THE CONTENTS THe Introduction to the words of the Text. Page 1. The Psalmists two-fold Experiment his Malady and Relief a Demonstration that God is good to Israel Page 2 The Particulars contained in the Text with the Observations raised from each Particular Page 4 The first principal Doctrine That God is the Rock of a Saints heart strength and portion for ever Page 5 Divided into two Branches Page 6 The first branch that God is the Rock of a Saints heart strength proved by Scripture ib. Explained in three particulars 1. He is the Author and giver of all strength 2. He is the increaser and perfecter of a Saints strength 3. He is the preserver of a Saints strength ib. Six Positions laid down by way of Demonstration Page 7 1. All strength is in God originally and fully ib. 2. The Israel of God have a peculiar interest in the strength of God Page 8 3. According to the Saints communion with God and Gods influence into them such is their strength Page 9 4. According to the fulness and extent of Grace promised in the Covenant of Grace such is Gods influence into the hearts of his people for their strength Page 13 5. According to that mutual Transact that is between God the Father and his Son Christ Jesus both on Gods part and on the Believers part so doth the Covenant give forth its vertue and grace to the Believer Page 14 6. According to the Spirits Revelation of this Grace in the Heart such is our sense and feeling thereof and according to our sense and feeling thereof such is our comfort Page 18 Vse of Instruction to all true Believers 1. To account God their strength 2. To give God the glory of their strength Page 19 The second Branch of the first principal Doctrine That God is Israels portion for ever proved and explained Page 40 Demonstrated by shewing how God comes to be a Saints portion Page 44 The Vse of Inference is in three particulars 1. That the people of God are the richest people Page 52 2. That the people of God are a truly happy people Page 53 3. That the people of God cannot be made miserable ib. The second Vse is of Instruction to teach us 1. Where to have a Portion for our selves and ours Page 54 2. That if we would have God to be our portion we must be his Page 56 The third Vse is of Direction and Counsel to Gods Israel 1. To learn the distinction to the height between God in himself or God in the Creature and the Creature without God Page 59 2. To be content with such things as they have Page 61 3. Not to be solicitously or distrustfully careful for what they want Page 62 4. Above all to be thankful for the enjoyment of God Page 63 The second principal Doctrine That Divine Relief flows from God to his people according to their necessity Page 64 The particular Cases wherein a Christian stands in need of Divine Relief are failing of the Flesh and failing of the Heart Page 65 Divine Relief flows in divers wayes when the comforts of a mans life fails him Page 66 Divine Relief flows in divers wayes when the outward man fails Page 75 Divine Relief flows in when the Vnderstanding fails Page 87 When the Will fails Page 94 When the Memory fails Page 102 Divine Relief flows in when the infused habits fail Page 110 God works four things for the Christians good by his decay in Grace and falling into Sin Page 114 1. Hereby God discovers that corruption that is in the Heart ib. 2. Hereby God teaches the Soul where its strength lies Page 115 3. The falls of Christians through the weakness of Grace and the power of Sin are made notable Antidotes and Preservatives against final Apostacie ib. 4. These falls and decayes settle him faster and make him root deeper in Christ Page 116 Four Cautions entered hereupon Page 118 Divine Relief flows in when the Animal Spirits fail through Disappointment Page 122 When they fail through the hiding of Gods face Page 124 When they fail through a sense of Sin and Gods displeasure for it Page 128 When they fail through a sudden passion of fear Page 132 When they fail through some strong temptation of Satan Page 136 The Doctrine confirmed by three Reasons The First Taken from that near relation that is between God and good men Page 140 The second taken from Gods design in all his peoples straights and necessities Page 142 The third taken from the beautifulness of Relief in the time of necessity Page 144 A grand Case put by a Christian that doubts of his Interest in God because he hath no experience of Divine Relief flowing into him according to his necessity resolved Page 145 Vse 1. From this Doctrine is inferr'd the woful state and condition of those who have no Interest in God Page 152 The second Vse is of Comfort to all that have an Interest in God Page 154 An Objection against taking Comfort from this Doctrine drawn from the Christians unworthy walking of former Relief answered Page 155 Jehovah Iireh OR THE Saints Relief In a Time of EXIGENCY Held forth in several Sermons Preached at Stowe Market in SVFFOLK By Samuel Blackerby Minister of the Gospel and Vicar there LONDON Printed for Nevil Simons at the Princes Arms in S. Paul's Church Yard 1674. SERMON I. The Saints Relief in a time of Exigency Psal 73.26 My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever THough Divine truth may be clearly understood by Divine revelation yet the heart of a Christian is then most confirmed and settled in the belief thereof and most confident to assert it when he hath had some experience of the power and life thereof in himself when he can say I know this by experience The first conception and rise of true faith and sound knowledge springeth from Divine principles revealed and explained by the Holy Spirit but the confirmation thereof flows from experiments made and had of those principles We need go no further than this Psalm for a proof hereof The Prophet whoever he was was one that was endued with a saving knowledge of Divine Principles and with faith therein I but the confirmation of his faith was made by a Divine work in which the life and power of those principles shone forth He did believe at first that God was good to Israel I but his faith was not strong and able to overcome an assault and to quench this fiery dart that Satan shot at him until he had found the truth of this principle by experience in himself So you may see vers 2 3 13 14. Sense prevails against his faith until such a Divine work was wrought in himself as terminated his faith and sense in one object Now he can with boldness and great confidence assert that God is good to Israel c. For he is able to give a demonstration thereof
draw never so much yet the well is deep and there is as much as ever was O the bottomless goodness of God! O the inexhaustible fountain of Divine perfection No heart is able to fathom or contain it Demonstration Q But how comes God to be the Saints portion First it flows from Gods free donation God hath given himself to his Saints That is properly a mans portion that his father gives him Now because God can give no greater good then himself therefore he gives himself to his Saints God is their Father and they must have a portion from him and God cannot think any thing below himself a portion for them He can give the world to his enemies I but he gives himself to his children Hence it is said that God hath set apart him that is godly for himself Psal 4.3 and the Lord hath chosen Jacob for himself Psal 135.4 even as a man takes a child and adopts him makes him his own and then gives him a portion so doth God 1 John 3.1 and Rom. 8.17 Now what is the inheritance but God himself Nothing below God is the inheritance of Christ who is the Son and nothing less then God is the inheritance of Saints who are Gods younger children but this is not by humane purchase but by Divine gift For alass all the gold silver in the world is not to be weighed against God as a sufficient price All the nations of the earth are but as a drop in the bucket and as the dust in the ballance Nay as nothing and counted to him less then nothing No this is an inheritance not to be bought by any finite price Nay whatever thou valuest the most yet comes infinitely short of a sufficient price Wert thou more righteous then the Angels or Adam in innocency yet all thy good works would not bring thee in a ray of Divine glory by way of merit Why else had not the Apostate Angels and Adam in innocency the presence of God for their sustentation to keep them from falling but to evidence this truth that mans righteousness cannot purchase the enjoyment of God 2. This flows from a Saints self-denying resignation A true Saint denyes himself in all but God and to him he resigns up himself Self-denial outs a man of all earthly goods in point of affection and affiance and carries him to God alone for sustenance content and comfort So Psal 73.25 A true Christian dare not own any thing as his All but God He hath a true right to all that he enjoys as to use but he doth not account it as his portion No he resigns himself to God as his life and All So David Psal 27.1 God is my life i. e. I live upon God and have all in him I betake my self wholly to him and to him only So Psal 62.1 the word rendred truly signifies only i. e. I betake my self to God alone I go no whither else and the truth is none but a true Christian knows the emptiness of the creature and the fulness of God and therefore he alone lets all go for God Those things which are the wordlings gain a Saint accounts loss for God now when a man hath thus outed himself of All for God he would have nothing at all to live upon if he did not fix on God as S. Paul said 1 Cor. 15.19 If our hopes were in this life we were of all men the most miserable What to loose earth and heaven together To deny a mans self in all worldly advantages and not to have a God to lay hold on This is most sad No therefore the Christian is so wise as to make an happy exchange to forsake all for God and having forsaken all for God God takes him to himself Hence is that gratious promise Hos 14.3 The fatherless shall find mercy God is the portion of none but spiritual Orphans he becomes guardian to none other Mercy in God supposes misery in the creature Now when the soul becomes the most wretched and miserable in its own sense then it is an object of mercy Matth. 5.3 Blessed are the poor in spirit for their is the kingdom of God 3. God is a Saints portion by way of fruition he enjoys God truly here and fully hereafter God is not only round about his people as their wall of protection but he is in their hearts as their life and well-head of eternal comfort and satisfaction 1 John 3.24 He that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him and he in him There is a mutual inhabitation they dwell each in other and so enjoy one another So vast is the soul of man that nothing but God can fill it and therefore God dwells in a Saint so immense and incomprehensible are the dimensions of God that nothing is able to hold them and therefore a Saint must enter into and dwell in God Hence is that prayer of the Apostle for the Ephesians Chap. 3.19 that they might be filled with all the fulness of Christ So that of our Saviour Matt. 25.21 The more an earthly portion dwells and lodgeth in the heart the more it sinks and destroyes the man but this is our life and salvation our glory and our heaven to be full of God Gods indwelling in the soul is its resurrection and exaltation Esay 57.15 16. Now for the right understanding hereof you must know that this indwelling of God in the soul is not essentially as the God-head dwelt in the humane nature of Christ and made up one person but mystical and spiritual 1. By lively impression 2. By gratious influx First God dwells in the heart by lively impression God stamps his own image upon the heart and so lives in it as the father lives in his child a soul conform'd to God is a soul full of God Then is the soul taken up into the life and light of God when it is made like to God holy as he is holy Then God lives in the heart when a spirit of holiness is planted in the heart and when the lines of his glory are drawn upon it so saith the Apostle 1 John 4.12 16. God is love The love of God is his image he that loveth truly and sincerely he dwelleth in God and God in him There are some that dream of an immediate vision of God they see him in his Essence but saith John No man hath seen God at any time if we love one another God dwelleth in us and we in him i. e. If the image of Divine glory be enstampt uppon our hearts and appears in its lively acts of grace and goodness love and sweetness then have we true and close communion and fellowship with the Father So 1 John 1.7 If we walk in the light as he is in the light then have we fellowship one with another This is to see God know him and enjoy him for the soul to be made like to him transformation of the soul into Divine similitude gives it the fullest enjoyment
and makes them instrumental to carry on a most glorious design How often doth God convince and affect the hearts of sinners by those Lectures which he reads to them out of the book of the creature Yea sometimes the wheelings and turnings about of States and Nations in the world sometimes the changes that come upon mens persons or estates are strangely improved for the change of their hearts Sometimes an evil feared or felt a good hoped for or enjoyed expectation frustrated or hope deferred comforts multiplied or turned into crosses prayers heard or denyed are sanctified and bless'd for spiritual and soul-advantage yea there are many men had not been happy if others had not been miserable the fall and ruine of some hath proved the rise of others Oh the wheel in the middle of a wheel Thus you have heard something of the motion of this divine wheel I but you do not see it For Thirdly This is a mystery a very great mystery for it is a wheel in the middle of a wheel a wheel that no mortal eye ever saw a wheel that the most sublime understanding cannot reach and as the wheel it self is a divine secret hid in the brightness of its own glory so is its motion And therefore saith the Psalmist Psal 77.19 Thy way O God is in the sea thy paths in the great waters and thy footsteps are not known And again Psal Thy way is in the Sanctuary I in that Sanctuary into which none can enter but the high Priest unless the Veil be rent Hence comes the prophetick Spirit to be of use in its time for had men been able to foresee the plotting and contrivances of divine providence or to trace it in its workings the Spirit of Prophecy had not been so necessary as it was And therefore God raiseth up an Ezekiel and by an immediate vision instructs him that he might let the people understand their future state and condition and indeed 't is in Gods light that we see light 'T is true external wheels are visible instruments and agents may be seen I but as the wheel within the wheel is invisible so are all its workings upon the wheels untill they are brought off And therefore is that counsel given Prov. 27.1 Beast not thy self of to morrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth Time travelleth with divine counsels and in its season brings them forth I but little do men know what is in the womb thereof untill she be delivered And therefore saith the Lord Es 55.9 As the heavens are above the earth so are my wayes above your wayes and my thoughts above your thoughts And indeed an infinite mind must needs have transcendent conceptions and thoughts such as are above the reach of a finite mind Now the wayes of God being correspondent to the thoughts of God they must needs be very dark and mysterious unto us And hence it is that men talk so much of dark and complexed providences Not that there is any daskness in them Non caeco impâ—tu volvuntur rotae the wheels are not carried on blindly No! but because their motion is above our apprehension And therefore 't is said ver 18. As for their Rings they were so light that they were dreadful Things that are above our reach are not only Soul-amazing but sometimes Soul-terrifying and do put us in a posture of fear and trembling When we know not what to think of things we are apt to dread them that which is an object of admiration is sometimes a cause of fear and dread Hence it is that sometimes those providential administrations that are big with Soul-merâ—iâ—s and refreshing comforts are by our dark understandings mis-represented and rendred as dreadful to us as if they were nothing else but signs of divinâ— wrath and vengeance Even as Christs walking upon the Sea towards his Disciples for their relief and comfort put them into a pannick fear because they thought that they had seen a Spirit However whether this be alwayes the effect or not yet this is certain that providential plots and works are very high very mysterious We may say more truly of God then we can of any man that he walks in the clouds that of the Psalmist Psal 18.9 if full for the purpose He bowed the heavens and came down and darkness was under his feet And again He made darkness his secret place For the truth is nothing of God or the counsels of God is further known then he is pleased to reveal And so the Apostle argues 1 Cor. 2.11 For what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of a man which is in him even so no man knoweth the things of God but the spirit of God Hence it is that four things fall out frequently 1. Carnal reason confuted 2. Carnal confidence and hope disappointed 3. Unbelief reproved 4. A well grounded faith honoured and confirmed First Carnal reason is often confuted by the mysteriousness of providential administration for they often tell the rational and wise men of the world that their apprehensions and assertions are a meer non sequitur And therefore Saint Paul 1 Cor. 1.20 Triumphs over them with four sarcasmal questions Where is the Wise Where is the Scribe Where is the Disputer of this world Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this-world Where are they alas they are forced to get into an hole and to hide their heads as men confounded and amazed one act of providence scatters them and makes them fly at least strikes them dead dumb They that were continually scribling cannot now write And they that thought themselves the only wise and knowing men now see that they know nothing And they that would never be quiet but would be ready to quarrel with every one they met with that were of a contrary opinion and spake wisdom among them that are perfect are now silent for that which they accounted reason and wisdom appears to be folly and that which they accounted folly appears to be reason and wisdom Oh what a change doth a divine providence work in some mens heads at least what a check doth it give to some mens apprehensions And hence is that counsel given by the Lord himself to all such men Zech. 2. ult Be silent O all flesh before the Lord for he is raised out of his holy habitation And oh that men were so wise as to take this counsel in due time Secondly Hence it is that carnal confidence and hope is often disappointed Men sow the wind and reap the whirl-wind expect good and meet with evil look for light and behold darkness So Mich. 1.12 The inhabitants of Maroth waited carefully for good but evil came down from the Lord. Thirdly Hence also it is that unbelief is often really reproved O fools and slow of heart to believe is a frequent message that an unbeliever meets with in the very acts of divine providence Men will not believe that such and such
interruption Alas Sirs here you have but a taste but there a Saint shall swim in the Ocean of divine goodness and love This this is the great end of a perfect and upright man who is born of God taught of God beautified by the indwelling of God and raised up by the power of the Divine Spirit to a most admirable converse with and conformity to the life of God The end of that man is peace As soon as ever he enters into the Mansion of Glory he enters into Peace As you have it Esay 57.2 And all the time he lodgeth there he dwells in peace For though the end of that man is Peace yet the Peace of that man shall never end the Crown of Life is a never-fading Crown not a Crown of Gold but of Glory The Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom Now Beloved put all these things together and see if a perfect and upright man be not a remarkable man and worthy of your observation and delightful contemplation The truth is he is oft the worlds wonder I but 't is very certain he is a person of whom the world is not worthy As you have it Heb. 11.38 Not that he hath any worth in and from himself no in himself he hath nothing that is good In my flesh saith Paul there dwells no good But as he lives from God and lives in God and receives communications from him he is an admirable piece next to the man Christ Jesus he is the Master-piece of Divine Love and Grace Oh where is the person so blind so sottish and mad as will not be taken with such a man for so are all those that are not taken with him but why should we wonder at this when as there are so many that take little or no notice of God so few that fix their eyes upon their maker so few that love him or take any delight in him If the Original be slighted no wonder if the Copy be The Panther bears an implacable enmity and hatred against Man and therefore can't endure the picture of a man and so here Men by nature are enemies to God and therefore they hate his Image where ever it appears Application But O Sirs let me beg of you that you will not be of that number No but let your hearts fall under the power of this Divine Truth in the Text. Mark the perfect man and behold the upright I know that unregenerate men ought to be marked and observed But how 1. That we may reprove them according as occasion offered 2. That we may pity and commiserate their lost and undone estate 3. That we may be stirred up to pray for them and commend their condition to God 4. That we may admire free Grace that makes the difference I but though we should mark and behold the wicked yet not as we should mark and behold the godly No we should mark the latter So as 1. To admire God in him for what is the perfection and uprightness of any man but God in the man working and framing him to such a gracious temper in his heart and life I tell you if you do admire the goodness and grace of any man and do not at that time look upon God as the fountain and efficient thereof you do but set up an Idol No God is the all and the do-all in the man and therefore he and he alone is to be admired Oh when you see the man in the Text say God is in the man and therefore I am taken with him 2. To mark and observe him so as to imitate him as far as he is imitable So saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 11.1 Be ye followers of me even as I am also of Christ I know that the best of men in themselves and left to themselves are but men and therefore not to be followed in all things at all times David Solomon c. are not to be imitated in all things I but so far as their acting and behaviour speaks forth God in them they are to be marked for our imitation and Copy after which we should write For you can never be like him in his end unless you be somewhat like him in his beginning and progress You must not only desire with Balaam that you may die the death of the righteous but you must also live the life the righteous you must be perfect and upright ones or else your end will not be Peace This eternal Crown will not be set upon any mans head but upon his that hath run the race of Gospel-perfection and uprightness and finished his course doth not only begin but holds out to the last For the Text tells us that 't is he and he only whose end and last or winding up shall be Peace Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is Peace FINIS