Children Orphans and Strangers these also ought to be considered in a more especial manner as being great Objects of Charity Job 29.12,13 I delivered the poor that cried and the fatherless and him that had none to help him I caused the widows heart to sing for joy God taketh a special care of the Widows and Fatherless and Strangers Psal 146.9 The Lord preserveth the strangers he relieveth the fatherless and widow And we should labour to resemble God see also Job 31.16,17,18,19,20 5. We should minde what opportunities God puts into our hands and embrace our present opportunities and we should be doing good to those unto whom our opportunity leadeth us to do good Gal. 6.10 As we have therefore opportunity let us do good unto all men Eccles 9.10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with thy might Prov. 3.27,28 Withhold not good from them to whom it is due when it is in the power of thine hand to do it say not to thy neighbour Go and come again and to morrow I will give when thou hast it by thee You see here we should not defer our opportunities of doing good so much as for one day I shall add no more upon this head but only put you in mind of the curteous carriage of the barbarous people of Melita towards such as had suffered shipwrack and were cast upon their coasts they received every one of the shipwracked persons in a curteous manner and at their departure did abundantly supply all their necessities Act. 28.1,2,10 When they were escaped then they knew that the Island was called Melita and the barbarous people shewed us no little kindness for they kindled a fire and received us every one because of the presentrain and because of the cold who also honoured us with many honours and when we departed they laded us with such things as were necessary Will it not be a shame for Christians to be wanting in relieving their brethren that have suffered the loss of their Estates by fire when as these Barbarians shewed great kindness to men that they never saw before when they suffered shipwrack and lost their ship and all their goods in the Sea SECT 9. 9. Render your selves to God by way of gratitude for his sparing of you from this sore judgment which hath fallen so heavily upon others Your Houses and Estates are too little to give unto God for this mercy and therefore you shall do well to give your selves both body and soul all that you have and are unto the Lord. When David was debating the case with himself what he should render to the Lord for his benefits he resolves to give himself to God to be his servant and that not only in profession but indeed and in truth Psal 116.12,16 What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me Oh Lord truly I am thy servant I am thy servant 2 Chron. 30.8 Be ye not stiff-necked but yield your selves unto the Lord 2 Cor. 8.5 But first gave their own selves to the Lord. What the Apostle said to the Corinthians 2 Cor. 12.14 I seek not yours but you The like may be said of God He doth not seek ours but us he is more pleased when we give him our selves than with any other gift that we have to give him As a Christian looketh upon it as the greatest favour that God can bestow upon him for God to give himself to him he prizeth none of Gods gifts so much as the gift of himself so it is with God he esteemeth a mans giving up himself to God above all the gifts that he can give to God Let therefore the mercies which God hath given you prevail with you to give your selves your whole selves both body and soul unto God 1. Let Gods mercies prevail with you to give God your bodies Rom. 12.1 I beseech you therefore Brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service It may be some will say What Doth God care for our bodies Will that be an acceptable gift to God The Apostle assureth us it will be an acceptable present when they are preserved holy present your bodies holy acceptable unto God And he telleth us elsewhere that the Lord is desirous of our bodies as well as of our souls 1 Cor. 6.13 The body is for the Lord and the Lord for the body Now then we give God our bodies when we keep our bodies in subjection to the will of God when we rule and govern all the members of our bodies by the Word of God when we are content to do or suffer any thing in our bodies for the sake of God that God and Christ may be magnified in our bodies Phil. 1.20 when we do not suffer sin to reign in our bodies neither do yield the members of our bodies as instruments of unrighteousness to sin but do readily yield up all the members of our bodies as instruments of righteousness to do the will of God this is to give God our bodies And this is that which the Apostle calls for Rom. 6.12,13 Let not sin reign in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin but yield your selves unto God as those that are above from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God 2. Give God your souls as well as your bodies otherwise you do not present your bodies to God a living sacrifice according to the forementioned exhortation Rom. 12.1 for The body without the spirit is dead Jam. 2.26 And if the body be a dead carcase without the spirit then we cannot present our bodies a living sacrifice unto God unless we give him our souls together with our bodies The soul is that which God desires above all things Prov. 23.26 My son give me thine heart Matth. 22.37,38 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind this is the first and great Commandement And why should any of us stick at this the giving our selves both body and soul unto God seeing it is our reasonable service Let me shew you the equity of what I am exhorting you unto that so such of you as have received great mercies from God may be perswaded by way of gratitude to give your selves the more cheerfully both body and soul unto the Lord. 1. Our bodies and souls are not our own but the Lords and shall we refuse to give God his own Shall we be backward to glorifie God with that which is his own 1 Cor. 6.19,20 Ye are not your own for ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods God did not make either our bodies or our souls for the service of sin or Satan but for himself 1 Cor. 6.13 Now the body is not for
fornication but for the Lord Prov. 16.4 The Lord hath made all things for himself Rev. 4.11 Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Now seeing our bodies and souls were created for Gods pleasure Is it not meet they should be yielded up unto God 2. The Lord Jesus gave himself both body and soul for us He yielded his body to be crucified for us which was both a shameful and a painful death 1 Cor. 11.24 This is my body which was broken for you 1 Pet. 2.24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the Tree that we being dead unto sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed Isa 50.6 I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked of the hair I hid not my face from shame and spitting Why should we refuse to give our bodies to be burned imprisoned banished tortured or to suffer any affliction for the sake of Christ seeing he gave his body to suffer such a shameful and painful death for us The Lord Jesus did not only give his body but his soul also an offering for our sins Isa 53.10 It pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed Shall we stick at giving our souls to Christ when he did not stick at making his soul an offering for our sins 3. It will be much for the advantage both of our bodies and souls to give them unto God for he will sanctifie them and make them his Temple and come and dwell in them 1 Cor. 3.16 Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you 2 Cor. 6.16 Ye are the Temple of the living God as God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them Now who are they to whom the Apostle speaks when he saith Ye are the Temple of the living God c. They were such as had given themselves to God as you may see Chap. 8.5 But first gave their own selves to the Lord What greater honour or happiness are our souls and bodies capable of whilst they are in this world than to become Temples of the living God But besides this if we give our bodies and souls unto God he will glorifie both our bodies and souls in an unexpressible manner in the Kingdom of Heaven to all eternity The Sun is a glorious creature it dazleth our eyes to behold it God will give his Saints in Heaven a glory equal to the brightness of the Sun Matth. 13.43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father yea they shall excel the Sun in glory for they shall be equal to the Angels and the Angels are far more glorious ceatures than the Sun Luk. 20.36 Neither can they dye any more for they are equal unto the Angels and are the Children of God being the Children of the Resurrection yea they shall be made like to Christ their bodies shall be made like to his glorious body Phil. 3.21 Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body and their souls shall be made like to his glorious soul 1 Joh. 3.2 We shall be like him for we shall see him as he is We that is not our bodies only or our souls only but our persons both body and soul shall be like him SECT 10. 10. Render to God the Sacrifices of righteousness When we have received any eminent mercy from God he expects that we should offer up unto him the sacrifice of a righteous and godly life which will please him better than all the Sacrifices that were offered up under the Law Psal 4.5 Offer the Sacrifices of Righteousness Psal 51.17,19 The Sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Then shalt thou be pleased with the Sacrifices of righteousness When David was wonderfully delivered from the snares of death he determines to offer this Sacrifice to God namely to walk humbly and holily before God all the dayes of his life Psal 116.6,7,8 I was brought low and he helped me Thou hast delivered my soul from death mine eyes from tears and my feet from falling Then see what he renders to God for this mercy I will walk before the Lord in the Land of the living I have touched upon this head before and therefore I shall not enlarge farther upon it only I shall add two Scriptures which do imply that it is our duty after we have received any eminent deliverances to labour after a more eminent degree of holiness than we had before and are also promises that God will sanctifie our deliverances for the making of us more holy Obad. 17. Upon mount Zion shall be deliverance and there shall be holiness Isa 4.2,3 In that day shall the Branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious and the fruit of the Earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel And it shall come to pass that he that is left in Zion and he that remaineth in Jerusalem shall be called holy even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem In the former Chapter the Prophet had foretold the ruine of Jerusalem and the fall of Judah Isa 2.8 and here he foretells that a little remnant should escape and promiseth that Gods judgments on others and his mercy in delivering them should conduce much to the promoting of their holiness and cause them to prize highly the Lord Jesus who is understood by the Branch of the Lord Zach. 3.8 by whose merits and mediation they should obtain their deliverance SECT 11. 11. Let this deliverance cause you to seek after and to trust in God for farther mercies and deliverances when you are brought into straits This use God servants have been wont to make of their deliverances as you may see by these instances Judg. 15.18 And he was sore a thirst and called on the Lord and said Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant and now shall I die for thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised 1 Sam. 17.37 David said moreover The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the Lion and out of the paw of the Bear he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine 2 Cor. 1.10 Who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in him we trust that he will yet deliver us This God expects that when he hath shielded us from or helped us out of one trouble we should trust him when we come into another Psal 115.9 O Israel trust thou in the Lord he is their help and their shield Psal 61.3,4 Thou hast been a shelter for me and a strong Tower from the Enemy I will
may encrease our inward spiritual comforts Hos 2.7,14 I will take away my corn and my wine and my wooll and my flax I will allure her and bring her into the Wilderness and speak comfortably unto her I might mention others of a like nature but I forbear by these you may see that God may intend his people much good when he depriveth them of their estates SECT 4. 4. Consider that though God hath taken much from you he might with equity and justice have taken away a great deal more from you and therefore you have no cause to repine that God hath taken away so much but rather to be thankful that God hath taken away no more from you For 1. God might have taken away your lives as well as your estates When Sodom was burnt Lot lost his house and his goods as may be gathered from Gen. 19. It was evening before the Angels came to him Vers 1. and in the morning about the time that the Sun rose God rained fire and brimstone upon the City Vers 23. Some time was spent in entertaining the Angels in going to his sons in law to acquaint them with the purpose of God to destroy Sodom in fleeing to Zoar so that he saved very little if any of his goods for what could a man that had such short warning of Sodom's destruction and was forced to flee for his life carry along with him Besides the loss of his goods and his house he lost his wife V. 26. and his sons in law and his daughters that were married to them V. 14. only Lot and his two Daughters that were unmarried got to Zoar yet he doth not murmur at his losses but looketh upon it as a great mercy that God had spared his life Gen. 19.19 Behold now thy servant hath found grace in thy sight and thou hast magnified thy mercy which thou hast shewed unto me in that thou hast spared my life When the Jews were carried captive into Babylon and Jerusalem was burnt with fire though they had lost their liberties and their dwellings were consumed they did not murmur because of their losses but looked upon it as a great mercy that themselves were not consumed also Lam. 3.22 It is of the Lords mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not And notwithstanding their sufferings were very great such as could scarce be paralled by any that lived in former ages as we may see Lam. 1.12 yet they acknowledge that they had no cause of complaining seeing God had spared their lives Lam. 3.39 Wherefore doth a living man complain When the Ship in which the Apostle sailed was cast away and all the goods were lost he makes a light matter of their losses seeing their lives were preserved Acts 27.22,25 I exhort you to be of good cheer for there shall be no loss of any mans life among you but of the Ship Wherefore Sirs be of good cheer He calls upon them twice notwithstanding their losses to be of good cheer because their lives were preserved 2. God might have taken away your souls and cast them into everlasting burnings for you have sinned and The wages of sin is death Rom. 6.23 The Angels are more glorious creatures than man yet assoon as they had sinned God cast them into Hell 2 Pet. 2.4 God spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to Hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment Now if God had dealt thus with you if instead of burning your houses he had taken away your souls and cast them into everlasting burnings your loss would have been incomparably greater than now it is though you had been owners of the whole world For what shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul Mark 8.36 5. God might have taken away his loving kindness from you as he did from the Jews Jer. 16.5 I have taken away my peace from this people saith the Lord even loving kindness and mercies Now that would have been a far greater loss than the loss of your estates yea than the loss of your lives for Gods loving kindness is better than life Ps 63.3 Because thy loving kindness is better than life my lips shall praise thee David spoke this when he was in the Wilderness of Judah as appears from the title of the Psalm and in this Wilderness he was destitute of all wordly comforts as appears by calling this place a drie and thirsty land where no water is yet enjoying Gods love in this desolate Wilderness he doth not murmur for want of what he enjoyed whilest he lived at home with his father or in Saul's Court but praiseth God for the sweetness and satisfaction which he enjoyed in the sense of Gods love And as David did so may we bless God if he hath not taken away his loving kindness from us whatever it be which God hath taken from us because his love is better than all other things SECT V. 5. Consider how you have sinned against the Lord and what you have deserved for your sins The reflecting upon your sins will make you patient under this and all other sufferings Micah 7.9 I will bear he indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him Lam. 3.39 Wherefore doth a living man complain a man for the punishment of his sins The calling to remembrance our sins may cause us to take patiently and contentedly the greatest afflictions on several accounts I will mention two 1. How great soever our sufferings are they are far less than our sins have deserved God never punisheth any man in this world either the godly or the wicked according to the desert of their sins Psal 103.10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities Job 's sufferings were very great he was the greatest man that lived in the Eastern part of the world and had all his estate taken from him in one day he did not only lose his estate but his children also his body was smitten with painful and noysome boyls and sores his soul also was full of trouble as he himself expresseth it Job 6.4 The Arrows of the Almighty are within me the poyson whereof drinketh up my spirit the terrors of God do set themselves in aray against me yet Job's sins had deserved greater things from God than what God was pleased to lay upon him Job 11.6 Know that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth The afflictions which the Jews endured at the destruction of Jerusalem and during the time of their captivity in Babylon which lasted 70. years were exceeding great so great as scarce any people in the world endured the like as we may see by these two Texts of Scripture Lam. 1.12 Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted
heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised as a Bullock unaccustomed to the yoke turn thou me and I shall be turned for thou art the Lord my God Is Ephraim my dear son is he a pleasant child for since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord. When Ephraim was in affliction and found a refractory spirit Thou hast chastised me and I was as a Bullock unaccustomed to the yoke and went to God and bemoaned the hardness of his heart and prayed to be turned God promiseth I will surely have mercy upon him that is out of my mercy towards him I will both pardon his rebellious and disobedient carriage under his affliction and subdue his refractory and rebellious spirit That Gods having mercy on him implies both the pardoning and subduing his sins may be gathered from Mic. 7.18,19,20 When the Jews were carried captive into Babylon and found that notwithstanding all the great things that they suffered during the siege and at the destruction of Jerusalem they were not turned from their sins they go to God and pray to him to turn them for they were perswaded that though their afflictions had not turned them yet if the Lord would put forth his Grace and turn them then they should be turned Lam. 5.21 Turn thou us unto thee O Lord and we shall be turned Prayer is of that prevalency with God that no iniquity shall be able to stand long before a praying Christian but Prayer will soon subdue the power and dominion of it Psal 119.2,3 Blessed are they that keep his testimonies and that seek him with the whole heart they also do no iniquity Prayers and tears will prevail over God himself Hos 12.3,4 By his strength he had power with God yea he had power over the Angel and prevailed he wept and made supplication unto him Now if Prayer will prevail over God fear not but it will prevail over all manner of sin 4. When you feel any workings and stirrings of the Spirit of God upon your hearts take heed of quenching or resisting the Spirit when the Spirit of God worketh upon you either in a way of conviction or by stirring up godly sorrow for sin or exciting purposes and resolutions against sin or working in any other way upon our souls and yield your selves to God joyn in and comply with the motions of the Spirit all the workings of Gods Spirit upon our hearts are in order to the bringing of us to repentance that he may prevent our eternal misery Job 33.16,17 He openeth the ears of men and sealeth their instruction that he may withdraw man from his purpose and hide pride from man See also ver 29 30. Lo all these things worketh God often times with man to bring back his soul from the pit to be enlightned with the light of the living We had need attend to the workings of the Spirit because there is no mortifying of any one sin but by the help of the Spirit Rom. 8.13 If ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live And though we can overcome no sin but by the help of the Spirit yet with the Spirits help we may overcome any sin whatever Gal. 5.16 This I say then walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh What would God have done for Israel if they had hearkned to him Psal 81.13,14,15 O that my people had hearkened unto me I should soon have subdued their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries the haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him The same will the Spirit of God do for those that yield up themselves to be led and guided by him he will soon subdue their sins and turn his hand against their iniquities and make all their spiritual enemies become subject unto them 5. Look unto Jesus Christ to give you repentance and to turn you from your iniquities God hath exalted Christ to give us repentance Acts. 5.31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance unto Israel and forgiveness of sins Because we cannot of our selves turn from sin God sent his Son to turn us from our iniquities Acts 3.26 Unto you first God having raised up his Son Jesus sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities If after you have applyed your selves to Christ in order to his turning of you from your iniquities your sins should still prevail over you yet be not discouraged but hope in Christ that in his own good time he will redeem you from all your iniquities and you shall finde that he will not fail your expectation Psalm 130.7,8 Let Israel hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is mercy and with him is plenteous redemption and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities Psal 65.3 Iniquities prevail against me as for our transgressions thou shalt purge them away 6. Rest upon God by virtue of his promises to sanctifie your afflictions for the purging out of your sins and leading of you to repentance The Lord hath made many gracious promises of sanctifying those afflictions which he layes upon his people and causing of them to purge and refine their souls I will mention two or three Isa 27.9 By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away his sin Here are two things remarkable in this Scripture 1. The end and design of God in afflicting his people which is that he may take away his sins This is all the fruit to take away his sin 2. A promise that the affliction which God sends upon his people shall have this effect upon their souls to purge out their sins By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged Jer. 24 7. I will give them an heart to know me that I am the Lord and they shall be my people and I will be their God for they shall return unto me with their whole heart This promise relates to a time of affliction when the Jews were carried captives into the Land of the Caldeans ver 5. and herein the Lord promiseth among other blessings that this captivity should produce in them an unfeigned repentance They shall return unto me with their whole heart Another promise to this effect we have Zach. 13.9 I will bring the third part through the fire and will refine them as silver is refined and will try them as gold is tryed they shall call on my Name and I will hear them I will say it is my people and they shall say the Lord is my God In the former verse the Prophet speaks of a time of great mortality Two parts therein shall be cut off and die but the third part shall be left therein and then he foretels