oppositions yet if we can but approve our hearts to he sincere to God this was the comfort of all the holy men of God Though David designed this and desired to be instrumental in building the Lord a house though he had not that honor allowed him yet he rejoyced in this that God had put it into his heart 1 Chron. 29.10 11. Then the people rejoyced for that they offered willingly David the King rejoyced with great joy wherefore David blessed the Lord before all the Congregation he accounted it an honor to be imployed in the work but that he made it sincerely his aim was his comfort So Saint Paul though he found many infirmities in himself yet because he was sincere God did afford him eminent assistance I will glory in my infirmities 2 Cor. 12.9 because when I am weak in my self then am I strong in Christ Jesus So he speaks of it as the common support of all believers viz. their sincerity 2 Cor 1.12 This is our rejoycing the testimony of Consciences that in simplicity and Godly sincerity we have had our conversations in the world though we have not been without our failings nor oppositions yet this is that which comforts us against both that God hath honoured us to be sincere though we have met with many troubles yet we have our rejoycings in the midst of our sorrows and this is our comfort 7. To moderate our affections to all things here below so far as they are diversions from our converse with God This Doctrine teacheth us the greatest magnanimity the highest courag the truest generosity and nobleness of spirit that can possibly be found that is a true great spirit which can contemn all the great things of this world You read Moses though he had the opportunity of being Pharaohs Successor in Egypt yet he refused to be called the Son of Pharaohs daughter Heb. 11. chusing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God c. esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt This Doctrine acquaints us with such comforts with such priviledges with such refreshments as render all the most tempting objects in the world inconsiderable 8. To carry it towards God with quietness and submission to his Providences God loves a chearful giver and doer and sufferer Rom. 5.3 and not only so but we glory in tribulation also this is a high pitch they suffered joyfully the â—pâ—yling of their goods Heb. 10.34 This is a point to lose all and yet to be chearful and yet to rejoyce Now what ever troubles we may meet with this Doctrine pacifies and quiets us and makes us chearful in the midst of those troubles it tells us that no troubles befall us but what come from God Afflictions arise not out of the ground nor troubles out of the dust but God lifts up and casts down It teacheth us that God is wise and knows what is best for us and that it is much better for us to be in his carving than our own and that that cannot be amiss that is of Gods doing who is both wise and able and faithful and in all these Infinite I remember a passage of one who when he was threatned to be persecuted imprisoned tormented replied O blessed be God you have not the power of Heaven nor Hell you cannot promise to bring me into the one or to throw me into the other these are beyond your power but God deserves to be trusted in and relied upon 3. To approve our selves to God in sparing no costs nor pains in his service David did disdain to serve God with that which cost him nothing so should we though the service of God be costly to us upon other accounts to pray and to hear and to meditate though it should cost us the sweat of our Souls though it should cost us pains and labour so we do but discharge these duties aright vet we should think all well imployed Mal. 1 8.14 Cursed be the deceiver who having a malé in his flock offers to God a female or a corrupt thing do you present that to God that you dare not present to you earthly Magistrate cursed be that deceiver I am a great God saith the Lord of Hosts and my Name is dreadful among the Heathen and I will make it dreadful among you if you carry it thus towards me 1. P. To injoyn a confinement of our zeal activity and earnestness unto the service of God it is good to be zealous but in what in this in the service of God and the concerns of his Name it is good to be zealous in a good matter zeal is an excellent affection it is the heighth of our affection but it must be well fixt otherwise it is dangerous you find how resolute the people of God have been of old and how zealous in the service of God Josh 24.15 But as for me and my house we will serve the Lord Do you take your course choose whom you will serve whether the Idols of the Nations wherein you live or whether you will serve the true God but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. Joshua speaks first for himself and then for his family he uses this kinde of provocation as a prudential and pressing Argument that would prevail with the people to renounce all their Idols and to submit themselves cordially and heartily to the service of God there is a moderation indeed that is allowable yea necessary which is a duty but moderation in the things of God and an indifferencie therein is a detestable luke-warmness because thou art neither hot nor cold I will spew thee out of my mouth the service of God we are commanded to perform with our might and strength to the utmost Not slothful in business but fervent in Spirit serving the Lord. Lastly This Doctrine teacheth us in all these respects together to honour God and thereby to adorn his Gospel in following its Rules fully and universally in keeping close to his institutions in all our courses The Religion this Doctrine teacheth admits of no mixtures It is pure Religion and undefiled Jam. 1.27 we must not vary from his institutions in any thing we perform to him in the duties of his worship 1. In respect of the Object we must not joyn any thing with God as the Object of morship this hath been the miscarriage of the greatest part of the world in former Ages we must not joyn Idols with God this was the sin of the Jews 1 Kings 18.21 Elijah adjured the people saying if God be God serve him if Baal be God serve him why halt you between God and Baal If these be the Institutions of God follow them if not follow others that are so Again we must not joyn Saints nor Angels with God in his worship this is the great miscarriage of the Papists it was foretold by the Apostle Col. 18. we must not joyn any thing with God as the Object of our love
between God and Believers through Christ the Covenant of Redemption is made between God and Christ that if Christ will condescend to become man and undertake for the sin of all his and make satisfaction for those sins the Lord was well pleased with these Conditions it pleased the Lord to bruise him he made his Soul an offering for sin now all the recompence and compensation that Christ expects looks and did agree for is to see of the travel of his Soul and then he should be satisfied Oh how tender hath Christ been of your good you would be happy if you were as tender of your selves he was willing to leave all and to undergo all upon no other account but this not that he should be a gainer by you when he had finished his course in John 17.5 I have glorified thee on Earth c. One would think it was some greater glory that Christ expected but all that he begs is this with the glory I had with thee before the World was he desired no more nor could have any more because that was so great it could be no greater now that Christ should thus far ingage on the behalf of poor Creatures this is a great ingagement to us and in respect of the Covenant of Redemption was a great ingagement upon the Father and this was that which past between them now that God that can do all things who cannot lye nor do any thing unbecoming his own Excellency is a sure evidence of the stability of his love to Believers this being his condition with Christ in the Covenant of Redemption 4. Because of the fulness of Christs satisfaction the meritoriousness of what he hath done and suffered There is not onely a suffiency in the undertakings of Christ to satisfie for all our Debts to cancel all Scores and acquit his People from all their guilt as Heb. 10.14 By once offering he hath perfected for ever them that be be sanctified By once offering the legal Sacrifices were often repeated time after time yes their most solemn Sacrifices had their Repetitions these could not make the concerns thereunto perfect but Christ by once offering himself hath paid all our Debts and discharged us from the penalty our guilt exposed us to Again as there is a sufficiency in point of satisfaction so there is a Redundancy in point of purchase not onely a sufficiency to acquit them from all their guilt but a Redundancy to intitle them to all the glory and happiness that they are capable of Fithly Because of the constancy of Christs Intercession he did not onely purchase all blessings when he was upon Earth but by his Intercession he is pleading that purchase by spreading that Blood that he hath shed before his Father and thereby procuring all the blessed effects of it to the benefit of his People Heb. 7.25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them He ever lives and he ever lives to make intercession This was an ordinary salutation as Justin Martyr observes amongst the Primitive Christi-when they met one another The Lord is risen â—he is not dead who is the life of our hopes he yet lives to make Intercession Rom. 8.34 Who shall condemn it is Christ that died That alone answers all kind of Objections we have sinned and offended but Christ hath died to make satisfaction for our sins Yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God he is risen that speaks his personal advancement who ever lives to make Intercession that speaks the comfortable Fruit and benefit of it to us The Intercession of Christ must needs be of great force with God our Saviour tells Peter after he had told him his failings Nevertheless I have prayed for thee that thy Faith fail not and if I pray for thee thou needest not question but to find the benefit of my Prayers that God that hears the cries of his poor weak People hath promised that his Ear shall be open to the Prayers of the destitute and therefore he will hear their cries Cau any imagine but that this God who hears the cries of the Ravens must needs have a high regard to the Prayers of his Son this is the great advantage of all that are sincere Believers that they an Advocate continually praying and interceding for them at the Throne of grace Sixthly Because Christ by his intercession is continually making up those fresh breaches that our sins are a new occasioning between God and us there is nothing in all the World can separate us from God but onely sin Isaiah 59.2 Your Iniquities have separated between you and your God c. Therefore all these instances that the Apostle gives here of death and Principalities and Powers c. can onely hurt us so far as they may be occasions of sin for nothing but this can do it and there is none of the most eminent Believers but they have their various sinful failings which occasion new breaches But the love of God in Christ answerâ— all this too if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ If we are offending he is satisfying If we are making God our Enemy he is reconciling and making God our Friend 1. Use by way Information First It may inform us what cause we have to bless God for Jesus Christ you see all depends upon his undertaking all our comforts here and all safety hereafter nay all our happiness for ever all depends upon Christ Oh what cause have we then to bless God for him he is the gift of God that is the summe of all gifts and the Fountain of all gifts for what ever of kindness God hath for us it is upon his account now if God hath given us his Son how shall he not with him give us all things Secondly This may inform us of the dismal estate of all those persons that are out of Christ if God hath nothing of love to poor Creatures but what he hath in and through him then certainly he must have nothing but hatred and indignation against those persons that are out of him John 3.36 He that believes on his Son hath everlasting life Everlasting Life is begun in his Soul he hath the first Fruits of it But he that believer not is condemned already c. That is the wrath of God is upon him before and while he continues in his unbelief and it is like to abide on him still O what a wretched Estate is every Unbeliever in that place that was mentioned before Eph. 2.12 Without Christ without Hope If we are without Christ we are without every thing of comfort Labour to see what you are in your selves where you are while Prayers and endeavours may do you good and while the Door of Mercy is open Consider what you are in your selves and what you may be in him There is love and mercy and all kinds of blessings to be had for you if God accept of you in and through Christ but you can have nothing of love from God but onely in his beloved Son Thirdly It informs us what cause we have to be thankful to God that yet we have means and helps for the getting of an interest in Christ Though our interest in Christ be doubtful and it is good to doubt that we may labour to be more sure yet what cause have we to be thankful that yet we enjoy the means of getting an interest in him this is an incomparable mercy all your hopes depend upon him though it is not clear to you that you can call him yours yet it is Mercy that you enjoy those means by which he may become yours Oh seriously improve these means you know not how soon they may be taken from you or you from them be careful therefore to do the work of the day while the day lasts before the the night comes wherein no man can work 2. Use Is by way of caution take heed of slighting Christ either in his Messengers or Ordinances or Members or in his truth or wayes you see if ever you do obtain any thing of favour from God it must be only upon the account of Christ and will you slight or despise him which you do if you despise his Messengers He that despiseth you despiseth me and he that dispiseth me despiseth him that sent me or if you despise his Ordinances and will not make use of them you despise Christ Make use of them you will say you do make use of them But you may despise them in the slight use of them when every thing of the ordinance is over as well as when the ordinance it self is over when you mind only the bare duty and regard not the consequence and Fruit of the duty 3. Use of Exhort never rest satisfied till you can clear up your interest in Christ there was a strange kind of diligence in David and a high kind of Zeal he expressed for God when he would not recieve comfort nor go up into his Bed until he had provided a place for the Lord. Let the same Zeal appear in you in the getting and obtaining an interest in Christ Oh never give your selves rest until you have some comfortable hope through grace that it is well with you and when you have obtained this interest Labour to walk worthy of Christ Oh be not you a reproach to that blessed name which you profess 2 Tim. 2.19 Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from Iniquity Oh! have nothing to do with sin for these can be coupled together to profess Christ and yet to go on in a course of sin is a contradiction 4. Use Lastly This may be matter of unspeakeable comfort to the People of God that are clear in this great Priviledge that they have a right and title to it it is so sure and certain because it is in and through Christ that God loves them though they may have failings and weaknesses yet still God loves them in Christ as they are offending so he is making up of breaches therefore build all your hopes and expectations upon Christ and labour to walk worthy of that encouragement which he vouchsafes 〈◊〉 you FINIS
in the New Testament 1 Rom. 30. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is Translated despiteful and denotes thus much When his power could not reach the Persons of Professours nor the worldly concerns of Professours yet he did his utmost to blast their names and blemish their reputation he was a reviler he forbore nothing that was injurious to them but what was beyond his power to inflict These were his sins 2. What mercy he did obtain notwithstanding such sins and that in three instances 1. Sparing mercy God had born with him Notwithstanding he was often guilty of those sins which might have brought wrath and destruction more quickly upon him he wondered at Gods patience towards him this is mentioned in this verse That he might shew forth all long suffering When he once came to understand what he had been and what he had done he stands amazed at the holy God that had so much patience with him God had it is true struck him to the ground he admired that God had not struck him as low as hell We are apt to think beholding the gross abominations that are more open and visible in our days what infinite patience there is in God that he doth not immediately break out upon such as are guilty but S. Paul like a poor humble sinner busies himself at home and spends his wondering chiefly on Gods patience towards himself who had been a blasphemer and persecutour and injurious and yet alive and on this side hell yet a pattern of the patience and long-suffering of God 2. He obtained pardoning and renewing mercy in respect of that double change that was wrought upon him there was an outward change in respect of his State and Condition and there was an inward change in respect of the frame and disposition of his heart These were the high and choice mercies which he obtained Mercy in respect of his state and condition Of a childe of wrath he became a childe of mercy and favour from a state of death he was brought into a state of life from a state of condemnation he was brought into a state of absolution and pardon as he himself speaks 2 Ephes 5. Even when we were deed in sins he hath quickned us together with Christ We were dead guilty of death under a state of condemnation but now 5. Rom. 1. being justified by faith we have peace with God Now justification is not only an act of mercy and consists not barely in the remission of sin but it is an act of justice also in regard of the account upon which sin is forgiven this is a Doctrine whereof many in these times speak very lightly therefore to give a right notion of Justification consider it doth not only consist in the bare remission of sin but this remission of sin is upon a valueable consideration Divine Justice having received a valueable satisfaction by the blood of Christ For nothing could expiate our sins but his blood Now S. Paul was sensible of the great mercy of God to him and by this mercy he means pardoning mercy Again he did partake of purging mercy in regard of the inward frame and disposition of his heart This he frequently mentions Thirdly That is not all but he obtained Commissionating grace grace to be employed to be made use of in the highest degree of service to God and his Church From the lowest degree of infamy he was raised to the highest place of trust 12. vers of this Chapter And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me for that be counted me faithful putting me into the Ministry Though the Ministry be never so much despised he accounted it a high honour to be put into it he that was a blasphemer a persecutour injurious that Christ should put this honour upon him here is mercy indeed for such an offender to be spared to be pardoned to be sanctified to be made use of as such a glorious chosen instrument of God among the Gentiles this was mercy indeed 3. What encouragement is there in this and such like famous instances which God hath left upon record as monuments of his mercy for broken hearted sinners who are ready to sink under the weight and burden of their own sins First These examples and standing monuments of Gods mercy to others are incouragements to humble broken hearted sinners because the same Fountain of mercy still stands open to us that was open to them and by these standing monuments God hath enabled his people to answer those puzzling objections that do stick most with them The bowels and compassion of a gracious God are open now which were open to Saint Paul This is the original of all kind of mercies and unless this be open every door of mercy is 〈◊〉 59. Isa 1. The Lords hand is not shortned that it cannot save He hath the same bowels now which he had he is the fame yesterday and to day and for ever his mercy is from one generation to another The mercy of the Lord endures for ever It is no less then twenty times mentioned in the 136. Psalm We have the same fountain opened to us that is the Bowelâ— of God Secondly There is the fame meritorioussâ—â—â— in the bloud of Christ now as was He is the Laâ—â— slain from the foundation of the world There is an everlasting efficacy in his blood The Papists speak of their Treasury of Indulgences that sinners may live upon if they will give a handsome rate for them this is a gross delusion and multitudes have been deceived with it But this is true and real in Christ there is a treasury of all kinde of blessings laid up by his purchase by his once offering up himself be hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified Thirdly There is the same efficaciousness in the Spirit of Grace We have the same operations of the Spâ—â—â— of grace to convince and to convert to sanctifie and renew us to prevent us from siâ—â—ing and to regenerate us to holiness to assist us and to enable us to every good way and work Fourthly If you regard the instrumental cause there is the same vertue in ordinances now which ever was because the strength and vertue of ordinances depend upon Gods presence and concurrence with them Now God hath promised his presence and concurrence to the end of the world 28. Matth. last Lo I am with you to the end of the world Not only with your Persons while your live but with your successours by whom the same ordinances are dispenced when you are dead and gone Again if you regard the final cause salvation and happiness God hath the same love for the salvation of lost and undone creatures now which he had of Old therefore says S. Paul 15. Rom. 8 9. Now I say that Jesus Christ was a Minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises made unto your Fathers and that the Gentiles might glorifie God for his mercy There
and therefore esteem the recovery of his favour a mery worthy the waiting for 3. The unsafeness of this condition Three things there are by which Experimental Christians find themselves very much shaken in this world 1. The Temptations of Satan sometimes making use of the allurements sometimes of the discouragements of this world but the sence of Gods love raises the soul into an holy indifferency about these things as small matter While the bird is upon the wing all th gins and snares laid on the ground cannot intangle it so it is with Souls while conversing with God 2. Inward accusations when Satan and Conscience joyn together in representing to the Soul its Sins and Dangers what amazement and horror do then take hold upon it if God hide his face 3. Outward streights and afflictions but oh what an undaunted courage did the sense of Gods love raise in the Martyrs of old how did it cause them to contemn these things Rom. 5.3 Rom. 8.18 They gloryed in Tribulations and accounted all the sufferings of this life not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed it is therefore in all these respects a Mercy worthy the waiting for 2. The certainty of success in this course all other courses are but the struggling of the Wild Beast in the net by which it is more entangled but it is good for a man to wait Lam. 3. 26. This hope makes not ashamed Rom. 5.5 T is the promise of God that they that wait upon him shall not be ashamed Isa 49.23 Psal 37.9 and what greater assurance assurance can we have than the Word of God we build much sometimes upon the word of men but the Word of God is sure Besides how exact and punctual hath God been in making good what he hath promised When the time was expired of their detainment in Aegypt no sooner was the four hundred and thirty years past but the self same day he accomplishes their promised deliverance Exod. 12.40 41 42. And as punctual was God in delivering his people out of Babylon Dan. 5.30 This was therefore Davids plea Psal 102.13 Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion because the time to favour her yea the set time is come Quest But how may we discern when our set time for Deliverance is come Answ Though we have not such clear and particular Revelations as his people of old had yet have we such general discoveries by which we may guess 1. The lowness of his peoples condition this was the argument prevailed with God Exod. 2.23 24. their sighs and crys under that sore bondage thus 2 King 14 26 27. the bitterness of their affliction 2. The lowness of their dispositon so 1 Pet. 5.6.3 The rage and insolency of their Adversaries Deut. 32.27 Ezek. 20. 22. these have usually been prognosticks of deliverance 3. This is the highest expression of our sincerity and faithfulness when God seemeth to be leaving us for us to be unwilling to leave him to wait upon God and quiet our hearts by faith in his promises notwithstanding all discouragements to believe in him when we cannot see him this is the faith our Saviour commends Thou believest because thou hast seen blessed are they that believe and have not seen Joh. 20.29 This was the excellency of Jobs faith that it was so stedfast in cleaving to God that nothing could unsettle it though he kill me yet will I trust in him Job 13.15 4. 'T is for this end God many times hides his face to exercise the sait and patience of his people in waiting 1 Pet. 1.7 God hath by his Spirit enriched the souls of his people with those grace as might qualify them for this carriage and therefore he leads them by his providence into such conditions as may exercise and call forth those graces 5. This kind of carrigage does not only very much conduce to our support in these dark intervals but to the sweetning Gods return when believers can say as God promises they shall say 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 6. There lies a greater obligation upon Believers to this carriage than upon any others their professions their priviledges the promises God hath made to them their graces are all as so many obligations to wait 7. How long hath God waited upon us before conversion how many repulses and deny al 's have we given to all invitations and after conversion how oft and how long hath God waited our returns from back-slidings and yet though God hath no other obligation upon him to wait for our good but only from his own goodness there lies an obligation upon is by way of debt besides God cannot be benefited by his returns to us only we are there by made happy In a word if we wait upon God God will still wait upon us Isa 30.18 and give us cause to say Lo this is our God we have waited for him this is the Lord we will be glad and rejoyce in his Salvation Titus 2. part of Verse 10. That they may adorn the Doctrine of God our Saviour in all things ST Paul that Vessel of God chosen to bear his Name before the Gentiles Acts 9.15 was so taken up with the common Affairs of the church in general journeying from place to place and having the care of many Churches upon him for the Office of an Apostle was so large and unlimited that indeed it was fit for none but those who are immediately inspired by God with gifts and abilities beyond what others can rationally look for professeth of all the troubles he met with from without none were so considerable none did so much break his thoughts and went so near his Soul as the care of the Churches it is a notable passage of his to shew how hearty he was in minding the concerns of poor Souls 2 Cor. 11.28 where after he had enumerated his several troubles he mentions all these to be as nothing for says he That which comes upon me daily is more than all and that is the care of the Churches This is a temper that becomes so publick an Officer but in regard his Soul was so large and his Commission so extensive he was not long resident in any particular place and therefore he was necessitated to depute others to water that seed he had planted and to carry on that good work that he had begun and upon this account it was that he writes both his Epistles to Timothy 1 Tim. 1.3 and upon this account he here writes to Titus Chapter 1. ver 5. Titus was by birth a Grecian of the stock of the Gentiles and after his Conversion was a constant Companion and Fellow-labourer with this great Apostle and was much imployed by him in the Ministry of the Gospel The great Work that he aimed at in writing this Epistle
3. There can be no kind of adversaries able to match God how contemptibly doth God speak of the proudest adversaries his Church had Isa 51.12.13 Dan. 7. his wisdom and his power are indisputable and so are his affections towards his he can do what he pleases and give what he pleases and he will do for and give to them whatever he sees shall be for their advantage his promises are so large and full that we cannot rationally desire more 2. Though this interest in the Lord as our God be sufficient for our safety yet this singly is not sufficient for our comfort though it will insensibly support it cannot actually refresh without it be improved 1. Because it is not the reality but visibility of this priviledge that affords actual comfort 2. This priviledge may be darkned and eclipsed as we may see in Heman David and Isal 50.10 this priviledge must be improved thousands of cases there are in which nothing but a sense of our interest in the Lord as our God can bear up our hearts what are riches greatness parts in the world sinful shiftings carnal compliances and all kind of imaginable offences against danger in time of our greatest distresses nothing but this Covenant interest in the Lord as our God Vse Exhortation In all your distresses fly to this priviledge as your chief fort your only refuge God hath cast our Lot in times full of danger and is it wisdom to have our weapons to seek when our enemies are in view the expert Seaman when he sees a storm approaching is careful to keep within his harbour there are many visible symptomes of a storm approaching many black clouds hang over heads the best refuge we can make use of is our interest in the Lord as our God to plead that with him this was a course David had much experience of in all his streights Psal 119 94. fly to this as your strong hold Zech 9.12 Motives 1. 'T is is a debt we owe to God God hath sufficiently provided for the safety and comfort of all his people in all conditions and is it not great ingratitude in us not to make use of those advantages he affords us He hath sufficiently provided for their safety in chaining up the rage and power of enemies â—hat they can reach no farther than those comforts which they may comfortably be without they may reach their estates their liberties their lives but not their Souls their everlasting comforts in another world Mat. 10.28 1 Pâ—t 1.5 John 10.28 29. Yea he hath abundantly provided for their comfort he would not have his servants go on discouragedly in the work he hath set them about but with all chearfulness alacrity and readiness of mind and shall we thus requite the lard Deut. 32.32.6 as not to serve him with chearfulness in the abundance of all things 2. 'T is a debt we owe to our selves God hath intrusted every man especially with his own Soul Luke 12.20 and those despondent thoughts which are the fruit of our unbelie fare not only our affliction but our fin 3. 'T is an honour to the Gospel in the primitive persecutions the courage and fortitude of Professours made the Heathens cry out Great iâ— the God of Christians their patience their thankfulness their rejoycings in their sufferings did highly honour their Principles even among their enemies 4. 'T is not so great an advantage to be exempted from affliction as to be enabled to go chearfully through them Zeno that great Merchant thought his shipwrack the best Voyage he had ever made in his life he hade many profitable Voyages before but by this losing Voyage he gained his Soul 5. You know not how soon such calamities may overtake you that you may have need of greater and stronger supports than you ever yet had when death comes and worldly troubles set upon you like an armed man 6. This hath been the renown and glory of those eminent worthies who are now with God they have chearfully born their testimony and obtained a good report through faith Heb. 11. 2. Vse Direction But how should we improve our interest in the Lord as our God in a time of trouble 1. By examining the very foundation and ground-work of all your claims an errour in the foundation hazards the whole structure be sure therefore you begin not at the wrong end a mistake in a Principle occasions a thousand if you set out in a wrong path the farther you go the more you wander begin therefore here am I in the number of those who can warrantably look up to the Lord as their God multitudes there are who call God Father and yet are of their father the Devil John 8.41 42 44. and many again there are who through the weakness of their faith are too shie in making those claims to this priviledge which they may of right many are hasty in catching at the comforts of the promises before they discern in themselves the dispositions to which these promises are made begin therefore with all wariness 2. Improve your interest in God by frequent reviews of those rich treasures you have in him when once you can resolve this grand Quaere that God is yours In what affectionate elevations and heavenly raptures do we find the spirit of David upon these reviews Psal 118.28 Thou art my God and I will praise thee thou art my God and I will exalt thee All the necessities in the world cannot make him poor who hath such a God for his portion There are several sorts of riches mentioned in Scripture Luke 12.21 James 2.5 but of all kind of riches this is the most desirable Of our selves we are poor necessitous Creatures made up of wants empty Cisterns but he is a full fountain our wants of all kinds are far greater than we are able to express but we can none of us want so much as he is able to supply All the calamities in the world cannot make him miserable who hath God for his happiness the primitive Christians did chearfully bear their banishments because they could not be banished from God and prisons which shut out friends because they could not shut out the Lord. God alone is the happiness of Heaven and he that improves his interest in God begins Heaven in his Soul here on earth All the dangers and storms that threaten such can put them into no hazard because God is the great disposer of all things their times are in his hands and this God their God in Covenant 3. Stand upon your guard against all troubled thoughts till you have first examined the ground of them thus did Psalm 42. Psal 43. reason the case with himself Why art thou cast down O my Soul why art thou troubled within me he would not let his troubled thoughts pass till he had first examined them and called them to an account Did Christians stand thus upon their watch they would not be so often surprized with dispondances 4. Suppress all
and it is God that keeps our breath in our nostrils we should otherwise every moment be breathing out our last have we received our beings from him and do we still live upon him then there is all the obligation upon us that can be that we should have reverend thoughts of God and not despise nor contemn him nor prefer other things above him Besides all our supplies are from God it is God that furnisheth us with all our comforts that we enjoy those refreshments that others want and with those mercies that others are denied all this is from the goodness of God and consider how it fares with others and how much better it is with you than it is with them that are your betters and certainly there is very great reason upon this account that we should not thus slight him but depart from every thing that is offensive to him Nay consider not only all our supplies for the present but all our hopes for the future are this God Hast thou any hopes of Heaven and happiness in another world hast thou any right to or any hopes of eternal blessedness all is built upon the goodness of God in and through Christ Nay all our hopes of spiritual mercies even in this world are in God Do you now complain of hardness of heart of Soul distempers it is only God that can be your Physitian Alas means are nothing and instruments are nothing unless God owns them 3. In respect of the welfare of our own Souls there is nothing but iniquity can make us hateful in the sight of God Our afflflictions and outward miseries cannot these may be many times the effects of Gods displeasure but never the cause of his displeasure there is nothing can render us hateful to God but only sin God is angry with nothing but sin now if we would escape the wrath of God we must keep our selves from all sin we must depart from iniquity Why will ye die O house of Israel Ezek. 18.27 30. if you will go on in sin if you will not depart from iniquity there is nothing to be expected but death hell and wrath You can never look that God should be a friend to you while you continue an enemy to him you can never expect that he should be reconciled to you on his part whilst you will not be reconciled to him on your part if sinners will have their will against God God will have his will upon them There is no other way to be free from this curse in all conditions but by departing from iniquity for we make every condition a curse when we mix iniquity with it our comforts then are stumbling-blocks our enjoyments then are snares and temptations whilst we have a sinful nature but they highly encrease our guilt when we abuse these by sin and unless we depart from iniquity all the mercies that we enjoy outward mercies and spirittual mercies are overspread with a curse 2. There are special engagements that lie upon them that name the Name of Christ to depart from iniquity 1. Those that name the name of Christ only in profession appearance must not take the name of Christ in vain God hath expresly said He will not hold them guiltless that take his Name in vain Now this is a taking the Name of God and Christ in vain in allowing our selves in any kind of iniquity this is clear from the Prayer of Agur Pro. 30.9 he prays there against extremity in both conditions he would neither have too much nor too little of this world he prays against fulness Lest I be full deny thee and say who is the Lord or lest I be poor and steal and take the Name of my God in vain that is lest I take any irregular courses for the supplies of my necessity lest I take they Name in vain While we allow our selves in any kind of sin we do but take the Name of God in vain notwithstanding all our profession but this is not all Rom. 2.24 you read of an highter expression than this For your sakes or by your means or reason of your practice the Name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you for Circumcision verily profiteth if thou keep the Law but if thou be a breaker of the Law thy Circumcision is made uncircumcision Here the engagements laid upon them that profess Gods Name because he hath given them so much knowledge to understand the great Mysteries of Salvation and acquainted them with those Principles that are of absolute necessity to understand their own eterrnal good and for them to break those engagements is but to take Gods Name in vain nay it is to blaspheme his Name amongst them that are strangers to him But for them that name the Name of Christ in sincerity there are special obligations God hath laid upon them there are singular engagements from God upon them and obligations from them unto God that oblige them to depart from iniquity 1. There are singular engagements that God hath laid upon them to depart from iniquity as First not only vouchsafeing them the means of Grace but in Accompanying those means with the efficacious concurrence of his Spirit How many parts of the world live without any knowledge of the true God at all it is a mercy therefore to enjoy the means of knowledge yea it is a great mercy that the Psalmist highly values Thou hast not dealt so with every Natin as for his Judgments they have not known them Psal 147.20 and how many thousands are there that live under the Gospel to whom it is no more than a dead Letter they hear the noise or sound of the Gospel but it makes little impression upon their hearts Now on all those that do profess the Name of Christ there is a special obligation upon them because of the great things that God hath done for them Consider what Christ hath done for thee hath Christ broken off the yoke of Satan and wilt thou put it on again hath he taken off thy burdens and cured the Diseases and art thou fond of thy burdens and in love with thy Diseases hath he st thee at liberty hath his Spirit made thee free and such are free indeed and wilt thou again become entangled Again hath Christ washed away thy filth by his blood and wilt thou return again like the Sow that is washed to wallow in thy former mire hath he taken off the guilt of thy sin and wilt thon run upon a new score is this sutable to the engagements that lie upon thee Consider if thou art one that doth relie upon Christ there lies an high Obligation upon thee on that account hath he redeemed thy poor captive Soul out of the hands of that grand Usuper and Tyrant and wilt thou become like one of those servants that would have his ear bored and become a servant while he lived to his old Master this is to despise the kinduess of Christ is to undervalue
cannot make us miserable if we may but enjoy this one thing the love of God it is as if the Apostle had said I reckon that such Afflcitions may separate you from the comforts of this world but let what affliction will or can come upon you they cannot separate you from these refreshments this one singular Priviledge the Apostle opposeth to all those kinds of calamities that he had mentioned before though it is true every particular calamity is not mentioned amongst these yet the greatest and worst are and the rest are included in them If God should enlarge Satans Commission against us as he did once against Job and deliver all we have into his hands and power and if Satan should never fail in executing the utmost of that power that God gives him should God deal thus with us yet there is enough in the love of God to sweeten all Psalm 63.3 Thy loving kindness is better than life So our Translation reads it but in the hebrew it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prae vitis that is better than lives The meaning of this is as a Learned Expositor glosses upon the Text than any kind of life better than life with any kind of advantages that may render it more sweet and pleasant to us it is better than lives now life you know is of all outward mercies the highest for all other things are perfectly insignificant to us without life Skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life But thy loving kindness is better life So in Psalm 73.25 Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee David did not say he had nothing in the world for he had a Kingdom a Crown he had a great deal of worldly honours and greatness but these were not the things he looked at he could pass by these he eyed Communion with God and the favour of God was more than all Psalm 4.6 7. There be many that say who will shew us any good Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their corn and their wine did encrease Now how often did this holy man solace himself upon this account his interest in the favour of God Psalm 16.5 6. The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup thou maintainest my Lot The lines are fallen to me in pleasant places yea I have a goodly heritage There was nothing that this holy man made his boast of but only of God and you find him often making him his glory and truly well might David be of this maind well might he despise all worldly greatness in comparison of God for could he have added Kingdome to Kingdom and world to world all had been nothing in comparison of him That excellent description of God in Isaiah 40.12 is highly magnificent and very helpful to raise up our thoughts to consider the greatness of God Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and meted out Heaven with a span c. But now to prove this truth farther I shall alledge these six Reasons 1. Reas There is nothing but the love of God can make us happy and therefore there is nothing but the want of this love that can make us miserable for misery consists in the want of some good or the enduring of some evil Now nothing I say can make us happy but the love of God It is not Honours for not many Noble are called it is not Greatness for Greatness and goodness do not always go together a man may be a Great man and withal a great sinner yea a miserable man It is said of Naaman that he was a Great man but withal he was a Leper and that spoil'd all It is not Riches can do it Mans life consists not in the abundance of the things of this world Besides you read of an infamous rich man Luke 12. he was boasting of his barnes and granaries and projecting how he might pull them down and make new kind of store-houses for the reception of his incoms When alas that night his Soul should be required of him And in Luke 16. you read of one faring deliciously every day but both of these were in a very sad condition as to their Souls you remember the Parables It is not Friends Children or Relations they cannot make us happy we find those that have been under the displeasure of God to abound in all these no less than twelve Dukes proceeded from the Loyns of profance Esau In a word it is not Creatures below us that can make us happy for happiness is mans perfection and Creatures below us are below perfection nor equal with us nay nor above all Creatures above us are finite but the desires of our hearts are infinite and that which hath its bounds can never satisfie boundless desires and where desires are not satisfied there can be no happiness But although God should give us so much of the world as our own hearts can desire or wish yet if he hide his face or stand at a distance from us there is enough in the want of that single mercy to make us altogether miserable therefore as Job speaks of Wisedom the same wa may say of the love of God Job 28.12 13 14. But where is wisdom found and where is the place of understanding Man knoweth not the price thereof neither is it found in the land of the living The depth saith it is not in me and the Seasaith it is not in me verse 15. Gold shall not be given for it neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof 2. Reas The love of God is such a mercy that it is abundantly sufficient to make up the want of all other mercies and to sweeten the sourest of all kind of Afflictions that can befal us God in his giving himself gives us more than all other comforts what we have not in the stream yet if we have it in the fountain it is more fresh and more delightful says Bernard Lord where can I be well without thee and where can I be ill if may enjoy thee Thy favour is better than life True we may be impatiently desirous of this and that Creature-comforts and as froward in those desires as Rachel was when she quarrelled with Jacob for Children Give me Children or else I die we cannot live without this and that comfort we cannot subsist without God humor us Gen. 30.1 But as Elkanah said to Hannah so may we say to our sullenest and most impatient desires Am not I better to thee than ten sons Is not God better to us than all If God should deny us this or that or take away this or that Creature-comfort is not God better to us than all 3. Reas Thirdly the love of God in its full perfection is the very happiness of Heaven it self and so much as we
enjoy of the love of God here on earth so much we have of Heaven here on earth The excellencie of Heaven is described thus 1 Cor. 15.28 God shall be all in all There shall be no marrying nor giving in marriage but we shall be as the Angels of God we shall there have no need of these Comforts because there we shall have a full fruition of God There shall be no Sun nor Moon nor Stars there is no want of these because the Lamb is the brightness thereof And if the love of God in its fullest perfection be the very happiness of Heaven then certainly nothing can make that person miserable that enjoys any part of Heaven here on earth In thy presence is fulness of joy yea and that for evermore There is much comfort in what we have of his presence here but what his people have of his presence here is but a kind of absence to what they shall have hereafter 2 Cor. 5 6 8. Therefore we are always confident knowing that whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. We are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. The presence of God which we have here he compares with the presence which we shall have hereafter and the presence we have of God here he accounts a kind of absence in comparison of that as you may see by comparing those two verses together 4. Reas 4. Argument That nothing can make a person miserable but the want of this special and peculiar love of God it appears from the excellencie of the person loving THE LOVE OF GOD this is a great word If God be for us who can be against us if God justifie us who can condemn us v. 31 33. of this Chapt. 2 Timoth 4.16 17. St. Paul when all forsook him thought he had enough in this that God stood by him At my first answering no man stood by me but all men forsook me this was uncomfortable in it self I pray God it may not be not laid to their charge Nevertheless the Lord stood by me and strengthened me This contradicted all that went before this circumstance as to the point of troubles and afflictions because there is more in God to support and comfort then there could be in afflictions to deject and and discourage Our Saviour could not speak to his Disciples without reproving them for their cowardize foretelling them how it should shortly appear You shall leave me alone What then to be left alone when he was to go through all those troubles this was a very uncomfortable thing yet says he I am not alone for the Father is with me John 16.32 it is some refreshment in our sorrows to have Friends to pity and to compassionate us but oh what a refreshment is it to have the infinite God to love us You know the Emphasis of all the sorrows that our Saviour underwent during his sufferings here on earth was That God had withdrawn the sense of his love from him My God my God why hast thou forsaken me as for his Disciples their leaving of him their turning their backs upon him and falling off from him these things he could easily bear but Gods forsaking was the bitterness of his cup and made him cry him with a loud voice My God my God why hast thou forsaken me 5. Reas May be drawn from The nature of the love of God is such an eminent mercy that nothing can make that person miserable that doth partake of this one Priviledge because 1. The Love of God is the tenderest it is the most affectionate Love The Love of Parents is great but the love of God is greater Math. 5.11 If you that are evil know how to give good gifts unto your Children how much more then shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things to them that ask him The love of a Mother is great but the love of God is greater and exceeds it Isa 49 15 16. Can a Woman forget her sucking Child that she should not have compassion on the Son of her Womb yea they may forget yet will not I forget thee Behold I have graven thee upon the Palms of my Hands thy Walls are continually before me The tenderest Compassions that can be found on Earth come far more short of the compassions of an infinitely gratious God then the least drop of Water to the vast body of the Ocean There is no proportion between these two In all Afflictions of his People he is said to be afflicted thereby intimating that he bears a part of their afflictions and is sharer with them in all their troubles Isa 63.9 He that toucheth them toucheth the Apple of his Eye Zach. 2.8 2. The love of God it is the truest and most prudent love there is nothing of Cockering or indulgence in it It is no such love as to overlook the failings of his own People no Every Child whum he loves he corrects Heb. 12.6 Judgement begins at the house of God God is more quick in his chastising of them then of others and his love makes him to be so because God would recover them sooner and prevent their longer wandrings from him Before I was afflicted I went astray but now have I kept thy word Psal 119.67 Therefore he says to Israel You only have I known of all the Families of the Earth therefore you will I punish for all your Iniquities Amos 3.2 My kindness to you is far above all others therefore I will correct you I will make you smart now that you may not smart for ever you shall new feel the bitterness of Sin to bring you to Repentance and these Afflictions helps in order thereunto As concerning others the Sinners in Zion whom God regards not it is said why shotld you be smitten any more Isa 1.5 Ye will revolt yet more and more This is a great Priviledge and part of the Covenant and Promise that God hath made with his People as Psal 89.30 31 32 33 34. If his Children forsake my Law and walk not in my Judgements if they break my Statutes and keep not my Commandments Then will I visit their Traugression with the Rod and their iniquity with stripes Nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail My Covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my Lips The visiting their trangressions with a Rod and their Iniquities with Stripes is mentioned here as an eminent Promise and part of the Covenant of Grace David accounted the Reproofs of the righteous a great favour to him Let the righteous smite me and it shall be a great kindness let him reprove me it shall be an excellent Oyl which shall not break my head Psal 141.5 3. The love of God is the most liberal and bountiful love All love is liberal and bountiful and according as the person