the Prison in red in the fire in white in the Kingdom of Heaven Thus you see what comfort this doctrine affords to the faithful in all conditions and Estates Oh how should this make you prize and esteem the love of God above all things in the world above riches friends favour of men life it self which are all uncertain Oh how should this unchangable and eternal love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord make us grow out of love yea into a loathing of all other things in comparison of it as St. Paul did Phil. 3. 8. Phil. 3. 8. Oh prize this love of God above ten thousand worlds Take heed that you doe not abuse it by carnal security and wantonness but let it make you more diligent in your work and more studious of his glory more careful to please him more fearful to offend him and let the frequent thoughts of it augment and increase your love to him whom you can never love enough nor fear enough nor serve nor honour enough for this great love of his to you which made him send his own Son to dye in thy stead to reconcile thee and bring thee into favour with himself and so into a better and surer Estate of happiness than Adam had in innocency from which wonderful invincible and eternal love nothing shall be able to separate thee no not death it self I am perswaded that neither death shall separate us so I pass to the third and last point which is this Doct. 3. The death of the body cannot separate believers from the love of God in Christ Jesus In the handling of this I shall be short also I say death it self cannot separate by death here understand not only death it self but also all those sicknesses and deseases that goe before it all the pains terrors and tortures that accompany it or what ever may befall Gods Children at their death cannot separate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus 1. Nothing that goes before death 2. Nothing that accompanys death 1. Nothing that goes before death can separate them from Gods love 1. Sickness cannot those whom God loves have sickness yea mortal sickness as well as others but this doth not separate them from Gods love Joh. 11. 3. He whom thou Joh. 11. 3. lovest is sick Not their Souls for he knows their Soul in adversity Psal 31. 7. not their bodies Psalm Psal 31. 7. Psal 41. 3. 41. 3. for God will strengthen them upon their bed of languishing and make their bed in their sickness 2. Nothing that accompanies death can separate them from his love 1. The terrors and horrors of death cannot Psal 23. 4. thou art Psal 23 4. with me and thy rod and thy staffe comfort me so when David walked in the Valley of the shaddow of death he would not fear when he was upon the borders of death and walked side by side with this King of terrours yet David would not be daunted but be confident because thou Lord art with me Then terrours of death which are able to distract a man and separate him from himself could not separate David from his God thou art with me 2. The pains of death cannot the faithful who not only dyed but suffered painful deaths Heb. 11. were stoned to death sawn assunder were yet the Lords worthys dear and pretious in his sight Yea pretious in the sight of the Lord is the death of all his Saints whether it be a natural or violent death an easy or a painful death 3. Death it self cannot which is a separation of the Soul and body yet neither of Soul or body from the Lords love as living so dying they are the Lords both in their Souls and bodys Rom. 14. 8. Rom. 14. 8. that death it self cannot separate the faithful from Gods love is evident 1 For first the death of the body cannot break Gods covenant with his people which is that he will not take away his love from them Isa Isa 54. 10. Psal 89. 33. 54. 10. Psal 89. 33. the reason is because the covenant is made with their whole persons God is in covenant with Soul and body too therefore when death severs these it separates neither the one nor the other from Gods love God is the God of Abraham of Abrahams dust of a believers dust God loves the very dust of his Saints By this argument Christ proves the resurrection of the body Mat. 22. 32. that God was the Mat. 22. 32. God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob the ground of the argument is that God made his covenant not only with the Souls of the Partriarcks but with their whole persons 2. Death cannot separate the faithful from Gods love because they are in Christ Jesus loved in Christ knit unto Christ as members to the head and this union is an inseparable union it remains for ever nothing can violate it no not death therefore when they dye they are said to dye in the Lord. Rev. 14. 13. and when they are in their Rev. 14. 13. graves they are said to be dead in Christ and to rest and sleep in him 3. Death cannot do this for death is ours our friend on our side at our service for us not against us all the passages of it are ours 1 Cor. 1. 22. Nay death in so 1 Cor. 1. 22. far from separating the faithful from the Lord and his love that it brings them home to the Lord and to your full fruition of him and his love in Heaven it brings them to the injoyment of him who is love it self not only to kiss him through the lattice but to lye in the bosom of his love to be infolded in the everlasting armes of his love to be pertakers of all his love and to be filled will all the fulness of God Ephes 3. 19. Eph. 3. 19. Death is so far from casting a believing Soul out of Gods love that it lancheth him into the bottomless Sea of Gods love the bredth and depth whereof passeth knowledge and one drop whereof is more worth then all the Gold of Ophir yea surpasseth all the glory of the world 4. Death cannot separate the faithful from the sense and feeling of Gods love therefore much less from his love it self but usually they have then the greatest manifestations of his love to their Souls 't is then most stird abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost When they are to drink this bitter Cup God sweetens it with the Wine of his love which is better and sweeter then life Thus St. Stephen when he was dying saw Heaven open beheld the glory of God and Christ standing at Gods right hand Act. 7. 55 56. How fully Act. 7. 55 56. hath God manifested his love to some of his servants at their death of which I could give many instances Mr. John Holland a memorable Saint and a godly man an eminent Minister of Christ the day before he dyed did
earnestly call for a Bible with these words come come death approcheth let us gather some flowers to comfort this heart in this hour and turning with his own hand to the 8. Chapt. to the Romans he gave it to a Minister present and bad him read and at the end of every Verse Mr. Holland made a Pause gave the sense of it and so continued his meditation and exposition for two hours On the suddain he said to the Minister that was reading to him O stay your reading what brightness is that I see have you lighted any Candles to whom was answered no it is the Sun shine Sun shine saith he nay my Saviours shine now farewel world welcome Heaven the Day-star from on high hath visited my heart O speak it when I am gone and Preach it at my funeral God dealeth familiarly with men I see his mercy I see his Majesty whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell but God knows I see things unutterable And a little before he dyed ravished in Spirit he raised himself up and shut up his blessed life with these blessed words Oh what an happy change shall I make from darkness to light from night to day from death to life from sorrow to sollace from a sinful world to an heavenly Being O my dear Brethren Sisters and Friends iâ— pittys me to leave you behind yet remember my death when I am gone and what I now feel I hope you shall feel ere you dye that God doth and will deal familiarly with men And now ye blessed Angels bear me O bear me into the bosome of my best beloved Amen Amen come Lord Jesus come quickly and so fell asleep in the Lord. So Mr. Bolton boasted at his death to a friend what he felt in his Soul I am said he by the wonderful mercies of God as full of comfort as my heart can hold and feel nothing in my Soul but Christ with whom I heartily desire to be So Mrs. Catherine Britterge a Holly woman said at her death O my sweet Saviour dost thou so love me who am but dust and ashes O how wonderful how wonderful is thy love O thee joyes the joyes that I feel in my Soul they be wonderful they be wonderful Many like examples might be given of Saints dying as full of the sense of Gods love as heart could hold and more then their tongues could express I shall instance but in one more and it is in this pretious servant of Jesus Christ whose funerals we solemnize this day her death did not separate her from the sense and feeling of Gods love how sweetly did shee apply the promises for her comfort and in her greatest weakness by the shength of her faith drow those brests of consolation which are then sweetest when death is nearest How comfortably did she speak to her Relations and friends weeping about her desiring them not to mourn for her but to rejoyce rather because the time of her redemption was at hand redemption from sin from sorrow from sickness and pain which she had long suffered What a plerophory and full perswasion she had of her salvation and future happiness appears by her words to my self which were these I know in whom I have believed and will not cast away my confidence And also by her last and remarkable words to her dear and disconsolate Husband which she uttered a little before she breathed out her Soul into the bosom of her best beloved alluding to the words of her Saviour she said I goe to my Father and thy Father to my God and thy God By all these instances you may see death cannot separate a believer from the sense of Gods love much less from his love Thus you have the doctrinal part a few words by way of Application Use 1. If death cannot separate the faithful from the love of God thâ—s then is a sweet comfort to Gods Children against the fear of death of what sort soever in what manner soever Though there be many separaâ—â—ons in death terrible to flesh and blood dreadful to nature as 1. It is a separation from our dear friends and relations from husband wife and children from Father and Mother death plucks us from all these at once this is dreadful to nature but yet no separation from Gods love It only takes us from friends on Earth to friends in Heaven it brings us to the general assembly of the first born to Jesus the mediaâ—our to Angels and the Spirits of just men made perfect So that by this separation we doe but change our place not our company and our faithful friends which we leave behind us shall shortly follow after us co 〈…〉 to us and we and them shall ever be with the Lord. 2. The death of the body is a separation from all our Earthly comforts from all our worldly injoyments and accommodations and this is uncomfortable to nature too He that hath House and Land Money and Stock flocks and heards riches and honours high dignities and great preferments in the world must take a final farewel of all these when death comes The Fool and his full Barns rich stores and goods for many years must suddenly and ever lastingly part when death aproacheth and this is sad to him that hath nothing in store in another world But such a separation is not terrible or uncomfortable to a Child of God because he is assured though these things leave him yet God loves him which is better to him then all the comforts of life and will bring him ever by death to better comforts to a building an house in Heaven to inherit all things to a rich and glorious purchase to an everlasting Kingdom to joyes unspeakable felicity inconcevable and to Rivers of pleasures at Gods right hand for evermore 3. The death of the body is the separation of the Soul from thee body which is most terrible to nature that the body and Soul these old friends must now part the body to return to the dust as it was and the Soul to God that gave it and Oh with what bitterness with what throbs and groans with what sighs and tears with what pangs and pains do these long and intimate acquaintance usually part But though death part Soul and body yet neither the Soul nor the body of a Saint from the love of God Psal 116. 15. Pretious Psal 116. 15. in the sight of the Lord is the death of all his Saints A poor Child of God lying upon his death bed bemoans himself his friends also grieve and mourn for him and in the sight of the world he is in a grievous and miserable Estate but in the sight and estimation of God his death is very pretious and dear the Lord loves him loves his Soul in its separation from the body and receives it as a pretious Jewel into the very besome of his love He loves his dead body yea his very dust and will raise it again out
assurance of their salvation and alas what woâ—ul uncertainties are men content to be at here I hope well saith one I trust saith another God is merciful saith a third and I shall doe as well as others saith a fourth Surely he that is no better ensured in worldly matters then thus I hope and I trust is but a weak man and in a very poor case we think Alas that we should be so Politick for our bodies and so silly and simple for our Souls that men should seek so much to make that sure which they are sure to forgoe and seek after no assurance of their Eternal condition unless it be to make their damnation sure as many wicked men are as diligent about this as the children of God are to make their salvation sure doing quite contrary to these commands and councels in 2 Pet. 1. 5. 2 Phil. 12. Heb. 2 Pet. 1. 5. 2 Phil. 12. Heb. 3. 15. 3. 15. these men are as far from faith and grace as they are from the assurance of faith and grace as far from salvation it self as from the assurance of it salvation is far from the wicked for they seek not thy statutes 2. Branch of this use is to reprove those who because assurance may be had and many of Gods children have it think they have it too Yea they that have none at all pretend to it most of all carnall men and hypocrites who never rightly sought it nor are subjects rightly qualified for it being unhumbled unbroken impenitent unbelieving sensual not having the Spirit All graces and so assurance how their counterfeits Solomon speaks of some boasting of a false gift Pro. 14. 25. so many boast Pro. 14. 25. 2 Rom. 71. 23. of assurance and have it not 2 Rom. 17. 23. thou makest thy boast of God and art confident so many boast that God is their God Christ their Saviour and that God loves them with his special love but their confidence is groundless like that of Solomons foole Pro. 14. 16. and Pro. 14. 16. Rev. 3. 17. the Laodicean Angel Rev. 3. 17. and of these there are diverse sorts 1. Such as say they are perswaded God loves them and it shall goe well with them and take it for granted 't is so because their own hearts tell them so and can give no other reason of their hope and perswasion but this my mind gives me so c. But this perswasion is a delusion of Satan and thy own deceitful heart this perswasion comes not from the spirit of God for then it would be grounded upon the word of God but arising meerly from thine own spirit without the word it is a delusion and a presumption no true perswasion or assurance Prov. 28. 26. he that Pro. 28. 26. trusteth his own heart is a foole for that is deceitful above all things and is always a false Prophet speaking peace when no peace is and the false spirit works effectually in the hearts of such this false assurance Luk. 11. 21. Luk. 11. 21. 2. Such as say they are assured because they never doubted they have always believed God loves them and that they shall be saved they never doubted of going to Heaven when they dye they have ever taken it for an axiome never to be called in question or denyed that they shall be saved Friends this is a false assurance for take this for an infallible truth he that never doubted never believed and he that never believed never had a sound assurance of his salvation true faith is accompanied with doubts why art thou disquieted and cast down oh my Soul Psal 42. 5. and Psa 42. 5. O thou of little faith wherefore dost thou doubt Mat. 14. 31. Assurance is never Mat. 14. 31. so perfect as to exclude all doubting at all times St. Paul saith of himself who had this assurance without were doubtings within were fears 2 Cor. 7. 5. that is doubtings 2 Cor. 7. 5. and infidelity yea God who brings good out of evil and light out of darkness brings assurance out of doubtings and fears for first these doubtings and fears stir up a Christian to be diligent in the use of means whereby he may come to be assured Yea secondly these doubts and fears doe use to end in true peace and sound assurance as Davids did Psal 42. 5. and the last Psal 42. 5. and last Verse whereas they that never had them and are thereupon confident of their good Estates this false assurance of theirs will end in great fearâ— and desperate terrours Job 18. Job 14. 18. 14. His confidence saith Bildod shall be rooted out of his Tabernacle and shall bring him to the King of terrours If then thou thinkest thou art assured because thou never doubtest wondering at others full of doubts and fears in this respect then know thy perswasion is a false perswasion a false assurance no assurance of Gods people no assurance of faith which doth not exclude all doubting It is a bastard assurance it was born and bred with thee 't is a Counterfeit a very delusion of the Devil And I may apply to thee that saying of Eliphaz Job 15. 31. let not Job 15. 31. him that is deceived trust in vanity for vanity shall be his recompence Your assurance thus built is but vanity and it shall have no other recompence but frustration and disapointment 3. A third sort are perswaded God loves them and so consequently that they shall be saved because God blesseth them with common mercies and it goes well with them in this life they receive many testimonies of Gods love and favour towards them as health wealth prosperity and a good name like those the Prophet Micah mentions Micah 3. 11. Or as Ephraim Hos Micah 3. 11. Hos 12. 8. 12. 8. I am become rich I have found me out substance in all my labours they shall find no iniquity in me But this is a false perswasion or assurance which is grounded only upon the fruits of Gods common bounty not of his special love and mercy things that God gives to his very enemies crums that are often cast to dogs and no man can know love or hatred by these things here below 4. A fourth sort are perswaded well of themselves and of their everlasting Estates because their Neighbours yea Ministers and good people think well of them Thus the Church of Laodicea because well thought of by other Churches thought well of her self and Judas very like thought his condition good because the rest of the disciples did so But that assurance only is good that is built upon the word of God not the word of man they that rest upon every bodies good word can assure themselves of nothing but that heavy woe in Luk 6. 26. woe unto you Luk 6. 26. when all men speak well of you and therefore saith the Apostle Gal. 6. 4. Gal. 6. 4. let every man prove his own work
so shall he have rejoycing in himself and not in an other 5. Another sort that boast of false assurance are false believers temporaries who having by some common work of the spirit some common gifts and graces wrought in them some illumination convictions joy in the word and some partial reformation are presently so full of assurance that they have not any doubts and imagin they are able to judge and determine concerning others whether they have grace or no. But 't is a sign of a bad building that hath a weak or no foundation and it was a sign Jacobs venison was not right because it was so quickly catched so this assurance is too quickly gotten to be good and for the most part comes to nothing like Jonahs Gouard sprong up in one night and withered in another or like the stony ground hearers that received the word suddenly with joy and for want of a depth of Earth in time of temptation fell away All these assurances which men boast of are false and it apears by the fruits of them By their fruits ye shall know them saith our Saviour of the false Prophets Mat. 7. 20. So Mat 7 20. by their fruits ye shall know these false assurances or perswasions which make men never the better work no change in their lives no care to please God no fear to offend God nay they work contrary effects they harden mens hearts and keep them from sorrowing for sin Isa 57. 10. thou saidst not there Isa 57. 10. is no hope therefore thou wert not grieved nay they can commit very hainous sins and never be troubled at them Psal 64. 4. they shoot in secret Psal 64 4. at the perfect yea suddainly doe they shoot at him and fear not they incourage themselves in an evil way Farther this assurance they talk of doth inbolden them to commit sin Jer. 3. 4. didst thou not cry thou art Jer. 3. 4. my Father but they do evil more and more And in Hos 8. my God we Hos 8. know thee yet they have rejected the thing that is good Now how many are there whom Satan hath over thrown with this false perswasion yet men and women will goe away with it dreaming their case is good let such know as true assurance of salvation is a great mercy so false assurance is one of the most grievous judgments that can befal a man in Isa 29. 9. when Isa 29. 9. the Lord had sayd stay your selves and wonder in v. 10. he adds v. 10. this to be the judgment they should wonder at the Lord hath covered you with a spirit of slumber or hath powered upon you the spirit of a deep sleep he hath closed your eyes Of the two it is far better to be vexed with continual fears than to be lulled asleep with a false assurance for besides that it keeps a man from seeking to God it will not hold but certainly faile a man when he hath most need of it as Zophar saith in Job 11. 20. The eyes Job 11. 20. of the wicked shall fail and they shall not Escape and their hope shall be as the giving up of the Ghost that is as the Soul and body part with great pain and horror so shall he and his hope as the Soul departs suddainly so shall his hope leave him in a moment and as the Soul returns not into the body any more in this life so he and his hope take an everlasting farewel each of other his Soul and his hope depart together never to meet more therefore let me invert the words of the Apostle concerning true confidence Heb. 10. 35. and say concerning this Heb. 10. 35. cast it away cast away your confidence for it shall have no recompence of reward Thus much for this second use by way of reprehension III. Use Let it serve in the last place for Exhortation Is it so that a Christian in this life may be perswaded and assured he shall be saved then let this perswade and stir up us to labour for this assurance let us not run blundering on in an uncertain opinion or a wavering hope but strive after this sound perswasion you have heard 't is attainable others have actually injoyed it and we are injoyned to seek it and if the fault be not our own may obtain it and to make you the more earnest and diligent in the persuit of it consider these motives briefly 1. Mot. Nothing else can be assured are not riches honours possessions relations and all worldly injoyments uncertain is there not vanity written upon them all and are they not all subject to variation and loss such uncertain beings they are that the wise man saith they are not Pro. 23. 5. they are but Pro. 23. 5. like a flock of birds in a mans yard which he cannot call his own for they soon take to themselves wings and flee away but whoso is sure of his salvation sure of the love of God and his interest in Christ is sure of that which he can never loose this is an abiding substance an enduring inheritance which the iron teeth of time can never destroy nor eternity it selfe wear out 2. Mot. 'T is your indispensable duty to labour to be assured of Gods love and your own salvation God hath often charged his people to contend for the security and assurance of their spiritual Estates 2. Pet. 1. 10. 2 Cor. 13. 5. and in Heb. 2 Pet. 1. 10. 2 Cor. 13. 5. Heb. 6. 11. 6. 11. we desire that every one of you doe shew the some diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end And this commandment is for our good 3. Mot. This knowledge and certainty is naturally desirable Every man would faine know things to come â—especially concerning themselves If there were a book written that would tell men what should certainly befal them in this world to their last breath O how desirous would people be to procure and read it now is it so desirable to know our destiny to heare and know prophecies what shall hapen to us in this life and is it not as desirable to know and be assured what shall be our portion to all eternity what we must trust to and look for what state and place we must be in for ever why there is a book will tell you this the written word of God and this you may know if you will labour for it 4. Mot. This certainty of our salvation as it is very desirable so beyond expression comfortable Though not the being yet the well being the comfort of a Christian depends upon it and if ever God bestow this blessing of assurance upon thee whatever thy condition be in the world thou wilt account thy self the happiest man upon earth therefore this full assurance is called riches Col. 2. 2. Riches serve to Col. 2. 2. make the life of man Comfortable and put a great deal of joy into mens hearts
cause to fear with an Holy fear lest by sin he displease God his loving Father and so provoke him to scourge him not only in his body but in his Soul and conscience as he did David whose sin put him to more grief and anguish in his Soul than ever man felt that was wracked in his body to the breaking of his bones it put him to such a torture terror and anguish that he would have given his Kingdom to have been eased of it Psal 51. 8. Psal 51. 8. Object 3. But doth not the Scripture say Prov. 8. 17. I love them Prov. 8. 17. that love me God continues his love to us if we continue our love to him but if we cease to love him he may cease to love us Answ 1. For answer to this place the meaning is this It is Gods love to us that makes us love him and doubtless he that loves us so as to make us love him cannot but love us when we doe love him 2. It is denyed that a Child of God can cease to love God he may fall from some degrees of this love he may loose his first love and loose the exercise of this grace of love but he cannot fall totally or finally from his love to God much water cannot quench his love to God nor can floods drown it therefore some Interpreters make the words of my text to bear this sense nothing shall separate us from the love we bear to God in Christ Jesus as well as the former 3. It is an idle dream that Gods love to us doth depend upon our love to him and the continuance of it upon the constancy of our love to him for so the love of God should be variable and changable according to the change and alteration that is in us which is contrary to the Scripture 1 Jam. 17. 1 Jam. 17. and to the text when the Apostle speaks not conditionally but possitively and Absolutely that nothing shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus 4. Such is the nature of Gods love that as it is constant to his Children so it is effectual in them to keep them continually in their love to him so as it cannot be quite extinct shaken out of their hearts or quenched in them Cant. 8. 6 7. Cant. 8. 6 7. Object 4. But why are the faithful exhorted to continue in the love of God Joh. 15. 9. Joh. 15. 9. Jude 21. so Jude 21. keep your selves in the love of God if there were no possibility of falling from the love of God Answ Some understand these places of Scripture to speak of the love of God and Christ to us then they are exhortations to us to take heed of doing any thing whereby we provoke God to hide his face to withold the sense of his love from and to frown upon us for if we fall into sin as negligence and security 't is the high way to loose the sense and fealing of the love of God and to feel his anger and displeasure against us in so much that we may be brought to question his love towards us Or if you understand them of our love to God and Christ then they are only incitations to quicken us to a growth and perseverance in that grace of love Thus much for this first use Use 2. Is it so that nothing can separate the faithful from the love which God bears to them in Christ Jesus their Lord this then is ground of abundant comfort of firm lasting and everlasting consolation to all the faithful who are interested in the special love of God in Christ Jesus that are in the Estate of Gods love in the state of grace as divines call it I call it the Estates of Gods love in opposition to the Estate of Gods wrath wherein we are all by nature I say this is matter of unspeakable comfort to all such and that first 1. Against the fear of all enemies and evils whatever none of them can separate from Gods love Poverty may take away thy wealth sickness thy health disgrace thy good name death thy life but none of these can take away Gods love from thee that is unchangable inseparable love 2. It affords you comfort against the mutability of mens love the love of great men of Princes is mutable Joseph and Haman are east out of the Kings favour The love of friends is changable they may love to day and hate to morrow yea more friends and familiars who were wont to shew much love may shew much hatred of which David complaines Psal 38. 11. and Psal 38. 11. Psal 55. 12 13. Psal 55. 12 13. that his equal his Guide and acquaintance with whom he took sweet council he did reproach him and magnifie himself against him And Job saith that his former friends did abhor him and did not spare to spit in his face Job 30. 10. And Job 30. 10. have not we seen this in our days friends not only ceasing to be friends but turning mortal killing enemies now that which hath befallen others may befal us and if it doth if thou art a Child of God one whom God loves thou hast this to comfort thee Gods love is not mutable as mans is Though thou mayst be cast out of the love and favour of men yet thou canst not be cast out of the love and favour of God though they separate their love from thee and hate thee yet they cannot separate the love of God from thee nor cause him to hate thee his love to thee as it was from everlasting so it is to everlasting Psalm 103. 17. So that it is better to love Psal 103 17. the love of God than the love of all the world for the worlds love is mutable but Gods love is Eternal 3. It affords you comfort against the separability of all beloved and desired comforts here below 1. Happily thou hast a pleasant habitation and with it many desirable accommodations this is a comfort but thou maist be separated from it thou maist be driven from house and home as those worthys were in Heb. 11. who were driven in Heb. 11. to dens and desarts and caves of the Earth But yet you cannot be separated from the love of God in Christ Jesus when thou hast not an house to put thy head in thou hast this love of God to warm thy heart in thou canst not be put out of Gods love wherein thou dwellest Psal 90. 1. Lord saith Psal 90. 1. the Church thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations that is in all our sojournings and wandrings thy love and favour hath been our Harbour shelter and protection 1 Joh. 4. 16. We have 1 Joh. 4 16. known and believed the love that God hath to us God is love and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him No matter where our dwelling be in a Wood in a Wilderness in a Cave in
a Cottage in a strange Country so long as we dwell in the love of God nay though our dwelling be in a Prison a dungeon yet we still dwell in the love of God there and that will make a Prison a Pallace a Paradise a Garden of Joy 2. Probably thou hast a loving wife Husband beloved children and other dear friends and relations these are comforts choise comforts but uncertain thou maist be put to forsake Father and Mother Wife and Children to keep a good conscience But thou canst not be separated from Gods love A Prison and Wilderness a forraign Land may separate and sever thee from all these but all these cannot separate from the love of God in Christ Jesus thy Lord wherever thou art and whitherever thou goest God will be with thee and will be better and sweeter to thee than Wife or Children or any relations yea then all relations I will be with thee saith the Lord and will not leave thee nor forsake thee Isa 43. 2 4. Isa 43. 2 4. 3. Thou hast now sweet society with Gods people in his ordinances both publique and private communion with them this is a great comfort but thou maist be separated from these too where thou shalt scarce hear a Sermon injoy a Sabbath have liberty to read a Chapter or converse with any of Gods Children this is a sad separation indeed woe is me saith David because of this and yet this cannot separate thee from the love of God in Christ Jesus His love like wine will chear thee when thou wantest the water-brooks of Gods Ordinances to refresh thee as it did John Baptist in the Isle of Patmos Paul and Sylâ—s in Prison Daniel when Dan. 10. 11. he was in Babylon the Angel tells him he was a man greatly beloved Thus when thou art in a dry and desart Wilderness ready to dye for thirst after the waters of the sanctuary Gods love in Christ will then be a dew to thee and as Rivers of waters in a dry place it will be hid Manna to thee and bread to eat which the world knows not of 4. Possibly thou hast a fair estate in Land in money and movables this is a comsort but thou maist be separated and sequestred from that too and made as poor as Job was by the plundring Caldeans and Sabeans But still these cannot separate thee from Gods love which is better than riches than Silver and Gold than stock and Lands better then all this worlds goods and will put that joy into thy heart when thou art without them that they never could yeild to any man injoying them in the greatest fulness Psal 4. 6. Hab. 3. 17 18. Psal 4. 6. Hab. 3. 17 18. 5. Thou hast a precious life that men will give all they have for but bloody persecutors may take this away also principalitys and powers may separate Soul and body but neither Soul nor body from the love and favour of God which is better than life Psalm 63. 3. Psal 63. 3. 4. This doctrine affords the comfort against the loss of the sense and feeling of Gods love A child of God may loose the comfortable aprehension of his fathers affection as David did Psal 51. 11 12. and as Psal 51. 11 12. Cant. 5. the spouse did Cant. 5. for her remisness and carelesness her beloved departed from her and her bowels were troubled for him and hence a child of God is apt to conclude though by no good Logick that God loves him not But know for thy comfort that thy want of feeling and exercise of faith cannot separate thee from Gods love and though thy comfort be in the feeling yet thy happiness is in thy being in Gods love and thou always hast Gods love though not always the sense of it Yea God loves the as truely when he hides away his face from thee as when he kisseth thee with the kisses of his mouth Joh. 17. 23. thou hast loved them as Joh. 17. 23. thou hast loved me now God loved Christ as dearly and truely when he hung upon the Cross tormented in Soul and body crying out my God my God why hast thou forsaken me as he did when he said in a voyce from Heaven this is my beloved Son in whom I am well Mat. 3. 17. pleased The Sun shines as clearly in the darkest as in the brightest day the difference is not in the Sun but in some clouds that interposing hinder the manifestations thereof So Gods love is as hot and fervent to us when he clouds his face towards us as when he shines in the brightness of his countenance upon us And those cloudings Christians are but for a time not for ever nay but for a moment a little moment Isa 54. 7. for a small moment Isa 54. 7. have I hid my face from thee but with great mercies will I gather thee Though thou sittest in darkness yet the Lord will be a light to thee yea though thou fittest in darkness dyest under a cloud yet thou shalt be saved and received to glory because God loves thee not because thou perceivest he loves thee where thou shalt behold the beauty of his Holiness without clouds or darkness to all eternity 5. This doctrine yeilds thee great comfort against the world of divisions that in these days are amongst Christians Christians are divided and separated one from another both in judgment and affection and therefore in affection because in judgment not only their heads but their hearts are divided Well this may comfort us against this evil For all that fear God and are called according to his purpose though they may be divided and separated one from another for a time as Paul and Barnabas were and many among the Corinthians were one saying I am of Paul another I am of Appollo and a third I am of Cephas yet they can never be separated nor divided from the love of God Devils and Tyrants and Romish Achitophels bad events and their own pride and passions may separate them one from another but none of these can separate them from the love of God And God continuing to love his people will in time heal these divisions and make all those that are his to be like minded having the same love being of one accord of one mind His love to them will set his wisdom on work to find out a way to doe this As his love set him on work to find out a way to reconcile the world of his Elect to himself by Jesus Christ so also to reconcile them one to another and he hath many ways to doe this and if nothing else will doe it his rod shall for whom he loves he corrects and his rod shall scourge them into union as it did some of the martyrs in Q. Mary's days as Riddly and Hooper though they could not agree in Edward 6. days yet in Q. Mary's time they agreed very well saith Mr. Fox they agree in black in