Now do your worst we are out of your reach and above all your terrors and affrights Be advised then to sit close to this work clear but this point once and the worst is past O lye at the feet of God night and day give him no rest take no denial from him fill thy mouth with pleas and arguments tell him Lord it is neither for Corn nor Wine that I seek thee but only for thy love bestow thy other gifts upon whom thou wilt only seal up thy love to my soul. And Lastly I advise thee Reader to be exceeding careful when God admits thee into the sense of his love to shut the door behind thee lest thy soul be soon expelled thence by the subtlety of Satan who envies nothing more than such an happiness as this that envious Spirit totally despairs of the least drop of such a mercy and therefore swells with envy at thine enjoyment of it but if ever thou fasten thy hand of faith upon this mercy loose not thy hold by every objection with which he will rap thy fingers 1. If he object the many sharp afflictions and manifold rods of God upon thee call not the Love of God in question for that but remember what â—he saith Heb. 12. 6. Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth Fatherly Corrections are so far from being inconsistent with the love of God that his love is rather questionable without them than for them they are love tokens not marks of hatred 2. Yield not up thy claim and title to the love of God because he sometimes hides away his face from thee thou knowest the sun is up and going on in its regular course in the darkest and closest day My God my God saith Christ himself Why hast thou forsaken me believe he is still thy God and his love immutable when the sense and manifestations thereof do fail 3. Call not the Love of God into question because of thy great vileness and unworthiness say not when thou most loathest thy self God must needs loath thee too he can love where thou loathest Return return O Shulamite return return that we may look upon thee what will ye see in the Shulamite as it were the company of two armies The Spouse was exceeding beautiful in the eyes of others when most base and vile in her own What would you see in the Shulamite alas there is nothing in me at the best but Conflicts and Wars betwixt Grace and Corruption as it were betwixt two Armies Cant. 6. 13. 4. Quit not thy claim to the Love of God because he seems to shut out thy Prayers and delays to answer the long continued desires and importunities of thy soul in some cases David would neither censure his God no nor call in question his interest in him because of such a delay and silence Psal. 22. 1 2. My God my God The claim is doubled ver 1. and yet in the next breath he saith I cry in the day time but thou hearest not and in the night season and am not silent Thus I have offered you some advice and assistance how to secure your selves in these Divine Attributes viz. The Power Wisdom Faithfulness Unchangeableness Care and Love of God as in so many Sanctuaries and comfortable Refuges in the days of Common Calamity It is noted even of the Egyptians when the storm of Hail was coming upon the Land Exod. 9. 20. He that feared the Word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses Let not an Egyptian take more care of his Beasts than Christians of their Souls Stormy days are coming God hath provided you a Refuge and given you seasonable Praemonitions and Calls from Heaven to hasten into them before Desolations come The Lord help us to hear his Calls and comply with them which will be as much our Priviledge as it is our Duty And so much of the Fifth Proposition viz. That God's Attributes Promises and Providences are prepared for the security of his people in the greatest distresses that befal them in the world PROPOSITION VI. That none but God's own People are taken into these Chambers of Security or can expect his special Protection in Evil Times SECT I. THis Proposition describes and clears the qualified subject of this Priviledge God's own People and none but such can warrantably claim special protection in evil times and this is consonant to the current account of Scripture Isa. 3. 10 11. Say ye unto the righteous it shall be well with him Wo to the wicked it shall be ill with him He speaks concerning the day of Ierusalem's ruin and Iudah's fall as appears ver 8. So great a difference will God make even in this world betwixt the righteous and the wicked In Nah. 1. you have also a terrible day described wherein Bashan Carmel and Lebanon the most pleasant and fruitful places of the land shall languish ver 4. The mountains shall quake the hills melt the earth and those that dwell therein burnt up ver 5. The indignation and fury of God poured out like fire v. 6. The priviledged people in this terrible day are God's own people they only are taken into security ver 7. The Lord is good a strong hold in the day of trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him i. e. he so knoweth them as to care and provide for them in that evil day and so throughout the whole Scripture you shall find the Promises of protection still made to the people of God When the Chaldean Army like a devouring fire was ready to seize upon the Land the sinners in Sion were afraid fearfulness surprised the hypocrites for who among us say they shall dwell with devouring fire and everlasting burning Yes saith God some there are that shall abide that day viz. He that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly he shall dwell on high his place of defence shall be the munition of rocks i. e. God will be a sanctuary to them when others shall be as stubble before the flames Isa. 33. 14 15 16. But for the right stating of this Proposition three things must be heedfully adverted 1. That all good men are not always exempted from the stroke of outward Calamities in that sense the righteous may perish and merciful men be taken away yea they may perish in love and be taken away in mercy from the evil to come Isa. 57. 1. 2. Mica 7. 1 2. 2. That all wicked men are not all always exposed to external miseries but a just man may perish in his righteousness and a wicked man prolong his life in his wickedness Eccles. 7. 15. 3. But in this sense we are to understand the Proposition That none but the people of God have right by promise to his special protections in evil days and that all such shall either be preserved from the stroke of calamities or from the deadly sting namely Eternal Ruin by them
with a great and terrible God and is scared with apprehensions of his infinite and eternal wrath Than which no evil is or can be greater You see at what height Christs conflict with it wrought when it made him sweat as it were great clots of bloud Of all temporal evils death is the greatest and therefore Iob calls it the King of terrours Iob 18. 14. or the most terrible of terribles Thuanus relates two strange instances of the fear of death One of a certain Captain who was so terrified with the fear of death that he poured out a kind of bloudy sweat from all parts of his body Another is of a Young man condemned for a small matter by Sixtus Quintus who was so vehemently terrified with the fears of death that he shed a kind of bloudy tears These are strange and terrible effects of fear but vastly short of what Christ felt and suffered who grapled with a far greater evil than the Terrors of death even the wrath of an incensed God poured out to the full and that immediately upon him But yet evil as evil is rather the object of hatred than of fear it must be an imminent or near approaching evil which we see not how to escape or put by that provokes fear and rouzes this Lion And therefore the Saints in glory are perfectly freed from fear because they are out of the reach of all danger Nor do we that are here in the midst of evils fear them till we see them approching us and we see not how to avoid them To hear of Fire Plague or the Sword in the Indies doth not affright us because the evil is so remote from us It 's far enough off we are in no danger of it but when it is in the Town much more when within our own dwellings we tremble Evil hurts us not by a simple apprehension of its nature but of its union and all propinquity is a degree of union as a learned Divine speaks And its worth Observation that all carnal security is maintained by putting evils at a great distance from us As it is noted of those secure Sensualists Amos 6. 3. they put far from them the evil day the meaning is not that they did or could put the evil one minute farther from them in reality but only by imagination and fancy they shut their own eyes and would not see it lest it should give an unpleasing interruption to their mirth and this is the reason why death puts the living into no more fear because it is apprehended as remote and at an undetermined distance whereas if the precise time of death were known especially if that time were near it would greatly scare and terrifie This is the nature of natural Fear the infelicity of nature which we all groan under the effects of It is in all the creatures in some degree but among them all none suffer more by it than man for hereby he becomes his own tormentor nor is any torment greater than this when it prevails in an high degree upon us Indeed all constitutions and tempers admit not the same degrees of fear some are naturally couragious and stout like the Lyon for magnanimity and fortitude others exceeding timorous and faint-hearted like the Hare or Hart one little dog will make an hundred of them fear and flee before him Luther was a man of great courage and presence of mind in dangers Melancthon very timorous and subject to despondency thus the difference betwixt them is expressed in one of Luther's Letters to him I am well nigh a secure spectator of things and esteem not any thing these fierce and threatning Papists I much dislike those anxious cares which as thou writest do almost consume thee There might be as great a stock of grace in one as in the other but Melancthon's grace had not the advantage of so stout and couragious a temper of body and mind as Luther's had Thus briefly of natural Fear SECT II. THere is a Fear which is formally and intrinsically sinful not only our infelicity but our fault not our simple affliction and burden but our great evil and provocation and such is the fear here dissuaded called Their Fear i. e. the fear wherewith carnal and unbelieving men do fear when dangers threaten them and the sinfulness of it lies in five things 1. In the spring and cause of it which is unbelief and an unworthy distrust of God when we dare not rely upon the security of a divine promise nor trust to Gods protection in the way of ouâ— duty This was the very case of that people Isai. 30. 15. Thus saith the Lord the holy one of Israel in returning and rest shall ye be saved in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength and ye would not but ye said no for we will flee upon horses therefore shall ye flee and we will ride upon the swift therefore shall they that pursue you be swift one thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one c. Thus stood the case Sennacherib with a mighty Host was ready to invade them this puts them into a fright in this distress God assures them by the mouth of the Prophet That in returning and rest they should be saved in quietness and confidence should be their strength The meaning is never perplex your selves with various councels and projects to secure your selves under the wings of Egypt or any other Protector but with a composed quiet and calm temper of mind rest upon my power by faith take my promises for your security this shall be your salvation and your strength more effectual to your preservation than Armies Garisons or any creature defence in the World one act of faith shall do you better service than Pharaoh and all his forces can do But ye said no q. d. we dare not trust to that a good horse will do us more service at such a time than a good promise Egypt is a better security in their eye than Heaven This is the fruit of gross infidelity And as wicked men do thus forsake God and cleave to the creature in time of trouble so there is found a spice of this distrustfulness of God producing fear and trouble in the best men It was in the Disciples themselves Matth. 8. 26. Why are ye fearful O ye of little faith A Storm had befallen them at Sea danger began to threaten them and presently you find a storm within their fears were more boisterous than the winds and had more need of calming than the sea and it was all from their unbelief as Christ tells them the less their faith the greater their fear If a man can but rely upon God in a promise so far as he is enabled to believe so far he will reckon himself well secured Illyricus in his Catalogue of the witnesses relates this remarkable passage of one Andreas Proles a godly aged Divine who lived somewhat before Luther and taught many
not within its reach till our own fears drive us into it the recoyling of our spirits from some eminent danger may cause the pulse of a true Christian to intermit and faulter how regular soever it beats at other times this will cause great trepidation and timidity in men that are sincere and upright and that is it that brings the snare over their souls Aaron was a good man and Idolatry he knew to be a great sin yet fear prevailed with that good man to give too much way to that great evil Exod. 32. 22. Thou knowest the people that they are set upon mischief saith he in his own excuse in the matter of the golden calf q. d. Lord I durst do no otherwise at that time the people were violently and passionately set upon it had I resisted them it might have cost me dear It was fear that prevailed with Origen to yield so far as he did in offering incense to the Idol the consideration of which fact brake his heart to pieces It was nothing but fear that made David play the fool and act so dishonourably as he did I Sam. 21. 12. Fear is a snare in which Satan hath caught as many souls as in any other of his stratagems and toyls whatsoever It were easy to give instances so many and so sad as would inlarge this head even to tediousness but I chuse rather to come to the particulars wherein the danger of this snare of the Devil consists And 1. Herein lies the ensnaring danger of sinful fear that it drives men out of their proper station out of their place and duty beside which there is none to be found but what is Satans ground The subtle enemy of our salvation is aware that we are out of Gun shot beyond his reach whilst we abide with God in the way of our duty that the Lord is with us whilst we are with him and there is no attempting our ruine under the wings of his protection If ever therefore he meaneth to do any thing upon us he must get us off that ground and from under those wings and there is nothing like fear to do this then we are as the birds that are wandring from their nests Prov. 27. 8. or like Shimei out of his limits 2. Fear is usually the first passion in the soul that beats a parley with the enemy and treats with the tempter about terms of rendition and as the French proverb is The Castle that parlies is half wone 'T is fear that consults with flesh and bloud whilst faith is ingaged with God for the supply of strength to endure the siege we have a sad and doleful instance of this in Spira he tells us how his own fears betrayed him by parlying with the tempter for thus Mr. Bacon in the History of his life records the occasion of his fall Whilst Spira was tossing upon the restless waves of doubts without Guide to trust to or Haven to flee to for succour on the sudden Gods spirit assisting he felt a calm and began to discourse with himself in this manner Why wanderest thou thus in uncertainties Unhappy man cast away fear put on thy shield of faith where is thy wonted courage thy goodness thy constancy Remember that Christs glory lies at the stake suffer then without fear and he will defend thee he will tell thee what thou shalt answer he can beat down all danger bring thee out of prison raise thee from the dead consider Peter in the dungeon the Martyrs in the fire c. Now was Spira in reasonable quiet being resolved to yield to those weighty reasons yet holding it wisdom to examine all things he consults also with flesh and bloud thus the battel renews and the flesh begins in this manner Be well advised fond man consider reasons on both sides and then judge how canst thou thus overween thine own sufficiency as thou neither regardest the examples of thy progenitors nor the judgment of the whole Church dost thou not consider what misery this days rashness will bring thee unto Thou shalt lose all thy substance gotten with so much care and travel thou shalt undergo the most exquisite torments that malice it self can devise thou shalt be counted an Heretick of all and to close up all thou shalt die shamefully What thinkest thou of the loathsome stinking Dungeon the bloudy Ax the burning Faggot Are they delightful c. Thus through fear he first parlied with the Tempter consulted with flesh and bloud and at last fainted and yielded 3. 'T is fear that makes men impatient of waiting Gods time and method of deliverance and so precipitates the soul and drives it into the snare of the next temptation Isai. 51. 14. The Captive exile hasteth to be delivered out of the pit any way or means of escape that comes next to hand saith Fear is better than to lie here in the pit and when the soul is thus prepared by its own fears it becomes an easy prey to the next temptation by all which you see the mischief that comes by fear in times of danger 4. Effect 4. Fear naturally produceth Pusillanimity and cowardliness in men a poor low spirit that presently faints and yields upon every slight assault it extinguisheth all Christian courage and magnanimity where ever it prevails and therefore you find it joyned frequently in the Scriptures with discouragement Deut. 1. 21. Fear not neither be discouraged with fainting and trembling Deut. 20. 3. Let not your hearts faint fear not and do not tremble with dismayedness Deut. 31. 6. and faint heartedness Isai. 7. 4. these are the effects and consequents of sinful fear And how dangerous a thing it is to have our courage extinguished and faintness of heart prevail upon us in a time when we have the greatest need and use of courage and our perseverance peace and eternal happiness rely and depend so much upon it let all serious Christians judge 't is sad to us and dishonourable to Religion to have the hearts of women as it 's said of Egypt Isai. 19. 16. when we should play the men as the Apostle exhorts us 1 Cor. 16. 13. We find in all ages those that have manifested most courage for Christ in time of trial have been those whose Faith hath surmounted Fear and whose hearts were above all discouragements from this world Such a man was Basil as appears by his answer to Valens the Emperor who tempting him with offers of preferment received this answer Offer these things said he to children and when he threatned him with grievous sufferings he replied threaten these things to your purple gallants that give themselves to pleasure and are afraid to die And this was the spirit of courage and magnanimity with which the generality of the Primitive Christians were animated they feared not the faces of Tyrants they shrunk not from the most cruel torments and it redounded not a little to the credit of Christianity when one of Iulians Nobles present
Faith from thence is sweet and sure If I shall never be forsaken of my God let Hell and Earth do their worst I can never be miserable 2. The Unchangeable God hath promised to maintain their graces and thereby his interest in them for ever Ier. 32. 40. And I will make an everlasting Covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me Where the Lord undertakes for both parts in the Covenant his own and theirs I will not turn away from them O unexpressible mercy Yea but Lord may the poor Believer say that is not so much my fear as that my treacherous heart will turn away from thee No saith God I will take care for that also I will put my fear into thy heart and thou shalt never depart from me 3. The Unchangeable God hath promised to establish the Covenant with them for ever so that those who are 〈◊〉 taken into that gracious Covenant shall never be turned out of it again Isa. 54. 10. The mountains shall depart and the Hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee 4. The Unchangeable God hath secured his loving kindness to his people by Promise under all the trials and smarting rods of affliction with which he chastens them in this world he hath reserved to himself the liberty of afflicting them but bound himself by promise never to remove his favour from them Psal. 89. 33 34. I will visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with siripes nevertheless my loving kindness will I not take from them nor suffer my faithfulness to fail 5. The Promises of a joyful resurrection from the dead are grounded upon the Immutability of God Matth. 22. 32. I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead but the God of the living Death hath made a great change upon them but none upon their God though they be not he is still the same therefore they are not lost in death but shall assuredly be found again in the resurrection 6. To conclude the promises of the Saints eternal happiness with God in Heaven are founded in his Immutability 1 Cor. 1. 8 9. Tit. 1. 2. By all which you see what a pleasant lodging is prepared for the Saints in the unchangeable promises of God amidst all the changes and alterations here below 2. Once more let us view the unchangeableness of God in his Providences towards his people whatever changes it makes upon us or whatever changes we seem to discern in it nothing is more certain than this that it holds one and the samâ— tenor pursues one and the same design in all that it doth upon us or about us Providences indeed are very variable but the designs and ends of God in them all are invariable and the same for ever It is noted in Ezek. 1. 12. that The wheels went straight forward whither the spirit was to go they went and they turned not when they went As it is in Nature so in Providence you have one day fair halcyon and bright another dark and full of storm one season hâ—t another cold but all these serve to one and the same end and design to make the earth fruitful and the aim of all Providences is to make you holy and happy That is a sweet Promise Rom. 8. 28. All things shall work together for good to them that love God This is the compass by which all Proviâ—ences steer their course as a Ship at Sea doth by the Card but more particularly let us note the unchangeableness of God in his Providences of all kinds effective and permissive and see in them all his unchangeable righteousness and goodness 1. It must needs be so considering the unchangeableness of his decree 2 Tim. 2. 19. The foundation of God standeth sure Providences serve but never frustrate execute but cannot make void the decree so that you may say of the most afflicting Providences as David doth of the stormy winds Psal. 148. 8. they all fulfil his word 2. The Wisdom of God proves it he will not suffer his works or permissions to clash with his designs and purposes Divine Wisdom shews it self in the steddy direction of all things to the ultimate end To open this in some particulars consider 1. Doth the Lord permit wicked men to rage and insult persecute and vex his people Yet all this while Providence is in its right way it walks in as direct a line to your good as when it is in a more pleasant path of Peace Ier. 24. 5. Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel like these good figs so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldâ—ans for their good Israel was sent to Babylon for their good This improves your faith and patience Rev. 13. 10. Here is the patience and fâ—ith of the Saints So Râ—m 5. 2 3. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoyce in hope of the glory of God and not only so but we glory in tribulations also knowing that tribulatiâ—n worketh patience By this you are weaned from and mortified to this world 2. Doth the Lord in his Providence order many and frequent close and smarting afflictions for you Why lo here is the same design managing as effectually as if all the peace and prosperity in the World were ordered for you The face of Providence indeed is not the same but the love of God is still the the same he loves you as much when he smites as when he smiles on you for what are his ends in afflicting you and what the sanctified fruits of your afflictions Is it not 1. To purge your iniquities Isa. 27. 9. By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away his sin 2. To reduce your hearts to God Psal. 119. 67. Before I was afflicted I went astray but now have I kept thy word 3. To quicken you to your duties let the best man be without afflictions and he will quickly grow dull in the way of his duty 3. Doth God let loose the chain of Satan to tempt and buffet you Yet is he still the same God to you as before for do but observe his ends in that permission and you will find that by these things the Lord is leading you towards that desired assurance of his love which your Souls long after Few Christians attain to any considerable settlement of Soul but by such shakings and combates the end of these permissions is to put you to your knees and blow up a greater flame and fervour of Spirit in Prayer 2 Cor. 12. 8. So that eventually
as for gold they shall not delight in it Isa. 13. 17. Riches profit not in the day of wrath Prov. 11. 4. Iob blessed God in the day of his adversity that he had not made Gold his Hope or the fine Gold his Confidence Iob 31. 24. Bless not thou thy self that thou hast such things to bestow thy hope and trust upon Others make Men their Refuge especially great and powerful Men but to how little purpose is it Put not your trust in Princes nor in the Son of Man in whom there is no help Psal. 146. 3 4. They cannot keep their Crowns upon their Heads no nor their Heads upon their Shoulders the greatest Men are but Dust and what can Dust do to Dust Three things aggravate their misery who misplace their Confidence by bestowing it on any Creature 1. That Creature will certainly deceive them men are deceitful men Psal. 62. 9. Riches are deceitful riches 1 Tim. 6. 17. Every thing you lean on beside God will start aside like a deceitful bow Psal. 78. 57. 2. The disappointment of your hopes from the creature will enflame your affliction and greatly aggravate your sorrow 2 King 18. 21. The broken reeds of Egypt will not only fail but pierce you 3. In a word God will take none into his protection who make any thing besides himself their hope and confidence if we fly from God to the creature God will say to the creature thou shalt go except I have thy dependence thou shalt never have my protection where I have no honour thou shalt have no comfort 4. Consect Fourthly The former discourse yields us also this comfortable conclusion That what ever confusions desolations and troubles be in the earth the Church and People of God can never be wholly exterminated and destroyed seeing such a secure refuge is prepared for them of God Psal. 102. 28. The children of thy servants shall continue and their seed shall be established before thee Which is assigned as the true reason of its perpetuity and safety Psal. 48. 3. God is known in her palaces for a refuge The Church's Enemies have tried the utmost of their policies and powers in all Ages against it but to no purpose whilest they have been plotting and persecuting the preserved Remnant have been singing their Song upon Alamoth even praises to their great preserver though they have no external visible defence yet are they as safe as salvation it self can make them for salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks Isa. 26. 1 2. Four things are exceeding remarkable in the Churches preservation 1. No people were ever so fiercely opposed by the powers of this world The Kings of the earth have set themselves and the Rulers have taken counsel together Psal. 2. 2. All methods and artifices have been tryed sometimes to jeer and scoff them out of the Religion so did the Apostate Iulian and sometimes by cruel tortures to affright them from their Religion the variety and more than barbarous inhumanity whereof the Church Histories give us a sad and amazing account 2. Under these cruel Persecutions they have seemed to be utterly lost to the eye of sence and reason I am left alone said Elijah and they seek my life 1 King 19. 10. By whom Lord shall Jacob arise said Amos for he is very small Amos 7. 2. 3. Notwithstanding all which the Church hath overlived all its dangers it is the true Phoenix which hath outlived the Deluge 4. Such deliverances are proper and peculiar to the Church alone no people besides the people of God have such salvations upon record The great and famous Monarchies of the world have dashed one another to pieces like earthen Potsheards Sic Medus ademit Assyrio syroque tulit moderamina Perses And all this by vertue of that promise Ier. 30. 11. For I am with thee saith the Lord to save thee though I make afull end of all Nations whither I have scattered thee yet will I not make a full end of thee â— 5. Consect Fifthly to conclude If this be so then it is a deep and dangerous policy of Satan to shut up our refuge in God against us as much as may be in times of trouble Satan like a cunning Fowler despairs of getting the birds in his net except he can beat them out of their coverts it is therefore his great Design to estrange and alienate the Saints from their God as much as he can thereby to cut off their retreat to him in times of trouble a mischief which the people of God have always vehemently deprecated Psal. 102. 2. Ier. 17. 17. And O that we would be ware of it and shun this mischief by our seasonable preventing watchfulness There are among others Three special Projects of Satan whereby he manages this mischievous design against the people of God 1. By drawing their Consciences under guilt on purpose to destroy the liberty freedom and child-like confidence of their souls in their addresses to God This if any thing in the world will do it Iob 11. 14 15. What a loss will that poor soul be at in times of trouble whose grumbling and condemning conscience will not suffer him to look up chearfully and believingly in the face of its God and Father having lost its ancient freedom at the throne of grace 2. By prevailing with them to neglect and intermit the course of their daily duties and thereby to let down their communion with God and in a great measure lose their acquaintance with him This is a dangerous policy of the Devil and an unspeakable prejudice to the soul Oh Christian take heed of a lazy sloathful spirit or a vain and earthly heart which will easily suffer the duties of Religion to be jostled aside and put by for every trivial occasion especially beware of slight formal superficial and dead-hearted performances of duty which is little better than the intermission of them it may indeed prevent the scandal but can never give thee the comfort of Religion 3. By beclouding their interest in God and darkening their titles and evidences by thick clouds of doubts and fears This is the sad case of many a poor Christian in a day of trouble with out-fightings with in-fears Brethren I beseech you think often what those things are which usually put men into such frights and streights when eminent dangers stare them in the face what it is that daunts and damps the hearts of Christians at such times and as you value the peace and freedom of your souls with God give not matter for your consciences to reproach you with mis-spent time indulged sins neglected duties formality or hypocrisie in duties sinister and by-ends in your transactions with God or man preserve the purity and peace of your consciences as you would preserve your two eyes if by such wiles the Devil cannot bar you from your God or shut up your refuge in him your outward troubles can do you no hurt SECT II. The Second Vse Of
shew it self in distracting cares and fears about events which will rack the mind with various and endless tortures 2. Caution Beware of dejection and despondency of mind in evil times take heed of a poor low spirit that will presently sink and give up its hopes upon every appearance and face of trouble it is a promise made unto the righteous Psal. 112. 7. He shall not be afraid of evil tidings his heart is fixes trusting in the Lord. The trusting of God fixes the heart and the fixing of the heart fortifies it against Fear but I know what many poor Christians will say in this case their timorousness and despondency arises not so much from the greatness of outward evils as from the darkness and doubtfulness of their Spiritual and inward condition which doubtless in the very truth of the case which brings me to the last use of this point Vse the Third Search and examine your hearts Christians whether those graces and qualifications to which God hath promised protection in evil times may not be found upon an impartial search in your hearts amongst which I will single out three principal ones as the proper matters of your self examination viz. 1. Uprightness of Heart and Way 2. Humiliation for your own and others sins 3. Righteousness in doing and meekness in suffering the Will of God 1. Uprightness and Integrity of heart and way To this qualification belong many sweet promises of protection such is that Prov. 2. 7. He is a buckler to them that walk uprightly Psal. 7. 10. My defence is of God which saveth the upright in heart If your hearts be true to God these promises shall be truly performed to you but beware you deceive not your selves in so great a point as this is thy heart cannot be an upright heart except 1. it be a renewed heart the Natural heart is always a false heart 't is only regeneration that gives the heart a right temper and frame all the duties and labours in the world can never keep that heart right in its course which is not first set right for God by a principle of renovation 2. We cannot judge our selves upright except uprightness be the setled frame and standing bent of our hearts Psal. 119. 112 117. It is not our integrity in one or two single actions but in the general course and complex frame of our lives and ways that will prove our integrity to God 3. Then may we reckon our selves upright when the dread and awe of God's all-seeing eye keeps our hearts and steps from turning aside to iniquity Gen. 39. 9. 2 Cor. 2. 17. That 's a sincere and upright heart indeed that finds it self at all times and in all places overawed from sin by the eye of God upon him 4. That man's heart also is upright with God who purely aims at and designs the glory of God as the scope and end of his life and actions who lives not to himself neither acts ultimately and principally for himself but lives to God as a person dedicated and devoted to him Rom. 14. 7. 5. That heart also is upright with God which governs it self and its ways by the directions and rules of the Word Psal. 119. 11 24 133. Happy is that soul that finds such evidences of integrity in it self when it is brought to the trial of it at the Bar of the Word Heb. 4. 12. At the bar of conscience 2 Cor. 1. 12. at the bar of afflictions Psal. 119. 87. and at the bar of strong temptations Gen. 39. 9. The eyes of the Lord shall run to and fro through the whole earth to shew himself strong in the behalf of such whose hearts are thus perfect towards him 2. Another gracious qualification intitling the soul to God's special protection in the worst and most dangerous times is the true humiliation for our own and other mens sins Go set a mark saith God upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof Ezek. 9. 4. These that thus mourn when others laugh shall laugh when others mourn Lot was the only mourner in Sodom and he was the only person exempted from destruction in the ruine and overthrow thereof 2 Pet. 2. 7. That 's a sweet and blessed priviledge mentioned in Isa. 66. 10. Rejoyce ye with Jerusalem and be glad with her all ye that love her rejoyce for joy with her all ye that mourn for her that ye may suck and be satisfied with the â—reasts of her consolations that ye may milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her glory Be contented Christians to bear your part in Sions groans and sorrows you may live to bear your part in her triumphs and songs of deliverance it is an argument of the true publickness and tenderness of your spirits for present and as sweet a sign as can appear upon your souls That you are reserved for better days 3. Righteousness in doing and meekness in suffering the will of God is another mark or note distinguishing and describing those persons whom God will preserve in the evil day You have both these together in Zeph. 2. 3. Seek ye the Lord all ye the meek of the earth which have wrought his judgments seek righteousness seek meekness it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lords anger The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his ears are open unto their Prayers 1 Pet. 3. 12. If righteousness bring you into danger the righteous God will take care of you in that danger and bring you out of it O 't is a singular comfort when a man can say it was not my sin but my duty that brought me into trouble this affliction met me in the path and way of my duty 't is for thy sake O Lord that I am in trouble as the Martyr that held up the Bible at the stake saying This hath brought me hither To conclude Manage all your Sufferings for Christ with Christian meekness as righteousness must bring you into them so meekness must carry you through them if you avenge your selves you take the cause out of God's hand into your own but the meek Christian leaves it to the Lord and shall never have cause to repent of his so doing If thou have an upright heart with God a tender and mournful heart for sin and thou suffer with meekness for righteousness sake thou art one of these souls to whom that sweet Voice is directed in my Text Come my People enter thou into thy Chambers and shut thy doors about thee hide thy self as it were for a little moment until the indignation be over-past FINIS Mr. Flavell's Two Treatises 1. A Teatise of Fear 2. The Righteous Man's Refuge Psal. 46. Hos. 5. 13. Asyli loco Praestabit vos inaccessos inviolabiles ab his regibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fugio perfect med 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 timor