out against them and overcome them Art thou under crosses and losses and sore and vexatious trialls that way hast lost thy Estate and Possessions thy Relations thy former Friends thy present comforts thy hopes thy all yet thou hast not lost thy God who is better than all And as Zeno the Philosopher said once when he had lost all by Shipwrack Licet me tutius philosophari Thou hast now the better leisure to attend thy Soul and study Heaven Though a man loseth his Moneys and is rich in Bills and Bonds it 's no great matter When thou hast not a penny in thy Purse thou hast thousands in the Promise Gods providence or mens violence may take away thy Estate thy Children thy Livelihood and subsistence but never take away thy Christ When thou hast lost all things else yet thou canst never lose thy God and thy inheritance the hope laid up for thee in Heaven that heavenly and never-failing treasure is out of the reach both of Men and Devils Art thou under afflictions personal family Hath the hand of God toucht thee Hath his destroying Angel come with the Arrows of the Plague and shot into thy habitation so that thou art left alone and become wholly comfortless even swallowed up of sorrow Thy Relations are gone thy Friends fled from thee all thine acquaintance stand aloof off thy sore thou sighest and mournest by day weepest by night and hast none to comfort thee thou art become like a Pelican in the Wilderness an Owl in the Desart and sittest like a Sparrow on the house-top Death is entred in at thy windows and men have written Lord have Mercy on thy doors and thou hast neither Minister nor Phyfitian to come at thee yea wantest Bread it self to uphold thee Yet fear not Thy God is still with thee and then nightest when all Creatures run away to the greatest distance Christ comes in yet familiarly at thy doors God stands by thy beds side Though the Plague hath seized thy body he is not afraid to come neer thy soul and while thy Friends forsake thee he will be Friend Physitian and Comforter to thee He is the Lord that healeth thee And thou shalt at last say in faithfulness and mercy to thy Soul did he afflict thee yea that thou wert not sick because the Lord had forgiven thy iniquity Nay here is comfort for thee even in Death it self if thou hast God for thy help and he affords thee his gracious presence thou shalt not need fear to walk through that dark suburbs of Eternity As dying and yet shalt thou live Death is but to thee a Portall into Everlasting Life and what is a grimm Serjeant to arrest others and Pursevant to hale them to the place of Execution shall be a welcom Messenger to carry thee into thy Fathers House and usher thee into the Presence-Chamber of thy endeared Bridegroom And when thou art gathered to thy Fathers though thou goest to thy long yet thou shalt not go to thy last home Thy Exodus of Earth shall be thy Genesis of Heaven and when the great Landlord of Heaven and Earth by a Commission directed from his Royal Court summons thine immortal Soul out of this Clay-tenement of thy Body thou shalt enter upon thine upper House those ever-blessed Mansions prepared for thee and this Bird in thy breast when once let loose this present cage where now it is imprisoned and set upon the Tree of life in the midst of that heavenly Paradise shall warble out the most melodious tunes and sweet and harmonious musick to its Creator even to the daies of Eternity Let me conclude this consolation with that of Solomon Prov. 14.32 The righteous hath hope in his death And add only this challenge on this side the grave for him against the sinner Take a child of God cloathed with all possible disadvantages poverty sickness persecution even at the worst that can befall a man on this side Hell and his condition is infinitely far better than any wicked mans on Earth that hath sumptuous buildings furnisht tables pleasant children great riches and revenues So happy is he above all the world besides that hath God for his help the Lord for his God Fifthly and lastly Let this consideration be a strong perswasive both to the Saints and People of God to walk worthy his help and sinners to labour to make him their God and help against an evil day First To Christians to walk answerably to divine help and influx both in a good and in an evil day Take the summ of this exhortation in five or six branches Let the influence of Gods help be to you a ground of praise and thankfulness of satisfaction and acquiescence of access to him on all occasions of confidence in him in every condition of return to him according to your receivings from him and of engagement and firm adherence to him notwithstanding all temptations to Apostacy from him First Matter of thankfulness Rejoyce in the Lord at all times Let songs of benediction to him be ever in your mouths pay him the constant tribute of acknowledgement What an holy Panegyrick does David sing Psal 18.12 What a famous avouchment makes he Psal 144.1 2. Where he gives God all his titles My strength my goodness my fortress my shield my high Tower and deliverer And so does Jeremiah cap. 16.19 Even proclaim Gods Name to the Gentiles that they might trust in him In Gods Name set up all your banners Say with the Church All our fresh springs are in thee Nilus ab ignoto fonte but our salvation comes from Sion thence the Lord commands the blessing We finde our Psalmist frequent in these confessions The Lord is on my side Psal 118.6 I will sing of thy power yea I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of trouble Psal 59.16 17. And so again Psal 94.17 Vnless the Lord had been my help my soul had almost dwelt in silence when I said my foot slippeth thy mercy O Lord held me up And so the Church solemnly sings under the sense of her miraculous deliverance from variety of enemies If the Lord had not been on our side they had swallowed us up quick And see how sweetly she closeth all Psal 124. ult Our help standeth in the Name of the Lord who made Heaven and Earth So may the soul say I was under such a temptation and had not the Lord helpt me where had my soul been under such an affliction and had not he relieved me I had sunk and perisht in it for ever How oft have I sinned and he pardoned me prayed and he heard me waited and he was gracious to me I was weak but he strengthened me sad but he comforted me troubled but he spake peace to me And so may the Church of God say If the Lord had not been on my side when the Sons of Belial associated and bandied against me
to your Rulers and Governours as the woman did once to that King 1 King 6.27 Help O King who were all forced to return you that sorry answer If the Lord helps not whence should we help Ah what thousand pities had Heaven pleased to have prevented to see so many famous structures antient and venerable Monuments learned Libraries rich goods and treasures beautifull Halls and Exchanges usefull Churches and Chappels within so small a compass turned into a Chaos of confusion and heap of utter destruction Ah how lamentable a sight to see so many able Citizens impoverisht so many mean ones quite beggar'd how hideous an out-cry to hear men complaining We who had thousands in the morning had not a penny left to help us by the evening we who had full tables could afford plentiful entertainments rich purses and large banks enough for back and belly for necessity and delight for us and ours are now reduced many of us to a morsel of bread and glad to live on the alms of the charitable we went out full but came in empty Ah how sad to behold so many families ruined and undone so many dwellings and places that must never more know their owners and inmates but have for ever cast them out leaving them to the wide world and exposing them as so many Tenants at will and that without any warning to the mercy of the great and soveraign Land-Lord of Heaven and Earth What true Son of Sion upon view or tydings of so sad a catastrophe must not bear a part in the Churches Funeral Elegy over Jerusalem Lam. 1.1 How doth the City sit solitary that was full of people How is she become as a Widow she that was great among the Nations and Princess among the Provinces And so cap. 4.11 The Lord hath accomplisht his fury he hath poured out his fierce anger and hath kindled a fire in Zion and it hath devoured the foundations thereof Oh that by the brightness of these flames we could see our sin that hath long appeared as at noon day but we would never yet behold by the Sun-light of the word And that this most formidable fire may become to us a flaming beacon to signifie our approaching danger and ruin unless Gods anger be timely quenched by the blood of Christ and tears of repentance And that amidst the cold formalities and freezing devotions in the winter quarter of these last and perilous times our cooler souls might be heated and our dying affections by an holy kind of Anteperistasis advanced into a diviner flame of holy zeal in seeking the Lord lest he makes us as Admah and sets us as Zeboim and kindles a fire in the Palaces of Joseph so as none shall quench it Oh that we could all learn from the highest to the lowest those lessons Gods intention is to teach us by so severe dispensations either for humiliation for what is past or reformation for time to come And if I mistake not the physiognomy of this providence whether it be looked on in the glass of a more immediate or more mediate agency Gods hand appeared most remarkably in it and concurring circumstances give us plain intimations of its commission and direction by a special superintendency from Heaven And though like a picture well drawn it looks wishly on every one in the room yet it seems to prefer a particular charge against those wickednesses of pride luxury wantonness security earthliness and uncharitableness which have so long burnt as fire among us Ah what haughtiness idleness and fulness of bread was to be found in our streets with what pleasure did we live upon earth what port and state did we begin to carry what wantons were we grown forgetting the God that made us not attributing to him our power to get wealth having our hearts lifted up or like foolish children with Jesurun standing on our heads kicking against Heaven and neglecting the God of our salvation sacrificing Gods corn wine oyl wooll and flax to our lusts and lovers instead of our Creatour Were we not grown like Sodom and the Old World a God-despising and a self-pleasing people that gave up our selves to eating and drinking buying and selling planting and building every man looking to his own way and gain and as for the ship of the Church the interest of God and Religion having caught the fish we laid aside the net and so we could but save our own petty Cabbins let Gods and Christs cause sink or swim we were become Gallio's not minding these things Oh how did we that pretended to God mind little or nothing but the world How went we one to his farm another to his merchandize our shop was become our closet and the Exchange our Church The Courtier the Merchant the Tradesman all busie as so many Ants on an Hill to scrape together so much refined dust and lade themselves with this thick clay Every one setting up his Heaven on Earth and singing a requiem to his soul in his stately houses full warehouses vast incomes if not unjust gains and oppressions looking so much to earth as those that had neither time or mind to look up to Heaven but if with the Lark soaring to Heaven in pretences of zeal and affection on the Sabbath with the Worm groveling on the worlds dung-hill all the week after Like him in the Poet that cried out O Coelum with his tongue when his hand toucht the earth committing even a sollicism with our hands and bidding an express practical contradiction to our professions Ah is it not just God should deny us the world as a creature which we could not have but must adore as our God Is it not righteous that should be taken out of our hands which instead of being trodden under our feet had got up so near our hearts Oh how much better Christians for to you alone I now speak as for the wicked who grow worse and worse and do more wickedly Hell fire shall shortly do that in consuming them which this could not do for refining had it been for you to have cast your bread on the waters than to have had it wasted by such a fire Ah had you but worn the world as a loose garment that you might have put off and on at pleasure it would not now have come from you as your skin from your flesh with pain and torture but ease and delight or as the blood out of your veins with reluctancy and opposition but as water from a fountain with freedom and liberty These pictures if hung up loosly would have been taken down with less rending tearing and noise than they are like to be if your hearts be fastened or glewed to them Oh Sirs had you minded God and Christ as you did this Mammon of the world and attended your heavenly trade as you did your East-India Turky French Spanish or the rest and conversed with God in your closets as you did with your customers in your shops and
men build Castles in the Air and dream of more mercy than they finde true dream they eat and when they awake are an hungry The godly carry a low sail and commonly dream of less The world is commonly worse than its promises God ordinarily better than his word Sinners meet with less Saints more than they expected God with a breath blows the wicked into destruction and with a breath commands his peoples deliverance Their ruin is sudden how does desolation come upon them in a moment and they are consumed with Gods terrours When Babylon is so pleased with her self that she courts her self like a Lady God can make her a Widow As gliding waters melting snales untimely births so is their prosperity and as a sudden flame or unlookt for Hâ—rricane comes their misery Psal 58.9 And no less expected are Sions reparations It 's compared to a Creation Isa 65.18 which is suddenly effected a generation which is in instanti Nay before she travelled she brought forth Isa 66.7 8. She is delivered before her time and without pain and yet does not miscarry Yea and as her deliverance comes unexpectedly as to time so to means likewise Micah 4.10 Be in pain and labour to bring forth O Daughter of Sion like a woman in travel Thou shalt go even to Babylon there shalt thou be delivered An enemy shall become her Midwife who sought to be her murderer It 's but the shine of Gods face and his people are saved Psal 80. ult But the turn of his hand and his people are delivered Zech. 13. He saies return his word can do it as well as his work Psa 90.3 Judgements come on foot but mercy on horseback on the wing skipping over the hills and leaping over the mountains No sooner do Gods people cry to him in prayer but he eccho's to them in mercy Isa 58.9 Then shalt thou call and the Lord shall answer Thou shalt cry and he shall say here am I. As Gods people answer to his voice commanding Speak Lord thy Servants hear so he answers to their voice petitioning Call upon me and I will answer thee Jer. 33.3 He cuts short his work in righteousness Rom. 9.28 Secondly Gradually though salvation comes suddenly yet not simul semel all at once is it compleated and perfected It 's compared to light which creeps upon the Air pedetentim by little and little The dawning of the day goes before the high noon God works for his people 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after divers waies and manners by piece-meals and inches as it were Sion is not built in a day God could destroy his peoples lusts and their enemies together but he slaies them not lest they should forget He could at once perfect the building of grace in the soul and work of reformation in his Church but he chuseth to let it have its stages first laies the foundation then laies on the superstructures and so at last perfects the fabrick that so he may have the greater tribute and revenue of praises and acclamations coming into his Grace God is a God that waits to be gracious to his people but he is also a God of Judgement They shall get ground but yet must be fighting they shall have supply yet must be waiting The prudent Father will not give his child his whole portion into his hand at once nor the discreet friend trust all the stock he intends to his friend together but help them by degrees according to their necessities and occasions thereby to engage their continual dependance upon them Lesser motions are ordinarily quick but great motions slower God gives the wicked Prodigal all in hand whom he hath no further thoughts of good will and purposes of grace and love unto but in respect of his people he does all for eternity and therefore with the skilfull Artists draws not up his work in haste but takes time to make it the more beautiful and admirable God is the Saviour of his people and yet sometimes like the curious Limner hides his work till the whole draught be compleated Isa 45.15 Verily thou art a God that hidest thy self O God of Israel the Saviour He carries on the work in a very hidden and mysterious way by so many aenigma's and riddles of providence as his footsteps cannot easily be traced nor his handy-work searcht out to perfection There are many hitherto's in his mercies and salvations many Ebenezers 1 Sam. 7.12 He called the name of it Ebenezer saying Hitherto hath the Lord helped us Thirdly He helps opportunely and seasonably in the very present emergency and strait in the hour the nick of trouble Opportunity is the Salt that seasons any mercy Now God times all his helps and succours to his people As he dealt with Christ so with them In an acceptable time he hears them and in the day of salvation he helps them He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a God at a pinch In the Mount will he be seen when his own arm shall be the more conspicuous or when his people are in eminent and imminent dangers When the murdering-knife is putting to Isaac's throat he plucks back Abraham's hand When the Canon is discharging against the Jews then he muzzles the mouth of it Deut. 32.36 For the Lord shall judge his people and repent himself for his Servants when he seeth that their power is gone and there is none shut up or left When the siege can hold no longer and there 's none left in the fenced Cities more than in the open Plains then forthwith comes relief This is the day of Jacob's trouble alas for that day is great and there is none like it but he shall be saved out of it Jer. 30.7 Daies of great trouble are daies of glorious salvation When Israel was in a very great distress like to be swallowed up by the Ammonites and upon their applications to God he turns them off with a protestation that he would deliver them no more yet pleading the instancy of their oppression and begging relief in the present exigency Deliver us only we pray thee this day His soul was grieved for their misery and his pity became sollicitor to his power in order to their succour and redress Judg. 10.16 When the soul like Jonah in the Whales belly is even swallowed up of sorrow and out of the depths the belly of Hell cries to the Lord He will hear him God â—ath said He will bring his people back from the â—epths both of Earth and Sea Psal 68.22 Psal â—1 20 Prayer put up to Heaven by a soul ready â—o sink in the mire as being able to finde no standing is alwaies in an acceptable time That â—s mollâ—ssimum fandi tempus Psal 69.13 Gods help is limited to no time but there are usually two special seasons when the fruit of mercy is full ripe and God plucks it off the tree of providence and throws it into the laps of his people either when their enemies condition is high and
a descant on all creature-enjoyments even a differing note â—â—om the worlds votaries Whom have I in Heaâ—en but thee and there is none on Earth that I â—â—sire in comparison of thee And the Church seâ—â—nds him in this pleasant ditty Lam. 3.24 â—he Lord is my portion saith my soul therefore will 〈◊〉 hope in him Nunquam bene sine te nunquam male â—â—m te saith Bernard sweetly The gracious soul â—â—ndes it self never ill in his presence never well 〈◊〉 his absence The Sun of Righteousness makes â—ay in the souls of the Saints though all the â—tars of creature-consolation withdraw their light â—nd influence when notwithstanding the brightst and most glorious shine of these earthly gloâ—â—orms under its fatal eclipse a perpetual night â—f darkness invelops the soul and covers its whole â—eavens Worldly evils may render a carnal â—â—an miserable but worldly goods can never â—nake an holy man happy And as a Saints choicest â—appiness lies in God in a good day much more â—ave they sens'd their felicity to be concerned in â—im in an evil day when all other happinesses â—ail and felicities vanish and fade as a gourd of â—he night or the morning dew before the â—corchings of the rising Sun When God comes â—o blow upon our comforts and by the ireful â—ooks of his severer providence to frown on â—ur spirits neither the friends nor things of â—he world can add one cubit to the stature or â—ontribute one mite to the measure of our blessedâ—ess but in the saddest hour that befalls a Christian of loss cross trial and temptation when â—he barrel of meal is exhausted and the cruse of â—yl spent all secondary causes are at an end all creature-comforts at a pose and loss all worldly relations and fruitions prove dry brooks and barren wildernesses disappointing the expecting Traveller or like so many Lotteries to which a men goes with an head full of hopes but returns away with an heart full of blanks utterly void of his expectation then and then alone true and sure consolation is to be fetched from the experience of God and acquaintance with him who is the over and ever-flowing fountain of living waters And therefore the Prophet here in this Psalm setting before us the vanity and emptiness of all created helps and sufficiencies in competition with and comparison of the divine fulness and alsufficiency condemns all confidence in the creature to the very Hell and advances with the highest Encomiums and most heavenly Elogies adherence to God and dependance upon him alone He dehorts on the one hand from confidence in man or any arm of flesh by Arguments drawn from their infirmity and vanity the mutability of their tempers and also the fragility yea mortality of their state All created things have in them an utter incompetency to administer help to a soul under any strait or affliction being finite and fading For that must be eternal and immutable that must afford succour and relief under all vicissitudes of providence all mutations and interchanges of life To pass creatures moving in a lower orb and take Princes elevated to the highest sphear of dignity and excellency here below the best and highest of men yea so many representative Gods the Viceroys and Vicegerents of that infinite and eternal Majesty of Heaven and Earth exalted to the â—itch of deputed by God and reputed Deities by â—en yet even they are under the same prediâ—ament of changeable affections and dispositions â—nd eke of a mortal condition with other men Though gods while living thâ—y die as men and 〈◊〉 as Diogenes once told Alexander the great of â—hilip his Father their ashes are not distinguishâ—ble from the ashes of the common sort so that â—arivs's memento te esse hominem wherewith he â—ommanded his Chamberlain thrice a day to â—ound him wil fit them as wel as the common sort Men though never so able and potent oftenâ—â—mes have neither power nor yet will to help â—heir expectants their minds are uncertain and â—heir opinions unstable as water so as with Reuâ—en they cannot excell Inconstant they are to â—heir principles professions resolutions and start â—side upon the least diversion from their promises â—urposes and intendments like a deceitful Bow And should they hold even and fixed either their â—â—fe or state may admit a change the wheel now â—â—p as Bajazet told him may soon go down They may fall so far from the pinacle of power â—nd turret of honour as they may not be able to â—ave themselves much less their adherents and deâ—endants such is their inconstancy and uncerâ—ainty How soon can God clip the wings of their â—omp and bravery and stain the beauty and pride â—f their glory so as their excellency which â—eacht up to the Heavens and toucht the clouds â—nay become as their own dung Job 20.6 Their â—reath may soon be upon the wing and take its â—ight to eternity and when they die all their thoughts endeavours counsels all their dignity and fame power and majesty dies with them and there 's an end of all their perfection And therefore he concludes this with the Prophets counsel to cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils And all this he expresseth to the life vers 3 4. Put not your trust in Princes nor in the Son of man in whom there is no help Hiâ— breath goeth forth he returneth to his earth in that very day hiâ— thoughts perish But on the other side he highly commends confidence in God shewing their blessedness that depend on him they shall be sure never to meeâ— with a disappointment Though men die God ever lives though they change he changeth not with him is no varial leness nor shadow of turning The eternity of Israel cannot lye or repent He is the great Almighty Jehovah in whom is everlasting strength the immutable Rock of Ages and sure dwelling-place of his people throughout all generations A God who abides ever the same to day yesterday and for evermore the true and ever-living God righteous in his judgements faithful in his promises beneficent in his providence and providential dispensations which is daily exhibited towards all sorts of persons calamitous and oppressed sustaining defending governing and helping them in a most eminent and divine manner and that not in this particular oâ— that other age of the world but for ever throughout all ages in former present and succeeding generations And therefore it s both far safer and sweeter to trust to the Creatour than to repose in any creature all which the Prophet evidenceth in the sequel of the Psalm from vers 6 â—o the end And so to come to a close of his â—nain Proposition he positively affirmeth to all â—he world That though there be nothing but misery and unhappiness to be found in the creature â—ll fulness and blessedness dwells in the ever-living â—nd ever-loving God In consideration whereof â—he Psalmist breaks out by way of Antithesis inâ—o this most pathetical acclamation and perempâ—orily
that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed and in Damascus in a Couch When the ravenous Wolf or Lion of Judgements hath worried a people and almost torn them asunder yet their hunger shall be so satiated and rage stopt as still there shall be some remnant undevoured Thirdly By bringing them up out of the affliction that though they suffer by it they shall not be utterly cast down when they are judged nor wholly destroyed God brings back the captivity of his people Psal 14. and Psal 126.1 He may frown but causeth his face to shine again The Sun of mercy may go down in the evening in a cloud but riseth in the morning in a very glonous shine It will turn again and have compassion on us Micah 7.19 God may for a while turn his back but will turn his face in due time toward his people and though for a moment he forsakes with everlasting kindness he will remember He will not contend for ever or be alwaies wroth Heaviness may indure for a night but joy comes in the morning ad momentum irascitu◠ut in aeternum delectetur While he punisheth th◠community he reserves a remnant whom h◠resolves to pardon Jer. 50.20 He promises to return the captivity of Judah Jer. 31.42 and cap. 33.26 And like as he brought great evil upon them so to bring all the good he had promised Though brought low he will raise them up again call back his plagues if they return from their sins As the Prophet emphatically expresseth it Hos 6.1 2. For he hath torn and he will heal us he hath smitten and he will bind us up After two daies will he revive us in the third day he will raise us up and we shall live in his sight An allusion to our redemption by Christ which is a sure pledge of all temporal deliverances as of that they were a type According to that of the Evangelical Prophet Isa 26.19 Where having expressed by significant metaphors the Churches travel with its pangs and dolour and her misconception as it were and miscarry as to any hopeful productions he yet closes with a comfortable promise Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise awake and sing ye that dwell in dust for thy dew is as the dew of herbs and the earth shall cast out the dead Though the Church may suffer from and in the world yet her sickness shall not be to death though God breaks his people with breach on breach yet this wise Physitian will in due time give an healing plaister he will set them into joynt again and then the bone that was broken shall be stronger than ever Nay though they be brought to deaths-door to the graves mouth he will command a resurrection and breathe on those dry bones that they shall live Ezek. 37.11 12. His providence shall be a midwife to usher in to them a full and glorious deliverance They shall have rest from the daies of adversity Psal 94.13 They may go into the Fire with others but when they perish there these shall come out and be refined Gold while the major part is consumed as dross Zech. 13.8 9. Two parts shall be cut off and die but the third shall be left therein They may be proved and tried as Silver in a very hot Furnace brought into the Net affliction laid on their Loyns ridden on pass through Fire and Water but God will make a way of escape he will bring them out into a wealthy place They may he among the Pots Scullion-like in a sooted smeared forlorn condition yet shall they be as the wings of a Dove covered with Silver and her Feathers with yellow Gold Psal 66.10 11 12. Psal 68.13 And so much for the second particular imply'd in this notion of help assistance and aid against all Enemies and Evils Thirdly It imports succour and redresse under burdens or deliverance out of dangers feared straits and miseries injuries oppressions and afflictions felt Psal 20.1 2. The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble the Name of the God of Jacob defend thee Send thee help from the Sanctuary and strengthen thee out of Sion So Psal 9.9 The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed a refuge in time of trouble God is an help a refuge a defence and Sanctuary to his people Thus the Porter helps his partner by lending him a shoulder to heave under his Load one man helps another up when he be fallen down Eccles 4.10 We are commanded to help out our Neighbours Oxe or Ass out of the Ditch Deut. 22.4 Thus one is said to help another in battel Josh 10.4 2 Sam. 10.11 And God is on this accompt said to help Vzziah against the Philistines 2 Chron. 26.7 Thus a Friend helps another in distress by commiserating his Case visiting him and administring in Food Physick or other necessaries to his afflicted condition And thus is God a Helper to his people and that upon a threefold accompt First Under the otherwise unsupportable burden of sin and guilt This is an heavy burden to a gracious Soul his Iniquities go over his head and are a burden too heavy for him to bear One sin weighs more than Hell set home upon the Conscience by the Impressions of Gods Spirit it oppresseth it very sore The sense hereof made David pray with that vigour and earnestness Psal 40.12 13. Be pleased O Lord to deliver me O Lord make haste to help me What is the matter Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to look up they are more than the hairs of my head therefore my heart faileth me Like one arrested upon many actions at once here one Serjeant and there another claps hold on him so that the man is put into such a distraction and confounding amaze that he knows not what to do nor which way to turn him This made Paul breathe out with so much dolour his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 7.24 O wretched Man who shall deliver me from this body of death Just like the Malefactor condemned to drowning in Tiber that had a dead body tied to his own living and so was dragged along the streets and haled into the River Than which there is no worse punishment And indeed the weight of sin is Onus Angelorum bumeris formidandum such as Christ himself though but imputed could never have undergone had not his Humanity been supported by the power of his Deity but must have sunk under the Oppression of it It was not only Agnus Dei but Deus qui tollit the Lamb of God but the Lamb who also was God that could bear the sins of the World And verily for a poor disconsolate sinner to look upward and see God frowning downward and see Hell gaping inward and see Conscience accusing outward and see all Creatures withdrawing it would sink his Soul presently into an Hell of despair if not elevated by the infinite arm
cause him to exchange his badge of honour for an ignominious Halter 2 Saâ—t 17.23 Though Gebal Ammon and Amalek conspire he can blow on their Confederacies by the breath of his nostrils Antichrist who lets he can remove out of the way and make the little Horn push the Nations and the interest of the Lamb break in pieces the Kingdom of the Beast though his followers be even innumerable Hence it 's worthy our observation that he chooseth to appear for his People in a very low condition Psal 136.23 that so aliquid divini might appear in all his Manifestations He overlooks his People when erect as the Palm or spreading forth themselves as the green Bay-tree and looks upon them when like the Myrtle they dwell in a low place Such is the power of his Providence in his operations for his Servants as in Scripture-phrase it obtains the name of a Resurrection to the performance whereof is requisite no loss than an infinite and omnipotent Arm Ezek. 37. when they are as dry bones and scattered he can command a re-entrance of the spirit a return of life To which metaphor David alludes in his Prayer and Invocation for help Psal 141.7 8. Our bones are scattered at the graves mouth as when one cutteth and cleaveth Wood upon the earth But mine eyes are to thee O God the Lord in thee is my trust leave not my soul destitute Fifthly He help them proportionably Divine wisdom dispenseth Mercy by an even ballance unto its receivers by a just proportion and that fourfold To His Peoples wants desires hopes and expectations and their good improvements First To their Wants and Necessities Gods supply ever respects mans indigency The worlds rule is Habenti dabitur The Rich have many Friends The more men have the more they would and shall have But this poor man cried and the Lord heard him He is an helper of the Fatherless Psal 10.14 and so it s said of Christ Psal 72.12 13. He shall deliver the needy when he crieth the poor also and him that hath no helper Poor Orphans who are too commonly the Objects of the Worlds oppression are the Objects of Gods and Christs compassion and commiseration It was Job's testimony of his integrity that he delivered the poor that cried the fatherless and him that had none to help him Job 29.12 cap. 31.21 and it s a Rule of Equity observed in Heaven Gods relief loves to lift up those whom the sense of their own wants hath cast down Necessity hath a loud voice and prevailing with the Almighty Mans inisery it 's ansa divinae misericordiae God pours the Oyl and Wine of Consosolation into broken hearts wounded spirits Drooping and dejected hearts may most confidently expect health from the light of this Heavenly Physitians countenance The World leaves us when we most want it and Creatures forsake us when we have most need but then God stands by us When the hour of sickness comes he alwayes gives his people the sweetest Visits of Love Men commonly take the strongest but God the weakest side What is said of Earthly Monarchs is much more true of him the King of Kings and Lord of Lords the only Potentate Parcit subjectis debellat superbos He pulls down the mighty from their seat and exalts them of low degree He fills the hungry but sends the rich empty away Secondly To their Prayers and Requests Asking is the readyest way of having This depends on the former for Oratio sine malis quasi Avis sine alis He that wants not beggs not or at least ought not so to do But now true seekers are alwayes good speeders The most sturdy Beggars go away with Heavens Alms and the eagerly solliciting Favourites come away with grants from the Throne of Mercy The Apostle plainly insinuates that an holy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the Throne of Grace a bold suit there is the surest way of obtaining grace to help in time of need Heb. 4. ult Qui timide rogat docet negare A cold suit do's but make way for the stronger denyal but an holy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 importunity God cannot will not relist Luk. 18. Psal 107.13 They cried unto the Lord in their trouble and he saved them out of all their distresses He that besieges and beleaguers Heaven with his Prayers shall have what it can afford him The Kingdom of Heaven delights to suffer this holy Violence Let Moses hold down his hands and Amalek prevails let him lift them up and Israel prevails When Jehosophat and all the people of Judah were in a great strait they sent up their united voices in one general shout to heaven to ask help of the Lord 2 Chron. 20.4 And he urgeth God with his Promise in prayer which was when evil came upon them as the Sword Judgement Pestilence or Famine if they cried to him in their affliction he would hear and help God commonly gives help as an answer and return of Prayer Prayer enlargeth and expatiateth the Soul desire stretcheth it out for the receiving larger measures of Mercy and it provokes God also to bestow them Observe what God promiseth Jeremiah as to deliverance from the Babylonish Captivity Jer. 29.12 13. Then shall ye call upon me and ye shall goe and pray unto me and I will hearken to you And ye shall seek me and finde me when ye shall search for me with all your heart By Prayer that Legio Fulminatrix that band of Christian Souldiers obrained a refreshing showre when their enemies were broken with a dreadfull storm Thirdly To their Hopes and expectancies God loves to give his People an expected end According to thy Faith be it to thee was our Saviours usual welcom to all comers to him Mercy commonly comes on the wing of Faith Oleum masericordiae saith Bernard non infunditur nisi in tasa fiduciae The Vessel of Faith is that receives the precious Liquor of Mercy Faith is the Bucket that draws the waters of life out of the well of Salvation Faith was that gave Abijah victory over Jeroboam 2 Chron. 13.18 Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time and the Children of Judah prevailed because they relied upon the Lord God of their Fathers The stay and strength of all states as well as Persons and assurance of all Victories depends on their trust and confidence in the Lord. Faith is a wonder-working grace What was the Instrument of all those heroick actions done by the Patriarchs and primitive Worthies but Faith Through Faith they subdued Kingdoms wrought righteousness obtained Promises Heb. 11.23 Faith overcomes lust within and the World without It 's a Shield against and a Sword to all our adversaries it layes hold on divine help engageâ—h Almightiness extorts mercy from Heaven Coelum tundimus preces fundimus misericordiam extorquemus quoth Tertullian Faith removes mountains of pride within and power without It 's an invincible grace and no wonder because the only receiving grace and
poor sinner to be left thus without help and hope Oh that careless and prâ—sumptuous sinners that now forget God would a little turn aside and see this sad and ruefall spectacle Didst thou never see O man a poor condemnâ—d Malefactor when receiving his Sentence weâ—ping wailing and lamenting wringing his hands furrowing his cheeks with tears down on his bended knees for mercy didst thou never behold him haling to his place of Execution roaring and yelling with the hidâ—ous thoughts of death and damnation Sinner this is tâ—y case or will be shortly Thou must be sentenced before Gods most righteous Tribunall and there adjudged for Treason and Rebellion against the God of Heaven and what will the Hypocrite do in the day that God comes to take away his Soul Job 27.8 The expectation of the wicked shall then perish Thou lookedst for life but bâ—hold death a blessing but meetest with a curse for mercy but art sent away with a portion of remediless easeless and endless misery Now while life lasteth it may be because ye have no changes ye fear not God but when God comes by his Providence to ring the changes as to thy temporal life and plucks thee off the stage of the World O what a dismal hour what a sad Catastrophe will then attend thee The hope of the Hypocrite is as the giving up of the Ghost Job 11.20 It may hold as long as his life continues but at the utmost it shall expire with his breath Then this bubble will fall and the bladder of his vain hope though swell'd with windy conceits to never so great a proportion being pricked by the Lance of death shall evaporate into air winde and confusion The Hypocrites condition is now uncertain he stands on a Quag-mire every moment ready to drop into Hell When he rises in the morning he hath no security of being out of Hell till night or lies down at evening is at no certainty of immunity from divine wrath and vengeance while morning But though he goes quietly to the grave when he dies not only his priviledges prayers comforts means friends but even all his hopes too vanish and die with him Prov. 11.7 The hope of the hypocrite shall perish In that great day of Gods anger he will be as a man in a rain without a shelter as a Souldier in a battell without Armour as a Ship at Sea in a furious storm without Anchor he shall not be able to stand Wretched Sinner Thou mayst run and read the sadness of thy condition in thy Predecessors Saul Esau and Judas and other Reprobates and see what dismal Tragedies they acted under their terrors of Conscience and desperations of Spirit In a word to turn from this dolefull knell none knows what 't is to want an interest in God but an â—wakened conscience on Earth or a damned wight in Hell All the hope a carnal wretch hath in this world is only that he is on this side Hell Thirdly This presents us with the excellency of God above all creatures men and Angels He is that blessed object alone who can make the soul happy and therefore the Psalmist here gives him the prelation and preheminence above whatsoever is mortal and mutable and should we take a strict examination of all creatures in Heaven or Earth without God this summum bonum they could not by their united force and utmost influence bespeak or make the soul happy The depth would say it is not in me and the Sea it is not in me All creatures would be found miserable comforters Physitians of no value I have seen an end saith David of all perfection The total of all creatures in their natures improved and advanced and their quintessence extracted and refined amounts but to this Vanity of vanities But in God there is enough to make the soul unspeakably and eternally blessed There is in him a sufficiency to supply all the wants and answer â—ll the demands and cravings of the soul of man In his presence is fulness of joy He can support their hearts when weakest and supply them when â—mptiest he can remove whatsoever threatneth the souls destruction and confer whatever tends â—o its perfection It was Davids conclusion of faith when the Lord was his Shepherd that he should never want God is a comprehensive good containing all that vertue and influence eminently in himself which is in the creatures formally He can fill the soul and yet never cloy it give it a fulness and yet no burden The world delights nothing but in change and variety The most choice meats if common prove nauseous and delightful musicks if constant tedious and burthensome But in unico Deo is all the heart can desire or wish and the constant enjoyment of him is Heaven to the soul without any the least glut or disrelish There is a suitability in him to the souls of his People He is the centre of all their desires And the degree of their satisfaction ariseth as from the degree of their union with him so the degree of his proportion to them He is an adequate and commensurate good to the desires and hopes of a gracious soul There is an exact agreement between his sweetness and the souls taste which creates a most savoury relish of him in the souls palate God alone being the highest object of faith is the greatest ground of joy and satisfaction And such a suitableness is in him to the soul that it desires nothing like nothing but himself Heaven it self would be but Hell without him The Kings presence is that makes the Court. A Saint is more pleased with the enjoyment of God than of Heaven glory salvation it self He is his Peoples salvation As no sacrifices content God which his People offer him without the oblation of themselves so nothing of all his donations delights his People without he bestows himself as a Legacy upon them And then his Eternity in his being and fidelity in his Promises is a great aggravation of his Peoples happiness as well as his own excellency It 's the main scope of the Psalmist in these verses to recommend God to us and represent him as a fit object of our faith and assured ground of our blessedness from his truth and faithfulness Creatures as they are all unsatisfying like drink in a dropsie that is so far from quenching our thirst that it rather enflames it so likewise deceitful like Absoloms Mule running from under us when we have most need of their stay and Halcyonbirds that abide with us in Summer but when Winter once comes are upon the wing and gone But God is the faithful and living God whose truth never fails mind never changes good will never abates towards his People He may change his outward dispensations but not his inward disposition Non deserit etiamsi deserere videatur We may lose our vision of and influence from him but never our union and communion with him He may for a time desert us
complotted and conspired against me saying Come let us blot her name out of the book of remembrance they shall neither know nor see till we come in the midst of them and cause the work to cease I had been long ago overthrown and overturned It was not my own bow or sword saved me but thy right hand that helped me out of all my distresses It is our great duty to rejoyce in the confession of Gods Name in all our deliverances and salvations and to ascribe to him the glory that is his right and due This Psalm is Eucharistical penned on purpose as a grateful acknowledgement We should erect standing Monuments of his goodness and love and say Hitherto hath he helped us shewing to the generations to come the praises of the Lord and the wonderful works he hath done for our souls Psal 66.16.71.18.78.4 5 6. That they might also hope in God And as there alwaies appears that in mercy which calls aloud for praises so there are some deliverances that have such signal remarks upon them as we cannot possibly pass over without special observation How oft does mercy come undeserved unexpected undesired and unprayed for is distinguishing we are pluckt as fire-brands out of the fire and taken when others are left yea exceeding and superabundant to all our hopes or thoughts How many deliverances do we know before we know our dangers the danger was only to be read in the deliverance How many mischiefs do we escape that by all our forecast and prudence we could never have prevented nor yet by our power opposed how many mercies come pouring upon us not one of which by all our diligence and industry we could have purchased or procured what good often ariseth to us out of our evils and that proves our greatest advance which we thought would have been our fatal and final downfall and conduceth to our salvation which seemed to promise nothing but utter and irrecoverable ruin and destruction Gods mercies thus renewed on us every morning and his faithfulness every moment require a constant return of the sacrifices of thanksgiving but our sin and misery is that our thankfulness for mercy granted is no way proportionable to our importunity for mercy wanted and desired In our straits and afflictions we promise a great deal to the Almighty but when once gotton out of those depths we sacrilegiously rob the God of our salvation and put him off with the farthing candle of a little lip-devotion instead of a thank-offering of heart and life wherein only lies the life of thankfulness But where there is an Ark for deliverance there should be an Altar for thankfulness Secondly Let this draw and engage us to a constant access to God in all conditions under all emergencies and occurrences of providence Goâ— to this God for help at all times Trust in him at all times and pour forth your prayers before him Have recourse to him for spirituals to his promises for temporals to his providence Do your souls want pardon of sin peace of spirit assistance to duty strength against corruptions grace for trials and sufferings fly to your God Does Satan tempt the world frown friends prove unkind hopes disappoint all creatures fail enemies compass you about yet go to him your help and cry with David Plead my cause O Lord with them that strive with me and fight with those that fight against me Whatsoever condition befalls you your state is never hopeless why should it not then be fearless never desperate why should you be disconsolate There 's hope at the bottom dum spiro spero may be your Motto The Royal aid of Heaven will assist and enable you against all oppositions on Earth Whom should a people go to but to their God He is the confidence of the whole world The Isles shall wait upon him and on his arm shall they trust Isa 51.5 It 's the great duty and safety too of the soul to trust to and hope in the Lord. It 's the character of a Saint to depend on God Psal 33.20 Our soul waiteth on the Lord for he is our help and shield It 's a sign of sincerity to trust in the Lord and the evidence of an Hypocrite to trust to any thing besides him Job 8.15 Isa 14.31 The poor of his people shall trust in him and Zeph. 3.11 Thou shalt leave in the midst of them a poor afflicted people and they shall trust in the Name of the Lord. Not patience but faith is the highest commendation of a Christian This was Hezekiahs grand Encomium given him by the Spirit of God himself 2 King 18.4 He trusted in the Lord God of Israel and clave to him God takes pleasure and delights in them that hope in his mercy Psal 147.11 God hath cursed all creature-confidence He hath pronounced them blessed which hope in himself Yea Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed It 's the highest piece of honour and happiness that any created being is capable of to receive influence from and exercise dependance upon its Creator There is an utter insufficiency in all creatures to help they may give painted comfort ape a counterfeit happiness but never afford real or lasting consolations Yea the soul may be reduced to such st aits and exigencies as all the power wisdom and industry of all creatures cannot give him relief none but God help him as under troubles of conscience and perplexity of spirit none else can succour A wounded spirit none can bear and only God can heal If help comes there it must come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 immediately from Heaven Friends cannot help Ministers not help experimental Christians not help prayers tears and duties not help only the God of Heaven And as he is sometimes only able so he is himself alwaies able when none else can either on the right hand or on the left It 's all one with him to help by many or by few or by none at all He can destroy by friends making the Governours of Judah to their subjects as well as theâ—r enemies like an hearth of fire among the wood and like a torch of fire in a sheaf so as they shall devour all people round about on the right hand and on the left He can make the choicest and most hopeful instruments to prove our vexers and not our Saviours He can cut off the spirit of Princes and be terrible to the Kings of the Earth An Host without him much more against him is a vain thing for safety and a multitude as insignificant as a single person he can smite heaps upon heaps with the touch of his little finger as Sampson did once the Philistines with the Jaw-bone of an Ass He can blow on the most likely projects used for help and supply so as they shall utterly fail Jam. 1.11 The rich man shall fade away in his waies not only the careless Prodigal in his waies of profuseness but the most careful Usurer diligent Merchant