save him from death was heard in that he feared But when he was entered upon his sufferings he prayed more earnestly than ever Luke 22.44 Being in an agony he prayed more earnestly 7. Learn hence the vanity and uncertainty of riches and all worldly enjoyments This sudden and unexpected desolation which is come upon this great City by this dreadful Fire wherein such a multitude of Houses and such a great quantity of Goods have been consumed and many thousand Families have been impoverished doth plainly teach us the great uncertainty of worldly things and the great uncertainty that is in riches and all other worldly things may teach us severall lessons as 1. Seeing we have no assurance of worldly things we should not set our eyes or our hearts upon them we should not desire them inordinately when we want them nor delight in them inordinately when we have them or mourn beyond measure when we lose them Prov. 23.5 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not for riches certainly make themselves wings they flee away as an Eagle towards heaven They should be so far from drawing our hearts that they should not draw our eyes after them 1 Cor. 7.29,30,31 The time is short it remaineth that both they that have Wives be as though they had none and they that weep as though they wept not and they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not and they that buy as though they possessed not and they that use this world as not abusing it for the fashion of this world passeth away 2. Seeing riches are uncertain things we should not trust in them but in the ever-living unchangeable God 1 Tim. 6.17 Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high minded nor trust in uncertain riches but in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy 3. Seeing we have no certainty that we shall enjoy our Estates one day we should not defer doing all the good we can with what God hath given us Eccles 11.2 Give a portion to seven and also to eight for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth Luke 16.9 Make to your selves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations We should not slip any opportunity of doing good Gal. 6.10 As we have opportunity let us do good unto all men especially unto them who are of the houshold of faith We should not defer doing good with our Estates so much as one day when God gives us ability and an opportunity to do good Prov. 3.27,28 With-hold not good from them to whom it is due when it is in the power of thine hand to do it say not unto thy neighbour go and come again and to morrow I will give when thou hast it by thee 4. Seeing there is such an uncertainty in the things of this world this should teach us the vanity and folly of seeking to get the things of this world by unjust just and unrighteous courses Prov. 21.6 The getting of treasure by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death They that seek to get riches by lying or any other sinful means do seek their own death and destruction And what folly is it to cast away an immortal soul and to lose an eternal Kingdom for Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 for gaining of that which a man is not sure to enjoy one day There is a greater uncertainty in riches that are gotten unrighteously than in those that are gained by honest means for God threatens such persons with this Judgment that they shall enjoy what they get dishonestly but a very little while Jer. 17.11 As the Partridge sitteth on eggs and hatcheth them not so he that getteth riches and not by right shall leave them in the midst of his dayes and at his end shall be a fool Prov. 13.11 Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished but he that gathereth by labour shall encrease And as such riches continue but a very little while so the Owners have little or no comfort in them while they do enjoy them The accusations of a guilty conscience and the curse of God that goes along with their Estates troubles them more then their Estates do them good Zophar speaking of a man that is unjust in his dealings saith he shall have no joy in his riches nor quietness in his Conscience Job 20.17,18,19,20,22 He shall not see the rivers the floods the brooks of honey and butter that which he laboured for he shall restore and shall not swallow it down according to his substance shall the restitution be and he shall not rejoyce therein because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor because he hath violently taken away an house that he builded not surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits every hand of the wicked shall come upon him Divers other passages there are in that Chapter very dreadful to such as get their Estates in a dishonest way which I forbear to transcribe And this is farther to be considered concerning those riches that are gotten unjustly that although such riches are of very short and uncertain continuance the sin and guilt which is contracted in the getting of them will remain upon the conscience a long time and if there be not a timely and sincere repentance a mans sin will accompany him to the Grave Job 20.11 His bones are full of the sin of his youth which shall lie down with him in the dust and fromt hence his sins shall go along with him to the Judgment-seat of Christ Eccles 12.14 God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil And from thence a mans sins shall go along with him to Hell and there vex and torment him like fire to all eternity Jame 5.3 Your gold and your silver is cankered and the rust of them shall be a witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fire ye have heaped up treasure together for the last dayes SECT 4. 4. Consider your wayes that you may finde out for what sin or sins God hath laid this affliction upon you When God blasted the Jews in their Estates he called them with great earnestness to consider their wayes Hag. 1.5,6,7 Now therefore thus saith the Lord of Hosts consider your wayes ye have sowen much and bring in little He that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes Thus saith the Lord of Hosts consider your wayes When Job had lost his Estate and was under other afflictions also he was very desirous to finde out for what sin it was that God contended with him Job 13.23 How many are mine iniquities and sins make me to know my transgression and my sin Job 10.2 Shew me
Children did formerly give them to him Job 1.21 The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord. 2. It is God that is Holy There is nothing of wrong no injustice no iniquity in this dispensation as it proceedeth out of the hands of God Psalm 145.17 The Lord is righteous in all his wayes and holy in all his works When God cometh forth in fiery dispensations we should be so far from murmuring that we should give thanks at the remembrance of his Holiness because we know him to be Holy in all his Works Psal 97.3,12 A fire geeth before him and burneth up his enemies round about Rejoyce in the Lord ye righteous and give thanks at the remembrance of his Holiness The with-drawing of Gods Blessed Presence from our souls is a far greater loss than the losing of our Estates or any thing that we enjoy in this world for there is nothing in the whole world yea there is nothing in heaven it self which a godly man esteemeth so much as he doth the enjoyment of God Psal 73.25 Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee Yet we finde David quieting himself upon the account of Gods Holiness when he apprehended himself forsaken of God and the Lord came not to him though he cryed and roared after the Lord Psal 22.1,2,3 My God my God why hast thou forsaken me why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring O my God I cry in the day time but thou hearest not and in the night season and am not silent But thou art holy If David was stayed from repining against God when he apprehended himself forsaken of God and thought God rejected his Prayers by considering that God that dealt thus with him was an holy God then surely the consideration of Gods Holiness may quiet your mindes under the loss of any worldly things what ever they be When the labourers that had born the heat of the day murmured because others that had wrought but one hour were made equal to them the housholder stilled their murmurings by saying to one of them Friend I do thee no wrong Mat. 20.11,12,13 If you finde any murmurings in your mindes at Gods taking away your Estates when others enjoy theirs still endeavour to silence your murmurings by saying unto your souls O my soul God is a just and holy and righteous God he hath done thee no wrong why then dost thou murmur against him 3. It is God that hath a Sovereign Power over you to do with you and all that belongeth unto you whatsoever seemeth good in his sight Job 9.12 Behold he taketh away who can hinder him who will say unto him what dost thou Jer. 18.6 O house of Israel cannot I do with you as this potter saith the Lord behold as the clay is in the potters hand so are ye in mine hand O house of Israel Such is the Sovereign Power of God that he disposeth of all his Creatures both those that are in heaven and all that are in all places of the world Psal 135.6 Whatsoever the Lord pleased that did he in heaven and in earth and the seas and all deep places If the Lord disposeth of all things in heaven and earth as he pleaseth shall any particular person fret and think much to have all his concernments disposed of at the pleasure and by the order of the great God When the Lord maketh such desolations in any Nation as that the report of them goeth throughout all the world this must still and quiet our minds that it is the great and Sovereign God that doth these things Psal 46.8,10 Come behold the works of the Lord what desolations he hath made in the earth Be still and know that I am God To murmur at Gods fulfilling his own will is a practical denying his Sovereignty and to deny the Sovereignty of God is to deny his Deity He should not be God if he were not our Sovereign Lord his Sovereignty is essential to his Deity 4. It is God that loveth you and is the best friend that you have in all the world that laid these rebukes upon you and hath taken away your Estates by this Fire Every godly man hath God for his Friend Cant. 5.16 This is my beloved and this is my friend And when God rebukes any of his Servants in their Names Estates Bodies or Souls it is out of love Rev. 3.19 As many as I love I rebuke and chasten Prov. 3.12 Whom the Lord loveth he correcteth even as a Father the Son in whom he delighteth Will you take any thing amiss that cometh from so good a friend as the Lord is especially that which cometh from this friend in love We are wont to take rebukes that come from friends in good part though they be such as wound and pierce us to the soul Prov. 27.6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend Psal 141.5 Let the righteous smite me and it shall be a kindeness and let him reprove me and it shall be an excellent oyl which shall not break my head Shall we esteem it a kindeness to be smitten and reproved by righteous men and fret and be angry when we are smitten and reproved by the righteous God 5. It is God who is your Father that hath done these things Never any man drank such a bitter cup as was mingled for our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ if we consider all the ingredients that were put into it yet because it was his Father that gave him this cup he took it cheerfully John 18.11 The cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it We submit our selves to our earthly Parents when they correct us how much more ought we to be subject to our heavenly Father when he chastneth us seeing he hath more power over us than they have and aimeth more purely at our good than they do Heb. 12.9,10 We have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of Spirits and live for they verily for a few dayes chastned us after their own pleasure but he for our profit that we might be partakers of his Holiness 6. It is God who is pleased with all his own works Psal 135.6 Whatsoever the Lord pleased that did he in Heaven and in Earth and in the Seas and all deep places God calleth the judgements that he executes upon his enemies his pleasure Isa 48.14 He will do his pleasure on Babylon Yea even those afflictions which God sendeth upon his own children are the good pleasure of his will The Prophet speaking of the sufferings of Christ saith Isa 53.10 It pleased the Lord to bruise him Our sufferings are in some respects said to grieve the Lord Judges 10.16 His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel But on another account as they are a fulfilling of his eternal
from him The boastings and triumphings of the soul are in God Psal 34.2 My soul shall make her boast in the Lord. Isa 25.9 Lo this is our God we have waited for him and he will save us this is the Lord we have waited for him we will be glad and rejoyce in his salvation The like may be proved of all other motions of the soul they tend to God as their center whence it followeth that the souls rest is in God for all things are at rest when they come to their proper center 2. God is an eternal good If a man be possessed of never such an excellent portion if there be fear or danger of losing what he enjoyeth this is a disturbance to his minde and hindereth in some measure the fulness of his contentment but as for God there is no cause to fear our losing of him when once we have gotten God for our portion for when he bestows himself upon a person he gives himself for a portion to that person for ever Psal 48.14 This God is our God for ever and ever he will be our guide even unto death Psal 73.26 My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever The soul of man being of an immortal eternal nature no less good than that which is eternal can give it satisfaction 3. God is an all-sufficient Good Such is Gods all-sufficiency to satisfie all the desires of the soul that a man that enjoyeth God for his portion need not desire any thing either in heaven or earth to adde to his happiness besides God Psal 73.25 Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire lesides thee Such is Gods all-sufficiency to satisfie the soul that if a man may be deprived of all worldly comforts and enjoyments there is enough in God to fill his soul with joy though all his outward comforts be taken from him he may still rejoyce in God Hab. 3.17,18 Although the fig-tree shall not blossom neither shall fruit be in the vines the labour of the olive shall fail and the fields shall yield no meat the flock shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation Such is the all-sufficiency of God to satisfie the soul that the soul may rejoyce and delight it self in God not only when it wants the good things of this world but also when it is surrounded with many evils Rom. 5.3,11 We glory in tribulations we joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the atonement Psal 44.8 In God we boast all the day long and this was spoken under a time of great affliction as may be seen from the following verses especially ver 22. For thy sake we are killed all the day long we are counted as sheep for the slaughter We may boast in God all the day long though it be in such a day wherein we go in danger of our life all the day long or wherein we meet with afflictions as hard to be born and as bitter as death it self 4. The Lord is able to satisfie the desire of every creature Psal 145.16 Thou openest thy hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing There is that in God which doth or may satisfie all the Saints and Servants of God upon the face of the earth 2 Cor. 12.9 My grace is sufficient for thee This was spoken to Paul when he was in great perplexity being buffeted with the messenger of Satan which was as irksome to his soul as any thorn can be to the flesh and Gods grace that was sufficient for Paul is sufficient for all that trust in him not only to give them satisfaction but such abundant satisfaction that they need not ask any more Psal 37.8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house David was so overjoyed with what he met with in and from God that he could not ask more than God had given him 2 Sam. 7.20 And what can David say more unto thee 5. There is that in God which satisfieth all the Saints and Angels in heaven Psal 17.15 As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness The Saints and Angels in heaven are of larger capacity than we are their faculties are more raised than ours they can take in far more joy than we are capable of whilst we dwell here below yet they are as full of joy as they can hold and this their joy ariseth only from the fruition of God Psal 16.11 In thy presence is fulness of joy for after they come to heaven they have no enjoyment of any worldly things Eccles 9.6 Luke 20.35,36 neither do they finde any need of any thing that is under the Sun to augment their happiness Rev. 21.23 6. God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 self-sufficient and therefore he must needs be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all-sufficient for all his creatures There is no creature on the earth nor no Saint or Angel in heaven partaketh of such blessedness such joy and delight as the blessed God and whence ariseth that blessedness and contentment which God enjoyeth only from himself as may be proved by several arguments I will mention three 1. Before ever there were any creatures in being either Men or Angels or other creatures he was God blessed in himself and lived as happy and blessed a life as he doth now he hath an innumerable company of Angels to wait upon him He was God the same God that now he is before ever the creatures were produced into being Psal 90.2 He ever was and ever will be infinitely and eternally blessed and therefore being infinitely blessed in himself before the world was created the creatures added nothing to his blessedness 2. It is evident that God is self-sufficient and that his happiness and blessedness proceedeth from himself and that he needeth nothing that any of his creatures can do to adde to his happiness because the creatures have nothing and can do nothing but what they have from him and do by those influences they receive from him Acts 17.24,25 God that made the world and all things therein seeing he is Lord of heaven and earth dwelleth not in Temples made with hands neither is worshipped with mens hands as though he needed any thing seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things 3 If all creatures should be annihilated and reduced to their first nothing God would still continue the same that ever he was and be as blessed as he is at this day Psal 102.25,26,27 Now seeing there is enough in God to satisfie every living thing to satisfie all his servants on earth and all his Saints and Angels in Heaven yea seeing he is self-sufficient and hath in himself that which sufficeth for his own
admiration of Gods goodness ver 19. O how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee And Psal 73.1,10 Truly God is good to Israel God is good to them when they are forced to wander up and down and are full of affliction ver 10. His people return hither and waters of a full cup are wrung out to thems When Doeg the Edomite had accomplished his mischievous design in causing the Priests of the Lord to be slain for entertaining of David which could not but be a great grief to David yet still he extols Gods goodness Psal 52.1 Why boastest thou thy self in mischief O mighty man the goodness of God endureth continually When the Jews that were carried captive into Babylon had lost all their substance and met with such sorrows that they thought none ever met with the like they notwithstanding all their afflictions think honourably of Gods goodness Lam. 3.25 The Lord is good unto them that wait for him unto the soul that seeketh him 3. When you are ready to have hard thoughts of God because of your afflictions turn your eyes from looking at Gods Providences and look upon his Promises they represent God to be full of love when his Providences represent him to be terrible There is a thousand times more sweetness in the Promises than there is shapness in your afflictions David viewing his afflictions cryed out Psal 60.3 Thou hast shewed thy people hard things thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment But when he turns his eye to the Promise he forgets his sorrow and is filled with joy ver 6. God hath spoken in his holiness I will rejoyce 4. When hard thoughts of God arise in your minds because of your afflictions behold God as he hath manifested himself in and through Jesus Christ and there you shall see him to be a God of unspeakable love God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son John 3.16 When you look upon God in Christ you shall finde him without fury towards such as believe in his Son when he is executing his greatest judgments Isa 26.21 Behold the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity Fury is not in me And to whom is it that he saith Fury is not in me it is to such as take hold of his Son who is his strength ver 5. When you look upon God in Christ you may behold him a reconciled Father a God pardoning iniquity transgression and sin 2 Cor. 5.19 a God that hath blessed you with all spiritual blessings Eph. 1.3 a God that will deny you nothing that is good on t will give you all things freely Rom. 8.32 Did he pass by the fallen Angels and look upon you and yet will you not have good thoughts of him Can you harbour any hard thoughts of God whilst you look upon him in Christ Jesus Shall some light and short afflictions make you overlook all the spiritual and eternal blessings which God hath treasured up in Jesus Christ for you If you say this helps me but little because I cannot make it out that God hath given Jesus Christ to me if I could see that God had given Christ to me I think I should never entertain an hard thought of God any more I answer God hath made a free offer of his Son Jesus Christ with all his benefits unto your soul as well as to any other ever since you have heard the Gospel and doth still continue to offer him to you and calls upon you by his Ministers and by his Holy Spirit to come and take him freely Mark 16.15 Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel unto every creature Rev. 22.17 The Spirit and the Bride say Come and let him that heareth say Come and let him that is a thirst come and whosoever will let him take the water of life freely By the water of life is meant Christ and life through him Christ and all his saving benefits and the Spirit of God who searcheth the deep things of God and knoweth the minde of God and of Christ assureth us that whosoever will may come and take this water of life freely 5. When you finde hard thoughts of God arising in your mindes by reason of your affliction call to minde what God hath been doing for you from all eternity and what he will do for you in heaven to all eternity God hath been setting his wisdom on work from all eternity to make you happy in the enjoyment of himself and he hath prepared such things for you in heaven as eye never saw the like neither hath ear heard neither can it enter into the heart of man to conceive the worth of them When David in time of temptation was ready to think hardly of God and of his wayes Psal 73.13,14 After he had overcome the temptation he saith ver 28. It is good for me to draw near to God and what caused him to take up this conclusion among other things this was one he had his eye upon that blessedness he should enjoy with God in heaven to all eternity ver 24. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterwards receive me unto glory 6. If you would keep up good thoughts of God in your afflictions observe what goodness God manifests to you in your affliction and what good he designs to you by your afflictions If you did observe the dealings of God with your inward and outward man you might see much of the love and meroy and goodness of God in your greatest afflictions The people of Israel met with variety of afflictions when they were in the Wilderness yet there was much of the love and goodness of God in all his dealings with them Isa 63.7,9 And as for the ends and designs of God in out afflictions if you consider what they are you shall finde that in every affliction God aimeth at your good Heb. 12.10 He chastneth us for our profit Rom. 8.28 We know that all things work together for good to them that love God And as you should keep up good thoughts of God so also keep up good thoughts of his Service and believe firmly in your greatest sufferings that it is not a vain thing to wait upon God and this you will easily do if you keep up good thoughts of God so that there is little need of adding any thing more concerning this temptation I shall therefore but briesly hint two or three things and then proceed to the next temptation 1. It is very unreasonable to think that there is no profit comes by walking in the wayes of God when as the Scripture assure us that Godliness is profitable unto all things having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4.8 God never did stir up any man to seek his face in vain Isa 45.19 I said not unto the seed of Jacob seek ye me in