without a defence and feel the smart of it the godly are priviledg'd and protected when the avenger of blood comes they have their Sanctuary They are Gods marked Ezek. 9. His sealed ones Rev. 7. They are hid in the day of his anger Zeph. 2.3 Who dare meddle with what God hath marked or break what he hath sealed or who can touch what he hath hid when the destroyer smote all the first-born of Egypt he passed by the doors that were sprinkled Exod. 12. When God comes to sweep the Kitchin of the world with the besome of desolation he hath a Parlour of special providence or other rooms of retirement to turn his people into so as the overflowing scourge shall not come nigh them Though not all or perhaps many yet have not some of Gods Servants providentially been removed out of the reach of the present Plague and perhaps the late Fire also Josephus reports that a little before the final destruction of Jerusalem the godly Jews in the City in time of the siege heard a voice in the Air crying Ite Pellam Ite Pellam a little Village thereby whither many of them fled and so were preserved When the Town be taken God receives his into Castle which leads to the second way of divine help in common evils Secondly By distinguishing them in the day of calamity Sparing their persons and families in the day of his wrath If God hides them not from the Judgement yet he does in it We have a promise of a specialty to be granted Mal. 3.16 17 18. A Book of remembrance was written before him for them which feared the Lord and that thought upon his Name While others were sentenced to death their names were registred in albo beatorum in the book of the living And they shall be mine saith the Lord of Hosts in that day when I make up my Jewels Whatsoever becomes of the lumber and common houshold-stuff though that be consumed by the fire of his wrath God will look to his choicer Treasure and keep that safe and secure And I will spare them as a man spares his own Son that serves him Though their sins deserve they should be turned out of doors as well as others and exposed to the wind and weather of common afflictions yet God hath a covering both for their sins and souls This is a full Copy of the act of Gods discriminating grace in a sad hour For then saith he shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not Distinguishing â—â—uty is crowned with distinguishing mercy In â—aies of prosperity the difference between Gods people and the men of the world is not so dissernable as to their carriage towards him they â—re wanton secure formal careless and carnal but affliction edges them in duty with a greater â—eal and earnestness and is a foil to set of their graces with the more orient brightness Neither â—s Gods singular respect then so observable to â—hem He seems to turn them loose to the wide world to shift for themselves but when danger â—omes then Noah and his family goes into the Ark then come my people enter your chambers is Gods usage with them his language to them That ye may know saith that Text how the Lord puts a difference between the Egyptians and Israel Exod. 11.7 God made a famous and notorious difference between them under all the Plagues inflicted especially under that of smiting the first-born and so in that of darkness thick darkness invelopt them spread the face of their horrizon but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings Exod. 10.23 To the upright did arise 〈◊〉 light in darkness So God promiseth his people when the hail came down on the field and the forrest in thickest showers it should yet be faiâ— in the City and while sinners were battered down with its force and shattered with its terrour his people should yet dwell in peaceable habitations sure dwellings and quiet resting places Isa 32.18 19. God exerciseth a special providence over his people As the Prophet excellently illustrates it by the similitude of the five anâ— the fann Amos 9.8 9 10. And also fitly applies it Behold saith he the eyes of the Loâ—â— God are upon the sinful Kingdom and I will destrâ— it from off the face of the Earth saving that 〈◊〉 will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob saith thâ— the Lord. He will destroy the rebellious multitude but yet reserve a select remnant For 〈◊〉 I will command and I will sift the house of Israâ— among all Nations like as Corn is sifted in a suâ— yet shall not the least grain fall on the Earth Affliction is called Gods sive and fann in Scripture of which there is a different use The sive leâ— out the flower and retains nothing but thâ— brann contrariwise the fann throws out 〈◊〉 the chaff and keeps nothing but the wheat Though God lets the chaff be blown away and scattered when by the whirlwind of his wrath he comes to winnow a people yet he will gather the wheat into his granary that shall be put â—nto his garner while the chaff is burnt up with unquenchable fire Nay should the godly and wicked be put into the same sive of affliction and the metaphor conceived only singly providence will so co-operate with it as even to invert the nature and change the end of afflictions so as what is to one a curse shall prove to the other a blessing by what one is much a looser the other shall become a very great gainer while the sinner becomes as chaff and as dry stubble even as a leaf which the wind scatters to and fro the sound and solid Christian shall be as wheat not one grain of substantial and sincere grace no upright sound-hearted Christian shall perish in the day of Gods wrath Take a Saint and a Sinner and cast them into the fiery furnace of tribulation and there will appear though no such difference in their going in yet a marvelous wide disparity in their coming out even as much as between the three children cast by the King into the fiery furnace and their accusers and executioners the one it toucht not the other it slew Dan. 3.22 Either they come not out at all or else as a stone out of the fire sparkling with unâ—elief impatience and discontents against providence whereas a Saint comes out melted into â—n holy humble spiritual pliable frame even as â—ure gold Job 23.10 There is a singular exercise of grace discoverable by the Saints under afflictions and also a singular action of providence about them and when God makes the greatest sweep yet there are some reserves as the Prophet Amos lively expresseth it in the third chapter of his Prophecy vers 12. As the Shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the Lion two leggs or a piece of an ear so shall the children of Israel be taken out
your friends and neighbours sometimes at the Tavern you had had something in such an hour to bear up and comfort your spirits withall which I am afraid many of you now want Oh that you would in this your day yet know the things of your peace And before God riseth up to Judgement a second time and the fire of his wrath now smothered breaks out with a seven times more even into a most violent and unquenchable flame Hear the voice of the Rod and him that hath appointed it And by all that God hath done or is doing with you this day learn those fundamental lessons of the vanity and contingency of the creature and the fulness and alsufficiency of the Creator so as to make an utter renunciation of all carnal confidence and engage your souls in a firm and resolute dependance on God alone O that this might indeed be a purgatory fire to refine our souls from all that rust of carnality and worldly affection that is so grown upon us Let us not make gain our godliness but count godliness our greatest and only gain Why should we set our hearts on vanity on a non entity who would love or value that which he cannot long keep but if a fire or plunder comes is upon the wing and takes its flight or give that the chair of state or upper room of preheminence in his heart which very shortly he must part with out of his hands Can you Christians carry your houses and lands your baggs and treasures with you to eternity will they not all shake hands with you at the grave O then make friends by employing for God and his honour to your selves of this Mammon of unrighteousness and use the world as if ye used it not remembring the fashion thereof passeth away And lay up your treasures not on earth but Heaven store up a good foundation against the time to come the top of whose building may reach eternity Mind not so much things seen and temporal as those believed and eternal Make sure of God as your portion and chuse him as your inheritance Now learn to trust to and lean by faith on the arm of an Alsufficient God while ye experience the broken staff of all created beings and comforts When the stream is dried up and all your vessels emptied have recourse to that inexhaustible fountain Learn the Art of living by faith upon an unchangeable and eternal Jehovah under all worldly changes and revolutions To rejoyce in the Lord and be glad in the God of your salvation not only when ye sit under the shadow of your own Vines and Fig-trees but even when they neither blossom nor bring forth fruit Though your goods be gone yet ye have not lost your God he is not gone whose alsufficiency is able to make up all your losses by plague or fire and recompence you an hundred-fold in whom alone possessing all things you may possess them while you have nothing Though your trade be at present broken ye have now a seasonable gale for Heavens more enduring substance Though ye may be dispersed and scattered as Vagabonds here and there having no certain dwelling-place God will be a little sanctuary to you and though your City hath forsaken ye your God is a Tower yet left which your souls may get upon and a City of Refuge for you to fly to and repose in with greatest security Though ye have nothing but tents to dwell in and with holy Jacob a stone for a pillow to lay your head on God is in this place and he that never slumbers nor sleeps watcheth for your safety while his Angels also are your life-guard and protection He is your arm every morning and your salvation in time of trouble Though all die and leave you relations possessions yet your God lives who is ten thousand times better and able to make it better to you than all the goods and estates in the world Trust in the Lord then for ever in the Lord Jehovah in whom is everlasting strength And then should you fall into the hand of mens violence out of that of Gods vengeance while the enemies of Jacob are your hunters you are sure of the God of Jacob for your help This consideration was that holy David bore up his reeling soul withall under all the reflections of the wickeds prosperity and enmity Whom have I in Heaven but thee my flesh and heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever And in all the weights of his own adversity he incouraged himself in the Lord his God And this was the infallible pillar and foundation with which the Church under all her ruins supported her drooping faith even the eternity of God Lam. 5.19 Thou O Lord remainest for ever thy Throne from generation to generation And Reader it 's the hearty option of my soul that thou and all that read these lines yea all concerned in these fatal strokes from the King on the throne to the beggar on the dung-hill had the same comfort under Londons burning that holy David had once on Ziglags even a God to incourage themselves in who is what and where he was the same God to his for ever and ever when all persons places and creatures shall not be what they once were or be no more This incouragement of all them who fear the Lord is the sole design of this ensuing discourse The Author intending it no other than an anchor to buoy up our finking spirits or crutch the better to inable to step our limping faith A word in season is as apples of gold in pictures of silver And he hopes if you have not already forgotten the hand of God upon you he might find some advantage in this present address our hearts under afflictions being alwaies more pliable and apt to receive divine signatures and impressions In this your helpless and almost hopeless state the providence of God seemed to call to him as once the men of Macedonia to Paul in another case come over and help us And though a stranger to most of your faces yet being a fellow-sufferer with you through the common spirit of Christianity his bowels could not but be inlarged with pity and his heart inflamed with zeal and piety towards you And seeing no other stept before him looked on himself as obliged to open to you some door of hope in this valley of discomfort and afford you what after-help his poor talent could to bear your present condition become to you a plank after shipwrack to bring your souls to a comfortable shore And if his mite may contribute ought to so blessed and happy an end to any of you or the people of God he hath his purpose who is Your Supplicant at the Throne of Grace and Servant in the work of the Gospel F. E. Novemb. 5. 1666. The TABLE or Contents of this Treatise THe general nature of Happiness Page 1 With the common desire of Mankinde towards
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
and deliverance The Earth proves the womans midwife and gives her a safe delivery which in all probability might have smothered and stifled her conception and swallows up the flood of persecution which the Dragon spits out of his mouth which in all likelihood might have swallowed her up in a moment Ret. 12.16 The three children shone by the light of that flame by which as to all humane expectation they must have been burnt and consumed Dan. 3. They were indeed saved by fire When Gods people seem to run into the mouth of danger oft times they fall into the lap of deliverance and while others sink as a stone to the bottom in the waters of affliction they are born up by the bladders of faith and hope and as the Prophet Isaiah glosses elegantly on Israels passage thorow the vast Ocean as a Causey Isa 63.14 They are led thorow the deep as an horse thorow the wilderness that they should not stumble As a beast goeth down in the valley the Spirit of the Lord causeth him to rest That 's the first he is an help to his Church on a more pubâ—ick account Secondly To his people in a more particular relation and private capacity And that especially in a threefold regard First Against their own home-bred enemies the lusts and corruptions of their own perfidious hearts There is a mysterie of iniquity acting in the treacherous heart of man The best of us carry about us an heart deceitful above all things even desperately wicked Our foes are our own houshold velis nolis intra fines tuos inhabitabit Jeâ—usaeus we fight against spiritual wickednesses in â—ugh places Many desperate lusts as unbelief hypocrisie pride c. usurp Christs Throne and Government But our good God by the help of grace and his good hand upon us inables and assists us against their batteries so that though they combate they shall not conquer and though turbulent they shall not be prevalent Conflictus licet miserabilis quia non habet pacem â—amen non damnabilis quod perficit iniquitatem Aug. This conflict may disturb our tranquility but hinders the perfecting of iniquity God assists us by a prosperous gale of grace while we â—re rowing against the stream of corrupt nature His wind drives against that tyde Grace casts sin down though it cannot cast it wholly out These Monarchs have their dominion taken away though they live for a season Grace helps against the power at well as the guilt of sin and though it doth not hinder ne sit yet ne obsit and while it acts the part of a slave or a Tyrant yet it cannot of a King Iniquities prevail against us but thou shalt do them away saith the Psalmist Psal 65.3 And the Prophet seconds him Micah 7.19 He will subdue our iniquities and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the Sea Secondly As against the strength of corruption so against the onsets and assaults of Satan Thus God assisted Paul with a sufficiency of grace 2 Cor. 12.8 9. And Christ helped Peter when Satan shot a whole broad-side of temptations against him he was his bulwark to defend him when Satan pressed hard upon him and beat sore against him he was his buttress to support and uphold him Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco Is englished by the Apostle Heb. 2.28 Being tempted himself he is able to succour those that are tempted Thus the Lord Jesus Christ himself when the evil Angels were mustering their forces against him the good Angels came and ministred to him while they were endeavouring to destroy him these took care to preserve and comfort him In an acceptable time God heard him and in a day of salvation he succoured him So when his Disciples are pursued by Satan that mighty Nimrod and beaten sore upon by temptations to blasphemy despair presumption or the like Christ becomes their Sanctuary from the rage and persecution of that infernal blood-hound and great destroyer of souls When Satan stood at the right hand of Joshua the High-Priest to interrupt him in his Office the Lord Christ comes and rebukes him and tells him This is a brand pluckt out of the fire too hot for the Devil to touch and tamper withall Zech. 3.2 It 's reported of some holy men as Grynaeus and others that the Devil on their death-beds made his appearance to them and challenged them to a cornbate which they readily entertained only with premise of that promise to the disputation The seed of the woman shall break the Serpents head There is not so much venome in the temptation as there is balsome in the promise If the soul be once arked in Christs merits they are to it as so many Cities of Refuge vulnera Christi sunt civitates refugii Bernard This Lion may then roar but he cannot devour this Serpent may hiss but he cannot sting this Dragon spit but he cannot bite nor destroy Upon this score doth the Apostle not only give us a commendation of Christs ability pity and fidelity but also a solemn invitation to come with boldness to the Throne of Grace and Mercy and by our holy and humble Oratory beg help in the time of need And though it may seem strange and improbable yet Gods people finde it an experimental truth that they alwaies get ground and advantage both by corruptions and temptations Those weeds shall not spoil the good corn nor those worms destroy the beautiful flowers of grace though they may be in the field and garden of their souls but the sight of both shall serve to humble and quicken them to higher attainments of holiness And though Satan snarls at and wrangles with them he shall never trapan them out of their right but being foiled in the dispute their cause will be the clearer and worsted in the trial their evidence the firmer and stronger In all his winnowings they lose no one grain of grace only the chaff of corruption Thirdly Against or under all the enmity and opposition of the world secret or open of pretended friends or professed enemies their power policy envy insolency treachery turbulency rage and fury Thus God helpt Moses so that in memory thereof he baptizeth his child into that very name Exod. 18.4 The name of the other was Eliezer that is my God is an help for the God of my Father said he was my help and delivered me from the sword of Pharaâ—h Thus God succoured Joseph Gen. 49.23 24 25 The Archers his Brethren Potiphar and the Egyptian Courtiers have sorely grieved him and shot at him and hated him But his bow abode in strength and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob Thus he promiseth to help his Jacob Isa 41.10 He prohibits him all slavish fear For saith he I will strengthen thee I will help thee yea I will uphold thee by the right hand of my righteousness Three various expressions to give him manifold
promise All shall work together for good to them who love God Rom. 8.28 And Gods performances are answerable to his promises Out of the eater God brings meat and out of the strong sweetness The wise Physician of Heaven makes the purest Treacle out of the most dangerous poison The sharpest â—edged sword of an enemy he anoints with balm so that even while it cuts it heals and while he thinks to let out the precious life he only takes away the corrupt and superfluous blood and in stead of killing the person only cures the impostume dum pungit ungit as Bernard speaks The hottest fires of humane wrath do but refine the Saint into a more spiritual temper they burn up indeed the dross and rust of corruption but perish never a golden grace but rather make it shine with a more radiant lustre and though the Sun of persecution looks upon them yea the furnace be seven times hotter than usually yet thâ— trial of their faith comes off with advantage and is found for praise honour and glory The deepest and highest swelling waters of mens moâ— boisterous rage do but scour them into thâ— greater wâ—iteness of purity and holiness The flail of humane violence serves only to beat them the cleaner out of their husk God is a wisâ— Chymist that extracts gold out of the coursesâ— metal and grace a divine limbeck that makeâ— sweet waters of the sowrest herbs The oppressions of the world conduce to Gods peoples spiritual advantage They do their souls good Their Chains are more beneficial than their Crowns and their Crosses more wholesome though it 's like not so toothsome than their Comforts As the collision of stones occasions the sparklings forth of light so the knocks they meet with abroad in the world the shine of their graces and as he said schola crucis lucis they never meet with more light than in the darkest dungeons oâ— worldly disconsolation They alwaies taste whenâ— the bitterness of mans wrath also the sweetness of Gods love And also to their outward good in the end As wicked mens violence alwaies determines in their own ruine In the net they prepare for others is their own foot taken and in the very same pit they dig for the righteous do they fall themselves So the sufferings of the Saints alwaies end in their rise and advantageous recovery evil slaies them not as it does the wicked but if God in his wise providence indulgeth them not a total immunity and exemption he grants them at least a sanctified use and a fair come-off yea a glorious issue a clear instance whereof we have in Joseph out of his own mouth Gen. 50.20 Where speaking in reference to his Brethrens sale of him he thus bespeaks them As for you ye thought evil against me but God meant it unto good to bring to pass as it is this day to save much people alive Their purposes of destroying his single person were issued with the salvation of the whole family if not the whole Land And likewise in Job with whom the Devil made a sad and black beginning but God made a fair a comfortable and blessed end As the Apostle speaks James 5.11 Ye have heard of the patience of Job and seen the end of the Lord That he is very pitiful and of tender mercy So effectually doth God work all for the good of his people as he reconciles all the seeming contradictions of his providence to his promise Though Isaac was once nigh being no child yet God makes him the Father of many Nations Jacob's hard usage by his Uncle Laban ends in great respect and kindness as appears by his profession and affectionate desire of his stay and company Gen. 30.27 If a man meets his enemy will he not slay him and yet God so overcomes the heart of Esau inclines him towards his Brother Jacob as instead of killing he kisseth and embraceth him Gen. 33.4 Such is the power and efficacy of divine operation as turns foes into friends opposers into familiars envy into admiration curses into blessings malice into benevolence execrations into applause and acclamations wrathful resolutions into kinâ— salutes and bland compellations imprecation into apprecations the utmost indignations conceived into the fullest satisfactions and higheâ— benedictions So that if enemies will not commend they shall have no power or will to condemn if they will do them no good they shalâ— have no heart to do them any hurt We maâ— think all things are against us as Jacob once tolâ— his Sons Gen. 42.36 upon the parting with his Son Benjamin but the letting go his Son waâ— the only way of saving himself When Daviâ— seemed nearest the grave then was he nighest the Crown The Israelites wilderness though somewhat about was a direct road and line to Canaan whither they were journeying We bring oft-times the greatest evil out of the greatest good â— such is our corruption but God brings the greatest good out of the greatest evil such is his goodness Let the Apostle conclude this in his general conclusion of comfort both as to sin and affliction Rom. 8.31 If God be for us whoâ— can be against us none assuredly so as to hurt oâ— prejudice us Seventhly By running and overturning their adversaries making the arrows they shoot at his people rebound back on themselves and their darts to stick in their own breasts Psal 81.14 15. I should soon saith God have subdued their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries The haters of the Lord should have submited themselves to him The Psalmist breathes out their destruction by the spirit of Prophecy throughout the 83. Psalm in most elegant metaphors of a wheel turning a fire burning a storm â—asting all which note the suddenness and irreâ—stibleness of their destruction Thus God ruined â—e Egyptians when they pursued Israel Exod. 14.7 28. He destroyed Pharaoh Sisera and his Host â—udg 5.21 Swept them away by the River â—ishon as a besome sweeps away the filth of an â—ouse or as a stream carries away the durt of a â—ity and Haman who conspired the Jews fatal â—estruction Esth 7. And Senacherib 2 Chron. 32.21 â—n Angel overturns his Host and as that was deâ—royed by these Sons of God his person was â—estroyed by the Sons of his own loins Thus God destroyed Herod For trampling on the worms of Jacob and so on their God he turns â—gain and causeth worms to eat him up Thus â—e destroyed Judas who betrayed Christ and Juâ—an who blasphemed him dying with a vicisti Galilee in his mouth God does sooner or later wound the head of the Dragon the hoary scalp of his enemies pours out his wrath on the Heathen â—hat devour Jacob and lay waste his dwelling place Though they gather themselves against his people yet they shall not escape by their iniquity but he will cut them off in their wickedness when once their sin be at the full and â—aving filled up their measure they become ripe for destruction
Though their bones be scattered as at the graves mouth yet will he overthrow their Judges in stony places Psal 141.6 If they drink of the Cup which comparatively are not worthy they shall not escape unpunisht but shall certainly drink the dreggs thereof Jer. 49.12 When he hath performed his whole work on Mount Sion he will then punish the fruit of the stout heart of the King of Assyria Isa 10.12 Judgement begins indeed at his house and Sanctuary but Jerusalem does but hand the Cup to the Nations and when God hath used the wicked as Rods to lash his people having done with them he throws them into the fire Babylon is dealt with as she dealt with Israel Jer. 51.6 49. And so Amalek Deut. 25. ult God will be an enemy to the enemies of his people and set himself against them who are so mad in running upon their own ruine as to set themselves against his chosen None ever fought against Gods interest and prospered but was in the event worsted and forced to confess he kickt against the pricks The house of David in fine overcomes that of Saul and though their horns be lifted up never so high he who is the horn of his peoples salvation will cut off the horn of the wicked or by his Carpenters fray them away Zech. 1.21 And when once they come under the hammer of his Justice they must expect judgement without mercy who would shew no mercy The Psalmist does most elegantly express both the sudden alteration of providence to Gods people and to their enemies Psal 138.7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble thou wilt revive me as the Son of man did the children in the furnace thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies and thy right hand shall save me An allusion to Moses stretching his hand over the Sea whereby the waters came upon the Egyptians and drowned their Chariots and horse-men God hath an out-stretched Arm able to reach those who are â—ut of the reach of his people and they that â—ome not within the compass of humane-Justice â—et cannot escape divine Vengeance And so â—uch for the third particular Fourthly Here is an help against the stroke of â—ommon judgements and publick calamities so â— to fence then â— from their heads or at least â—â—e evil of them â—hus God helpt Noah to an â—rk to house him in time of the universal deâ—ge Lot to a Zoar to secure him in time of publick conflagration In time of war he keeps â—s servant David from the hurtful sword diâ—ne protection was as a coat of Male to him â— Armour of proof to him to keep him shotâ—ee and untoucht Psal 144.10 In the time of â—â—some Pestilence when his infections Arrows â—e shot forth like lightning they abide under â—s shadow and are covered with his feathers â—s truth is their shield and buckler himself their â—ck and habitation so that though thousands â—ll on the right hand and on the lest yet he â—ands upright no evil befalls him nor no Plague â—nters his dwellings Psal 91. Which promise â—ough it gives not absolute assurance of the event â—nd issue as to temporal preservation yet it offers â—ur incouragement and propounds sure and sole â—rection how to escape the lash of the destroyer one standing on so sure a soot and a fair ground â—f protection in such a day of general calamity â—s Gods people In time of famine he redeems â—hem from death when he is riding on that â—ale horse he enters not their tents as in â—var from the power of the sword Job 5.20 â—n horrible burnings when others both persons and places Cities and Countries are made firebrands of his wrath they are pluckt as brands out of the fire Amos 4.11 In times of great concussion when the world seems quite off his Axletree and removed from its basis and foundation the earth moved from its centre and the hills carried into the midst of the Sea the waters roar and are troubled and the mountains shake with the swelling thereof mens hearts sail them for fear and the powers of Heaven are shaken and great desolations are made in the earth they remain intacti illaesi unshaken and immoved Psal 46. Luk. 21. Etiamsi fractus illabatur orbis impavidum ferient ruinae Now God under the deluge of judgements is an help to his people three manner of waies First By removing them out of the reach of them securing them from their dint and stroke Sometimes he removes their souls to Heaven and lodgeth their bodies in the chambers of the grave He takes his out of a sinful and miserable world before the Judgement commenceth Isa 57.1 Thus he took Josiah up into the chambers of heavenly glory before the storm came on Israels head He baild off the arrest his life time but no sooner is he dead and gone but issues out her writ of remove out of his sight Thus God took away Austin a little before Hippo was sackt and Pareus a little before Heidelburgh was destroyed and Luther according to his own prayer that he might not live to see the Plagues of God coming on an ungodly world before the German troubles brake forth God removes his people by an habeas corpus out of this lower world and then comes down its execution And the greatest storm of outward Judgements hath no further effect on the godly than to drive them to their Fathers house or most boisterous wind of calamity than to blow them home to their desired Haven When God had informed Daniel of such a time of trouble coming on the world as never was since there was a Nation even under the persecution by Antiochus he dismisseth him with his quietus est Cap. 12 13. Go thou thy way till the end be for thou shalt rest and stand in the lot in the end of the daies When Gods peoples race be run their work done and finisht he gives them a dispensation for tarrying any longer in the world or managing their office and duty here below plucks them off the stage and sends them to Heaven to rest from their labours and receive their reward prepared for them and promised to them Sometimes God removes them out of the verge of trouble on earth Isa 26.20 Come my people enter into thy Chambers and shut thy doors round about thee and hide thy self as it were for a little moment till the indignation be overpast God hath chambers of distinguishing providence and of gracious presence whither he lovingly invites his people as one friend does another distant from his own home and overtaken with a storm to come in and shelter himself till it be blown over God hath hiding-places places of retirement and repose for his people under publick out-goings of his Majesty and his wrath and justice against the inhabitants of the earth When the world lies open and naked to the storm of divine vengeance as a man in rain without a covering or in a battel
least ground or colour of hope but continually occasion of fear and perpetual cause of terror He hath no just hope in the day of Mercy and that 's sad enough much less in the day of misery and that 's worse His defence is departed from him the Lord being not with him and he is bread for the teeth of every Judgement as Joshua told them of the Nations they were to invade Numb 14.9 In the day of abounding of all Creature-comforts a carnal man can have no content or satisfaction One thought of his distance from God will sufficiently imbitter all his Cups of pleasure so as they shall be no other than waters of Marah to him Under the tydes of external Joy his heart is sorrowfull and his brightest Sun of outward felicity hath sad reflections especially if the Clock of Conscience answers the Diall of the Word and amidst his â—ight riseth to him thick darkness or gathers upon him His heart is black as an Oven within while the Corn Wine and Oyle makes his face shine without As a Childe of God often carries the â—ight of a rejoycing Soul in the dark Lanthorn of a soiled and withered face so do's the sinner oft disguise a sad heart with a cheerfull and smiâ—ing countenance Neither can he expect any succour or relief either from within or from without in the day of affliction As fear of losing eats up all his comfort and content in enjoying so forfeiture of title makes his lost Soul eternally despair of a recovery and repossession I wonder on what acquaintance the sinner can challenge any interest or pretend to any hope in God or what possible should be the ground-work and foundation of his professed but mistaken confidence He may build Castles in the Air and make to himself a refuge of lies please himself with conceits and fancies of supposed and imaginary happiness but they will prove meer delusions in the end As his confidence is a lie in the foundation so it will be in the event Isa 28. Gods wrath is all this time smoaking against him and will break forth in fiery flames of indignation while he promiseth himself peace in the walks of the imagination of his own heart Deut. 29.19 If God once forsakes him all the world cannot help or relieve him Neither any of the Persons nor all the things of the World can give him comfort If the Lord helps not who can help The world usually deceives her Confidents The Rock of Worldlings is not as the Rock of Believers Carnal confidences in the issue render ashamed God hath blown upon them with his curse Thou shalt be ashamed of Egypt as thou wast of Assyria saith God to his people Jer. 2.36 Our Fathers inherited lies vanity and things wherein there is no profit Jer. 16.19 The very houses of Achzibâ— shall be a lie to the King of Assyria Mic. 1.14 Aâ— wicked man hath no hope and all the help hâ— hath will prove but a vain and deceitfull help There is a weakness and infirmity an uncertainty and instability an unfaithfulness and inconstancy a vanity and vexation attends all Creatures They are crackt Cistorns Jer. 2.13 Lying vanities Jonah 2. empty duggs and dry breasts failing Brooks Egyptian reeds which do not only fail but pierce God hath put a perishing nature into all created supports and sufficiencies and over and above cursed such as make flesh their arm Men of low degree are vanity and of high degree a lie may promise much but perform little or nothing like the Indian Tree the Leaves of their professions are as big as a Target but the Fruit of their actions as small as a Bean. They are broken staves deceitfull bowes the portion of Jacob is not like them Jerem. 10.15 16. Take the choicest of created helps and a man cannot promise himself any safety in them or help from them Friends and Relations may fail Estates and Possessions may fail health and strength comforts and accommodations favour and friendship supplyes and assistances may and will fail yea Kings and Princes may and have failed their deâ—endants It 's better to trust in the Lord than in â—rinces Psal 118.8 9. Multa cadunt inter caliâ—em Methinks I see every wicked man bringâ—â—g as once a Noble and Learned person was 〈◊〉 his finall execution with those as his last dyâ—â—g words in his mouth spoken in the bitterness 〈◊〉 â—is Soul Put not your trust in Princes nor the â—on of Man in whom there is no help What a â—d disappointment did that Noble and worthy â—arl meet with who thought he had assurance 〈◊〉 his Princesses favour only by the intervening miscarriage of a treacherous person What said that great Cardinal when under Attainder and given up into his Enemies hand as a sacrifice If I had but taken that care to have pleased my God which I have done to serve my Prince he would not have left me now in mine old age The World deals with her familiars and favourites as great men with their servants keeping them while young healthy and able but turning them off when they grow old infirm and unserviceable All meer Creatures will fail external priviledges high profession it 's not Jacobs profession but his God that is his help choice parts common graces and usefull gâ—fts great confidences yea a mans flesh and heart will fail Wit and wealth will not help in the day of present trouble or eternal wrath Gold and Silver will not deliver then Lo this is the man proclaimed he stands to all the world that made not God his trust Psal 52.7 Aids and allies cannot help Who can stand before much less against Omnipotâ—ncy What Jerusalem complains of under her Captivity will bâ— sooner or later the sense and expression too of aâ— that trust in any thing on this side God the greâ— Jehovah and stay short of Heaven Lam. 4.17 Aâ— for us our eyes as yet failed for our vain help Iâ— our watching we have watched for a Nation thâ— could not save us What Senacherib told Hezekiâ— upon this accompt will prove most true 2 King 18.21 Now behold thou trustest upon the staffeâ— this bruised reed even upon Egypt on which if 〈◊〉 man lean it will goe into his hand and pierce it so is Pharaoh King of Egypt to all that trust iâ— him We may cry to these Idols but they cannâ—â— answer nor save us out of our trouble Isa 46.7 Thâ—y were all ashamed saith the Prophet of a people that could not profit them nor be an help Isa 30.5 Let a private distress a publick calamity come a Sword a Plagâ—e a Famine a Fire Creatures cannot help how much less when death and damnation comes to seize on the poor undone sinner What will they do in the day of that their Visitation in the desolation which comes from farr to whom will ye flâ—e for help and where will ye leave your glory as the Prophet speaks Isa 10.3 O the dreadfull and desperate case of every
industrious Trades-man in his waiâ—s of providence to get the world God can blast the fairest hopes and greatest designs whatsoever And as he can ruin by the hand of friends so he can save by the hand of an enemy when there is no healer unto a soul or people he can he can yet do the cure what is designed and intended for evil he can work good out of and order for good to his People And as he hath ability enough so readiness to work for his People Though Father forsakes children as Herod did his Antipater and Husband Wife as did Henry the eighth and Prince his Favourites as Ahashuerus did his subject Mordâ—cai and Haman his Courtier yet he will never forsake his People And he can facilly help too in the greatest extremities It 's but a turn of his hand a shine of his face and look of his countenance and we are saved And he is a sure steady and faithful help that will stand by us to the end and in the end And have not our souls had plentiful experience and is there any thing that can more fortifie and strengthen faith than the remembrances of his past succours Psa 61.3 4. Oh therefore perswade we our souls by all these twisted Arguments and lay them under a perpetual and irrevocable obligation to hope in the Lord. O you that are young men you that are old men for the Psalmist calls on all sorts of men to trust in the Lord you that are coming into the world make him the hope of your youth and you that are going out of the world make him the staff of your age You can never trust God too much nor the Creature too little Hope in him for your bodies for your souls in good daies in evil under private evils under publick Are you cast into a troublesome world as indeed you are in this present generation going to Sea in a storm never such a ruffle in the world yet cast your Anchor on God When your credits estates liberties health wealth trade religion your all lies at the stake still depend upon him In times of greatest hurlyburly distraction and confusion yet be found waiting for him and his salvation Were you in prison in exile in a wilderness do not despair Gods presence is with his People wheresoever they are cast God can be with you in a prison as he was with Joseph in a dungeon as with Jeremiah in a Lions den as with Daniel nay if you were in Hell with Jonas he can make it an Heaven to you God is with his to the end of the Earth he can supply all your wants even spread a table for you in the wilderness relieve all your straits rid you out of all your dangers deliver you from all your fears do for you beyond your thoughts desires or hopes Should or does it go ill with Sion are the Church and People of God low do her enemies grow high insolent and triumph Is the Church upon the Cockboat of distractions are there great disorders and confusions abroad divisions and unsettlements at home impediments in the way of reformation so as ye look for peace and no good comes and for healing but behold a time of trouble go to God who governs the world and the Church too He steers the ship and though now tossed with the tempestuous waves of animosity pride and contention will yet command a calm and bring it safely to shore Deliverance shall come the way he hath appointed and the day he hath determined too if not this or that yet another day and another way He hath made a standing promise that no weapon formed against her shall prosper Isa 54.17 And though Gebal Ammon and Amaleck should joyn together their heads hearts and hands and unite in never so many deep contrivances close conspiracies and factious cunning stratagems bold and daring attempts strong combinations Though Papists and Atheists Jews Turks and Devils should all enter a league and confederacy yet shall they be broken though they dig as deep as Hell the counsels of Heaven would undermine them and divine providence counterwork them Isa 29.15 Though they lay the train of never so cruel and politick a design God would blow it up and return the blisters upon their own faces In the worst of times it 's your duty to hope for better baec non durabunt aetatem God will give these an end also he will create on every dwelling place of Mount Sion 't is a Gospel-promise and upon her Assemblies a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night as he did to Israel in the wilderness to whose pillar of cloud and fire the Prophet alludes For upon all the glory shall be a defence And though there be never so many lets in the way of mercy God is able to turn hinderances into furtherances poysons into medicines destructions into deliverances O therefore at all times and seasons in all cases and conditions go to God as your help and hope And if you would know how to make your applications to him and at what special times and seasons you should hope and depend upon him take a short account in a few particulars First What are the special seasons we should go to God in I answer no time is amiss There is as welcome going to God in a Sun-shine as in a storm There is no time of addresse to God but 't is an accepted time There may be a time when God will not be found but never any when he will not be sought In time of felicity when we sit under the warming influence of gracious providence God spreads a table for us and our cups overflow with his goodness This is one of the most noble but yet one of the most difficult exercises of faith When a man enjoys the fulness of the creature yet to rest purely upon the Creator It was an high pitch of Paul when having nothing yet to be as having all things but yet a far higher attainment when having all things yet to be as having nothing This is one of the sublimest acts faith can possibly exert But the ordinary use of hope is in daies of adversity when the soul eats the bread of carefulness and drinks the wine of astonishment When the waters come into his soul and all Gods billows are ready to cover him and swallow him up A tempest is the seasonable time for the Believer to throw out the anchor of his hope especially when a man â—s First Under pursuits of divine wrath Gods terrours drink up his spirit his arrows stick fast in him and his hand presseth him very fore While God is killing his people should be trusting There 's no way under those but of running from God unto God from the bar of his Justice to the Throne of his Grace from him as an angry Judge to him as a reconciled Father from him as the destroyer of sinners to him as the Saviour of
to bring light out of darkness and Heaven out of Hell Gods ways are often in the Deep and his paths hidden and unknown Thou hidest thy self O God of Israel the Saviour The Devil first comes with the sweetest and at last with the sharpest God on the contrary makes a sad beginning but a blessed and comfortable end ye have seen the end of the Lord. God indeed usually comes to the wicked first with a blessing and last with a judgement but to his people first with a judgement and last with a blessing The wicked have the top of the Cup of mercy but the dregs of that of wrath The Saints sip of the Cup of wrath but have the bottom of that of mercy Now the further off the approaches of mercy are the more invisible The Prophet speaks of the Interstitium between the Law and the Gospel that it should be a day half dark and half light Zech. 14.8 And 't is alwayes darkest and coldest a little before break of day We are no competent Judges of divine operations God was in that place and Jacob knew it not we often fear a Devil of fury when there 's nothing but an Angel of mercy and look not on that side of the Picture which hath the face of a beautifull Virgin but the other that hath the affrighting look of an ugly and deformed Monster Manoah when God came to visit him thought he came to murder him when God comes to comfort us then we are well-pleased but let him come to humble refine and purge better and reform us then we cry out Undone We are sensible when he gives us fuller assurance but not when he works in us more holiness So let Christ appear in his glory in his Church let him give her a Year of Jubilee then her Children lift up their heads but let him appear in the prefiguring signs and shake all Nations come with Fire and Sword then mens hearts tremble for fear and scarce is faith to be found in the Earth But the infinitely wise God hath private Channels and Conveyances of grace which are not a whit less sure because more hidden and secret And thirdly not presently As God works not according to our modell so he takes his own time That leads to the second He alwayes observes not nay seldom or never our time Christ would do nothing before his hour came It is not for us to know the times and seasons which God hath reserved in his own Power All things shall not do at present work together for good take the whole piece when finisht and it will appear excellent God hath an appointed time which once come mercy shall stay no longer Exod. 12. ult The very same day Israel went out of Egypt by their armies In that instant Daniel was praying the seventy weeks being determined comes a Dove with a Letter in its wing an Angel flying to him with intelligence of the return of their Capâ—iviâ—y There is a set time when he will have mercy on Sion God sent his Son in the fulness of time When the Ammorites sins be full he will judge them though it be four hundred years first he had not forgotten them one day with him is as a thousand and a thousand years but as yesterday as a Watch in the night And when Gods peoples graces be at the full he will then come and save them He gathers his fruit when once ripe God does not alwayes ride post or mercy come on the wing but though it be long first it shall surely come at last and the longer in coming the better and more welcom mercies soon ripe are soon rotten soon gotten soon lost but those which cost us dear and are the fruit of many prayers tears and sorrows and results of much faith and hope waiting and patience are sweetest and surest our Benjamins and most beloved darlings God hath bound himself by promise to his people for the thing but not for the time and he does not therefore observe the soonest but the seasonablest time nor so confider our need as not also to respect our fitness and so his own glory He can work when he pleaseth Nullum tempus occurrit Regi and if he does not when we desire it 's but a just requital for as his time was not ours in coming to him so 't is but equal our time should not be his in coming to us But yet his delaies are no denials and mercy may be nearest when it seems furthest off Faith knows Gods time is the best and is willing to stay for its portion till he pleaseth to pay it alwaies saying Not mine but thy will be done If God comes not ad horam he will ad salutem the longer the Physick remains in the body of the Patient the more effectual will be its operation And the longer the vessel of prayer be gone the greater lading it brings with it when it once comes home Hasty births commonly miscarry and how sad a case will it be to lose a mercy or have it spoiled and have half a mercy instead of it for want of a little longer waiting The Souldier will be vexed to purpose if he delivers the Castle when as if he had staid but a few daies longer relief had come certainly What gat Saul by posting the Sacrifice before Samuel came It might have cut him to the heart if it did not to think that had he waited but a few daies longer he had saved both his life and his Kingdom Impatience hath lost or impaired many a mercy God will grant our patient sober submissive requests but never in mercy our restless and too importunate desires These make him often give us royal favours in anger and let his wrath enter our souls while yet our meat is in our mouths The Church had learnt better manners than to be so hasty so quick and snatching Isa 26.9 In the way of thy Judgements have we waited for thee It 's too great a boldness to make our watch a rule for Gods Sun our seeming distructions often usher in our deliverance and our too great haste for deliverance oft proves our destruction But thirdly We may say our case is sad our misery great we are under sore trials and temptations have met with many disappointments so as we have no hope our case is desperate our disease is grown incurable To which I answer the sadder our condition the more hope The greater mans misery the more Gods pity and deeper our affliction the higher his affection It 's the more honour to God to work when others have thrown it up and the greater glory to this heavenly Physitian to do the cure when 't is grown opprobrium medicorum the scorn to all others God delights to come in at a strait to know his People in a day of adversity To stay till all our power be gone our hope perished and we have given over praying seeking waiting hoping and expecting and given up all for lost
an Ark Heb. 11.7 which the prophane and secure world flouted and derided This was Lots security in the overthrow of Sodom his soul was vexed with their filthy conversation 2 Pet. 2.7 8. And the Apostle makes him a president his deliverance a ruling case so as to argue and draw up a firm conclusion from it for all the godly under like circumstances verse 9. This tenderness of conscience was that which removed Josiah out of the dint of suffering 2 King 22.19 Jealousie of sinning is the best security against suffering Such as fear Gods Name shall have the bright side of the cloud when others have the dark he will be to them a Sun when to the rest a fire This holy carriage protected Jeremiah and kept him out of captivity and exempted Baruch and gave him his life for a prey Gods mourners who gave him their testimony by wearing his livery shall also have his mark of distinguishing favour Ezek. 9. They are pluckt as brands out of the fire We may invert that of the Prophet Ezekiel and make the subject the predicate cap. 7.16 They who are as Doves of the Valleys mourning for their iniquity shall escape They who feared the Lord and thought on his Name minded Religion and made it their business had a book of remembrance written Mal. 3.16 Phinehas's zeal procures him the covenant of Gods peace Numb 25.8 Secondly A fiducial recumbency God saves them that trust in him and because they trust in him Psal 37. ult He that believes shall never be confounded God is a buckler to them that trust in him Prov. 2.8 The scope of the whole 91 Psalm is to assure preservation to them that exercise faith in God and keep in viis in waies of strict and close walking with him Not an absolute faith that God certainly will protect and deliver for that cannot be without a special revelation but a stedfast faith and firm dependance on God and his power and providence both as able and willing to do it Jobs confidence in God gave him assurance of his being his salvation This obtained a special priviledge for Obedmelech Jer. 39. ult Thy life shall be for a prey to thee because thou hast put thy trust in me saith the Lord. And this gave Daniel a marvelous yea miraculous protection Dan. 6.22 23. Innocency was found in him and he believed in his God Thirdly A praying importunity When Gods Spirit is poured out from on high and his stir up themselves to take hold on God plead and wrastle call and cry being his remembrancers day and night Psal 32.6 And so Zeph. 2.3 Seek the Lord all ye meek of the earth which have wrought his Judgement seek righteousness seek meekness it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lords anger in the most desolating Judgements God reserves a remnant and they are the seeking praying ones Joel 2. ult Whosoever shall call on the Name of the Lord shall be delivered So Psal 91.14 15. Fourthly A perfect and exact integrity He saves the upright in heart Psal 7.10 He compasseth them about with favour as a shield The way of the just is uprightness thou most upright doest weigh the path of the Just Isa 26.7 Integrity is the ground of hope This gave Job a certainty of his coming out of affliction and of a glorious restauration Job 13.18 I have ordered my cause I know I shall be justified This was that Hezekiah pleaded under Gods correction Isa 38.3 And Nehemiah under his enemies rage and opposition Think upon me my God for good Christs Righteousness is only pleadable at the bar of Gods Justice but our own in the Court of his mercy A man may as well rear a building on a quagmire or quick-sand as build a just hope on Hypocrisie but righteousness is a sure soundation The morning star being once up and visible it 's never very dark Such as walk alwaies in the view of their uprightness have alwaies some glimmerings of comfort and are never hopeless and desolate This was Gods own assignation of the reason of Noahs deliverance Gen. 7.1 Thee only have I found righteous in this generation He that walks uprightly walks securely When men are upright to God to men exercise a conscience void of offence in duties of the first and the second Table keep themselves from their iniquities and have respect to all Gods Commandments and whatsoever comes on them do not forget God and his Covenant they are upon the fairest ground of security The Prophet Amos puts them into not a bare capacity but at least a probability of mercy Amos 5.15 Hate the evil seek good and establish Judgement in the gate it may be the Lord God of Hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph Nay the Prophet Isaiah goes further and puts them under a certainty Isa 33.16 When Hypocrites were bundled as thorns or packt as brands into the devouring fire of Gods wrath who should abide now He that walketh righteously He shall dwell on high his place of defence shall be the munition of Rocks bread shall be given him his waters shall be sure Fifthly A resolved singularity and couragious zeal and magnanimity for God in the worst of times both as to doing and suffering When Christians shine with an eminent lustre of piety like stars in a dark night with greater brightness and burn with an holy zeal as fire in frosty weather alwaies hottest are none such of the times and do not only keep themselves untainted from the sins they embrace but se on the duties they oppose resolving with Joshua that they and their house will serve the Lord and with Daniel that they will as formerly notwithstanding all prohibitions to the contrary make their supplication to the God of Heaven They will keep up private family duties publick attendances though all give them up maintain those duties of Religion most zealously strenuously and industriously that are most momentous though most opposed and despised dancing before the Lords Ark though laughed to scorn by the Michaels of the world Though Princes speak against them they will meditate and speak of Gods statutes They will appear for God when all appear against him as did Elijah whom God wonderfully secured and Paul whom he stood by miraculously and Luther whose language was fiat justitia ruat Coelum whom God signally protected at Worms and elsewhere though he were the only butt his pretended holiness then had to shoot at When a man is resolved to consult duty and not safety to suffer before he sins to burn in a fiery furnace before bow to a graven Image and with an holy fortitude to stand up for God against the sins of the time and place though he hath none to back him though all the neighbourhood Town City be otherwise affected as it was with him as to Baals Altars and Paul to the Athenian worships and is determined to venture all for God and in his Cause with a Caesarem