Providences gracious and mercifull Benedictions he hath a right to all spiritual blessings pardon of sin peace of Conscience Joy in the Holy Ghost grace and glory and all temporal mercies too the fatness of the Earth as well as the dews of Heaven the Nether as well as the Upper Springs All is his by right and inheritance and shall be by possession if good for him As a stranger from God is universaily cursed so is one united to him universally blessed He may say God hath dealt graciously with me and I have enough Gen. 33.11 Secondly He is also happy in all Estates and Conditions Nothing amiss can befall and betide a Christian Though never so evil in it self Gods Power and Providence can work it for good Art thou under desertions yet thou art happy His lest hand is under thee and his right hand embraceth thee Thou art graven upon the palms of his hands so as to be no more defaced or obliterated and thy walls are continually before him Hast thou lost thy hold of God he hath still his hold on thee canst thou not cast thy self and roll thy Soul on Christ in the Promise yet when thou comest out of the Wilderness thou mayst lean on the arm of thy beloved Though thy Soul be never so much in the dark thou hast the staffe of Jacob to lean on and needest never fear stumbling especially falling for the Lord also upholds thee by his hand Psal 33.24 Art under Temptations still thou mayst be happy Thy Redeemers Intercession is a shore of thy Faith and pillar of thy Perseverance Luk. 22.32 Though weak in thy self with the Conies thou mayst fly to the Rocks When pursued by that mighty Nimrod and hunter of Souls and furiously chased by the avenging Executioner of Divine wrath haste into the arms and bosom of thy Saviour which stand extended on the Cross and are now wide open to receive thee When these proud waters overwhelm thee swim to that impregnable Rock of his Merits which is higher than thou and then thou mayst like a man gotten on the top of a rock in the midst of the Sea outbraving with an invincible courage and undaunted resolution all the waves and billows about him dare Satan to do his worst against thee Though the Beast makes warre against thee being a follower of the Lamb God is on thy side and stands by thee in the combat this Dragon shall not swallow thee up the Lord will rebuke him yea tread him under thy feet shortly Though thy own heart be a Traitor thy God is thy Keeper Art thou engaged with strong and violent corruptions do these Masters of misrule bid controll to Gods grace in thee and is the battell so sharp as sometimes the flesh seems to overcome the Spirit thy pride passion unbelief earthly-mindedness are too hard for thee be not discouraged Though thou beest foiled thou shalt not be overcome sin shall not have dominion over thee though it may tyrannize against thee but those thine enemies that will not bow before the Scepter of Christs Soveraignty shall be slain before his face and very shortly those Egyptians thou seest to day thou shalt see no more for ever Art thou exposed to wants and exigencies The Lord is thy Shepherd and he will supply thee as to thy spiritual and also thy temporal condition Dost thou want the presence of Divine Ordinances are all these Conduits stopt and windows shut God will himself be a Tabernacle to thee he will prepare a Table for thee in the Wilderness spread with all the delicious sweet-meats of grace and comfort and the Sun of Righteousness shall arise on thee with healing in his wings Dost thou want Creature-comforts The Earth is the Lords Granary and the fullness thereof and the Sea thy Fathers Fish-pond and therefore thou shalt have what either can afford thee Art thou sequestred of all that is dear and precious in thine eyes Thou hast yet a Deus providebit to live on a Promise to bear thee up that God will never forsake thee all things shall be added to thee Qui majora curat non minora negliget The Accessory follows the Principal There is no Promise indeed of adding Spirituals upon our seeking Temporals but there is of adding the things of Earth if we seek the Kingdom of Heaven Thou shalt have food and raiment in the way wherein thou art to goe enough though not too much according to Gods will though it may be not thine own bread for thy body though not for thy lusts to satisfie thee though not surfeit content though not cloy thee God will give thee the World as a blessing though not lade thee with this thick clay as a burden As thou hast the sure Mercies of David whereof none can deprive thee so thou shalt have all external accommodations or at least a proportion between thy Heart and Condition wherein the only comfort of life consisteth Art thou compassed about with fears and dangers of enemies or evils imminent or impendent Let not thine heart be troubled for Mercy compasses thee about on every side As Elisha told his servant 2 King 6.16 There are more with thee than are against thee Thou hast a guard of Angels round about thee yea Christ himself for thy Protector And Fortior est Christus caput Ecclesiae ad protegendum quam Diabolus hostis Ecclesiae ad oppugnandum Cyprian This may be a bottom of confidence and sufficient ground and encouragement to the People of God in the darkest and gloomiest day the most evil and discouraging time and serve to allay and antidote all their fears and misgivings of heart that they have an infinite and everlasting God for their help and have everlasting strength wisdom faithfulness mercy and compassion engaged for them Men count it an happiness to have a Cottage of their own to hide their heads in God is his Peoples shelter Sanctuary and hiding-place under all their scatterings and dispersions oppressions and oppositions they meet with in the World The Lord knows how to deliver the Godly out of all their temptations The Apostle brings it down to an experience He delivered Lot and he knows how to deliver us It 's all one to have no storm or to have an hiding-place Under all private injuries and oppressions we may trust in God who is a present help and go to him with the Prophet Jeremiah's words in our mouths when the men of Anathoth sought his life Jer. 11.20 To thee O Lord do I reveal my cause and be confident as he was cap. 20.11 of deliverance or as Hezekiah when Rabshaketh opened his mouth so wide against Heaven he went and spread the Letter before the Lord. Though a man meets with nothing but incivilities unkindnesses discouragements disappointments reproaches persecutions and violences from men yet there is enough in one God to counter-ballance all God will work all mischiefs about for good and as for Enemies in the Name of the Lord we may go
end Yea as his People are best at last to him so is he to them The World indeed is best at first but God at last sweetest to the Soul The first tastes of God are exceeding delightfull witness Solomons Canticles when young and in the prime of his affections The largest and longest draughts of the World leave with them a tang of bitterness in the end witness his Vanity of Vanities in the strength of his Experience The fashion of this World and all things here below passeth away and no wonder for all created beings carry about them principles of self-destruction but God and his Word endure for ever And as a Saints happiness consists in the enjoyment of God above all things besides so is it aggravated by having interest in his help above all humane help and succour whatsoever And if we should draw out the comparison at length which I shall not for fear of interfering and too much enlarging we should finde there were indeed no comparison And that there were none holy as the Lord none such a rock as our God There is a vast difference and so transcendency of divine Help to humane in respect of its absoluteness and immediateness All the help of Creatures is but mediate through the use of other Causes or Instruments and but conditional on supposal of divine concurrence If he withdraws not his anger the proud Helpers do stoop under him Job 9.13 All Creatures borrow their light from that Sun derive their strength from that Arm. Second causes cannot help without the concourse and influence of the first Men may pity but the Lord only can help But though they cannot help without him he can work without them as well as by them God and all the Creatures is no more than God without any of them All Creature-help is but secondary but his is the prime and original The help of Creatures is but particular and partial Some men will assist some persons and some others some will help their Friends and others their Neighbours or Dependants or take in with those that stand and are on the surer ground and stronger side But God helps all that call upon him even those which are fallen down as well as those that stand upright Some things will help in some cases one thing in wants another in sickness a third under dangers but no one good thing is to be found in the World that hath in it an universal vertue and efficacy but God is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and his grace a catholique remedy under all trials and troubles and can succour under less afflictions and also under greater when the troubles of our heart are enlarged he can enlarge the hand of his grace and brings us out of all our distresses Humane help oft-times is unconstant and uncertain in the event Men oft-times will not oft-times cannot help not the Warrier to Victory or Magistrate to Right and Justice because over-powered by the number of enemies or offenders and commonly fail when we stand in greatest necessity thereof Vain is the help of Man saith the Psalmist weak is their help All the Nations of the Earth are but as the drop of a Bucket and the small dust of the ballance Isa 40.15 God threatneth the Helpers of Egypt that they should all be destroyed Ezek. 30.8 and lie down in the grave with the uncircumcised cap. 32.21 Ethiopia and Egypt were No 's strength and it was infinite Put and Lubim her helpers yet she was carried away into captivity Nahum 3.9 The Egyptians themselves were Men and not God and their Horses flesh and not spirit when the Lord stretcheth out his hand both he that helpeth shall fall and he that is holpen shall fall down and they all shall fail together Isa 31.3 But God is a sure and impregnable Rock to his People In fine all humane help as it is but arbitrary depending on the will of God the highest cause of all things so it is but temporary Men and friends may stand by us and help us till death but they are mortal as well as we and when either die we are out of the reach of their help A gulf is then fixed between us None can redeem his Brother no more than deliver his own soul from the hand of the grave Psal 49.7 But God is our God even to death yea in and after death even to all eternity will never fail or forsake us but guide us by his counsel till he receives us to his glory And so I have finished the first general part of the Text the comfortable proposition or conclusion Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help A word or two of the second general part and so I shall close all with some branches of practical application which is the further explication or confirmation of the assertion In these words Whose hope is in the Lord his God Wherein to pass the connection which might give us this observation That he who would have God or can justly challenge him for his help must make him his hope And also the order of the words describing a godly man first by his faith in making God his help and then by his hope which notes to us the conjunction of with or the priority or precedency of the grace of faith unto that of hope and of believing to expecting Faith is the Mother and Hope the Daughter the soul first believes and then hopes in the God of its salvation In regard of the habit as all other graces so these are infused simul semel being but one and the same cast of that seed of God which abides in us And also in respect of their working and operation they go hand in hand they are as so many links of the same chain knots in the same garden all concatenated and indissolubly twisted together yea faith and hope above all other are of nearest alliance and closest companions Hope is to Faith Fidus Achates its faithful and constant friend yet notwithstanding there is a priority of order both as to their being and acting though none of time faith being the primitive grace challenging the primogeniture in the soul having both excellency of dignity and of strength This transition of the Psalmist only hints us the one to be pedissequam to the other where one goes before the other follows and faith is in the centre hope in the circumference But passing this I shall take notice only of the matter and therein consider these two particulars First The Saints character or description They are such as hope in the Lord their God Secondly The Saints charter of happiness on that account or their reward or remuneration Happy are they The first is the attribution of hope as the distinguishing property or peculiar specification of Gods People in times of distress and affliction And therein we have first spei exercitium the act or exercise of their hope Secondly spei fundamentum the object whereon
No soul so unworthy as not to return love for love Thirdly Thou hast an earnest desire and longing after him How does the young heir having interest in his minority long for the time when he shall be actually invested in his estate and inheritance O how does the gracious soul pant and breathe and hunger and thirst look and long for God! Never did the hungry man more desire bread the hydroptical drink the barren wilderness rain the thirsty traveller water the pursued Hart the water-brooks the longing woman the hour of her delivery than it doth the presence and enjoyment of God All my desire Lord is before thee saith our David Psal 38.9 10. My heart panteth my strength faileth My soul hath fainted for thy salvation and it breaketh for the longing it hath to thy judgements at all times Psal 119. It is athirst for God for the living God not siti miserae indigentiae but copiosioris fruitionis Parthian-like the more the soul hath imbib'd of this Helicon fountain the more it thirsts Oh the secret breathings earnest longings importunate cravings vehement ejaculations restless inquietations of a gracious soul after its God! By these wings of desire the soul like Davids Dove would flie up to Heaven Others may desire gold and silver friends and relations pleasures and preferments comforts and conveniencies in the world but the desire of the Churches soul is only to his Name and to the remembrance of him Isa 26.9 Could we be privy to the private devotions of the Saints how many affectionate oh's and options should we hear breath'd forth how many even unutterable sighs and groans sent up for this to Heaven Fourthly Thy delight is wholly placed in God and thou findest sole satisfaction in him The soul is wrapt up into an holy joy and rejoycing drawn up to an exceeding complacency in him God alone is the feast of the Saints delight and with the one dish of the light of his countenance he is infinitely more satisfied than the worldling is with his most largely spread and fully furnisht table His Attributes are the souls chear and his Promises his choice delicacies He is abundantly satiated with the goodness of his house and drinks of his pleasures as a River his communions are meat and musick too Because thou hast been my help saith David therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoyce My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness Psal 63.5 7. The enjoyment of God is to the carnal wretch but a dry husk but to the Saint a feast of fat things and as Wines well refined on the Lees. Though a thousand Torches of creature-comforts be light its night dark with his soul till this Sun of Righteousness shines but one smile of his face and beam of his countenance puts more gladness than could all Corn Wine and Oyl or does to those who daily suck out their vertues and sweetnesses God is his Peoples portion and the only Paradise of their pleasures and while carnal men sit chirping on the dunghill of outward felicities he with the winged Lark sings never so merrily as when mounting up to Heaven His heart greatly rejoyceth in him and his Song doth praise him Psal 28.7 The Joy of the Lord is his strength and it is so lively and vigorous as even in Winter time it buds and blossoms forth from the God of his salvation A Fifth might be added of Faith and Confidence it 's his Periphrasis in the Text whose hope is in the Lord his God in his Name doth he lift up his Banners As propriety is the ground of delight so of dependance Though he kills me I will trust in him though he damns me I will love him The just shall live by Faith But not to prevent what follows A Fifth and last character or impression of due affection flowing from an Interest in God is resolution to cleave to him with full purpose of heart to live and die with him and whatsoever befalls him not to forget him or deal falsiy in his Covenant his heart starts not back neither doth he decline a step from his Law Whatsoever opposition he meets withall in the way of his duty he leaps over it all being resolved though Princes speak against him to meditate in his statures and seeing him that is invisible he fears not with Moses to venture on the wrath of Man rather than forfeit the love and favour of God but with holy Daniel will continue in his Supplications and abide in the way of his duty though it costs him his life And as good old Jacob when to part with his Benjamin If I be bereaved I am bereaved and Queen Esther If I perish I perish A Fifth character of one interested in God is a renouncing and abandoning all other interests for him of sin Satan or the World The Soul that hath once steept and bathed it self in this Ocean of delights yea tasted once of divine sweetness will never relish those waters of bitterness again that hath been fed with the bread and dainties in his Fathers House will never return with the Swine of the World to feed on husks That hath eaten of that heavenly and delicious Manna will never fall to the Leeks and Onyons of this worldly Egypt again Ad majora nata es O ansina mea Regular apprehensions of God raise and advance the Soul above the World None in Heaven but thee The Servant who engages with his new Master takes a Release from his old a discharge from his former service Lord other Lords saith the Church have ruled over us but now we will make mention only of thy Name Isa 26. None of us saith the Apostle live to our selves but to the Lord Rom. 14.8 They are men of another Spirit Hebr. 11.24 Moses chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season A Sixth mark or evidence is earnest Endeavour and vehement pursuit after God The Soul makes it his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to follow after him My soul presseth hard after thee saith David even as the Hunter after his prey Psal 63.8 He follows God fully Numb 14.24 full chase he drives after God more knowledge and experience of him more communion and acquaintance with him He sets himself to seek the Lord. His heart does not hang down but he is lift up in the way of the Lord and to his Commandments which he hath loved He sings in the ways of the Lord. He walks in them and is not weary runs in them and is not faint he exerciseth himself to Godliness makes Religion his trade and business He walks with God and worthy of the Lord in all well-pleasing and 't is his meat and drink to do the will of his Father in Heaven He thinks nothing too much all too little for God spares no labour cost or pains to acquaint himself more with him He prays he hears he reads he meditates he
weeps he watcheth he runs he fights he strives and all to obtain further assurance to apprehend that for which he is apprehended of him And so much for the more general signs of our Interest in God To touch secondly about a few more special signs of having him our help and hope First If God be our Help and we so make him there will be a disobligation to and utter discarding of rejection and casting away all creature-confidence The Soul hath no confidence in the arm of flesh as to its spiritual condition not in Means and Ordinances gifts parts duties graces enjoyments but accounts all loss as to its temporal condition it trusts not to its power wit policy strength wealth estate friends makes not fine Gold its hope as Job speaks in vindication of his integrity cap. 3.24 Ezra was ashamed to go with a request to the King though in a good Cause having first declared his trust in his God Ezra 8.12 A gracious Soul renounceth all carnal dependencies whatsoever Neither Circumcision or Uncircumcision avails him he glorieth only in the Lord. He will not pluck the Crown off the head of Free grace or snatch it out of the hand of Divine power to set it on the head of a poor finite Creature A carnal heart can trust any thing but God a Christian can trust nothing but God him before any thing all things A Worldling can trust God in nothing a Saint in all things at all times can trust him with his Name Estate Liberty Life Soul his all trust him in good dayes of peace and prosperity in evil dayes of trouble and adversity being carefull for nothing but in every thing making his requests known to God with Prayer and Thanksgiving committing his whole way and care to him and his Providence Which is a second Note A constant exercise of dependance on God and on God alone He is his hope and his habitation to which he continually resorts Psal 71.2 Do's he want any mercy he goes by Faith and Prayer to his God for it do's he meet with any mischief or injury he goes again and pours forth his overwhelmed Soul in complaints before the Lord he waits for him and looks to him His eyes are up to the Heavens whence his help comes Mic. 7.7 Therefore saith the Church will I look to the Lord and wait upon the God of my salvation And so David Psal 5.3 In the morning will I direct my prayer to thee and will look up When he hath shut his mouth he will open his eye his ear and when himself knows not what to do hear what his God will say He is alwayes confident in the Lord and triumphs in the God of his salvation Now because an Hypocrite may harbour a false dependance and a counterfeit hope as well as a Christian a well-grounded confidence let us try it by some following Touch-stones which is the third and last particular concern'd in this Inquisition with which I shall dismiss it namely to give some Notes or lay before you some properties and effects of a Saints fixed hope in the Lord his God which may discriminate and contradistinguish it from the languishing and vanishing hope of Hypocrites and carnal Professors And them take in these following particulars First A godly mans hope is a grounded Hope He hath the root of the matter in him The righteous hath an everlasting foundation the Hypocrite hath no bottom These have no root Luk. 9.13 The house on the Sands was raised to an equal height with that on the Rock and the difference was not in the superstructure but only in the foundation A carnal man may have as firm a confidence as a Saint and an Hypocrite as strong a presumption as an upright Soul hath a perswasion but not so good an evidence Now confidence is always nought without evidence The jetting hope of an Hypocrite is built upon his external profession and priviledges as a worldlings is on his meer outward enjoyments His confidence is in the flesh but a Saints hope is bred and maintained too by the Word and Promises Heb. 6.18 19. It 's nourisht by spiritual influences and experiences As it is founded on the Lord Jesus Christ that bringing in of a better hope that hope in us of our glory so 't is backt with good evidence I will trust in him saith Job though he kills me I will maintain mine own wayes before him He also is become my salvation but an Hypocrite shall not come before him cap. 13.15 16. The Apostle calls a Believers a good hope through grace 2 Thess 2.16 through grace favouring as the Spring and grace sanctifying as the suel of it Secondly It is an Effectual hope hath a blessed vertue and efficacy in it especially a six-fold vertue First Ad purificandum to purifie the heart and Conscience of a Christian What the Apostle saith of Faith may be said of Hope it purifies the heart Yea he sayes it expresly of this grace also 1 John 3.3 He that hath this hope purifies himself even as God is pure Secundum speciem though not gradum in kinde and quality though not equality If not in act yet at least in endeavour and affection Hope purgeth the Conscience from dead works to serve the living God by it the Soul draws nigh to God and comes to have a sight and view of him and Omnis visio affimilat Proportionable to our Faith is our Holiness and to our Expectations our Conversation This distinguisheth it from all Formalists presumption Hypocrites lean on the Lord and are confident of his presence amongst them though they perpetrate all manner of wickedness and do all kind of abominations Mic. 3.11 But in vain do sinners load Gods back and yet pretend to lean on his Arm. Security and presumption lead men to sin Isa 57.10 Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way yet thou saidst not there is no hope Thou hast found the life of thine hand therefore thou wast not grieved And desperation also makes them rush on in courses of Iniquity Jer. 18.12 They said there is no hope but we will walk after our own devices and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart a sad and desperate conclusion But true hope draws the Soul off from sin Whatsoever a Childe of God doth he will not sin against and away his hopes but having hope in Gods Word and in those great and precious Promises he cleanseth himself from all filthiness of flesh and spirit Tit. 2.12 14. Secondly Ad excitandum it quickens unto duty It 's a living yea a lively hope 1 Pet. 1.3 Where hope is in the centre obedience is in the circumference David conjoyns them Psal 119.166 Lord I have hoped for thy salvation and done thy Commandments Believing puts upon doing Hope of mercy quickens and animates to duty We believe and therefore we speak and act too and no good hope of the end without due use of the means means must
souls and preserver of his creatures As the Malefactor fled to the City of Refuge crying all along as he went Refuge Refuge so should the soul fly to God either under the pourings out of personal wrath as the Prodigal to his Father or offender to the Judge for pardon or under the popular executions of his wrath on the world as a Wife flies to her Husband for protection When God is coming out against the world with sword fire famine or pestilence then 't is our wisdom to repair to him who is an harbour in every tempest a shelter in every storm a sanctuary wherein the soul may securely hide and repose under every stroke of divine vengeance Secondly Under the oppressions of Satan or oppositions of humane violence Go as beggars to the Throne of Grace to beg help in that time of need When the Kite comes get under the wings of Gods Providence and presence So Did David Psal 57.1 Psal 143.8 I fly to thee to hide me Thus Luther I will goe and tell my God Thirdly In the failure and disappointment of all Creatures when all second Causes fail then 't is time to go to the first and when the arm of flesh breaks then to lay hold on the Father of Spirits So David Psal 73.23 and 1 Sam. 30.6 when he had lost his wives yet he rejoyceth in God as his husband So the Church Hab. 3.17 As Gods solemn appearances for us engage us to trust in Him Exod. 14. ult Then they believed the Lord and his servant Moses So do the Creatures appearances against us and discouragements to us This was the foundation of Mordecai's conclusion of Faith Esth 4.14 Fourthly Upon Imposition or undertaking of extraordinary burdens whether of service or suffering Thus Moses goes to God for Eloquence when he was to go in to Pharaoh and become his accuser and Gods advocate spokesman for Israel So David going out against Goliah went out in the Name of the Lord and Jehosaphat when to combat with the Ammonites beggs help from Heaven Our Saviour falls earnestly to Prayer when about to suffer New services call for new Supplies and great sufferings proportionable strength and support to carry us through them Fifthly Under falls into deep and sore afflictions and distresses As under surprizals by fears and dangers what time we are afraid trusting in him so under the feeling of piercing afflictions In my distress saith David I cried to the Lord and out of the depths he heard me When the shipwrackt Soul cannot swim to shore yet let him cry for help The end God brings us into afflictions is that they might bring us to himself that we might not trust in our selves but in him the living God In times of personal distress or Visisitation wants weaknesses sicknesses scandals confinements banishments from our house and home and native soil yea under the most cruel persecutions by tongue or hand we may appeal with Job and David to Heaven and have right done us When the Soul is like Noahs Ark floating upon the top of these waters it may rest on God's holy Mountain Thus we finde the Church betaking her self to God in an ill time a time of general corruption sore oppression and extreme depopulation Mic. 7.7 though it was foul under feet she hopes to finde it fair above head and while she found nothing but a louring Earth presumes to spye a similing Heaven Our Saviour bids us not in glorious times but sad not hang down but lift up our heads Luk. 21.28 Sixthly Under dying apprehensions Thus David flyes to Gods Covenant and confirms by the fresh attestations of his Faith his Vision with and interest in his God when to take his leave and farewell of all worldly interests and the union between his body and soul was to receive its dissolution So holy Job when marching out of the world goes out to his Redeemer There is no such time as a dying hour to trust in the living God And so much shortly to that first Quâ—stion Secondly How must we make our addresses to God so as in an evil day to finde help from him Especially these five manner of wayes First By Soul-abasement and humiliation acknowledging our own unworthiness and insufficiency that we are less than the least of all Gods mercies unworthy any crumm that falls from his Providential Table Indeed as long as we can stand upon our own leggs we will not go to God The Childe as long as he can maintain himself will not come home to his Father but when we are fallen then we are glad of help This is that hath always obtained with God for particular mercy and publick salvation and hath been the constant carriage and behaviour of his people in their addresses to him though they come to him boldly as to a Father yet withall humbly as to their King Thus the Centurion I am not worthy thou shouldest come under my roof Thus the Prodigal Father I have sinned against thee and against Heaven So the Woman of Canaan Truth Lord the dogs c. So in publick suits Abraham comes not with dust and ashes on his head only but in his mouth also when a solicitor for Sodom Ezra Nehemiah and Daniel present themselves with great humiliation before God when praying for the people So the Princes of Israel when captivated by Shishak humble themselves and say the Lord is righteous 2 Chron. 12.6 7. and so the Church Isa 64.7 When she stirs up her self to take hold upon God she confesseth he had hid his face from her for her sins and consumed her for her iniquities The Lord upholdeth all that fall and raiseth up them that be bowed down Psal 145.14 If we would finde acceptance with God we must go to him as that good King Lord we know not what to doe Lord I am under such a guilt under such a temptation under such a want or affliction and I know not what to doe but mine eyes are towards thee And that 's the second with renunciation of all Creature-helps and carnal confidences God never loves to give his people mercy till they know not where to have it else when they know not what to do then he will let them know what he can do Thus the Church goes to God Jer. 3.23 24. and cap. 14.22 and so Isa 26.13 When all our Cisterns are dried up then is a fit time for God to open the windows of Heaven If we would have Soul-help we must deny our selves and disclaim all creature-props and stayes ordinances duties graces priviledges and if outward help we must abandon all Creature-dependencies The hand must be first emptied that receives any gifts of grace and mercy from Heaven Thirdly By Prayer and Invocation It s Gods promise in leading his people to their resting place that with weeping and supplications he would lead them Jer. 31.9 Asa in his great strait goes to God by Prayer and beggs and implores help 2 Chron. 14.11 He cried unto
veho in his mouth if I perish I perish and can confidently look danger bonds death in the face being willing with Paul for the hope of Israel to be bound with this chain Act. 28.20 As holy fear so this invincible faith and undaunted courage is an evident token of salvation and that from God Phil. 1.28 Whom in the world should God help if not them that help with him or stand close to if not those who stand fast to him distinguishing duty shall certainly be rewarded with distinguishing mercy Secondly At what special times may Gods People look for help in time of mens violence and oppression Let me resolve that one question in case the cause of the People of God should be brought to an extremity and leave it with them as a fortification of their hopes and spirits Now though as it 's impossible for us infallibly to determine the periods of Gods grace to sinners when abused so the times and seasons of his giving out mercy and salvation to his People when wanted times being in his hand yet so far as we have the Scripture for our guide we may assign some particular and extraordinary cases wherein help is promised and so may be justly expected As First When Gods Cause lies a bleeding and the general concern and interest of Religion is at stake God is jealous for his great Name Thus Joshua pleads when Israel fell before their enemies in battel cap. 7.9 And Jeremiah cap. 14.9 We are called by thy Name leave us not and vers 21. Do not abhor us for thy Names sake do not disgrace the Throne of thy glory When the enemy houted Gods People pointing with the finger at them These are the People of the Lord he had pity for his holy Name Ezek. 36.21 When the whole interest of Religion and Gods people must go off at a blow God will step between the Axe and them We have such a memorable example of this in Gods deliverance of the whole body of the Jews from Haman's conspiracy as the defeatment thereof may be a standing encouragement to his people in all ages Secondly When a cloud of reproach and scandal is cast upon his Peoples innocency and integrity and thereupon ariseth an unjust oppression of them This was Job's case all along his Friends falsly accused him but his God did compurgate him and so Davids as appears almost in every Psalm where he now appeals to God and makes protests of his innocency as Psal 7.3 then prays for relief Psal 38. ult and 71.11 12. and 109.26 professeth his hope in God notwithstanding Psal 35.15 promiseth himself redress Psal 37.6 So Jeremiah cap. 20.11 and the Church Mic. 7.8 10. who promise themselves salvation and prophesie their enemies destruction upon their slanders and scandals cast upon them God will take part with his people what is done to them he takes as done to himself whether in way of kindness or abuse As they vindicate his Name and glory in the World so will he theirs from all reproach put upon it Thirdly When there is a failure and disappointment of all humane help This is the Psalmists argument Psal 44. ult and the ground of his plea Psal 79.8 Let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us for we are brought very low When Pharaoh said The Israelites were intangled the Wilderness had shut them in God comes and cuts a passage for them Exod. 14.3 God commonly helps his People at the lowest the taking the weakest part is to him no disadvantage When vain is the help of man and the cause is concluded desperate for want of an Advocate then God is called in by our Prophet Psal 12.1 Help Lord for the godly man ceaseth Cum nemini obtrudi potest Psal 116.6 I was brought low and he helped me When Sion is called an Outcast and no man seeks after her then God chooseth to have mercy on her Jer. 30.17 Fourthly When the Enemies of Gods Truth and Cause blaspheme his Name and insult and triumph over his people Whom hast thou reproached saith God to Rabshaketh Isa 37.23 There 's the ground of his appearance against him The King of Heaven may pardon his Peoples rebellions but revilings are too saucy for subjects to give or the infinite and eternal God to bear from a vile worm a sinfull and mortal creature It 's time for God to arise when wicked men thus make void his Law and so far usurp upon his Supremacy and Prerogative as to offer a competition with him who he or they shall be Lord Controller in the World When the Assyrians talked blasphemously that God was the God of the hills and not of the valleys therefore did he deliver them into Israel's hand 1 King 20.28 God dare wrastle or engage with them though on disadvantagious ground This argument the Church useth for deliverance Psal 74.10 and strongly urgeth Psal 79.10 11 12. and the cruelty and blasphemy of the enemy may prevail with God sometimes when cannot the Prayers of his Saints and People Isa 47.6 7 8. God will save the afflicted People and bring down the high and proud looks Psal 18.27 It 's observable when God assigns to his people the reason of the expulsion of the Nations and the introduction of Israel in their room he gives it thus Not for your righteousness but their wickedness Deut. 9.5 when Saints holiness cannot avail for mercy sinners iniquity may call for justice Fifthly When the spirits of the Saints begin to despond and fail and yet are carried out with serious humiliation for their sin and recovering these fits and qualms with out-goings of Faith and Prayer to Heaven When Christ comes there will scarce be Faith in the Earth when the hearts of Gods people begin to swoon he will contend no longer lest their spirits should fail before him When the wicked are flesht and pufft up with vain hopes God breaks their bones asunder and their horn in pieces when Gods people are as dry bones he lifes and fleshes them Ezek. 37. When the Question is asked By whom shall Jacob arise for he is small the answer is The Lord repented for this Amos 7.2 3. God will not always suffer the rod of the wicked to rest on the lot of the righteous lest he puts forth his hand to iniquity Psal 125.3 God passes by his People when as tall Cedars and beholds them when low and weak Shrubs he delights in them when in an abject low condition and shews them mercy When the Locusts do most over-run the Cassians then the Seleucidian Birds come and are their devourers and destroyers God is willing his people sometimes should be brought to that pass that they know not whither to turn that so they may know what their God can and will bring about for them When Gods people are laid upon their backs then is a fit time for him to take them up into his arms and put them into his bosom Especially when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled by their