countenance was so sad seeing he was not sick he replyed Neh. 2.3 Why should not my countenance be sad when the City the place of my Fathers Sepulchres lieth waste and the Gates thereof are consumed with fire We have many instances of Servants of God lamenting Gods judgments on others though they themselves have escaped Isa 22.4,5 Look away from me I will weep bitterly labour not to comfort me because of the spoiling of the Daughter of my People for it is a day of trouble and of treading down and of perplexity by the Lord God of Hosts in the Valley of Vision It was not his own loss or damage that the Prophet thus lamented but the spoiling of the Daughter of his people so Jeremiah bemoans the sufferings of the Jews as if they been had his own Jer. 8.21 For the hurt of the Daughter of my People am I hurt I am black astonishment hath taken hold on me He did not only weep for the miseries of the Jews his Country-men but even for the Moabites when God was sending great judgments upon them Jer. 48.31,32 Therefore will I howl for Moab and I will cry out for all Moab mine heart shall mourn for the men of Kirheres O Vine of Sibmah I will weep for thee with the weeping of Jazer 2. Though we may and ought to mourn yet we must not repine at the desolations that are come upon this famous City or at the sufferings that any Persons or Families or the Nation in general hath sustained or may sustain by this fire but we must all acquiess in the will of God and to promote our submission to God under this dreadful judgment I will suggest some few considerations and so conclude my Answer to the first Question 1. It is God that hath done this great work the hearing whereof maketh our ears to tingle and therefore though it cause never so much sorrow to our selves or others we must not say one word by way of murmuring and complaint against God Isa 38.15 What shall I say he hath both spoken unto me and himself hath done it I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul Psal 46.8,10 Come behold the works of the Lord what desolations he hath made in the Earth Be still and know that I am God The reason that made Eli submit when God did to his particular family such things as made both the ears of every one that heard thereof to tingle It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good 1 Sam. 3.11,18 The same should make us submit when such things befall a City or Nation as maketh the ears of all that hear thereof to tingle It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good 2. God will bring glory to his Name by this sore judgment which he hath brought upon this great City Isa 25.2,3 Thou hast made of a City an heap and of a defenced City a ruine Therefore shall the strong people glorifie thee the City of the terrible Nations shall fear thee So also Isa 5.16 in some of the former verses the Prophet had been speaking of Gods judgments as Vers 9. Many houses shall be desolate even great and fair without Inhabitant And Vers 13 15. Their honourable men are famished and their multitude dried up with thirst the mean man shall be brought down and the mighty man shall be humbled then he tells us that all these judgments should make for the exalting of Gods glory Vers 16. But the Lord of Hosts shall be exalted in judgment and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness Now the exalting of Gods glory is of more concernment than all the Cities or Kingdoms of the whole world All things are and were created for Gods pleasure and therefore it is meet that he should glorifie himself by and with all persons and things as seemeth good in his sight Revel 4.11 Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created We should yield up all that we have and are unto God to be disposed of by him as he pleaseth so he will but glorifie his own Name Joh. 12.27,28 Now is my soul troubled and what shall I say Father save me from this hour but for this cause came I unto this hour Father glorifie thy Name 3. Though this be a very sore and dreadful judgment and many persons fearing God have suffered deeply by it yet truly God is and still will be good to Israel even to such as are of a clean heart When Jerusalem the chief City of Judah was ruined and Judah's fall followed upon Jerusalems ruine yet God commandeth his Prophet to tell the righteous in the midst of these desolations it should go well with them Isa 3.8,10 Jerusalem is ruined and Judah is fallen because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord to provoke the eyes of his glory Say ye to the righteous it shall be well with him for they shall eat the fruit of their doings When God visited Ariel with flaming fire and other dreadful judgments he promiseth to comfort and support his own people in the midst of those troubles Isa 29.6,19 Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of Hosts with Thunder and Earthquake and great Noise with Storm and Tempests and the Flame of devouring Fire The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord and the poor men among shall rejoyce in the Holy One of Israel God will make this dreadful judgment so far from hurting any of his servants that it shall conduce to the good of all that love his Name throughout the whole Land Rom. 8.28 We know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose 5. Whatever this great City was before its desolation to its own Inhabitants or to any of Gods servants in any parts of the Nation all that God will be to his own people now that it is laid wast I shall instance in some particulars Was this City the glory of England the Crown of the Nation and are we ready to say with Phinehas his wife when we behold the ruines of this City The glory is departed from England or with the Jews when Jerusalem was burnt with fire The Crown is fallen from our head Lam. 5.16 yet let us remember what God promised when he destroyed the glory of Ephraim Isa 28.4,5 The glorious beauty which is on the fat Valley shall be a fading flower In that day shall the Lord of Hosts be for a Crown of glory and for a Diadem of beauty unto the residue of his people and what is promised Isa 60.19 The Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light and thy God thy glory and Isa 62.3 Thou shalt be a Crown of glory in the hand of the Lord and a Royal Diadem in the hand of thy God Was this City a place of great
well as for those that are endued with greatest discretion 3. There is a special Providence of God which watcheth and taketh care of such as are simple and shiftless Psal 116.6 The Lord preserveth the simple I was brought low and he helped me Who are more shiftless than strangers widows and fatherless children and we find that God taketh a special care of such as these Psal 146.9 The Lord preserveth the strangers he relieveth the fatherless and widow Were not the Disciples of Christ shiftless when they were sent forth as Sheep in the midst of Wolves Matth. 10.16 and yet had neither money in their purses nor staves nor scrip Vers 9 10. but for all this they wanted nothing as you heard before from Luk. 22.35 4. Though you are friendless as well as shiftless let not this discourage you as long as you have a God in Heaven that taketh the care of you you are well enough though you have no friends on earth to look after you 1 Pet. 5.7 Casting all your care upon him for he careth for you When David was in distress and had no friend that took any care of him he stayed himself with this that he had a God that was his refuge who would not only give him Heaven when he died but also be his portion and take the care of him in the land of the living Psal 142.4,5 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 I cryed unto thee O Lord I said thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living The fewer friends you have in the world and the less help and relief you are like to have from men the more you shall have from God for he is wont in an eminent manner to take care of such as are friendless and helpless Psal 27.10 When my Father and my Mother forsake me then the Lord will take me up Jer. 30.17 I will restore health uno thee and I will heal thee of thy wounds saith the Lord because they called thee an out-cast saying this is Zion whom no man seeketh after Psal 10.14 The poor committeth himself unto thee thou art the helper of the fatherless Object 3. But I can't work my age may one say my sickness and other infirmities may another say do disable me from working and how then shall I be able to live in these hard times when I can't work to get my living Answ 1. It is the will of God that as long as we have ability we should work for our living for by that way God is wont to supply our needs namely by industry and diligence in our imployments 1 Thess 4.11,12 That ye studdy to be quiet and to do your own business and to work with your own hands as we commanded you that ye may walk honestly towards them that are without that ye may have lack of nothing The promise of being fed runs on these tearms Trust in the Lord and do good and verily thou shalt be fed 't is not said trust in the Lord and then though you live idly you shall be fed but do good and thou shalt be fed Idleness will bring a man to want Prov. 19.15 Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep and an idle soul shall suffer hunger 2. If you would work but cannot because you are disabled by age or sickness or some other infirmity this should not hinder you from trusting in God to maintain you For 1. When you can't work you can pray and if you pray God will stir up some or other to relieve you he will by his Providence send in a supply of your wants so that you need not fear want as long as you can pray Psal 34.10 They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing 2. When you can't work God can and will work for you though God ceased from the works of Creation on the seventh day yet he still continueth to work for his people in the way of his Providence Joh. 5.17 My Father worketh hitherto and I work 3. The Lillies cannot spin or do any other work yet the Lord sends upon them rain in due season whereby they are nourished and clotheth them in a very glorious manner Matth. 6.28,29,30 and why should you fear that God will not nourish and clothe you though you should be able to do no work What could you do when you lay in your Mothers womb and for some years after you were born into the world If the Lord provided for you when you could do no work for him or for your generation because of your infancy why should you distrust him for Provision when you are disabled from working by sickness or old age Object 4. But I begin to be in want already I that have lived plentifully heretofore have not now wherewithal to supply my personal and family necessities and it peirceth my heart to see my children orying about me and I have not wherewithal to relieve them Answ 1. If it be so that you are sometimes pinched with hunger yet remember 1. That better men than you are have been exercised with this tryall the Apostle Paul speaking of himself and the other Apostles saith 1 Cor. 4.11 Even unto this present hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked and have no certain dwelling place Yea Jesus Christ himself was tryed with this affliction of hunger and when he was hungry he sought for relief from the trees of the field and was disappointed of his expectation Mar. 11.12,13 When they were come from Bethany he was hungry and seeing a Fig-tree a far of having leaves he came if haply he might find any thing thereon and when he came to it he found nothing but leaves At another time being weary and thirsty in his travel he asked a draught of water of a woman of Samaria and was denyed it Joh. 4.6 when he was upon the Cross full of pain and anguish which made him very thirsty when he cryed out to those that stood round about him I thirst No body gave him any thing to drink but Vinegar which encreased rather than mitigated his torment Joh. 19.28,29 Jeremiah one of the Lords Prophets was ready to die for hunger Jer. 38.9 They have cast Jeremiah into the Dungeon and he is like to die for hunger 2. This affliction of hunger as well as other afflictions is a fatherly chastisement and comes from fatherly love and is sent with a design to do us good Deut. 8.3,5,16 He humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger Thou shalt consider is thine heart that as a man chastneth his son so the Lord thy God chastneth thee that he might humble thee and that he might prove thee to do thee good at thy latter end 3. The grace of God will enable a man to suffer hunger or any other affliction contentedly Phil. 4.12,13 I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound every
diffioulties to us have no difficulty at all in the account of God Zech. 8.6 If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these dayes should it also be marvellows in mine eyes saith the Lord of Hosts Isa 55.8,9 My thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your wayes my wayes saith the Lord for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my wayes higher than your wayes and my thoughts than your thoughts 2. When you are at that pass that you know not what to do as God knows what to do for you so he is able to help and deliver you his Power is equal to his Wisdom Gen. 18.14 Is any thing too hard for the Lord Luke 1.37 With God nothing shall be unpossible Even such things as men judge impossible and what they do not only judge so but those things which are real impossibilities to men are possible with God Luke 18.27 The things which are unpossible with mien are possible with God When the difficulty of your case discourageth you from believing consider what a great and hard work it was to make the heavens and the earth and then you will conclnde that nothing can be too hard for God Jer. 32.17 Ah Lord God behold thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arme and there is nothing too hard for thee Suppose there was no way extant whereby you can be delivered out of your troubles God can make away for you to escape he can create deliverance 1 Com. 10.13 God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye ars able but will with the temptation also make a way to efcape that ye may be able to bear it Isa 4.5 The Lord will create upon every dwelling-place of Mount Zion and upon hen assemblies a cloud and smoke by days and the shining of a flaming fire by nights for upon all the glory shall be a defence 3. The Lord is not only able to help you out of great straits but he bath promised that when you are in such distress that you know not what to do if you call upon him and trust in him he will deliver you Psal 25.15 Mins eyes and ever towards the Lord for he shall pluck my feet out of the net When Davids feet were entangled in a net that he knew not which way to winde and turn himself he eyes and rests upon Gods promise He shall pluck my feet out of the net Psal 50.15 Call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me They day of trouble taketh in the grearest as well as lesses troubles and the Hebrew word that is used in this place for trouble is the same that is used Daniel 12.2 where the Prophet speaketh of such a time of trouble as never was since the Creation so that the promise implyes thus much when it is a day of trouble with you though your pressures and troubles be such as never any person or people met with greater since the creation of the world if you call upon God be will deliver you Job 5.19 He shall deliver thee in six troubles yea in seven there shall no evil touch thee The Hebrew word for trouble here is the same with what was mentioned before and is sometimes translated a strait 2 Sam. 34.14 I am in a great strait So that the promise implies thus much that when we are in straits in great straits in many straits God will deliver us and bring us out of them all Psalm 71.20 Thou which hast shewen me great and sore troubles shalt quicken me again and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth 4. Though you be in such straits that you know not what to do yet trust in God for your help doth not stand in your own wisdom or in your own strength but in the Lord Psal 124.8 Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth Your deliverance from trouble doth not come partly from God and partly from your selves but from God only Psal 62.6 He only is my rock and my salvation he is my dofence I shall not be moved When all help faileth he will be a very present help in trouble Psal 46.1 God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble Now seeing your help standeth only in the name of the Lord though your wisdom and your ability to help your selves faileth you this should not hinder you from trusting in God to help you 5. Consider what God hath done for others in their straits when they cried unto God he helped them though their troubles were such as that their souls melted under them and they have been at their wits end Psal 107.26,27,28 They mount up to the heaven they go down again to the depths their soul is melted because of trouble they are at their wits end Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble and he bringeth them out of their distress Psal 34.6 This poor man cryed and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles David was delivered out of a great strait when he penned this Psalm as you may see by the title compared with 1 Sam. 21.10,11,12,13 David gives us divers instances of Gods delivering him out of very great straits such as to an eye of fence seemed inextricable and invincible Psal 18.29 By thee I have run through a troop and by my God have I leaped over a wall Psal 40.2 He brought me up out of an horrible pit out of the miry clay And he telleth us that it was the will of God that those deliverances which God had given him should encourage others to trust in the Lord Many shall see it and fear and shall trust in the Lord ver 3. 6. The Holy Ghost recommendeth it to us as that which is very good and profitable for us and very acceptable and pleasing to God that we should trust and hope in God in our greatest straits Lam. 3.26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. This was spoken to those who were in great distress and saw no way how they should get out of their troubles ver 7. 9. He hath hedged me about that I cannot get out he hath made my chain heavy he hath enclosed my wayes with hewen stone he hath made my paths crooked Hereupon they were ready to despair of deliverance and to say ver 18. My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord. Yet to them the Holy Ghost saith It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. And as it is good for us so also it is pleasing to God that we should hope in him under our greatest troubles Psal 147.11 The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him in those that hope in his mercy If any say I have brought
and did eat of the corn of the land Josh 5.12 The Manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land The water also that came out of the rock followed them up and down in all places whereever they went to give them drink 1 Cor. 10.4 Now as it was with the Israelites whilst they were in the Wilderness so will God deal with all his servants whilst they are in the Wilderness of this world he will guard them and guide them by night and by day he will send in a suitable and seasonable supply of all their wants 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 Isa 49.10 They shall not hunger nor thirst neither shall the heat nor Sun smite them for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them even by the springs of water shall he guide them When your wants are many and you know not how or which way they shall be supplyed remember what is said Phil. 4.19 My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus And be assured of this that God who hath been good to you will follow you with goodness and mercy as long as you live Psal 23.6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the dayes of my life It may be you will say I have enough to comfort me if I were but sure that goodness and mercy should follow me all the dayes of my life but though David was sure of this it doth not follow that I may rest assured that it shall be so with me I answer They that come to and close with Jesus Christ shall be blessed with the same mercies that God bestowed upon David Isa 45.3 Encline your ear and come unto me hear and your souls shall live and I will make an everlasting covenant with you even the sure mercies of David 5. Great calamities are oft-times followed with great mercies and this is true both as to Nations and particular persons when those Nations and persons are humbled and brought nearer to God by their afflictions Jobs afflictons were exceeding great both in respect of what he met with in his soul body name estate and relations yet God turned the captivity of Job and made his Estate more glorious and prosperous than ever Job 42.12 The Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning I will instance in some mercies which God is wont to bestow upon his people either in or soon after they come out of great troubles 1. God is wont at such times to give his people greater and stronger consolations than at other times Psal 71.20,21 Thou which hast shewen me great and sore troubles shalt quicken me again and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth Thou shalt encrease my greatness and comfort me on every side Psal 66.3,5,6 How terrible art thou in thy works Come and see the works of God he is terrible in his doing toward the children of men he turned the Sea into dry land they went through the flood on foot there did we rejoyce in him When God is doing terrible things he is making way for his peoples joy After David had spoken twice of Gods being terrible in his doings he adds there did we rejoyce in him In the night of affliction God puts such comforts into his peoples hearts as makes them sing for joy Job 35.10 None saith Where is God my maker who giveth songs in the night When they are deprived of outward comforts and are in a solitary straitned condition he giveth them internal and spiritual comforts Hos 2.14,15 I will allure her and bring her into the Wilderness and speak comfortably unto her and I will give her her Vineyards from thence and the Valley of Achor for a door of hope and she shall sing there as in the dayes of her youth and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt When our troubles abound he causeth our consolations to abound also 2 Cor. 1.5 As the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation also abounded by Christ 2. Great troubles are oft-times followed with great pourings out of the spirit and great measures of grace The Prophet Joel having foretold times of great distress Chapter 1. Chapter 2. to the 12. verse tells us what God would do for his people after those great calamities Joel 2.28 It shall come to pass afterward that I will poor out my spirit upon all flesh The Prophet Zephaniah also having foretold great judgments promiseth that they should be followed with great measures of grace Zeph. 3.8,9,13 My determination is to gather the Nations that I may assemble the Kingdoms to pour upon them mine indignation even all my fierce anger for all the Earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousie Observe now what mercies follow these judgments Then will I turn to the people a pure language that they may all call upon the Name of the Lord to serve him with one consent The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity nor speak lies neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth see also Isa 32.10,15 Many dayes and years shall be troubled until the spirit be poured upon us from on high After the Jews had been under sore troubles by their long captivity in Babylon what an encrease of grace and other choice mercies doth God promise them Ezek 36.25,26,27,28,29 3. In times of great trouble God is wont to afford his people more clear manifestations of his love and to give them more communion and fellowship with himself than at other times Zech. 13.9 I will bring the third part through the fire they shall call on my Name and I will hear them I will say It is my people and they shall say The Lord is my God In the day time the Lord went before the Israelites in a pillar of a cloud but in the night by a pillar of fire Divers of Gods servants that are much clouded in the day of prosperity have clear and bright discoveries of Gods love to their souls in the night of adversity When the three Children were in the fiery furnace the Son of God was so evidently with them that their adversaries themselves could not but take notice of it When the Spouse was as a Lily among Thorns compassed about with sharp afflictions the Lord Jesus conversed with her in a very familiar manner He put his left hand under her and embraced her with his right hand Cant. 2.2,6 And as it is thus with particular persons so also with Nations after God hath afflicted them with great judgments he is wont to bestow upon them great mercies when his judgments lead them to repentance After Judea which was like the Garden of Eden was by Gods judgments made like a Wilderness Joel 2.3 The Inhabitants of the Land being brought to repentance
by these judgments the Lord promiseth to do great things for them ver 21. Fear not O Land be glad and rejoyce for the Lord will do great things The Prophet Isaiah having set forth the miserable and distressed condition of the Jews both in respect of the corruption of all ranks and degrees of men and of the sore judgments of God that were upon them Isa 1.4,5,6,7,8,9,10 Ah sinful Nation a people laden with iniquity a seed of evil doers children that are corrupters they have forsaken the Lord they have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger they are gone away backward Why should ye be stricken any more ye will revolt more and more the whole head is sick and the whole heart faint from the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it Your Country is desolate your Cities are burnt with fire your Land strangers devour it in your presence and it is desolate as overthrown by strangers and the Daughter of Zion is left as a Cottage in a Vineyard as a lodge in a Garden of Cucumbers Hear the Word of the Lord ye Rulers of Sodom give ear unto the Law of our God ye People of Gomorrah After the rehearsal of their sinful and miserable condition he promiseth that if they would be brought to repentance by these judgments ver 16 17. God would do great things for them notwithstanding they were brought very low ver 25 26 27. I will turn mine hand upon thee and purely purge away thy dross and take away all thy Tin and I will restore thy Judges as at the first and thy Counsellors as at the beginning afterward thou shalt be called the City of Righteousness Zion shall be redeemed with Judgment and her Converts with Righteousness And in several other places of this Prophesie the Lord promiseth that when he did return with mercy to his afflicted people he would make their estate far more glorious than ever it was Isa 30.26 The light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun and the light of the Sun shall be seven fold as the light of seven dayes In the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people and healeth the stroke of their wound Isa 60.15 Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated so that no man went through thee I will make thee an eternal excellency a joy of many Generations Isa 61.7 For your shame you shall have double and for confusion they shall rejoyce in their portion therefore in their Land they shall possess the double everlasting joy shall be unto thee When the Lord is not only shaking a particular City or Nation but all places and all Nations we should not be startled at it God is but making way for the exalting and setting up of his Sons Kingdom Hag. 2.6,7 Thus saith the Lord of Hosts Yet once it is a little while and I will shake the Heavens and the earth and the Sea and the dry Land and I will shake all Nations and the desire of Nations shall come SECT 19. 19. If you purpose to set upon building your Houses which have been consumed by this fire so manage this work as that it may prosper under your hands If you ask How should we so mannage this work of building as to have it prosper under our hands I answer 1. Seek unto God by Prayer to be with you and succeed you in this great work Psal 90.17 Establish thou the works of our hands upon us yea the work of our hands establish thou it Uzziah built and prospered 2 Chron. 26.9 and how came he to prosper ver 5. He sought God in the dayes of Zechariah who had understanding in the visions of God and as long as he sought the Lord God made him to prosper By this means Asa prospered in building Cities and other places of strength 2 Chron. 14.7 Let us build these Cities and make about them Walls and Towers Gates and Bars while the Land is yet before us because we have sought the Lord our God we have sought him and he hath given us rest on every side so they built and prospered Now in regard many persons are wont to neglect seeking God in such undertakings as these it will not be amiss if I add two or three considerations to shew those that are purposed to set upon building how much it is their concernment to give themselves unto Prayer whilst they are carrying on this work 1. It is the will of God that in all our undertakings we should seek unto him by Prayer Phil. 4.6 In every thing by Prayer and Supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God Prov. 3.6 In all thy wayes acknowledge him and the more difficult and weighty any undertaking is the more need there is of Prayer 2. Such a work as bulding cannot be carryed on but by the help of God and how should they expect Gods help that do not seek it Psal 127.1 Except the Lord build the house they labour in vain that build it except the Lord keep the City the watchman waketh but in vain When the Lord had promised that their waste and desolate Cities should be rebuilded he tells them he did expect to be sought to that he might do this for them Ezek. 36.33,37 The wasts shall be builded Thus saith the Lord God I will yet for this be enquired of by the House of Israel to do it for them 3. The Servants of God have been wont to carry on this work of building as well as their other works by Prayer Psal 51.18 Build thou the walls of Jerusalem When Nehemiah set upon building Jerusalem he went through very great difficulties in carrying on that work yet by Prayer he overcome them all and prosperously effected what he went about Neh. 4.9 Nevertheless we made our Prayer unto God Neh. 6.9,15 O God strengthen my hands So the wall was finished 4. God hath oft-times visibly appeared against those persons and their undertakings that have gone upon great works without seeking help and direction from God by blasting and confounding them in their undertakings Mal. 1.4 Whereas Edom saith We are impoverished but we will return and build desolate places thus saith the Lord of Hosts they shall build but I will throw down When the Inhabitants of Samaria said in the pride and stoutness of their hearts The bricks are fallen down but we will build with hewen Stones the Sycamores are cut down but we will change them into Cedars and did not seek the Lord Did they prosper No But God threatned to cut them off branch and rush head and tail in one day Isa 9.9,10,13,14 2. If you would carry on this work of building successfully go about it in faith believing that God will be with you therein and rest upon him for his help and assistance Neh. 2.20 The God of Heaven he will prosper us therefore we his servants will arise and build To believe and rely on the
themselves could not but acknowledge Neh. 6.15,16 So the wall was finished And it came to pass that when all our Enemies heard thereof they were much cast down in their own eyes for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God Now that God which helped the Jews to build Jerusalem under all their difficulties and oppositions that they met withal is able also to help you under what ever difficulties do or may beset you in your work 3. Consider what promises God hath made to his servants to encourage them in this work of building when he calls them to it He hath promised to be with them in building Ezek. 36.9,10 Behold I am for you and I will turn unto you And the Cities shall be inhabited and the wasts shall be builded Though their Cities and dwellings have been laid wast a long time he promiseth to help them to build them up again Isa 61.4 They shall build the old wasts they shall raise up the former desolations and they shall repair their wast Cities the desolations of many generations He promiseth that after their dwellings have been laid wast they shal be built in the same places and in as good a manner as before Jer. 30.18 Thus saith the Lord Behold I will bring again the Captivity of Jacobs Tents and have mercy on his dwelling places and the City shall be builded on her old heap and the Palace shall remain after the manner thereof He hath promised that after they have laid the foundation they shall go on to finish their work Zech. 4.9 The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this House his hands shall also finish it 1 Chron. 28.20 David said unto Solomon his son Be strong and of good courage and do it fear not nor be dismayed for the Lord God even my God will be with thee he will not fail thee nor forsake thee until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the House of the Lord. Though these two last Promises relate to the building of the Temple yet they are applicable by Gods servants in such works as they are called out to by the Lord. He hath promised that when they have built them houses they shall dwell in them and enjoy them a long season Isa 65.21,22,23 They shall build houses and inhabit them they shall not build and another inhabit for as the dayes of a tree are the dayes of my people and mine Elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands they shall not labour in vain nor bring forth for trouble for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord and their off-spring with them The Lord hath promised that after they have built them houses they shall dwell in them with safety and confidence Ezek. 28.26 They shall dwell safely therein and shall build Houses and plant Vineyards yea they shall dwell with confidence when I have executed judgments on all those that despise them round about them and they shall know that I am the Lord their God He hath promised to make their habitations prosperous Job 8.5,6 If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes and make thy supplication to the Almighty if thou wert pure and upright surely now he would awake for thee and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous After Jerusalem was burnt with fire and laid waste by the Caldeans the Lord doth not only promise that it shall be built again but that he would put the Jews into a setled and better estate than they were in before Ezek. 36.10,11 The Cities shall be inhabited and the wastes shall be builded and I will settle you after your old estates and will do better unto you than at your beginnings 3. If you would carry on the work of rebuilding your houses successfully humble your selves for your lins which caused God to lay them desolate and get them washed away in the Blood of Christ and then you may expect success and a blessing upon what you take in hand Ezek. 36.33,35,36 Thus saith the Lord God In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the Cities and the wasts shall be builded And they shall say This land that was desolate is become like the Garden of Eden and the wast and desolate and ruined Cities are become fenced The Lord promised also in the 32. verse that he would give them an heart to loath themselves for their sins and after he had humbled and pardoned them he promiseth the re-building of their desolate Cities And as you must humble your selves for your sins so you must put away your sins and return unto God with your whole hearts if you would carry on this work successfully Jer. 24.6,7 I will set mine eyes upon them for good and I will build them and not pull them down and I will plant them and not pluck them up for they shall return unto me with their whole heart Job 22.23 If thou return to the Almighty thou shalt be built up 4. Use no unrighteousness but deal truly and faithfully with all men with whom you have to do in building your houses Whomsoever you employ in this work pay them their full wages for if you use any fraud or unrighteousness you will bring the curse of God upon your persons and habitations Jer. 22.13 Wo unto him that buildeth his house in unrighteousness and his chambers by wrong that useth his neighbours service without wages and giveth him not for his work Hab. 2.11,12 The stone shall cry out of the wall and the beam out of the timber shall answer it Wo to him that buildeth a Town by blood and establisheth a City by iniquity And as you must pay all whom you employ their full wages so also at the set time for which you make your agreement Deut. 24.14,15 Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy whether it be of thy brethren or of thy strangers that are within thy land within thy gates at his day thou shalt give him his hire neither shall the Sun go down upon it for he is poor and setteth his heart upon it lest he cry against thee unto the Lord and it be sin unto thee Incroach not upon anothers right but keep within your own bounds and limits Deut. 19.14 Thou shalt not remove thy neighbours land-mark which they of old time have set in thine inheritance Deut. 27.17 Cursed be he that removeth his neighbours land-mark and all the people shall say Amen Prov. 22.28 Remove not thy ancient land-mark which thy fathers have set Eccles 10.8.9 Whoso breaketh an hedge a Scrpent shall bite him whoso removeth stones shall be hurt therewith And take this counsel not only in reference to your equals that are able to contend with you but also be careful that you incroach not upon the right of the Widows and the Fatherless that are not able to plead their own cause for God will plead their cause with
should then have perished in mine affliction It was by the help of the word of truth that the Apostle went through his manifold troubles with great patience 2 Cor. 6.4,5,7 Now there are variety of promises which do relate to an afflicted condition which may be of great use to us in our afflictions which we shall do well to store up against an evil day I will mention some of them 1. God hath promised to moderate our afflictions and to lay no more upon us than he will enable us to bear 1 Cor. 10.13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it Isa 27.8 In measure when it shooteth forth thou wilt debate with it he stayeth his rough wind in the day of his East wind Jer. 15.11 The Lord said Verily it shall be well with thy remnant verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction This promise is added after the mentioning of Gods unalterable purpose to send four sore Judgments upon the Jews Death the Sword Famine and Captivity verse 1 2. So also after mention of a time of trouble such as there had not been the like God comforts his people with his promise that he would not correct them out of measure though he suffered them to partake of the common calamity Jer. 30.7,10,11 Alas for that day is great so that none is like it it is even the time of Jacobs trouble Yet the Lord encourageth Jacob not to be afraid Fear thou not O my servant Jacob saith the Lord neither be dismayed O Israel for I am with thee saith the Lord to save thee though I make a full end of all Nations whether I have scattered thee yet will I not make a full end of thee but I will correct thee in measure and will not leave thee altogether unpunished 2. God hath promised us his presence in our afflictions Psal 91.15 He shall call upon me and I will answer him I will be with him in trouble Isa 43.1,2 But now thus saith the Lord that created thee O Jacob and he that formed thee O Israel Fear not When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee This promise hath dependance on the last verse where the Prophet telleth us what calamities were come upon Israel He hath poured upon him the fury of his anger and the strength of battle and it hath set him on fire round about and then addeth but now thus saith the Lord Fear not When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee God would not have his people fear any trouble because he will be with them in all their troubles in one as well as another and that not only when they first enter into them but till they are safely passed through all the troubles of this life 3. God hath promised to strengthen and support and uphold us in all our troubles I have mentioned several promises to this purpose already as Joel 3.15,16 Isa 41.10 I will add two or three more Nahum 1.7 The Lord is good a strong hold in the day of trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him Psal 37.39,40 The salvation of the righteous is of the Lord he is their strength in time of trouble And the Lord shall help them and deliver them he shall deliver them from the wicked and save them because they put their trust in him Isa 41.14 Fear not thou worm Jacob and ye men of Israel I will help thee saith the Lord and thy redeemer the Holy One of Israel see also Isa 25.4 4. God hath promised to comfort and revive our souls when we are in affliction Psal 138.7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble thou wilt revive me thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies and thy right hand shall save me Micah 7.8 When I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a light unto me Psal 71.20,21 Thou which hast shewn me great and sore troubles shall quicken me again and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth thou shalt encrease my greatness and comfort me on every side Isa 66.13 As one whom his mother comforteth so will I comfort you and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem John 14.18 I will not leave you comfortless I will come to you 5. God hath promised to sanctifie our afflictions and he hath promised they shall purge out our sins and make us more holy and shall be all of them so blessed unto us that they shall work together for our good Isa 27.9 By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away their sin Zech. 13.9 I will bring the third part through the fire and will refine them as silver is refined Rom. 8.28 We know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose 6. God hath promised in due time to deliver us out of all our afflictions 1 Pet. 5.6 Humble your selves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time Job 5.19 He shall deliver thee in six troubles yea in seven there shall no evil touch thee Psal 34.19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivereth him out of them all God hath promised when he seeth it to be most for our good and for his own glory to preserve us from afflictions Psal 121.7 The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil he shall preserve thy soul Psal 32.7 Thou art my hiding place thou shalt preserve me from trouble thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance but when he doth not preserve us from trouble he hath promised to deliver us out of trouble Psal 50.15 Call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me SECT 13. 13. Endeavour to demean your selves in such sort towards God that you may prevail with him to continue still to watch over and preserve both your persons houses and substance If you ask what you should do that you may engage the Lord to continue his preservation of your persons and substance I answer 1. Walk in the fear of the Lord and serve him with an upright and sincere heart Satan saith of Job who was an upright man one that feared God and eschewed evil Job 1.9,10 Doth Job fear God for nought Hast not thou made an hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side Thou hast blessed the work of his hands and encreased his substance in the land Prov.
2.7 He is a buckler to them that walk uprightly Psal 84.11 The Lord God is a Sun and Shield the Lord will give grace and glory and no good thing will he with-hold from them that walk uprightly Protection from evils is a good thing if you walk uprightly with God he will not with-hold his protecting providence from you but as he hath been so he still will be your shield 2. Shew mercy to the Poor and do good with your Estates that is the way to have them preserved Psal 41.1,2 Blessed is he that considereth the poor the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble the Lord will preserve him and keep him alive and he shall be blessed upon the earth and thou wilt not deliver him into the will of his enemies 3. Love the Lord for preserving you hitherto and thereby you shall be preserved still Psal 145.20 The Lord preserveth all them that love him Psal 91.14 Because he hath set his love upon me therefore will I deliver him 4. You must not preserve any of your sins from destruction if you would have God preserve your persons and substance for God threatens to destroy both the persons and the substance of such as live wicked and ungodly lives Job 15.20,21,29 The wicked man travelleth with pain all his dayes and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor A dreadful sound is in his ears in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him He shall not be rich neither shall his substance continue neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth Zophar speaking of a man that spares his sins and will not forsake them among other Judgments mentioneth this that God will not spare but will desteoy such a mans substance Job 20.12,13,15,26,28 He hath swallowed down riches and he shall vomit them up again God shall cast them out of his belly All darkness shall be hid in his secret places a fire not blown shall consume him The increase of his house shall depart and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath If this merciful providence of God will not prevail with you to cast away your sins your continuing in your sins will cause God to cast away your substance Prov. 10.3 The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish but he casteth away the substance of the wicked 5. Commit your selves and your substance into the hands of the Lord and trust in God who hath graciously preserved you hitherto to preserve you and all that belongth unto you for the time to come There is no better way to engage God to help us than to commit our selves to him and to put our trust in him Prov. 29.25 Who so putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe Psal 17.7 Shew thy marvellous loving kindness O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them Psal 10.14 The poor committeth himself unto thee thou art the helper of the fatherless Psal 5.11 Let all those that put their trust in thee rejoyce let them ever shout for joy because thou defendest them Psal 22.4 Our father 's trusted in thee they trusted and thou didst deliver them Dan. 6.23 Daniel was taken up out of the den and no manner of hurt was found upon him because he believed in his God Now in regard that trusting in God availeth much towards our preservation I shall mention three or four considerations that may encourage you to trust in God for preservation of your persons and substance at such times as you apprehend your selves to be in greatest danger of suffering either in your Persons or Estates 1. Consider how solicitous and careful God is of your welfare 1 Pet. 5.7 He careth for you You are as dear to him as the apple of his eye Zech. 2.8 He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye He is so careful of your welfare that he giveth all his Angels a charge concerning you to pitch their tents about your dwellings and to take the care of you wherever you go and to deal tenderly with you to carry you in their arms that you may be preserved from being hurt either by evil Angels or evil Men Psal 91.11,12 He shall give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy wayes they shall bear thee up in their hands lest thou dash thy foot against a stone Psal 34,7 The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them Besides the charge that God giveth his Angels to look after his people he himself taketh a special care of them the Lord himself is their keeper and watcheth over them both by night and by day Psal 121.4,5 Behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep the Lord is thy keeper the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand 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 His eyes are alwayes upon his people to behold their dangers that the may send them relief and deliverance in due season 2 Chron 16.9 The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards them His hand is alwayes stretched out for their defence Deut. 33.27 The eternal God is thy refuge underneath are the everlasting arms The Lord is so tender of you that he doth as it were lay you in his bosom Isa 40.11 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd he shall gather his lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom 2. This care of God for his peoples welfare extendeth not only to some but to every one of his servants Deut. 33.3 All his Saints are in thine hand Psal 145.20 The Lord preserveth all them that love him The meanest of all Gods servants is of more value than many Sparrows yet there is not so much as one Sparrow forgotten of God Luke 12.6,7 Are not five Sparrows sold for two farthings and not one of them is forgotten before God Fear not therefore ye are of more value than many sparrows Surely then there is not the meanest of all Gods servants which is forgotten of the Lord. 3. God is not only careful of his peoples persons but of their substance and habitations Psal 16.5 The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup thou maintainest my lot Job 1.10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side When you are afraid your houses should be fired or any other evil should befall your habitations think on such Scriptures as these wherein God hath engaged himself to preserve your habitations in safety Psal 91.10 There shall no evil befal thee neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling Prov. 1.33 Whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear
from sending any more such dreadful Fires we must cease from those sins which did provoke God to send this sore Judgment Until the cause of a Judgment be removed we can have but little hope it should cease What sins they are that provoke God to send this dreadful Judgment of Fire hath been shewn before Quest 2. Sect. 4. If we cease from our sins and return unto God we may hope and expect that God will cease from his mighty Judgments Mal. 3.7,11,12 Return unto me and I will return unto you saith the Lord of Hosts And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes And all Nations shall call you blessed for ye shall be a a delight some land After Judea had been wasted with Fire and Sword the Lord promiseth if they would cease from their sins he would remove his Judgments Isa 1.7,16,17,19,26 Your Cities are burnt with Fire cease to do evil learn to do well If ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the Land And I will restore thy Judges as at the first and thy Counsellors as at the beginning afterward thou shalt be called The City of Righteousness the faithful City 4. If we would have no more such dreadful Fires we must labour to pacifie Gods anger that is kindled against us The mighty Judgments of God that have fallen upon us viz. the Sword the great Pestilence and this dreadful Fire are tokens of great wrath against this Nation and we may fear in regard there is so little reformation that notwithstanding all that is come upon us the anger of the Lord is not turned away but that his hand is stretched out still as it is said three times of Israel after mentioning great and sore Judgment For all this his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still Isa 9.12,17,21 Wherefore we must endeavour to pacifie and turn away the Lords anger else we may expect that the same Judgments will return or some others as dreadful as any of these will fall upon us Now if you ask How shall we get Gods anger turned away from the Nation I shall instance only in these two means 1. Gods chosen ones must get into the gap and cry mightily to God in the Name of Jesus Christ that he would turn away his fierce anger that is kindled against us The Prayers of impenitent sinners cannot prevail with God to turn from his wrath but the Prayers of his Saints and Servants will cause him to lay aside his anger Psal 106.23 He said he would destroy them had not Moses his chosen stood before in the breach to turn away his wrath lest he should destroy them Jer. 18.20 Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them and to turn away thy wrath from them What Prayers the servants of God put up to God in the Name of Jesus Christ are presented by the Lord Jesus unto his Father Heb. 7.25 Rev. 8.3 and when the Lord Jesus interceeds with his Father for the turning away of his wrath from a Nation or a particular person his request shall certainly be granted Zech. 1.12,13 The Angel of the Lord said O Lord of Hosts how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the Cities of Judah against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years And the Lord answered the Angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words and presently after comes tidings of the ceasing of Gods wrath and his returning with mercy to Jerusalem ver 16. 17. Thus saith the Lord I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies My Cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion and shall yet choose Jerusalem 2. We must every one turn from his evil wayes and turn unto the Lord with all our hearts and then his wrath shall be turned away from us Jonah 3.8,9 Let them turn every one from his evil way and from the violence that is in their hands who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not Hos 14.1,4 O Israel return unto the Lord thy God for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity and when Israel did return at the call of God hear what God saith unto him ver 4. I will heal their back-slidings I will love them freely for mine anger is turned away from him Jer. 3.12 Return thou back-sliding Israel and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you for I am merciful saith the Lord and I will not keep anger for ever 5. If we would have God cease from sending any more such dreadful Fires we must set our faith on work on the blood of Christ and on the Promises of God It was the blood of the Sacrifice that made atonement under the law both for particular persons and for the whole Congregation of Israel Lev. 17.11 It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul And as the blood of the Sacrifice made atonement for particular persons so also for the whole Congregation of Israel Lev. 4.13,14,17,18,20 These Sacrifices did type out the blood of Christ and signified to us that faith in Christs blood is the way to procure an atonement for our souls and to render God propitious after he hath been provoked to anger by our sins Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood This blood of Christ is available to make atonement for whole Nations as well as particular persons Isa 52.15 He shall sprinkle many Nations And as we should set our faith on work upon Christs blood so also on Gods promises If you ask what promises I answer such Promises wherein God hath promised to cease his Judgments after he hath for a long time been sorely contending with a people We have divers promises to this purpose I will mention some of them Lam. 4.22 The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished O Daughter of Zion he will no more carry thee away into captivity he will visit thine Iniquity O Daughter of Edom he will discover thy sins Nah. 1.12 Though I have afflicted thee I will afflict thee no more Isa 51.21,22,23 Hear now this thou afflicted and drunken but not with wine Thus saith the Lord the Lord and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people Behold I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling yea even the dregs of the cup of my fury thou shalt no more drink it again But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee Isa 60.18 Violence shall no more be heard in thy Land wasting nor destruction within thy Borders but thou shalt call thy Walls salvation and thy Gates praise Isa 57.16 I will not contend for ever neither will I be alwayes wroth for the spirits should fail before me and the souls which I have made Zeph. 3.15 The Lord hath taken away thy Judgments he hath cast out thine Enemy the King of Israel even the Lord is in the midst of thee thou shalt not see evil any more Faith is of great force for preventing and removing of National Judgments and the procuring of National Mercies Heb. 11.32,34 Who through faith subdued Kingdoms wrought righteousness obtained promises stopped the mouths of Lions quenched the violence of Fire escaped the edge of the Sword out of weakness were made strong waxed valiant in fight turned to flight the Armies of aliens We may see here what great things have been done by faith it hath subdued Kingdoms it hath vanquished and put to flight great and puissant Armies it hath prevailed against the â—orest of Judgements as Fire Sword wild Beasts c. By Faith and Prayer we may even as it were hold Gods hands from destroying a Nation when they are lifted up to destroy a sinful people Exod. 32.9,10 And the Lord said unto Moses I have seen this people and behold it is a stiff-necked people Now therefore let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them and that I may consume them and I will make of thee a great Nation Though the Lord was exceedingly provoked against Israel yet by the Faith and Prayer of Moses his hands were held that he did not destroy them Moses takes hold of the Covenant and pleads that in Prayer and thereby prevailed with God to turn from his wreth and to repent of the evil that he thought to do unto the people of Israel ver 11 12 13 14. The Lord stir up the like Spirit of Faith and Pryer in his Servants in this Nation that they that make mention of the Name of the Lord may never hold their peace day nor night but may cry mightily to the Lord and give him no rest until they have prevailed with him through the mediation of our Lord Jesus Christ to turn from the fierceness of his anger and to cease contending with us by his mighty Judgments and until he establish and make us a praise in the Earth FINIS
Counsel to the Afflicted OR INSTRUCTION AND CONSOLATION for such as have suffered Loss by FIRE With Advice to such as have escaped that sore JUDGMENT Contained in the Resolution of three Questions occasioned by the Dreadful FIRE in the City of LONDON in the Year 1666. Viz. 1. How may such Persons as have sustained great loss by the said Fire bear their Affliction with a contented cheerful Spirit 2. What use should they make of their Affliction who have lost their whole or any part of their Estates by the said Fire 3. What use should they make of Gods Mercy whose Houses and Goods were preserved from the said Fire In the discussing of which Questions are handled several profitable Cases of Conscience concerning Self-Murder preparing for Afflictions taking up our rest in God c. which are inserted in the Contents By O. S. Isa 25.15 Glorifie ye the Lord in the Fires LONDON Printed by E. Cotes and are to â—e sold by H. Brome in Little Britain 1667 TO THE READER WHat the Prophet Joel saith of the Famine that came upon Judea Joel 1.2 The like may I say of the late deplorable FIRE which the Lord hath sent upon London the Metropolitan City of this Nation Hear this ye old men and give ear all ye inhabitants of the land hath this been in your dayes or even in the dayes of your Fathers God hath often contended with this Land by Fire but neither in our dayes nor in the dayes of our Fathers hath there been any such dreadful Fire as this which began in London Sept. 2.1666 and continued raging for the space of three or four dayes together with that fury and violence that none was able to quench it until it had consumed the greatest part of that renowned City and had made of a City an heap of a defenced City a ruine Elihu speaking of Thunder and Lightning saith Job 37.1 At this my heart trembleth and is moved out of his place And calleth to Job to consider seriously these great works of God ver 11. Hearken unto this O Job stand still and consider the wondrous works of God If Elihu were thus affected at the sight of Lightning and hearing of Thunder and would have Job stand still and consider these wondrous works of God how should the hearts of all that saw or heard of this dreadful Fire tremble and be as it were moved out of their places How should they be awakened to stand still and consider this wondrous judgment of God It thunders and lightens every year these are Gods ordinary works but it is very rare and unusual for God to send such great and terrible Fires There may be and oft-times are mighty Thunders and Lightnings and no man suffereth any damage by them but many thousands have sustained great loss by this Fire Now the more unusual and afflicting any judgment is the more it ought to be laid to heart and the more we ought to fear and tremble before that God that sent it When the Fire had devoured the pastures of the Wilderness and the trees of the Field this made Joel go and cry before the Lord Joel 1.19 O Lord to thee will I cry for the Fire hath devoured the pastures of the Wilderness and the flame hath burnt all the trees of the Field If the Prophet bemoaned the burning of the pastures of the Wilderness and the trees of the Field how ought we to bemoan the burning of this famous City When Hanani told Nehemiah that the wall of Jerusalem was broken down and the gates thereof burnt with Fire and his Brethren the Jews were in great affliction see how he was affected with it Nehem. 1.3,4 It came to pass when I heard these words that I sate down and wept and mourned certain dayes and fasted and prayed before the God of Heaven They that are of Nehemiahs disposition that is men fearing God can do no less upon the sight or hearing of Londons desolations then he did at Jerusalems namely sit down and mourn and fast and pray to the God of Heaven that he would turn away from the fierceness of his anger which is kindled against us even as the Prophet Isaiah also did in the like case Isa 64.9,10,11,12 As for such as are of a Gallio like spirit caring for none of these things Londons Ruines call out to them as Jerusalem did in the day of her distress Lam. 1.12 Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger From above hath he sent Fire into my bones and it prevaileth against them Yea God himself speaketh dreadfully to such persons Psal 28.5 Because they regard not the works of the Lord nor the operation of his hands he shall destroy them and not build them up Besides being duly and deeply affected with this sad and solemn providence of God it is every mans concernment to make a good use of it No man should let such great judgments as this Fire and the late Pestilence pass away without being some way bettered in his spiritual Estate by them The best use that we can make of this and those other Judgments of God which of late have fallen upon us is to turn every one of us from all our sins unto the Lord with all our hearts and all our souls For this is the design of all Gods Judgments to lead us to repentance If the fall of the Tower of Siloam wherein but eighteen persons suffered be interpreted by Christ to be a call to all the Inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem to repent upon pain of eternal damnation Luke 13.4.5 With what a loud voice doth God call to all the Inhabitants of this Land to repent of their sins by the fall of this great City wherein many thousands have been great sufferers The rod calls to repentance but it seldom works repentance unless it be accompanied with the word but when instruction goeth with correction it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby Whilst Ephraim was only chastised he was like a Bullock unaccustomed to the yoke but after he was instructed he repented he smote upon his thigh he was ashamed Jer. 31.18,19 The world never beheld such an amazing sight as when the Lord Jesus the Lord of life and glory suffered death from the sixth to the ninth hour of the day there was darkness over the whole earth the Sun was darkned and the Vail of the Temple was rent in the midst c. Yet how few were brought to repentance by these things One of the Thieves is converted and a Centurion gives glory to God but as for the generality of the people though they were struck with some amazement and remorse for the present they return every one to his own way Luke 23.48 And all the people that came together to that sight
beholding the things which were done smote upon their breasts and returned We read nothing of their returning to God till the Apostle Peter came and preached the word to them and then follows a great conversion unto the Lord 3000. are added unto the Church in one day Acts 2.41 Wherefore we should esteem it a great blessing and singular mercy to be taught and instructed by God when we are under his correcting hand according to what the Psalmist saith Psal 94.12 Blessed is the man whom thou chastnest O Lord and teachest him out of thy law And we should readily open our ears to discipline by what wayes soever God shall be pleased to convey his minde to us God can and sometimes doth teach us immediately by his Spirit but most ordinarily he instructeth both those that are in affliction and others also in the use of means When the Apostle Paul was in great distress and at a loss to know the minde of Christ and cryed Lord What wilt thou have me to do he sent him to Ananias to be instructed what he should do Acts 9.6 God could have taught Cornelius by his Spirit or by the Angel that appeared to him but he chuseth rather to send him for instruction to one of his Ministers even to Peter who should tell him what he ought to do Acts 10.3.4.5,6 Amongst other means reading of the Scriptures and other good Books is one way whereby God seals up instruction to us Daniel was a man of singular wisdom full of the Holy Ghost greatly beloved of God yet he had not all his knowledge by immediate inspiration but much of it was given to him by the study of Books Dan. 9.2 I Daniel understood by Books At the request and for the use of some worthy Friends who were great sufferers by the late Fire I have drawn up an answer to three practical Questions concerning the said Fire the design whereof is to instruct and excite both such as escaped and such as suffered by this dreadful Fire to make an holy use and a Christian improvement of this sad and solemn Providence and also to quiet and comfort such as are troubled and cast down at the loss of their Estates The resolution of which Questions are here presented to thy view Possibly thou mayest have already something of the like nature from more able hands however if the Lord who worketh when and by whom he will shall be pleased by the reading of this small Treatise to convey the least beam of light or breath any quickning influence into thy Soul or to promote in any measure thy holiness or consolation it will be no grief of heart unto thee that thou wert at the cost to buy or at the pains to read it If thou sayest I am not concerned in this Judgment having been no sufferer by it nor any Inhabitant in the City where this Judgment fell and so consequently I am not concerned in the matter that is handled in these questions I answer 1. If thou art not a sufferer by this Fire yet art thou not under other sufferings If so there are several things hinted concerning this Affliction that may be of use to thee under thy Afflictions of what nature soever they be 2. If thou art not a sufferer by this or any other Judgment thou hast the more need to study what thou shalt render to the Lord for his great mercy in sparing thee when his hand lieth so heavy upon so many thousands at this day And then the third Question is of great concernment to thee 3. Though thou hast not suffered hitherto thou knowest not how soon thou mayest suffer by this very Judgment of Fire That passage in Isa 66.15,16 may awaken thee to prepare for fiery tryals Behold the Lord will come with Fire and with his Chariots like a whirlwinde to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire for by fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh and the slain of the Lord shall be many And as it is our duty to hear for the time to come Isa 42.23 So it will be our prudence to read for time to come 4. Not only the places and persons that suffer by Gods Judgments but all that hear of them are concerned to make a good use of them When the Lord brought a sore Judgment upon Jerusalem he calls to all people in all Nations upon the face of the earth to take notice thereof and make a good use of it Jer. 4.18,19 Hear ye Nations and know O Congregation what is among them Hear O Earth behold I will bring evil upon this people If any say this Treatise seemeth to be born out of due time it is now several months since London was burnt the impression of this Judgment begins now to wear off from mens spirits c. I answer 1. I hope better things of the greater part that suffered by this stroke of God then that they should so soon forget the hand that hath been lifted up against them but if it should be so that the impressions of this Judgment should be wearing off from many mens spirits there is the more need of using means to revive them again It is to be feared in regard poverty is coming upon many like an armed man and the sad effects of this Fire are and will be felt more and more by the poorer sort that discontent and trouble of minde will rather grow and encrease then wear off and therefore to such at least it will not be unseasonable to minister something by way of consolation though it be some months since they were brought into a suffering condition 2. Such great Judgments as this was are to be kept in remembrance and to be improved for the promoting of repentance and the fear of God all our dayes and not only as long as we live but the memory of them is to be conveyed to the Ages and Generations that are yet to come that they may learn to fear this God who hath done such great things amongst us When there was a mighty Famine in Judah the Lord gives Commandment that the memory thereof should be perpetuated to all Ages Joel 1.3,4 Tell ye your children of it and let your children tell their children and their children another generation That which the palmer worm hath left hath the locust eaten c. We think unworthily of Gods Judgments if we suppose they are to be regarded for a few dayes or for a few years only They are of larger use Judgments upon particular places and persons are admonitions to the whole world that hear of them as long as the world shall stand It is some thousands of years since Lots Wife was turned into a pillar of Salt yet this Judgment of God on a particular person must not be forgotten by us in this generation nor by others to the worlds end Luke 17.32 Remember Lots Wife It is generally computed to be above three thousand years
since the Israelites came out of Egypt and passed through the Wilderness into Canaan and yet their sufferings in the Wilderness are ensamples to us to deter us from sinning as they did lest we suffer as they did and not to us only but to all that shall live between this and the end of the world 1 Cor. 10.11 Now all these things happened to them for ensamples and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come 3. In some cases where grief is great counsel and comfort takes place best when the sufferers have had a little space to bemoan their distressed condition When Jobs Friends came to comfort him they forbore speaking a word to him for seven dayes and seven nights because they saw his grief was very great Job 2.11,12,13 I shall detain thee no longer with this preface but commend thee and this work to the blessing of the Lord after I have craved one request at thy hands which is if thou reapest any benefit by this ensuing Treatise give all the glory to God and lift up a prayer for him who is Thine to serve the in the work of the Lord O. S. The Contents Quest 1. How may such as have suffered great loss by the late Fire bear their losses with a contented chearful spirit NIne Propositions premised concerning Contentment pag. 1. to p. 7 Eleven Considerations to help such as have been great sufferers by this Fire to bear their losses contentedly 8. to 41 Eight Directions by way of practice to help such as are in affliction to bear their afflictions contentedly 41. to 69 How a man may take up his rest and satisfaction in God in all estates and conditions 57. to 65 When a man may be said to take up his dwelling in God 63 64. Pleas for Discontent removed 69 1. Plea My loss is exceeding great Answered four wayes 69 70 71 2. Plea I have lost all and am quite undone Answered seven wayes 71. to 75 3. Plea I know not how to live now I have lost my estate Answered four ways 75 76 4. Plea I am afraid I shall want before I die Answered five wayes 77. to 80 5. Plea I am in debt and am not able to pay my debts Answered five wayes 80 to 84. God hath wrought Miracles to help men to pay their debts 82 6. Plea I am already under much misery and fear I shall soon meet with more Answered three wayes 85 86 7. Plea My Family is undone by this Fire and my losses are so great that if I die I can leave my Wife and Children nothing Answered five wayes 86. to 89 A godly man that can leave his Children no visible Estate leaveth them comfortably provided for in four respects 88 8. Plea I have lived high and in good repute and now must fare hardly and be slighted Answered six wayes 89. to 93 Four Arguments to perswade us to be content with course dyet 91 92 9. Plea I have lost a commodious Habitation and am thereby much unsetled and know not where to fix my Habitation Answered five wayes 93 94 95 10. Plea I am disabled from following my Calling and am rendered unserviceable Answered four wayes 95. to 101 3. Arguments to perswade us to submit our selves to God when he will not make use of us to do him service 96 97 What we should do to prevail with God to make use of us to do him service answered 3 wayes 97 98 How to know what calling they should make choice of who are disabled from following their former Callings answered 5 wayes 100 101 11. Plea I am afraid this Judgment came in wrath and that God is angry with me answered 4 wayes 101 to 104 What we should do to pacifie the Lords anger when it is kindled against us answered 3 wayes 102 103 How may a man know when his Afflictions come in love answered 3 wayes 104 12. Plea I am disabled by my losses from giving any thing to the poor answered 4 wayes 104 to 108 13. Plea I lost my goods by my indiscretion answered 3 wayes 108 to 110 14. Plea I have laboured hard many years for what I lost in one day answered 110 111 15. Plea The guilt of my unrighteousness in my dealings troubleth me answered 112 113 114 How such as are troubled in Conscience for their unrighteousness in their dealings may get true peace answered in five particulars 112 113 114 16. Plea I serve God and have lost all that I had many that are regardless of God and his Service have lost nothing answered 4 wayes 115 to 118 17. Plea The glory and strength of England is much impaired by this Fire thousands of Families are ruined many poor people that lived comfortably in Hospitals and Alms-Houses are like to perish c. answered in five particulars 118 to 127 Quest 2. What use should they make of their affliction who have lost their whole or any part of their Estates by this Fire page 128 Sect. 1. Look upon this affliction as the rod of God 128 129 Sect. 2. This affliction must be laid to heart where is shewed how this affliction must be laid to heart in 6 partilars 129 to 132 Sect. 3. Minde the teachings of God in this affliction 132 What they that have been sufferers should learn by this affliction answered in 7 particulars 133 134 135 What the vanity of worldly things should teach us answered in 4 particulars 135 to 138 Sect. 4. Search out the sin for which God sent this affliction 138 How to find out the sin for which God correcteth us Answered four wayes 139 145 For what sins God is wont to send this Judgment of Fire 140 141 142 For what sins God is wont to impoverish men 143 144 Sect. 5. Look upon this affliction as a loud call to Repentance 145 146 Reasons why we should repent and turn unto God when we are under affliction 147 Six Directions about Repentance 147 to 150 Very few are brought to Repentance by their afflictions though they be great 150 151 What we should do that we may be brought to Repentance when we are under afflictions Answered six wayes 152 to 158 Sect. 6. Comply with Gods ends in afflicting you 158 where are mentioned five ends of God on sending this affliction 159. to 164 Sect. 7. God is to be glorified in the fires 164 165 How to glorifie God in our afflictions Answered six wayes 165. to 168 Sect. 8. Lay up Treasure in Heaven where is shewed what that Treasure is which we must lay up in Heaven 168 169 Sect. 9. Be mindful of and careful to avoid four other fires more dreadful then the late fire 170. to 173 Sect. 10. Trust in God for a livelyhood though all your Estates be gone and you have nothing left to live upon 173 174 What considerations may encourage such as have nothing to live upon to trust in God for a livelyhood Answered 174 175 Object 1. I cannot see or think
Lord spake And Aaron held his peace Aaron's tryal was exceeding great His two eldest sons were consumed by fire from the Lord when they were in the act of sin this judgment was so great that all Israel are commanded to bewail the burning ver 6. yet Aaron who was most nearly concerned in the affliction held his peace and what caused him to do so Moses put him in remembrance of the Word of God This is that the Lord spake see also Job 6.25 How forcible are right words Now all Gods words are right Psal 33.4 The Word of the Lord is right Prov. 8.8,9 All the words of my mouth are in righteousness They are all right to them that find knowledg And therefore they are of great force to quiet and comfort such as are in affliction Psal 107.20 He sent his Word and healed them Though a man be ready to die with sorrow and grief under his troubles the Word of God will revive him for they of whom the Psalmist speaks when he saith He sent his Word and healed them were such as were ready to die with their troubles as you may see Vers 18. Gods Word will make the stoutest heart yield bow to Gods will Jer. 23.28,29 He that hath my Word let him speak my Word faithfully What is the chaffe to the wheat saith the Lord Is not my Word like as a fire saith the Lord and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces 1 Thess 4.18 Comfort one another with these words No words have such force to comfort the afflicted as what are drawn out of the Scriptures Wherefore I have endeavoured to confirm what I have proposed in answer to these questions with suitable and pertinent Texts of Scripture These Propositions being premised I shall now answer the first question and shall divide my Answer into three branches 1. I shall propose some considerations that may tend to the quieting of their minds who have sustained great loss by this fire 2. I shall propose some things by way of practice to help the afflicted to bear their afflictions contentedly 3. I shall endeavour to remove those pleas and reasonings that hinder those that have been sufferers by this fire from setting down contented under their affliction Considerations to quiet the minds of those that have been great sufferers by the late fire SECT 1. 1. Consider who it is that hath consumed your Houses and taken away your Estates It is God hath done this thing Whoever were the instruments of beginning or promoting and carrying on this dreadful fire that hath destroyed so many goodly buildings and so much treasure you must look beyond all instruments at the hand of the Lord. There is no evil befalleth any City or any family or any particular person but it is the Lord which sends that judgment of what nature soever it be Amos 3.6 Shall there be evil in a City and the Lord hath not done it There is nothing comes to pass at any time in any part of the world but it is brought about by the Providence of God Rom. 11.36 Of him and through him and to him are all things A Sparrow is a bird of small value yet not one Sparrow falls to the ground without the concurrence of Gods Providence Matth. 10.29 Are not two Sparrows sold for a farthing and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father If not one Sparrow suffereth any thing but by the Providence of God then surely there is a Providence that ordereth all the sufferings of every man who is of more value than many Sparrows There is no loss more inconsiderable than to lose an hair of our heads hundreds of our hairs may be taken away and we regard it not but God is so careful of our persons and of all our concernments that he numbreth every hair of our heads and there doth not fall off one hairat any time but by his appointment Matth. 10.30 The very hairs of your head are all numbred And as to this judgment of Fire we finde it oft asserted in the Scriptures that when Cities or other places are set on fire it is the Lord which kindleth those fires and ordereth all circumstances belonging to them It is the Lord that appointeth the place where the fire shall begin and how far it shall proceed and what houses shall be burnt down by it Amos 2.5 I will send a fire upon Judah and it shall devour the Palaces of Jerusalem Jer. 50.32 I will kindle a fire in his Cities and it shall devour all round about him When a fire rageth with that vehemence that none can quench it it is God which rendereth it unquenchable Jer. 17.27 If ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the Sabbath-Day and not to bear a burden even entring in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath-Day then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof and it shall devour the Palaces of Jerusalem and it shall not be quenched When any men do set a City on fire it is God giveth up that City into their hands and causeth their enterprizes to take effect Jer. 32.28,29 I will give this City into the hands of the Caldeans And the Caldeans shall come and set fire on this City Now the considering and believing that it is God which hath taken away your Houses and Estates by this Fire will silence all murmurings and repinings and cause you to bear your losses and crosses with a contented minde Psal 39.9 I was dumb I opened not my mouth because thou didst it VVhen Job had lost all that he had in one day by looking at Gods hand in his losses he bore them very cheerfully Job 1.21 The Lord hath taken away blessed be the Name of the Lord And yet Job lost a very great Estate for he was the richest man in the East Job 1.3 He did not only lose his Estate but all his Children were cut off also ver 19. and that whilst they were eating and drinking wine in their Elder Brothers house ver 18. at which meetings Job was afraid lest his Sons should sin and curse God in their hearts v. 5. which made the affliction the more heavy Now to make this Argument the more effectual towards the producing of contentment consider who this God is that hath taken away your Estates from you by this Fire 1. It is that God that gave you all the good things that ever you did enjoy 1 Chron. 29.12,14 Both riches and honor come of thee All things come of thee James 1.17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights Deut. 8.17,18 Moses biddeth Israel beware of saying in their hearts My power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth but thou shalt remember the Lord thy God for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth This quieted Jobs minde when he considered that the same God who took away his Estate and his
Children did formerly give them to him Job 1.21 The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord. 2. It is God that is Holy There is nothing of wrong no injustice no iniquity in this dispensation as it proceedeth out of the hands of God Psalm 145.17 The Lord is righteous in all his wayes and holy in all his works When God cometh forth in fiery dispensations we should be so far from murmuring that we should give thanks at the remembrance of his Holiness because we know him to be Holy in all his Works Psal 97.3,12 A fire geeth before him and burneth up his enemies round about Rejoyce in the Lord ye righteous and give thanks at the remembrance of his Holiness The with-drawing of Gods Blessed Presence from our souls is a far greater loss than the losing of our Estates or any thing that we enjoy in this world for there is nothing in the whole world yea there is nothing in heaven it self which a godly man esteemeth so much as he doth the enjoyment of God Psal 73.25 Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee Yet we finde David quieting himself upon the account of Gods Holiness when he apprehended himself forsaken of God and the Lord came not to him though he cryed and roared after the Lord Psal 22.1,2,3 My God my God why hast thou forsaken me why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring O my God I cry in the day time but thou hearest not and in the night season and am not silent But thou art holy If David was stayed from repining against God when he apprehended himself forsaken of God and thought God rejected his Prayers by considering that God that dealt thus with him was an holy God then surely the consideration of Gods Holiness may quiet your mindes under the loss of any worldly things what ever they be When the labourers that had born the heat of the day murmured because others that had wrought but one hour were made equal to them the housholder stilled their murmurings by saying to one of them Friend I do thee no wrong Mat. 20.11,12,13 If you finde any murmurings in your mindes at Gods taking away your Estates when others enjoy theirs still endeavour to silence your murmurings by saying unto your souls O my soul God is a just and holy and righteous God he hath done thee no wrong why then dost thou murmur against him 3. It is God that hath a Sovereign Power over you to do with you and all that belongeth unto you whatsoever seemeth good in his sight Job 9.12 Behold he taketh away who can hinder him who will say unto him what dost thou Jer. 18.6 O house of Israel cannot I do with you as this potter saith the Lord behold as the clay is in the potters hand so are ye in mine hand O house of Israel Such is the Sovereign Power of God that he disposeth of all his Creatures both those that are in heaven and all that are in all places of the world Psal 135.6 Whatsoever the Lord pleased that did he in heaven and in earth and the seas and all deep places If the Lord disposeth of all things in heaven and earth as he pleaseth shall any particular person fret and think much to have all his concernments disposed of at the pleasure and by the order of the great God When the Lord maketh such desolations in any Nation as that the report of them goeth throughout all the world this must still and quiet our minds that it is the great and Sovereign God that doth these things Psal 46.8,10 Come behold the works of the Lord what desolations he hath made in the earth Be still and know that I am God To murmur at Gods fulfilling his own will is a practical denying his Sovereignty and to deny the Sovereignty of God is to deny his Deity He should not be God if he were not our Sovereign Lord his Sovereignty is essential to his Deity 4. It is God that loveth you and is the best friend that you have in all the world that laid these rebukes upon you and hath taken away your Estates by this Fire Every godly man hath God for his Friend Cant. 5.16 This is my beloved and this is my friend And when God rebukes any of his Servants in their Names Estates Bodies or Souls it is out of love Rev. 3.19 As many as I love I rebuke and chasten Prov. 3.12 Whom the Lord loveth he correcteth even as a Father the Son in whom he delighteth Will you take any thing amiss that cometh from so good a friend as the Lord is especially that which cometh from this friend in love We are wont to take rebukes that come from friends in good part though they be such as wound and pierce us to the soul Prov. 27.6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend Psal 141.5 Let the righteous smite me and it shall be a kindeness and let him reprove me and it shall be an excellent oyl which shall not break my head Shall we esteem it a kindeness to be smitten and reproved by righteous men and fret and be angry when we are smitten and reproved by the righteous God 5. It is God who is your Father that hath done these things Never any man drank such a bitter cup as was mingled for our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ if we consider all the ingredients that were put into it yet because it was his Father that gave him this cup he took it cheerfully John 18.11 The cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it We submit our selves to our earthly Parents when they correct us how much more ought we to be subject to our heavenly Father when he chastneth us seeing he hath more power over us than they have and aimeth more purely at our good than they do Heb. 12.9,10 We have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of Spirits and live for they verily for a few dayes chastned us after their own pleasure but he for our profit that we might be partakers of his Holiness 6. It is God who is pleased with all his own works Psal 135.6 Whatsoever the Lord pleased that did he in Heaven and in Earth and in the Seas and all deep places God calleth the judgements that he executes upon his enemies his pleasure Isa 48.14 He will do his pleasure on Babylon Yea even those afflictions which God sendeth upon his own children are the good pleasure of his will The Prophet speaking of the sufferings of Christ saith Isa 53.10 It pleased the Lord to bruise him Our sufferings are in some respects said to grieve the Lord Judges 10.16 His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel But on another account as they are a fulfilling of his eternal
me in the day of his fierce anger Dan. 9.12 Under the whole Heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem yet Ezra confesseth that all that they had suffered was far less than they deserved Ezra 9.13 After all that is come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespass seeing that thou our God hast panished us less than our iniquities deserve Our sins deserve eternal damnation Ezek. 18.4 The soul that sinneth shall die They deserve to be punished with the loss of God and the loss of the Kingdom of Heaven to all eternity 1 Thess 1.9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord Matth. 7.23 Depart from me ye that work iniquity Now what are the losses and crosses that we meet with in this world compared with the eternal loss of God and the Kingdom of Heaven and with the torments of Hell that must be endured to all eternity 2. What ever we suffer for our sins we our selves are the causes of those sufferings and therefore have no reason to blame the Lord but our selves for provoking the Lord to lay such afflictions upon us Jer. 2.17 Hast thou not procured this unto thy self in that thou hast forsaken the Lord that led thee by the way Hos 13.9 O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self Jer. 30.15 Why cryest thou for thine affliction because thy sins were encreased have I done these things unto thee SECT 6. 6. Consider what abundance of mercy you have enjoyed in former times as well as what afflictions you under go at present this was one argument wherewith Job quieted himself and wherewith he laboured to quiet his wife when she advised him to curse God and die Job 2.10 What shall we receive good at the hand of God and not evil As God in the way of his Providence intermingleth prosperity with our adversity and sets the one against the other that no man may find out any cause of complaining against the Lord Eccles 7.14 In the day of prosperity be joyful but in the day of adversity consider God also hath set the one against the other to the end that man should find nothing after him So should we for the taking away of all occasions of murmuring under our afflictions set our mercies against our crosses our former and present mercies against our present afflictions and that will convince us that we have much cause of thankfulness but no cause to murmur under our greatest afflictions For 1. We may wonder more that God bestoweth one mercy upon us than at his sending of a thousand afflictions for we are altogether unworthy of the least of all Gods mercies Gen. 32.10 and have deserved all sorts of judgments Dan. 9.7 To us belongeth confusion of faces 2. Though we deserve all kinds of misery and no mercy yet they that have met with most and greatest afflictions if they take a view of Gods dealings with them from the day that they were born to this present time shall find that their mercies have been far more and greater than their afflictions Do we meet with some cross or other every day if we do yet the mercies of the day are greater than the crosses for God sends new mercies every day Lam. 3.23 They are new every morning We enjoy so many mercies every day that we are said to be loaded with them Psal 68.19 Blessed be the Lord who dayly loadeth us with his benefits Have our afflictions lyen long upon us Gods mercies have been of a longer date than our afflictions Psal 103.17 The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him There are intermissions in our afflictions He doth not alwayes chide Psal 103.9 but there is no intermission in Gods mercies there is not one moment all our life long but he is conveying some good things to us Isa 27.3 I will water it every moment Lam. 3.22 His compassions fail not 3. Every affliction that we meet with in this life is allayed and tempered with mercy yea the bitterest cup that ever Gods people drink of hath more of mercy than it hath of judgment Psal 145.9 His tender mercies are over all his works Psal 25.10 All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his Covenant and his Testimonies If we consider the sharpest affliction that God lays upon his servants in their procuring cause which is sin if with the good intended by them if in the principle from which they flow which is Gods love to their souls we shall be easily convinced that there is more of mery than severity in them and so consequently that we have much cause in every thing even in every affliction to give thanks but no cause at all to murmur at the hand of the Lord. SECT 7. 7. Consider that it is the will and command of God that we should be content with such things as we have Heb. 13.5 Let your Conversation be without Covetousness and be content with such things as ye have for he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee It was but little which those persons possessed to whom the Apostle wrote this Epistle for they had suffered much for Christ their goods were spoiled and taken from them as we may see Heb. 10.34 yet he telleth them it was the will of God that they should be content with such things as they had If we have nothing more than food and rayment we ought to be content 1 Tim. 6.8 Having food and rayment let us be therewith content It is not said having dainty meat and rich attire let us be therewith content but having food and rayment though never so plain and mean we ought to be therewith content Though you have lost much and have very little left yet there are weighty reasons that may perswade you to be content with such things as you have As 1. Though you have very little left you have more left than you brought with you into the world and more than you can carry with you out of the world 1 Tim. 6.7 For we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out Job 1.21 Naked came I out of my mothers womb and naked shall I return thither 2. Though you have very little you have as much it may be more than Christ or the Apostles of Christ had when they were in the world Our Lord Jesus Christ lived in a very poor condition when he was in the world 2 Cor. 8.9 Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might become rich He was so poor that he had not an house to dwell in Mat. 8.20 The Foxes have holes and the Birds of the air have nests but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head His diet was mean when he had nothing but barly bread and two small
and more excellent than ever we saw or heard of or can conceive in our minds 1 Cor. 2.9 Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him Such is the excellency of those things which God hath laid up in Heaven for us that the thoughts and hope of enjoying the glory and joys of heaven may fill our hearts with joy and comfort under all the losses and crosses that we meet with in the world Rom. 5.2,3 We rejoyce in hope of the glory of God and not only so but we glory in tribulations also 1 Pet. 1.3,4,6 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an Inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for you wherein ye greatly rejoyce though now for a season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations Though a servant of God hath lost never such a fair Inheritance on Earth yet he hath more cause of rejoycing in that incorruptible Inheritance that fadeth not away which is reserved for him in Heaven than of being troubled for the loss of his earthly Inheritance SECT 10. 10. Consider what a great evil it is to murmur and to be discontented at your losses and how pleasing and acceptable it is unto the Lord that you should be content and patient under this affliction which it hath seemed good unto the Lord to lay upon you The Israelites went through many difficulties whilst they wandered up and down by the space of forty years in the Wilderness and because they murmured multitudes of them were destroyed neither the greatness nor the long continuance of the affliction did excuse them from punishment and this example of Gods justice on them is set down for an example to us that we might for ever be deterred from murmuring under any of our afflictions 1 Cor. 10.10 Neither murmur ye as some of them murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer To murmur because God hath taken away our Estates is the ready way to provoke God to take away our lives Psal 106.25,26 They murmured in their Tents Therefore he lifted up his hand against them to overthrow them in the Wilderness There is more evil in one repining discontented thought than there is in all your losses though they be very great for the one hath only the evil of punishment the other hath in it the evil of sin And there is more of evil in the least sin than in the greatest punishment All Gods dealings towards his people are managed with infinite wisdom and infinite love in order to the promoting of their good and his own glory and what an hainous sin and how offensive to God is it for a man to murmur when God is doing of him good and bringing glory to his Name seeing also that whatever way God takes to bring about our good is contrived with infinite wisdom and is accompanied with infinite love And as it is is a great evil to be discontented at any of Gods dealings so it is an excellent heavenly frame of spirit and that which is highly pleasing to God for a man in all things to submit himself to God and to lie at his foot and to be content with his will and to say in his heart It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good That is of great excellency which is an ornament to a man in the judgment of a wise holy judicious man that may be deemed more excellent which is accounted an ornament by the Angels of Heaven but that is most excellent which is an ornament in the sight of God and of this nature is a meek and quiet spirit 1 Pet. 3.4 The ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price When the Lord hath brought us to lie at his foot he is so pleased with this submissive frame of spirit that he is wont to bestow very great blessings on such as are brought to his foot and are content that he should do what he pleaseth with them Isa 41.2 Who raised up the righteous man from the East called him to his foot gave the Nations before him and made him Ruler over Kings Contentment under the cross makes great afflictions to seem but small ones and small afflictions none at all The Apostle went through very great sufferings as we may see 1 Cor. 4.9,10,11,12,13 2 Cor. 11.23,24,25,26,27 yet having learnt in every estate to be content Phil. 4.11 he maketh a light matter of all his afflictions 2 Cor. 4.17 Our light affliction c. Rom. 8.18 I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us But a discontented mind thinketh small afflictions great and intolerable burdens The loss of a gourd which sprang up in a day and withered in a day was but a small loss yet Jonah being under a discontented mind is so troubled at this loss that he faints under it and wisheth that he might die and is angry with God and justifieth himself in his frowardness and saith I do well to be angry even to the death Jonah 4.7,8,9 Discontent is like a nail in a yoke which frets and galls and pains the neck far more than the yoke it self doth When God layeth the yoke of affliction upon us discontent troubles and perplexeth the soul far more than any affliction can do SECT 11. 11. Consider how patiently and contentedly others of Gods servants have endured and gone through far greater losses and sorer troubles than you have met withal Job lost a very great Estate and seven Sons and three Daughters even all that he had in one day yet all these losses did not provoke Job to repine or speak one foolish word against God or do any other iniquity but he bore all with such a quiet spirit that in stead of fretting and repining he blesseth God Job 1.21,22 The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the Name of the Lord in all this Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly When David was driven from Jerusalem by his son Absolom who conspired against him to take away not only his Crown and Kingdom but his life also this was a very great affliction and it was the more heavy because it was his own son that came sorth of his bowels that sought to take away his life 2 Sam. 16.11 and this affliction came upon him for his sin in killing Vriah which he knew very well being foretold of it by Nathan the Prophet 2 Sam. 12.9,10,11 yet he submits himself to God under all that was come upon him and is willing that the Lord should lay whatever else he saw meet though he should say of David I have no delight in him 2
Sam. 15.26 If he thus say I have no delight in thee Behold here am I let him do to me as seemeth good unto him It was a sad message which God sent to Eli by Samuel it is ushered in with this Preface 1 Sam. 3.11 Behold I do a thing in Israel at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle yet Eli upon the hearing of the whole message lyeth down at Gods foot and speaketh not one repining word against the Lord Vers 18. Samuel told him every whit and hid nothing from him And he said it is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good The sufferings of Jesus Christ were exceeding great yet how patiently did he bear them Isa 53.7 He was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb so he openeth not his mouth We are exhorted to take notice of the patience of Gods servants in their afflictions in order to the helping us to bear our afflictions with patience Jam. 5.8,10,11 Be ye also patient Take my Brethren the Prophets who have spoken in the Name of the Lord for an example of suffering affliction and of patience Behold we count them happy that endure ye have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy Thus much may suffice by way of consideration I shall now advise you some things by way of practice for the obtaining and promoting a quiet cheerful contented frame of spirit under this affliction of the loss of your Estates which may be useful under other afflictions which the Lord doth at present or may hereafter trie you withal SECT 1. 1. Lay hold on Gods Covenant wherein he hath promised to give his people contented and satisfied minds under all his dealings with them even when he afflicts them most sorely and taketh away their most endeared comforts and enjoyments from them I will mention some promises to this purpose Psal 37.19 They shall not be ashamed in the evil time and in the dayes of famine they shall be satisfied Famine is one of the sorest of Gods Judgements it is worse than War which is also a very heavy judgment David chose the Pestilence rather than War as being the lesser evil but famine is worse than War Lam. 4.9 They that be slain with the sword are better than they that are slain with hunger Yet in the evil time in Famine though the Famine last many dayes God promiseth that his righteous servants shall be satisfied Isa 58.11 The Lord shall guide thee continually and satisfie thy soul in drought or as 't is in the Margin in droughts The Prophet useth the plural number to signifie that God will satisfie his peoples souls in all droughts or in the greatest drought that ever did or ever shall come upon any place When God promiseth to satisfie our souls in drought it implies 1. That he will give us satisfied mindes under the penury and want of all outward comforts for drought brings a consumption upon all earthly enjoyments Hag. 1.10,11 2. That he will stay and support and satisfie our mindes under our greatest sorrows No afflictions bring greater sorrows than Famine which is the companion of drought Jer. 14.2,3,4,17,18 Lam. 2.11,12,18,19 3. It implieth that God will give us satisfied mindes when we walk in the view of death when we see our children and relations dying and our selves are ready every hour to faint and give up the Ghost for want of bread The Prophet describing the Famine that was in Jerusalem saith Lam. 2.11,12 The children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the City they say to their Mothers where is corn and wine when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the City when their soul was poured out into their Mothers bosom The wilderness which was a land of drought is called a land of the shadow of death Jer. 2.6 In times of drought God takes away that which is the stay and staff of a mans life Isa 3.1 The Lord doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water Drought consumes our corn and wine and oyl as was hinted before from Hag. 1.11 And of these the Psalmist saith Psal 104.15 Wine maketh glad the heart of man and oyl makes his face to shine and bread strengtheneth mans heart So that when the Lord promiseth to satisfie our souls in drought there is implyed in this promise that when the joy of our hearts when our glory and strength is taken away when all means of supporting life fail when we are in the most desolate places or desolate conditions imaginable he will under all our troubles give us satisfied mindes The Lord hath not only promised to give us contented satisfied mindes under all our troubles but he hath promised to continue us under a contented frame of spirit that whatever changes or alterations we pass through we shall abide satisfied and contented in all estates and conditions Prov. 19.23 The fear of the Lord tendeth to life and he that hath it shall abide satisfied he shall not be visited with evil The latter clause of this promise is not to be understood as though they that fear God should not meet with any afflictions but when God doth visit them with afflictions they shall have such abundant satisfaction in God and from God that they shall not feel any evil in their afflictions Another promise of the like nature made to such as fear God we have Psal 25.13 His soul shall dwell at ease dwelling implyeth the continuance of the ease and quiet that their souls shall enjoy that fear the Lord though their outward condition may be full of trouble yet their souls shall dwell at ease Psal 119.165 Great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them Which promise Junius interprets to this effect They that love the Law of God shall enjoy such great peace and tranquility of minde that nothing that doth befal them shall take away their peace They may and do fall into troubles and afflictions as well as other men but their troubles shall not take away their peace from them To be content in all estates and conditions is one way whereby we partake of the divine nature and do resemble God now it is by and through the promises that we become partakers of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature wherefore in order to the obtaining of a contented spirit under this and all other afflictions be much in meditation upon the promises of God and apply them to your own souls and plead them daily with God until you have obtained all that fulness of grace and peace which
from him The boastings and triumphings of the soul are in God Psal 34.2 My soul shall make her boast in the Lord. Isa 25.9 Lo this is our God we have waited for him and he will save us this is the Lord we have waited for him we will be glad and rejoyce in his salvation The like may be proved of all other motions of the soul they tend to God as their center whence it followeth that the souls rest is in God for all things are at rest when they come to their proper center 2. God is an eternal good If a man be possessed of never such an excellent portion if there be fear or danger of losing what he enjoyeth this is a disturbance to his minde and hindereth in some measure the fulness of his contentment but as for God there is no cause to fear our losing of him when once we have gotten God for our portion for when he bestows himself upon a person he gives himself for a portion to that person for ever Psal 48.14 This God is our God for ever and ever he will be our guide even unto death Psal 73.26 My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever The soul of man being of an immortal eternal nature no less good than that which is eternal can give it satisfaction 3. God is an all-sufficient Good Such is Gods all-sufficiency to satisfie all the desires of the soul that a man that enjoyeth God for his portion need not desire any thing either in heaven or earth to adde to his happiness besides God Psal 73.25 Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire lesides thee Such is Gods all-sufficiency to satisfie the soul that if a man may be deprived of all worldly comforts and enjoyments there is enough in God to fill his soul with joy though all his outward comforts be taken from him he may still rejoyce in God Hab. 3.17,18 Although the fig-tree shall not blossom neither shall fruit be in the vines the labour of the olive shall fail and the fields shall yield no meat the flock shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation Such is the all-sufficiency of God to satisfie the soul that the soul may rejoyce and delight it self in God not only when it wants the good things of this world but also when it is surrounded with many evils Rom. 5.3,11 We glory in tribulations we joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the atonement Psal 44.8 In God we boast all the day long and this was spoken under a time of great affliction as may be seen from the following verses especially ver 22. For thy sake we are killed all the day long we are counted as sheep for the slaughter We may boast in God all the day long though it be in such a day wherein we go in danger of our life all the day long or wherein we meet with afflictions as hard to be born and as bitter as death it self 4. The Lord is able to satisfie the desire of every creature Psal 145.16 Thou openest thy hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing There is that in God which doth or may satisfie all the Saints and Servants of God upon the face of the earth 2 Cor. 12.9 My grace is sufficient for thee This was spoken to Paul when he was in great perplexity being buffeted with the messenger of Satan which was as irksome to his soul as any thorn can be to the flesh and Gods grace that was sufficient for Paul is sufficient for all that trust in him not only to give them satisfaction but such abundant satisfaction that they need not ask any more Psal 37.8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house David was so overjoyed with what he met with in and from God that he could not ask more than God had given him 2 Sam. 7.20 And what can David say more unto thee 5. There is that in God which satisfieth all the Saints and Angels in heaven Psal 17.15 As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness The Saints and Angels in heaven are of larger capacity than we are their faculties are more raised than ours they can take in far more joy than we are capable of whilst we dwell here below yet they are as full of joy as they can hold and this their joy ariseth only from the fruition of God Psal 16.11 In thy presence is fulness of joy for after they come to heaven they have no enjoyment of any worldly things Eccles 9.6 Luke 20.35,36 neither do they finde any need of any thing that is under the Sun to augment their happiness Rev. 21.23 6. God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 self-sufficient and therefore he must needs be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all-sufficient for all his creatures There is no creature on the earth nor no Saint or Angel in heaven partaketh of such blessedness such joy and delight as the blessed God and whence ariseth that blessedness and contentment which God enjoyeth only from himself as may be proved by several arguments I will mention three 1. Before ever there were any creatures in being either Men or Angels or other creatures he was God blessed in himself and lived as happy and blessed a life as he doth now he hath an innumerable company of Angels to wait upon him He was God the same God that now he is before ever the creatures were produced into being Psal 90.2 He ever was and ever will be infinitely and eternally blessed and therefore being infinitely blessed in himself before the world was created the creatures added nothing to his blessedness 2. It is evident that God is self-sufficient and that his happiness and blessedness proceedeth from himself and that he needeth nothing that any of his creatures can do to adde to his happiness because the creatures have nothing and can do nothing but what they have from him and do by those influences they receive from him Acts 17.24,25 God that made the world and all things therein seeing he is Lord of heaven and earth dwelleth not in Temples made with hands neither is worshipped with mens hands as though he needed any thing seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things 3 If all creatures should be annihilated and reduced to their first nothing God would still continue the same that ever he was and be as blessed as he is at this day Psal 102.25,26,27 Now seeing there is enough in God to satisfie every living thing to satisfie all his servants on earth and all his Saints and Angels in Heaven yea seeing he is self-sufficient and hath in himself that which sufficeth for his own
are not greater than our Father Jacob yet he saith of himself Gen. 32.10 I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth that thou hast shewed unto thy servant We are not better than those Jews that were captives in Babylon for there were many of Gods precious Servants as Ezekiel Daniel Hanniah Mishael and Azariah who chose rather to be cast into a fiery Furnace than to fall down before an Image Nehemiah Ezra c. yet they acknowledged that they had deserved all the evils that they suffered and a great deal more and that it was meerly from the mercy of God that they were not consumed Daniel acknowledged the sufferings they met with to be so great as that they could not be parallel'd Dan. 9.12 yet he saith ver 14. The Lord our God is righteous in all his works The Prophet Jeremiah lamenting the great evils that were come upon the Jews acknowledgeth that though their sorrows were such as scarce any met with the like Lam. 1.12 Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow Yet he saith Lam. 3.22 It is of the Lords mercies that we are not consumed If we were fully convinced that we are less than the least of all Gods Mercies we should not repine when God taketh away our Estates our Health our Friends or any other mercies from us And if we were fully convinced that we have deserved to be destroyed and cast into everlasting burnings we should not repine when God sends poverty sickness or any other evils upon us 2. Mis-judging of the nature and quality of Gods Providences and of the ends and designs of God in afflicting causeth some to murmur and rep ne at those Providences for which if they understood them aright they would bless and praise God Gods bringing Israel out of Egypt by the hand of Moses was a great mercy his leading them through the Wilderness was to bring them into the Land of Canaan and the straits they met with in the Wilderness were to humble them and prove them and do them good in their latter end Deut. 8.15,16 Yet because they judged amiss of this Providence of God and thought they were brought into the Wilderness to be slain when they were in straits they murmured against the Lord Numb 14.2,3 Exod. 16.2,3 If our discontent spring from this root the way to remove it is 1. To judge nothing before the time but to wait with patience till we have seen the end as well as the beginning of our afflictions Gods dispensations towards Job were very terrible at the first coming of his troubles but the end of them was very comfortable and full of mercy Jam. 5.11 Ye have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord that the Lord is very pittiful and of tender mercy 2. We must judge of our afflictions by Faith and not by sense we must judge of them according to that sentence which is given of them in the Word of God and not according to the opinion of the world or of our own corrupt mindes Sense saith it is a miserable thing to be in affliction but the word saith Job 5,17 Behold happy is the man whom God correcteth James 1.12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the Crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him Sense looketh upon afflictions as hurtful things but faith judging according to the word saith Psal 119.71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy Statutes 3. We must look at the wholesome fruit of afflictions as well as their present smart Heb. 12.11 No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby As the cloud that parted the Israelites from the Egyptians had a dark side and a bright side Exod. 14.20 so have our afflictions now if we would not sink under our tryals we must look at the bright side as well as the dark side of them at the spiritual and eternal advantages that we reap by our troubles as well as the smart and inconveniences that our outward man sustaineth by them 3. Unbelief and distrust of God is another cause of murmuring when we are brought into straits Ps 106.24,25 They believed not his word but murmured in their tents If our discontent arise from unbelief the way to remove it is to do what we can to strengthen our Faith in the Attributes Providence and Promises of God for if we can but stay our mindes and rest our souls upon God he will keep them in perfect peace Isa 26.3 I might instance in other grounds and causes of discontent but because they will fall more properly under the next head I shall now proceed to the third and last branch of my answer to this question which is The answering of those Reasonings and Objections that arise in the mindes of those that have suffered loss in their Estates by the late Fire which hinder them from sitting down contented under this hand of God Objections that hinder the contentment of those that have suffered loss in their Estates removed SECT 1. Object 1. My loss is exceeding great I have lost thousands of pounds if I had lost but a small matter I could have born it but in regard my loss is so great it troubleth my minde exceedingly and I know not how to bear it with patience Answ 1. Your loss is not greater than Jobs who was the richest man in the Eastern part of the world and lost all his Substance and his Children too in one day yet he did not repine at the greatness of his loss but quietly submitteth himself to God Job 1.21 The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord. 2. How much soever it be that you have lost God is able to give it you again and much more also 2 Chron. 25.9 But what shall we do for the hundred talents God is able to give thee much more than this Though God took a great Estate from Job yet it is said Job 42.10,12 The Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before The Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning Though you should be brought to poverty yet God oft-times raiseth poor men to such an high degree that he maketh them equal to Princes Psal 113.7,8 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust and lifteth the needy out of the dunghil that he may set them with Princes even with the Princes of his people 3. It may be God saw that you had too much and therefore out of his infinite Wisdom and Love he hath brought you low There is danger in having too much as well as too little Agur prayeth against too great riches as well as against poverty Prov. 30.7,8 Give me not riches lest I
be full and deny thee and say who is the Lord. God brought Gideons Army of two and thirty thousand to three hundred and gave this reason they were too many for him to give the Midianites into their hands lest Israel should vaunt himself saying Mine hand hath saved me Judges 7.2,3,4,7 Possibly for some such reason God hath lessened your Estates lest you should vaunt your selves or think that you were maintained by your Estates and not by the Providence of God It may be God saw that your Estates were so great that they would have hindred you entrance in at the strait gate Mat. 19.23,24 and therefore he lessened them that you might have a safer and more easie passage into the Kingdom of Heaven Would you be angry with that Physician that should draw away a great quantity of blood when as it did endanger your lives you have far less cause of being angry with God for taking away a great part of your Estates when they did endanger the salvation of your souls 4. Though your losses have been very great yet take heed of murmuring and repining against God lest he take away greater things from you By murmuring you will provoke God to take away your lives 1 Cor. 10.10 Neither murmure you as some of them murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer Now to lose life is a far greater loss than to lose an Estate By murmuring you are in danger to lose the favour of God Numb 11.1 When the people complained it displeased the Lord and the Lord heard it and his anger was kindled To lose Gods favour is more than to lose our lives for Psal 63.3 Thy loving kindeness is better than life SECT 2. Obj. 2. I have lost all that ever I had and am quite undone though my losses had been great if I had any thing left I should have been contented but will you blame me for being discontented when I have lost all that I was worth in the world and am quite undone Answ 1. God saw it was needful and expedient for the accomplishing of his designs in order to the promoting of your good to take away all that you had for God sends no more of any affliction than we need 1 Pet. 1.6 for a season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations It may be God saw nothing less than the taking all that you had would take off your affections from the world or lead you to repentance or put you upon living by Faith you may be assured that upon some account or other God saw it needful to take away your whole Estates from you else he would not have dealt thus with you 2. By undoing you God aims at saving of you He hath undone you in your outward Estates that he may save your Souls 2 Cor. 1.6 Whether we be afflicted it is for your consolation and salvation which is effectual or as it is in the Margin is wrought in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer The Apostle telleth us here that the Corinthians enduring the same sufferings which he suffered was an effectual means of working out their salvation Now a great part of the Apostles sufferings lay in the suffering the loss of all things Phil. 3.8 It is Gods design to prevent our being undone to all eternity when he chastneth us in this world 1 Cor. 11.32 When we are judged we are chastned of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world Hath that man any cause to complain whom God undoeth here to prevent his being undone to all eternity 3. If ever you forsook any of your enjoyments for Christ or gave any thing to the poor Members of Christ or any other poor people for Christs sake then you have not lost all for whatever you have given to the poor or forsaken upon the account of Christ or the Gospel all that is yours still it is money laid up in a safe hand which shall be returned to you with an hundred fold encrease Prov. 19.17 He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord and that which he hath given will he pay him again That which is given to the poor is not lost it is but lent and it is lent to one that will pay what is lent with interest You that could not see the poor lack when you had wherewithal to relieve them God will not suffer you to lack any thing that is good for you Prov. 28.27 He that giveth to the poor shall not lack And what is said of that which is given to the poor the same may be said of that which hath been forsaken upon the account of Christ and the Gospel it is not lost but put out to interest and shall be rendered to us again with an hundred fold encrease if not in the same kinde in some other thing as good or better Matth. 19.29 Every one that hath for saken houses or Brethren or Sisters or Father or Mother or Wife or Children or Lands for my Names sake shall receive an hundred fold and shall inherit everlasting life And that this hundred fold is not meant of the recompence that we shall have in heaven but of that reward that we shall have in this present life besides eternal life in the other world is evident from Mark 10.29,30 Luke 18.29,30 4. Though you have lost all that you had yet you have not lost any of the Promises or the Providence of God You are as rich in promises as ever You have God in many Bonds which are of more value than the whole world Though the Fire had consumed all your Goods yet it hath consumed none of your Bonds I mean none of the Promises wherein God hath bound himself by promise that you shall want no good thing but that he will stand by you all your dayes and supply all your needs I will put you in minde of two or three of those many promises that the Lord hath made to this purpose which are more worth than all the Gold and Silver of the world Phil. 4.19 My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Jesus Christ Heb. 13.5 Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as ye have for he bath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Mat. 6.33 Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you All these things that is food and raiment and all things that are necessary for this life of which Christ was speaking in the foregoing verses And as you have not lost the promises of God so neither have you lost his providence he will take as much care of you now your Estates are gone as he did when you enjoyed them 1 Pet. 5,7 Casting all your care upon him for he careth for you It is not said who did care for you but he careth for you implying that God doth and ever
will continue his care for his people 5. Though you have lost all yet it is possible for you to be as contented as if you had all the world The Apostle Paul suffered the loss of all things for Christ Phil. 3.8 yet he was as full of contentment in his greatest wants as in his greatest abundance Phil. 4.11,12,13 When he had nothing he was as well content as if he had enjoyed the whole world 2 Cor. 6.10 As having nothing and yet possessing all things 6. Have you not forfeited all that ever you did enjoy either by your unthankfulness or by not serving God cheerfully for the abundance of all things Deut. 28.47,48 or by some other means if so you have no occasion to complain of God for taking away all that you had from you 7. Though you have lost all your Estates say not we are undone for if ye be such as have Faith in Christ and live godly lives God is yours and Christ is yours and Heaven is yours and this world is yours and things present and things to come are yours yea all things are yours 1 Cor. 3.21,22,23 All things are yours whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come all are yours and ye are Christs and Christ is Gods SECT 3. Obj. 3 I do not know how I shall do to live now I have lost my Estate if I could but tell how to live I could be content though my losses had been very great but because I cannot tell how I shall live now my livelihood is taken from me this perplexeth and troubleth my minde very sorely Answ 1. You have as much left you as you brought into this world for 1 Tim. 6.7 We brought nothing into this world we brought not so much as a rag to cover our nakedness withal Job 1.21 Naked came I out of my Mothers womb And though you came into the world in this poor condition yet you have lived comfortably and plentifully many dayes yea many years together and cannot God provide comfortably and plentifully many years more though all that ever you had be taken from you If you say when I was born into the world I had a Father and a Mother and other Friends that took care of me to provide food and raiment and all things for me but now I have no Friends that will take care for me I answer It was not your Parents or your Friends that fed you and clothed you but God by them Jacob lived many years in his Fathers house and afterwards with his Uncle Laban about 20. years yet he doth not say his Father fed him for so many years and then his Uncle Laban nourished him but he saith it was God that fed him all the dayes of his life Gen. 48.15 The God which fed me all my life long unto this day 2. How did you live before by your Estates or by the Providence of God not by your Estates but by the Providence of God if you think otherwise consider such Scriptures as these Acts 17.28 In him we live and move and have our being Deut. 8.3 Man doth not live by bread only but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live Psal 66.8,9 O bless our God ye people which holdeth our soul in life Psal 36.6 O Lord thou preservest man and beast Now if it be God and not your Estates that have maintained you hitherto why should you distrust him for the time to come Is the Lords hand shortned Is he not as able to provide for you as ever he was 3. Remember the counsel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Math. 6.25 Take no thought for your life what ye shall eat and what ye shall drink nor yet for your body what ye shall put on is not the life more than meat and the body than rayment If the life be more than meat then doubt not but that God who hath given you your lives will give you meat to maintain your lives and he who gave you your bodies will give you raiment to cloath your bodies withal 4. If all that you have be consumed and you have nothing to live upon live by Faith upon the promise and providence of God Hab. 2.4 The just shall live by his Faith We are not to live by Faith for spiritual blessings only but also for temporal And we ought to trust God as firmly by virtue of his promises when we have nothing left as well as when we enjoy greatest plenty SECT 4. Obj. 4. I do make a shift to live for the present but now I have lost my Estate I am afraid I shall come to want before I dye and the fear of want lyeth heavy upon me were it not that I feared I should want my losses would not much trouble me Answ 1. If you fear want now your Estates are gone and did not fear any such thing while you enjoyed your Estates this is a sign that you made your riches your confidence and not God and that is a fearful sin Job 31.24,28 If I have made gold my hope or have said unto the fine gold Thou art my confidence This were an iniquity to be punished by the judge for I should have denied the God that is above 2. Have you not food and raiment sufficient for the day if so do the work of the present day cheerfully and bear the crosses of the day patiently and cast the care of to morrow upon God By to morrow you may be in heaven where you shall need none of these things Mat. 6.34 Take no thought for the morrow for the morrow shall take thought for the things of it self sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof 3. Consider your relation to God 1. God is your Shepherd and thereupon you may be assured that you shall not want Psal 23.1 The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want David doth not say I am King of Israel I shall not want or I have a great Estate or I have rich Friends I shall not want but he grounds his confidence that he should not want upon this that God was his Shepherd Now every godly man in his lowest estate hath God for his Shepherd and thereupon may be confident that he shall never want 2. God is your Father and Fathers will not see their children want when it is in the power of their hands to relieve their wants Luke 11.11 If a Son shall ask bread of any of you that is a Father will he give him a stone or if he ask a fish will he for a fish give him a serpent When the prodigal Son began to be in want and goes to his Father for relief though he had been an ungracious Son that had spent all his substance in riotous courses yet when he came to his Father he calls for the best Robe and fatted Calf and entertains him in a very bountiful manner Luke 15.15,18,19,20,22,23
why hast thou made me thus 2. It is for our good to pass through variety of conditions for thereby God awakens the fear of his Name in our hearts and shakes off our security and promoteth the holiness of our hearts and lives A continued course of prosperity without some changes oft-times breeds a great deal of security and forgetfulness of God Psal 55.19 Because they have no changes therefore they fear not God Jer. 48.11 Moab hath been at ease from his youth and he hath settled on his lees and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel neither hath he gone into captivity therefore his taste remained in him and his scent is not changed If God by this change beger or promote the fear of his Name in your souls that will be better treasure than any that you lost by the late Fire Isa 33.6 The fear of the Lord is his treasure 3. The Lord would have us be so far from being dejected at our crosses that he would have us esteem them a ground of joy Jam. 1.2 My brethren count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations He would have men of high degree rejoyce when they are brought low as well as men of low degree to rejoyce when they are exalted James 1.9,10 Let the brother of low degree rejoyce in that he is exalted but the rich in that he is made low 3. Remember how contentedly our Lord Jesus Christ bore his state of humiliation Though he was Lord of all things yet for our sakes he became poor and took upon himself the form of a Servant and made himself of no reputation to bring us unto eternal glory 2 Cor. 8.9 Ye know the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be rich Phil. 2.5,6,7 Let this minde be in you which was in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant Yet there never came one discontented word out of Christs month neither did there arise one repining thought in his minde throughout all the dayes of his humiliation Observe also how contentedly the servants of God have born their changes when God hath brought them from an high to a low condition When David was driven from his Kingdom and necessitated to flee to save his life he quietly submits himself to God 2 Sam. 15.26 When he that was honoured by all the Princes and Elders of Israel had a man of Belial came and cursed him to his face David puts up all his railing language with a meek and quiet spirit 2 Sam. 16.5,6,7,8,9,10,11 5. Though you be brought very low and those that were your friends in the day of your prosperity should now slight and dis-regard you yet if you continue to serve the Lord he will respect and regard you as much as ever he did Psal 136.26 Who remembred us in our low estate for his mercy endureth for ever Psal 106.43,44,45 They provoked him with their counsel and were brought low for their iniquity nevertheless he regarded their efftiction when he heard their cry and he remembred for them his Covenant and repented according to the multitude of his mercies If your hearts be lowly as well as your conditions low the most high God will respect you more than all the great men upon the face of the earth that are of a proud spirit Psal 138.6 Though the Lord be high yet hath he respect unto the lowly but the proud he knoweth afar off Whatever account men may have of the Servants of God the Lord esteemeth very highly of them He counts them his Jewels Mal. 3.17 It is said of them Isa 62.3 Thou shalt be a Crown of Glory in the hand of the Lord and a royal Diadem in the hand of thy God This high esteem that God hath of you may abundantly satisfie you under all the slights and dis-respect that you meet with from men 6. If you be brought to fare hard and meanly by this providence whereas before you had a very plentiful table this should not trouble you for 1. God can make a course and mean diet conduce as much to your health and nourishment as the richest fare in the world Daniel and his three companions who eat nothing but pulse and drank water were of a fairer countenance and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the Kings meat Dan. 1.12,13,14,15 2. Though you should be brought to fare very hard yet as good and better men than you are have fared harder than you and yet did not murmur against God We read of an hundred men that were the Lords Prophets that lived in a cave with bread and water 1 Kings 18.13 John the Baptist was a great person Our Saviour telleth us that among them that were born of women there was not a greater than John the Baptist Matth. 11.11 Yet both his habit and diet were very mean John had his raiment of Camels hair and a leathern girdle about his loins and his meat was locusts and wilde honey Mat. 3.4 and he drank neither wine nor strong drink Luke 1.15 Our Saviour himself eat very course diet and yet was thankful for it When many of his friends were about him that came to hear his word he had nothing better to refresh himself after his labours and to give to his Disciples and those that followed him but Barley Bread and Fish and they had no seats to sit upon at their meat but the grass yet Jesus Christ lift up his eyes and gave thanks John 6.9,10,11 Another time being weary and thirsty he had nothing better than water to quench his thirst and he could not with once asking obtain a draught of water to quench his thirst John 4.6,7,9 Jesus being wearied with his journey sate on the well There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water Jesus saith unto her give me to drink then saith the woman How is it that thou being a Jew askest drink of me which am a woman of Samaria 3. The meaner your diet is the less will be your temptation to excess Such as fare deliciously every day are under a great temptation to make their belly their God which is a fin that will bring unavoidable destruction Phil. 3.19 whose end is destruction whose belly is their God 4. God hath given such of you as are his servants his Son who is the bread of life the bread that came down from heaven John 6.48,51 and the water of life John 4.10 and why should you be discontented because your dyet is mean who have meat to eat that the world knows not of hidden Manna yea who have the bread of life and the water of life SECT 9. Obj. 9. I had a very sweet and commodious dwelling where I lived very comfortably and now I am greatly unsettled I
know not well where to bestow my self I can't light of an house that pleaseth me but am put to great straits and am much troubled for the loss of my former habitation and the inconvenience of my present abode Answ 1. You have as good dwellings still as many servants had who were too good to dwell in the world Heb. 11.38 Of whom the world was not worthy they wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth You are as well provided for as the Apostles of Christ Paul speaking of himself and the other Apostles saith 1 Cor. 4.9,11 Even unto this present hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted and have no certain dwelling place You are as well and better provided for in this respect than Christ himself was when he was in the world Mat. 8.20 The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head 2. Every godly man hath God for his habitation and they that have God for their habitation may well be contented how inconvenient soever their habitation be in this world When the Israelites wandered in a desolate Wilderness by the space of forty years where they had no houses to dwell in they were abundantly satisfied in this that God was their dwelling place Psal 90.1 Lord thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations That this Psalm was penned when the Israelites were in a wandering unsettled condition in the Wilderness appeareth both from the Title and several passages in the Psalm 3. When you are troubled at the loss or for the want of a convenient habitation here on earth comfort your selves with the thoughts and hope of that glorious house which God hath prepared for you in heaven 2 Cor. 5.1 We know if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens The Disciples had left their houses and all that they had for Christ and Christ to comfort them tells them of the mansions that were prepared for them in heaven John 14.1,2 Let not your hearts be troubled In my Fathers house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you The like may I say to you let not your hearts be troubled at the loss of your houses though never so convenient but comfort your selves with the expectation of those glorious mansions that are prepared for you in heaven 4. Had not God unsettled you by this Providence it may be you would have settled upon your Lees Jer. 48.11 It may be you would have said in your heart it is good being here and would have neglected seeking the Kingdom of God and therefore God out of mercy to your souls might unsettle you to cause you to shake off a worldly spirit and to stir you up to make sure of an eternal habitation in heaven 5. If you seek unto God though your houses be laid waste and your selves much unsettled and know not where to fix your habitations God will provide you as good habitations as ever you had Psal 107.4,6,7 They wandered in the Wilderness in a solitary way they found no city to dwell in then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them out of their distresses and he led them forth by the right way that they might go to a city of habitation Ezek. 36.9.10 Behold I am for you and I will turn unto you and the Cities shall be inhabited and the wasts shall be builded But he adds withal that he expected they should enquire of him to bestow this and what other mercies are promised in this Chapter ver 37. Thus saith the Lord God I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel to do this for them SECT 10. Obj. 10. I am by this providence disabled from following my Calling and thereby rendered useless and unserviceable in my Generation and this is that which most of all troubles and disquiets my mind Answ 1. We should covet earnestly to do God and our Generation much service those few dayes we have to live in the world 1 Cor. 15.58 Be ye stedfast unmoveable alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord It is a sore judgement when our dayes are spent unprofitably and inflicted as a punishment of other sins Psal 78.32,33 They sinned still and believed not for his wondrous works therefore their dayes did he consume in vanity It argues great displeasure in God when he suffers us to spend our dayes in an unprofitable manner Psal 90.9 Our dayes are passed away in thy wrath we spend our years as a tale that is told This Scripture implyeth that it is a great token of Gods wrath when we spend our years as a tale Now then we may be said to spend our years as a tale when we spend them idly and unprofitably for there comes no profit in telling of Tales 1 Tim. 4.7,8 Tales have this Epithite given them in the Scripture Idle Tales Luke 24.11 what our Translation renders At a tale that is told some Translations as the Greek Arabick Syriack and Aethiopick render As a spider or As a spiders web The sense is the same namely when our years are spent in fruitless labours whereby neither we our selves or others are the better for them this is from the wrath of the Lord. 2. If we do earnestly desire and endeavour to serve the Lord and our Generation and do long for abilities and opportunities of doing service and the Lord grant them not or after he hath made use of us awhile shall lay us aside we must in this case submit our selves to God and say as David did 2 Sam. 15.26 If he say thus I have no delight in thee behold here am I let him do to me as seemeth good unto him There is good reason that we should submit our selves unto God if he should refuse to employ us in doing him any farther service though we have never such strong desires to be serviceable in our Generation for 1. We are altogether unworthy to be employed in any service for God and Christ though the meanest that can be thought of What meaner service could any one have than to stoop down and unty Christs shooes or to carry his shooes after him Yet John the Baptist who was a great person none that was born of women was greater than he according as our Saviour testifieth of him Mat. 11.11 He was filled with the Holy Ghost from his Mothers Womb Luke 1.15 He was such an holy man that Herod the King of the Jews stood in awe of him Mark 6.20 Yet this great this holy man thought himself unworthy to do the least or meanest service for Christ he thought himself unworthy to unty or carry his shooes after him Luke 3.16 One mightier than I cometh the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to
unloose Mat. 3.11 Whose shooes I am not worthy to bear 2. When it is in our hearts to do any service for God or our Generation God approves of what is in our hearts though we are not able or want opportunity to effect and bring to pass what we desired to do for the advancing of the Glory of God and promoting our own or others good 2 Cor. 8.12 If there be a willing minde it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not Though God did not permit David to build him an house yet God was pleased that there was a desire and purpose in his heart to have done this thing and commends him for it 1 Kings 8.18,19 The Lord said unto David whereas it was in thine heart to build an house to my name thou didst well that it was in thine heart nevertheless thou shalt not build the house 3. God is the Lord and master of the whole world and it belongs to the master of the house to take what servants he pleaseth and to set them about what work he pleaseth and put them out of his service when he pleaseth We that are masters of Families take this liberty to our selves and shall not we grant that to God which we take to our selves 3. If you are troubled because you are disabled from serving God and your Generation use what means you can to prevail with God to call you again into a way of service and to render you useful in your Generation I will commend to you some means whereby you may prevail with God to make use of you to do him service in your Generation 1. Purge out your sins and labour for sanctified hearts and lives Sanctified persons are meet for Gods use and he delighteth to employ them in his Service 2 Tim. 2.21 If a man purge himself from these he shall be a vessel unto honour sanctified and meet for his masters use and prepared unto every good work 2. Act your faith upon the promises of God wherein God hath promised to make his people useful in their places and serviceable to him in their Generation I shall name one or two to this purpose Deut. 30.9 The Lord thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand for good Here are two blessings promised the one is that we shall be full of employment the other is that good shall come of what we take in hand Something of this nature is implied in that promise Mine Elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands Isa 65.22 God hath promised to make us serviceable all the dayes of our life Luke 1.72,74,75 To perform the mercy promised that he would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the dayes of our life 3. Mourn over your unserviceableness and cry unto God to admit you into his service and offer your selves to undertake any employment that he shall cut out for you and promise the Lord that if he will put you into his service that you will serve him with an upright heart as David did Psal 75.2 When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly When the Lord seeth such a spirit as this in us he will soon employ us in some way of service as Deborah said Judg. 5.9 Mine heart is toward the Governourrs of Israel that offered themselves willingly among the people So is Gods heart towards such persons as freely offer themselves unto his Service the Lord ordained it for a Law that if a Levite came to minister with all the desire of his minde he should be admitted to minister in the name of the Lord Deut. 18.6,7 God will assuredly provide work for those that do so highly prize his service as to cry and mourn after it 4. If you are by this providence disabled from following your former Calling then follow some other Calling for God would have no man live without a Calling When Adam was in Innocency God would not permit him to be out of employment but gave him a Calling to employ himself in Gen. 2.15 And the Lord took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it Chuse rather the meanest Calling than to live without a calling And if God so order it that you must of necessity take a meaner less honourable and more laborious calling than you had before be not discontented at it but comply thereto with a ready and quiet minde Moses that was delicately brought up in a Kings Court by the space of forty years and was so tenderly nursed up by Pharaohs Daughter as if he had been her own Son did not disdain to serve his Generation for several years in a very mean Calling viz. the Calling of a Shepherd Exod. 3.1 Now Moses kept the Flock of Jethro his Father-in-law It is said of David that he served his Generation according to the will of God Acts 13.36 When it was the will of God that he should serve his Generation as a Shepherd he was content to be a Shepherd and when it was the will of God that he should serve his Generation as a King he was content to be a King when afterward God drove him from his Kingdom and put him into the condition of an Exile he was content with that condition also 2 Sam. 15.25,26 It is probable that our Saviour himself wrought in the Calling of a Carpenter some time before he entered into the Calling of the Ministry and that is both a mean and laborious Calling and this may be gathered from his Countrey-mens upbraiding him with this Calling Mark 6.2,3 From whence hath this man these things and what wisdom is this which is given to him that even such mighty work are wrought by his hands Is not this the Carpenter the Son of Mary If you say we would willingly follow some other Calling now we are disabled from following our former Callings but we do not know what Callings to fix upon How shall we come to understand our way and to know what Callings God would have us make choice of now he hath disabled us from following our former Callings Answ 1. Ask counsel of God what Callings he would have you make choice of that so you may serve your Generation arcording to the will of God and not according to your own will The Lord hath promised to direct you in your choice if you seek to him for counsel Prov. 3.6 In all thy wayes acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths Psal 25.12 What man is he that feareth the Lord him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose 2. Consider your own abilities both in respect of parts and skill and also in respect of your stock that you have left to trade withal and what Calling you finde your self best able to manage that you may make choice of and look
save him from death was heard in that he feared But when he was entered upon his sufferings he prayed more earnestly than ever Luke 22.44 Being in an agony he prayed more earnestly 7. Learn hence the vanity and uncertainty of riches and all worldly enjoyments This sudden and unexpected desolation which is come upon this great City by this dreadful Fire wherein such a multitude of Houses and such a great quantity of Goods have been consumed and many thousand Families have been impoverished doth plainly teach us the great uncertainty of worldly things and the great uncertainty that is in riches and all other worldly things may teach us severall lessons as 1. Seeing we have no assurance of worldly things we should not set our eyes or our hearts upon them we should not desire them inordinately when we want them nor delight in them inordinately when we have them or mourn beyond measure when we lose them Prov. 23.5 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not for riches certainly make themselves wings they flee away as an Eagle towards heaven They should be so far from drawing our hearts that they should not draw our eyes after them 1 Cor. 7.29,30,31 The time is short it remaineth that both they that have Wives be as though they had none and they that weep as though they wept not and they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not and they that buy as though they possessed not and they that use this world as not abusing it for the fashion of this world passeth away 2. Seeing riches are uncertain things we should not trust in them but in the ever-living unchangeable God 1 Tim. 6.17 Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high minded nor trust in uncertain riches but in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy 3. Seeing we have no certainty that we shall enjoy our Estates one day we should not defer doing all the good we can with what God hath given us Eccles 11.2 Give a portion to seven and also to eight for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth Luke 16.9 Make to your selves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations We should not slip any opportunity of doing good Gal. 6.10 As we have opportunity let us do good unto all men especially unto them who are of the houshold of faith We should not defer doing good with our Estates so much as one day when God gives us ability and an opportunity to do good Prov. 3.27,28 With-hold not good from them to whom it is due when it is in the power of thine hand to do it say not unto thy neighbour go and come again and to morrow I will give when thou hast it by thee 4. Seeing there is such an uncertainty in the things of this world this should teach us the vanity and folly of seeking to get the things of this world by unjust just and unrighteous courses Prov. 21.6 The getting of treasure by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death They that seek to get riches by lying or any other sinful means do seek their own death and destruction And what folly is it to cast away an immortal soul and to lose an eternal Kingdom for Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 for gaining of that which a man is not sure to enjoy one day There is a greater uncertainty in riches that are gotten unrighteously than in those that are gained by honest means for God threatens such persons with this Judgment that they shall enjoy what they get dishonestly but a very little while Jer. 17.11 As the Partridge sitteth on eggs and hatcheth them not so he that getteth riches and not by right shall leave them in the midst of his dayes and at his end shall be a fool Prov. 13.11 Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished but he that gathereth by labour shall encrease And as such riches continue but a very little while so the Owners have little or no comfort in them while they do enjoy them The accusations of a guilty conscience and the curse of God that goes along with their Estates troubles them more then their Estates do them good Zophar speaking of a man that is unjust in his dealings saith he shall have no joy in his riches nor quietness in his Conscience Job 20.17,18,19,20,22 He shall not see the rivers the floods the brooks of honey and butter that which he laboured for he shall restore and shall not swallow it down according to his substance shall the restitution be and he shall not rejoyce therein because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor because he hath violently taken away an house that he builded not surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits every hand of the wicked shall come upon him Divers other passages there are in that Chapter very dreadful to such as get their Estates in a dishonest way which I forbear to transcribe And this is farther to be considered concerning those riches that are gotten unjustly that although such riches are of very short and uncertain continuance the sin and guilt which is contracted in the getting of them will remain upon the conscience a long time and if there be not a timely and sincere repentance a mans sin will accompany him to the Grave Job 20.11 His bones are full of the sin of his youth which shall lie down with him in the dust and fromt hence his sins shall go along with him to the Judgment-seat of Christ Eccles 12.14 God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil And from thence a mans sins shall go along with him to Hell and there vex and torment him like fire to all eternity Jame 5.3 Your gold and your silver is cankered and the rust of them shall be a witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fire ye have heaped up treasure together for the last dayes SECT 4. 4. Consider your wayes that you may finde out for what sin or sins God hath laid this affliction upon you When God blasted the Jews in their Estates he called them with great earnestness to consider their wayes Hag. 1.5,6,7 Now therefore thus saith the Lord of Hosts consider your wayes ye have sowen much and bring in little He that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes Thus saith the Lord of Hosts consider your wayes When Job had lost his Estate and was under other afflictions also he was very desirous to finde out for what sin it was that God contended with him Job 13.23 How many are mine iniquities and sins make me to know my transgression and my sin Job 10.2 Shew me
wherefore thou contendest with me If any ask How shall we come to finde out for what sins God is contending with us I answer 1. Go to God and pray to him as Job did to shew you why he contendeth with you Job 10.2 Job 13.23 and after you have sought to God to discover the cause of his controversie observe what sins he brings to your remembrance and sets before you and gives you secret intimations from his Spirit that for such and such a sin he is now correcting you In times of affliction God is wont by his Spirit to present to the view of our souls the sins for which he corrects us Job 36.8,9,10 If they be bound in fetters and be holden in cords of affliction then be sheweth them their work and their transgressions that they have exceeded he openeth also their ear to discipline and commandeth that they return from iniquity 2. Consider what sin your consciences suggested to you when God first sent your affliction upon you for oft-times God represents to us by our consciences what the sin is for which he contendeth with us as we may see in Josephs Brethren Gen. 42.21 They said one to another we are verily guilty concerning our brother in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us we would not hear therefore is this distress come upon us 3. Search into Gods word and see for what sins God hath been wont to impoverish men and bring them low in their Estates and also for what sins God hath either threatned or inflicted this dreadful judgment of Fire and if you finde that you have been guilty of the same sins you may then know for what sins you have suffered the loss of your Estates by the late Fire I will give some instances in both kindes 1. For what sins God hath either threatned or inflicted this dreadful judgment of Fire and they are such as these 1. Unbelief and distrust of the promises and providence of God Psal 78.21,22 A fire was kindled against Jacob and anger also came up against Israel because they believed not in God and trusted not in his salvation 2. Neglect of prayer and seeking after God Amos 5.6 Seek ye the Lord and ye shall live lest he break out like Fire in the house of Joseph and devour it and there be none to quench it in Bethel 3. Forsaking of God after we have had much experience of Gods goodness in guiding us and delivering us from many dangers and bestowing many other mercies upon us Jer. 2.15,17 His cities are burnt without inhabitant Hast thou not procured this unto thy self in that thou hast for saken the Lord thy God when he led thee by the way 4. Neglecting to sanctifie the Sabbath in a spiritual manner or prophaning it by doing service or sinful works Jer. 17.28 If ye will not hearken to me to hallow the Sabbath day and not to bear a burden even entring in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem and it shall not be quenched 5. Taking of bribes to pervert justice Job 15.24 The congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate and fire shall consume the Tabernacles of Bribery 6. Oppression and unjust and unrighteous dealings Job 20.19,26 Because he hath oppressed and forsaken the poor because he hath violently taken away an house that he builded not all darkness shall be hid in his secret places a fire not blown shall consume him it shall go ill with him that is left in his Tabernacle 7. Pride Idleness fulness of Bread and neglect of the poor Ezek. 16.49,50 Behold this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom Pride fulness of Bread and abundance of idleness was in her and in her Daughters neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy and they were haughty and committed abomination before me therefore I took them away as I saw good Now the way by which God took away Sodom for these sins was by fire Gen. 19.24 8. Resting in outward Reformation without seeking after a renewed heart Jer. 4.4 Circumcise your selves to the Lord and take away the fore-skins of your heart ye men of Judah and Inhabitants of Jerusalem lest my fury come forth like fire and burn that none can quench it because of the evil of your doings 9. Murmuring at any of Gods Providences though they be such as bring us into straits Numb 11.1 When the people complained it displeased the Lord and the Lord heard it and his anger was kindled and the fire of the Lord burnt among them and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the Camp 10. Mocking and misusing of Gods Ministers 2 Chron. 36.16,17,19 They mocked the messengers of God and despised his words and misused his Prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people till there was no remedy therefore he brought upon them the King of the Chaldees who slew their young men with the Sword And they burnt the House of God and brake down the Wall of Jerusalem and burnt all the Palaces thereof with fire 11. Changing Gods Ordinances and breaking his Covenant Isa 24.5,6 Because they have transgressed the Laws and changed the Ordinances broken the everlasting Covenant Therefore hath the Curse devoured the Earth and they that dwell therein are desolate therefore the Inhabitants of the Earth are burned and few men left 12. Sins of uncleanness as Fornication Adultery c. for these God consumed Sodom and Gomorrah with Fire and Brimstone from Heaven as we may see Jude 7. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the Cities about them in like manner giving themselves over to Fornication and going after strange flesh are set forth for an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire 13. Idolatry Deut. 32.16,21,22,24 They provoked him to jealousie with strange gods They have moved me to jealousie with that which is not God they have provoked me to anger with their vanities A fire is kindled in mine anger and shall burn to the lowest Hell and shall consume the Earth with her increase and set on fire the foundations of the Mountains They shall be burnt with hunger and devoured with burning heat and with bitter destruction Several other sins for which God hath threatned this judgment of fire you may see in the first and second chapters of Amos and also in other Scriptures which I shall not mention Consider also for what sins God hath taken away or diminished others estates and brought them low and afflicted them with poverty and that may help you to find out your sins for which God hath impoverished you It is true that sometimes God takes away his Peoples estates to exercise and try their graces as we see in the case of Job but usually when he brings us low and bereaves us of our Estates it is for our sins Psal 106.43 They provoked him with their counsels and were brought
we meet together and all the good thoughts which we think All the tears we shed for our sins and all the sighs and groans which we send up to God by reason of our sins are treasure laid up in heaven for God puts such tears into his bottle and all sighs and groans that come from a penitent heart ascend up to heaven Psal 38.9 Lord all my desire is before thee and my groaning is not hid from thee All the prayers that we put up to God in the Name of Jesus Christ are treasure laid up in heaven Psal 18.6 In my distress I called upon the Lord and cryed unto my God he heard my voice out of his Temple and my cry came before him even into his ears This is plain from the forementioned Scripture All my desire is before thee All the alms we give to the poor in a right spirit are treasure laid up in heaven Luke 12.33 Give alms provide your selves bags which wax not old a treasure in the heavens that faileth not Matth. 19.21 Sell that thou hast and give to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven Acts 10.4 Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God All the prayers that we make and all the alms that we give to the poor are recorded in heaven as precious treasure All the good works that we do are treasure laid up in heaven Ephes 6.8 Whatsoever good thing any man doth the same he shall receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free All the sins that wicked men commit are treasure laid up in Hell to augment their torments Rom. 2.5 After thy hardness and impenitent heart thou treasurest up unto thy self wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God If all the sins of wicked men are treasure laid up against the day of wrath then surely all the good actions of good men are treasure laid up in heaven SECT 9. 9. Let the losses which you have sustained by the late Fire put you in minde of and make you careful to avoid four other Fires which are more dreadful than this great Fire which consumed many thousand houses in a few dayes 1. Take heed of the fire of Sin Sin is oft compared unto fire Isa 9.18 Wickedness burneth as the fire it shall devour the briars and thorns Prov. 16.27 An ungodly man diggeth up evil and in his lips there is as a burning fire Hos 7.6 They have made ready their heart like an oven whilst they lie in wait their baker sleepeth all the night in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire James 3.6 The tongue is as a fire a world of iniquity so is the tongue among our members that it defileth the whole body and setteth on fire the course of nature and it is set on fire of Hell Now this fire of sin is far more mischievous than the late Fire which burnt so great a part of the City for though that destroyed many stately buildings and much Goods this destroyes mens souls and the soul of one man though the poorest man upon the face of the earth is more worth than the whole world Mark 8.36 The late Fire hath burnt up a great part of the City but sin hath set on fire the whole course of nature it hath fired more or less all persons in all parts and places of the world For there is not a just man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not Eccles 7.20 It hath been burning many thousand years together even ever since the fall of Adam 2. Take heed of the Fire of Gods wrath that burns like fire Nahum 1.6 Who can stand before his indignation and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger his fury is poured out like fire Psal 89.46 Shall thy wrath burn like fire The Apostle saith of God Heb. 12.29 Our God is a consuming fire To whom is God a consuming fire To all impenitent persons that refuse to humble their souls and to break off their sins Isa 27.4 Who would set the briars and thorns against me in Battle I would go through them I would burn them together He is a consuming Fire to all that fall off from the wayes of God after they have been enlightned with the knowledge of the truth Heb. 10.26,27 If we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries 3. Let this fire put you in minde of that fire which shall consume and burn up the whole world It was a dreadful sight to see London on fire but it will be more dreadful to see the whole world on sire yet such a time will come and it is hastening apace upon us wherein the heavens and the earth shall be set on fire and all persons and things burnt in that fire 2 Pet. 3.10,11,12 The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in the which the heav ns shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God wherein the Heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat This fire that shall burn up the whole world shall be to all the servants of God like Elijah's fiery Chariot a means of conveying them into the Kingdom of Heaven but it shall be a day of destruction and perdition to all ungodly men 2 Thess 1.7,8,9 The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. 2 Pet. 3.7 The Heavens and the Earth which are now by the same word are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men Mal. 4.1 Behold the day cometh that shall burn as an Oven and all the proud yea and all that do wickedly shall be stubble and the day that cometh shall burn them up saith the Lord of Hosts that it shall leave them neither root nor branch 4. Let this fire put you in mind and make you careful to avoid Hell fire If this fire were dreadful think with your selves how dreadful it will be to be placed at Christs left hand and hear him pronounce that terrible sentence Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Matth. 25.41 and yet this will be the portion of all the workers of iniquity Matth. 13.41,42 The Son of Man shall send forth his Angels
substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen Our Lord Jesus pronounceth those blessed which believe what they see not Joh. 20.29 Jesus saith unto him Thomas because thou hast seen me thou hast believed blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed 3. What though you cannot see or think which way you should be maintained God is able to do abundantly more than you are able to think Ephes 3.20 To him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think according to the power that worketh in us God hath hidden riches such as no man knoweth of to give his servants when and where he seeth good Isa 45.3 I will give thee the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places that thou mayest know that I the Lord which call thee by thy name am the God of Israel God oft-times gives wicked men hidden treasure David speaking of Gods Providence towards the wicked saith Psal 17.14 Whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure And cannot he find out hidden treasure for his servants even such as they think not of 4. What visible maintenance did Jesus Christ give his Disciples when he sent them on a journey and bid them Provide neither gold nor silver nor brass in your purses nor scrip for your journey neither two coats neither shooes nor yet staves Matth. 10.9,10 yet he provided so carefully for them that they lacked nothing Luk. 22.35 He said unto them When I sent you without purse and scrip and shooes lacked ye any thing and they said Nothing What visible maintenance did God give the children of Israel in the Wilderness As for bread they had none but what fell from heaven and of that they had but for the day excepting on the sixth day wherein they were to gather a double portion on other days if they kept any till the morning it bred worms and stank and what fell in the morning was dried up when the Sun was hot Exod. 16.4,19,20,21,22 so that God gave them nothing before hand but put them upon living by faith for their dayly bread And as for flesh though God had given them a promise that they should eat flesh a month together Moses himself was put to a great stand to think how such a vast multitude should be fed with flesh in the Wilderness Numb 11.21,22,23 Moses said the people amongst whom I am are six hundred thousand footmen and thou hast said I will give them flesh that they may eat a whole month Shall the Flocks and the Heards be slain for them to suffice them or shall all the Fish of the Sea he gathered together for them to suffice them And the Lord said unto Moses Is the Lords hand maxed short thou shalt see now whether my words shall come to pass unto thee or not Now though God kept this people in such dependance on himself that for forty years together he did not give them one days bread before hand excepting every sixt day but they were to expect it a new from heaven every day yet all that forty years he did so carefully and constantly provide for that great multitude that they lacked nothing Dept. 2.7 The Lord thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thine hand he knoweth thy walking through this great Wilderness these forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee thou hast lacked nothing Neb. 9.21 Yea forty years didst thou sustain them in the Wilderness so that they lacked nothing their clothe waxed not old and their feet swelled not 5. The Birds have nothing before hand neither do they know one day where they shall have their food the next yet God provideth for them every day Matt. 6.26 And why should not you depend upon God for your daily bread though you know not one day how or which way you shall be provided for the next If you say The Birds have a greater latitude than we have they may take their meat where they can get it they being under no law are under no transgression we are bound up by the Law of God not to meddle with that which belongs to other men I answer The Birds do not find out or gather any thing but what God gives them Psal 104.28 That thou givest them they gather thou openest thine hand they are filled with good Matth. 6.26 Your heevenly Father feedeth them 6. Consider the examples of Gods servants who have trusted God at such times as they could not see how or which way those mercies should be given them which they stood in need of When Isaac said unto Abraham My-Father Behold the fire and wood but where is the Lamb for a burnt offering Abraham said My son God will provide himself a Lamb for a burnt offering Gen. 22.7,8 Abraham could not tell how or which way God would provide a Lamb for a burnt offering yet he did rest upon God that he would do it If troubled thoughts arise in your hearts and you begin to say within your selves where shall I have bread for my self and for my family answer your selves as Abraham did Isaac God will provide bread for me and mine When Mordecai could not tell how or which way deliverance should come to the Jews there being but one way visible and that was by Esther but she was loath to appear and hazard her self by interceeding for them but he for all this rests upon God that if this means failed deliverance should come some other way Esth 4.14 If thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place Object 2. I am a simple shiftless person and besides I have no friends to take care of me or look after me and now my Estate is gone and my Calling fails I shall not be able to live I could trust God for a livelyhood if I could shift for my self in the world as others can do and had any friends to look after me but I and both shiftless and friendless Answ 1. You are not more shiftless now than you were in your infancy yet then God provided for you when you were a little Infant and could not shift for your self God drew you out of your Mothers womb and fed you and clothed you and defended and supported you Psal 71.6 By thee have I been holden up from the womb thou art he that took me out of my Mothers bowels my praise shall be continually of thee 2. If you had never so much craft and subtilty yet you could not get a subsistance without the help of Gods Providence for all the devices of the crafty come to nought when God succeedeth them not Job 5.12 He disappointeth the devices of the crafty so that their hands cannot perform their enterprize Your want of subtilty is no impediment to Gods Providence he by his wisdom is able to provide for those that have little or no wisdom to order their affairs as
where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me 2. If by this Providence you are brought to want and are pinched with hunger let this affliction put you upon renewing your repentance and cause you to cry mightily to the Lord and he will save you from your distressed condition Psal 107.4,5,6 They wandered in the Wilderness hungry and thirsty their souls fainted in them then they cryed unto the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them out of their distresses Though you are now under great scarcity yet if your scarcity put you upon renewing your repentance the Lord will turn your scarcity into plenty Elihu speaking of such as are in affliction and having shewn how God commandeth them to return from iniquity telleth us what God will do for such as at the command of God do return from their sins Job 36.11,16 If they obey and serve him they shall spend their dayes in prosperity and their years in pleasures Even so would he have removed thee out of a strait into a broad place where there is no straitness and that which should be set on thy Table should be full of fatness When the Prodigal Son began to be in want his want brought his sins to remembrance and put him upon returning home to his Father and when he came to his Father and confessed his sins to his Father though he would have been glad of such husks as Swine eat and could not get them he was no sooner returned to his Father but he kills the fatted Calf and calls for thebest Robe and a Ring and makes very rich and bountiful provision for him 3. When your children come about you and cry for bread and you have it not to give them remember that their cries do not only pierce your hearts but enter into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath When the water in Hagar's bottle was spent and the child cryed and she knew not where to have any more but thought that the child must needs perish and therefore cast the child under a shrub because she could not tell how to see the death of the child God heard the cry of the child and sent her relief Gen. 21.15,16,17,19 The water was spent in the bottle and she cast the child under one of the shrubs and she went and sat her down over against him a good way off as it were a Bow shot for she said Let me not see the death of the child and she sat over against him and lift up her voyce and wept And God heard the voyce of the Lad and the Angel of God called to Hagar out of Heaven and said unto her What aileth thee Hagar fear not for God hath heard the voyce of the Lad where he is and God opened her eyes and she saw a Well of water When the young ravens wander up and down seeking meat and can find none and cry unto God he heareth them Job 38.41 Who provideth for the Ravens his food when his young ones cry unto God they wander for lack of meat Psal 147.9 He giveth to the beast his food and to the young Ravens which cry Doth God hear the voyce of the young Ravens when they cry and provide them food and do you think that he will not hear the cryes of your young children and provide them food 4. Though you begin to be in want and both your selves and families are now and then pinched with hunger yet trust still in God that he will provide for you and yours such food as he seeth to be convenient for you Our faith must not flag or fail when we meet with sharp trials you know what Job saith Job 13.15 Though he slay me yet will I trust in him If your hunger and scarcity should be such as that you should think God intended to slay you with hunger yet you must trust in him I will give a few encouragements to such as are under fear or in danger of being famished with hunger to trust in God to relieve them 1. Your bodies are members of Christs Body 1 Cor. 6.15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ and temples of the Holy Ghost Vers 19. Know ye not that your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you And do you think that God will be unmindful of his Sons members and of the Temple of the Holy Ghost The afflictions of the Saints are said to be the afflictions of Christ Col. 1.23 That which afflicts them is an affliction to him Isa 63.9 In all their afflictions he was afflicted Their hunger and thirst may in some sense be said to be his hunger and thirst Matth. 25.35 I was an bungred and ye gave me meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink 2. Consider what promises God hath made to preserve his people from being famished and to give them plenty of all such things as are good for them Prov. 10.3 The Lord will not suffer the soul of the reghteous to be famisked Joel 2.26 Ye shall eat in plenty and be satisfied and praise the Name of the Lord your God Psal 33.18,19 Behold the Eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him upon them that hope in his mercy to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine Psal 136.15 I will abundantly bless aer provision I will satisfie her poor with bread When there was such a great scarcity among the Jews that they could not see which way they should be supplyed with provision Joel 1.16 Is not the meat cut off before your eyes yet even then God promiseth his servants such plenty as should satisfie them Chap. 2.26 Ye shall eat in plenty and be satisfied and praise the Name of the Lord your God that hath dealt wonderfully with you and my people shall never be ashamed Another promise you have Isa 41.17,18 When the poor and needy seek water and there is none and their tongue faileth for thirst I the Lord will hear thens I the God of Israel will not forsake them I will open Rivers in high places and Fountains in the midst of the Valleys I will make the Wilderness a Pool of water and the dry Land Springs of water Here God promiseth that when his Servants are destitute of necessary provision and are in such straits as they are ready to perish he will send them in unexpected supplies he will alter the very course of Nature rather than they shall perish He will make the Wilderness a Pool of Water and the dry Land Springs of Water Though this promise be not to be restrained to temporal things but includeth also many spiritual blessings yet it may very safely and properly be applyed by such as are in great straits and ready to perish for want of provision for their outward man Let me add this farther That God is mindful of
my self into my straits and my troubles by my sins and this keepeth me from trusting in God because my troubles are the fruit of my sins Were it purely the hand of God to try my faith and patience I could in such a case hope in God Ans Though our troubles do come upon us for our sins yet if we humble our souls for our sins and cry to God in our distresses he will raise up deliverance for us Psal 107.10,11,12,13,14 Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death being bound in affliction and iron becanse they rebelled against the words of God and contemned the counsel of the most high therefore he brought down their heart with labour they fell down and there was none to help Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble and he saved them out of their distress he brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and brake their bands in sunder And again ver 17 19. Fools because of their transgression and because of oheir iniquities are afflicted then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble he saveth them out of their distresses When David was under such a great sense of sin as made his heart to fail he did yet hope in God for deliverance out of his troubles Psal 40.12,17 Innumerable evils have compassed me about mine iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to look up they are more than the hairs of my head therefore my heart faileth me I am poor and needy yet the Lord thinketh upon me thou art my help and my deliverer make no tarrying O my God When Jonah was cast into the Sea and swallowed up by a Whale it was for his sin in flying from the presence of the Lord yet when in his affliction he cryed to God God heard and delivered him Jonah 2.2,10 I cryed by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord and he heard me out of the belly of hell cried I and thou heardest my voice And the Lord spake unto the Fish and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land SECT 12. 12. Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation Satan useth to be very busie to tempt us when we are in affliction The two seasons wherein the Devil did in a more eminent manner set upon Christ with his temptations were when he was in the Wilderness Mark 1.13 He was in the Wilderness forty dayes tempted of Satan and when he was entring upon his Passion Luke 22.53 This is your hour and the power of darkness The Devils at that time bestirred themselves to the utmost of their power in tempting and afflicting the Lord Jesus Now God hath stripped you of all or the greatest part of your enjoyments and brought you as it were into a Wilderness now that you must expect to suffer more hardship and difficulties then formerly you may look to meet with more then usual temptations The Devil is ready to take occasion from others afflictions to tempt us 2 Thess 3.3,4,5 How much more will he take advantage from our own afflictions to assault us with his temptations If Satan be busie to tempt had you not need to watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation I might here caution you against several temptations I will instance in four or five 1. Take heed of entertaining hard thoughts of God as though God dealt hardly with you or of his wayes as if there were no profit in serving of God because you have suffered so deeply notwithstanding you have endeavoured to serve the Lord Satan hath baffled very eminent persons with this temptation Job in his haste uttered such an expression as this Job 30.21 Thou art become cruel to me Jeremiah in his distress le ts fall such words as these Jer. 15.18 Why is my pain perpetual and my wound incurable which refuseth to be healed wilt thou be altogether unto me as a lyard and as waters that fail David being exercised with many afflictions said lin his hast though upon second thoughts he called in his words again that all the pains that he had taken in serving God was ladour in vain Psal 73.13,14 Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my bands in innocency for all the day long have I been plagued and chastened every morning To fortifie you against this temptation of calling in question the goodness of God or thinking there is no advantage cometh by serving God let me advise you to do these things 1. Judge of God according to that representation which he maketh of himself in his Word Now the Scriptures represent God to be a good God Ps 86.5 Thou Lord art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all that call upon thee When the Lord proclaimed his Name to Moses he proclaimed his name after this manner Exod. 34.5,6 The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodness He is so abundant in goodness that his goodness fills the whole earth Psal 33.5 The Earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. He is so good a God that there are some expressions of his goodness towards every person and every creature upon the face of the earth Psal 145.9 The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works His goodness is so great that no words can express it we may admire it but we cannot deciare the greatness of it Zech. 9.17 How great is his goodness and how great is his beauty Even in his most terrible acts there is abundance of goodness Psal 145,6,7 Men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts they shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness 2. Consider what good thoughts of God the servants of the Lord have had in their greatest afflictions though in time of temptation some of Gods servants have uttered some rash expressions derogatory to the good ross of God yet afterwards they have humbled themselves greatly for such speeches as we may see Job 42.3,6 David calls himself fool and heast for speaking dishonourably of God in his afflictions Psal 73.13,22 Take the servants of God when they have been freed from or gotten the victory over temptation and you shall finde them admiring and speaking highly in the commendation of Gods goodness in their greatest afflictions Psal 119.68 Thou art good and dost good and this David spoke when he was spoiled of his goods ver 61. The bands of the wicked have robbed me and when his sorrows were so great that his soul melted under them ver 28. My soul melteth for he aviness Neither his losses nor his sorrows made him question Gods goodness but he saith under both thou art good and dost good In another Psalm after he had expressed the greatness of his sorrows Psal 31.9,10 I am in trouble mine eye is consumed with grief yea my soul and my belly for my life is spent with grief and my years with sighing He breaks out into
vain But whoever they are that seek and serve the Lord he will give them grace and glory and all good things Psal 34.10 They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing Psal 84.11 The Lord Godiva Sun and a shield the Lord will give grace and glary and no good thing will to with hold from them that walk uprightly He doth not only 〈◊〉 but giveth great rewards to every one that keepeth his Commandments Psal 19.11 In keeping of them there is great reward 2. When God enyes his servants or takes from then temporal blessings he give them spiritual blessings When he afflicts their Bodies the is good to their Souls Laius 3.25 The Lord is good unto them that wait for him to the soul that seeketh him The poorest of Gods servants that have least of the things of this world are blessed with all spiritual blessings Eph. 1.3 and spiritual blessings are for better than temponal blessings 3. The very afflictions and troubles of Gods servants are profitable to them as hath been before cleared from several Scriptures as Heb. 12.10 He chastneth us for our profit Psal 119.71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted It must needs therefore be unreasonable to say there is no profit in serving God because his servants meet with many afflictions 4. The great day of putting a difference between them that serve God and them that serve him not is the day of Judgment then it shall evidently appear to the whole world even to them that can see no advantage now in godliness how much it profiteth a man to serve the Lord Mal. 3.14,17,18 Ye have said It is vain to serve God and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance and that we have walked mournfully before the Sord of Hosts They that is they that serve me shall be mine saith the Lord of Hosts in that day when I make up my Jenels and I will spare them as a man sparrth his own son that serveth him then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not 2. Take heed of being drawn by this affliction to depart from God Satan hath prevailed with some upon the account of their afflictions to turn afide from God and to give over waiting upon him 2 Kings 6.33 This evil is of the Lord what should I wait for the Lord any longer As some took distaste at Christs words and departed from him John 6.60,66 Many of his Disciples when they had heard this said This is an hard saying who can bear it From that time many of his Disoiples went back and walked no more with him So many take such offence at the providences of God that they depart from God and will walk no more in his wayes If you should be followed with this temptation to prevent your yielding to it let me suggest to you these following considerations 1. Consider whom you forsake when you forsake the Lord God is your life and will you not cleave to your life Deut. 30.20 That thou mayest love the Lord thy God and that thou mayest cleave unto him for he is thy life and the length of the dayes Acts 17.28 In him we live and 〈◊〉 and have our being And will you forsake that God without whom you cannot live or continue in your being one moment A man will chuse rather to part with his Estate his Friends his Liberty yea all that he hath rather than part with his life Joh. 2.4 Skin for skin yea all that a man hath will he give for his life If life be thus dear should you not rather forsake all that you have than forsake God who is your life God is our glory Psal 3.3 Thou O Lard art a shield for we my glory Now many will chuse rather to dye that to part with their glory 1 Gor. 9.15 It were better for me to dye than that any man should make any glorying void God is your friend and hath been your Fathers friend Now no wise than will readily forsake a true and an ancient friend Prov. 27.10 Thine own friend and thy father's friend forsake not God is orought to be your chiefest joy Psal 43.4 I will go unto the Altar of God unit God my exceeding jay Most men are desirous of and follow after joy and will you be so foolish as to forsake your chiefest joy God is the chefest good there is nothing in heaven or in earth comparable to God Psal 73.25 Whom have I in heaven but thee and there it none upon earth that I desire besides thee There are many that pretend at least to seek after that which is good Psal 4.6 There be many that say who will shew us any good And will you be so unwise as to forsake the chiefest good Whoever that was in heaven forsook heaven excepting the Devils The best thing in heaven is God Whom have I in heaven but thee and will you forsake the best thing in heaven Did not God make you and hath not he maintained you ever since you were in the world And will you forsake the God that made you and hath redeemed you out of all your troubles and hath maintained you to this day Deut. 32.6 Do you thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise Is not he thy father that hath bought thee hath he not made thee and established thee Whom have you to go to if you forsake God can any give you eternal life besides God John 6.67,68 Jesus said unto the twelve Will ye also go away Then Simon Peter answered him Lord To whom shall we go thon hast the words of eternal life Can any forgive your sins besides God Mark 2.7 Who can forgive sins but God only and what a sad condition will you be in if your sins be not forgiven who can save you in time of trouble and who can save you from the torments of Hell besides God Psal 3.8 Salvation belongeth unto the Lord. You must shortly dye and unto whom will you commend your souls when you dye if you for sake the Lord Psal 31.5 Into thy hand I commit my spirit thou hast redeemed me O Lord God of truth In forsaking God you forsake your own mercies and involve your selves in unspeakable misery 2. Consider how contrary this is to the example and practice of the Saints and Servants of God in all ages to forsake God because of your afflictions if you observe their practice and carriage you shall finde that they have cleaved to God and continued constant in their walking with God in the midst of their greatest troubles Psal 44.17,18,19 All this is come upon us yet have we not forgotten thee neither have we dealt falsly in thy covenant our heart is not turned back neither have our steps declined from thy way though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons and covered us with the shadow of death Jobs afflictions were very
wilt not put an end to thy miseries but wilt plunge thy self irrecoverably into far greater miseries than those that thou lyest under how great and many soever thy troubles be for Murderers shall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone Rev. 21.8 Now all the troubles of this life are nothing compared with the torments of Hell if it were possible for one man to have all the pains and tortures inflicted upon him that have been endured by all the men upon the face of the earth since the Creation of the World and he should suffer them a thousand years this would be far short of what the damned suffer in hell What the Apostle saith of the glory that the Saints shall have in heaven Rom. 8.18 I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us the same is true of the torments of hell all the sufferings of this present life are not worthy to be compared with the torments that the damned in hell shall suffer to all eternity 3. It is the Devil tempts thee to put an end to thy miseries by putting an end to thy dayes God counsels thee otherwise he directs thee to a better way of getting out of thy troubles than by destroying thy self and that is by calling upon God and casting thy burdens upon him and flying for refuge to his Son Jesus Christ Psal 50.15 Call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee Psal 55.22 Cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee Matth. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Satan desires to have thee come unto him that he may torment thee and to that end he moves thee to destroy thy self Christ calls thee to come to him that he may give thee rest Now whether is it better to obey the call of Christ which will bring rest or to follow the counsel of the Devil who seeketh nothing else but thy eternal destruction Plea 2. I lived in good credit heretofore but now my Estate is gone I must look to be despised and disrepected and slighted and I cannot tell how to bear the loss of that esteem and respect which I have had formerly I had as good dye as see my self slighted Answ 1. Though you be brought low yet if you have lowly hearts God will respect you as much as ever he did Psal 138.6 Though the Lord be high yet hath he respect unto the lowly He will not only respect your persons but your prayers also Psal 102.17 He will regard the prayer of the destitute and not despise their prayer If you live in the fear of God all good men will honour you as much as ever they did Psal 15.4 He honoureth them that fear the Lord. 2. If you should meet with shame and scorn and reproach this is the hand of the Lord he is to be eyed in this as well as in other afflictions Isa 43.28 I have prophaned the Princes of the Sanctuary and have given Jacob to the curse and Israel to reproaches Psal 44.9,13,14 Thou hast cast off and put us to shame Thou makst us a reproach to our neighbours a scorn and division to them that are round about us Thou makest us a by-word among the heathen a shaking of the head among the people and seeing it is the Lords doing you must bear it patiently you must not in anger cast away your lives because God hath taken away your repute and honour 3. Suppose you should lose that credit and respect which you have had in the world if you continue in well-doing God will give you immortal honour and eternal glory in the Kingdom of Heaven Rom. 2.6,7 Who will render to every man according to his deeds to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eternal life But by destroying your selves you deprive your selves of eternal glory for all murderers shall be shut out of the Kingdom of Heaven Rev. 22.15 Without are dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers Plea 3. I am afraid I shall be in want or be driven to beg my bread or must be forced to live upon others and I had better dye than live in want or live to be a burden to my self and others or beg my bread Answ 1. God hath given his Servants many encouragements to hope that they shall not want or if they be brought into a necessitous condition that they shall have their wants supplied 2. We should endeavour what we can to maintain our selves without being burdensome to others 2 Cor. 11.9 In all things I have kept my self from being burden some to you and so will I keep my self Acts 20.34,35 Yea you your selves know that these hands have ministred unto my necessities and to them that were with me I have shewed you all things how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus how he said It is more blessed to give than to receive 3. If God should bring you so low as to live upon alms yet this should not make you weary of your lives there are many of Gods children that shall reign with Christ in heaven to all eternity that received alms whilst they were upon the earth as is evident from Matth. 25.35,36,40 Yea Christ himself when he was upon earth received alms Luke 8.1,2,3 Suppose you should be put to beg for your living yet know 1. That it is better to beg than to sin better to beg than destroy your selves for the one is but an affliction the other is a grievous sin 2. Lazarus who was an heir of heaven whose soul was carried by the Angels into Abraham's bosom was so poor that he begged his bread and would have been glad to have had the crumbs that fell from the rich mans Table Luke 16.20.21,22 There was a certain beggar that was named Lazarus which was laid at his gate full of sores and desired to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich mans Table moreover the dogs came and licked his Sores And it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the Angels into Abrahams bosom 3. Our Lord Jesus in his thirst asks a draught of water of a woman of Samaria John 4.7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water Jesus saith unto her Give me to drink 4. If you should be brought to beg your bread the Lord will not forsake you in this desolate condition but will give you his gracious presence Psal 37.25 I have been young and now am old yet have I not seen the righteous for saken nor his seed begging bread It is not ordinary for God to bring righteous persons or their seed to beg their bread but when he doth they are not forsaken of God in that condition 5. The great God condescends so low as to
have any man to say God hath cast me off and utterly separated me from his people Isa 56.3 Let not the son of the stranger that hath joyned himself unto the Lord speak saying The Lord hath utterly separated me from his people We are very subject to mistakes and to think that God hath cast us off when as we have found grace in his sight Psal 31.22 I said in my haste I am cut off before thine eyes nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cryed unto thee Zion thought and said God had forgotten and forsaken her when as she lay near Gods heart and was in his thoughts night and day Isa 49.14,15,16 2. Suppose God did cast you off yet you must not cast him off but acknowledge before God that it is just with God to leave you and cry to him and follow hard after him and hang upon him and hope in his word even at such a time as he casteth off your souls When Heman complained Psal 88.14 Lord why castest thou off my soul He did not cease calling upon God Ver. 9. I have called daily upon thee I have stretched out my hands unto thee Jonah when he thought God had cast him off yet resolves still to wait upon him Jonah 2.4 I said I am cast out of thy sight yet I will look again towards thy Temple When David thought himself cast off by God he encourageth his soul to hope in the Lord Psal 43.2,5 Why dost thou cast me off why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope in God 3. Say not I am sure to go to Hell when I dye for it is yet a day of salvation and the door of hope stands open there is yet time and place for repentance 2 Cor. 6.2 Behold now is the accepted time behold now is the day of salvation Though a man be a perfect slave to sin and Satan yet there is a possibility that he may be brought to repentance 2 Tim. 2.25,26 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them repentance that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the Devil who are taken captive by him at his will and if God give thee repentance though thou hast been as wicked a man as lives upon the face of the earth yet thou shalt surely be saved Ezek. 33.15,16 Prov. 28.13 Isa 55.7 4. Suppose thou apprehendest thy self to have as it were the beginnings of Hell in thy soul yet thy case is not desperate Others that have had pains and horrors in their souls like the pains of Hell have found relief from God Jonah after he had fled from the presence of the Lord and was cast into the Sea and swallowed up by a Fish felt himself in such a distressed condition that he compares his condition to the belly of hell yet he crying to God in this condition was delivered out of it Jonah 2.2 I cryed by reason of mine affliction to the Lord and he heard me out of the belly of hell cryed I and thou heardest my voice When David was in such a state that he compares his pains to the pains of Hell by crying to the Lord he was delivered Psal 116.3,4,6 The sorrows of death compassed me and the pains of hell got hold upon me I found trouble and sorrow then called I upon the Name of the Lord O Lord I beseech thee deliver my soul I was brought low and he helped me 5. It is true that all the while a man liveth in an impenitent condition he treasureth up wrath against the day of wrath and as he encreaseth his sins so also he encreaseth his torments Rom. 2.5 Thou after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thy self wrath against the day of wrath Yet this should not cause any man to destroy himself it should only make a man more earnest in seeking unto God to give him repentance As long as there is life there is hope God may give a man repentance God gave one of the thieves that was crucified with Christ repentance but a few hours before he dyed He calls some into his vineyard at the last hour of the day But after death there is no place for repentance Eccles 9.10 Plea 8. I will repent of my sins and confess them to God and pray God to pardon them before I make away my self and if I do so I hope God will pardon my sins and receive my soul into his heavenly Kingdom as soon as I am dead Answ As long as you have any bloody designs and purposes in your hearts your prayers will avail nothing with God Isa 1.15 When ye spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you yea when ye make many prayers I will not hear your hands are full of Blood Lo here though you make many prayers as long as you have any bloody projects either against your selves or others God will hear none of them Psal 66.18 If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me Now so long as you harbour a purpose and resolution to make away your selves you do regard iniquity in your hearts It is said Prov. 28.13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall finde mercy You mistake the meaning of the Promise if you think that you shall finde mercy upon your confessing of this sin when as you still retain a purpose to commit it I might mention other pleas but I should then enlarge too far upon this head I shall therefore only adde a few propositions concerning this temptation of self-murther that may be useful to those that are exercised with it and so dismiss this point 1. Whensoever any man hath any suggestions or motions put in his minde to murther himself it is not God but Satan puts those motions into his minde how specious pretences soever do attend those motions What is said of the motion that was in the heart of Judas to betray Christ John 13.2 The Devil put into the heart of Judas to betray him the same may be said of the motions that come into our hearts to destroy our selves it is the Devil puts them into us If a man be perswaded to make away himself I may say here as the Apostle in another case Gal. 5.8 This perswasion cometh not of him that calleth you That it is not God by his Spirit but Satan puts these motions into your hearts is evident for 1. God tempts no man to any sin James 13. Let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any man 2. The Spirit of God moveth no man to do any thing contrary to the word Now the word saith expresly Thou shalt not kill The word forbids us doing our selves any harm as well as doing harm unto others Acts 16.27,28 The keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep and seeing
the prison doors open he drew out his sword and would have killed himself But Paul cried with a loud voice saying Do thy self no harm If any say I have Scriptures brought to my minde to encourage and put me forward to make away my self therefore surely it is God and not Satan puts me upon this work I answer Though thou hast some portions of Scripture cast into thy minde to put thee forward to destroy thy self it is not God but Satan transforming himself into an Angel of Light and wresting and abusing the Scriptures that puts thee upon this sinful work When Satan tempted Christ to cast himself down from a Pinacle he brings a Scripture to him he quotes a precious promise out of the Book of Psalms to carry on his temptation the more plausibly Matth. 4.5,6 If Satan made use of Scripture to carry on his temptations wherewith he assaulted Christ then there is no doubt but he will try the same way with us also Now this would be one good means of resisting this temptation to be fully perswaded that all the motions that are put into our hearts to destroy our selves come from the Devil 2. The design of Satan in this temptation is to devour and destroy our souls he is our deadly and implacable enemy and is alwayes designing our hurt when he pretends our good he intends our ruine and therefore what counsel Solomon giveth us concerning a deceitful adversary Prov. 26.24,25 He that hateth dissembleth with his lips and layeth up deceit within him when he speaketh fair believe him not for there are seven abominations in his heart is very seasonable here when Satan speaks us fair we should not believe him for he hates us and hath abominable designs against us in his heart That Satan seeks to devour and destroy our souls by this and all his other temptations may be cleared from several Scriptures as 1 Pet. 5.8 Be sober be vigilant because your adversary the Devil as a roaring Lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour John 10.10 The thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy John 8.44 He was a murtherer from the beginning Now did they that are tempted to make away themselves fully believe that these motions came from Satan and that Satans design in moving them to kill themselves is to devour and destroy their precious souls that he may draw them into the same place of torment where he himself is it would be a good help to resist the temptation 3. There is hope for a man as long as God continueth him in the land of the living that he may obtain Salvation by Jesus Christ if he repent of his sins and believe in Christ how desolate and distressed and desperate soever his condition seem to be I add this proposition because Satan can hardly draw a man to destroy himself till he hath brought him to despair and therefore if the person that is under this temptation could be convinced that there was hope of mercy and salvation for such an one as he is it might be an effectual means of preventing the temptation from taking place I shall therefore endeavour to prove that no man whatever is to conclude his case desperate so long as God permits him to live upon the face of the earth but there is a possibility yea there is hope that he may obtain salvation if he will use the means appointed by God for the saving of his soul and that I prove by these arguments 1. It is the will of God that the Gospel should be preached to every creature under heaven Mark 16.15 Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature Col. 1.23 The hope of the Gospel which ye have heard and which was preached to every creature under heaven As long as a man is out of Hell as long as he lives in the world so long he may have the Gospel preached to him and may have salvation tendered to him by Christ and as long as the Gospel is preached to a man so long 't is a day of salvation that is a day wherein he may obtain salvation if he seek after it 2 Cor. 6.2 I have heard thee in a time accepted and in the day of salvation have I succored thee Behold now is the accepted time behold now is the day of salvation What time doth the Apostle mean when he saith Now is the accepted time now is the day of salvation I answer He means the time when we enjoy the ministry of reconciliation the time when we have the Gospel preached to us as you may see in the former Chapter ver 18. 20. He hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation Now then we are Ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled to God and then adds chap. 6.2 Behold now is the accepted time Behold now is the day of salvation The note of attention is mentioned twice behold behold to cause us to take the more diligent heed to this truth that we should account it a day of salvation as long as we have the Gospel preached to us 2. We are commanded to account the long-suffering of God to be salvation 2 Pet. 3.15 Account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation and therefore they that conclude all hope of salvation is gone and that God suffers them to live only to aggravate their condemnation wrong God and their own souls by harbouring such conclusions in their mindes he therefore suffers us to live that we may have time and space to repent ver 9. The Lord is long-suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance Rev. 2.21 I gave her space to repent 3. The Scripture holds it forth plainly that as long as a man lives in the world he is not to cast away his hope Eccles 9.4 To him that is joyned to all the living there is hope It is true if once a man be dead and hath not wrought out his salvation before he dies the door of hope is for ever shut against that man but while he is in the Land of the living there is hope that he may obtain mercy 4. Whilst a man continues upon the face of the earth Christ calls him to look to him for salvation and promiseth him salvation if he doth look to him Isa 45.22 Look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth Look unto me and be ye saved that is I will save you if you look unto me And whom doth Christ call to look to him for salvation All the ends of the earth that is all men that live upon the face of the Earth from one end of the Earth to another so that as long as a man is not cast into Hell but is permitted to live upon the face of the Earth he should not conclude his case desperate 5. We find God hath rebuked
dwell with him in heaven to all eternity John 12.26 If any man serve me let him follow me and where I am there shall also my servant be Col. 3.24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance for ye serve the Lord Christ 4. We must walk uprightly whatever we do for God or for men we must do it with an upright heart we must put away all guile and dissimulation and hypocrisie and speak the truth from our hearts and be upright and sincere in all manner of conversation for such as walk uprightly while they live shall dwell with God in heaven to all eternity Psal 140.13 The upright shall dwell in thy presence Psal 15.1,2 Lord who shall abide in thy tabernncle Who shall dwell in thy holy hill He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart Isa 57.2 He shall enter into peace they shall rest in their beds each one walking in his uprightness Psal 84.11 The Lord God is a Sun and Shield the Lord will give grace and glory and no good thing will he with-hold from them that walk uprightly Matth. 25.23 His Lord said unto him Well done good and faithful servant thou hast been faithful over a few things I will make thee ruler over many things enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. 5. We must persevere in believing and serving Christ and walking uprightly with him all our dayes Matth. 24.13 He that shall endure unto the end the same shall be saved Rev. 2.10 Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life No sufferings whatever must deter us from serving of the Lord Jesus though it be the suffering of death it self 2 Tim. 2.12 If we suffer we shall also reign with him if we deny him he also will deny us Mark 8.35 Whosoever will save his life shall lose it but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospels the same shall save it SECT 17. 17. Let this affliction put you upon preparing your selves for all other afflictions that God shall try you withal whilst you are in this world When God had been contending with Israel by Fire he calls upon them to prepare for further Judgments Am. 4.11,12 I have overthrown some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and ye were as a fire-brand plucked out of the burning yet have ye not returned unto me saith the Lord therefore thus will I do unto thee O Israel and because I will do this unto thee prepare to meet thy God O Israel Afflictions oft-times come thick one after another Job 16.14 He breaketh me with breach upon breach Psal 34.19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous As God dealt with Eli when he began he went on till he had brought upon him all his pleasure 1 Sam. 3.12 In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house when I begin I will also make an end So it is oft-times in his dealings with others when he begins to afflict he follows on with one affliction after another until he hath throughly humbled them and made them lie at his foot therefore one affliction should warn us to prepare for another and as Christ adviseth us in our sufferings from men Matth. 5.39,40 I say unto you that ye resist not evil but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek turn to him the other also and if any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat let him have thy cloak also We should be so far from quarreling and contending with those that afflict us that one injury should make us willing and ready to suffer another The same advice is very seasonable when we are under any affliction from the hand of God we should be so far from resisting Gods will that when he taketh one mercy we should resign up all the rest When he sends one affliction we should be willing and ready to suffer another We are exhorted Heb. 13.3 Remember them which suffer adversity as being your selves also in the body As long as we are in the body we are liable to all kindes of adversity and therefore we should stand prepared for whatever afflictions it shall seem good unto the Lord to lay upon us If you desire to know how you should be prepared for all sorts of afflictions See Quest 3. Sect 12. SECT 18. 18. Encourage and comfort your selves in the Lord when any perplexity seizeth upon you or any sad and troubled thoughts arise in your mindes upon the account of your own losses or upon the account of the misery and distress that is like to come upon the Nation by reason of this dreadful Judgment When Ziglag David's City of Refuge was set on fire by the Amalekites and both David and his men had lost their Wives and Children and their substance which made them weep till they could weep no more and besides all this David was in danger of losing his life for the people spake of stoning him in this great distress David encourageth himself in the Lord 1 Sam. 30.6 David was greatly distressed for the people spake of stoning him but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God You cannot readily be in greater distress than David was at this time and if he in his distress encouraged himself in God when he had lost his Habitation Wives Substance c. and was also like to lose his life may not you finde that in God which may encourage you in all your distresses which are not so great as Davids I will propose briefly some grounds of comfort and encouragement besides what hath been said upon the first Quest Sect. 17. page 118 c. to such of the Servants of God as are cast down either at their own losses or at the distress and misery which is like to follow in the Nation upon the account of this sore Judgment 1. God is all-sufficient to shield and defend you from all those evils which you fear will come upon you and to make up whatever good you fear you shall be deprived of now you have lost your Estates Gen 15.1 After these things the word of the Lord came unto Alram in a vision saying Fear not Abram I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward Why should that man fear any evil that hath God for his shield and why should that man be disquieted for the want or loss of any worldly good things who hath the great and all-sussicient God for his exceeding great reward It may be you will say It is true if I knew that God were my shield and my exceeding great reward I think I should be so comforted that nothing would trouble me but I do not know that God is my shield and my reward this is spoken to Abraham and not to me I answer The same promises and blessings which were given to Abraham do belong to every one that believeth in Jesus
Christ Gal. 3.7,9 Know ye that they which are of faith the same are the children of Abraham So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham 2. Though your Estates be gone and your outward comforts be taken away God himself will stand by you Though your Estates may fail and your Calling may fail and your Friends may fail and forsake you God will never fail you nor forsake you Heb. 13.5 He hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee He hath said Who is that God who is a God of truth a God that cannot lye a God that changeth not the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee and why should that man be cast down that hath the God of all consolation continually with him yea though not only Estate and Calling and Friends fail but your hearts fail you also yet God will not fail you but will be yours for ever Psal 73.26 My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever But I am afraid my trials will be so great that my faith will fail me and what can I expect then but that God should fail me also Answer 1. The Lord Jesus will take care of your Faith that it shall not totally or finally fail Luke 22.31,32 Simon Simon Behold Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not 2. Though there may be some partial failings in your faith yet God will not fail to fulfil his promise wherein he standeth engaged not to leave nor forsake you 2 Tim. 2.13 If we believe not yet he abideth faithful he cannot deny himself therefore when fears and discouragements begin to seize upon you remember that God calleth to you Isa 41.10 Fear thou not for I am with thee be not dismayed for I am thy God I will strengthen thee yea I will help thee yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness Isa 43.1,2 Fear not for I have redeemed thee thou art mine when thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee Though the fire be long since quenched yet it may be you will feel the sad fruits and effects of this Fire as long as you live but if you should be not cast down but look upon God that he according to his promise will be with you to strengthen and support you when you pass through the fires 3. You are as dear to God as ever he loves you now you are poor as much as he did when you were rich Psal 40.17 I am poor and needy yet the Lord thinketh upon me Though your Estates be gone yet Gods love remains firm to your souls and shall continue stedfast towards you although you should meet with greater mutations in your estate and condition than you have done to this day Isa 54.10 The mountains shall depart and the hills be removed but my kindenss shall not depart from thee neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee Whatever dangers or troubles compass you about you are and alwayes shall be compassed about with the loving kindness of the Lord Psal 5.12 Thou Lord wilt bless the righteous with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield Now this is a ground of everlasting comfort and may cause us in all conditions to shout for joy to understand that we are in the love and favour of God as is evident from the 11. verse Let all those that put their trust in thee rejoyce let them ever shout for joy because thou defendest them let them also that love thy Name be joyful in thee Three times the Psalmist calls out to the Servants of God to rejoyce Let them rejoyce let them be joyful in thee let them ever shout for joy and why what is it which may be a ground of everlasting joy to them in all estates and conditions Many times they are poor and under great afflictions what reason then have they to shout for joy for ever He renders the reason why a godly man may and ought to be alwayes joyful ver 12. For thou Lord wilt bless the righteous with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield That Gods love is a ground of everlasting comfort in all estates and conditions is evident from 2 Thess 2.16 Our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God even our Father which hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation 4. Though your Houses and Estates be consumed and your Trading fail and your Friends should turn away from you and stand aloof from your sore God will not turn away from doing of you good as long as you live Jer. 32.40 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 When you are in trouble and have no friend in the world to go to if you go to the Lord he will be your refuge and succour and comfort you in all your straits Psal 9.9 The Lord will be a refuge for the oppressed a refuge in times of trouble Isa 66.13 As one whom his mother comforteth so will I comfort you and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem When the Jews were in the Wilderness God followed them with a constant supply of all their wants The pillar of fire and the cloud never departed from them Exod. 13.21,22 The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light to go by day and night He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night from before the people And though they sinned against God yet he forsook them not as Nehomiah confesseth Nehem. 9.19 Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsockest them not in the Wilderness the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day to lead them in the way neither the pillar of fire by night to shew them light and the way wherein they should go And as God guarded and guided them by night and by day so whereever they were he rained down Manna upon them and gave them water to drink he never failed them of a seasonable supply of their wants forty years together Nehem. 9.20,21 Thou gavest also thy good Spirit to instruct them and with-heldest not thy Manna from their mouth and gavest them water for their thirst yea forty years didst thou sustain them in the Wilderness so that they lacked nothing their clothes waxed not old The Manna did not cease till the day that they entred into Canaan
you Prov. 23.10,11 Remove not the old land-mark and enter not into the fields of the fatherless for their redeemer is mighty he shall plead their cause with thee By managing your work in truth and righteousness you shall prosper in what you take in hand Psal 45.4 Ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness 5. Before you enter upon building sit down and consider your cost and charge consider also your own ability whether you have sufficient to defray the charge of Building lest you be necessitated to leave your work imperfect or to run your selves into debt and bring great and unnecessary incumbrances upon your selves Luke 14.28,29,30 Which of you intending to build a tower sitteth not down first and counteth the cost whether he have sufficient to finish it lest haply after he hath laid the foundation and is not able to finish it all that behold it begin to mock him saying This man began to build and was not able to finish Especially be careful that you do not exceed your ability to build your houses in a more stately and magnificent manner than becometh your rank and quality The calamities of the present times and the many objects of charity call for frugality and moderation in this kinde Overmuch curiosity and expensiveness in Building is taxed as a sin Jer. 22.14 We may and many do transgress by too much cost and curiosity in adorning our Bodies 1 Tim. 2.9 1 Pet. 3.3 If not lawful to bestow too much coft in adorning our Bodies then surely we must use moderation in adorning our Houses for our Bodies are of more worth and value than our Houses 6. Follow your work with a willing minde and with diligence if you would have it go on successfully A willing minde will carry on difficult work with great ease Nehem. 4.6 So built we the wall and all the wall was joyned together unto the half thereof for the people had a minde to work Diligence and industry will effect great things but slothfulness and negligence will spoil and bring to nought good undertakings Eccles 10.18 By much slothfulness the building decayeth and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through Yet here is need of caution that you do not immerse your hearts and spirits too much in your worldly business so as to forget or unfit your selves for the coming of Christ either by death or judgment Many men are so immoderate in their use and management of worldly things that they fall into a spirit of slumber and security so that the day of death and of judgment will come upon them as a snare when they neither think of or are prepared to meet the Lord Luke 17.28,29,30 As it was in the dayes of Lot they did eat they drank they bought they sold they planted they builded but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed It is not building or planting any more than eating or drinking but the inordinate affections of men and their worldly spirits their security and sensuality in the management of their worldly business that is here condemned by our Lord Jesus Christ 7. Aim at Gods glory in this work and not your own and so manage the whole business that nothing of reproach or dishonour may redound to the name of God but that God in all things may be glorified That general rule 1 Cor. 10.31 Whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do do all to the glory of God should take place in this as well as any other of your works You should not look only or chiefly at your own conveniences in Building but at the glory of God so the Jews did in building Jerusalem Ezra 4.3 We our selves together will build unto the Lord God of Israel If you be tempted from a vain-glorious painciple to be overcostly and curious in building your Houses consider 1. God would not have us do any action whatever for the procuring of vain-glory Phil. 2.3 Let nothing be done through strife or vain-glory Yea God would have us so far from doing any action for vain-glory that he would not have us so much as desirous of it Gal. 5.26 Let us not be desirous of vain-glory 2. With what mean Habitations were our fore-fathers contented Jacob who was a great man a Prince in the estimation of the Angel that wrastled with him Gen. 32.28 contented himself to dwell in a tent which was both a mean and a moveable habitation Gen. 25.27 Jacob was a plain man dwelling in tents so did his Father Abraham Heb. 11.9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange Countrey dwelling in Tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob heirs with him of the same promise Yet Abraham was a great man he was the heir of the world Rom. 4.13 and the father of all the faithful ver 11 16. 3. If that which is expended by many persons in superfluous and needless adorning of their houses were given to the poor how much good might they do would it not be much to their comfort at the day of judgment wherein they must give an account for all their talents how they have used them and what improvement they have made of them 8. It is of much concernment to you whilest you are about this work of Building or when you are about any other work of moment to give good heed to the Word of God for thereby you will be helped much to carry on your undertakings successively When you faint and are discouraged Gods Word will put strength into you when you are under doubts that will resolve you when you turn aside to the right hand or to the left Gods Word will restore your souls and lead you in paths of righteousness it is of great use in these and divers other resnects to help you to carry on your civil employments successfully Deut. 29.9 Keep the words of this covenant and do them that ye may prosper in all that ye do That is a remarkable passage which you have Ezra 6.14 The elders of the Jews builded and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the Prophet and Zechariah the Son of Iddo and they builded and finished it according to the Commandment of the God of Israel The preaching of the word by these two servants of God was a means of carrying on this work of building Jerusalem successfully When God sent forth Joshua about a great work he gave him a special charge to take heed to his word and to read and meditate therein night and day which would be a sure way to be successful Joshua 1.8 This book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have
good success When Solomon was building the Temple it is said 1 Kings 6.11,14 The word of the Lord came to Solomon so Solomon built the house and finished it So he built the house and finished it that is he was strengthened and encouraged by the word of the Lord that came to him to go on with and finish the building 9. While you are busily employed in building your own houses do not forget or neglect the building up of Gods House Hag. 1.4 Is it time for you O ye to dwell in your cieled houses and this house lie waste Solomon setting his heart to the building of Gods House prosperously effected what ever came into his heart for the building of his own house 2 Chron. 7.11 Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the Kings house and all that came into Solomons heart to make in the house of the Lord and in his own house he prosperously effected When I stir you up to build Gods house whilst you are building your own I do not only or chiefly mean places for publick Worship though that also be a very good and laudable undertaking the Centurian who erected a Synagogue was highly respected and extolled by the Jews for this pious work Luke 7.4,5 When they came to Jesus they besought him instantly saying That he was worthy for whom he should do this for he loveth our Nation and hath built us a Synagogue but that which I chiesly intend is that you build up your selves an habitation of God through the Spirit Every true believer is styled Gods house Heb. 3.6 But Christ as a Son over his own house whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoycing of the hope firm unto the end All true Believers are Gods Temple 2 Cor. 6.16 Ye are the Temple of the living God as God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them They are Gods habitation Eph. 2.22 In whom you are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit Now after the foundation of this spiritual building is laid by the souls being drawn to Christ there must be constant and consciencious endeavour to be built up in grace and holiness 2 Pet. 3.18 Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1.5 Besides this giving all diligence add to your faith vertue and to vertue knowledge c. If you ask what shall we do that we may be built up a spiritual house unto the Lord I answer 1. You must lay a good and a right foundation The foundation of this spiritual building is Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 3.11 Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ see also Isa 28.16 Eph. 2.20 The fundamental graces which are wrought in the soul that is built upon Christ are faith and repentance Heb. 6.1 Therefore leaving the principles of the Doctrine of Christ let us go on unto perfection not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith towards God When God had given you repentance for your sins and faith in the Lord Jesus then the foundation of this spiritual building is laid in your souls 2. You must be daily carrying and casting away the rubbish that hinders the progress of this spiritual building After faith and repentance are wrought in truth there remain several relicks of the old man which we must be daily purging away we must make it our work to destroy our sins if we would be built up in grace 2 Cor. 7.1 Having therefore these promises that is ye are the Temples of the living God I will dwell in them and walk in them of which he had spoken in the former Chapter ver 16. dearly beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God We cannot go on to perfect holiness unless we do in good earnest set upon cleansing our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit 3. You must be daily looking to Christ and going to him to carry on and finish that work of grace which he hath begun in your souls Heb. 12.2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our Faith 1 Per. 2. To whom coming as unto a living stone ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house Do not only go to Christ but rest upon him for the perfecting and finishing of what he hath begun in your souls and to that end ponder upon such Scriptures as these Psal 138.8 The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me Phil. 1.6 Being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ The Lord Jesus taketh a great deal of pleasure not only in beginning but in finishing the work of grace in our souls John 4.34 Jesus saith unto them My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work 4. After you have received Jesus Christ you must not only believe in him but walk in him and by so doing you shall come both to be rooted and to be built up in him Col. 2.6,7 As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him rooted and built up in him By walking in and with Christ you shall keep his presence with your fouls for he hath said If we abide in him he will abide in us John 15.4 Abide in me and I in you and 2 Chron. 15.2 The Lord is with you while ye be with him Now by keeping Christs presence with your souls they will be built up in grace Cant. 1.12 While the King sitteth at his table my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof When the owner dwells in the house it is kept in good repair if he leave it and it stand empty all things go to decay As Martha said unto Christ John 11.21 Lord if thou hadst been here my brother had not died The like may a deserted soul that findeth it self fallen to decay upon Gods with-drawing of himself say unto God Lord if thou hadst been here these ruines and desolations had not come upon my soul 5. Prayer performed in a spiritual manner is a great means of building up our souls in the grace of God Jude 20. But ye beloved building up your selves in your most holy faith praying in the Holy Ghost Though praying in a slightly dead-hearted customary formal manner availeth little yet praying in the Holy Ghost that is by the help and assistance of the Holy Ghost and stirring up and exercising the graces of the Holy Ghost in prayer as faith fervency reverence humility c. is an effectual means to build up the soul in the grace of God 6. Converse much with the word of God read it frequently treasure it up in your hearts make it your meditation night and day that is the way to be built up a spiritual house unto the Lord 1 Pet. 2.2,5 As
day and after his sickness he composed a Song or Psalm to set forth Gods praise and resolved to sing this Song in the house of God all the dayes of his life Isa 38.9,20 The writing of Hezekiah King of Judah when he had been sick and was recovered of his sickness then follows the Song it self to the 20. verse where he expresseth his resolution by way of gratitude to sing this Song all the dayes of his life The Lord was ready to save me therefore we will sing my Song to the stringed Instruments all the dayes of our life in the house of the Lord. Yet notwithstanding all this Hezekiah is taxed with not returning according to the benefit done unto him 6. They whose Houses and Estates have been preserved from this dreadful Fire may know what they ought to return to God for this great deliverance by observing what the Servants of God have returned unto the Lord at such times as God hath vouchsafed unto them any eminent deliverances though it were not a deliverance from Fire but from some other evil and also by considering what special duties God calleth for in his holy Word from such as have escaped those judgments that have fallen upon other men or have received any other signal mercy from the Lord. These things being premised I shall now answer the third Question SECT 1. 1. Render to God your love for his great mercy in preserving your houses and substance from being consumed by this Fire God deserves to be loved by all those whom he preserveth from any evils Ps 31.23 O love the Lord all ye his Saints for the Lord preserveth the faithful When David was in a wonderful manner delivered from the hands of his enemies he resolves with himself that he would love God with an entire and an endeared love for the deliverances he had received from him Psal 18. ver 1. compared with the title of the Psalm A Psalm of David the Servant of the Lord who spake unto the Lord the words of this Song in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul and he said I will love the Lord my strength The Hebrew word that is used in this place signifieth more then barely to love it notes an inward entire cordial love it is translated by Junius and also by Piscator Exintimis visceribus diligam te And at another time when David was communing with his own heart about what return he should make to God for delivering him from the gates of death upon his crying to him Ps 116.3,4,12 he determins to give God his love verse 1. I love the Lord because he heard my voice and my supplications That thing which a Christian prizeth most and desireth of God above all other things is his love Cant. 1.2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth for thy love is better than wine Psal 63.3 Thy loving kindness is better than life So it is with God that which he prizeth most from us and that which he desireth above all other things is that we should give him our love Deut. 10.12 And now Israel what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God to walk in all his wayes and to love him and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul Cant. 4.10 How fair is thy love my Sister my Spouse how much better is thy love than wine and the smell of thine oyntment than all spices If any ask which way shall we express our love to God for this great deliverance I answer 1. By hating and abhorring all evil and endeavouring to root out all manner of sin both from your selves and your families Psal 97.10 Ye that love the Lord hate evil Sin is an abominable thing in the sight of God and therefore he entreateth us that if we love him we would not do that which his soul hateth Jer. 44.4 Oh do not this abominable thing that I hate 2. Express your love to God by being careful to keep his Commandments John 14.15 If ye love me keep my Commandments 2 John 6. This is love that we walk after his Commandments God accounted obedience of his Commandments a truer token of love than the offering of a multitude of sacrifices in those times when sacrifices were in use 1 Sam. 15.22 Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord Behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of Rams 3. Express your love to God by doing all the service you can for his Saints and Servants You cannot be any wayes beneficial to God but you may be to his people Psal 16.2,3 My goodness extendeth not to thee but to the Saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight And what you do for them the Lord will account of it as done unto himself Math. 25.40 Verily I say unto you inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren ye have done it unto me Three times our Lord Jesus calls upon Peter to express his love to him by doing good to his members Joh. 21.15,16,17 Jesus said to Simon Peter Simon son of Jonas lovest thou me more than these He saith unto him yea Lord thou knowest that I love thee He saith unto him Feed my Lambs He saith unto him the second time Lovest thou me He saith unto him yea Lord He saith unto him Feed my Sheep He saith unto him the third time Lovest thou me Feed my Sheep SECT 2. 2. They that have sustained little or no loss by this dreadful fire wherein so many thousands of persons and families have suffered very deeply have great cause to give thanks unto God for sparing and delivering their substance and their houses from this devouring Fire The Prophet Isaiah having mentioned altime of great desolation wherein a little remnant should escape telleth us what this remnant should render unto the Lord Isa 24.13,14 When thus it shall be in the midst of the Land among the people there shall be as the shaking of an Olive Tree and as the gleaning Grapes when the vintage is done they shall lift up their voice they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord Four times in one Psalm doth the Holy Ghost call upon the children of men to praise the Lord for delivering them out of their distresses Psal 107.8,15,21,31 O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men When David was delivered from the hands of violent men he was much affected with the mercy of God and determines to give God hearty thanks for it Psal 18.48,49 Thou hast delivered me from the violent man therefore will I give thanks unto thee O Lord among the Heathen and sing praise unto thy Name To be delivered from the violence
of fire is as great a mercy as to be delivered from violent men and therefore you should resolve to give God thanks for your deliverance as David did for his Be not only affected with this mercy for the present but let the sense and remembrance of it abide with you as long as you live When the Israelites escaped safe through the Red-Sea where the Egyptians were drowned they were much affected with this mercy for a little while but in a short time it was as much forgotten as if it had never been received Psal 106.12,13 They sang his praise they soon forgot his works David was of another spirit he charged his soul never to forget Gods benefits but to bless God and be thankful for them all the dayes of his life Psal 103.2 Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits Psal 34.1 I will bless the Lord at all times his praise shall continually be in my mouth Psal 30.12 O Lord my God I will give thanks unto thee for ever Psal 104.33 I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live I will sing praise unto my God while I have my being We please God exceedingly when we give him praise and thanks by Jesus Christ for the mercies he bestoweth upon us Heb. 13.15,16 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his Name for with such sacrifice God is well-pleased Psal 69.30,31 I will praise the Name of God with a Song and will magnifie him with Thanksgiving this also shall please the Lord better than an Oxe or Buliock that hath horns and hoofs God accounts the praise that his servants offer up to him in the Name of his Son melodious and delightful musick Ephes 5.19,20 Making melody in your heart to the Lord giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ To raise up your thankfulness to God for sparing your houses and substance and not suffering them to be destroyed by the late dreadful fire Consider 1. What a great affliction it is to be destitute of an habitation and of necessary food When David was in a wandering unsetled condition he met with such difficulties as made him shed many a tear Psal 56.8 Thou tellest my wanderings put thou my tears into thy bottle And when God gave him a setled habitation he dedicates his house to God and resolves to be thankful all the dayes of his life Psal 30.12 O Lord my God I will give thanks unto thee for ever This purpose of giving thanks for ever relates to the time that he dedicated his house to God as you may see in the title of the Psalm When the Israelites were destitute of an habitation and were tryed with hunger and thirst it was such an affliction as made their souls faint within them Psal 107.4,5 They wandered in the Wilderness in a solitary way they found no City to dwell in hungry and thirsty their souls fainted in them When Jacob was forced to flee from his fathers house to avoid his brother Esau's fury and knew not what straits he might meet with he looked upon it as such a great mercy to have food and raiment that he Covenants with God to become his servant if he would but give him bread to eat and rayment to put on Gen. 28.20,21 Jacob vowed a Vow saying If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on then shall the Lord be my God To be stricken with hunger and not to have wherewith to satisfie our hunger is a greater misery than to be pierced through with a Sword Lam. 4.9 They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger for these pine away stricken through for want of the fruits of the field 2. Consider how many there are who lived as plentifully and comfortably as you do that were as good or better than you are that are brought to want and exceeding great straits by the losses they have sustained by this Fire And have not you cause to admire Gods goodness and to bless him as long as you live for sparing you when so many have suffered so deeply who yet it may be provoked God less than you have done SECT 3. 3. Let the great calamities that are come upon others and the goodness of God towards you lead you to repentance cause you to humble your souls before God for your sins and to put away far from you all iniquity and to be more careful and conscientious in keeping the Commandments of God Ezra 9.13,14 After thou hast given us such deliverance as this Should we again break thy Commandements Rom. 3.4 The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance God expects that we should be led to repentance by others sufferings as well as our own Daniel reproveth Belshazzar because he did not humble himble his soul before God notwithstanding he knew what great things his father had suffered Dan. 5.20,21,22 When his heart was lifted up and his mind hardned in pride he was deposed from his Kingly Throne and they took his glory from him c. And thou his son O Belshazzar hast not humbled thine heart though thou knewest all this When Judah had seen the great judgments which God sent upon her sister Israel and was not brought to unseigned repentance by them God was much offended at it and Judah's case was rendered thereby far worse than Israels Jer. 3.7,8,10,11 I said after she had done all these things Turn thou unto me but she returned not and her treacherous sister Judah saw it And I saw when for all the causes whereby back-sliding Israel committed adultery I had put her way and given her a bill of divorce yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not but went and played the Harlot also And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart but feignedly saith the Lord And the Lord said unto me The back-sliding Israel hath not justified her self more than treacherous Judah When but eighteen persons suffered by the fall of the Tower of Siloam Christ tells us that the meaning of that Providence was to call all that heard of it unto repentance Luk. 13.4,5 In the time of the Law when but one person suffered exemplary punishment and that not by an immediate stroke from God but by the hands of men all Israel was to take warning from his sufferings and to be afraid of sinning against the Lord Deut. 13.10,11 Thou shalt stone him with stones that he die And all Israel shall hear and fear and shall done more any such wickedness as this is among you See also Deut. 17.12,13 Even that man shall die And all the people hear and fear and do no more presumptuosly If the suffering of one man by the hands
of the Magistrate did strike such terror into the hearts of all Israel as to make them afraid of sinning against God then what a forcible argument should the sufferings of so many thousand of persons and families by the late Fire and Pestilence be to all the people of this Land to perswade them to repent of their sins and turn to the Lord That you may be awakened both by your own mercies and others sufferings to set upon the serious performance of this duty of repentance let me propose to you three or four Considerations 1. It angereth the Lord exceedingly when we go on in an impenitent condition after he hath bestowed any eminent deliverances upon us Ezra 9.13,14 After all that is come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespass seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve and hast given us such deliverance as this Should we again break thy Commandments and joyn in affinity with the people of these abominations wouldst thou not be angry with us till thou hast consumed us so that there should be no remnant nor escaping When Israel sinned at the red Sea where they had been in a wonderful manner preserved from the hands of Pharaoh it did mightily provoke God to displeasure Psal 106.7 They provoked him at the Sea even at the red Sea 2. Such as are not led to repentance by Gods goodness are despisers of the riches of Gods grace and do treasure up wrath against the day of wrath Rom. 2.4,5 Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth to repentance But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thy self wrath against the day of wrath and revelatirn of the righteous judgment of God 3. Though God may spare you a while yet he will not spare you alwayes but without repentance divine vengeance will persue after you and over-take you and fall upon you to your utter and eternal destruction Luk. 13.3 Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Psal 68.21 God shall wound the head of his Enemies and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses Prov. 29.1 He that being often reproved hardneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy It is neither wisdom nor riches nor honour nor power nor any other excellency that shall or can exempt that man from destruction that doth not repent of his sins Not Wisedom for He respecteth not any that are wise of heart Job 37.24 Nor Riches Job 36.19 Will he esteem thy riches no not gold nor all the forces of strength Prov. 11.4 Riches profit not in the day of wrath Nor Honour Isa 23.9 The Lord of Hosts hath purposed it to stain the pride of all glory and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the Earth Neither shall power or strength avail to keep of Gods wrath from impenitent persons 1 Sam. 2.9 By strength shall no man prevail Nah. 1.6 Who can stand before his indignation and who can abide the fierceness of his anger Though a man were for gifts and other excellencies equal to the Angels yet none of his excellencies or endowments will keep of Gods wrath from him if be go on in his sins 2 Pet. 2.4 God spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to Hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment SECT 4. 4. Do not judge those to be the greatest sinners who have been the greatest sufferers by this fire It is a sin which easily besets those that are in prosperity to despise and censure those that are in adversity Job 12.5 He that is ready to slip with his feet is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease Job's three friends censured him for a hypocrite and an irreligious person because God laid such great afflictions upon him When the Barbarians saw the Viper upon Pauls hand they said among themselves No doubt this man is a murderer whom though he bath escaped the Sea yet Vengeance suffereth not to live Acts 28.4 To prevent this Errour Consider 1. It is expresly against the mind of Christ to judg those to be the greatest sinners that are the greatest sufferers He cautioneth us twice against this sin Luk. 13.1,2,3,4,5 There were present at that season some that told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilat had mingled with their sacrifices and Jesus answering said unto them Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans because they suffered such things I tell you Nay but except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Or those eighteen upon whom the Tower of Siloam fell and slew them Think ye that they were sinners above all that dwelt in Jerusalem I tell you Nay but except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish 2. It is the property of humble persons to think better of others than themselves Phil. 2.3 In lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves They are wont to account themselves the least of Saints and the chiefest of sinners Ephes 3.8 Vnto me who am less than the least of all Saints 1 Tim. 1.15 Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief 3. It hath been the lot of righteous men in all ages of the world to meet with many troubles and afflictions Psal 34.19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous yea their afflictions and troubles are more than what other men meet withal David speaking of wicked men saith Psal 73.5 They are not in troubles as other men neither are they plagued like other men 4. We wrong God and provoke him to anger when we misjudge his Providences and dealings with his servants Job 42.7 My wrath is kindled against thee and against thy two friends for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right as my servant Job hath And what was it wherein Eliphaz and his two friends offended in speaking such things of God as were not right Was is not in misconstruing of Gods Providence in sending afflictions SECT 5. 5. Put on bowels of compassion towards such as have been sufferers by this fire and towards all others that are in an afflicted distressed condition and be ready upon all occasions to do all offices of love for any of them as far as it lyeth in your power to be helpful to them Pity them Job 6.14 To him that is afflicted pity should be shewed from his friend Mourn over their afflicted condition Job 30.25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble Was not my soul grieved for the poor Rom. 12.15 Weep with them that weep There is a wo pronounced against those that are not affected with their brethrens miseries Amos 6.1,6 Wo to them that are at ease in Zion That drink Wine in Bowls and anoint themselves with the chief Ointments but they are not grieved for the
afffliction of Joseph Pray for them that God would comfort and support them under and bring them out of their distresses Psal 25.22 Redeem Israel O God out of all his troubles Psal 132.1 Lord remember David and all his afflictions Counsel and help them in the management of their affairs and carry your selves like a father to them Job 29.15,16 I was eyes to the blind and feet was I to the lame I was a father to the poor Visit them and comfort them in their afflicted condition Jam. 1.27 Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world Relieve them that are in want Eccles 11.1,2 Cast thy bread upon the waters for thou shalt find it after many dayes Give a portion to seven and also to eight for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the Earth Job 31.16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23 If I have withheld the poor from their desire or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail or have eaten my morsel alone and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof for from my youth he was brought up with me as with a father and I have guided her from my mothers womb If I have seen any perish for want of clothing or any poor without covering if his loins have not blessed me and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep If I have lift up mine hand against the fatherless when I saw my help in the gate then let mine arm fall from mine shoulder-blade and mine arm be broken from the bone for destruction from God was a terror to me and by reason of his highness I could not endue Lend to them that would borrow any thing of you in their necessity Matth. 5.42 Give to him that asketh thee and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away Lending as well as giving is a duty enjoyned by God but both the one as well as the other must be managed with discretion Psal 112.5 A good man sheweth favour and lendeth he will guid his affairs with discretion And to make you willing to lend upon all occasions unto those that come to borrow ought of you if they be such persons as your Conscience tells you it is your duty and your discretion that it is meet to lend to them consider that for this very thing God will greatly bless you in all that you set your hands unto Deut. 15.7,8,10 Thou shalt not harden thy heart nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother but thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need in that which he wanteth Thou shalt surely give him and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto yea God will not only bless you but your posterity also for this thing Psal 37.26 He is ever merciful and lendeth and his seed is blessed In all respects carry your selves towards those that are in a suffering condition as you would desire they should have carried themselves towards you if they had been in your condition and you had been in theirs for this is according to the rule which is given us by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Matth. 7.12 All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do ye even so to them for this is the Law and the Prophets When you see any in distress and find your selves backward to relieve them say to your own hearts as Mordecai did to Esther in anothers case when she was unwilling to put forth her self for the help of the distressed Jews Esth 4.14 Who knoweth whether thou art come to the Kingdom for such a time as this Who knoweth whether my Estate was preserved from the fire for such a time as this When therefore you are considering with your selves what you shall render unto the Lord for his great mercy towards you in preserving your substance from the fire determine with your selves to do what I have been exhorting you unto namely to put on bowels of compassion towards all that are in distress and to do all the good you can for them according as God shall Minister ability and opportunity unto you for God is al-sufficient and needeth not any thing that you can do for him Act. 17.25 Neither is worshiped with mens hands as though be needed any thing seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things Your goodness extendeth not unto him Psal 16.2 neither can you be profitable to God as you may be profitable to his people Job 35.7,8 If thou be righteous what givest thou him or what receiveth he of thine hand Thy righteousness may profit the Son of Man God expects this from us that when he hath bestowed any eminent mercy upon us we should express our gratitude by doing good to others that are in distress Luke 22.32 When thou art converted strengthen thy brethren As it is in respect of comfort when God gives us comfort it is not only for our selves but also to enable us to comfort others 2 Cor. 1.4,6 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we our selves are comforted of God Whether we be comforted it is for your consolation and salvation So it is with riches they are not given to us only for our own use but also to enable us to relieve the wants and necessities of others We are not Lords but Stewards of our Estates and must one day give an account of our stewardship And it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful 1 Cor. 4.2 Stewards must not dispose of what is committed to their charge according to their own but according to their Lords will SECT 6. 6. Seeing God hath so mercifully spared you beware that you deal not rigorously or cruelly with any that have been sufferers by this Fire do not speak or do any thing that may add to the affliction of the afflicted and instead of oyl pour vinegar into their wounds God is sorely displeased with those that add to the affliction of the afflicted Zech. 115. I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease for I was but a little displeased and they helped forward the affliction Psal 69.24,25,26 Pour out thine indignation upon them and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them let their habitation be desolate and let none dwell in their tents for they persecute him whom thou hast smitten and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded Therefore do not use any insulting language or speak any bitter words to such as are brought low Rom. 11.17.18 If some of the branches be broken off boast not thy self against the branches Jer. 48.26,27 Moab shall wallow in his
houses and upon all persons that dwell in them and upon all affairs that are transacted in your houses You know it is said Psal 93.5 Holiness becometh thy house O Lord for ever If therefore you would give your houses to God let those that are the masters of the house in the first place look unto themselves that they be holy in all manner of conversation and follow the example of David Psal 101.2,3,4 I will walk within my house with a perfect heart I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes I hate the work of them that turn aside it shall not cleave to me A froward heart shall depart from me Then endeavour to bring your Children and your Servants and all that live in your houses to serve God in holiness and righteousness Josh 24.15 As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. Endeavour to get godly servants into your houses or at least to make them such after they are come under your roof Psal 101.6,7 Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land that they may dwell with me he that walketh in a perfect way he shall serve me he that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house he that telleth lyes shall not tarry in my sight Let holiness be written not only upon all persons but upon all your houshold affairs Be holy in your eating and drinking govern your Children and Servants and follow your Calling in an holy manner entertain all that come to your houses in a godly sort In a word be holy in all manner of conversation and do not think this to be too great preciseness for 't is no more than what is commanded 1 Pet. 1.15 As he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation God would have us so eminently holy in managing our civil employments that all that converse with us may see holiness so evidently in what we do as if it were written upon our employments Zech. 14.20,21 In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses holiness unto the Lord and the pots in the Lords house shall be like the bouls before the Altar yea every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness to the Lord of Hosts 3. Suffer none that come to or dwell in your houses to speak or do any thing that may tend to the dishonour of God but endeavour as much as in you lieth to glorifie God your selves and to bring all that live with you so to speak and so to walk as that God in all things may be glorified Psal 29.9 In his Temple doth every one speak of his glory If you would have your houses become as it were Temples of God you must suffer no cursing no lying no scoffing no back-biting no rotten communication in your houses but every one must speak and walk so as God may be glorified When David dedicated his house to the Lord he begins the Psalm that he composed at the dedication thereof with a purpose and resolution to extol and glorifie God Psal 30.1 I will extol thee O Lord. Extol God in your hearts extol God in all your discourses extol God in your conversations extol God in all your wayes After David had been delivered from the hands of his enemies he thought it not enough to give glory to God himself but calleth upon others also to magnifie God with him Psal 34.3 O magnifie the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together Do you follow his example seeing God hath so graciously preserved your houses and substance from this fire do not only glorifie God your selves but call upon your Wives and Children and Servants and all that are in your Families O magnifie the Lord with me and let us exalt his Name together 4. If you would dedicate your houses to God make them houses of prayer pray with your Family every morning and every evening and besides praying with your Family go into your Closet and pour out your souls to God in secret and call to your Servants and Children to pray in secret as well as to joyn in family prayer Matth. 21.13 My house shall be called the house of prayer 5. Entertain with a willing and chearful minde all Gods friends and ghests that he at any time sends to your houses After you have dedicated your houses to God you should be as willing to entertain Gods friends and Gods ghests as your own If you ask who are Gods friends and who are his ghests I answer 1. All godly men John 15.14 Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you When God puts it into the hearts of any of his servants to come to your houses you should most gladly receive them for they leave a blessing behinde them Matth. 10.41 He that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous mans reward 2. All godly Ministers when you receive them into your houses the Lord Jesus taketh it as kindly as if you received himself or his Father John 13.20 Verily verily I say unto you he that received whomsoever I send receiveth me and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me 3. Such as are strangers Matth. 25.35 I was a stranger and ye took me in Heb. 13.2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers for thereby some have entertained Angels unawares Job 31.32 The stranger did not lodge in the streets but I opened my doors to the traveller 4. Such as are driven from their own Houses or their own Countrey for Conscience sake Isa 16.3,4 Hide the out-casts bewray not him that wandereth let mine out-casts dwell with thee Moab be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler When we see any persons harbourless that are honest and well disposed we should take pity on them and receive them into our houses Isa 58.6,7 Is not this the fast that I have chosen Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house when thou seest the naked that thou cover him and that thou hide not thy self from thine own flesh SECT 8. 8. Seeing God hath spared and preserved your Estates from this Fire by way of gratitude devote and dedicate your Estates to God and resolve to spend them according to his will and employ them for his glory We are commanded to honour God with our substance and we shall be no losers by spending any part thereof for the advancing of his glory Prov. 3.9,10 Honour the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thine increase so shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine If you ask how you should honour God with your Estates I answer 1. Do not spend them upon your lusts what is spent for the satissying of pride sensuality curiosity vain glory or the like that is spent upon your lusts and you may be sure that what
fornication but for the Lord Prov. 16.4 The Lord hath made all things for himself Rev. 4.11 Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Now seeing our bodies and souls were created for Gods pleasure Is it not meet they should be yielded up unto God 2. The Lord Jesus gave himself both body and soul for us He yielded his body to be crucified for us which was both a shameful and a painful death 1 Cor. 11.24 This is my body which was broken for you 1 Pet. 2.24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the Tree that we being dead unto sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed Isa 50.6 I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked of the hair I hid not my face from shame and spitting Why should we refuse to give our bodies to be burned imprisoned banished tortured or to suffer any affliction for the sake of Christ seeing he gave his body to suffer such a shameful and painful death for us The Lord Jesus did not only give his body but his soul also an offering for our sins Isa 53.10 It pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed Shall we stick at giving our souls to Christ when he did not stick at making his soul an offering for our sins 3. It will be much for the advantage both of our bodies and souls to give them unto God for he will sanctifie them and make them his Temple and come and dwell in them 1 Cor. 3.16 Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you 2 Cor. 6.16 Ye are the Temple of the living God as God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them Now who are they to whom the Apostle speaks when he saith Ye are the Temple of the living God c. They were such as had given themselves to God as you may see Chap. 8.5 But first gave their own selves to the Lord What greater honour or happiness are our souls and bodies capable of whilst they are in this world than to become Temples of the living God But besides this if we give our bodies and souls unto God he will glorifie both our bodies and souls in an unexpressible manner in the Kingdom of Heaven to all eternity The Sun is a glorious creature it dazleth our eyes to behold it God will give his Saints in Heaven a glory equal to the brightness of the Sun Matth. 13.43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father yea they shall excel the Sun in glory for they shall be equal to the Angels and the Angels are far more glorious ceatures than the Sun Luk. 20.36 Neither can they dye any more for they are equal unto the Angels and are the Children of God being the Children of the Resurrection yea they shall be made like to Christ their bodies shall be made like to his glorious body Phil. 3.21 Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body and their souls shall be made like to his glorious soul 1 Joh. 3.2 We shall be like him for we shall see him as he is We that is not our bodies only or our souls only but our persons both body and soul shall be like him SECT 10. 10. Render to God the Sacrifices of righteousness When we have received any eminent mercy from God he expects that we should offer up unto him the sacrifice of a righteous and godly life which will please him better than all the Sacrifices that were offered up under the Law Psal 4.5 Offer the Sacrifices of Righteousness Psal 51.17,19 The Sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Then shalt thou be pleased with the Sacrifices of righteousness When David was wonderfully delivered from the snares of death he determines to offer this Sacrifice to God namely to walk humbly and holily before God all the dayes of his life Psal 116.6,7,8 I was brought low and he helped me Thou hast delivered my soul from death mine eyes from tears and my feet from falling Then see what he renders to God for this mercy I will walk before the Lord in the Land of the living I have touched upon this head before and therefore I shall not enlarge farther upon it only I shall add two Scriptures which do imply that it is our duty after we have received any eminent deliverances to labour after a more eminent degree of holiness than we had before and are also promises that God will sanctifie our deliverances for the making of us more holy Obad. 17. Upon mount Zion shall be deliverance and there shall be holiness Isa 4.2,3 In that day shall the Branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious and the fruit of the Earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel And it shall come to pass that he that is left in Zion and he that remaineth in Jerusalem shall be called holy even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem In the former Chapter the Prophet had foretold the ruine of Jerusalem and the fall of Judah Isa 2.8 and here he foretells that a little remnant should escape and promiseth that Gods judgments on others and his mercy in delivering them should conduce much to the promoting of their holiness and cause them to prize highly the Lord Jesus who is understood by the Branch of the Lord Zach. 3.8 by whose merits and mediation they should obtain their deliverance SECT 11. 11. Let this deliverance cause you to seek after and to trust in God for farther mercies and deliverances when you are brought into straits This use God servants have been wont to make of their deliverances as you may see by these instances Judg. 15.18 And he was sore a thirst and called on the Lord and said Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant and now shall I die for thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised 1 Sam. 17.37 David said moreover The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the Lion and out of the paw of the Bear he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine 2 Cor. 1.10 Who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in him we trust that he will yet deliver us This God expects that when he hath shielded us from or helped us out of one trouble we should trust him when we come into another Psal 115.9 O Israel trust thou in the Lord he is their help and their shield Psal 61.3,4 Thou hast been a shelter for me and a strong Tower from the Enemy I will
abide in thy Tabernacle for ever I will trust in the covert of thy wings Psal 4.5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness and put your trust in the Lord. God was much displeased with the Israelites when they did not trust in him notwithstanding he had done great things for them Psal 78.21,22,23,24 Anger came up against Israel because they believed not in God and trusted not in his salvation though he had commanded the clouds from above and opened the doors of heaven and had rained down Manna upon them to eat see also ver 32 33. For all this they sinned still and believed not for his wonderous works therefore their dayes did he consume in vanity and their years in trouble We render that which is very pleasing and acceptable to God when we put our trust in him for The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him in those that hope in his mercy Psal 147.11 If you ask For what should great and remarkable deliverances cause a man to trust in God I answer 1. When a man hath had any remarkable deliverance out of any trouble it should encourage him to trust in God under all his straits and troubles that come upon him all the dayes of his life Psal 18.50 Great deliverance giveth he to his King and sheweth mercy to his anointed to David and to his seed for evermore This Psalm was penned upon the occasion of that deliverance which God gave David out of the hands of Saul as you may see in the title of the Psalm and from this deliverance he concludeth that God would deliver him for ever Psal 6.9 The Lord hath heard my supplication the Lord will receive my Prayer see the fore-quoted Scriptures 1 Sam. 17.37 2 Cor. 1.10 But some may say How can this be That deliverance from one trouble or calamity should cause us to trust in God for deliverance from another when as we see they that escape one judgment are cut off or suffer deeply by another I answer 1. When God cuts off and destroys those whom he hath formerly delivered it is usually such as distrust him and turn away from him Jude 5. The Lord having saved the people out of the land of Egypt afterward destroyed them that believed not Josh 24.20 If ye forsake the Lord and serve strange gods then he will turn and do you hurt and consume you after that he hath done you good 2. When God brings his servants who trust in him into new troubles their faith is not vain but brings down a great blessing for when they are not delivered from troubles they are delivered in trouble and are kept from the evil of trouble that it doth not hurt them and this is a great deliverance Job 5.19 He shall deliver thee in six troubles yea in seven there shall no evil touch thee 2. Deliverance from temporal evils should encourage the servants of God to trust in the Lord for deliverance from spiritual evils and the bestowing upon them spiritual blessings As for instance 1. When they have had deliverance out of trouble they should conclude that God will also deliver them from all their sins and preserve them in a state of grace till he hath brought them to himself in glory Thus Paul concludes from his deliverance that he had from Nero that God would deliver him from every evil work 2 Tim. 4.17,18 I was delivered out of the mouth of the Lion and the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom 2. The servants of God that have escaped great calamities and been delivered from great dangers should trust in God for a broken heart to mourn for their sins for God promiseth this mercy to such as escape great judgments Ezek. 7.16 They that escape of them shall escape and shall be on the Mountains like Doves of the Valleys all of them mourning every one for his iniquity 3. When the servants of God escape out of great troubles it should cause them to trust in God to deliver them from the deceit of their own hearts and to direct the work of faith and repentance in truth in their souls Isa 10.20,21 The remnant of Israel and such as are escaped of the House of Jacob shall no more again stay upon him that smote them but shall stay upon the Lord the Holy One of Israel in truth the remnant shall return even the remnant of Jacob unto the mighty God This remnant unto whom God promiseth faith and repentance in truth are such as should escape the great calamities that were coming on the Jews as you may see ver 21 22. 4. When the servants of God have received any eminent deliverances they should be encouraged thereby to trust in God for power and strength to walk before God in holiness and righteousness as long as they live Psal 56.13 Thou hast delivered my soul from death wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling that I may walk before God in the light of the living If any say What grounds have the servants of God to take encouragement from temporal deliverances to trust in God for all spiritual blessings Amongst others that may be named I will mention these two 1. Redemption from outward troubles is given to the servants of God by vertue of the Covenant of Grace as well as spiritual blessings Psal 111.9 He sent redemption unto his people he hath commanded his covenant for ever Psal 106.44,45 Nevertheless he regarded their affliction when he heard their cry and he remembred for them his Covenant Now when we finde God remembring his Covenant in one kinde it may encourage us to trust in God for all the other blessings which are promised to us in Gods Covenant 2. Redemption from outward troubles is given to the servants of God from the same love of God that spiritual blessings are bestowed upon them Isa 63.9 In all their afflictions he was afflicted and the Angel of his presence saved them in his love and in his pity he redeemed them and he bare them and carried them all the dayes of old Isa 38.17 Behold for peace I had great bitterness but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption Psal 18.19 He brought me forth into a large place he delivered me because he delighted in me Now even outward deliverances being tokens of Gods love to his Servants they may thereby be encouraged to trust in God for spiritual blessings Psal 36.6,7,8 There is much of Gods love seen in his preserving our persons and goods O Lord thou preservest man and beast how excellent is thy loving kindeness his loving kindness should cause us to trust in him therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings And this loving kindeness of God should cause us to trust in him not only for outward but also for spiritual blessings as appears from the eighth verse SECT 12. 12. Let this deliverance cause you to prepare
for your day of visitation and to be ready to undergo whatever afflictions God shall see meet to lay upon you Amos 4.11,12 I have overthrown some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and ye were as a fire-brand blucked out of the burning prepare to meet thy God O Israel Both they that have suffered by this Fire should prepare for farther sufferings as hath been hinted in the second Question and they that escaped this burning should prepare against the day of their visitation Preparing your selves for afflictions is no way inconsistent with that trusting in God to which I exhorted you in the former Section but is an effect and fruit of Faith It was Noah's faith and not his diffidence that moved him to prepare an Ark when he understood the Flood was coming Heb. 11.7 By Faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear prepared an Ark This being a needful point for a Christian to be prepared for all sorts of affliction I shall enlarge a little upon it and shew you 1. Why it is needful that we should be prepared for all kindes of affliction 2. How this may be done There is great reason that we should prepare our selves and stand ready for all sorts of affliction because 1. As we are men men that carry about with us a body of sin and death we are liable to troubles and calamities every day as long as we live in this world Job 5.7 Man is born unto trouble as the sparks flie upward Job 14.1 Man that is born of a woman is of few dayes and full of troubles For ought we know every day may bring forth as much trouble as we are able to bear if it be otherwise we must ascribe it to the goodness of God Matth. 6.34 Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof and this is our condition as long as we live to be liable to trouble and sorrow all our dayes Gen. 3.17 Cursed is the ground for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the dayes of thy life There is not any one creature in the world no not that from which we promise our selves most comfort but at one time or another it may vex our very souls Eccles 2.17 All is vanity and vexation of spirit 2. As we are godly men so we are liable to many and great troubles Psal 34.19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous Rev. 7.14 These are they which came out of great tribulation Acts 14.22 We must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God God would not have any godly man promise himself immunity from trouble but would have him prepare for the sharpest tryals 2 Tim. 3.12 Yea and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution If we look over the examples of Gods servants we shall finde they have all gone through very great tryals What crosses did Jacob meet with from his brother Esau his Uncle Laban his own Children c. there was scarce a day wherein he did not meet with some trouble as he tells Pharaoh Gen. 47.9 Few and evil have the dayes of the years of my life been David who was a man after Gods own heart had a great portion of troubles Psal 73.14 All the day long have I been plagued and chastned every morning Psal 31.9,10 Mine eye is consumed with grief yea my soul and my belly for my life is spent with grief and my years with sighing Heman was full of troubles and that from his youth up and those so great that he was ready to dye under them Psal 88.3,15 My soul is full of troubles and my life draweth nigh unto the grave I am afflicted and ready to dye from my youth up Yea Jesus Christ who was Gods own Son was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief Isa 53.3 3. We cannot assure our selves that we shall be exempted from any kinde of trouble for whilst we are in the body we are liable to all kindes of adversity Heb. 13.3 Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them and them which suffer adversity as being your selves also in the body Better than we are have met with all sorts of troubles Psal 88.7 Thou hast afflicted me with all thy wayes Psal 42.7 All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me We may meet with such afflications as we never looked for or scarce so much as thought of them Isa 64.3 Thou didst terrible things which we looked not for And as all sorts of afflictions do attend us so at all times and in all places we cannot promise our selves freedom from affliction in any place Acts 20.22,23 I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem not knowing the things that shall befal me there save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every City saying That bonds and afflictions abide me Neither can we promise our selves freedom from trouble any one day Prov. 27.1 Boast not thy self of to morrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth Now seeing we are liable to all sorts of afflictions in all places and at all times is it not our concernment to stand prepared continually for all sorts of tryals 4. God oft-times makes very great and suddain changes in our conditions when we least think of them when we are in the height of prosperity and adversity is far from our thoughts when we are looking for nothing but good dayes God suddenly exerciseth us with great tryals Job 30.26 When I looked for good then evil came unto me and when I waited for light there came darkness Psal 30.6,7 In my prosperity I said I shall never be moved Lord by thy savour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled When Job said I shall dye in my nest I shall multiply my dayes as the sand Job 29.18 It was but a little after he complains Terrors are turned upon me they pursue my soul as the winde and my welfare passeth away as a cloud and now my soul is powred out upon me the dayes of affliction have taken hold upon me Job 30.15,16 When Abraham was full of joy for his Son Isaac there ariseth a great affliction in his Family Ishmael scoffs at Isaac Sarah makes sute to Abraham to cast out Hagar and her Son and it is said The thing was very grievous in Abrahams sight because of his Son Gen. 20.11 Afterwards when God was so eminently present with Abraham that Abimelech takes notice of it and desireth to make a league with him Gen. 20.22,23 and after he had been worshiping God ver 33. on a sudden God brought as great a tryal upon him as possibly could befal him he calls him to offer up his Son Isaac for a burnt-offering and that without any delay Gen. 22.2 Take now thy Son thine only Son Isaac whom thou lovest and get thee into the land Moriah and offer him there for a burnt-offering 'T is not take a year
and when God calleth his righteousness his right hand it may imply that Christs Righteousness which is oft called the Righteousness of God as Rom. 1.17 Rom. 3.22,23 is the chief and principal means for the strengthning and upholding of our souls David found great support in all his troubles by looking to this righteousness Psal 71.16 I will go in the strength of the Lord God I will make mention of thy Righteousness even of thine only It is recorded of the servants of God mentioned in the Revelation who went through great tribulations that they were carried through their sufferings by looking and adhering to the sufferings of Christ Revel 7.14 These are they which come out of great tribulation and have washed their Robes and made them white in the bloud of the Lamb. Rev. 12.11 They overcame that is the Devil who raised up persecutions against them as you may see ver 17. by the bloud of the Lamb and by the Word of their Testimony and they loved not their lives unto the death 6. Let us get good evidences that we are in the love and favour of God Well-grounded apprehensions of Gods love to our souls will help us to bear up cheerfully under the greatest trials as Persecution Sword Famine c. and enable us to overcome them all Rom. 8.35,37 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall Tribulation or Distress or Perscution or Famine or Nakedness or Peril or Sword Nay in all these things we are more than Conquerours through him that loved us The apprehensions of Gods love to us will cause us to love God 1 Joh. 5.19 We love him because he first loved us And when we love God we shall bear any thing that comes from him Love to men will make us bear with all things that we meet with from them The Apostle speaking of love saith It beareth all things beliveth all things hopeth all things endureth all things 1 Cor. 13.7 How much more will love to God cause us to bear and endure all things that we meet with from God Love will carry us out to suffer all afflictions even death it self Cant. 8.6,7 Love is strong as death Many waters cannot quench love neither can the flouds drown it When it was a time of great affliction with the people of God they pray hard for the light of Gods countenance and if they could but obtain that they would account themselves in a safe and happy condition notwithstanding all their troubles Psal 80.4,5,6,7 O Lord God of Hosts How long wilt thou be angry with the Prayers of thy People Thou feedest them with the bread of tears and givest them tears to drink in great measure Thou makest us a strife unto our Neighbours and our enemies laugh among themselves Turn us again O God of Hosts and cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved 7. We must get and keep Gods presence with our souls that will fortifie our souls to undergo any troubles with courage and chearfulness Psal 23.4 Yea though I walk through the Valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me Isa 50.7,8 The Lord God will help me therefore shall I not be confounded therefore have I set my face like a flint and I know that I shall not be ashamed He is near that justifieth me who will contend with me Psal 46.2 We will not fear though the Earth be removed and though the Mountains be cast into the midst of the Sea And why What put such courage into them they had Gods presence with them ver 5 7. God is in the midst of her she shall not be moved God shall help her and that right early the Lord of Hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our refuge This upheld Christ and carried him comfortably through all his sufferings who went through greater sufferings than ever any man met with all Act. 2.25,26 I foresaw the Lord alwayes before my face for he is on my right hand that I should not be moved therefore did mine heart rejoyce and my tongue was glad moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope As Gods presence with Christ upheld him so it will also uphold us in all our sufferings If any say It is true Gods presence with a man will help him to do great things but God is departed from me How shall I gain his presence again I answer Gods departing from us usually aristh from our departing from him and if after we are departed from him and he is departed from us we return to him he will return again unto us Zech. 1.3 Turn unto me saith the Lord of Hosts and I will turn unto you saith the Lord of Hosts Mal. 3.7 Even from the dayes of your Fathers ye are gone away from mine Ordinances and have not kept them return unto me and I will turn unto you saith the Lord of Hosts After we are returned to God and he is returned to us if we keep with him he will keep with us 2 Chron. 15.2 The Lord is with you while ye be with him Joh. 15.4 Abide in me and I in you 8. We must get our hearts weaned from the world if our affections be set inordinately on any earthly things we shall find it an hard matter to bear up under our afflictions Jer. 45.3 Thou didst say Wo is me now for the Lord hath added grief to my sorrow I fainted in my sighing and I find no rest And what caused Baruch to faint under his tryals we may see the root of his distemper ver 5. Seekest thou great things for thy self seek them not Though Baruch was a good man his affections were carried out too much after great things in the world and that made affliction very burdensom to him The Apostle Paul who was crucified to the world was prepared and ready to suffer whatever God should call him to Gal. 6.14 The world is crucified unto me and I unto the world Acts 21.13 I am ready not to be bound only but also to die at Jerusalem for the Lord Jesus We must not only set loose to all worldly things but to our own lives also when we are willing to yield up our lives to God we shall not be much moved by any troubles that come upon us for the Lords sake Acts 20.23,24 The Holy Ghost witnesseth in every City saying that bonds and afflictions abide me but none of these things move me neither count I my life dear unto my self Rev. 12.11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their Testimony and they loved not their lives unto the death 9. We must accustom our selves to bear our lesser tryals with patience and submission to the wil of God and that will fit and prepare us for greater There is scarce a day passeth over our heads wherein the Lord doth not in one kind or another try our patience and submission to his will now the right bearing of those crosses
which every day bringeth forth would fit us for greater tryals Lam. 3.27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth If we would know what good cometh by an early accustoming our selves to bear the cross the following verses shew that it will make him patient and silent under his sufferings ver 28. He sitteth alone and keepeth silence because he hath born it upon him It will make a man suffer humbly ver 29. He putteth his mouth in the dust It maketh him suffer willingly ver 30. He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him Our Lord Jesus exhorts us to take up our cross dayly Luk. 9.23 He said unto them If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross dayly and follow me If we did practice this counsel if we did every day expect crosses and quietly submit our selves under such crosses as every day bringeth forth if we could but deny our selves and resign up our wills unto Gods will this would prepare us to undergo any tryal that the Lord shall see meet to lay upon us 10. A well grounded hope of eternal life will help us to bear all the troubles of this life cheerfully A Christian that hath good hope through grace that he shall go to Heaven when he dieth may by vertue of this hope rejoyce and glory in the midst of his greatest tribulations Rom. 5.2,3 We rejoyce in hope of the glory of God we glory in tribulations It was this carried Moses through all the difficulties he met with in leaving Pharaoh's Court in wandering among the Israelites by the space of forty years in the Wilderness Heb. 11.24,25,26 By faith Moses when he was come to years refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's Daughter choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt for he had respect unto the recompence of reward The hope of the reward that he should have in heaven caused him to make light both of the good and evil things of this world Hope of salvation is like an helmet which is of great use for our preservation 1 Thes 5.8 putting on for an helmet the hope of salvation Hope is of the same use to the soul in afflictions that the Anchor is to the Ship in a storm which keeps it from perishing by being driven upon the Rocks or Sands Heb. 6.19 Which hope we have as an Anchor of the Soul both sure and stedfast which entereth into that within the vail Therefore if we would prepare our selves for afflictions we must get a solid and well grounded hope of eternal life 11. Let us consider what it is which we have found in our own experience hath made our yoke heavy and also what we have observed either in reading or by discourse hath made the yoke of affliction heavy and hard to be born by others and let us take care to prevent those things As for instance 1. We may observe that the want of Gods presence in the time of affliction hath made affliction very burdensom and hard to be born 1 Sam. 28.15 I am sore distressed for the Philistines make war against me and God is departed from me and answereth me no more When Saul's Enemies came against him and God was departed this put him into such distress that he knew not what to do When God withdrew from Job in his affliction the want of Gods presence made his affliction very bitter Job 23.2,8,9 Even to day is my complaint bitter my stroke is heavier than my groaning Behold I go forward but he is not there and backward but I cannot perceive him on the left hand where he doth work but I cannot behold him he hideth himself on the right hand that I cannot see him When David was in trouble he tells God if he did hide his face from him he should be like a dead man Psal 143.7 Hide not thy face from me lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit Therefore it is our wisdom to do what in us lyeth to get and keep Gods presence with our souls as was hinted before 2. A galled and guilty Conscience When David was under the sense of guilt in the time of his sickness it was such a burden that he was ready to sink under it Psal 38.3,4 There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sins for mine iniquities are gone over mine head as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me 3. When we promise our selves a setled course of prosperity and do not look for trouble this makes affliction dreadful and terrible Isa 64.3 Thou didst terrible things which we looked not for Psal 30.6,7 In my prosperity I said I shall never be moved thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled 4. When we have not learnt to deny our selves and to resign and to submit our wills unto the Will of God It is very irksome to self-willed persons and such as abound with self-love to meet with crosses Our Lord Jesus exhorts us to deny our selves before he exhorts us to take up our cross Mar. 8.34 Whosoever will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross which implyes that no man can bear affliction with a chearful contented mind but such as have learnt to deny themselves 5. When God doth not only withdraw his presence of which I spoke before but sheweth himself terrible to us in an evil day this maketh affliction very irksome to the soul This the Prophet prayeth against Jer. 17.17 Be not a terror unto me thou art my hope in the day of evil This made the calamity of the Jews exceeding heavy and hard to be born that God set himself against them in the time of trouble Lam. 3.3,7 Surely against me is he turned he hath made my chain heavy 12. Treasure up in your hearts the promises of God which relate to an afflicted condition It is a great help to the bearing of affliction to be well acquainted with the promises that God hath made to his people that are in an afflicted condition David found great comfort from Gods promises in his afflictions Psal 119.49,50 Remember thy word unto thy servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope this is my comfort in mine affliction When he met with such hard tryals that he stood astonished to see how God dealt with him he was filled with joy when he called to minde the promise of God Psal 60.3,6 Thou hast shewen thy people hard things thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment God hath spoken in his holiness I will rejoyce He telleth us elsewhere if it had not been for the comfort that he found in Gods word he had perished in his afflictions Psal 119.92 Vnless thy Law had been my delights I
of evil Isa 4.5,6 The Lord will create upon every dwelling-place of Mount Zion and upon her assemblies a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night for upon all the glory shall be a defence and there shall be a Tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat and for a place of refuge and for a covert from storm and from rain Prov. 12.7 The house of the righteous shall stand 4. The preservation which God hath promised to his people is not limited to this or that particular evil or to any period of time but it extendeth to all sorts of evils and to all times He hath promised to preserve them from all evils Psal 121. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil Psal 91.10 There shall no evil befal thee Job 5.19 He shall deliver thee in six troubles yea in seven there shall no evil touch thee And as this preservation is not limited in respect of evils so neither in respect of time he hath not promised to preserve them for a time and then give over his care of them but he hath promised them preservation all their dayes Psal 121.8 The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth and even for evermore Psal 125.2 As the mountains are round about Jerusalem so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even for ever Isa 46.3,4 Hearken unto me O house of Jacob and all the remnant of the house of Israel which are born by me from the belly which are carried from the womb And even to your old age I am he and even to hoare haires will I carry you I have made and I will bear even I will carry and will deliver you If any say notwithstanding these promises of preservation we see the servants of God do oft-times fall into many troubles as well as other men how then can these promises be any encouragement to us to trust in God I answer 1. We must rely on the promises of God when his providence seemeth to run cross to his promise Rom. 4.18 Who against hope believed in hope according to that which was spoken Job 13.15 Though he slay me yet will I trust in him 2. When God doth not preserve his servants from trouble he doth them good by their troubles he fulfils that promise Psal 85.12 Yea the Lord shall give that which is good Now oft-times it is good for the people of God to fall into affliction Psal 119.71 Wherefore we may with much freedom and satisfaction commit our selves to God in our greatest dangers upon this account that he will make all our troubles work for our good when he doth not preserve us from trouble SECT 14. 14. Take heed to your selves and to your wayes that you do not provoke the Lord to send any more such mighty and dreadful Fires as this late Fire was What counsel our Lord Jesus gave the man that was made whole of his infirmity Joh. 5.14 Behold thou art made whole sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee the same may be seasonable to such as have escaped this late Fire sin no more lest a worse thing than what befel those that were sufferers by this Fire come unto you Pharaoh though he was exceedingly hardened in his sins yet when there had been great thunder and lightning was so affrighted at it that he calls to Moses and Aaron and desireth them to pray for him that there might be no more mighty thunderings and promiseth also to let Israel go which was the sin for which God contended with him Ex. 9.27,28 And Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron and said unto them I have sinned this time the Lord is righteous and I and my people are wicked Intreat the Lord for it is enough that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail and I will let you go and ye shall stay no longer If we be not more hardened than Pharaoh was this dreadful Fire should put us upon confessing our sins to God and reforming our lives and cause us to take heed that we do not provoke the Lord to send any more such mighty Fires amonst us If any say What should we do that we may not have any more such dreadful Fires break out amonst us I answer 1. If we would have no more such dreadful Fires we must make a good use of this Fire so as to be led to repentance by it for if we be not reformed by this Judgment we may well expect that God will follow us with more Judgments Lev. 26.21,23,24 If ye walk contrary unto me and will not hearken unto me I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins And if ye will not be reformed by these things but will walk contrary unto me then will I also walk contrary unto you and will punish you yet seven times for your sins How we should make a good use of this Fire is shewn at large in the second Question and although the directions given therein do chiefly respect such as have been sufferers by the said Fire there are several things hinted that may direct others also as well as the sufferers how to make a good use of this Judgment 2. We must seek unto God with prayers and tears that he would send no more such dreadful Fires When God contended with the Israelites by Fire by the Prayer of Amos this Judgment was removed Amos 7.4,5,6 Thus hath the Lord God shewed unto me and behold the Lord God called to contend by Fire and it devoured the great deep and did eat up a part Then said I O Lord God cease I beseech thee by whom shall Jacob arise for he is small The Lord repented for this This also shall not be saith the Lord God So also by the Prayer of Moses the Fire was stayed among the Israelites when God had kindled a great burning amongst them because of their murmurings Numb 11.1,2 When the people complained it displeased the Lord and the Lord heard it and his anger was kindled and the fire of the Lord burnt among them and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the Camp And the people cryed unto Moses and when Moses prayed unto the Lord the fire was quenched Prayers and tears are very prevalent with God for preventing and removing of personal and national Judgments Joel 2.17,18 Let the Priests the Ministers of the Lord weep between the Porch and the Altar and let them say Spare thy people O Lord and give not thine heritage to reproach Then will the Lord be jealous for his land and pity his people When the sentence of death was passed upon Hezekiah by his prayers and his tears he prevailed with God to prolong his life for the space of fifteen years Isa 38.5 I have heard thy prayer I have seen thy tears behold I will adde unto thy dayes fifteen years 3. If we would have God cease
exalted to give repentance unto Israel but what is that to me I answer 1. This Israel had embrued their hands in the Blood of Christ Acts 2.36 Let all the house of Israel know affuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ and in the words immediately foregoing that Scripture where the Apostle tells them God had exalted Carist to give them repentance he tells them Acts 5.30 The God of our Fathers raised up Jesus whom ye slew and hung upon a tree him hath God exalted to give repentance unto Israel c. Now was Christ exalted to give repentance to them that crucified him and do ye think that he will not give repentance unto you if you go to him for a penitent heart have you committed greater sins than the crucifying of Christ 2. If you question whether Christ will give you repentance you may be satisfied that he will from his own words if you go to him for repentance for he hath said John 6.37 Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out Plea 5. I have committed may some say a very foul sin and I am afraid it should come to light and if it should I shall be ashamed to look any man in the face and I had better make away my self than live to be a publick shame Answ 1. This will not conceal your sins to make away your self for there is a day of Judgment coming wherein God will bring to light and publish in the hearing of the whole world all your sins even your foulest and most shameful sins which you have committed with greatest secresie Eccles 12.14 God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil Luke 12.2,3 There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed neither hid that shall not be known whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the house tops 1 Cor. 4.5 Judge nothing before the time until the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts And therefore if you should escape the shame of your sins here you will at the resurrection and the day of Judgment when God shall disclose your sins to the whole world be put to everlasting contempt Dan. 12.2 Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt 2. The way to get your shameful sins covered is to confess them to God and to humble your souls for them and to flee to the Blood of Christ for by so doing God will pardon them and cast them behind his back and when God hath pardoned them they shall not do you any hurt 1 John 1.9 If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness When God forgives sin he is said to cover it Psal 32.1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered David committed a shameful sin when he murdered Vriah and committed adultery with Bersheba yet upon his confession of these sins God pardoned him Psal 32.5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee and mine iniquity have I not hid I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin Plea 6. I am tempted in my straits to steal and to kill my Children because I cannot maintain them I am tempted also to other sins Now I am afraid if I live I shall fall by my temptations into some foul sin and thereby be a scandal to Religion and to the Gospel and it is better for me to dye than to scandalize Religion and therefore I am of the mind when I can get a convenient opportunity to make away my self that I may not become ascandal to the Gospel Answ 1. You must not commit one sin to avoid another Rom. 3.8 Not as we be slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say let us do evil that good may come whose damnation is just It is a good thing to prevent sin and to prevent scandalizing of Religion yet we must not murder our selves which is a great evil to prevent other sins or scandalizing Religion because it is in the judgment of the Apostle a damnable tenent and practice to do evil that good may come 2. What greater sin or scandal to Religion than for a man that professeth Religion to murder himself and therefore it is a strange delusion for a man to design the making away of himself to avoid other sins or to avoid scandalizing of the Gospel 3. If you be tempted to steal or destroy your Children or any other sins and are afraid that you shall one day fall by these temptations there are better means of avoiding these sins than by murdering your selves and they are such as these 1. Pray to God to keep you from those sins to which you are tempted by Satan or unto which you are enclined by your own hearts Psal 19.12,13 Cleanse thou me from secret faults keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins let them not have dominion over me Psal 119.133 Order my steps in thy word and let not any iniquity have dominion over me 2. Hide Gods Word in your hearts for there is great efficacy in the Word of God when it is treasured up in the heart to keep a man from falling into sin Psal 119.11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee 3. Rest upon Gods Promises wherein he hath promised you that he will not suffer sin to get the dominion over you but when he seeth your sins rising up against you and ready to prevail he will take compassion upon you and subdue your iniquities Rom. 6.14 Sin shall not have dominion over you Micah 7.19 He will turn again he will have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the Sea Go out against your sins in the strength of these promises and though you be often soiled yet renew your combat hanging and cleaving to the promises of God and doubt not but you shall in the conclusion obtain the victory Plea 7. I am a man cast off by God and I am sure to go to Hell when I dye yea methinks I feel the beginnings of Hell already in my Conscience by those terrors of God that are in my soul and a seared Conscience and the longer I live the more I shall sin and the more I shall encrease my torments hereafter and therefore 't is better for me to put an end to my wretched life than to live to encrease my sins and my torments for I do nothing else but treasure up wrath against the day of wrath Answ 1. God would not