in the Doctrine of Christ hath not God he that abideth in the Doctrine of Christ he hath both the Father and the Son 1 Joh. 2.23,24 Whosoever denyeth the Son the same hath not the Father Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning if that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father Are the Father and the Son so low in your esteem and is the world so high that you will forgo the Father and the Son and deprive your selves for ever of any part or portion of the blessed God by departing from the Truth to embrace this present world 4. It is a sin that will certainly bring damnation to depart from the Truth and to turn aside to corrupt doctrine 1 Tim. 5.12 Having damnation because they have cast of their first faith 2 Thess 2.11.12 God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie that they all might be damned who believed not the Truth but had pleasure in unrighteouss Will you damn your souls to get or keep a little pittance of this world It is not much that you can hope for by changing your Religion But suppose you could gain a Kingdom yea the whole world yet this will not countervail the loss of your soul Mar. 8.36 What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul 5. Consider how firmly our Lord Jesus Christ adhered to the Scriptures When he was offered all the Kingdoms of the world for one act of Idolatrous worship he refused it with disdain giving this reason it was against the written Word of God Matth. 4.8,9,10 The Devil taketh him up into an exceeding high Mountain and sheweth him all the Kingdoms of the world and the glory of them and said unto him All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me Then said Jesus unto him Get thee hence Satan for it is written thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve And as the Lord Jesus would not go against the Scriptures to gain the whole world so neither would he do any thing against the Scriptures to avoid the greatest sufferings that ever man met with When Christs Enemies had apprehended him in order to the putting of him to death he could have called for twelve Legions of Angels to have rescued him out of his Enemies hands but he would not because it was against the Scriptures Matth. 26.53,54 Thinkest thou that I cannot pray to my Father and he should presently give me more than twelve Legions of Angels But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be Now we ought to have as high a respect unto the Scriptures as Christ had for He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk even as he walked 1 Joh. 2.6 6. It is a very rare thing to hear of Idolaters that change their Religion they shew great firmness to their idol gods though they are no gods but the work of mens hands Jer. 2.10,11 Pass over the Isles of Chittim and see and send unto Kedar and consider diligently and see if their be such a thing Hath a Nation changed their gods which are yet no gods but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit Is it not a shame for such as profess the true God to set lighter by the true God than Idolaters do by their Idols 7. It never went well with any persons that forsake the true Religion and turned to a false one out of worldly respects Ahaz thought to be much advantaged by sacrificing to the gods of Damascus but was he helped at all thereby No It was his ruine and the ruine of all Israel 2 Chron. 28.23 He sacrificed unto the Geds of Damascus that smote him and he said Because the gods of the Kings of Syria help them therefore will I sacrifice to them that they may help me but they were the ruine of him and of all Israel The Jews that burnt Incense to the Queen of Heaven hoping thereby to obtain both peace and plenty were consumed by the Sword and Famine Jer. 44.17,18,21,22,25,27 What did Francis Spira get by denying and departing from the reformed Religion but such horrour of Conscience as may make all that shall read his History tremble at any thoughts of denying or departing from the Truth 8. That mans Profession of Religion is worth nothing who will change his Religion for wordly advantages for he is not a servant to the great God that made all things but he makes the world his god and shall after his death have his part among Idolaters in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone Phil. 3.18,19 Rev. 21.8 4. It may be Satan will press hard upon some persons that have lived plentifully heretofore and in good respect among their neighbours and now are brought into apoor low condition by this fire to make away themselves It is usual with the Devil who is styled a Murderer to tempt distressed persons either to strangle or drown or stab or some other way to destroy themselves He assaulted Job with this temptation when he was in his troubles and to render the temptation the more successful he maketh use of his wife to carry on his design Job 2.9 Then said his wife unto him Dost thou still retain thine integrity curse God and die But Job abhors the motion and rebukes his wife for this counsel Vers 10. But he said unto her Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh c. If any of you are or should be hereafter assaulted with this temptation to prevent your yielding to it I would advise you to do these things 1. Be convinced that it is a damnable sin for any man upon any pretence whatsoever to murder himself If you doubt of this whether it be a sin for a man to take away his own life I shall endeavour to convince you that it is not only a sin but a very hainous and damnable sin for a man to destroy himself 1. It is a transgression of that Law Exod. 20.13 Thou shalt not kill which is one of the greatest Commandments of the Second Table That Law Thou shalt not kill doth as much oblige us not to kill our selves as it doth not to kill other men 2. The Word of God telleth us plainly that no murderer shall have eternal life but shall be cast into that lake that burns with fire and brimstone 1 Joh. 3.15 Ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him Rev. 21.8 The fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and Murderers and Whoremongers and Sorcerers and Idolaters and all Lyars shall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone Now such as kill themselves are murderers as well as they that kill other men 3. It is an usurping upon Gods Prerogative for
of his people and the strength of the children of Israel Object I have cryed unto God and hung upon and pleaded his Promises for his strength and still I remain in a weak helpless condition Answ Though it be so yet cry still to the Lord Isa 63.15 Look down from Heaven and behold from the Habitation of thy Holiness and of thy glory where is thy zeal and thy strength the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies towards me are they restrained Isa 51.9 Awake awake put on strength O arm of the Lord. Psal 105.4 Seek the Lord and his strength seek his face evermore And wait patiently upon him and in due time he will strengthen you Psal 27.14 Wait on the Lord be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart wait I say on the Lord. Isa 40.31 They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings like Eagles they shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint 4. Keep in Gods wayes when we go out of Gods wayes we cause God to withdraw himself and when God withdraws our strength departs from us as it was with Sampson when his God departed from him his strength departed also Judg. 16.19 His strength went from him How came he to lose his strength by losing the presence of God ver 20. I will go out as at other times and he wist not that the Lord was departed from him so it is with Christians when they lose their God they lose their strength But by keeping in Gods wayes they shall keep God with them and increase their strength That this is the way to get Gods strength to keep in Gods ways you may see Prov. 10.29 The way of the Lord is strength to the upright Psal 84.5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee in whose heart are the wayes of them Job 17.19 5. Get your interest in God made out to your souls The knowing of God to be our God conveyeth great strength into our souls and will support us in our greatest troubles What Solomon saith of knowledge Prov. 24.5 A wise man is strong a man of knowledge encreaseth strength is eminently true of this knowledge that God is our God for the more clearly we know God to be our God the more we shall encrease in strength Isa 49.5 My God shall be my strength 1 Sam. 30.6 David was greatly distressed for the people spake of stoning him but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God The knowledg of our interest in God filleth our hearts with joy Luk. 1.47 My spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour and joy strengthens the soul Neh. 8.10 The joy of the Lord is your strength Wherefore grow in acquaintance with God if you will grow in strength to suffer the will of God cheerfully Col. 1.10,11 Increasing in the knowledge of God strengthened with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness especially labour to grow in the knowledg of your interest in God 6. Let the Word of Christ dwell richly in your souls the Word of God abiding in you will be a great means to strengthen you 1 Joh. 2.14 Ye are strong and the Word of God abideth in you and ye have overcome the wicked one The efficacy and power of the Word of God is wonderful By speaking of a word God created the whole world Psal 33.6,9 By the word of the Lord were the Heavens made and all the hosts of them by the breath of his mouth For he spake and it was done he commanded and it stood fast By his Word he governs and upholdeth all his creatures Heb. 1.3 Vpholding all things by the Word of his Power Is there such power in the Word as to uphold all things and dost thou doubt whether it be able to uphold thy soul If a mans heart be broken in pieces and melted with grief the Word of God will heal and strengthen him and settle him in a comfortable condition Psal 107.20 He sent his Word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions Psal 119.28 My soul melteth for heaviness strengthen thou me according to thy Word 7. If you would be strong in the Lord put on the whole armour of God Ephes 6.10,11 Finally my Brethren be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might But some may say How shall we be strong in the Lord the next words shews this Put on the whole armour of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil No part of the armour of God must be neglected if we would be strong in the Lord. What this armour of God is the Apostle sheweth from the 14 th ver to the 18 th 4. If we would be prepared to undergo all afflictions cheerfully we must labour to get our sins pardoned and get our pardon evidenced and keep clear our evidences of our justified estate Sense of guilt bows down the soul and weakens our strength and renders us unfit for a suffering condition Psal 31.10 My strength faileth because of mine iniquity Such of the Jews as were under the sense of unpardoned guilt were ready to faint under their afflictions when they were carried captive into Babylon Lam. 3.18,19 I said my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord remembring mine affliction and my misery the wormwoed and the gall And if you would know what made their cup so bitter that they fainted under it you may see ver 42. We have transgressed and have rebelled thou hast not pardoned But when our sins are pardoned that will help us to bear afflictions cheerfully Isa 33.24 The Inhabitant shall not say I am sick the People that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity Matth. 9.2 They brought unto him a man sick of the Palsie lying on a bed and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the Palsie Son be of good chear thy sins be forgiven thee Sickness is a great affliction and this man was so sick that he kept his bed yet Christ bids him be of good cheer because his sins were forgiven him before he speaks one word of removing his sickness A man that is in a justified estate may triumph and glory in his greatest troubles Rom. 5.1,3 Being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ And not only so but we glory in tribulations also 5. If we would be prepared for a suffering condition we must acquaint our selves with and cleave and adhere to the death and sufferings of Christ and labour to understand and get an interest in the imputed righteousness of Christ Christs righteousness is one of the main Pillars our Souls have to lean upon for our support under all our troubles Isa 41.10 I will strengthen thee yea I will help thee yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness Our chiefest strength lyeth in our right hand
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
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
in a quiet frame and one great means whereby he quieted himself was by getting and keeping his affections weaned from worldly things Psal 131.2 Surely I have behaved and quieted my self as a childe that is weaned of his Mother my soul is even as a weaned child SECT 5. 5. Give up your selves to the doing of works of righteousness Do all the service that you are able for God and for your generation Abound alwayes in the work of the Lord and be ready as far as you have opportunity and ability to do all the good you can for all men hereby you shall obtain a quiet peaceable frame of spirit under all your troubles and afflictions Isa 32.17 The work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever The Prophet had threatned great troubles and of many years continuance ver 9 10 11. and then tells them how they might retain quietness under all their troubles namely by working righteousness v. 17. and then tells them farther of the blessedness of such as did sow besides all waters that is who took hold of all opportunities to be doing good they should enjoy peace and quietness when Gods judgements came down as thick as hail round about them ver 18 19 20. Working of righteousness promotes contentment in all estates several wayes I will mention one or two 1. As it produceth the joy of the Lord in our souls God is wont to put joy and gladness into the hearts of those that work righteousness Psal 45.7 Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness therefore God thy God hath anointed thee with the oyl of gladness above thy fellows Psal 97.11 Light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart Now when God puts joy and gladness into our hearts we do not much feel the sorrows and troubles that we meet with in this world Eccles 5.20 He shall not much remember the dayes of his life because God answereth him in the joy of his heart What Solomon saith of wine and strong drink Prov. 30.6,7 Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish and wine to those that be of heavy hearts let him drink and forget his poverty and remember his misery no more The like I may say of the joyes of the Holy Ghost when God hath made us to drink of the rivers of his pleasures though we be poor and heavy of heart and ready to perish they will make us forget our poverty and remember our sorrow no more 2. Working righteousness promotes contentment on this account because they that work righteousness have many sweet visits from God and enjoy much of Gods presence and the soul is never better at ease or enjoyes more contentment than when it enjoyes God Isa 64.5 Thou meetest him that rejoyceth and worketh righteousness those that remember thee in thy wayes John 14.23 If a man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him SECT 6. 6. Take up your rest and contentment in God and and that will keep you from fretting and vexing and being discontented under your losses and all other afflictions Psal 37.7 Rest in the Lord fret not thy self There is no better way to prevent fretting and vexing at cross providences than for a man to take up his rest in God for he shall finde such sweetness in God that he shall not feel any great bitterness in affliction When the Spouse was a Lilly among Thorns encompassed with sharp and piercing troubles when she was scorched with heat of Persecution she found such sweetness in solacing her Soul with Christ that she makes no complaints of her Sufferings but maketh her boast of what she found in him Cant. 2.3 I sate down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet to my taste She spoke this when Christ resembled her to a Lilly among Thorns ver 2. Now in regard it conduceth much to the helping of us to be contented under all the troubles of this life for a man to take up his rest and satisfaction and contentment in God I shall enlarge a little upon this Head and shew first That there is enough in God to give the soul of a man full satisfaction and contentment in every state and condition 2. I shall shew how a man may take up his rest and contentment in God 1. There is enough in God to give the soul of a man full and compleat satisfaction how poor how afflicted how desolate soever his condition be in this world and this may be demonstrated several wayes 1. God is a suitable good he answers all the wants all the desires all the workings and breathings and motions of the soul of man All that the soul wants is to be found in God Phil. 4.19 My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Jesus Christ All that the soul desires is in God Isa 26.8,9 The desire of our soul is to thy name with my soul have I desired thee in the night Psal 73.25 There is none upon earth that I desire besides thee Now where there is a supply of all wants and an accomplishment of all the desires of the soul there is full satisfaction That which the soul travelleth after that which it laboureth for that which it mainly pursueth and followeth after is that it may enjoy God Psal 63.8 My soul followeth hard after thee which shews that satisfaction is to be had in God for when a man hath obtained that which his soul travelleth after he is satisfied Isa 53.10 He shall see of the travel of his soul and be satisfied God is the center to which all the motions of a sanctified soul do tend The enquiries of the soul are after God Cant. 3.3 Saw ye him whom my soul loveth John 12.21 Sir we would see Jesus The pantings and thirstings and breathings of the soul are after God Psal 42.1,2 My soul panteth after thee O God my soul is athirst for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God The mournings of the souls are after the Lord Zech. 12.10 They shall mourn for him 1 Sam. 7.2 All the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. The seekings and cryes of the soul are after God Psal 63.1 O God thou art my God early will I seek thee Psal 84.2 My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God The main thing the soul hopeth and waiteth for is God Psal 71.5 Thou art my hope Psal 39.7 Now Lord what wait I for my hope is in thee Psal 130,5 6. I wait for the Lord my soul doth wait in his word do I hope my soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning I say more than they that watch for the morning The expectations of the soul are from him Psal 62.5 My soul wait thou only upon God for my expectation is
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
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
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
far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory James 1.12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he is tryed he shall receive the Crown of Life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him Thus having laid down some considerations for the quieting and satisfying their mindes that have been great sufferers by this Fire and proposed some things to be practised in order to the obtaining of contentment and having answered the most material pleas that without being removed might hinder those that have been great sufferers from sitting down satisfied under this hand of God I shall adde no more about the first question but proceed to the resolution of the second QUEST 2. What use should they make of their Affliction who have lost their whole or any part of their Estates by the late Dreadful Fire SECT 1. Answ 1. LOok upon this rod as the rod of God It is both our duty and our wisdom to eye God in all our afflictions and to look upon them as coming by his appointment Micah 6.9 The Lords voice crieth unto the City and the man of wisdom shall see thy name hear ye the rod and who hath appointed it There is no trouble whatever comes of it self or by chance Job 5.6 Affliction cometh not forth of the dust neither doth trouble spring out of the ground But all afflictions that come either upon Nations or particular Persons are sent and ordered in all their circumstances by the wisdom and Providence of God Amos 3.6 Shall there be evil in a City and the Lord hath not done it Isa 45.7 I form the light and create darkness I make peace and create evil I the Lord do all these things Eph. 1.11 Who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will When any man is made poor it is the Lord maketh him poor 1 Sam. 2.7 The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich he bringeth low and lifteth up When a Fire is kindled in any City it is God sends it and gives it a commission what houses it shall devour after it is kindled Hosea 8.14 I will send a Fire upon his Cities and it shall devour the palaces thereof Though men or other creatures may be the instruments of conveying our afflictions to us yet we must look beyond them to the hand of God for as Christ said to Pilate John 19.11 Thou couldest have no power at all against me except it were given thee from above the same is true of every Christian no man or other creature hath any power to do him hurt except it be given them from God There is such an hedge about the persons and substance of every godly man that the Devils themselves cannot touch any thing that belongeth to him without leave from God Job 1.10 When the Sabeans had taken away Jobs Oxen and Asses and the Caldeans his Camels and Satan had caused Fire to consume his Sheep and a great Tempest had blown down the house where his Children were eating and drinking and had slain them he looks beyond all these instruments to the hand of God and cryes Job 1.21 The Lord hath taken away We wrong and be-lye the Lord when we do not own him either in his word or in his works Jer. 5.12 They have be-lied the Lord and said it is not he SECT 2. 2. Lay to heart this hand of God that hath been lifted up against you To be stupid and sensless under the hand of God is a great sin yet many persons offend in this kinde Isa 42.25 He hath poured upon him the fury of his anger and the strength of Battle and it hath set him on fire round about yet he knew it not and it burned him yet he laid it not to heart Jer. 5.3 O Lord are not thine eyes upon the truth thou hast stricken them but they have not grieved thou hast consumed them but they have refused to receive correction It is mentioned as an aggravation of Pharaohs sin that he did not set his heart to the Judgments of God but made a light matter of them Exod. 7.23 And Pharaoh turned and went into his house neither did he set his heart to this also When we do not lay to heart Gods Judgments either threatned or executed this provoketh God to curse our very blessings Mal. 2.2 If ye will not hear if ye will not lay it to heart to give glory unto my Name saith the Lord of Hosts I will even send a curse upon you and I will curse your blessings yea I have cursed them already because ye do not lay it to heart When we do not lay to heart the Judgments of God we despise the chastening of the Lord and we must be as careful to avoid that sin as we are not to faint under Gods Correction Heb. 12.5 My son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him Such as are careless and regardless under the rebukes of God do thereby provoke God to destroy them Psal 28.5 Because they regard not the works of the Lord nor the operations of his hands he shall destroy them and not build them up If any ask how should we lay this affliction to heart I answer 1. Consider in your hearts that by this Judgment God testifieth against you that there is or hath been something in your hearts or lives that is displeasing to him Ruth 1.21 I went out full and the Lord hath brought me home again empty The Lord hath testified against me and the Almighty hath afflicted me and therefore commune with your hearts and say what have I done to provoke the Lord to deal thus with me 2. So lay to heart this affliction as to humble your selves under the mighty hand of God The Lord threatned Israel with dreadful Judgements when they continued stout and proud under former Judgments Isa 9.9,10,11,12 All the people shall know even Ephraim and the Inhabitants of Samaria that say in the pride and stoutness of heart the bricks are fallen down but we will build with hewen stones the Sycamores are cut down but we will change them into Cedars therefore the Lord will set up the adversaries of Rezin against him and joyn his enemies together the Syrians before and the Philistines be hinde and they shall devour Israel with open mouth for all this his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still God expects that we should humble our selves when his hand is lifted up against us 1 Pet. 5.6 Humble your selves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time Lam. 3.19,20 Remembring mine afflictions and my misery the wormwood and the gall my soul hath them still in remembrance and is humbled in me 3. So lay to heart this affliction as to mourn more for the sin that provoked God to send this affliction than for the affliction it self Lam. 5.16 The crown is fallen from our head wo unto us that we have sinned They bewail
their sin more than the loss of their dignity They do not say wo unto us the Crown is fallen but wo unto us that we have sinned Jer. 3.21 A voice was heard upon the high places weeping and supplications of the Children of Israel for they have perverted their way and forgotten the Lord their God Their Cities were burnt as we may see Chap. 2.15 Yet they bewail the perverting of their way more than the burning of their houses 4. So lay to heart this affliction as to be restless until you have gotten the sins pardoned that brought down this Judgment upon you Psal 25.18 Look upon mine affliction and my pain and forgive all my sins Psal 79.7,8,9 They have devoured Jacob and laid waste his dwelling-place O remember not against us former iniquities let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us for we are brought very low help us O God of our salvation for the glory of thy Name and deliver us and purge away our sins for thy Names sake When they were brought low and their dwellings were laid waste they beg twice with great earnestness for the pardon of their sins O remember not against us former iniquities purge away our sins for thy Names sake 5. Lay to heart this affliction till you finde your hearts willing and resolved by Gods Grace to part with all your sins This is Gods end and design in all afflictions to purge out our sins Isa 27.9 By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away his sin And this is our duty when we are corrected by God to abandon and forsake all our sins Job 34.31,32 Surely it is meet to be said unto God I have born chastizement I will not offend any more that which I see not teach thou me if I have done iniquity I will do no more 6. So lay to heart this affliction as to give glory to God Mal. 2.2 If ye will not hear and if ye will not lay it to heart to give glory unto my Name But of this more afterward SECT 3. 3. Minde the teachings of God under your present afflictions consider and see what it is which God would have you to learn from this dreadful Fire which hath consumed so much of your and other mens Estates As God instructed the Jews out of the midst of the Fire Deut. 4.12 The Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the Fire So if your ears were open you might hear God speaking to your souls and instructing you by this Fire God is wont to teach his people something or other by every affliction if so be they listen diligently to the voice of his rod Psal 94.12 Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest O Lord and teachest him out of thy Law It is true that some persons learn nothing by their afflictions but the reason is not because God communicates no instruction to them but because they either regard not or do not understand the voice of God Job 33.14 God speaketh once yea twice yet man perceiveth it not Prov. 1.24 I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded We wrong our own souls when we slight the instruction of the Lord whether he instruct us by his word or his rod Prov. 15.32 He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul and do provoke God to depart from us Jer. 6.8 Be thou instructed O Jerusalem lest my soul depart from thee lest I make thee desolate If any say what is it that God would have us learn by our great losses that we have sustained in the late Fire I answer The way to understand the voice of the rod is to make use of the word by searching into the word we may come to know the meaning of the rod and to understand what it is which God would have us to learn by our afflictions as may be gathered from Psal 94.12 I shall hint a few things to you from the word that God would teach you by this sore affliction 1. God would have you learn that it is an evil and a bitter thing to sin against the Lord Jer. 2.15,19 His Cities are burnt without inhabitants Know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God and that my fear is not in thee saith the Lord God of Hosts 2. God would have you learn to fear and stand in awe of his great and glorious Majesty and to be afraid of thinking speaking or doing any thing that may displease him Zeph. 3.6,7 Their towers are desolate I made their streets waste that none passeth by their Cities are destroyed so that there is no man that there is none inhabitant I said surely thou wilt fear me thou wilt receive instruction 3. God would have you learn righteousness by this judgment Isa 26.9 When thy judgements are in the earth the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness 4. God would have you learn obedience by what you have suffered It is said of Christ Heb. 5.8 Though he were a Son yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered This was the lesson that God learn't David by his afflictions Psal 119.71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes Wherefore endeavour to obey God more readily and cheerfully more exactly and more sincerely than you have done heretofore 5. God would have you learn contentation in every condition both how to want as well as how to abound Phil. 4.11.12 I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need When the Apostle wrote this Epistle he was in bonds Phil. 1.13 and had suffered the loss of all things chap. 3.8 and under his sufferings God taught him this excellent lesson of being content in every state 6. God would teach you by this affliction to pray ofther and to pray better to pray more spiritually more fervently more humbly and more believingly James 5.13 Is any among you afflicted let him pray When Gods judgments are abroad God stirs up his people to pray early in the morning and late at night and to pour out their souls and spirits in prayer Isa 26.8,9 Yea in the way of thy judgments O Lord have we waited for thee the desire of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee with my soul have I desired thee in the night yea with my spirit within me will I seek thee early for when thy judgments are in the earth the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness Our Lord Jesus alwayes prayed fervently as we may see Heb. 5.7 Who in the dayes of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to
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
16.10,11 They gnawed their tongues for pain and blasphemed the God of Heaven because of their pains and their sores and repented not of their deeds Rev. 9.20,21 The rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands that they should not worship Devils and Idols of Gold and Silver neither repented they of their Murders and of their Sorceries nor of their Fornication nor of their Thefts Prov. 27.22 Though thou shouldest bray a Fool in a Morter with a Pestel yet will not his foolishness depart from him And this is not only the case of profane men but of most that profess themselves to be the people of God many of them when they are corrected for their sins do yet go on still in their trespasses When God sent such heavy calamities upon the Jews that they were more bitter than death notwithstanding they were by Profession the people of God and their calamities were so great yet scarce any of them were led to repentance by them Jer. 8.3.6 Death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain in this evil family But were they bettered by these great afflictions Not a man of them are brought to repentance as you may see Vers 6. I hearkened and heard but they spake not aright no man repented him of his wickedness saying what have I done every one turneth to his course as the Horse rusheth into the battel The like complaint the same Prophet brings against the Jews Jer. 2.30 In vain have I smitten your children they received no correction The Prophet Isaiah complains also of the Jews that lived in his days that they were not at all reformed by their afflictions Isa 1.5 Why should ye be stricken any more ye will revolt more and more and yet their afflictions were exceeding great as the following words shew 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 but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores 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 I may add this farther that it doth exceedingly anger the Lord when such as are under affliction do not turn to the Lord that smiteth them and provokes God many times to send upon them sudden and utter destruction Isa 9.12,13,14 His anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still for the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them neither do they seek the Lord of Hosts therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail branch and rush in one day It may be some will say Seeing it is such an hard matter even for such as are in affliction to be brought to repent of and turn from their sins what means shall we use that we may be brought to repentance now the afflicting hand of God is upon us I answer 1. Sit down and consider your wayes that you may see what is amiss in them and wherein you have gone astray from God consider also seriously with your selves into what endless and unspeakable misely and torments your sins will plunge you if you do not repent of them The Scripture hath many passages to this purpose Rom. 6.21,23 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed for the end of those things is death for the wages of sin is death Rom. 8.13 If ye live after theflesh ye shall die Psal 9.17 The wicked shall be turned into Hell and all the Nations that forget God When David was in affliction he was reformed by his afflictions Psal 119.67 Before I was afflicted I went astray but now have I kept thy Word And by what means was he brought to a more diligent observation of Gods Word when he was afflicted It was by reflecting upon and considering his wayes as we may see vers 59. I thought on my wayes and turned my feet unto thy Testimonies There is a great efficacy in consideration of our wayes to produce Reformation Prov. 4.26 Ponder the path of thy feet and all thy wayes shall be ordered aright so that Text is rendered in the margent of our Bibles It will not only make good men to reform what is amiss in their wayes but if a man that hath lived a wicked and ungodly life would sit down and seriously consider his wayes it might be a means of turning even of a wicked man from his sins Ezek. 18.27,28 When the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed and doth that which is lawful and right he shall save his soul alive because he considereth and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed he shall surely live he shall not die This Scripture sheweth plainly that consideration because he considereth and turneth will help a wicked man to turn from all his sins by such a repentance as shall surely save his soul he shall surely live he shall not die 2. Give your selves much to hearing reading and meditating upon the Word of God The Rod seldom doth good without the Word but when the Word of God is accompanied with his Rod when in our afflictions we give our selves to search into and meditate upon Gods Word this will make our afflictions to work kindly upon us There is a divine power goeth along with the Word and therefore it must needs be an effectual means to lead us to repentance to converse much with the Word see some places of this Scripture to this purpose Psal 19.7 The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul Joh. 15.3 Now ye are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you Ephes 5.26,27 Christ also loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word Who are harder to be reclaimed then young men who have strong and unruly passions And who are more hardly kept from sin than great men who can do what they please and none can controul them yet both the one and the other may be brought to repentance and kept from sin by taking heed to Gods Word As for young men we may see the power of the Word to reclaim them Psal 119.9 Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy Word David was a King and stood in awe of no man yet was he awed by Gods Word Psal 119.161 My heart standeth in awe of thy Word And though he was a King yet he was so awed by the Word that he durst not sin against God Psal 119.11 Thy Word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee 3. Confess to God and bemoan the refractoriness and incorrigibleness of your hearts and pray to the Lord that he would turn you from your sins unto himself Jer. 31.18,20 I have surely
what should befal the third part that should be left I will bring the third part through the fire and then adds a gracious promise that they should be refined by passing through the fire that is God thereby would purge and purifie their hearts and conversations urge God daily with these promises plead them at the Throne of Grace and rest upon God for the performance of them SECT 6. 6. Comply with Gods ends and designs in sending this affliction upon you The Lord doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men Lam. 3.33 but when ever he sends any affliction upon any man he hath gracious ends and designs in those afflictions and therefore as the Jews made enquiry when they were brought into great distress Wherefore doth the Lord our God all these great things unto us Jer. 5.19 And as the Apostle Paul when he was struck blinde with the vision that appeared to him as he was going to Dumascus enquires of the Lord Lord what wilt thou have me to do Acts 9.6 So should we make enquiry when the Lord afflicts us wherefore it is that he afflicts us and what it is that he aims at what he would have us to do when his afflicting hand is upon us We are enemies to our own good when we do not study the minde of God in our afflict ons and labour to comply with his ends for he alwayes chastneth us for our profit Heb. 12.10 and aims at the doing of us good Deut. 8.16 If you ask what are Gods ends and designs in sending this affliction upon us I answer The resolving of this question concerning Gods ends in afflicting us what he aims at and what he would have us learn when his rod is upon us may be gathered from Sect. 3. I shall adde a few things more besides what are mentioned there 1. Gods design in this affliction is to take away all pride and to make and keep you humble Isa 2.11 The lofty looks of man shall be humbled and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day This may refer to the day of affliction spoken of Isa 1.7 Your countrey is desolate your Cities are burnt with fire In that day when God should bring this desolation the lofty looks of man should be humbled c. When God afflicted the Israelites in the Wilderness with fiery Serpents that and all other afflictions were sent for this end to humble them Deut. 8.15,16 That he might humble thee and prove thee and do thee good in the latter end Elihu tells us that when God speaks once and twice to men It is that he may hide pride from man Job 33.17 When the Apostle Paul was afflicted he telleth us twice that the end of God was to prevent his being exalted above measure 2 Cor. 12.7 If then you would comply with Gods design in this affliction you must be no more proud of your riches beauty parts duties or any other thing but must put away all pride of spirit all high conceits of your selves and all proud looks and all pride of life and you must be of a lowly heart and go alwayes clothed with humility 2. God aims at the making of you more zealous Christians by this affliction Lukewarmness is a very odious detestable sin Rev. 3.15,16 I know thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot I would thou wert cold or hot so then because thou art luke-warm and neither cold nor hot I will spew thee out of my mouth this being so odious in Gods sight for a man to be luke-warm in his Religion When God findes any whom he loves to be in a luke-warm temper he chastens them for this very end to make them more zealous lous Rev. 3.19 As many as I love I rebuke and chasten be zealous therefore Now this is one way and a very sharp one of rebuking us when God contends by Fire Isa 66.15 The Lord will come with fire to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire If therefore you were cold or if not wholly cold yet but luke-warm before God sent this Fire it concerns you now to grow zealous If you ask in what your affliction should make you zealous I answer 1. Be zealous in all acts of service and all religious duties which you perform to God shake off all drowsiness and formality and slightness of heart in prayer and in hearing and reading Gods Holy Word and be fervent in spirit when you are about these or any other holy duties Rom 12.11 Not slothfulness in business fervent in spirit serving the Lord. What is said of the Apostle Paul Acts 22.3 I was zealous towards God and of Phinehas Numb 25.13 He was zealous for his God Let the same be true of you put on an holy zeal for God and shew your zeal for God in all that you do either for or to the Lord. 2. Be zealous against sin strive against sin not in a faint cold manner but with all your might Be zealous and repent Rev. 3.19 Your zeal must be manifested in your repentance When a man is zealous against his sins and zealous in his repentance his zeal will breed indignation against sin a vehement desire to be rid of it a fear and carefulness that he do not commit it again See an example of zealous repentance 2 Cor. 7.11 Behold this self same thing that ye sorrowed after a godly sort what carefulness it wrought in you yea what clearing of your selves yea what indignation yea what fear yea what vehement desire yea what zeal yea what revenge 3. Be zealous of good works Tit. 2.14 Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works We should not only do good works but be zealous of and in doing good works We should be so zealous of good works as not only to embrace opportunities of doing good when they come in our way but we should covet earnestly and follow diligently after opportunities of doing good works 1 Tim. 5.10 If she have diligently followed every good work We should not only do good works but be careful to excel and continue constant therein whatever difficulties and discouragements we meet with in doing of them Tit. 3.8 This is a faithful saying and these things I will that thou affirm constantly that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works You see if you would answer Gods design in your affliction that you must be zealous and in what you must be zealous only let me adde here two or three cautions 1. Look that your zeal be regulated with knowledge There may be a zeal which is not guided by knowledge Rom. 10.2 I bear them record that they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge Zeal without knowledge is dangerous Paul in a blinde zeal persecuted the people of God thinking therein
and people saying with a loud voice fear God and give glory to him for the hour of his judgment is come If this judgment that is come upon you will not prevail with you to give glory to God God will curse your blessings Mal. 2.2 If ye will not hear and if ye will not lay it to heart to give glory unto my name saith the Lord of hosts I will even send a curse upon you and I will curse your blessings yea I have cursed them already because ye do not lay it to heart If you ask how and wherein you should glorifie God under this affliction which he hath laid upon you I answer 1. Accept of the punishment of your iniquity and acknowledge that the Lord is just and righteous in all that is come upon you Then we give God the glory of his Judgments when we confess him to be just and righteous therein Rev. 15.3,4 Just and true are thy wayes thou King of Saints Who shall not fear thee O Lord and glorifie thy Name Thus Daniel gave glory to God when Jerusalem was laid waste and the Jews spoiled of their goods and carried captive into Babylon Dan. 9.14 The Lord hath watched upon the evil and brought it upon us for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works that he doth for we obeyed not his voice Yea do not only confess God to be righteous but also acknowledge him to be gracious in this dispensation say whereas our Houses and Estates are consumed by this Fire it is of the Lords mercies that we our selves are not consumed even because his compassions fail not Thus Lot gave glory to God when his house and goods were consumed in Sodom he looked upon it as a great mercy that he himself was not consumed also Gen. 19.19 Behold now thy servant hath found grace in thy sight and thou hast magnified thy mercy which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life 2. Though your sufferings have been very great yet give God thanks and praise his Holy Name for what he hath done for you by so doing you shall glorifie God Psal 50.23 Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me Isa 42.12 Let them give glory unto the Lord and declare his praise in the islands This relates to a time of Judgment I will destroy and devour at once I will make waste mountains and hills ver 14. 15. Even when God is rising up to judgment and devouring and destroying we must declare his praise and so give him the glory of his Judgments Let not this seem strange to you that I exhort you that have suffered great lostes by this Fire to praise God and give him thanks for 1. Job did thus when God had taken away all his Estate and Children he blesseth God Job 1.21 The Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord and Job did not sin or act imprudently in blessing God for his losses for it is said in the next words In all this Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly 2. It is the will of God that in every estate and condition and under every dispensation of his providence we should give thanks 1 Thess 5.18 In every thing give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you 3. There is much mercy mingled with the affliction it is mercy that your Estates were consumed and not your Lives it is mercy that your Houses only were burned whereas you might have been cast both body and soul into everlasting burnings and if you cannot give God thanks for the affliction it self yet at least give him thanks for the mercy that was mingled with the affliction 3. Let this affliction put you upon searching and trying your wayes and renewing your repentance and returning unto God of which you heard before for in so doing you shall give glory to God Rev. 16.9 They repented not to give him glory 4. Let this Judgment awaken in your souls a more lively fear and dread of God let it cause you to stand in such awe of God as to be afraid to offend him for then we give glory to God when we are afraid to sin against him Rev. 14.7 Fear God and give glory to him 5. You shall give glory to God by this Judgment if you be stirred up by it to live a more holy and righteous life Isa 60.21 Thy people shall be all righteous that I may be glorified If also it make you fruitful in good works John 15.8 Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit 6. Let this Judgment awaken you to a more diligent practice of what is commanded 1 Cor. 10.31 Whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do do all to the glory of God It was your duty ever since you were born to make Gods glory the highest and chiefest end of all your actions if you have not done so you have great cause to humble your souls before God for you have neglected the great end of your Creation Isa 43.7 Every one that is called by my name for I have created him for my glory If you did seek to advance the glory of God before this Judgment came upon you yet now be awakened hereby to seek Gods glory more zealously with more singleness of heart and do all your works both the works of your Calling and your natural Actions as your eating and drinking and your Religious Actions with more explicite intentions to glorifie God SECT 8. 8. Let the losses which you have sustained by this dreadful Fire take you off from laying up your Treasure upon the earth and put you upon laying up treasure in heaven That treasure which you lay up on earth may be taken from you several wayes you may lose it all in one day or if you do not lose it you must leave it all behinde you when you dye But that treasure which is laid up in heaven can by no means be taken from you but you shall enjoy the benefit of it to all eternity Remember therefore and follow the counsel and command of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Mat. 6.19,20,21 Lay not up for your selves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal but lay up for your selves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through and steal for where your treasure is there will your heart be also If you ask What is that treasure which we should lay up in heaven I answer All the good thoughts which you think and all the good words that you speak are treasure laid up in heaven Mal. 3.16 They that feared the Lord speak often one to another and the Lord hearkined and heard it and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name You see here that God treasureth up in his book of remembrance all the good words which we speak when
every Promise of his Covenant which relates to our temporal as well as our spiritual welfare Psal 111.5 He hath given meat unto them that fear him he will ever be mindful of his Covenant 3. Consider what great a care God hath for the satisfying of such as are hungry 1. It hath been his manner of old to provide good things for the hungry Luk. 1.53 He hath filled the hungry with good things When the Israelites were hungry in the Wilderness he gave them bread from heaven to satisfie their hunger and fetched water out of a Rock to quench their thirst Neb. 9.15 Thou gavest them Bread from Heaven for their hunger and broughtest forth Water for them out of the Rock for their thirst He caused the Ravens to bring bread and flesh to feed Elijah in a time of famine 1 King 17.6 The Ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning and bread and flesh in the evening The Ravens of their own nature would rather devour and eat a mans flesh than bring him bread and flesh to preserve his life so Prov. 30.17 so that we see that God hath altered the course of Nature and wrought miracles to satisfie his peoples hunger And as he hath done great things of old for the satisfying the hungry and relieving the poor and needy so he hath promised to be mindful of them in all ages and to do wonderful and unusual things rather than they shall perish for want of necessary food as you may see in the fore-quoted Promises Isa 41.17,18 Psal 111.5 and he will keep his truth for ever in these as well as in his other Promises Psal 146.6,7 Which keepeth truth for ever which executeth judgment for the oppressed which giveth foed to the hungry 2. Gods care of hungry persons appears by the strict charge which he hath given to those that have ability to feed the hungry they must be so careful hereof that they must not neglect giving food to such as are hungry though they have been their Enemies Rom. 12.20 If thine Enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give him drink He hath not only commanded us to feed the hungry but also hath promised great rewards to such as feed the hungry Isa 58.20 If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry and satisfie the afflicted soul then shall thy light rise in obscurity and thy darkness be as the noon day Matth. 25.34,15 Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world for I was an bungred and ye gave me meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink see farther Psal 41.1,2,3 yea so careful is God of hungry persons that he threatens to condemn those at the day of judgment who have neglected to feed the hungry Matth. 25.41,42 Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels for I was an hungred and ye gave me no meat I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink May not this care that God hath of the hungry incourage you to trust in God in your greatest straits when you fear that you shall perish with hunger 4. Consider that God is wont to be seen in the Mount our extremity is Gods opportunity When the Widows Provision was all spent to an handful of Meal and a little Oyl in a Cruse and she knew not where to have any more but verily thought that she and her son must die then cometh Elijah and multiplyeth her Provision so that she and all her family were nourished during the time of the famine 1 King 17.12,13,14,15,16 When all the water that was in Hagars bottle was spent and she knew not where to have any more but thought that she and her child must die and had cast the child under a shrub saying Let me not see the death of the child then God opened her eyes and shewed her a well of water by her Gen. 21.15,16,19 When the Altar was built whereon Isaac was to be sacrificed and the wood was laid in order and Isaac was bound and laid upon the Altar and Alraham's hand was stretched out and he had taken his knife then the Angel of God calls to him out of Heaven to spare Isaac and shews him a Ram that was provided to be facrificed in Isaac's stead Gen. 22.9,10,11,12,13 And this act of Gods Providence in refcuing Isaac when he was at the point of death was recorded to strengthen the faith of all Gods servants in all ages that they may trust in God in their greatest extremities as we may see Vers 14. 5. Consider how easie a thing it is with God to provide for you seeing he is the Lord of the whole world and hath all the times of the Sea and all the fowls of the Air and all the creatures of the Earth at his disposal Psal 24.1 The Earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof the world and they that dwell therein Psal 50.10,11 Every Beast of the Forrest is mine and the Cattel upon a thousand Hills I know all the Fowls of the Mountains and the wild Beasts of the Field are mine yea he can if he please sustain you by his Word without giving of you bread Deut. 8.3 And he himbled thee and suffered thee to hunger and fed thee with Manna which thou knewest not neither did thy fathers know that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live God can send an Angel from Heaven to bring you Provision as he did to Elijah when he fled into the Wilderness to save his life 1 King 19.3,4,5,6 God can turn stones into bread Mat. 3.9 God is able of these Stones toraise up Children unto Abraham If God can raise up Children from Stones he can also turn stones into Bread to nourish the Children of Abraham 6. Consider how willing God is to relieve you he is not only able but willing to feed the hungry This will appear from what was said concerning the care that God takes of such as are hungry Consider 3. However I shall add something farther concerning Gods willingness to supply your wants because it is no easie matter to trust in God when we come into great straits 1. Earthly Parents will not deny their Children Bread when they are hungry and cry for it Mat. 7.9,10 What man is there of you whom if his Son ask Bread will he give him a Stone or if he ask a Fish will he give him a Serpent And God our heavenly Father is more willing to give good things to us when we ask for them than Parents are to give good things to their Children Vers 11. If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your Children how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him 2. God hath regard to the dry ground though it lie in a desolate place in a
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
passing by on the wall there eryed a woman unto him saying Help my Lord O King and he said if the Lord do not help thee whence shall I help thee 3. They that forsake God in their afflictions are worse than Idolaters for they in their distresses do not run from but run to their Idols to help them The Sea-men that carried Jonah were Idolaters for they had each man his distinct god yet when there arose a great tempest there was not a man amongst them but went to his god for help Jonah 1.4,5 There was a mighty tempest in the Sea so that the Ship was like to be broken then the Marriners were afraid and cryed every man unto his god 3. It may be Satan will take occasion from your afflictions to tempt you to change your Religion He hath not only tempted but prevailed with many in their distress to change their Religion see an instance or two of this 2 Chron. 28.22,23 In the time of his distrâ—ss did he trespass yet more against the Lord this is that King Ahaz for he sacrificed unto the Gods of Damascus which smote him and he said because the gods of the Kings of Assyria help them therefore will I sacrifice to them that they may help me The feeling of want and hope of plenty made the Jews forsake the Lord and burn Incense to the Queen of Heaven Jer. 44.17,18 We will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth to burn Incense to the Queen of Heaven and to pour out Drink Offerings unto her as we have done for then had we plenty of Victuals and were well and saw no evil but since we left of to burn Incense to the Queen of Heaven and to pour out Drink Offerings unto her we have wanted all things and have been consumed by the Sword and by the Famine If Satan by his own suggestions or any of his Instruments should tempt you because of your poor low and afflicted condition to forsake the Protestant Religion which is a Religion founded upon the Scriptures and holdeth forth nothing but what is consonant to and may be clearly proved from the Word of God and should sollicite you to embrace any other Religion the Doctrine or Worship whereof cannot be proved by but are contrary to the Word of God promising you thereby a liberal maintenance you ought not upon any tearms to yield to this temptation I will lay before you some Arguments to continue stedfast in that Doctrine and way of Worship which is according to the Word of God and not forsake the same for any gain or advantage what ever 1. The Prophets under the Old Testament and Jesus Christ and his Apostles under the New Testament do all with one consent direct us to build our faith and to take our directions for worshiping God from the Scriptures The Prophets that lived in the times of the Old Testament they send us to the Scriptures and counsel us to embrace no Doctrines but what are according to the Scriptures Isa 8.20 To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this Word it is because there is no light in them Psal 119.105 Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path Malachi who was one of the last Prophets under the Old Testament at the conclusion of his Prophesie stirs us up to cleave to the Word of God Mal. 4.4 Remember ye the Law of Moses my servant which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel with the Statutes and Judgments Jesus Christ also would have us regulate our faith by the Scriptures Joh. 7.38 He that believeth on me as the Scripture that said He puts us upon the study of the Scriptures Joh. 5.39 Search the Scriptures he lays the cause of Errors in Judgment upon ignorance of the Scriptures Mar. 12.24 Do ye not therefore err because ye know not the Scriptures His great care after his Resurrection was to help his Disciples to understand and to establish them in the belief of the Scriptures Luk. 24.27,44,45 The Apostles of Christ believed in God and worshiped God according as they were directed by the Scriptures Joh. 2.22 His Disciples remembred that he had said this unto them and they believed the Scripture and the Word which Jesus had said Acts 24.14 So worship I the God of my Fathers believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets And as they believed themselves so they taught no other Doctrine then what was according to the Scriptures Act. 26.22 I continue unto this day witnessing both to small and great saying none other things than those which Moses and the Prophets did say should come see also 1 Cor. 15.3,4 Act. 28.23 yea all the members of the true Church of that Church which is the House of God an holy Temple an habitation of God do cleave to and are built upon that Doctrine which is delivered by the Prophets and the Apostles in the Scriptures Ephes 2.19,20,21,22 2. If there should arise a Prophet which could work wonders if that Prophet should perswade us to turn to an Idolatrous Religion we must not hearken to him Deut. 13.1,2,3 If there arise among you a Prophet or a Dreamer of Dreams and giveth thee a sign or a wonder and the sign or the wonder come to pass whereof he spake unto thee saying Let us go after other gods which thou hast not known and let us serve them Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that Prophet for the Lord your God proveth you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul yea farther if one of the Apostles should rise from the dead or if an Angel should come from Heaven and preach any other Doctrine than what is contained in the Scriptures we ought not to receive it Gal. 1.8,9 Though we or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel unto you than that we have preached unto you let him be accursed As we said before so say I now again If any man preach any other Gospel unto you than that ye have received let him be accursed Now if we must entertain no Doctrine contrary to the Scriptures though delivered by a Prophet that can work wonders and foretel things to come or by an Apostle or by an Angel from Heaven then how great is their folly who at the instigation of Satan or any of his Instruments do turn aside from the Truth and embrace a corrupt Religion to get or to prevent the losing of the good things of this world 3. If you abide in the true Doctrine of Christ as it is delivered in the Scriptures you shall enjoy the favour of God and have Communion with him both here and hereafter but if you abide not in the Doctrine of Christ you will lose the favour of God and shall have no part or portion in his Kingdom 2 Joh. v. 9. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not
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
Psal 119.162 I rejoyced at thy Word as one that findeth great spoyl He esteemed that acquaintance that he got with Gods Word in his afflictions more than thousands of gold and silver Psal 119.71,72 It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy Statutes The Law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of Gold and Silver Psal 19.9,10 The Judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether more to be desired are they than Gold yea than much fine Gold 4. If God stir you up to seek after and make sure of himself for your portion now you have lost the portion you had in this world if you get God for your portion your losses will be abundantly made up in God When David was robbed and spoiled of his goods he saith God dealt well with him and why he gave him himself for his portion Psal 119.61 The bands of the wicked have robbed me yet he adds Ver. 65. Thou hast dealt well with thy servant and what made him say God dealt well with him when he was spoiled of all that he had you may see the ground was he had God for his portion Ver. 57. Thou art my portion O Lord. 5. If God shall give you Communion with himself if he shall be pleased to lift up the light of his countenance upon you and give you his blessed and gracious presence in his affliction he gives you that which is better than all this world Psal 73.25 There is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee Psal 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 Wine encreased The lowest condition in this world with the enjoyment of God is better than the highest and best estate without God Psal 84.10 A day in thy Courts is better than a thousand I had rather be a door-keeper in the House of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness The Wilderness is an uncomfortable place Canaan was a Land flowing with milk and honey yet Moses Chuseth to abide in the Wilderness with Gods presence rather than to go into Canaan without the presence of God Exod. 33.15 If thy presence go not with me carry us not up hence SECT 16. 16. Let the loss of your substance and habitation stir you up to make sure of a better house and better substance in heaven There is an house and substance in heaven as well as here upon earth Joh. 14.2 In my Fathers House are many Mansions Heb. 10.34 Ye have in Heaven a better and an enduring substance Now when we have lost or are in danger to lose our houses and substance on earth it should put us upon making sure of heaven Heb. 13.14 Here have we no continuing City but we seek one to come Heb. 11.9,10 By faith he sojourned in the Land of Promise as in a strange Country He looked for a City which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God The Apostle Paul being without a certain dwelling place 1 Cor. 4.11 made sure of heaven 2 Cor. 5.1 We know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens It is very uncomfortable for the body to want an habitation There was great wailing in Zion when the Inhabitants thereof were cast out of their dwellings Jer. 9.19 A voice of wailing is heard out of Zion How are we spoiled we are greatly counfounded because we have forsaken the land because our dwellings have cast us out But it will be far more uncomfortable for our souls to want a dwelling place with God in heaven there will be great weeping and wailing by all those that shall be shut out of the Kingdom of Heaven If a mans dwelling here on earth be burnt or other wayes destroyed he may get as good in another place but he that faileth of a dwelling in heaven must dwell with devouring fire and with everlasting burnings Mat. 25.41 Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels Such as shall not be admitted to dwell with Christ have another habitation provided for them and that is among the Devils in flaming â—ire If a man be deprived of a convenient habitation here it continueth but a little while a few dayes will put an end to his misery but he that faileth of a dwelling with God when he dieth is miserable to all eternity If you say What shall we do that we may be sure of an house in heaven and go to dwell with God when we dye I answer 1. We must open our souls to Jesus Christ and receive him into our hearts and let him dwell with us and then we shall surely dwell with him The Lord Jesus stands at the door of our hearts and knocks and calls to us to open our hearts to him Cant. 5.2 It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh saying Open to me my sister my love my dove my undefiled Rev. 3.20 Behold I stand at the door and knock if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me Now after we have opened the door to Christ and received him into our hearts we must let him dwell with us we should let him dwell in our thoughts we should let him dwell in our affections we should let him dwell in our conversations which we do when we order our conversations by his word and make Christ the end of our conversations Now if we receive Christ and let him dwell in our hearts we shall surely dwell with him for ever 1 John 5.11,12 This is the record that God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath life 2. We must not suffer any sin to dwell either in our hearts or conversations Evil motions and vain and sinful thoughts will be often coming into our mindes but we must not let them dwell there but we must endeavour to cast them out as ost as they come into our mindes This God expects from all those that expect salvation Jer. 4.14 O Jerusalem wash thine heart from wickedness that thou mayest be saved How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee God will not let evil dwell with him Psal 5.4 Thou art not a God that hast pleasure in wickedness neither shall evil dwell with thee and therefore if we would dwell with God we must purge our selves from our sins They that do not depart from iniquity Christ will say to them even to every one of them Depart from me Luke 13.27 Depart from me all ye workers of iniquity 3. We must devote our selves to the service of Christ and if we serve the Lord Jesus whilst we are in this world we shall
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
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
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
new born babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby Meditation on the word built up David wonderfully in knowledge Psal 119.99 I have more under standing then all my teachers for thy testimonies are my meditation The Apostle Paul recommends meditation on Gods word to Timothy as an excellent means to promote his growth in grace 1 Tim. 4.15 Meditate upon these things give thy self wholly to them that thy profiting may appear unto all So also when he took his leave of the Elders of the Church of Ephesus he commends them to the word of the Lord as the means whereby they might be built up in that grace which they had already received Acts 20.32 And now brethren I commend you to God and to the the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among them that are sanctified I might have added in the tenth place After God hath prospered you in this work of building and you have finished your houses dedicate them to God It was a custom among the Jews after they had built a new house to dedicate it unto the Lord as you may see Deut. 20.5 but of this I shall have occasion to speak afterward Quest 3. Sect. 7. p. 313. where I shall shew how we should dedicate our Houses to God and therefore I shall adde no more upon this Question but proceed to the third QUEST 3. What shall they render to the Lord for his Mercy whose Houses and Goods were preserved from being consumed by the late Dreadful Fire BEfore I answer this Question I shall premise five or six things 1. It was Gods Providence not your own prudence or diligence or any other act of yours that preserved you from sustaining any loss or damage by the late Fire Psal 16.5 Thou maintainest my lot Psal 3.8 Salvation belongeth to the Lord. Psal 40.17 Thou art my help and my deliverer When ever a righteous man is delivered from any trouble his deliverance proceedeth from the Lord Psal 34.17 The righteous cry and the Lord heareth and delivereth them out of all their troubles As God ordereth the rain where it shall fall and where it shall not fall Amos 4.7 I caused it to rain upon one City and caused it not to rain upon another so it is he also that ordered this Fire what City and what Houses and Goods it should consume and what it should not consume The Fire the Winds and all other Creatures do nothing but at Gods appointment Psal 148.7,8 Praise ye the Lord from the earth ye Dragons and all deeps fire and hail snow and vapour stormy wind fullfilling his word The fire and the wind are ruled by God they spare those whom God appoints them to spare they afflict those whom God appoints them to afflict they do nothing but by commission from God The same God that sets the bounds of the Sea and saith Hitherto shalt thou come and no farther and here shall thy proud waves be stayed Job 38.11 did set bounds to this raging Fire and appointed how far it should proceed and where its flames should be stayed wherefore such as were preserved from suffering damage by this Fire must not ascribe their safety partly to Gods Providence and partly to themselves but must give all the glory to God and say as David did of his deliverances Psal 4.8 Thou Lord only makest me to dwell in safety Psal 62.2 He only is my rock and my salvation 2. We ought to look upon it as a great mercy to be spared from Gods judgments Neh. 13.22 Spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy Lam. 3.22 It is of the Lords mercies that we are not consumed especially we should account it a great mercy to be spared from Gods judgments in a time of common calamity when multitudes as good or better than we are have been great sufferers When Lot escaped with his life out of Sodom though he sustained some loss by the burning of that City yet he looked upon it as an exceeding great mercy that his life was preserved Gen. 19.19 Be hold now thy servant hath found grace in thy sight and thou hast magnified thy mercy which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life 3. When the Lord hath given us any remarkable deliverance or bestowed any other signal mercy upon us it should put us upon enquiring what return we should make unto God for his benefits When David had received a great deliverance he maketh enquiry what he should render to God for so great a mercy Psal 116.12 What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me This is needful because God expects that when he hath done great things for us we should be returning something to him Isa 5.1,2 My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill and he fenced it and he looked that it should bring forth grapes Luke 17.17,18 Jesus answering said Were there not ten cleansed but where are the nine There are not found that returned to give glory to God save this stranger Where we may observe 1. The Lord Jesus expects that when we have received any eminent favour from him we should return something for what we receive else why did he ask Where are the nine 2. The Lord takes notice who they are that do and who they are that do not return according to the mercies that they receive from God The Samaritan returned to give glory to God the others did not 3. There are very few scarce one in ten that make a return according to the mercies that they receive There were ten cleansed and only one returns to give glory to God 4. When any man faileth to return according to the benefits which he hath received though he be a good man God is much displeased at it 2 Chron. 32.25 But Hezekiah rendred not again according to the benefit done unto him for his heart was lifted up therefore there was wrath upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem God had in a wonderful manner delivered Hezekiah from death and though he was a good man so eminently good that he excelled all the Kings that lived before him and came after him according to what we finde 2 Kings 18.5 He trusted in the Lord God of Israel so that after him was none like him among all the Kings of Judah nor any that were before him Yet this good man Hezekiah failed to reader again according to the benefit done unto him and what followed thereupon wrath came upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem for this very thing 5. It is not every return will answer Gods expectation but there must be some suitableness some proportion between the mercies that we receive from God and the returns that we make to God Hezekiah was not wholly wanting in making return to God for he praised God for recovering him from his sickness Isa 38.19 The living the living he shall praise thee as I do this
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
whom resist stedfast in the faith knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world Fear weakens the heart and makes it faint at approaching troubles Luke 21.26 Mens hearts failing them for fear Now Faith conduceth much to the fixing and establishing the heart against fears Psal 112.7 He shall not be afraid of evil tydings his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. Psal 56.11 In God have I put my trust I will not be afraid what man can do unto me And therefore it conduceth much to the preparing of a man to undergo his afflictions I might shew you here what you should believe in reference to your afflictions to enable you to bear them with chearfulness among many things that might be instanced in I will mention only these three 1. Believe that no affliction doth or ever shall befal you but by the wise and gracious providence of God and that not only every affliction but every circumstance in every affliction is ordered and disposed by the infinite wisdom of God This is agreeable to such Scriptures as these Rom. 11.36 Of him and through him and to him are all things Ephes 1.11 Who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will Amos 3.6 Shall there be evil in a City and the Lord hath not done it Matth. 10.30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered The believing that Gods hand is in our afflictions will bow our hearts and make them stoop and submit to God though it be a smarting Rod wherewith the Lord corrects us They were dreadful judgments which Samuel denounced against Eli yet he submits himself readily to it because it came from God 1 Sam. 3.18 It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good 2. Believe that in every affliction God designeth the bringing glory to his Name and the doing good to your own souls you have good ground to believe this for the Scriptures do assure us that God aims both at our good and his own glory in all our afflictions Heb. 12.10 He chastneth us for our profit Rom. 8.28 We know that all things work together for good to them that love God 2 Cor. 4.17 Our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Rom. 11.36 To him are all things All things are not only of God as the efficient but they also tend to him as their end Isa 5.16 The Lord of Hosts shall be exalted in judgment This made the Apostle joyful in his afflictions that they did illustrate the glory of God 2 Cor. 12.9,10 Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in mine infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me therefore I take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persecutions in distresses for Christs sake He rejoyced also in his afflictions because they did promote the good of his soul When some preached Christ out of contention with a design to add affliction to his bonds Phil. 1.14 Was he troubled at the affliction they created to him No for he saith I therein do rejoyce yea and will rejoyce ver 18. And what made him to rejoyce herein He gives us the reason of his joy ver 19. For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your Prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ 3. Believe that you shall be delivered out of your troubles this will be a means to support you under them Psal 27.13 I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living You have good ground from the Word of God to believe that you shall be delivered out of all your troubles though they be very many Psal 34.19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivereth him out of them all And though they be great as well as many such as you never met with or heard of the like yet you may rest upon God that he will deliver you out of them Jer. 30.7 Alas for that day is great so that none is like it it is even the time of Jacobs trouble but he shall be saved out of it What is your affliction Is it the rod of men God will not suffer it to lye over-long upon you Psal 125.3 The rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous lest the righteous put forth their hand unto iniquity Is it the Rod of God that is upon you Do the arrows of the Almighty stick fast in your soul doth he contend with you This will not last alwayes Isa 57.16 I will not contend for ever neither will I be alwayes wrath for the spirit should fail before me and the soul which I have made Doth the Lord do more then contend with you doth he seem to reject and cast off your soul you may be assured that he will not deal thus with you alwayes because he himself hath said it that he will not cast off for ever Lam. 3.31,32 The Lord will not cast off for ever but though he cause grief yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies Is it a temptation of Satan that disquiets you wait but a while on God and he will tread Satan and all his temptations under your feet Rom. 16.20 The God of Peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly Is it some sin that vexeth and troubleth your soul wait a while upon God and he will deliver you from your sins as well as your other troubles Mich. 7.19 He will turn again he will have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities Psal 130.7,8 Let Israel hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is mercy and with him is plenteous redemption and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities When David was under many sorrows that disturbed and cast down his soul he bore up himself with hope of a better state that though for the present he was in a mourning condition the time would come wherein he should praise God for helping him out of his troubles Psal 42.5 Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance 3. If we would be prepared to undergo every affliction that God shall lay upon us we must labour to get Gods strength engaged with us for us Though of our selves we can do nothing yet through the help of God we shall be able to do and suffer great things Psal 60.11,12 Give us help from trouble for vain is the help of man Through God we shall do valiantly Psal 18.29 By thee have I run through a Troup and by my God have I leaped over a Wall By the help of God we may do and suffer every thing Phil. 4.13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me If a man have God for his strength he
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
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
bereaveth himself of all good he hath no enjoyment of God no enjoyment of himself no enjoyment of any good in any of the creatures He hath no enjoyment of God for They that are of a froward heart are abomination to the Lord Prov. 11.20 Psal 18.26 With the froward thou wilt shew thy self froward He hath no enjoyment of himself but is like a man dispossessed of his soul Luk. 21.19 In your patience possess ye your souls He hath no enjoyment of any good in any of the creatures though he be one that hath great possessions Prov. 17.20 He that hath a froward heart findeth no good He is in continual pain and anguish like a man that walks among thorns Prov. 22.5 Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them 4. It is a very hard matter to bear afflictions with a cheerful contented spirit When a man is crossed of his will his heart is ready to fret against the Lord even at such times as he brings afflictions upon himself by his own folly Prov. 19.3 The foolishness of man perverteth his way and his heart fretteth against the Lord. When God rebukes us and binds us in the cords of affliction we are apt to fret and fume like a wild Bull in a net Isa 51.20 Thy sons have fainted they lie at the head of all the streets as a wild Bull in a net they are full of the fury of the Lord the rebuke of thy God Nothing less than the mighty power of God will quell and keep down all the risings frettings and murmurings of the heart and make a man patient and cheerful in his afflictions Col. 1.11 Strengthned with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness There is the power the glorious power of God the power of God put forth in a mighty manner to enable a Christian to suffer afflictions with patience and joy 5. No man that is destitute of the grace of God can bear afflictions with a contented spirit There may be stupidity and insensibleness of Gods hand and there may be a restraining of murmurings in some natural men but true contentment is found only in godly persons 1 Tim. 6.8 Godliness with contentment is great gain As for unregenerate men when God doth not lay a restraint upon them they do not only fret inwardly against God but break out into open blasphemy when they meet with great and painful afflictions Isa 8.21 They shall pass through it hardly bestead and hungry and it shall come to pass that when they shall be hungry they shall fret themselves and curse their King and their God and look upward Rev. 16.10,11 They gnawed their tongues for pain and blasphemed the God of Heaven because of their pains and their sores and repented not of their deeds 6. The Saints and Servants of God have found it an hard matter to bear their losses with a quiet contented spirit when God hath taken away from them those things which have been near and dear to them When Jacob did but suppose that he had lost his son Joseph he was over-whelmed with grief Gen. 37.34,35 Jacob rent his cloaths and put sackloth upon his loins and mourned for his son many days and all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him but he refused to be comforted and he said for I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning thus his father wept for him When God took away Absolom how was David cast down at his death 2 Sam. 18.33 The King was much moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept and as he went thus he said O my son Absolom my son my son Absolom would God I had died for thee O Absolom my son my son Jonah was a man that feared God a Type of Christ no ordinary man but a Prophet yet what abundance of discontent did he manifest for the loss of a gourd because it was a refreshment to him by keeping him from the heat of the Sun He fell into a great passion fainted was weary of his life wished that he might die and when God reasoned with him about his froward carriage he stands upon his justification Jonah 4.8,9 He fainted and wished in himself to die and said It is better for me to die than to live And God said to Jonah Dost thou well to be angry for the gourd And he said I do well to be angry even unto death Yet this gourd came up in a night and perished in a night and Jonah had not laboured at all for it neither did Jonah but God made it to grow Vers 10. When we find such a man as Jonah in such a great passion for such a small loss as a gourd which grew up and perished in a night and a day we may cry out Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him And if we are kept from fretting and discontent at our losses we must give glory to God and say as the Apostle in another case Not I but the grace of God which is with me keeps me from being discontented at my losses 7. Though it be hard to attain a cheerful contented spirit in all estates and conditions yet it is possible to be attained The Apostle Paul went through variety of afflictions as hunger thirst nakedness shipwrack imprisonment beating with rods stripes above measure cold watchings c. 2 Corinth 11.23,24,25,26,27 yet he had learned to be content in every estate Phil. 4.11,13 I have learned in whatsoever estate I am therewith to be content I can do all things through Christ which strengthneth me And as he was contented so also cheerful and joyful in all his troubles 2 Cor. 7.4 I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation Now what the Apostle Paul attained to in this kind that through the help of Christ we may attain also 8. A word of counsel and advice suitably and seasonably administred to such as are in a suffering condition availeth much for the quieting comforting and supporting of their spirits under their greatest afflictions and deepest sorrows Prov. 12.25 Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop but a good word maketh it glad Prov. 27.9 Oyntment and perfume rejoyce the heart so doth the sweetness of a mans friend by hearty counsel Job 4.3,4 Behold thou hast instructed many and thou hast strengthned the weak hands thy words have upholden him that was falling and thou hast strengthned the feeble knees Prov. 15.23 A word spoken in due season how good is it 9. No arguments or other means that are made use of either in preaching writing or private conference have such force and power to quiet support and comfort the hearts of those that faint and are disquieted and cast down under their afflictions as those that are drawn from and bottomed upon the Word of God Lev. 10.3 Moses said unto Aaron this is it that the