation devours the green tree and the dry tree Ezek. 20. 47. How the basket of good figs the Embleme of the best men of those times were carried into Babylon as well as the bad Ier. 24. 5. How the flesh of Gods Saints hath been given for meat to the fowls of heaven and to the beasts of the field Psal. 97. 12. and how the wicked have devoured the man that is more righteous than himself as it is Habak 1. 13. I say when we observe such things in Scripture and find our observations confirmed by the accounts and histories of former and later ages when we reflect upon the unspeakable miseries and butcheries of those plain hearted and precious servants of Christ the Albingenses and Waldenses how they fell as a prey to their cruel adversaries notwithstanding the convincing simplicity and holiness of their lives and all their fervent cries and appeals to God how the very flower of the reformed Protestant interest in France was cut off with more than barbarous inhumanity so that the Streets were washed and the Canals of Paris ran with their precious bloud What horrid and unparallelled tortures the servants of God felt in that cruel Massacre in Ireland a history too tragical for a tender hearted Reader to stay long upon And how in our own Land the most eminent Ministers and Christians were sent to heaven in a fiery chariot in those doleful Marian day I say when we read and consider such things as these it rouzes our fears and puts us into frights when we see our selves threatned with the same enemies and
Corinthians about marriage in those times of persecution and difficulty he commends to them a single life as most eligible where it may be without other sinful inconveniencies and that principally for this reason That they might attend upon the Lord without distractions 1 Cor. 7. 35. He foresaw what streights cares and fears must unavoidably distract them in such times that were most clogged and incumbred with families and relations when a man should be thinking O what shall I do now to to get my doubts and fears resolved about my interest in Christ How may I so behave my self in my sufferings as to credit Religion and not become a scandal and stumbling stone to others His thoughts are taken â—p with other cares and fears O what will become of 〈◊〉 wife and poor little ones what shall I do with â—hem and for them to secure them from danger I doubt not but it is a great design of the Devil to â—eep us in continual alarms and frights and to puzzle â—ur heads and hearts with a thousand difficulties which â—ossibly may never befall us or if they do shall neâ—er prove so fatal to us as we fancy them and all this to unfit us for our present duties and destroy our comfort therein for if by frights and terrors of mind he can but once distract our thoughts he gains three great points upon us to our unspeakable loss 1. Hereby he will cut off the freedom and sweetness of our communion with God in duties and what an empty shell will the best duties be when this kernel is wormed out by such a subtle artifice Prayer as Damascen aptly expresses it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the ascension of the mind or soul to God but distraction clips its wings he can never offer up his soul and thoughts to God that hath not the possession of them himself and he that is under distracting fears possesseth not himself The life of all communion with God in Prayer consists in the harmony that is betwixt our hearts and words and both with the will of God this harmony is spoiled by distractions and so Satan gains that point 2. But this is not all he gains and we lose by distracting fears for as they cut off the freedom and sweetness of our intercourse with God in prayer so they cut off the Soul from the succours and reliefs it might otherwise draw from the promises We find when the Israelites were in great bondage wherein their minds were distracted with fears and sorrows they regarded not the supporting promises of deliverance sent them by Moses Exod. 6. 9. David had an express and particular promise of the Kingdoâ— from the mouth of God which must needs include his deliverance out the hand of Saul and all his stratagems to destroy him but yet when eminent hazards were before his eyes he was afraid and thaâ— fear betrayed the succours from the promise so thaâ— it drew a quite contrary inclusion 1 Sam. 27. 1. 〈◊〉 shall one day perish by the hand of Saul And again 〈◊〉 is at the same point Psal. 116. 11. All men are liars not excepting Samuel himself who had assured him of the Kingdom This is always the property and nature of fear as I shewed before to make men distrust the best security when they are in eminent peril But Oh what a mischief is this to make us suspicious of the promises which are our chief relief and support in times of trouble Our fears will unfit us for prayer they will also shake the credit of the promises with us and so great is the damage we receive both ways that it were better for us to lose our two eyes than two such advantages in trouble But 3. This is not all by our present fears we lose the benefit and comfort of all our past experiences and the singular relief we might have from all that faithfulness and goodness of God which our eyes have seen in former streights and dangers the present fear clouds them all Isai. 51. 12 13. Men and dangers are so much minded that God is forgotten even the God that hath hitherto preserved us though our former fears told us the enemy was daily ready to devour us All these sweet reliefs are cut off from us by our distracting fears and that at a time when we have most need of them 2. Effect Dissimulation and Hypocrisie is the fruit of slavish Fear distraction you see is bad enough but dissimulation is worse than distraction and yet as bad as it is fear hath driven good men into this snare it will make even an upright soul warp and bend from the rules of that integrity and candor which should be inseparable at all times from a Christian Of whom saith God to his Israel hast thou been afraid that thou hast lied and hast not remembred me God finds falshood and charges it upon Fear q. d. I know it was against the resolutions of my peoples hearts thus to dissemble this certainly is the effect of a fright Who is he that hath scared you into this evil It was Abraham's fear that made him dissemble to the reproach of his Religion Gen. 20. 2 11. And indeed it was but an odd sight to see an heathen so schooling and reproving great Abraham about it as he there doth It was nothing but fear that drew his son Isaac into the like snare Gen. 26. 7. And it was fear that overcame Peter against his promise as well as principle to say concerning his dear Saviour I know not the man Matth. 26. 69. Had Abraham at that time remembred and acted his Faith freely upon what the Lord said to him Gen. 17. 1. Fear not Abraham I am thy shield he had escaped both the sin and shame into which he fell but even that great believer was foiled by his own fears and certainly this is a great evil a complicated mischief For 1. By these falls and scandals Religion is made vile and contemptible in the eyes of the world it reflects with much reproach upon God and his promises as if his word were not sufficient security for us to rely upon in times of trouble as if it were safer trusting to our wit yea to sin than to the Promises 2. It greatly weakens the hands of others and proves a sore discouragement to them in their trials to see their brethren faint for fear and ashamed to own their principles sometimes it hath this mischievous effect but it is always improved by Satan and wicked men to this purpose And 3. It will be a terrible blow and wound to our own Consciences for such flaws in our integrity we may be kept waking and sighing many a night O see the mischiefs of a timorous and faint spirit 3. Effect Slavish Fears of the Creature exceedingly strengthen our temptations in times of danger and make them very efficacious and prevalent upon us Prov. 29. 25. The fear of man brings a snare Satan spreads the net but we are
guard and maintain it And this is the fear that shall be enabled to vanquish and expel all thy other fears 4. Or are you afraid what the Church shall do And what will become of the Ark of God Do you see a storm gathering the winds begin to roar the waves to swell and are you afraid what will become of that vessel the Church in which you have so great an interest It is an argument of the publickness and excellency of thy spirit to be thus touched with the feeling sense of the Churches sufferings and dangers Most men seek their own things and not the things that are of Christ Phil. 2. 21. But yet it is your sin so to fear as to sink and faint under a spirit of despondency and discouragement which yet many good men are but too apt to do I remember an excellent passage in a Letter of Luther's to Melancthon upon this very account In Private troubles saith he I am weaker and thou art stronger thou despisest thy own life but fearest the Publick cause but for the Publick I am at rest being assured that the cause is just and true yea that it is Christ's and Gods cause I am well nigh a secure spectator of things and esteem not any thing these fierce and threatning Papists I beseech thee by Christ neglect not so Divine promises and consolations where the Scripture saith Cast thy care upon the Lord wait upon the Lord be strong and he shall comfort thy heart And in another Epistle I much dislike those anxious cares which as thou writest do almost consume thee 'T is not the greatness of the danger but the greatness of thy unbelief Iohn Hus and others were under greater danger than we and if it be great he is great that orders it Why do you afflict your self If the cause be bad let us renounce it if it be good why do we make him a liar that bids us be still As if you were able to do any good by such unprofitable cares I beseech thee thou that in other things art valiant fight against thy self thine own greatest enemy that puts weapons into Satans hand You see how good men may be even overwhelmed with publick fears but certainly if we did well consider the bond of the Covenant that is betwixt God and his people we should be more quiet and composed For by reason thereof it is 1. That God is in the midst of them Psal. 46. 1 2 3 4. When any great danger threatned the Reformed Church in its tender beginnings in Luther's time he would say come let us sing the 46 Psalm and indeed it is a lovely Song for such times it bears the Title of A song upon Alamoth or a song for the hidden ones God is with them to cover them under his wings â— 2. And it is plain matter of Fact evident to all the world that no people under the Heavens have been so long and so wonderfully preserved as the Church hath been It hath overlived many bloudy Massacres terrible persecutions subtle and cruel enemies still God hath preserved and delivered it for his promises oblige him to it amongst which those two are signal and eminent ones Ier. 30. 11. Isai. 27. 3. 3. And it is obvious to all that will consider things that there are the self same motives in God and the self same grounds and reasons before him to take care of his Church and people that ever were in him or did ever lie before him from the beginning of the world For 1. The relation is still the same What though Abraham Isaac and Iacob those renowned believers be in their Graves and those that succeed be far inferiour to them in Grace and Spiritual excellency yet saith the Church Doubtless thou art our Father There is the same tie and bond betwixt the father and the youngest weakest child in the family as the eldest and strongest 2. His pity and mercy is still the same for that endures for ever His bowels yern as tenderly over his people in their present as ever they did in any past afflictions or streights 3. The rage and malice of his and his peoples enemies is still the same they will reflect as blasphemously and dishonourably upon God now should he give up his people as ever they did Moses Argument is as good now as ever it was what will the Egyptians say and so is Ioshuah's too What wilt thou do unto thy great name O if these things were more throughly studied and believed they would appease many Fears 2. Rule Work upon your hearts the consideration of the many mischiefs and miseries men draw upon themselves and others both in this world and that to come by their own sinful fears 1. The miseries and calamities that sinful Fear brings upon men in this world are unspeakable this is it that hath plunged the Consciences of so many poor wretches into such deep distresses this it is that hath put them upon the Rack and made them roar like men in Hell among the damned Some have been recovered and others have perished in these deeps of horror and despair In the year 1550. there was at Ferrara in Italy one Faninus who by reading good Books was by the grace of God converted to the knowledge of the truth wherein he found such sweetness that by constant reading meditation and prayer he grew so expert in the Scriptures that he was able to instruct others and though he durst not go out of the bounds of his calling to preach openly yet by conference and private exhortations he did good to many This coming to the knowledge of the Pope's Clients they apprehended and committed him to Prison where he renounced the truth and was thereupon released But it was not long before the Lord met with him for it So as falling into horrible torments of Conscience he was near unto utter despair nor could he be freed from those terrors before he had fully resolved to venture his life more faithfully in the service of Christ. Dreadful was that voice which poor Spira seemed to hear in his own Conscience assoon as ever his sinful fears had prevailed upon him to renounce the truth Thou wicked wretch thou hast denied me thou hast renounced the Covenant of thine obedience thou hast broken thy vow hence Apostate bear with thee the Sentence of thine eternal damnation Presently he falls into a swoon quaking and trembling and still affirmed to his death that from that time he never found any ease or peace in his mind but professed that he was captivated under the revenging hand of the Almighty God and that he continually heard the sentence of Christ the just Judge against him and that he knew he was utterly undone and could neither hope for grace or that Christ should intercede for him to the Father In our dreadful Marian days Sir Iohn Cheek who had been Tutor to King Edward the Sixth was cast into the Tower and kept close
Rev. 18. 7. O it were well for us if in the midst of our pleasant enjoyments we would be putting the difficultest cases to our selves and mingle a few such thoughts as these with all our earthly enjoyand comforts I am now at ease in the midst of my habitation but the time may be at hand when my habitation shall be in a Prison I see no faces at present but those of friends full of smiles and honours I may see none shortly but the faces of enemies full of frowns and terrors I have now an estate to supply my wants and provide for my family but this may shortly fall as a prey to the enemy they may sweep away all that I have gathered reap the fruits of all my labours Impius has segetes I have yet my life given me for a prey but O how soon may it fall into cruel and bloud-thirsty hands I have no better security for these things than the Martyrs had who suffered the loss of all these things for Christs sake a double advantage would result to us from such meditations as these viz. The Advantage Troubles 1. Of Acquaintance with 2. Of Preparation for 1. Hereby our thoughts would be better acquainted with these evils and the more they are acquainted the less they will start and fright at them We should not think it strange concerning the fiery trial as it is 1 Pet. 4. 12. It is with our thoughts as it is with young colts and so they start at every new thing they meet but we cure them of it by bringing them home to that they start at and making them smell to it better acquaintance cures this startling humour at them The newness of evil saith a late grave and Learned Divine is the cause of fear when the mind it self hath had no preceding encounter with it whereby to judge of its strength nor example of another mans prosperous issue to confirm its hopes in the like success For as I noted before out of the Philosophers experience is instead of armour and is a kind of fortitude enabling both to judge and to bear troubles for there are some things which are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 scarecrows and vizors which children fear only out of ignorance assoon as they are known they cease to be terrible I know our minds naturally reluctate and decline such harsh and unpleasant subjects 'T is hard to bring our thoughts to them in good earnest and harder to dwell so long as is necessary to this end upon them We had rather take a pleasant prospect of future felicity and prosperity in this world of multiplying our days as the sand and at last dying quietly in our Nest as Iob speaks Our thoughts run nimbly upon such pleasant fancies like oyled wheels and have need of trigging but when they come into the deep and dirty ways of suffering there they drive heavily lik Pharaohs Chariots dismounted from their wheels But that which is most pleasant is not always most useful and necessary Our Lord was well acquainted with griefs though our thoughts be such great strangers to them he often thought and spake of his sufferings and of the bloudy Baptism with which he was to be baptized Luke 12. 50. and he not only minded his own sufferings before hand but when he perceived the fond imaginations and vain fansies of some that followed and professed him deluding them with expectations of earthly prosperity and rest he gave their thoughts a turn to this less pleasing but more needful subject the things they were to suffer for his name instead of answering a foolish and groundless question of sitting on his Right and Left hand like earthly Grandees he rebukes the folly of the Questionist and asks a less pleasing question Matth. 20. 22. But Iesus answered and said Ye know not what ye ask are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of And to be baptized with the baptism that I shall be baptized with q. d. You do but abuse your selves with such fond and idle dreams there is other imployment cut out for you in the purpose of God Instead of sitting upon Thrones and Tribunals it would become you to think of being brought before them as Prisoners to receive your doom and sentence to die for my sake these thoughts would do you a great deal more service 2. As such meditations would acquaint us better so they would prepare us better to encounter troubles and difficult things when they come Readiness and preparation would subdue and banish our fears we are never much scared with that for which our minds are prepared There is the same difference in this case as there is betwixt a Souldier in compleat Armour and ready at every point for his enemy and one that is allarm'd in his bed who hath laid his cloaths in one place and his Arms in another when his enemy is breaking open his chamber door upon him It was not therefore without the most weighty reason that the Apostle presses us so earnestly Eph. 6. 13 14. Take unto you the whole armour of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand Stand therefore having your loyns girt about with truth and having on the breast-plate of Righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace We see the benefit of such previsions and provisions for sufferings in that great example of courage and constancy Acts 21. 13. I am ready saith Paul not only to be bound but to die at Jerusalem And the same courage and constancy remained in him when he was entering the very Lists and going to lay his very neck upon the block 2. Tim. 4. 6. I am ready to be offered up and the time of my departure is at hand The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifies a libation or drink-offering wherein some conceive he alluded to the very kind of his own death viz. by the Sword His heart was brought to that frame that he could with as much willingness pour out his bloud for Christ as the Priests used to pour out the drink offering to the Lord. 'T is true all the meditations and preparations in the world made by us are not sufficient in themselves to carry us through such difficult services 't is one thing to see death as our fancy limnes it out at a distance and another thing to look death it self in the face We can behold the painted Lyon without fear but the living Lyon makes us tremble but yet though our suffering-strength comes not from our own preparations or forethoughts of Death but from Gods gracious assistance yet usually that assistance of his is communicated to us in and by the conscionabl◠and humble use of these means let us therefore be found waiting upon God for strength patience and resolutions to suffer as it becomes Christians in the daily serious use of those means whereby he is pleased to
communicate to his people 4. Rule If ever you will subdue your own slavish fears Commit your selves and all that is yours into the hands of God by Faith This Rule is fully confirmed by that Scripture Prov. 16. 3. Commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established The greatest part of our trouble and burden in times of danger arises from the unsetledness and distraction of our own thoughts and the way to calm and quiet our thoughts is to commit all to God This Rule is to be applied for this end and purpose when we are going to meet Death it self and that in all its terrible formalities and most frightful appearances 1 Pet. 4. 19. Let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing as unto a faithful Creator And if this committing act of Faith be so useful at such a time when the thoughts must be supposed to be in the greatest hurry and fears in their full strength much more will it establish the heart and calm its passions in lesser troubles you know what ease and relief it would be to you if you had a Trial depending in Law for your Estates and your hearts were overloaded and distracted with cares and fears about the issue of it If one whom you know to be very skilful and faithful should say to you at such a time trouble not your self any further â—bout this business never break an hours sleep more for this matter be you as an unconcerned Spectator commit it to me and trust me with the management of it I will make it my own concernment and save you harmless O what a burden what an heavy load would you feel yâ—â—r selves eased of assoon as you had thus transferred and committed it to such a hand then you would be able to eat with pleasure and sleep in quietness Much more ease and quietness doth your committing the matter of your fears to God give even so much more as his power wisdom and faithfulness is greater than what is to be found in men But to make this Rule practicable and improveable to peace quietness of heart in an evil day it will be necessary that you well understand 1. What the committing act of Faith is 2. What grounds and encouragements Believers have for it 1. Study well the nature of this committing act of Faith and what it supposes or implies in it for all men cannot commit themselves to God 't is his own people only that can do it nor is it every thing they can commit to God they cannot commit themselves to his care and protection in any way but only in his own ways Know more particularly 1. That he who will commit himself to God must commit himself to him in well doing as the Apostle limits it in 1 Pet. 4. 19. and in things agreeable to his will else we would make God a Patron and Protector of our sins Let tâ—â—m that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their Souls to him in well doing We cannot commit our sins but our duties to Gods protection God is so great a friend to truth and righteousness that in such a case he will not take your part how dear soever you be to him if truth be found on your enemies part and the mistake on yours Think not to entitle God to your errors or failings much less to any sinful designs You may commit a doubtful case to him to be decided but not a sinful case to be protected It is in vain to shelter any cause of your own under his wings except you can write upon it as David did Psal. 74. 22. Thine own cause O Lord thine own as well as mine Lord plead thine own cause 2. He that commits his all to God supposes and firmly believes that all events and issues of things are in Gods hands that he only can direct over rule and order them all as he pleaseth Upon this supposition the committing acts of Faith in all our fears and distresses are built I trusted in thee O Lord I said thou art my God my times are in thy hand deliver me from the hands of my enemies and from them that persecute me His firm assent to this great truth that his times were in Gods hands was the reason why he committed himself into that hand If our times ourlives or comforts were in our enemies hands it were to little purpose for us to commit our selves into Gods hands And here the contrary sences and methods of Faith and unbelief are as conspicuous as in any one thing whatsoever Unbelief perswades men that their lives and all that is dear to them is in the hands of their enemies and therefore perswades them the best way they can take to secure themselves is by complyance with the will of their enemies and pleasing them But Faith determines quite contrary it tells us we and all that is ours is in Gods hand and no enemy can touch us or ours till he give them a permission and therefore it is our duty and interest to please him and commit all to him 3. The committing of our selves to God implies the resignation of our wills to the will of God to be disposed of as seems good in his eyes So David commits to God the event of that sad and doubtful providence which made him flie for his life from a strong conspiracy 2 Sam. 15. 25. And the King said unto Zadock Carry back the Ark of God into the City if I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord he will bring me again and shew me both it and his habitation but if he thus say I have no delight in thee behold here am I let him do to me as seemeth good to him q. d. Lord the conspiracy against my life is strong the danger great the issue exceeding doubtful but I commit it all into thy hand if David may yet be used in any further service for his God I shall see this City and thy lovely Temple again but if not I lie at thy foot to be disposed either for life or death for the earthly or the heavenly Ierusalem as seemeth best in thine eyes This submission to Divine pleasure is included in the committing act of Faith Christian what sayest thou to it Is thy will content to go back that the will of God may come on and take place of it It may be thou canst refer a difficult case to God provided that he will determine and issue it according â—o thy desires but in truth that is no submission or resignation at all but a sinful limiting of and prescribing to God It was an excellent reply that a choice Christian once made to another when a beloved and only Child lay in a dangerous sickness at the point of death a friend asked the mother what would you now desire of God in reference to your Child Would you beg of him its life or
most terrible for magnitudinem reâ—um consuetudo subducit trial and acquaintance a bates the formidable greatness of evils they knew not the strength of that enemy they were to engage but we fight with an enemy that hath been often beaten and triumphed over by our brethren that went before us certainly we that live in the last times have the best helps that ever any had to subdue their fears we have heard of the courage and constancy of our brethren in as sharp trials of their courage as ever we can be called to we have read with what Christian gallantry they have triumphed over all sorts of sufferings and torments how they have been strengthened with all might in the inner man unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness 1 Collos. 11. How they have gone away from the Courts that censured and punished them rejoycing that they were honoured to be dishonoured for Christ as the strict reading of that Text is Acts 5. 41. counting the reproaches of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt Heb. 11. 26. which at that time was the Magazine of the world for Riches You read what Trials they have had of cruel mockings yea moreover of bonds and imprisonments how they were stoned sawn asunder tempted slain with the sword wandred about in Sheep skins and Goat skins destitute afflicted tormented Heb. 11. 36 37. In all which they obtained a good report they came out of the field with triumphant faith and patience and this was not the effect of an over-heated zeal at the first outset but the same spirit of courage was found among Christians in after ages who have put off their Persecutors with a kind of pleasant scorn and contempt of Torments So did Basil truly sirnamed the great when Valens the Emperour in a great rage threatned him with banishment and tortures as to the first said he I little regard it for the earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof and as for tortures what can they do upon such a poor thin body as mine nothing but skin and bone And at another time when Eusebius Governour of Pontus told him in a great rage he would tear his very liver out of his bowels Truly said Basil you shall do me a very good turn in it to take out my naughty liver which inflames and diseaseth my whole body Their enemies have professed the Christians put them to shame by smiling at their Cruelties and and threatnings Ignatius his love to Christ had so perfectly overcome all fears of sufferings that when he was going to be thrown for a prey among the Lyons and Leopards he professed he longed to be among them and said he if they will not dispatch me the sooner I will provoke them that I may be with my sweet Jesus And if we come down to later ages we shall find as stout Champions for Christ The Courage and undauntedness of Luther is trumpeted abroad throughout the Christian world it would swell this small Tract too much but to note the most eminent instances of his courage for Christ The last he gave was by his sorrow in his last sickness that he must carry his bloud to the Grave The like Heroick Spirit appeared in divers persons of Honour and eminency who zealously espoused the same cause of reformation with him Remarkable to this purpose is that famous Epistle written by Ulricus ab Hutten a German Knight in defence of Luther's cause against the Cardinals and Bishops assembled at Wormes I will go through said he with what I have undertaken against you and will stir up men to seek their freedom Such as yield not to me at first I will overcome with importunity I neither care nor fear what may befal me being prepared for either event either to ruine you to the great benefit of my Countrey or my self to fall with a good Conscience therefore that you may see with what confidence I contemn your threats I do profess my self to be your irreconcilable enemy whilst ye persecute Luther and such as he is No power of yours no injury of fortune shall alter this mind in me though you take away my life yet this well deserving of mine towards my countries liberty shall not die I know that my endeavour to remove such as you are and to place worthy Ministers in your room is acceptable to God and in the last judgment I trust it will be safer for me to have offended you than to have had your favour It was also a brave Heroick spirit by which Iohn Duke of Saxony was acted to defend the Reformation who despising all the favours and offers of the Court and of Rome and the terrors of Death it self appeared as my Author speaks in its behalf against all the Devils and the Pope in three publick Imperial Assemblies saying openly to their faces I must serve God or the world and which of these two do ye think is the better And assoon as Luther's Sermons were forbidden he hasted away saying I will not stay there where I cannot have my liberty to serve God And now Reader thou hast a little taste of the courage and zeal of those worthies who are gone before thee in defence of that cause for which thou fearest to suffer Most men saith Chrisostom that read or hear such examples are like the Spectators of thâ— Roman Gladiators who stood by and praised their courage but durst not enter the Lists to undertake what they did If ever thou wilt get like courage for Christ thus improve such famous examples 1. Make use of them to obviate the prejudice of singularity you see you have store of good company the same things you are like to suffer for Christ have been accomplished in the rest of your brethren in the world 1 Pet. 5. 9. 2 Improve them against the prejudice of all that shame that attends sufferings here you may see the most excellent persons in the world reckoning it their glory to suffer the vilest things for Jesus Christ. Acts 5. 41. Heb. 11. 26. 3. Improve them against the conceit of the insupportableness of sufferings Lo here poor weak creatures which have been carried honourably and comfortably through the cruellest and difficultest sufferings for Christ. Our Women and Children not to speak of men saith Tertullian overcome their Tormentors and the fire cannot fetch so much as a sigh from them 4. Improve them against thine own unbelief and staggerings at the faithfulness of God in that promise Isa. 43. 2. When thou passest through the fire I will be with thee c. Lo here you have the recorded and faithful tâ—stimonies of such as have tried it with one voice witnessing for God Thy word is truth thy word is truth 5. Improve them against the sensible weakness of your own graces are you afraid your faith love and patience are too weak to carry you through great trials Why doubtless so were many of them too they were men of like
small according to the assisting grace we receive from above if he leave us in a common and light trial to our own strength it will be our over-match and if he assist us in great and extraordinary trials we shall be more than Conquerours At one time Abraham could offer up his only son to God with his own hand at another time he is so afraid of his life that he acts very unsuitable to the character of a Believer and was shamefully rebuked for it by Abimelech At one time David could say Though an Host encamp against me I will not fear At another time he feigns himself mad and acted beneath himself both as a man and as a man enriched with so much faith and experience At one time Peter is afraid to be interrogated by a Maid at another time he could boldly confront the whole Council and own Christ and his truths to their faces In extraordinary trials we may warrantably expect extraordinary assistances and by them we shall be carried through the greatest how often soever we have failed in smaller trials 2. The design and end of God in giving us experience of our own weakness in lesser troubles is not to discourage and daunt us against we come to greater which is the use Satan here makes of it but to take us off from self-confidence and self-dependence to make us see our own weakness that we may more heartily and humbly betake our selves to him in the way of faith and fervent supplication 4. Plea But some will object that they cannot help their fears and tremblings when any danger appears because fear is the disease at least the sad effect and Symptome of a disease with which God hath wounded them a deep and fixed melancholy hath so far prevailed that the least trouble overcomes them If any sad afflictive providence befal or but threaten them their fears presently rise and their hearts sink sleep departs thoughts tumultuate the bloud boyls and the whole frame of nature is put into disorder If therefore the Lord should permit such great and dreadful trials to befal them they can think of nothing less than dying by the hand of their own fears before the hand of any enemy touch them or which is a thousand times worse be driven by their fears into the net of temptation even to deny the Lord that bought them Answer This I know is the sad case of many gracious persons and I have reason to pity those that are thus exercised O 't is an heavy stroke a dismal state a deep wound indeed But yet the wisdom of God hath ordered this affliction upon his people for gracious ends and uses hereby they are made the more tender and watchful circumspect and careful in their ways that they may shun and escape as many occasions of trouble as they can being so unable to grapple with them I say not but there are higher and nobler motives that make them circumspect and tender but yet the preservation of our own quietness is useful in its place and 't is a mercy if that or any thing else be sanctified to prevent sin and promote care of duty This is your clog to keep you from straying 2. And when you shall be called forth to greater trials that which you now call your snare may be your advantage and that in divers respects 1. These very distempers of body and mind serve to imbitter the comforts and pleasures of this world to you and make life it self less desirable to you than it is to others they much wean your hearts from and make life more burdensome to you than it is to others who enjoy more of the pleasure and sweetness of it than you can do I have often thought this to be one design and end of Providence in permitting such distempers to seize so many gracious persons as labour under it and providence knows how to make use of this effect to singular purpose and advantage to you when a call to suffering shall come this may have its place and use under higher and more spiritual considerations to facilitate death and make your separation from this world the more easie to you for though it be a more noble and raised act of faith and self denial to offer up to God our lives when they are made most pleasant and desirable to us upon natural accounts yet it is not so easie to part with them as it is when God hath first imbittered them to us Your lives are of little value to you now because of this burdensome clog you must draw after you but if you should increase your burden by so horrid an addition of guilt as the denying of Christ or his known truths would do you would not know what to do with such a life it would certainly lie upon your hands as a burthen God knows how to use these things in the way of his providence to your great advantage 2. Art thou a poor melancholy and timorous person Certainly if thou be gracious as well as timorous this will drive thee nearer to God and the greater thy dangers are the more frequent and fervent will thy addresses to him be Thou feelest the need of everlasting arms underneath thee to bear thee up under and to carry through smaller troubles that other persons make nothing of much more in such deep trials that put the strongest Christians to the utmost of their faith and patience And 3dly What if the Lord will make an advantage out of your weakness to display more evidently his own power in your support you know what the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 12. 9 10. And he said unto me my grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness most gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me for when I am weak then am I strong If his infirmities might serve as a foil to set off the grace of God with a more bright and sparkling lustre he would rejoyce in his infirmities and so should you Well then let not this discourage you the infirmity of nature you complain of may make death the less terrible it served to that purpose to blessed Basil as you heard before when his enemy threatned to tear out his Liver he thought it a kindness to have that Liver torn out that had given him so much trouble It may drive thee nearer to God and minister a fit opportunity for the display of his grace in the time of need 5. Plea But what if God should hide his face from my soul in the day of my streights and troubles and not only so but permit Satan to buffet me with his horrid temptations and injections and so I should fall like the Ship in which Paul sailed betwixt these two boisterous Seas what can I suspect less than a shipwrack of my soul body and all the comforts of both in this world and in that to come Answer 1. So far
Iud. 5. So in Ezekiel's vision a part even of those hairs which were spared were afterwards cast into the fire Ezek 5. 4. Preservation from the dominion of sin and the wrath to come is peculiar to Gods own people but as for temporal deliverances we cannot infer that conclusion 2. Nor yet can we say that all Gods people shall be preserved that promise Zeph. 2. 3. leaves it upon a may be many a precious Christian hath fallen in the common calamity they have been preserved in but not from trouble But it is usual with God to preserve some in the sorest judgments And the grounds of it are 1. Because some must be left as a seed to propagate and preserve the Church which is perpetual and can never fail he never so overthrows nations as Sodom was overthrown Isa. 1. 9. this was the ground of that promise Ier. 30. 11. For I am with thee saith the Lord to save thee though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee yet will I not make a full end of thee And of that plea Amos 7. 2. O Lord God forgive I beseech thee by whom shall Iacob arise for he is small Except the Lord had left a small remnant we had been as Sodom Remarkable to this purpose is that Scripture Isa. 6. 13. But yet in it shall be a tenth and it shall return and shall be eaten As a Teyl-tree and as an Oak whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves So the holy seed shall be the substance thereof This preserved remnant is the holy seed by which the Church is propagated and continued Psal. 102. 28. 2. Because God will even in this world own and reward the fears and sorrows of his people for the sins of the times and sufferings of the Church with the joy and comfort of better times and a participation of Sions consolation so Isa. 66. 10. Rejoyce ye with Jerusalem ye that have mourned for her They that have sown in tears do sometimes live to reap in joy Psal. 125. 6. they shall say as Isa. 25. 9. Lo this is our God we have waited for him and he is come to save us And those that live not to reap down in this world the harvest of their own Prayers and tears shall be no losers a full and better reward shall be given them in heaven Isa. 57. 22 3. Because the preserved remnant of Saints are they that must actually give unto God the glory of all his providential administrations in the world both of judgments and mercies upon others and towards themselves They that go down to the pit do not celebrate his praise the living the living they praise him Isa. 38. 18 19. Thus when God turned back Sion's captivity the Remnant of Saints that were preserved were they that recorded his praise Psal. 126. 1 2. Then was our mouth filled with laughter And fully to this sense is that Scripture Psal. 102. 19 20 21. He delivers those that are appointed to death i. e. That men had doomed to death That they may declare the name of the Lord in Sion and his praise in Jerusalem 4. The hiding of the Saints in evil days is the greatest discovery of the hand of God in the world when he hides them he shews himself and that both to the Saints and to their enemies It is one of the most glorious mysteries of providence that ever the world beheld viz. the strange and wonderful protection of poor helpless Christians from the rage and fury of their mighty and malicious enemies though they walk visibly among them yet they are as it were hid from their hands but not from their eyes So Ier. 1. 18. You find God made that Prophet among the envious Princes and against an enraged and mighty King As a defenced City and as an iron pillar and as a brazen wall And indeed it was easier to them to conquer and take in the strongest Fort or Garison than that single Person who yet walked day by day naked and open among them So Luther a poor Monk was made invincible all the Papal power could not touch him for God hid him All the world against one Athanasius and yet not able to destroy him for God hid him This is the display of the glorious power of God in the world and he hath much honour by it Well then if there be a God that takes care of his own in evil days do not you be distractingly careful what shall become of you in such times you cannot see how it is possible for you to escape buâ— 2 Pet. 2. 4 5 6. the Lord knows how to deliver when you do not Little did Lot know the way and manner of his preservation till God opened it to him nor Noah till God contrived it for him There was no way to be contrived by them for escape He that knew how to deliver them can deliver you also Leave your selves to Gods dispose it shall certainly be to your advantage the Church is his peculiar care Isa. 27. 3. I the Lord do keep it I will water it every moment lest any hurt it I will keep it night and day The more you commit your selves to his care the more you engage it Isa. 26. 3. Thou wilt keep him in prefect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee He will certainly find a place of safety for his people under or in Heaven Neither be too much dejected when the number of visible professors seems but small think not the Church will perish when it is brought so low This was Elijah's case he thought he had been left alone that Religion had been preserved in his single person as the Phoenix of the world but see 1 Kings 19. 18. God hath enough left if we were in our graves to continue Religion in the world it concerns him more than you to look to that CHAP. V. Evincing the fourth Proposition viz. That God usually premonisheth the World especially his own of his judgments before they befal them SECT I. GOd first warns and then smites he delights not to surprise men when indignation was coming he tells his people of it in the Text and admonisheth them to hide themselves Surely the Lord will do nothing but he revealeth his secrets to his servants the Prophets Amos 3. 7. Thus when the flood was to come upon the old world he gave them one hundred and twenty years warning of it Gen. 6. 3. compared with 1. Pet. 3. 19. So when Sodom was to be destroyed God would not hide it from Abraham Gen. 18. 17. Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I do The like discovery was made unto Lot Gâ—â— 19. 12 13 14. So when the Captivity was at hand Ezekiel was commanded to give the Iews solemn warning of it from God Ezek. 3. 17. Hear the word at my mouth and give them warning from me And when their City and Temple was to be destroyed by
matter of wonder but God being their invisible refuge that solves the wonder to this end the Power of God is by promise engaged to his people Isa. 27. 3. I the Lord do keep it I will water it every moment lest any hurt it I will keep it night and day And thus they subsist in the midst of dangers and troubles as the burning Bush the Emblem of the Church did amidst the devouring flames Exod. 3. 3. 3. To deliver them out of their distresses so runs the Promise 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 I will be with him in trouble I will deliver him and honour him And Ier. 30. 7. Alas for that day is great so that none is like it It is even the time of Jacob's trouble but ye shall be saved out of it And surely there can be no distress so great no case of Believers so sorlorn but 1. It 's easie with God to save them out of it Are they to the eye of Sense lost as hopeless as men in the grave Yet see Ezek. 37. 12. O my people I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves and bring you into the land of Israel And he doth whatever he doth easily with a word Ps. 44. 4. Thou art my king O God command deliverances for Jacob. And it requireth no more violent motion to do it than he that swimeth in the water uses Isa. 25. 11. A gentle easie motion of the hand doth it 2. And as the power of God can deliver them easily so speedily Their deliverance is often wrought by way of surprizal Isa. 17. 14. Behold at evening tide trouble and in the morning he is not So the Church prays in Pâ— 126. 4. turn again our captivity as the streams in the South The Southern Countreys are dry the streams there come not in a gentle and slow current but being occasioned by violent sudden spouts of Rain they presently overflow the Countrey and as soon retire So speedily can the power of God free his people from their dangers and fears 3. Yea such is the excellency of his delivering power that he can save alone without any contribution of Creature aids So Isa. 59. 16. He wondered that there was no intercessour therefore his hand brought salvation unto him and his righteousness sustained him We read indeed Iudg. 5. 23. Of helping the Lord but that is not to express his need but their duty we have continual need of God but he hath no need of us he uses instruments but not out of necessity his arm alone can save us be the danger never so great or the visible means of deliverance never so remote 4. Once more let us view this Chamber of Divine power as it is continually opened by the hand of providence to receive and secure the people of God in all their dangers 'T is said 2 Chro. 16. 9. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to shew himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him Where you have an excellent account of the immediacy universality and efficacy of Divine Providence as it uses and applies this Divine power for the guard and defence of that people who are its charge he doth not only set Angels to watch for them but his own eyes keep Sentinel even those seven eyes of Providence mentioned Zech. 3. 9. which never sleep nor slumber for they are said to run continually to and fro and that not in this or that particular place only for the service of some more eminent and excellent persons but through the whole earth 'T is an encompassing and surrounding providence which hath its eye upon all whose hearts are upright all the Saints are within the line of its care and protection the eye of Providence discovereth all their dangers and its arm defends them for he shews himself strong in their behalf The secret but Almighty efficacy of Providence is also excellently described to us in Ezek. 1. 8. where the Angels are said to have their hands under their wings working secretly and undiscernibly but very effectually for the Saints committed to their charge Like unto which is that in Hab. 3. 4. where it is said of God that He had horns coming out of his hands and there was the hiding of his power The hand is the instrument of action denoting Gods active power and the horns coming out of them are the glorious raies and beams of that power shining forth in the salvation of his people O that we could sun our selves in those chearful and reviving beams of Divine power by considering how gloriously they have broken forth and shone out for the salvation of his people in all Ages So it did for Israel at the Red Sea Exod. 15. 6. So for Iehoshaphat in that great streight 2 Chron. 20. 12 15. And so in the time of Hezekiah 2 Kings 19. 3. 7. Yea in all ages from the beginning of the World the Saints have been sheltered under these wings of Divine Power Isa. 51. 9. 10. Thus Providence hath hanged and adorned this Chamber of Divine power with the delightful Histories of the Churches manifold preservations by it SECT IV. HAving taken a short view of this glorious Chamber of Gods power absolutely in it self and also in relation to his promises and providences it remains now that I press and perswade all the people of God under their fears and dangers according to Gods gracious invitation to enter into it shut their doors and to behold with delight this glorious Attribute working for them in all their exigencies and distresses 1. Enter into this Chamber of Divine power all ye that fear the Lord and hide your selves there in these dangerous and distressful days let me say to you as the Prophet did to the poor distressed Iews Zech. 9. 12. Turn ye to your strong hold ye prisoners of hope Strong holds might they say Why where are they The walls of Ierusalem are in the dust the Temple burnt with fire Sion an heap what meanest thou then in telling us of our strong holds Why admit all this yet there is Satis praesidii in uno Deo Refuge enough for you in God alone as Calvin excellently notes upon that place Christian art not thou able to fetch a good subsistence for thy Soul by Faith out of the Almighty power of God The renowned Saints of old did so Abraham Isaac and Iacob met with as many difficulties and plunges of trouble in their time as ever you did or shall meet with yet by the exercise of their faith upon this Attribute they lived comfortably and why cannot you Exod. 6. 3. I appeared saith God unto Abraham Isaac and Jacob by the name of God Almighty They kept house and feasted by Faith upon this name
one in delivering the Saints from the danger the other in causing it to fall upon the contrivers and is therefore celebrated with a double note of attention in these observable strokes the righteousness of God shines forth in repaying his peoples enemies in their own coin nec lex est justior ulla quam necis Artifices arte perire suâ— Thus Haman did eat the first-fruits of that tree which his own hands planted and thus Ierusalem becomes a burthensome stone to all that burthen themselves with it Zech. 12. 3. 4. Admire and adore the Wisdom of your God in those great and unexpected advantages which arise to you out of those very dangers and designs of your enemies that threatened your ruine the very hands of your very enemies are sometimes made the instruments of your advancement and enlargement your persecutions become your priviledges the Motto of the Palm tree fitly becomes yours Suppressa Resurgo In three things the Wisdom of God makes advantage out of your troubles 1. In fortifying your Souls and Bodies with suitable strength when any eminent trial is intended for you So it was with the Apostles 2 Cor. 1. 5. As the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation by Christ. God lays in suitably to what men lay on mercilesly Christ would not draw the poor timorous disciples out of Ierusalem unto hard encounters until first he had endued them with power from on high Luke 24. 49. 2. The Wisdom of your God can and often doth make your very troubles and sufferings instead of so many ordinances to strengthen your Faith and fortifie your Patience So the heads of Leviathan became meat to his people inhabiting the Wilderness Psal. 74. 14. And so the Plots of Balak and Balaam were designed by God to be as a standing instructing ordinance for the encouragement of his peoples Faith in future difficulties Micah 6. 5. O my people remember now what Balak King of Moab consulted and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal that ye may know the righteousnes of the Lord. q. d. You cannot but remember how those your enemies courted me with multitudes of Offerings to deliver you up into their hands and how faithfully I stood by you in all those dangers that Plot discovered at once the policy of your enemies and the righteousness of your God 3. His Wisdom is discovered to your advantage in permitting your dangers to grow to an extremity on purpose to magnifie his goodness and increase your comfort in your deliverance from it Psal. 126. 1. When the Lord turned our captivity we were as them that dreamed Proportionable to the greatness of your dangers will your joys be SECT III. WEll then if the Wisdom of God shines forth so gloriously in the times of his peoples trouble be perswaded by Faith to enter into this Chamber also it is a Chamber where a believing Soul may enjoy the sweetest rest and quietness in the most hurrying and distracting times shut the door behind you and improve this Attribute to your best advantage 1. Enter into this Chamber by Faith believe firmly that the management of all the affairs of this world whether publick or personal is in the hands of your All wise God more particularly exercise your faith about the Wisdom of God in these things 1. Believe that the Wisdom of God can contrive and order the way of your escape and deliverance when all doors of hope are shut up to sense and reason we know not what to do said good Iehoshaphat but our eyes are unto thee q. d. Lord though I am at a loss and see no way of escape thou art never at a loss The Lord saith Peter knoweth how to deliver the Godly out of temptation Divine wisdom hath infinite methods and ways of deliverance unknown to man till they are opened in the event 2. Believe that the Wisdom of God can turn your greatest troubles and fears into the choicest blessings and mercies to you I know saith Paul that this shall turn to my Salvation Phil. 1. 19. meaning his bonds and sufferings for Christ. Divine wisdom can give you honey out of the carcase of the Lyon cause you to part with those afflictions admiring and blessing God for them which you met with fear and trembling as suspecting your destruction was imported in them 3. In consideration of both these resign up your selves to the wisdom of God and lean not to your own understandings Commit thy way unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established Prov. 16. 3. When Melancthon was oppressed with cares and doubts about the distracting affairs of the Church in his time Luther thus chides him out of his despondency Desinet Philippus esse rector mundi do not thou presume to be the Governour of the world but leave the reins of Government in his hand that made it and best knows how to rule it Let God alone to chuse thy lot and portion to order thy condition and manage all thy affairs and let thy Soul take its rest in this quiet Chamber of Divine wisdom But then 2. Be sure to shut thy door behind thee and beware lest unbelief anxieties fears and doubts creep in after thee to disturb thy rest and shake thy faith in this point we are apt in two cases to be stumbled in this matter 1. When subtle and cunning enemies are engaged against us this was Davids case 2 Sam. 15. 31. One told David saying Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom and David said O Lord. I pray thee turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness When he heard Ahithophel was with the Conspirators it greatly puzled him Though a whole Conclave of Politicians be against us yet if God be with us let us not fear 2. When our own reason intrudes too far and offers its dictates too boldly in the case we are apt to say in the arrogancy of our own reason we cannot be delivered but O that we would learn to resign it up to the Wisdom of God The Lord knows how to deliver the godly When the question was asked the Prophet Ezek. 37. 3. Can these dry bones live He answers Lord thou knowest That 's excellent counsel Prov. 3. 5. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding 3. Improve the Wisdom of God for your selves in all difficult and distressful cases 1. Beg of God to exercise his wisdom for you when enemies conspire against you So did David 2 Sam. 15. 31. Lord turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness O 't is the noblest and surest way to vanquish an enemy it was but asked and done 2. Comfort your selves with this whenever you are at a loss in your own thoughts and know not what to do then commit all to Divine conduct let God Steer for you in a Storm he loves to be trusted Psal. 37. 5. Commit thy way unto the Lord trust also in him and he shall
perfoming his Promises we shall find it is built upon stable and unshaken pillars viz. 1. The Holiness of his Nature 2. The All-sufficiency of his Power 3. The Honour of his Name 4. The Unchangeableness of his Nature 1. The Faithfulness of God is built upon the perfect Holiness of his Nature by reason whereof it is impossible for God to lie Tit. 1 2. Heb. 6. 18. The deceitfulness of men flows from the corruption of the Humane Nature but God is not as man that he should lye neither as the son of man that he should repent â—hath he said and shall he not do it Or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good Numb 23. 19. If there be no defect in his Being there can be none in his working if his Nature be pure Holiness all his ways must be perfect Faithfulness 2. It is built upon the All-sufficiency of his Power whatsoever he hath promised to his people he is able to perform it men sometimes falsifie their promises through the defects of ability to perform them but God never out-promised himself if he will work none can lett Isa. 43. 13. He can do whatsoever he pleaseth to do Psal. 135. 6. The Holiness of his Nature engageth and the Almightiness of his Power enables him to be Faithful 3. The glory and Honour of his Name may assure us of his Faithfulness in making good the Promises and all that good which is in the promises to a tittle for wherever you find a Promise of God you also find the Name and Honour of God given as security for the performance of it and so his name hath ever been pleaded with him by his people as a mighty argument to work for them Ioshuah 7. 9. What wilt thou do to thy great name q. d. Lord thine Honour is a thousand times more than our lives it is no such great matter what becomes of us but ah Lord it is of infinite concernment that the glory of thy Name be secured and thy faithfulness kept pure and unspotted in the world So again Exod. 32. 11 12. And Moses besought the Lord his God and said Lord why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people which thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand Wherefore should the Egyptians speak and say for mifchief did he bring them out to â—lay them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth turn from thy fierce wrath and repent of this evil against thy people q. d. It will be sad enough for the hands of the Egyptians to â—all upon thy people but infinitely worse for the tongues of the Egyptians to fall upon thy Name 4. The unchangeableness of his Nature gives us the fullest assurance of his Faithfulness in the Promises Mal. 3. 6. I am the Lord I change not therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed Gods unchangeableness is his peoples indempnity and best security in the midst of dangers whilst there is not yea and nay with God there should be no ups and downs offs and on s in our faith that which gives steadiness to the Promises should give steadiness also to our expectations for the performance of them and so much briefly of the Faithfulness of God absolutely considered in the Nature and grounds of it 2. Next let us view the Faithfulness of God as it relates to the many great and precious Promises made unto his people for their security both in their Concernments 1. Temporal 2. Spiritual 1. We find the Faithfulness of God pawned and pledged for the security of his people in their Spiritual and eternal concernments against all their dangers and fears threatning them on that account and that more especially in these three respects 1. It is given them as their great and best security for the Pardon of their sins 1 Iohn 1. 9. If we confâ—ss our siâ—â—s he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse â—s from all unrighteousness Our greatest danger comes from sin Guilt is a fountain of Fears a pardoned Soul only can look other troubles in the face boldly As Guilt breeds fear so Pardon breeds Courage and Gods Faithfulness in the Covenant is as it were that Pardon-office from whence we fetch our discharges and acquittances Isa. 43. 25. I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake The promises of remission are made for Christs sake and when made they must be fulfilled for his own that is his Faithfulness sake 2. It is engaged for the perseverance of the Saints and their continuance in the ways of God in the most hazardous and difficult times this was the encouragement given them 1 Cor. 1. 8 9. Who shall also confirm you unto the end that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Iesus Christ God is faithful by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Iesus Christ our Lord. Ah Lord might those Corinthians say the Powers of the World are against us Suffering and Death before us a Treacherous and fearful heart within us Ay but yet fear not Christ shall confirm you whosoever opposes you though the World and your own hearts be deceitful yet comfort your selves with this your God is Faithful 3. The Faithfulness of God is given by promise for his Peoples security in and encouragement against all their sufferings and afflictions in this World â— Thes. 3. 2 3. That we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men for all men have not faith but the Lord is faithful who shall stablish you and keep you from evil He prays they may be delivered from absurd treacherous and unfaithful men who would trapan and betray them to ruine but this is proposed as their relief that when the treachery of men shall bring them into trouble the Faithfulness of God shall support them under and deliver them out of those troubles they shall have Spiritual supports from God under their deepest sufferings from men 1 Pet. 4. 19. 2. Gods Faithfulness is engaged for his peoples indempnity and security amidst the Temporal and outward evils whereunto they are liable in this world and that either to preserve them from troubles Psal. 91. 1 2 3 4. or to open a seasonable door of deliverance out of trouble 1 Cor. 10. 13. In both or either of which the hearts of Christians may be at rest in this troublesome world for what need those troubles fright us which either shall never touch us or if they do shall never hurt much less ruine us SECT III. HAving taken a short view of Gods Faithfulness in the Promises it will be a lovely sight to take one view of it more as it is actuated and exerted in his Providences over his people believe it Christians the Faithfulness of God runs through all his works of providence whenever he goes forth to work in the World Faithfulness is the girdle of his loins Isa. 11. 5.
the faithfulness of God is built These are immutable things Heb. 6. 18. This Abraham built upon Rom. 4. 21. Being fully perswaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform He accounted him faithful that promised What would you expect or require in the person that you are to trust You would 1. Expect a clear promise and lo you have a thousand all the Scripture over fitted to all the cases of your Souls and Bodies This you may plead with God as David Psal. 119. 49. Remember the word unto thy Servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope So Iacob pleaded Gen. 32. 12. Thou saidst I will surely do thee good These are Gods Bonds and Obligations 2. You would expect sufficient power to make good what he promiseth This is in God as a fair foundation of faith Isa. 26. 4. Trust ye in the Lord for ever for in the Lord Iehovah is everlasting strength Because of thy strength we will wait on thee Creatures cannot but God can do what he will 3. You would expect infinite goodness and mercy inclining him to help and save you why So it is here Psal. 130. 7. Let Israel hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is mercy and with him is plenteous redemption So Moses Exod. 33. 18. I beseech thee shew me thy glory The request was a view of God's Glory The answer is my goodness shall pass before thee which hints to us that though all God's Attributes be glorious yet that he most glories in is his goodness And then 4. You would expect that none of his Promises were ever blotted or staâ—â—ed by his unfaithfulness at any time and so it is here Iosh. 23. 14. not one thing hath failed all are come to pass all ages have sealed this conclusion Thy word is truth thy word is truth 2. Arg. Besides all this you have the encouragement of all former experiences both others and your own as a second Argument to press you to enter into this Chamber of Safety the Faithfulness of God 1. You have the experiences of others Saints have reckoned the experiences of others that lived a thousand years before them as excellent arguments to quicken their Faith So Hos. 12. 4. He had power over the Angel and prevailed he found him in Bethel and there he spake Remember there was a Ioseph with us in Prison a Ieremy in the Dungeon a Daniel in the Den a Peter in Chains an Hezâ—kiah upon the brink of the Grave and they all found the help of God most faithfully protecting them and saving them in all their troubles Suitable so this is that in Psal. 22. 4. 5. Our father 's trusted in thee they trusted and thou deliveredst them they cried unto thee and were delivered they trusted in thee and were not confounded 2. Your own experiences may encourage your faith So Davids did 1. Sam. 17. 37. The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the Lyon and out of the paw of the Bear he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine So did Paul's experience encourage his Faith in 2 Cor. 1. 10. Who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us Thus enter into the Faithfulness of God by Faith 2. Let me beg you to be sure to shut the doors behind you against all unbelieving doubts jealousies and suspicions of the faithfulness of God the best men may find temptations of that nature so did good Asaph though an eminent Saint Psal. 77. 78. Will the Lord cast off for ever and will he be favourable no more Is his mercy clean gone for ever Doth his promise fail for ever more These jealousies are apt to creep in upon the minds of men especially when 1. God delays to answer our Prayers as soon as we expect the return of them we are all in hast for a speedy answer forgetting that seasons of Prayer are our seed-times and when we have sown that precious seed we must wait for the Harvest as the Husbandman doth Even a precious Heman may find a faint qualm of unbelief and despondency seizing him by the long suspension of Gods answers Psal. 88. 9 10 11. 2. T will be hard to shut the door upon unbelief when all things in the eye of our sense and reason seem to work against the Promise It will require an Abraham's Faith at such a time to glorifie God by believing in hope against hope Rom. 4. 18. If ever thou hopâ—st to enjoy the sweet repose and rest of a Christian in evil times thou must resolve whatever thine eyes do see or thy senses report to hold fast this as a most sure conclusion God is faithful and his word is sure and that although Clouds and darkness be round about him yet righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne Psal. 97. 2. O that you would once learn to keep house upon Gods Faithfulness and fetch your daily reliefs and supports thence whensoever you are pressed and assaulted either 1. By Spiritual troubles When you walk in darkness and have no light then you are to live by acts of trust and recumbency upon the most faithful one Isa. 50. 10. Or 2. By Temporal distresses so did the People of God of old Hab. 3. 17 18. He lived by Faith on this Attribute when all visible comforts and supplies were out of sight But especially let me warn and caution you against five principal enemies to your repose upon the Faithfulness of God viz. 1. Distracting cares which divide the mind and eat out the peace and comfort of the heart and which is worst of all they reflect very dishonourably upon God who hath pledged his Faithfulness and Truth for our security against which I pray you bar the door by those two Scriptures Phil. 4. 6. Be careful for nothing but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God And that in 1 Pet. 5. 7. Casting all your care upon him for he careth for you 2. Bar the door against unchristian despondency another enemy to the sweet repose of your Souls in this comfortable and quiet Chamber of Divine Faithfulness you will find this unbecoming and uncomfortable distemper of mind insinuating and creeping in upon you except you believe and reason iâ— out as David did Psal. 42. 11. Why art thou cast down O my soul and why disquieted within me Hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him 3. Bar the door of your heart against carnal policies and sinful shifts which war against your own Faith and Gods Faithfulness as much as any other enemy whatsoever This was the fault of good David in a day of trouble 1 Sam. 27. 1. And David said in his heart I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines Alas poor David
Faith from thence is sweet and sure If I shall never be forsaken of my God let Hell and Earth do their worst I can never be miserable 2. The Unchangeable God hath promised to maintain their graces and thereby his interest in them for ever Ier. 32. 40. And I will make an everlasting Covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me Where the Lord undertakes for both parts in the Covenant his own and theirs I will not turn away from them O unexpressible mercy Yea but Lord may the poor Believer say that is not so much my fear as that my treacherous heart will turn away from thee No saith God I will take care for that also I will put my fear into thy heart and thou shalt never depart from me 3. The Unchangeable God hath promised to establish the Covenant with them for ever so that those who are 〈◊〉 taken into that gracious Covenant shall never be turned out of it again Isa. 54. 10. The mountains shall depart and the Hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee 4. The Unchangeable God hath secured his loving kindness to his people by Promise under all the trials and smarting rods of affliction with which he chastens them in this world he hath reserved to himself the liberty of afflicting them but bound himself by promise never to remove his favour from them Psal. 89. 33 34. I will visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with siripes nevertheless my loving kindness will I not take from them nor suffer my faithfulness to fail 5. The Promises of a joyful resurrection from the dead are grounded upon the Immutability of God Matth. 22. 32. I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead but the God of the living Death hath made a great change upon them but none upon their God though they be not he is still the same therefore they are not lost in death but shall assuredly be found again in the resurrection 6. To conclude the promises of the Saints eternal happiness with God in Heaven are founded in his Immutability 1 Cor. 1. 8 9. Tit. 1. 2. By all which you see what a pleasant lodging is prepared for the Saints in the unchangeable promises of God amidst all the changes and alterations here below 2. Once more let us view the unchangeableness of God in his Providences towards his people whatever changes it makes upon us or whatever changes we seem to discern in it nothing is more certain than this that it holds one and the samâ— tenor pursues one and the same design in all that it doth upon us or about us Providences indeed are very variable but the designs and ends of God in them all are invariable and the same for ever It is noted in Ezek. 1. 12. that The wheels went straight forward whither the spirit was to go they went and they turned not when they went As it is in Nature so in Providence you have one day fair halcyon and bright another dark and full of storm one season hâ—t another cold but all these serve to one and the same end and design to make the earth fruitful and the aim of all Providences is to make you holy and happy That is a sweet Promise Rom. 8. 28. All things shall work together for good to them that love God This is the compass by which all Proviâ—ences steer their course as a Ship at Sea doth by the Card but more particularly let us note the unchangeableness of God in his Providences of all kinds effective and permissive and see in them all his unchangeable righteousness and goodness 1. It must needs be so considering the unchangeableness of his decree 2 Tim. 2. 19. The foundation of God standeth sure Providences serve but never frustrate execute but cannot make void the decree so that you may say of the most afflicting Providences as David doth of the stormy winds Psal. 148. 8. they all fulfil his word 2. The Wisdom of God proves it he will not suffer his works or permissions to clash with his designs and purposes Divine Wisdom shews it self in the steddy direction of all things to the ultimate end To open this in some particulars consider 1. Doth the Lord permit wicked men to rage and insult persecute and vex his people Yet all this while Providence is in its right way it walks in as direct a line to your good as when it is in a more pleasant path of Peace Ier. 24. 5. Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel like these good figs so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldâ—ans for their good Israel was sent to Babylon for their good This improves your faith and patience Rev. 13. 10. Here is the patience and fâ—ith of the Saints So Râ—m 5. 2 3. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoyce in hope of the glory of God and not only so but we glory in tribulations also knowing that tribulatiâ—n worketh patience By this you are weaned from and mortified to this world 2. Doth the Lord in his Providence order many and frequent close and smarting afflictions for you Why lo here is the same design managing as effectually as if all the peace and prosperity in the World were ordered for you The face of Providence indeed is not the same but the love of God is still the the same he loves you as much when he smites as when he smiles on you for what are his ends in afflicting you and what the sanctified fruits of your afflictions Is it not 1. To purge your iniquities Isa. 27. 9. By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away his sin 2. To reduce your hearts to God Psal. 119. 67. Before I was afflicted I went astray but now have I kept thy word 3. To quicken you to your duties let the best man be without afflictions and he will quickly grow dull in the way of his duty 3. Doth God let loose the chain of Satan to tempt and buffet you Yet is he still the same God to you as before for do but observe his ends in that permission and you will find that by these things the Lord is leading you towards that desired assurance of his love which your Souls long after Few Christians attain to any considerable settlement of Soul but by such shakings and combates the end of these permissions is to put you to your knees and blow up a greater flame and fervour of Spirit in Prayer 2 Cor. 12. 8. So that eventually
all the people of God to his particular care It was one of the last expressions of Christ love to them at the parting hour Ioâ— 17. 11. And now I am no more in the world but these are in the world and I come to thee Holy Father keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me q. d. While I have been personally present with them I took the same care of them as a Shepheard doth of his Flock or a tender Father of his Children But now I must leave them in the world and in the midst of a world of dangers fears and troubles against which they can make no provision or defence themselves Father remember them look after them when I shall be removed from them they are thine as well as mine and I recommend them with my last breath to thy care and protection This is a special ground also of Gods care for them 5. Believers dayly cast themselves upon the care of God and resign themselves unto it in their dayly Prayers And by their often renewed acts of Faith than which no act is found more engaging from the creature upon its God though there be nothing of merit yet there is much of engaging efficacy in it Isa. 26. 3. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee We find it so among our selves the more firmly and entirely any one trusteth to us and dependeth upon us the more he engageth us to protect or relieve him Now this is the dayly work of Christians to trust God over all and put all their concernments into his hand which very trust and dependance draws forth the care of God for them 6. In a word the many promises God hath made to his people to preserve support and supply them in all the times of need engageth the câ—re of God for them as often as such wants or dangers befal them for indeed herein he at once takes care for their necessity and for his own honour and glory They trust to his word and rely upon his promises which therefore he will be careful to make good This was the argument which the Church pleaded in the time of eminent danger to engage the care of God for them Psal. 74. 20. Havs respect unto the Covenant for the dark places of the Earth are full of the habitations of cruelty q. d. O Lord thy people are in the midst of cruel enemies take care for their protection and though there be no worth in them to which thou shouldest have respect yet have respect unto thine own Covenant let the glory of thy Name draw forth thy care to thy People SECT II. WE have seen the grounds and reasons of Gods care over his people let us next view the extent and compass of this Divine care and here methinks the Lord saith to his people as he said to Abraham Gen. 13. 14 15. Lift up now thine eyes from the place where thou art northward and southward and eastward and westward for all the land which thou seest to thee will I give it and to thy seed for ever So here poor timorous dejected Believer lift up thine eyes from the place where thou art and take a view of all the promises in the Scriptures of truth promises of supports under all burthens supplies of all wants deliverances out of all dangers assistances in all distresses to thee have I given them all as a portion for ever This care of God walks the round and encompasseth the Souls and Bodies of them that fear him day and night There is no interest or concern of either found without the line of his all-surrounding Care and every one of his children are enfolded in his Fatherly arms Deut. 33. 3. All his Saints are in thy hand All and every one of their wants and streights are observed by this Care in order to their supply Phil. 4. 19. My God shall supply all your wants 1. Great is the Care of God over the Bodies of his people and all the dangers and necessities of them as they daily grow your meat and drink are daily provided for you by your Fathers Care Psal. 111. 5. He hath given meat unto them that fear him he will ever be mindful of his Covenant It is from this Care of thy Heavenly Father that necessary provisions have been made for thee of which it may be thou hast had no foresight This is the God that hath fed thee all thy life long Gen. 48. 15. It is from the same care thy body hath been cloathed Matth. 6. 28. How much more shall he cloath you O ye of little faith It is through this Care you sleep in peace and your rest is made sweet unto you Prov. 3. 24. When thou lyest down thou shalt not be afraid yea thou shalt lie down and thy sleep shall be sweet In a word thou owest all thy recoveries from dangerous diseases and narrow escapes from the grave to this Care of thy God over thee He is the Lord that healâ—th thee Exod. 15. 26. That the incensed humours of thy body had not overflowed their banks like an inundation of the Sea when they raged in thy dangerous diseases is only because thy God took the care of thee and set them their bounds 2. Divine Care extends it self to the Souls of all that fear God and to all the concernments of their Souls and manifestly discovers it self in all the gracious provisions it hath made for them More particularly it is from this tender Fatherly care that 1. A Saviour was provided to redeem them when they were ruined and lost by sin Ioh. 3. 16. Rom. 8. 32. 2. That Spiritual cordials are provided to refresh them in all their sinking sorrows and inward distresses Psal. 94. 19. 3. That a door of deliverance is opened to them when they are sorely pressed upon by temptations and ready to be overwhelmed 1 Cor. 10. 13. 4. That a strength above their own comes in seasonably to support them when they are almost overweighed with inward troubles when great weights are upon them the everlasting arms are underneath them Psal. 138. 3. Isa. 57. 16. 5. That their ruine is prevented when they are upon the dangerous and flippery brink of temptations and their feet almost gone Psal. 73. 12. Hos. 2. 6. 2 Cor. 12. 7. 6. That they are recovered again after dangerous falls by sin and not left as a prey and Trophy to their enemy Hos. 144. 7. That they are guided and directed in the right way when they are at a loss and know not what course to take Psal. 16. 11. Psal. 73. 24. 8. That they are established and confirmed in Christ in the most shaking and overturning times of trouble and persecution so that neither their heart tâ—â—neth back nor their steps decline from his ways Ier. 32. 40. Ioh. 4. 14. 9. That they are upheld under Spiritual desertions and recovered again out of that dismal darkness into the
make but such observations upon the care of thy God as follow and then tell me whether the world with all its pleasures and delights can give thee such an other entertainment 1. Reflect upon the constant sweet and suitable provisions that from time to time have been prepared for thee and thine by this care of thy God From whence soever thy wants did come I am sure from hence came thy supplies it hath enabled thee to return the same answer the disciples did to that question Luke 22. 35. Lacked ye any thing and they said nothing 2. Reflect with admiration upon the various difficulties of your lives wherein your thoughts have been entangled and out of which you have been extricated and delivered by the care of God over you How oft have your thoughts been like a ravelled skeyn of silk so entangled and perplexed with the difficulties and fears before you that you could find no end but the longer you thought the more you were puzled till you have left thinking and fell to praying and there you have found the right end to wind up all your thoughts upon the bottom of peace and sweet contentment according to that direction Psal. 37. 5. Commit thy way unto the Lord trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass 3. Observe with a melting heart how the care of thy God hath disposed and directed thy way to unforeseen advantages had he not ordered thy steps when and as he did thou hadst not been in possession of those Temporal and Spiritual mercies that sweeten thy life at this day Surely the steps of good men are ordered by the Lord and as for thee Christian what reason hast thou with an heart overflowing with love and thankfulness to look up and say My father thou art the guide of my youth It is sweet to live by faith upon Divine care Oh what a Serene life might we live careful for nothing but making known our request unto God in every thing Phil. 4. 6. casting all our care on him that careth for us 1 Pet. 5. 7. perplexing our thoughts about nothing but rolling every burthen upon godly Faith Thus lived holy Musculus when reduced to extreme poverty and danger at the same time then it was that he solaced his Soul with that comfortable Distich a good lesson for others Est Deus in coelis qui providus omnia curat Credentes nusquam deseruisse potest The Provident care of his heavenly father made his heart as quiet as the child at the breast Christian thou knowest not what distressful days are coming upon the earth nor what personal trials shall befal thee in this world but I advise thee as thou valuest the tranquility and comfort of thy life Shut up thy self by Faith in this Chamber of Divine Care it is thy best security in this world Reflect frequently and thankfully upon the manifold supports supplies and salvations thou hast already had from this fountain of mercies and be not discouraged at new difficulties When an eminent Christian was told of some that way-laid him to destroy him his answer was Si Deus mei curam non habet quid vivo In like manner thou mayest say if God had not taken care for thee how couldst thou have lived till now How couldest thou have overlived so many troubles fears and dangers as thou hast done CHAP. XI Opening the sixth and last Chamber viz. The Love of God as a resting place to believing Souls in evil times SECT I. THough all the Attributes in the name or Chambers of this house of God are glorious and excellent yet this of love is transcendently glorious Of this room it may be said as it was of Solomon's royal Chariot Cant. 3. 10. The midst thereof is paved with love In this Attribute the glory of God is signally and eminently manifested 1 Iohn 4. 9 10. And upon this foundation the hopes and comforts of all Believers are built and founded Rom. 8. 35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ Shall tribulation or distress 〈◊〉 persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword He defies and despises them all because neither of them alone nor all together by their united strength can unclasp the arms of Divine Love in which Believers are â—afely enfolded In this Attribute Gods people by Faith entrench themselves and of it a Believer saith Hic murus aâ—enus esto this shall be my strong hold and fortress in the day of trouble and well may we so esteem and reckon it if we consider 1. That wherever the special love of God goes there the special presence of God goes also Iohn 14. 23. He shall be loved of my father and we will come unto him and make our abode with him And O how secure and safe must those be however times govern with whom God himself maketh his abode For as the Psalmist speaks Psal. 91. 1. He that dwells in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty And he that is overshadowed by an Almighty power needs not fear how many mighty enemies combine against him 2. Wherever the special love of God is placed that person becomes precious and highly valuable in the eyes of God he appretiates and estimates such a man as his peculiar treasure which naturally and necessarily draws and spreads the wing of Divine care over him for his protection Deuteron 33. 12. The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him and the Lord shall cover him all the day long Things of greatest value are always kept in safest custody 3. Upon whosoever the special love of God is seâ— there all events and issues of troubles are sure to be over ruled to the eternal advantage of that Soul Rom. 8. 28. Which consideration alone is sufficient to unsting all the troubles in the world and make the beloved of the Lord shout and triumph in the midst of tribulations But let us enter yet further into this glorious Chamber of Divine love and more particularly view the admirable properties thereof though when all is done it will be found a love passing knowledge our thoughts may admire but can never measure it 1. And first you will find it an ancient love whose spring is in eternity it self Believer God is thine ancient friend who foresaw and loved thee before thou yea before this world was in being the fruits and effects thereof thou gatherest in time but the root that produces them was before all times Prov. 8. 22 23. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way before his works of old I was set up from everlasting from the beginning or ever the earth was Thus was the love of God contriving and providing the best of mercies in Christ for us while as yet there were no such creatures in the world nor a world prepared to receive us 2 The love of God to his people is a free and altogether undeserved love it must needs be
Now do your worst we are out of your reach and above all your terrors and affrights Be advised then to sit close to this work clear but this point once and the worst is past O lye at the feet of God night and day give him no rest take no denial from him fill thy mouth with pleas and arguments tell him Lord it is neither for Corn nor Wine that I seek thee but only for thy love bestow thy other gifts upon whom thou wilt only seal up thy love to my soul. And Lastly I advise thee Reader to be exceeding careful when God admits thee into the sense of his love to shut the door behind thee lest thy soul be soon expelled thence by the subtlety of Satan who envies nothing more than such an happiness as this that envious Spirit totally despairs of the least drop of such a mercy and therefore swells with envy at thine enjoyment of it but if ever thou fasten thy hand of faith upon this mercy loose not thy hold by every objection with which he will rap thy fingers 1. If he object the many sharp afflictions and manifold rods of God upon thee call not the Love of God in question for that but remember what â—he saith Heb. 12. 6. Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth Fatherly Corrections are so far from being inconsistent with the love of God that his love is rather questionable without them than for them they are love tokens not marks of hatred 2. Yield not up thy claim and title to the love of God because he sometimes hides away his face from thee thou knowest the sun is up and going on in its regular course in the darkest and closest day My God my God saith Christ himself Why hast thou forsaken me believe he is still thy God and his love immutable when the sense and manifestations thereof do fail 3. Call not the Love of God into question because of thy great vileness and unworthiness say not when thou most loathest thy self God must needs loath thee too he can love where thou loathest Return return O Shulamite return return that we may look upon thee what will ye see in the Shulamite as it were the company of two armies The Spouse was exceeding beautiful in the eyes of others when most base and vile in her own What would you see in the Shulamite alas there is nothing in me at the best but Conflicts and Wars betwixt Grace and Corruption as it were betwixt two Armies Cant. 6. 13. 4. Quit not thy claim to the Love of God because he seems to shut out thy Prayers and delays to answer the long continued desires and importunities of thy soul in some cases David would neither censure his God no nor call in question his interest in him because of such a delay and silence Psal. 22. 1 2. My God my God The claim is doubled ver 1. and yet in the next breath he saith I cry in the day time but thou hearest not and in the night season and am not silent Thus I have offered you some advice and assistance how to secure your selves in these Divine Attributes viz. The Power Wisdom Faithfulness Unchangeableness Care and Love of God as in so many Sanctuaries and comfortable Refuges in the days of Common Calamity It is noted even of the Egyptians when the storm of Hail was coming upon the Land Exod. 9. 20. He that feared the Word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses Let not an Egyptian take more care of his Beasts than Christians of their Souls Stormy days are coming God hath provided you a Refuge and given you seasonable Praemonitions and Calls from Heaven to hasten into them before Desolations come The Lord help us to hear his Calls and comply with them which will be as much our Priviledge as it is our Duty And so much of the Fifth Proposition viz. That God's Attributes Promises and Providences are prepared for the security of his people in the greatest distresses that befal them in the world PROPOSITION VI. That none but God's own People are taken into these Chambers of Security or can expect his special Protection in Evil Times SECT I. THis Proposition describes and clears the qualified subject of this Priviledge God's own People and none but such can warrantably claim special protection in evil times and this is consonant to the current account of Scripture Isa. 3. 10 11. Say ye unto the righteous it shall be well with him Wo to the wicked it shall be ill with him He speaks concerning the day of Ierusalem's ruin and Iudah's fall as appears ver 8. So great a difference will God make even in this world betwixt the righteous and the wicked In Nah. 1. you have also a terrible day described wherein Bashan Carmel and Lebanon the most pleasant and fruitful places of the land shall languish ver 4. The mountains shall quake the hills melt the earth and those that dwell therein burnt up ver 5. The indignation and fury of God poured out like fire v. 6. The priviledged people in this terrible day are God's own people they only are taken into security ver 7. The Lord is good a strong hold in the day of trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him i. e. he so knoweth them as to care and provide for them in that evil day and so throughout the whole Scripture you shall find the Promises of protection still made to the people of God When the Chaldean Army like a devouring fire was ready to seize upon the Land the sinners in Sion were afraid fearfulness surprised the hypocrites for who among us say they shall dwell with devouring fire and everlasting burning Yes saith God some there are that shall abide that day viz. He that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly he shall dwell on high his place of defence shall be the munition of rocks i. e. God will be a sanctuary to them when others shall be as stubble before the flames Isa. 33. 14 15 16. But for the right stating of this Proposition three things must be heedfully adverted 1. That all good men are not always exempted from the stroke of outward Calamities in that sense the righteous may perish and merciful men be taken away yea they may perish in love and be taken away in mercy from the evil to come Isa. 57. 1. 2. Mica 7. 1 2. 2. That all wicked men are not all always exposed to external miseries but a just man may perish in his righteousness and a wicked man prolong his life in his wickedness Eccles. 7. 15. 3. But in this sense we are to understand the Proposition That none but the people of God have right by promise to his special protections in evil days and that all such shall either be preserved from the stroke of calamities or from the deadly sting namely Eternal Ruin by them