him to forsake what he has received of God a commandment to hold fast His holy harmless and profitable notions because they are spiced with grace yield to him more comfort joy and peace and do kindle in his Soul so goodly a fire of love to and zeal for God that all the waters of the World shall never be able to quench Ay say some that 's because he is head-strong obstinate and one that will hear no reason No say I but it is because his spirit is in the hand under the conduct and preservation of a Creator A Creator can make spirits uphold Spirits and make one Spirit stronger to stand than are all the Spirits of the World to cast down To stand I say in a way of patient enduring in well doing against all that Hell can do to suppress Thirdly A Creator A Creator can bring down the Spirits that oppose and make them weak and unastable as water The Lord the everlasting God the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not nor is weary There is no searching of his understanding He gives power to the faint and to those that have no might he increaseth strength now mark even the youth shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall A Creator can dash the Spirits of the enemies with fear God can put them in fear and make them know that they are men and not God and that their Horses are flesh and not spirit When the enemy came to take Jesus Christ their spirits fainted their hearts died in them they went backwards and fell to the ground They had hard work to strengthen their spirits to a sufficiency to boldness and courage though they brought Halberts and Staves and Swords and weapons with them to take a naked man John 18.3 4 5 6 7. And although this is that which is not so visible to the World as some other things are yet I believe that God treads down the Spirits of men in a day when they afflict his people oftner than we are aware of or than they are willing to confess How was the hostile Spirit of Esau trod down of God when he came out to meet his poor naked brother with no less than four hundred armed men He fainted before his Brother and instead of killing kist him Gen. 33. How was the bloudy Spirit of Saul trod down when David met him at the mouth of the Cave and also at the hill Hachâ—lah 1 Sam. 24.62 God is a Creator and as a Creator is a Spirit maker a Spirit reviver a Spirit destroyer He can destroy body and Soul in hell Luk. 12. Fourthly A Creator As a Creator he is over all Arts Inventions and Crafts of men that are set on work to destroy Gods people whether they be Souldiers excellent Orators or any other whatsoever we will single out one the Smith that roaring fellow who with his coles and his Bellows makes a continual noise I have created the Smith saith God that bloweth the coals in the fire that bringeth forth an instrument for his work and I have created the waster to destroy Isa. 45.16 The Smith what is he I answer an Idol-maker a promoter of false worship and one that makes Instruments of cruelty therewith to help to suppress the true Chap. 41.7 Chap. 44. the 12. Chap. 46. â— chap. 54.17 I have created the Smith saith God that bloweth the coals in the fire The Idol inventor the Idol-maker the supporter of Idol worship he is my creature saith God to teach that he has power to reach him and to command his Sword to approach him at his pleasure notwithstanding his roaring with his Bellows and his coals in the fire So then he cannot do what he will in the fire nor with his Idol when he has made it the instrument also that he makes for the defence of his Idol and for the suppressing of Gods true worship shall not do the thing for the which 't is designed by him And so the very next verse saith No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousness is of me saith the Lord. ver 17. And the Text saith moreover I have created the waster to destroy The waster what 's that why the Smith makes an Idol and God has made the rust the Smith makes a Sword and God has made the rust The rust eats them up the moth shall eat them up the fire shall devour them The wicked saith the Psalmist have drawn out the sword and have bent their bow to cast down the poor and needy and to stay such as are upright in conversation their sword shall enter into their own heart and their bow shall be broken Psal. 37.14 15. All this can God do because he is a Creator and none but God can do it Wherefore by this peculiar Title of Creator the Apostle prepareth support for suffering Saints and also shews what a good conclusion is like to be made with them that suffer for righteousness sake according to his will and that commit the keeping of their Souls to him in well doing as unto a faithful Creator Fifthly A Creator a Creator can make such provision for a suffering people in all respects as shall answer all their wants Have they lost their peace with the World have they no more peace with this World Why a Creator can make create peace can create peace peace Peace with God and peace with his conscience and that 's better than all the peace that can be found else where in the World Isa. 57.19 Have they lost a good frame of heart do they want a right frame of spirit Why though this is to be had no where in the World yet a Creator can help them to it Psal. â—1 10 Have they lost their spiritual defence do they lie too open to their spiritual foes Why this a Creator can help And the Lord shall create upon every dwelling place of Mount Sion and upon all her assemblies a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night for upon all her glory shall be a defence Isa. 4 5 6. This is the work of the Spirit for though the Spirit it self be uncreate yet all the holy works of it in the heart are verily works of Creation Our new man is a Creation our graces are a Creation our joys and comforts are a Creation 2 Cor. 5.17 18. Ephes. 4.24 Isa. 65.17 18 19. Now a Creation none can destroy but a Creator wherefore here is comfort But again God hath created us in Christ Jesus that 's another thing the Sun is created in the Heavens the Stars are created in the Heavens the Moon is created in the Heavens Who can reach them touch them destroy them but the Creator Why this is the case of the Saint because he has to do with a
thy self by his word and providence and as for this or that mans judgment refer thy case to the judgment of God 3. Obj. But if I be taken and suffer my cause is like to be clothed with scandals slanders reproaches and all manner of false and evil speakings what must I do Answ. Saul charged David with Rebellion 1 Sam. 22.8.13 Amos was charged with conspiring against the King Amos 7.10 Daniel was charged with despising the King and so also were the three children Dan. 6.13 chap. 3.12 Jesus Christ himself was accused of perverting the nation of forbidding to give tribute to Caesar and of saying that himself was Christ a King Luk. 23.2 These things therefore have been But 1. Canst thou after a due examination of thy self say that as to these things thou art innocent and clear I say will thy conscience justifie thee here Hast thou made it thy business to give unto God the things that are Gods and unto Caesar the things that are his according as God has commanded If so matter not what men shall say nor with what lies and reproaches they slander thee but for these things count thy self happy Blessed are you when men shall revile you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely lying for my name sake saith Christ. Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets that were before you Mat. 5.11 12. Comfort thy self therefore in the innocency of thy Soul and say I am counted a Rebel and yet am Loyal I am counted a deceiver and yet am true 1 Sam. 24.8 9 10 11 12. 2 Cor. 6.8 Also refer thy cause to the day of judgment for if thou canst rejoyce at the thoughts that thou shalt be cleared of all slanders and evil speakings then that will bear up thy heart as to what thou maiest suffer now The answer of a good conscience will carry a man thorough Hell to Heaven Count these slanders part of thy sufferings and those for which God will give thee a reward because thou art innocent and for that they are laid upon thee for thy professions sake But if thou be guilty look to thy self I am no comforter of such I come now to speak to the third and last part of the Text Namely of the good effect that will certainly follow to those that after a due manner shall take the advice afore given Let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their Souls to him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator Two things from the last clause of the Text lie yet before us And they are they by which will be shown what good effect will follow to those that suffer according to the will of God and that commit their Souls to his keeping 1. Such will find him to themselves a Creator 2. They will find him a faithful Creator Let them commit the keeping of their Souls to him as unto a faithful Creator In this phrase a faithful Creator behold the wisdom of the holy Ghost how fitly and to the purpose he speaketh King is a great Title and God is sometimes called a King but he is not set forth by this Title here but by the Title of a Creator for it is not always in the power of a King to succour and relieve his Subjects that are suffering for his Crown and Dignity Father is a sweet Title a Title that carrieth in it an intimation of a great deal of bowels and compassion and God is often set forth also by this Title in the holy Scriptures But so he is not here but rather as a Creator For a Father a compassionate Father cannot always help succour or relieve his Children though he knows they are under affliction Oh but a Creator can Wherefore I say he is set forth here under the Title of a Creator First a Creator nothing can die under a Creators hands A Creator can sustain all A Creator can as a Creator do what he pleases The Lord the everlasting God the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not nor is weary Isa. 40.28 The cause of God for which his people suffer had been dead and buried a thousand years a go had it not been in the hand of a Creator The people that have stood by his cause had been out of both as to persons name and remembrance had they not been in the hand of a Creator Who could have hoped when Israel was going in even into the mouth of the red Sea that ever his cause or that people should have revived again A huge host of the Egyptians were behind them and nothing but death before and on every hand of them but they lived they flourished they out-lived their enemies for they were in the hand of a Creator Who could have hoped that Israel should have returned again from the land from the hand and from under the Tyranny of the King of Babylon They could not deliver themselves from going thither they could not preserve themselves from being diminished when they came there their power was gone they were in captivity their distance from home was far their enemies possest their Land their City of defence was ruined and their houses burned down to the ground and yet they come home again there is nothing impossible to a Creator Who could have thought that the three Children could have lived in a fiery furnace that Daniel could have been safe among the Lyons that Jonah could have come home to his Countrey when he was in the Whales belly or that our Lord should have risen again from the dead but what is impossible to a Creator This therefore is a rare consideration for those to let their hearts be acquainted with that suffer according to the will of God and that have committed the keeping of their Souls to him in well doing They have a Creator to maintain and uphold their cause a Creator to oppose its opposers And hence it is said all that burden themselves with Jerusalem shall be cut in pieces though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it Zech. 12.3 Secondly A Creator A Creator can not only support a dying cause but also fainting spirits For as he fainteth not nor is is weary So he gives power to the faint and to those that have no might he increaseth strength Isa. 4.29 He is the God of the spirits of all flesh and has the life of the spirit of his people in his own hand Spirits have their being from him he is the Father of Spirits Spirits are made strong by him nor can any crush that spirit that God the Creator will uhpold Is it not a thing amazing to see one poor inconsiderable man in a Spirit of faith and patience overcome all the threatnings cruelties afflictions and sorrows that a whole World can lay upon him None can quail him none can crush him none can bend down his spirit None can make
Creator he is fastned to Christ yea is in him by an act of Creation Eph. 2.10 So that unless Christ and the creation of the holy Ghost can be destroyed he is safe that is suffering according to the will of God and that hath committed the keeping of his Soul to him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator And this I would have you consider moreover the man that suffereth according to the will of God committeth not such a Soul to this Creator as dwells in carnal men a naked Soul a graceless Soul a Soul that has nothing in it but sin but he commits a converted Soul a regenerate Soul a Soul adorned beautified and sanctified with the Jewels and bracelets ear-rings and perfumes of the blessed spirit of grace And I say again this is the work of a Creator and a Creator can maintain it in its gallantry and he will do so but he will put forth acts of creating power for it every day Sixthly a Creator he that can create can turn and alter any thing to what himself would have it He that made the seven Stars and Orion turneth the shadow of death into the morning He can make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water Amos 5.8 Isa. 41.18 Our most afflicted and desolate conditions he can make as a little haven unto us he can make us sing in the wilderness and give us our vineyards from thence Hos. 2.14 15. He can make Paul sing in the stocks and good Rowland Taylor dance as he goeth to the burning stake Gaols and mocks and scourgings and flouts and imprisonments and hunger and nakedness and Peril and Sword and Dens and Caves and Rocks and Mountains God can so sweeten with the Honey of his word and make so famous for situation by the glory of his presence and so rich and fruitful by the communications of the holy Ghost and so easie by the spreading of his feathers over us that we shall not be able to say that in all the world a more commodious place or comfortable condition can be found some have known this and have been rather ready to covet to be here than to shun and fly from it as a most unsavoury condition All these things I say God doth as a Creator He hath created Antipathies and he can make Antipathies close and have favour one for another The Lion and the Calf the Wolf and the Lamb the little Boy and the Cockatrice's den he can reconcile and make to be at agreement So sufferings and the Saint the Prison and the Saint losses crosses and afflictions and the Saint he can make to lie down sweetly together Seventhly A Creator A Creator can make up all that thou hast or shalt lose for the sake of thy profession by the hands of the Children of men be they Friends Relations a World life or what you can conceive of 1. Hast thou lost thy Friend for the sake of thy profession is the whole World set against thee for thy love to God to Christ his cause and righteousness Why a Creator can make up all Here therefore is the advantage that he hath that suffereth for righteousness sake Jonathan the very Son of bloody Saul when David had lost the help of all his own Relations he must fall in with him stick to him and love him as he loved his own Soul 1 Sam. 18.1 2 3. Obadiah Ahab's Steward when the Saints were driven even under ground by the rage of Jezabel the Queen he is appointed of God to feed them in Caves and holes of the Earth Yea the very Raven complied with the will of a Creator to bring the Prophet bread and flesh in the morning and bread and flesh at night 1 King 18.13 chap. 17.6 When Jeremiah the Prophet was rejected of all yea the Church that then was could not help him he was cast into the Dungeon and sunk to a great depth there in the mire God the Creator who ruleth the spirits of all men stirred up the heart of Ebed-melech the Ethiopian both to petition for his liberty and to put him out of the Dungeon by the help of thirty men Jer. 38.7 8 9 10 11 12 13. These now as Christ says were both Fathers Mothers Brothers Sisters and as a Loving Wife or Child Mat. 19.29 2. Hast thou for the sake of thy faith and profession thereof lost thy part in the World why a Creator can make thee houses as he did for the Midwives of Egypt and can build thee a sure house as he did for David his Servant who ventured all for the love that they had to the fear of God and his way Exo. 1.20 21. 2 Sam. 7. David was thrust out of Sauls house and driven from his own and God opened the heart of Achish the King of Gath to receive him and to give him Ziklag David when under the tyranny of Saul knew not what to do with his Father and his Mother who were persecuted for his sake but a Creator inclined the heart of the King of Moab to receive them to house and harbor 1 Sam. 27.5 6. Chap. 22.3 4. 3. Is thy life at stake is that like to go for thy profession for thy harmless profession of the Gospel Why God the Creator is Lord of life and to God the Lord belong the issues from death So then he can if he will hold thy breath in thy nostrils in spite of all the World or if he shall suffer them to take away this for his glory he can give thee another ten times as good for thy comfort He that loveth his life shall lose it and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal Joh. 12.25 4. Is thy body to be disfigured dismembred starved hanged or burned for the faith and profession of the Gospel Why a Creator can either prevent it or suffering it can restore it the very same to thee again with great and manifold advantage He that made thee to be what thou now art can make thee to be what thou never yet wast It doth not yet appear what we shall be further than only by general words 1 John 3.2 Philip. 3.21 Eightly A Creator Peter sets him before us here as a Creator because he would have us live upon him as such as well as upon his grace love and mercy In Jobs day this was bewailed that none or but a few said where is God my maker that giveth songs in the night Job 35.10 Creator as was hinted before is one of Gods peculiar Titles It is not given to him above five or six times in all the Book of God and usually when given him it is either to shew his greatness or else to convince us that of duty we ought to depend upon him and not to faint if he be on our side for or under any adversity according as we are bidden in the Text Let them that suffer according to the will of God commit