is among the Saints and such as excel in wisdom Psal 16.3 O what a blessing hath God bestowed upon the man or woman to whom he hath given a considering mind How quickly is such a man promoted and brought to unspeakable honour yea to find approbation with God! Such a man is quickly higher by head and shoulders as it s said of Saul than the rest of the inconsiderate doting World I have more understanding saith David than all my teachers for thy Testimonies are my meditation Psal 119.99 You that are yet captivated to the love of any thing here on Earth and like to perish in that state If you will but attentively consider what you dote upon and what you venture for it you would perceive your danger and certainly make your escape and feel the vertue of this excellent duty of Consideration And your present content would make you sick of your former delight And the Honourablest men on earth that had not feasted on this food would seem to you but vile and contemptible persons Methinks I see the man recovered by Consideration tâ—king up his parable like Balaam and saying Thus saith the man whose eyes consideration hath opened He saith who hath heard the words of God and seen the Vision of the Almighty How goodly are the Tents in which God dwelleth and the tabernacles of their hearts where God hath his habitation As the Valleys are they spread forth as Gardens by the Rivers side as the Trees of Ligh-Aloâ—s which the Lord hath planted and as Cedar Trees besides the waters Numb 24.3 4 5 6. And as Consideration would recover the dead and bring them out of the Grave of â—gnorance and Corruption and shew them the excellency of Divine wisdom and purity so that it would keep them in breath that are already translated from death to life and inspire fresh vigour and cheerfulness into all their services it would fill their hearts with a burning love to God and make their lives as a shining light before men It would strengthen their faith and fortify their hopes and put a fresh complexion upon their must withering and consumptive Graces and make their heart to abound and run over with joy and gladness By this time no doubt you see something of the worth and excellency of Consideration and what a gainful trade it is Will you therefore bend your minds to consider and spend more of your time in this work I know the corrupted heart of man is backward to this exercise though it be of such flat necessity and of such eternal advantage yea though it breed so much delight and pleasure after we have gotten some skill and made some progress in the work and have gotten some power over our own affections and can bespeak them in the most suitable moving way For cure therefore of this backwardness I have given you some quickning Considerations to stir you up to this duty and to gain the consent of your wills to this necessary duty In hopes therefore that you are convinced of the necessity of the duty and fully resolved on the performance and that you will not neglect such a duty any longer nor stand in the way of your own light and comfort I come next to give you some Help and Assistance for the more comfortable and successful management and performance of the work And First Endeavour to your power to shun all Impediments but especially those that are most likely to stupify and unfit your minds for Consideration they are obvious I need only to put you in remembrance First Take heed that you sin not maliciously 1. with Wilfulness and Presumption For Divines usually distinguish of Three sorts of Sins 1. Sins of Ignorance when through want of knowledge we transgress the Law of God and do that unwittingly which if we had known to be a violation of the Law of God we would not have done 2. Sins of Infirmity such as are committed through the unavoidableness unruliness of our Sense Phantasy or Passion which are not wholly under the power and command of Reason no not when it is truly enlightned and sanctified 3. Such as are committed with Knowledge and Deliberation when it is in our power to avoid them and will not what these are I need not inform you every one may be his own judge These last sort are called by some Sins of Malice and how much such sins as these will hinder all duty as well as Consideration there is no Christian of any experience but knows too well And therefore David prayeth especially against such sins as these Psal 19.13 Keep back thy servant from Presumptuous Sins let them not have dominion over me then shall I be upright and innocent from the great transgression If thou hast any good affection to this duty and art convinc'd that thy Soul will certainly perish without frequent serious consideration thou hast need to take heed of such sins as these Believe it these will wound thy Conscience break thy inward peace mightily provoke the Lord and draw away the Spirit from thee and fill thee with disturbing fears and besot thy mind that it shall not be fit for Consideration or if not such sins as these will dispose thee to hide thy self and get into thee dark and slie consideration as that which will discover thy shame and make thee odious to thy self Never think to bend thy mind to an impartial consideration of God and his Attributes and the Equity of Laws nor to think of thy latter end and the life to come to any purpose or to hear a right answer from thy Soul when thou puttest the question whether it be sanctified or unsanctified whilst thou givest thy consent and allowest thy self to live in any known sin I may say of Consideration as Mr. Bolton said of Prayer That it will make thee leave such presumptuous sinning Or else such sins will make thee to cast off Consideration you may as well hope to reconcile light and darkness as to bring these to any agreement Where Consideration is in any strength there will be no wilful sin or else Hell it self Art thou one that allowest thy self in the habitual neglect of any known duty Canst thou freely indulge thy self in any unjust or ungodly practice Are thy Thoughts at liberty to think vainly and wickedly without curb or controll Is thy Tongue at liberty to utter falshood and deceit to call evil good or good evil to plead any unrighteous causes or to disgrace any way that thou knowest in thy Conscience God approveth of Art thou wilfully proud or uncharitable and art thou intemperate in thy Appetite or Passions or commonly guilty of any such sin that thy own Conscience doth condemn No wonder then if Consideration be an unpleasant work to thee and if thy Thoughts turn away from him that abhorreth all iniquity but that especially which is wilful and allowed It is no marvel that Meditation is seldom or never in the word of the Lord
Hour and his Right in us and over us we shall be either tempted to deny them or at least to deny that Homage which they call for If we can overlook him that is all in all and the Spring that moves all second Causes and sets them on work to do us that good which they do for us at any time No wonder if we commit Sacriledge and rob God of his deserved Praises yea or if we undervalue them and mistake the Mercies that are more worth than Heaven and Earth to be but petty and inconsiderable we shall be as slight in our grateful Acknowledgment These two or three Things therefore are comprized in the due Reverence and Estimation of God and his Favours 1st A clear and solid Apprehension of our own great Unworthiness of any the least of his Favours and our infinite distance from his Person not only by Nature but much more through Guilt and Sin we must be pretty well acquainted with our own Poverty and Baseness and that we have nothing but from him That All is forfeited again and again That the Miseries of this Life and that which is to come are our Desert That God can expect no Advantage from us when he bestows his Mercies but the pleasure of doing good Nor when we are most cordial and diligent in his Service but the pleasure of our receiving Good and seeing his Grace prosper in us And that in all his Threats and Punishments he is still designing our Good and mortifying our Corruption which will otherwise be sure to ruine and undo us if it be not forsaken And this would teach us to prize and thank God and our Redeemer for every piece of Bread that we eat and the House that covers us and the Cloaths that warm us the Sun that shineth on us the Rod that corrects us when we come to know and consider how much we need them and how little we deserve them 2ly It would help us to prize all the Mercies of God if we did but consider and understand the Misery of those that want them We could not want the Bread we eat nor the Air we breath nor the Limbs we use nor the Senses that we have without Misery enough But what Man could want the Grace of the Gospel the Merits and Intercession of Christ that knows that he is everlastingly undone without them 3ly It will help us to estimate them rightly if we consider what they cost and the price that paid for them Our sins and the sins of our Parents whose Flesh and Blood we are did cry out aloud for vengeance in the utter destruction of our Persons And God who is the just and righteous Governour of the World could not without disparagement to his Wisdom and Justice stop his Ears to the Cry of our Sins unless his Son had suffered for our Sins and satisfied the Demands of his Justice and purchased all our forfeited Mercies back again by his Blood So that all the Temporal and Spiritual Mercies that now we have were Redeemed not with Silver and Gold but by the precious Blood of our most endeared Saviour And this Consideration if it be not customary but serious will make every Mercy full weight and enforce better Apprehensions of them and Thankfulness for them 4ly and lastly It will conduce very much to the worthy Estimation of all God's Mercies if we consider the End God hath in All to which he doth design every Mercy that he doth bestow in this present Life And that is our highest Perfection and everlasting Felicity in a blessed Communion with God for ever Every Hour he giveth us Every Favour whether Common or Special is valued infinitely below its worth if this Reference and Subordination be overlooked He can never thank God as he ought for his Health or Food or Friends or any Temporal Mercy or Affliction but will rather be tempted to murmur and repine sometimes that considers not well what it is intended for and what it may and should contribute to his endless Content and Rest These Particulars must concur to make up a due Estimation of all God's Mercies Secondly Gratitude and Praise with the concomitant Affections of Joy and Delight in God do essentially imply 1st A Love that 's suited to and bears some proportion with the Mercies we receive and God doth bestow on us Temporal and Transitory Mercies must be loved with a lower and subordinate degree of our Love Spiritual and Eternal Mercies must be loved with a higher and more absolute degree of our Love And the highest Mercy of all which is himself with the most superlative and transcendent Love 2ly And they do imply a greater Love to his Person 1. That hath purchased them 2. That doth confer them He that hath no Complacency in the Things which he doth receive and that according to the greater or lesser Tendency they have to lead him to the highest Mercy even the Fruition of God the Giver will have none worth the naming in the person that doth bestow them And he that wants that can never praise God as he ought nor do any such Act with acceptance Thirdly There must be some sensible Expressions of this Estimation of the Mind and Complacency of the Will in God and his Mercies In the Affections and Sensible Passions of Love Joy Admiration Reverence Humility which help and assist the Will and cannot lye still when the Soul is well elevated in Praises and Thanksgiving when the Soul is exercised with any seriousness and vigour in these noble Operations of Praise and Thanks and Complacency in God how can it chuse but work upon the Blood and Spirits and cause those forementioned Passions in some sensible degree Fourthly And as Thankfulness and Holy Praise if they be right will become sensible by the Affections to the very Body to which the Soul is linked more or less according as the Grace that causeth them is more or less vigorous so they will become visible to others by our more ready observance of his Will and Pleasure a greater Zeal for his Interest and Glory in the World and a more chearful obedience to him whom we thus praise and admire And as in the Law of Moses there were three kinds of Sacrifice Immolations Libations and Victimes Immolations were made of the Fruits of the Earth Libations of Liquors as Oyls and Wines Victimes of living Creatures So the Soul that is truly Grateful will not only offer up himself to God for a Victime and his Affections as it were for Liquors but his Actions also for Fruits Thanks among Men signifie nothing that evaporate and melt away into meer Words and Air and do not proceed to substantial Acts and Deeds These are the Complements and Perfection of every true Moral Act And if they come not up to Life and Practice where there is opportunity they are but meer Mockery and Deceit Having somewhat explicated the Nature of These Affections which are to be exercised I proceed
you will but consent and take him for your Lord and Saviour you can never know that the love of Christ is so wonderful and obliging and if you leave Christ out of your Remembrance you can have no thoughts of God that will yield you solid comfort Secondly If you would Remember God aright endeavour to bring on others to this Remembrance and to set the motives before them that may well move the most backward Heart and recover the most forgetful to this duty whilst you are putting others in mind you will revive and strengthen the like disposition in your self and perform an acceptable service to God whereby you will increase his love to you and consequently the Remembrance of him will be more sweet to you Restore to me saith David the joy of thy Salvation and uphold me by thy free Spirit then will I teach Transgressors thy ways and Sinners shall be converted to thee Psal 51.12 13. The more any Grace is exercised the more it will gather fervour and intention To perswade others to this Remembrance is to reduce thine own Remembrance of him into practice whilst thou art teaching others thou canst not but learn thy self Whilst thou art bending others to Remember the Fountain of all Perfection and Goodness thou wilt feel thine own Heart and Affections more byassed toward him Who can infuse Life and Spirit into another and not grow vigorous himself David knew that he could not but thrive himself if others were gainers by him and therefore he invites others Psal 3â— 11 Come my Children hearken unto me and I will teach you the fear of the Lord. There are certain opportunities and seasons if they be wisely observed when either Affection or Affliction hath made way in which two or three words fetched from the Heart may work upon the Heart of one that hath shamefully forgot God all his days and recover him to this Remembrance And if God shew thee so much mercy and make thee such an instrument the thoughts and memory of God that hath shewed thee so much favour will be dearer to thee 3. If thou wouldst remember God with pleasure remember those that are in misery whither of Soul or Body with compassion For this will make you like to God who comforteth the sorrowful and bindeth up the broken in Heart and raiseth up those that are bowed down Psal 146.8 And the more there is of likeness the more there will be of Love and Remembrance A hard and unmerciful Heart is so unlike to God that it will strive to forget him lest the tender Boweis of God should upbraid his cruel and unrelenting Heart It 's a disposition highly pleasing to God and a blessed imitation of him to comport with those that lie under any distress or misery especially those that are ready to faint and sink under their burdens and it 's Justice as well as Mercy so to do Is it not just that thou shouldst cast an Eye of compassion and pity upon those on whom the Hand of God is fallen heavy either in Soul or Body especially when thou art as obnoxious as they and God hath spared you on purpose and set their miseries before you to move your Bowels Shouldst thou not have compassion on thy fellow Servant as God hath shewed pity unto thee Mat. 18.33 And kindness with tender heartedness is one part of the new Nature which Christ came to restore and therefore the Apostle doth endeavour to stir up the Ephesians Eph. 4.32 and also the Collosians Col. 3.12 Put on therefore as the Elect of God Holy and Beloved Bowels of Mercy and Kindness And as the miserable state and condition of Mens Souls doth most eminently bespeak this Affection so it 's Cruelty to overlook their other Miseries and not to take them into our consideration 1. To get our Hearts affected that we may truly pity them 2. And earnestly pray for them And 3. Contribute what other help we are able to make them as happy as our selves There is a selfishness too natural to every one of us that will not let us hear on this Ear and therefore we are so carless in this publick Calamity what others suffer so we are free How senseless are we under such a hand as is fallen upon many parts of this Nation And therefore we are so unthankful for our Health and Preservation when God hath required the Lives of so many of our Brethren from them What a fearful woful Scourge do the City feel and heavily groan under How do the Inhabitants of that one proud and glorious City reply to one another in Sighs and Groans and bitter Out cries and Lamentations where whole Families are smitten and blasted and Children and Parents pledge one another in Tears and drink the Wine of Astonishment where dearest Friends are made the Executors of the Calamities of their departed Friends and it 's taken and accounted for a mercy to die first lest the miserable Calamities of Wife and Children and their successive departure should be more than one single Death Their Eyes affect their Heart Lam. 3.51 But we as we see not their Miseries so neither do we feel them as we ought as thorough the goodness of God we are more safe than they so we are more secure and too void of any Christian sense of this common Calamity Alas alas they have the dreadful sound and noise of this Judgment in their Ears and see Death continually before their Eyes but we hear but at a distance and therefore are not stricken with the terror thereof The report of this Murdering-piece that God hath shot off in many places of this Nation is faint and dead before it comes to our sense But the less we see this Misery and hear these Cries the more we should supply this merciful defect by consideration If we saw or heard it may be we should not need many thoughts to fetch tears from our Eyes and Sighs from our Hearts Desolenciâ—â— and want of this compassion shews a fat and brawny Heart Though we are not to indulge this Affection so far as to make it guilty of siding against God as it will be apt to do if it proceed no farther and do not serve a higher end The end of this Affection is to make way for Compassion toward their Souls and to bewail and beg pardon for their Sins that have brought this misery on them 1. Objection I have done with the First Observable which the Texts suggesteth to us viz. That forgetfulness of God is a fearful and dangerous sin and exposeth such as are guilty of it to the unavoidable Wrath of God 2. Objection I come now to the Second Observation viz. That Consideration is one of the principal instruments on our part to bring us to the Remembrance of God at first and to prevent forgetfulness afterward or to recover us out of that degree of Forgetfulness into which we may possibly fall Two Suppositions 1. Here it is supposed 1. That we â—re
all born into the World in a state of Forgetfulness and that Naturally God is not minded by us he is not in all our thoughts 1. By a usually Hebraism in never a one of them so worthily regarded as he ought Psal 10.4 Oblivion goes before Remembrance in every Child of Adam I know Forgetfulness doth suppose that we either had or should have had the habit of which this is the privavation We cannot be said in any propriety of Speech to forget that which we never did or never ought to have Remembred As a thing can never be said to be blind which never saw nor ought to have seen But it is our miserable and unhappy case and condition that we were made to Remember God and to give him the highest of our Praises and had a Nature fit for so high and noble Service and yet are born into the World in a gross ignorance of God with a Nature that continually disposeth us to forget him and to entertain the most contemptible Vanities into our Thoughts and Affections before him This is the Disease that Christ came to Cure with the greatest pity and compassion to Mankind which it is the intenâ— of his Word and Cross and Spirit and all his Ordinances to remove and which is cured in a sincere and prevailing measure in all that shall see his Face to their comfort hereafter And although Infants are not actually guilty of this sin as neither they are of any other sin because they are not come to the use of their Reason and therefore cannot perform any act properly vertuous or sinful yet they have an oblivious Disposition a Seed in them that will bring forth this cursed Fruit when they are capable But for those that have pass'd an Infants state and are grown up to the use of Reason there 's nothing that they remember and think on less than God Secondly It 's here supposed that after any are recovered by Christ and awakened by his Word and Spirit to a due Remembrance of God they may fall back into such a degree of Forgetfulness again as that they may question whether ever they had a heart truly mindful of him though I believe they shall never totally and finally fall into Forgetfulness nor be forgotten of Christ if they be in the number of the Elect. And therefore though Christ commends the Church of Ephesus for her Faith and Patience yet he is said to have somewhat against her because she had left her Love Rev. 2.4 And she is warned to remember whence she is fallen and to repent and do her first works ver 5. These two particulars are evidently supposed in this last Proposition which I am now to prosecute and that Consideration of God his Word and Works is a necessary Remedy on our part to cure our hereditary Forgetfulness and bring us to the Remembrance I have been pleading for and to recover us after any Relapse And that for these Reasons First Because a Man can never come to the Remembrance of God till his Heart be sincerely affected with those truths that such a Remembrance doth pre-suppose but this can never be done without consideration There 's nothing that 's absent or Spiritual that can affect the Heart and get that Fort unless it be led in by Consideration that 's the Eye of the Soul and 't is the Eye only that can affect the Heart There 's nothing that can affect the Body or move the Bodily Passions that is not first apprehended by some Bodily Sense that is not seen or heard or perceived by some other sense Now Consideration supplies that to the Soul which the five Senses do to the Body it 's the Eye Ear and Taster of the Soul whereby it discerns what is good or evil to it and accordingly the Soul doth either embrace or abhor yea it mâ—st discover not only good and evil but the degree in which any thing is good or evil before the Soul can be suitably affected therewith which can never be done with any consideration If this Eye be shut set the greatest Danger before a Man and he will not fear set the greatest Delights before him and he will not be moved to desire them What 's the reason that a wicked Man goes on in sin and will not forsake it when you display Hell before his Eyes but because he considers it not It appears to him not to be so terrible because this Eye is shut If you run a Sword at a Man whose Eyes are shut and sees it not he will not endeavour to avoid the thrust but he that hath his Eyes open and sees what 's coming towards him will quickly start back and decline that instrument of Death A careless Man that never considered well what a fearful thing it is to fall into the Hands of God Heb. 10.31 noâ— how intolerable his Displeasure is when it shall break forth in good earnest and burn like a consuming fire will venture on it for a little deluding pleasure A Man that considers not the worth of his Soul will neglect it and not think it worth so many Prayers and Tears and such diligence as must be used to procure the Salvation thereof for till his Heart be touched with a lively feeling and sense of these truths he will not neglect them and live after the Flesh and if he doth not weigh and consider them his Heart will never be made to feel them What 's the reason that Men hug and embrace a little dirt and filth and suffer their Affections to cleave so fast to their Carnal Contentments It can be resolved into nothing better than that they do not consider what Sin and Folly they are guilty of and what an impediment they are being embraced to the true content and happiness of their Souls otherwise they would not nor could not be so mad as embrace the present World and to prefer it before the World to come Well then is it Consideration that must bring a Man to a worthy Remembrance of God because it opens the Eye and affects the Heart and puts an edge upon every Truth that doth bias and dispose the Soul to this Remembrance that it 's felt and entertained with some sincere measure of submission The Soul is such a Subject that cannot be wrought upon without its own consent and that 's not easily gained to any thing that 's of a reforming saving tendency unless frequent and serious Consideration make way The Soul will never consent to any purpose that the Flesh should be afflicted and humbled that it's Affections and Lusts should be mortified and subdued till Consideration shew the necessity thereof and the Death that will follow if this Death do not go before There are some truths that are preparative to this Remembrance which though they are easie to be known yet they will never be drunk in or digested till Consideration shew their excellency and plead their great necessity and importance to us and give
2. Majesty 3. Glory 4. Lordship 5. Immutability Fifthly The Measure of all his Attributes is Infiniteness that is They have no Stint nor Measure As the Measure of his Being is Immensity Sixthly The Crown of all his Attributes is his Eternity Of these in order 1. His Bounty the Scripture thus expresseth Psalm 145.15 Thou openest thy hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing Matth. 6.28 29. Consider the Lilies of the field they toil not neither do they spin and yet I say anto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these And Psal 104.27 28. These wait all upon thee speaking of the several living Creatures that thou mayest give them their meat in due season Thou openest thy hand and they are filled with good 2. His Justice in the Righteous Government of all things the Holy Ghost thus sets forth Psalm 89.14 Justice and Judgment are the Habitation of thy Throne And Psal 9.8 He shall judge the World in Righteousness and minister Judgment to the World in uprightness Jerem. 32.19 Thine Eyes are upon all the Ways of the Sons of Men to give to every one according to his Ways and according to the Fruit of his doings Gen. 18.25 Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do right Rev. 15.3 Just and true are thy ways thou King of Saints 3. His Veracity is thus described Numb 23.19 He is not as a Man that he should lye Hath he said it and spoken it and shall it not be made good Rom. 3.4 God is true and every man a lyar Heb. 10.23 God is faithful who hath promised 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He is to be credited or believed Psalm 138.2 I will woriship towards thy Holy Temple and praise thy Name for thy Loving-kindness and for thy Truth for thou hast magnified thy Word above all thy Name Psalm 86.15 But thou O Lord art plenteous in Mercy and in Truth 4. His Mercy and Compassion to all Rational Creatures is thus expressed John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Ezek. 33.11 As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in him that dyeth or in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live Turn ye turn ye from your evil ways For why will ye dye 1 Tim. 2.4 There it 's said that God would have all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth Besides 1. All those Scriptures that express the Death of Christ for sinners without limitation serve to this purpose such as 1 Tim. 2.6 Who gave himself a Ransome for all Men c. 2. All those Scriptures that contain a Commission to Preach the Gospel to all the World without Exception magnifie this Attribute to the full and make it shine forth gloriously such as Matth. 28.19 Go ye therefore and teach all Nations c. 3. Likewise all those Scriptures that promise Pardon and Salvation upon the Conditions of Repentance and Faith not excluding any from these Terms are a lively demonstration of this lovely Attribute such as 1 John 12. As many as received him to them gave he Power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe in his Name 4. So likewise all those Scriptures that set forth the Patience of God towards sinners in general may be reduced hither and serve under this Head 5. Lastly All those Scriptures that insist upon the Common Providences of God towards wicked Men and his veriest Enemies in supplying all their Necessities and giving them such a large portion of these outward Comforts bear ample Testimony to this Attribute and do very much exalt it such as Matth. 5.45 where God is said to make the Sun to shine upon the Evil and upon the Good and to send Rain on the just and on the unjust 5. His Special Love to Believers the Holy Ghost thus describeth Deut. 33.29 The Lord is the shield of their help and the sword of their excellency Psal 94.14 God will not cast off his Saints nor forsake his Inheritance And Psal 149.4 The Lord taketh pleasure in his people and will beautifie them with salvation And Psal 1. last The Lord knoweth i. approveth the way of the Righteous Isa 49.16 There they are said to be graven on the Palms of his Hands and their Walls are ever in his sight And Vers 15. It 's said God cannot and will not forget them Moreover 1. All those Scriptures that entitle them to Pardon Reconciliation Adoption and Glory Comfort in all Conditions and a blessed Issue out of all their Troubles be they more or less and that entail a Blessing upon their Seed and Posterity are a sufficient proof of God's special Love to Believers and set it forth illustriously such as Psalm 97.11 Light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart Psal 37.37 Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace Eccles 8.12 13. Though a sinner do evil an hundred times and his days be prolonged yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God which fear before him c. Psal 102.28 The children of thy servants shall continue and their seed shall be established before thee Rom. 8.1 There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus that walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Psal 125.1 2. They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Sion which cannot be removed but abideth for ever As the mountains are round about Jerusalem so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth and for ever Rom. 8.28 All things work together for their good And Gal. 4.6 Because they are sons God will send forth the Spirit of his Son into their hearts 2. All those Scriptures that contain their special relations unto God and Priviledges founded thereupon do lively set forth God's special Love to them Sixthly His Almightiness the Scripture thus expresseth besides the places where he is expresly styled Almighty Ephes 3.20 He is able to do abundantly above what we can think or speak Job 26.14 The thunder of his power who can understand Prov. 21.30 There is no wisdom power nor understanding against him Jerem. 27.5 He hath made the Earth and all that therein is by his great power Isa 40.22 23. It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth and the inhabitants thereof are as Grass-hoppers that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in That bringeth the Princes to nothing and maketh the Judges of the Earth as vanity Heb. 1.3 God is there said to uphold all things by the word of his power All those Scriptures that assert the Creation of the World or any part of it by God The Division of the Sea or other Waters miraculously The strange Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha