how God exercised the faith of Abraham who though he had given him promise of seed yet delays for a long time the accomplishment of that promise S. Chrysostom in locum This is S. Chrysostoms Reason upon this place Therefore saith he are those words used Sarah bare him no children that we might see that after so great promises made and so many assurances passed and yet the thing not done nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that all things seemed to go contrary yet Abraham still believed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he looked not at the secrets or impediments of nature but still trusted in God and waited on him as knowing whom he had believed Observ 3. Patience and attendance upon God is ever well rewarded S. Gregory The performance doth not always hold the promise by the heel as Iacob did Esau for where were then the trial of a mans faith Faith is the evidence of things not seen for Quod videtur sciri potius quam credi dicitur saith S. Greg. Whatsoever is seen is rather said to be known then believed And it is the true work of faith to wait for what God hath promised you though there be no likelihood in the judgement of flesh and blood that it should be performed Joseph had presages of his advancements in his dreams and they even so many promises of God unto him and yet we see how long it was ere this took effect yea God concealed from himself the time though he was able by the spirit of Prophecie to inform the Butler of his restauration but still he held himself to God and waited the issue And so David had a full promise of the kingdom of Israel yet we know how long God held off and what danger he waded thorow before he got to the shore this interim was the time of the exercise of his faith So it was with the children of Israel in their servitude in Egypt and likewise in their captivity in Babylon God deferred them till the last moment of time that their faith might have its due employment I know that Solomon saith Hope deferred is the fainting of the soul and his father David is at his Usquequo Domine How long Lord Psal 13. and many of Gods servants are at that of Saint Austin Quare non mode Domine Augustine Why not now Lord why not presently and sometimes in their weakness are apt to question Gods truth as David saith he shall verily fall one day by the hand of Saul and to construe Gods delays absolute denials or if they dare not charge his Truth yet they begin upon his deferring to doubt of his Goodness and Love unto them God hath forgotten to be gracious and hath shut up his loving kindness in displeasure But now in such a case Application we must take heed of giving way either to our own corruption or Satans suggestion or to joyn in both together when blessings promised are delayed to overthrow our faith to question Gods power Gods truth Gods goodness We must know that Gods arm is not shortened and he is Truth Heaven and earth shall perish before one jot of his word fail and he is as good as ever he was abundant in goodness and truth though in his wisedom he do not satisfie our desires presently We must know that as he is a powerful and a true and a good God so he is a wise God and he knows best what makes most for his glory and our good There is nothing left us Isai 20.16 but to pray and believe and wait and he that believes will not make haste Isai 20. It becomes not us to appoint God the time or the means or the manner of his performing it was one of the great sins of the Israelites 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they limited the Almighty and this is one way of limiting him to set him a time now saith God Jerem. 49.19 Who will appoint me my time Jer. 49. It becomes us I say to wait not force the Lord and wait patiently for him saith David Psal 37.7 Lam. 3.26 and Lam. 3. It is a good thing that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. That speech of Jehoram was fitter for an Atheist then an Israelite Why should I now wait for the Lord any longer 2 King 6.33 Gods people have been wont to speak in another manner Psal 40.1 I waited patiently for the Lord Psal 40 and Job saith Though God kill him yet he will trust in him Job 13.15 And certainly there is nothing lost in the close by waiting upon God the seed of Jacob shall not seek him in vain Isai 45. They shall not be ashamed that wait for me Isai 49.23 Isai 49. Though the vision tarry saith Habakkuk Chap. 2. vers 3. wait for it for it will surely come He who cannot lye hath promised it and the end will certainly be consolation A second Reason of these words is saith another because God would shew that whensoever Abraham and Sarah should have that seed which was promised it should be ex gratia non ex natura nay it should be not natural but miraculous for she was now seventy five and Abraham was eighty five yet it was longer deferred when therefore it shall be effected it shall be Gods miraculous power Observ 4. Straits and exigents should never cause our diffidence God often defers and suffers things to come to an exigent Insomuch that they be saith S. Chrysost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 impossible according to humane reason and discourse that he may manifest his own divine power when nature is nonplus'd This we see in the three children who were bound and cast into the midst of a fiery furnace seven times heated he could have freed them before but he would make way for a miracle They shall walk in the midst of the fire as in a cool arbor Basil saith Saint Basil and when they come out not so much as the smell of fire shall be found upon them So in Daniel he suffers him to be cast into the lions den that he may work a miracle in preserving him among those fierce companions who as is said were kept hungry that they might be more greedy of their prey And so he suffers Jonah to be cast into the sea and to be in the belly of the whale three days for the manifestation of his miraculous power And our blessed Lord on purpose did defer that turning the water into wine till all the wine was spent that he might do a miracle and manifest his glory as it is John 2.11 Joh. 2.11 And so he deferred on purpose to come to Bethany till Lazarus was dead and buried and had lain so many days in the grave the end was the glory of God and that the Son of God might be glorified thereby John 11.4 Joh. 11.4 And so he did not deliver Paul and his company till all
their deliverer The Application of this point is to stirr us up Application to put this that I have said in practice in those evils of punishment that befall us we are not to rest in the secondary causes but to mount higher even to God for there is none evill in the city which the Lord doth not Amos 3. Understand it de malis poenae non Culpae of the evils of punishment not of those of sin David knew that God had a hand in Shimei's cursing him the Lord hath bidden him curse saith he 2 Sam 6.11 2 Sam. 16. So Iob in his losses had an eye not so much to the Caldeans and Sabeans or to Satan himself as unto God non ad manum percutientem sed ad manum permittentem saith Saint Augustine Augustine he looked not at the hand that smote him but higher to the divine hand permitting it The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away Iob. 1. Iob. 1.21 Saint Paul doth instruct the Corinthians that when they were judged they were chastned of the Lord 1 Cor. 11.32 Isai 9.13 1 Cor. 11.32 and it is taxed as a great fault when men turn not unto him that smiteth them Isai 9.13 So in blessings received we should not stick in the meanes but acknowledg God to be the Author and prime efficient and that inferiour causes are but his instruments for as in evils of punishment if we do not rise in our thoughts as high as God and make account they are from him we shall never be patient under the rod nor profit by it so in good things received if we look no further then second causes we shall never be truely thankful nay we shall be unjust by shifting the debt from the true creditor And yet how frequent a fault is this in the world In Victories how apt are men to thank the strength and the power they brought into the field and to forget him that is the Lord of hosts and God of victory Nay Adrian and Verus of old and Selimus and Ferdinand of later times did erect monuments of Victory to their Horses So for honour and dignity men thank their friends or their money or their own acts not remembring that of the Psalmist Psal 75.6 that promotion cometh neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south but it is God that pulleth down one and setteth up another So for wealth men look no further then their own labour or industry or else what hath been cast upon them by the donation of friends not remembring that of Solomon The blessing of God is that which maketh rich The returns at Sea are attributed to a strong ship and the Skill of the Pilot. The Fisher as the Prophet speaketh sacrificeth to his net and drag The Husbandman thanketh his dung-hill for his Crop and neglecteth God that giveth the increase Yea some are so presumptuous and so irreligious as to thank themselves and their own works for their salvation they will have not onely a congruity but a condignity in them and say that God is tied upon terms of strict justice to reward them never thinking of God who worketh all their works for them saith the Prophet that worketh both the will and the deed saith the Apostle Some in special comforts received either by preaching or otherwise idolize the Ministers and are not thankful as they ought to God Isai 48.17 who maketh them to profit Isai 48. and giveth the tongue of the learned to his servants to minister a word in due season to them that be weary And 50.4 Isai 50. Now what wrong is here done to God that he must be robbed to pay the instrument How must this needs provoke him He is not against some praise and thanks to be given to the instrument The sword of the Lord and the sword of Gedeon But when he observeth us to give more unto the means then to the author then he is jealous and is more justly offended then Saul was with the womens song Saul hath slain his thousands and David his ten thousands Let the keeper of the vineyard have his two hundred but let Solomon have his thousand Thank we our friends and think well of the means but let God have the fat of the sacrifice as without whose blessing no means could have been available for our comfort If we do otherwise as we are unjust and unthankful for the present so we lay up a judgement for after time It is reported of Timantes of Athens who reckoning up his Victories coming to one said Hoe Fortunae meae debeo This I owe unto my Fortune You must know he meant by Fortune the Deity but he never prospered after When in mercies received we forget to acknowledge God the prime agent and to be thankful it is the next way to make all means for after-time unsuccessful Let us learn of Hagar here Thou Lord seest me I have had great comfort from the Angel but I know he was onely but thy mouth Thou art the fountain of all my consolation It is thou thou Lord alone that seest and regardest me We come to the next clause Have I here also looked after him that seeth me Of which there be almost as many interpretations as there be words in it That a man is as Nazianzen saith Nazianzen in another case in a garden where there is variety of curious flowers he knoweth not which to pluck first Some make the meaning to be this Have I here also looked after him That is I have onely seen the back-parts of the Angel and not his face Musculus thinketh that she was so fearful and modest that all the while the Angel spake to her she looked not upon him onely in his going away Observ 3. The imperfection of our knowledge here and dulness of our apprehensions Exod. 33.10 she had a sight of his back-part And from hence some would gather that our knowledge even of Angels in this life is imperfect and if of them much more of God who said to Moses Exod. 33. Thou shalt see my back-parts but my face canst thou not see and live The Apostle telleth us 1 Cor. 13. We know but in part and Chap. 12. 1 Cor. 13.9 We now see thorow a glass darkly hereafter we shall fee more clearly we shall see him as he is 1 Joh. 3. and yet even then Qualis est non quantus est 1 Joh. 3.2 saith the Father his indulgence to us rather then the essence of himself for that is too strong liquor for any created nature to contain he is incomprehensible our eyes are too weak to gaze against such a Sun Others expound it thus Various Expositions Have I also here looked after him that seeth me that is I have seen that Angel here after I have seen him in my masters house And some would make this the Tutelar or Guardian Angel of Abrahams family and that he was
very prevalent Thirdly Follow them with your prayers by this means they shall be semen sanctum i.e. an holy seed your sons shall be holy plants and your daughters as the polished corners of the temple Lastly Not to stay too long upon this point not onely in regard of children but in the want of other blessings that we stand in need of and doe desire we should observe the restraining hand of God If we have not the latitude of health that we would have we must acknowledg it to be Gods doing if we have not the proportion of estate that will serve to maintain our charge we must make account it is the Lords dispensation if we want the inward comfort that our souls long for we must know that it is God that restrains it and hath put our sun behinde a cloud So in regard of the publique if we have not fruitful seasons if we lack the first and latter rain if the times be more cloudy and fuller of distraction if the Gospell hath not so free a passage we must see Gods work in all these things There is no evill in a City which the Lord hath not done as the Prophet speaks he enlargeth or restraineth himself as he pleaseth If we could thus look up to him and his hand we could not stick in second causes which begets murmuring and meditation of revenge we would seek to him and till he answer us wait with patience We now come to the second cause of the marriage of Abraham and Hagar and that is Sarahs request to her husband to goe in to her maide the connexion of which with the former Saint Chrysostome makes to be such that he may free Sarah from all blame Saint Chrysostoms Apologie for Sarahs request that he notes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sweet disposition of Sarah and makes her speak unto her husband in this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Though the God of nature hath made me childless it is not meet that thou should'st be deprived of the hope of issue seeing God hath made thee the promise of comfort being my dear and loving husband thou hast born patiently my sterility all this time and now I propound thee a course that is likely to make thee a father though not by me and the childe shall be as dear to me as if of my own body because that it will make for thy comfort Thus was she willing saith that Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Observ 2. Conjugal relations should bemutually affectionate to manifest her great affection to her husband Now thus in the face of it though as afterward we shall shew God willing there was weakness and sin in it in the face of it I say it carries that true respect which the wife should have to the husband to tender his contentment above her own We shall see that when Iacob moveth his wives for his return to his own country though they must needs have a great affection to their Country and their Fathers house yet seeing it was their husbands pleasure grounded upon Gods command they willingly submit to follow him Gen. 31. Gen. 31.16 Michal did well in that 1 Sam. 19. 1 Sam. 19. That she sought the safety of her husband though with her own perill for it was very doubtful how Saul her father might deal with her for this care of her husband for in the next Chapter he throweth a speare at Ionathan his worthy Son for speaking in his behalfe but she knew the bonds of a wife were stronger then those of a daughter God laid this upon the woman Gen. 3.16 Gen. 3. that her desire should be subject to her husband she must preferr his will before her own and his contentment before her own and certainly else I see not how she answereth the end of her Creation which was to be a meet help for him Application Now it were much to be wished that this lesson were taken out but out of doubt as it hath been in former times so there is still a great defect this way The love that Lots wife bare to Sodome was a great means of delaying of her husbands comming out of that place she sought her own contentment rather then his or her own safety The reason why Moses forbare the circumcising of his second childe was the offence that his wife took at the circumcising of the first no question he had acquainted her with the danger of the omission but what cares she so she may content her self to expose him to a judgment And are there not too many so affected in these times that care not so they have their content though it be to their husbands prejudice They must dwell where they have a minde not where he desireth they must have these and these cloathes and these and these Iewels though oftentimes these be the sick feathers of a declining estate that they are plumed withal many a wife makes the husband in the latter end sit down and complain in the words of Adam mulier quam dedisti the woman whom thou gavest me hath deceived me Let the husband be sick they will be of those that shall do least about him they will not break their rest and sleep to attend him Let the husband stay at home mourning for want of his society and assistance while they take their vagaries and please themselves in their recreations this is not to be a daughter of Sarah and to do as she did who is said to have obeyed him and called him Lord and in all things studied his contentment and was most earnest to do that which she thought might most comfort him Thus far have we followed S. Chrysostome Observ 3. Defects of any kinde may not be supplied unlawfully But by the leave of so great a Father whatsoever intention she had to content her husband she makes a very bad inference from the former words Because God had restrained her from bearing therefore Abraham must go in to her maid If God do not answer our expectation must we go use indirect means to supply our wants God forbid Shall a man because he lacketh a wife go and steal one Because his wife bears him no children shall he get them on others Because a man wants money shall he purloin or use unjust courses Because he wants honour shall he contrive himself into it by lying and flattering and base supplantation The want of things discontenteth people and then forsooth because God restraineth his hand they will furnish themselves Because David is still pursued by Saul and that God doth not put an end to his troubles shall he throw himself amongst the Philistims 1 Sam. 27. 1 Sam. 27 that was a tempting of God and a discontentment with his estate and if God had not been the more merciful it had been the next means of his confusion Because Saul is not answered of the Lord 1 Sam. 28 neither by dreams 1 Sam. 28. nor
man as not damnified there because he hath his conscience to witness unto him that he hath done things uprightly and lawfully and this testimony is a good harbour in the miscarrying of any business I renew then my Exhortation Let us not look for comfort in any business wherein we do not ask Gods counsel be our helps and means as probable and likely as may be Let us look non confirmari sed infirmari as one saith not to be strengthened unto the end but weakned therewith expect God to cross us to give us mourning in stead of all the mirth we looked for penury in stead of plenty ignominy in stead of dignity contempt in stead of comfort as we see here in Sarah whose plot is paid home with the insolencie and pride of her servant that she had preferred to her husband Which are two things further that we are to consider of as those which did edge her expostulation with her husband First the ingratitude of her maide I told you of the last day Observ 2. The ill offices of a friend still wound the deepest how ill it was in Hagar now let me tell you how deep it cut her mistress that she whom she had loved and dignified should be thus malepert against her and certainly ingratitude after good and great deservings will affect much Joseph thought with himself how ill his master must take it from him that he whom he had so respected and advanced should wrong his bed we know what David had done for Keilah he had saved it from the Philistims those ingrateful ones for all that had a purpose to deliver him into Sauls hand it much troubleth him insomuch that he asketh God once and the second time will the men of Keilah deliver me Can they be so unthankful for a benefit so fresh in their remembrance 1 Sam. 23. David knew well what he had done for Nabal 1 Sam. 23 how he had saved his flocks and therefore when he forgetteth his kindness and sendeth him such a churlish answer to so modest a motion he is put into a passion is much troubled and resolveth upon a speedy and sharp revenge 1 Sam. 25. 1 Sam. 25. You shall see how the same David bemoaneth himself Psal 41.9 that his familiar friend in whom he trusted and who did eat of his bread whom he put in his bosome He lift up his heel against him and as he saith else where had it been a stranger or an adversary he could have born it but from such an one as he had loved and done good unto this grieved him there is much Emphasis in that one word of Christ to Judas betrayest thou the son of man with a kiss Thou my Domestick thou that hast been so neer unto me yea whom I trusted to be my purse-bearer Thou betray me and when Caesar was slain in the Senate all the wounds he received from the rest of the conspiratours were not so grievous unto him as that of Brutus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what thou my son a cold winde from the South is most unnatural and unkindness from those that we have most favoured is intolerable Now for the Use of it Because we may be exercised with this trial among others Application and that we may finde people ungrateful unto us and those most of whom we have deserved best and because it is a thing apt to work upon us and disturb us let us fortifie our selves against it by these things First let us consider the vitiousness and depravedness of mans nature as there is in man a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a seed-plot and seminary of all sin and among the rest he is apt to be guilty of ingratitude we should therefore wonder no more at this then at other sins for the fire will burn and the fountain will bubble up and corrupt Nature will shew it self every thing will doe according to its kinde Secondly to pacifie us let us know we are not alone in this in all times men have had experience of others unthankfulness Moses from the people to whom he did so many good offices the Egyptians soon forgot Joseph who when time was was only under God the preserver of their Country Israel shewed not kindeness to Gideon according to all the goodness that he had shewed to Israel Judg. 8.10 Judg. 8. our Lord suffered in this kinde from the Jews yea from Judas his own Disciple and who are we that we should be exempted from this tryal Thirdly let us think often of our carriage towards God how he hath heaped up blessings upon us yea tyled one favour upon another and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is day by day every morning his mercies are renewed he doth not only prevent us with them and follow us with them but even compasseth us with them we are as a Center wherein the lines of his blessings from every part of the Circumference do meet and yet how unthankful are we every day provoking him every moment sinning against him as if we would out-vie his mercies with our sins as if like the Sycamour tree we were the more barren for the oftner watering it should less trouble us therefore when men are unthankful unto us when we consider the measure we offer to God nay we should take it as a just punishment of our ingratitude towards him Fourthly we should not do good turns to others for thanks or to oblieg them unto us but we should do what we do ingenuously out of a conscience of Gods commandment that tyeth us to do good offices to them out of a sence of our brothers necessities or out of a feeling of what true friendship and charity requireth of us For when we aym at thanks in the collation of favours and think to binde men unto us it more affecteth us when they prove unthankful Lastly the best way is to leave such persons to God who is a sure pay-master to those that are guilty of this moral defect this breach of good manners in experience he hath seldom suffered ingratitude even in men towards men to go unpunished now if God will revenge it why should we afflict our selves with it Idoneus Sequester Tertullian Is saith Tertullian in this case He wil remember it when we have forgotten it A second thing that edgeth Sarah is contempt and disdain that she findeth of her self Observ 3. Contempt is the heaviest burden to ingenious spirits with the remedies against it in her servant she was despised in her eyes and it cannot be denyed but that was a shrewd temptation it was not so much by far to be unthankful as to add scorn unto it the generous nature of man doth doubtfully conflict with this and it can brook any thing rather then contempt above hell there is not a greater punishment then to become a Sannio a subject of scorn Samson more patiently endureth the boring out of his eyes then the Iudibrious scoffs of the
to a mans estate in forcing away a servant yea it may be the undoing of the servant as Hagar was in the way by this flight to have been undone if the Angel of God had not met her Use your servants fairly Satyrus in Athenaeus was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Good to servants because he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he was kinde and indulgent to his servants Let Christians affect this title let them perform that which is equal and just to their servants Let them make much of them when they do well and when they do ill let them correct them but let it be in love and with moderation and never immoderately Let them but think of what they have done against God and that if he were extreme to mark what is done amiss how they are not able to abide it if he should deal with them after their sins and reward them after their iniquities they should even suck out the dregs of the vial they should not onely be beaten with rods but with scorpions and suffer the punishments both of this life and that which is to come Oh be ye therefore merciful as your Father in heaven is merciful and be such masters to your servants as you desire to finde God a Master to you Preached Novemb. 3. 1641. THE TENTH SERMON GEN. 16.6 7. And she fled Vers 7. And the angel of the Lord found her WE told you that it was ill in her mistress to use her so hardly but yet she cannot be justified in her flight That now remaineth and the Point is That though masters and mistresses be rigorous Observ 1. Flight of servants not justifiable by any hard usage having more lawful remedies Psal 123.2 yet servants must not flee away A servant is to yeeld both active and passive obedience First Active in performing the lawful commands of them David makes it the property of a servant to look to the hand of the master and of a maid to look to the hand of her mistress Psal 123. Thus did Eliezer the servant of Abraham Gen. 24. and the servant of Elijah 1 Kings 18. and the Centurions servant Matth. 8. he said to one Go and he goeth and to another Come and he cometh and to another Do this and he doth it On the other side it was wicked in Ziba who being commanded by his master to saddle the ass went away and did it not 2 Sam. 19. and so in Jobs servants who being called 2 Sam. 19.26 would not answer Job 19. Secondly there is a passive obedience required of them and that is in regard of Correction and Reproof and that not onely in looks when they are brow-beaten as we say and frowned upon and that anger appears in the countenance but also when it is in words Tit. 2.9 The Apostle chargeth this upon servants Tit. 2. where he will not have them to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to answer again Not but that a servant when he is unjustly challenged may reply so he do it seasonably and modestly as we see David did to Saul in the cave 1 Sam. 24. 1 Sam. 24. But servants must not rashly spitefully in a spirit of contradiction yea they must patiently rather endure words Yea thirdly if it come to blowes they must endure it 1 Pet. 2. Servants 1 Pet. 2.18 be subject to your masters with all fear not onely to the good and gentle but to the froward those that be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 harsh and rigorous they that will not onely frown and talk but lay on and that severely for he speaks presently of buffeting And we see how patiently Joseph endured imprisonment Gen. 39. Gen. 39.20 Psal 105.18 yea fetters and iron chains Psal 105. And the Collator tells of a certain religious young man who having a blowe given him by his governour that was heard to the farthest part of the room where many were assembled he was so far from murmuring that he did not so much as change his countenance but holding his tongue was as modest and humble in his behaviour as if he had not been smitten at all Now this patient enduring is flatly against fleeing as Hagar did here For the Use of this Application It meets with divers servants in these times whose stoutness is such that they will not endure any kinde of Correction If it be but in frowns you shall have them as sowre as their masters and mistresses and they will pout and lowre and vie with them in this way If it be in words they will presently chop Logick and bandy word for word without any modestie or sobriety And if it come to blowes by no means they will endure this they scorn to be beaten they came not for that end and therefore they will struggle and strive with master or mistress yea sometimes even strike again and if they cannot make their party good then they will run away as she here in our Text. Why will some say Why should any one be subject to the unlimited humour of another We may be misused and maimed I answer Where masters and mistresses be unreasonable in correction Servants flight unlawful and make a practice of it it is lawful to seek redress by means of friends and if that will not do it is lawful to seek to the Magistrate for his help but for any ill usage it is not lawful to run away And therefore in the second place though it be durus serme to servants an hard saying that they must endure correction at the hands of their governours they must digest it And there be many things to help them in the swallowing of this bitter Pill divers of them are pressed by S. Peter 1 Pet. 2.18 in the former place 1 Pet. 2.18 and so forward First he saith If the punishment be deserved there is no great thanks in suffering Quae venit ex merito poena ferenda That mulct is to be born patiently that cometh deservedly Secondly but if we suffer unjustly then it is thank-worthy and glorious to be patient Thirdly it is acceptable to God and surely he will remember to reward us for it Fourthly he saith We are hereunto called vers 25. Our Christian calling requireth to turn the other cheek Matth. 5.39 Matth. 5. to give place to wrath Rom. 12.19 to overcome evil with goodness vers 21. And if Christians must shew such patience to all men even to their equals how much more servants to masters Fifthly he maketh servants by this conformable to Christ who being reviled reviled not again and suffering threatned not but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously There may be added to all this sixthly that a servants patient enduring of correction may be a means through Gods mercy to work the ster to more mildness and greater gentleness for aftertimes whereas sullenness and impudence doth more incense and harden him and maketh him upon the next occasion more
make my bed in hell thou art there if I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea even there shall thine hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me If I say Darkness shall cover me even the night shall be light about me yea the darkness hideth not from thee but the night shineth as the day the darkness and the light are both alike to thee Men may by flight escape the judgement of men but they cannot escape Gods hand As he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many-handed and heavie-handed so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 long-handed and can reach us at the greatest distance Jonah thinks he hath dealt subtilly in getting into a ship and going to Tarshish but God knows his flight and overtakes him It is a strange infatuation of mens mindes that they should think they can either conceal their evil facts from Gods knowledge or their persons from his punishment It seemeth to be the thought of those wilde ones in Job and the ancients in Ezekiel But it is a foolish thought for Ezek. 8. all the ways of men are before the eyes of the Lord say both David and Solomon he knoweth all their natural all their moral actions and he needs no information for that which is done in the most private cabinet or darkest vault And for mens persons they are not hid from him Thine hand saith the Psalmist shall finde out thine enemies Psal 21.8 and thy right hand shall finde out those that hate thee And therefore I renew mine Exhortation Let us stand in awe and sin not for if we sin upon a presumption that we shall conceal either our actions or persons from God it is a forlorn hope our iniquities will finde us out as Moses told the Beubenites and we that have sinned secretly may perhaps be punished openly in the eye and observation of others The second thing is the place where the Angel found her In the desert by a fountain A great way had this poor woman wandered and after a good while wandering the Angel meeteth her He could have met with her and spent that reproof upon her which afterwards he doth quickly after she removed from Abrahams house in the beginning of her flight but he letteth her alone saith Musculus upon my Text for a certain time Musculus in locum till her proud stomack was a little come down and that now her necessity had abated her spirit and that she began to bethink her self What have I for a few blowes for which I cannot say but I gave the occasion cast my self into this exigent Am I in a place destitute of comfort and relief What shall become of me I shall either be a prey to wilde beasts or else perish with famine Observ 5. Affliction bringeth in more guests unto God thou doth Prosperity Jer. 4.24 God oftentimes spareth dealing with people for their faults till they be a little pinched with the effects of their own errour For while they are in their heat they have no ear open to instruction but when they smart a little then they will be docible Jerem. 2. the people of Israel are compared by the Prophet to a wilde ass used to the wilderness that snuffeth up the winde In her occasion who can turn her away They that seek her will not weary themselves that is they will hold it vain to run after her but in her moneth they shall finde her So the people were so impetuously set upon their lusts that there was no speaking to them all admonitions and threatnings were spent in vain upon them but yet in their moneth when they should come to be in pain with that which they carried in their womb they would then be more pliable to instruction Job 33.14 15 c. Elihu saith in Job that God speaks once and twice unto men and they perceive it not in a dream in a vision of the night Those be easie ways Chap. 33. but then vers 16. He openeth the ears of men and sealeth their instruction that is he dealeth with them by way of correction and so openeth their ears and the reason of this he giveth in the next verse to be the abatement of mens pride their proud hearts must first down and then they will lend an ear and as it followeth vers 22. When the soul draweth neer to the grave then is the messenger of peace gratious unto him When Israel is in her jollity Hosea 2. Hos 2. she will hear of none but her wanton lovers but being a little punished and finding thorns in her way then she saith She will return unto her first husband for then it was better with her then now Hosea 5.10 So Chap. 5. God saith I will return unto my place till they acknowledge their offence and seek my face in their affliction they will seek me early And the next words are Come let us return unto the Lord for he hath torn us and he will heal us How mad was the Prodigal upon the satisfaction of his voluptuous humour No thought of father or fathers house till all was spent But when he came to be pinched with famine then he began to think of returning When Paul was in his full carreer there was no talking to him he was mad upon his way as himself saith but being thrown from his horse he trembled and was astonished and then he began to listen nay God suffereth him for the more mollifying of him and fitting his heart for the impressions of his grace to be three days in terrour of minde without use of his eyes without sustenance For the Use of this Let us acknowledge the wisdom of our good God Application in dealing with us He sees our disposition how in our jollity we hearken not unto him we forget both him and our selves and therefore he changeth his hand and suffers us to come into some straight before he will parley with us yea it may be he lets us continue a good while in perplexity for upon the first laying on of the rod it may be we will stamp and chase but when it still lies on and like the bird caught we struggle but onely to our further entanglement we lie quiet and then our spirit comes down and God may have some reason at our hands It is like enough that this Hagar in our Text when she broke from her mistress came away in such a passion that she cared not what became of her rather then stay there and her mistress should see how little she cared for her service But by that time she is bitten with weariness and want she becometh more pliable God knoweth how to take down the stoutest stomack and though they storm and rage when touched by him and be like a wilde ball in a net Isai 51.20 Isai 51. yet he will humble them at last When one hath struck a great fish he
if I should not correct them Now for a season if need be saith the Apostle 1 Pet. 1.6 you are in heaviness through many temptations As if he should say You should not be in heaviness no not for that short season if there were not need but the dross will not be purged out without this fire the rust gotten off without this file nor the vitious humours purged out without this sharp dose you would not be sanctified here or saved hereafter without this And therefore David saith that God of his exceeding goodness caused him to be troubled And Saint Paul saith that when we are judged we are chastised of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world Secondly it should teach us to examine whether the affliction that God sends upon us have this effect in us whether our conscieences are awaked in this storm as Jonahs was whether it bring our sins to minde whether it makes us search and try our ways Lam. 3. as it is Lam. 3. and maketh us sift our selves as it is Eph. 2. and bethink our selves of former errours that we may purge them out by humiliation We have not the first degree of profiting by affliction unless we see our sin Yea we should labour to finde out the Achan the main cause of our trouble and beg of God to shew wherefore he woundeth us and with Job Job 10.2 And 13.23 Chap. 10. to shew us our rebellion and our sin A fearful thing it is when a man shall be in their case that Jeremiah speaks of Jer. 10.6 Ezek. 16.43 Chap. 10.6 No man said What have I done and of those Ezek. 16. I have brought thy way upon thine own head yet hast thou not consideration of thine abominations A man to be afflicted and to have no sense of sin to have his heart in him as Nabals like a stone no consideration of the cause most woful But now come to the next verse which containeth the direction that the Angel gives to Hagar to return to her mistress and to humble her self under her hand And here first we may observe the goodness of God toward this woman that whereas she was hastening to her own wo and in the high-way to ruine her soul by going into idolatrous Egypt God keepeth her from this precipice and suffereth her to go no further Observ 4. 'T is a mercy of the first magnitude Gods restraining 〈◊〉 from evil It is a great mercy of God to be restrained from evil I kept thee saith God to Abimelech that thou shouldst not sin against me Gen. 20.6 God kept the sons of Jacob from shedding of the blood of Joseph by that perswasion of Reuben God kept David from perfecting his resolution against the house of Nabal he had committed a fearful sin if in his rage and fury he had acted what he had intended And when he had Saul in the cave and that all opportunity did smile upon him yea invite him to take revenge upon his well-known adversary that sought his life God kept him from imbruing his hands in the blood of the Lords Anointed How many have we known that when they have been bound upon this and that designe something hath intervened that hath taken them off and kept them from doing that which they purposed which was Gods care and providence over them to prevent their sin and not to suffer them to be so bad as they would have been For the Use of this Application Let us every of us account it a mercy and bless God for his restraining grace we have the seed of all sin in us yet there are some sins that we never felt the least inclination unto as Luther saith he never knew that he had the least motion to covetousness and therefore when one thought fit for the stopping of his mouth he should be tempted with gold it was answered by another Germana illa bestia non curat aurum that that same German beast cared not for gold So many a man is never so much as tempted to theft or sodomy or murder this is Gods mercy that he should thus keep them down and cast them as it were into a sleep as he did Saul and those that were about him 1 Sam. 26. 1 Sam. 26. It is not that we are naturally better then others that every lust doth not bubble up in us we must acknowledge it is Gods mercy that keepeth them down and consider who it is that maketh us to differ as the Apostle speaketh in another case 1 Cor. 4. 1 Cor. 4.7 Secondly we have had motions and temptations to this and that sin that others have fallen into but they have not prevailed with us to the commission of them And what hath been the cause that we have not hatched these Cockatrice-eggs and that they have not come to a fiery flying serpent Certainly God hath restrained us he could easily have given us up to our own hearts lusts as it is Psal 81. Psal 81.12 and have said to our corruptions as he did to the deceiving spirit that went to Ahab Go and prevail 1 Kings 22. but he hath kept us it is his goodness and we must acknowledge it with all thankfulness When we hear men engaged in these foul sins of Idolatry and Murder and Blasphemy and Oppression we must pity them and thank God for preserving us who else should be as bad as the worst It was a pious minde in Saint Augustine he would praise God pro peccatis quae fecit and quae non fecit both for the sins he had committed and had not committed for the remission of the former and the prevention of the later I observe sometimes that people being resolved upon this and that wickedness and being prevented of the perfecting of it by the failing of some instrument or opportunity or some sickness or inability in themselves that they chase and fret Oh that their eyes were but opened to see what a mercy this is that they murmure at how good a friend God is to them while they are their own enemies They would ruine their souls and God will not suffer them That holy Father could say Utiliter vincitur cui peccandi licentia eripitur He is happily conquered that is restrained from sin yea though God stop his way with thorns and by some heavie-armed affliction on him for by this means though the body suffer yet the soul may be saved On the other side it is the greatest judgement that God can lay upon a man on this side hell to let him thrive in sin when he saith as to Ephraim in Hosea Hos 4.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let him alone let him go on to make up the measure of his iniquity let him that is filthy be filthy still I will not stop or stay him Thus God in his judgement doth by many a man as by Pharaoh and his army make them fair way even into
the midst of the sea and then take them off Oh let us all pray that when our foot slippeth the mercy of God may hold us up and keep us from falling Psal 94. for we being tempted unto evil and inclineable in our nature not onely to resolve upon it but to pray that we may be kept by his grace and that the knife may be taken from us with which like mad-men we would wound our selves We now come to the direction it self which consisteth of two things First she must return to her mistris Secondly she must humble her self under her hand First she must return Musculus moveth the question Musculus in locum why the Angel would have her return seeing after a while she was to be cast out of Abrahams house And he answereth that first it was a considerable time that she stayed in Abrahams family even till her son was grown he was fourteen years older then Isaac and after Jsaac was born his mother and he staid so long till Isaac and he could play together and he could mock Isaac as appears Gen. 25. Gen. 25. which was the cause of his ejectment For the injunction there might be something observed out of it if it had not been before touched Observ 5. Dominion and servitude stand well with christian liberty As first That he would have her return therefore he condemns her flight This we spoke of before and shewed that the flight of servants upon ill usage by their masters or mistresses was unlawful Secondly He saith here return to thy mistris as justifying the order that God hath set in the world A briefe reflection on Serm. j. Observ 6. of government and subjection Some must be masters and others in the condition of servants of this we have spoken heretofore largely and shewed that by the commandement that God hath given to masters to govern their servants both in the old and new testament by the many directions he hath given both to masters and servants for their carriage as appeareth in Moses Solomon's And the Apostles writings by the examples of Saints and holy men that have been some masters some servants by the rewards propounded both to masters and servants upon the conscionable performance of their duty it appeareth that God approveth of the condition of servants and therefore the Anabaptists are but vain in their objections against it They say that it is against nature for one to be servant to another servuus nomen non naturae sed culpae saith Saint Augustin Servant is a name not of nature but of sin and punishment be it so that it is against perfect nature and the state of innocency wherein there should not have been That dominium despoticum that masterly power that is now exercised yet it is not against that course of nature wherein God hath now setled man God hath turned some punishments of sin into bounden duties as subjection of the wife to the husband and mans eating his bread in the sweat of his browes But again say they it is against grace and that liberty which Christ hath purchased but I say it is not for Christ hath set us free from the ceremoniall law and from the curse and rigour of the morall law and from Satan sin death and damnation but not from that order and those degrees which he hath established in the world But we are all one in Christ say they there is neither bond nor free True as they are members of Christs spiritual Body but not as they are members of a politick Body a politick inequality is not against a spirituall equality Onesimus is as good as Philemon in Christ yet Onesimus is Philemons servant this kinde of reasoning was in the very Apostles time servants presumed upon their liberty by Christ and therefore they would shake off the yoke of subjection especially to the aliens But we shall see how earnest the Apostles are to put strength in This and tell them that their spirituall estate may not dissolve civil order but they must be subject to their masters whether christian or heathen so long as they were servants even for conscience sake but no more of this Secondly humble thy self under her hand This is harsher then the former Gods commands lye not alwayes in smooth wayes they charge that which is contrary to our corrupt disposition but they must be obeyed though it be to the pulling out of the right eye and to the cutting off of the right hand but we will defer this till we come to shew how Hagar performed This which the Angell injoyned her In the mean time we must observe that she had been guilty of faults First flying from her mistress Secondly insolency towards her mistress Now the Angell fitteth the medicine unto both these maladies First she must make amends for her flight by her returning Secondly she must humble her self under her mistresses hand Observ 6. Satisfaction for offences how to be rendred both to God and man to make amends for her insolency and here might be observed that satisfaction is to be given to such whom we have offended we must confess our fault and crave their pardon and carry our selves fairly towards them for after time we see it was done by Josephs brethren and Aaron and it is that which our Saviour approveth that if our brother have any thing against us we should be reconciled unto him which cannot be done without confession and submission And Saint Paul undertaketh for Onesimus that he shall return and deprecate his fault and be ever after a faithfull servant This is a bitter pill to many men when they have done wrong they are loath to confess it or to seek pardon for it but if they shall not do it they shall finde that as they are still debtors to men so they are to God also and incur his wrath by not obeying this commandement of God But I will conclude with that which is required of men in regard of God as they have gone away from him by their sin so they must return unto him and as they have lifted up themselves in the pride of their hearts against him 1 Pet. 5.6 so they must humble themselves under his hand 1 Pet. 5. First we must return How often are sinners call'd upon by the Prophets Return unto the Lord the Father allegorizeth that place of the wise men returning into their country another way the sinner that hath gone out by the way of uncleanness he must return by the way continency if by the way of excess he must return by the way of temperance if by the way of pride he must return by the way of humility Return we must for the longer we keep off from God the worse we are like to Absalon who having offended his father fled to Geshur and there stayed three yeares 2 Sam. 13.38 2 Sam. 13. But we must return to our father as the prodigall did Secondly we must
next Clause is His hand shall be against every man that is He shall be given to fighting and contention to war and bloud as he shall be fierce and cruell in his own nature so he shall exercise this cruelty And we may here observe Observ 2. Wicked minds are full of cruelty and that an infallible symptome of an Ishmaelite Ioh. 8.44 That wicked minds are full of cruelty We may fetch this as far as the Devill himself of whom our Saviour saith that he was a murderer from the beginning Iohn 8. from the beginning that is Non Creationis sed Defectionis not of his Creation but Defection as soon as he was faln he sought the ruine of mankind So that Natales in Diabolo as the Father saith in another case we find the first beginning of cruelty in Satan and from this evill one was Cain saith St. Iohn 1 Epist 3. who slew his brother 1 Ioh. 3.12 And such an one was Nimrod who is said to be a mighty hunter before the Lord Gen. 10 9. a man of bloud that neither feared God nor man Such were the Aegyptians that oppressed and killed the bodies of the Israelites with hard labour and throwing their children into the River it is called cruell bondage Exod. 6. Ezod 6.9 Esau was a bloudy-minded man He was resolved upon the killing of his brother Jacob and when he returned from Mesopotamia came with a purpose to have effected it if God had not taken off his edge and we see how that malignity ran in a bloud for the Edomites that were of Esau were heavy enemies to the Seed of Jacob and in the day of Jerusalem encouraged the Adversary and said down with it even to the ground yea stood in the waies to cut off those that escaped as it is in the Prophecie of Obadiah How bloudy was Saul and how did he pursue the life of David Charging his Servants to kill him and sending some to kill him in his bed David speaketh of the enemies of Gods people that bloud and destruction was in their waies and the way of peace they had not known What think we of Ahab and Jezabel What think we of Amaleck Of Herod the great Of Antiochus Epiphanes who besides the sacrificing of so many innocent lives to his proud ambition in the slaughter of the Children even when he was a dying as if he would have his Sun go down fiery red and in bloud gave order that when he should dye so many of the prime of the Jews whom he had cooped up might be cut off that so whether they would or no the day of his death might be a day of Lamentations The next Herod was a bloudy man and made nothing of the bloud of the Baptist to content a wanton and Herodias was worse whose thirst could not be satisfied without bloud And the third Herod was bloudy also as appeareth by the killing of Saint James with the sword and his apprehending of St. Peter Were not the Jews bloudy whose hands were dyed in the bloud of the Lord of Life Acts 9.1 And was not St. Paul full of cruelty before his Conversion Acts 9.1 He breathed out threatnings and slaughter against the Disciples of the Lord himself confesseth that he was even mad against them and did persecute them to strange Cities Acts 26.11 Gen. 49.27 Acts 26.11 Some would have that Prophecie of Jacob Gen. 49. concerning Benjamin That He should be a ravening Wolf to allude to St. Paul for he was of that Tribe Into this Catalogue of cruell ones we may reckon those Emperours after the time of Christ One of them writh is Laws in bloud Another wishing even while he lived to see the world mingled with fire and that Rome it self had had but one neck that he might cut it off at a blow What should I speak of Nero that man of bloud and of Domitian that when he was not killing of men must be killing of flies to keep his hand in ure And so of Severus and Decius and Diocletian under whom that issue of bloud stopped for a while but was again opened by Julian that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that grand Tyrant that according to the stamp of his Coine which was the Bull did goare the world I might be infinite in the instances of succeding times how cruell many people have been even this Posterity of Ishmael the Turkes how cruell have they been in all times and continue to this day He is that great Senacherib that if God did not keep a hook in his nostrils doth earnestly desire to make all Christendom an Acheldama a field of bloud And I could speak of some people in the world that have been so bloudy-minded that they have taken a complacency and contentment in it As Hannibal who seeing a Pit filled with humane bloud cryed out O formosum spectaculum O most pleasant shew And Valesus the Proconsul in Asia under Augustus having caused three hundred men to be slain walked among the dead bodies and said O rem regiam A stately act indeed And these times want not those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Hebrew Phrase is men of blouds whose feet are swift to shed bloud who make no more of taking away mens lives then of cutting off the heads of Poppies Yea will not stick to brag and boast of their shedding of bloud as of a Trophee of their valour Yea I might speak of such as out of their desire to give their bloudy minds contentment and their wrathfull hearts satisfaction have done what injuries malice could invent to encrease the torments of others to make them dye twenty deaths in one vt sentiant se mori as he said of old make them feel themselves to dye by spinning out their lingring torments one being to dye desired that he might be quickly dispatched it was answered by him that had him in his power nondum redij tecum 〈◊〉 gratiam nay soft saith he we are not friends yet he made it good Prov. 12.10 what Solomon saith Prov. 12. The very mercies of the wicked 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their very bowels are cruel and what then are their cruelties But it may be you are tyred with this sad narration if you be not I am and therefore I will turn my self to matter of exhortation And for the application of this point Application be we all exhorted to take heed of bloody mindedness it is a thing unbeseeming us as men God sendeth man into the world as harmless a creature and as unapt to offer any injury as any creature whatsoever and sure he did intend in it that Homo should be homini Deus non Lupus that one man should be a God as it were unto another and not a wolfe He never meant that a man should be afraid to fall into the hands of men as David was 2 Sam. 24. But that one man 2 Sam. 24.14 should be an Asylum and a
of God The world was a back-friend to the poor man that lay at the pool of Bethesda eight and thirty yeers together and all that time could not finde a man to help him into the pool hominem non habeo saith he Joh. 5. John 5. I have not found a man and therefore Deum habes saith one thou hast a God to help thee Christ instantly saith unto him Arise take up thy bed and walk Our Lord telleth his disciples Joh. 16. And 16.32 Matth. 26.56 You shall leave me alone Indeed it proved so Matth. 26. All the disciples forsook him and fled Yet I am not alone saith he for the Father is with me Saint Paul saith 2 Tim. 4.16 at his first answering no man stood with him but all men forsook him notwithstanding saith he the Lord stood with me and strengthened me When men forsake God will help Indeed he suffereth sometimes men to come to that pass that they are utterly destitute before he cometh to help both for the manifestation of his own goodness and the increase of our thankfulness And therefore for the Use of it Application First Let our care be to keep in with God and to endear our selves to his protection by a godly conversation for if we be in with him in all our troubles and perplexities when men shall fall off as leaves in Autumn or be like the brakes in the Summer that Job speaketh of we may roul our selves upon God who will make amends for the worlds defect But if we be not è servis of his family at least of good correspondence with him we shall be utterly lost for our friends will turn adversaries and they will be encouraged to do us mischief as Davids enemies said his God hath forsaken him let us persecute him and take him for there is none to deliver him And they could reproach him and say where is now thy God I say again let us keep in with God and then if there be any water it is in the Ocean if there be any light it is in the Sun if there be any comfort it is in God Secondly when we finde upon the worlds deserting us that God hath taken care of us let us be truly thankful and the more thankfull because he came in at a dead lift as we say when David was sensible of Gods drawing him out of a pit wherein he must necessarily in the judgment of flesh and blood have perished there is a new song in his mouth Psal 40.3 even of praise unto his God Psal 40.3 And when the man at the pool was sensible that in the want of mans help God helped him the next news we here of him is that he is in the temple Iohn 5.14 Iohn 5. And what ingenuous person is there in the world that hath not found his heart inflamed and an edg set upon his thankfulness when he can say as Hagar here thou God seest me the world afforded no help but thou my God doest help me Another ground of her thankfulness here insinuated is this that having heard all those comforts that the Angell had given her in this her affliction Observ 2. True Christian gratitude looketh through the meanes and instruments up to the main Agent through all second causes to the first Augustine Gen. 32.10 yet she looketh up higher then the Angell even to God himself and acknowledgeth him to be the fountain of all that consolation It is a speciall part of thankfulness in benefits received to look through the meanes and instruments and second causes unto God and ultimately to resolve all into him that is Bonum omnis boni the good of every good besides Fons boni lucidus saith Saint Austin the cleer fountain of all good Iacobs estate was much improved he looketh further then his own industry Gen. 32.10 Lord saith he I am less then the least of thy mercies for with my staffe came I over this Iordan and now I have gotten two bands And Gen. 33. For his children he looketh further then the strength of his own body Gen. 33.5 vers 5. These be the children which God hath gratiously given thy servant And so Ioseph for his honour and great estate that he got in Egypt he looks further then his own wit and understanding and the favour of his Prince as appeareth by the name he giveth his younger Son Ephraim God saith he hath caused me to be fruitfull in the land of mine affliction Gen. 41. Deborah though she saw what Iael had done against Sisera ch 41.52 yet she looketh higher and praiseth the Lord for the avenging of Israel Iudges 5. Iudg. 5.2 1 Sam. 17.37 When David telleth Saul how he slew the Lyon and the Bear he doth not look upon his own courage but he ascribeth it unto God 1 Sam. 17. God delivered me out of the mouth of the Lyon and the paw of the Bear and in other victories which he got he doth not boast of his own prowess though he had the heart of a Lyon and was a man both of valour and skil but he thanked God for them Psal 144. Psal 144.1 Blessed be the Lord my strength which teacheth my hands to war and my fingers to fight Hezekiah being freed from his dangerous sickness which was mali moris as they say and most probably thought to be the plague though he had applyed the lump of figgs which the Prophet had prescribed yet he pitcheth not upon this as the main cause but celebrateth the power and goodness of God as knowing him to be the Author of his recovery Isaiah 38. Isai 38. The man that was cured in the beautiful gate of the Temple by Peter and Iohn looketh further then them and therefore it is said that he went into the temple walking and leaping and praising God Acts 3. Acts 3.8 He looked further then the instrument even to the prime efficient we shall see Paul directing the Corinthians for what benefit soever they had received by the ministery of him or of Apollos to look further then them even unto God 1 Cor. 2.5 Who is Paul or who is Apollos 1 Cor. 2.5 6. but Ministers by whom you have believed even as the Lord gave to every man I have planted Apollos watered but God gave the increase and for those comforts which himself received by what mediate hand soever he had them whether Ananias or any other He looketh up as high as God 2 Cor. 1. Blessed be God 2 Cor. 1.3 even the father of our Lord Iesus Christ the father of mercy and the God of all comfort who comforteth us in all our tribulation even the wiser heathens in their deliverances by Sea and Land would look up as high as God whatsoever the instruments were Hence the temples of their Deities were so full of those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their offerings and we reade of some of their Altars inscribed Iovi liberatori unto Iupiter
the perfume of these odours Lord we follow thee hereby drawn we run after thee For the Use of this We are to be warned of the judgements that God hath inflicted upon others For this end our Lord biddeth us Remember Lots wife Application and Paul telleth Jude vers 7. how God punished the old Israelites and Jude telleth of the sin and punishment of the Angels of the old world of Sodome and faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they lie out as a sea-mark yea God saith Zeph. 3.6 7. Zeph. 3. that he cut off the nations and made their towers waste and their streets desolate intending that his people should fear and receive instruction that they should hear and learn as it is said in Deuteronomy In sanguine tuo caeteri discent disciplinam said a Proconsul unto one he punished In the characters of thy blood others shall read instruction An so on the other side we should be encouraged and comforted by the instances of Gods mercies for Whatsoever was written aforetime was written for our learning saith the Scripture that we might have hope And whatsoever God hath mercifully done for others he hath done it to encourage others to the expectation of the like for his arm is not shortened but that he can do as much as ever and he is as good as ever and if we finde not what others have found we may thank our selves for it and so we may indeed We would finde the same favour that David did Why do we not Because though we have sinned with David we have not repented with David We would finde the same favour that Peter did Why do we not Because we do not weep as Peter did We would finde a return of our prayers as Elias did Why do we not Because we do not pray fervently as he did We would have an happie issue out of our afflictions Why have we not Because we are not humbled under the hand of God as his children have been If we had been so we should have found such honey in that lion that we should have had occasion to say It was good for us to have been in trouble Let us carry our selves as Gods people have done and let us confidently expect that the mercy he hath shewed to others he will shew to us and so we shall be able to tell others what God hath done for our souls that so they may cast themselves also upon the goodness of the same God and finde help in time of need Preached Ian. 26. 1641. THE NINETEENTH SERMON GEN. 16.14 15 16. Beer-lahai-roi It is between Cadesh and Bered Vers 15. And Hagar bare Abraham a son c. FOr the name given to the Well it is called The well of him that liveth and seeth me First of him that liveth Often in both Testaments Observ 1. God is the sole fountain of life the living God and all other refuges dead without him Deut. 5.26 Josh 3.10 1 Sam. 17.36 Psal 42.2 is God called The living God Here and again Deut. 5. Who is there of all flesh that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire and lived Josh 3. Hereby shall you know that the living God is among you So 2. Sam. 17. David saith that Goliath defied the armies of the living God So 2 Kings 19.4 the King of Assyria sent Rabshakeh to reproach the living God So Psal 42. My flesh crieth out for the living God Dan. 6.20 Darius calleth Daniel the servant of the living God Dan. 6.20 and verse 26. he calleth God the living God So Matth. 16.16 Peter saith Thou art the Son of the living God I adjure thee by the living God saith the high-Priest to Christ Matth. 26.63 So 2 Cor. 3.3 Saint Paul mentioneth the Spirit of the living God and 1 Tim. 3. he calleth it the Church of the living God Heb. 9.14 1 Tim. 3.15 Revel 7.2 To serve the living God And Revel 7. the Angel had the seal of the living God We shall finde in the Scripture that Gods oath is by his life As I live saith the Lord Numb 14.28 Isai 49.18 As I live saith the Lord. And Jerem. 22.24 As I live saith the Lord though Coniah were as the signet of my right hand Ezek. 33.11 As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked And as we finde not that he hath sworn by any thing but his life and holiness so others have made it their oath As the Lord God of Israel liveth saith David to Abigail 1 Sam. 25.34 So Ittai to David 2 Sam. 15.21 As the Lord liveth So Elijah to Ahab 1 Kings 17. 1 Kings 17.1 As the Lord God of Israel liveth before whom I stand And so Elisha to Elijah 2 Kings 2.2 Many other places might be brought but we shall make mention of them in the Application The Heathens had this understanding and therefore they called their Jupiter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from living And most truely and properly is God said to be the living God for he hath life in himself and of himself Jo◠5.26 Joh. 5. The Father hath life in himself no creature hath it in or of it self He saith to Moses Exod. 3.14 I am that I am that is of himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rev. 1. I that am nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ero is the Hebrew word Deut. 5.26 I will be which no creature can challenge Deut. 5. the place before cited he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the God of life yea of lives not onely the living God but the God of life It is a rule that Suarez giveth Suarez Genitivi pro adjectivis in Scriptura positi exaggerationem significant that genitives in holy Writ put for adjectives do augment the signification as a man of blood and a man of violence and the man of sin and a man of strength and a man of wisdom So that then by this phrase the God of life we may gather That life is eminent in God and not onely so but essentially and originally in God and therefore he is called not onely the living God but life it self Joh. 14.6 Joh. 14. I am the Way the Truth and the Life 1 Joh. 5.20 This is the true God and eternal life not onely life but life eternal as the Angel sware by him that liveth for ever Revel 10.6 Revel 10. In all other things their Life and They are two but God is his own life and because he is his own life he is eternal for as Aquinas well reasons against the Gentiles Aquinas A separation is a division of one thing from another Nothing can be separated from it self Therefore God must needs live eternally because he cannot be separated from himself 2. He justly deserveth the name of the living God because he giveth life to every living thing whatsoever liveth lives by participation from him therefore he
is called Fons vitae The fountain of life Psal 36.9 and 42.8 Act. 17.25 28. Psal 36. and Psal 42. David calleth him the God of his life He giveth to all life and breath Acts 17. and verse 28. In him we live and move and have our being Now for the Use of this Application First in that he is the living God it serveth to difference him from all the idols of the world The Scripture sheweth it by opposing this stile of God to idols Jer. 10.8 10. Jerem. 10. having spoken of the stock that doctrine of lyes he saith But the Lord is the true God he is the living and the everlasting King And so Acts 14.14 We preach that you should turn from those vanities to the living God Idols and the living God are opposed 1 Thess 1.9 so 1 Thess 1. You turned from idols to serve the living God He is the true God idols are lyes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they are called as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is non dii no gods nay from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing according to that of the Apostle An idol is nothing 1 Cor. 8.4 or if any thing yet at best onely a dead thing and therefore cannot be the true God which is living Dumb idols the Apostle calleth them Psal 115.45 c. 1 Cor. 12.2 Nay David describeth them more fully Psal 115.4 5 6. They are the works of mens hands they have mouthes and speak not eyes and see not ears and hear not noses and smell not hands but handle not feet but walk not They that make them are like unto them and so is every one that putteth his trust in them Much good therefore do it the Pagans with their idols and the Papists who are worse then Pagans with their images because they have more light They would have people believe belike that they are living ones for sometimes they say they look with a cheerfull countenance and sometimes they turn away in dislike they turn their eyes they weep they move their hands they nod their heads but these are gulleries to fool children withall wise men know these impostures God give them better minds then to make the Scripture a mute judg and images lay-mens books God turn their hearts from these vanities let us serve him that is the living God in Spirit and truth and ever acknowledg him to be the only true God God blessed for ever A second Use is that we prize life as the Rachel the most beautiful Use 2 of all Gods blessings and certainly life must needs be excellent when God is stiled the living God Secondly life maketh the first division of things there is nothing before life but being and being maketh no distinction of things for that can be nothing that hath no being and therefore those creatures that have life we esteem before those that have it not how noble soever otherwise a living dog is better then a dead lyon saith Solomon Eccles 9.4 And the poorest worm that crawleth Eccles 9.4 is more glorious in this respect then the frame of Heaven and Earth in that it liveth and the other doth not And again Thirdly the greatest happiness that men shall ever attain unto the happiness of Heaven is set out by life O let us then prize this blessing and let us not be foolishly prodigall of it like some who by their contention and quarrelsomness and being forward to every duell hazard it nor like others that dig their own graves by intemperance and so dye in tempere non suo before their time scarce live out half their days Such as refuse meat or drink or physick for the preservation of life shew a flat undervaluing if not a contempt of that great Iewell and as we are to prize it for the worth of it so we are to be truly thankfull to the Doner for it and that is the living God Some men think they are beholding to their food and to their good stomack and able concoction Alas who giveth food Of whom doest thou beg thy daily bread 2. When thou hast meate who giveth thee an Appetite how many have meat before them and yet they loath the sight of it 3. When a man hath eaten with an Appetite who give thit power to nourish there be those that have a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Caninus Appetitus a stomack like a dog and yet there is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. a defect of nourishment it is most true that our Saviour saith man liveth not by bread only but by every word that commeth out of the mouth of God that is the word of Gods blessing we owe our life then and the support of it unto God who if he did not supply oyle our Lamps would quickly go out And if we must be thankful for life barely then much more for health which is the perfection of life for non est vivere sed valere vita not to be but to be well is to live to live in health It is true we must be thankfull Exod. 22.29 even for Penury and want Thou shalt not delay to offer thy first fruits and thy liquors Exod. 22. The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy teares and Cajetan observeth that it signifieth sterillity God will be thanked in a barren year as well as in a plentiful So God must be thanked for sickness also Iob blessed God for an Abstulit as well as a Dedit for his taking away as well as for his giving Iob. 1.21 But when God is pleased to give us not only life but a latitude of health how much are we bound unto him What light is to an house that health is to a man what comfort hath a man in an house though never so well furnished if he have not light And what comfort in a mans greatest possession if he have not health Let us then I say be thankfull to the living God for it and let us be affraid to turn the edge of so great a blessing against God himself and wrong him with his own gift as they do that spend their health in lust in excess in gaming and other vain and sinful courses do we live through the bounty of this living God and shall we live to his dishonour can we not subsist one moment without his supporting hand and dare we mispend this talent non hos quaesitum munus in usus this was not bestowed to such ends God giveth Israel corn and wine and oyle and they offer them to Baal and so he giveth us life and health and do we sacrifice it to sin but as he threatneth to take those things from them so it is just to take away our life that we thus mis-employ and grieve him withall Use 3 1 Tim. 6.17 A Third Use is that we should trust in God The Apostle maketh this one argument for our confidence in him because he is the living God 1 Tim.
that Cadesh-Barnea that we often read of and was one of the stations of the children of Israel when they were Ambulans Respublica Salvianus as Salvian calleth them a travelling Common-wealth and Bered we finde no where but in this place the Chaldee calleth it Chagra Now this description of the place some think to be a needless circumstance but let them take heed for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil To say there is any idle word in holy writ saith Basil is no less then blasphemy Certainly Moses the pen-man of this story did purposely and advisedly mention it as he doth often in the like kinde such a place is thus and thus scituated and as thou goest to such a place Here was a famous occurrent and a new Name was given to the Well and therefore it was fit it should be described where it was that when people should pass by that way they might take knowledg of it Isaac meditated or prayed about this place Gen. 24. Gen. 24.62 c. 25.11 yea he dwelt by this Well after the death of his Father Gen. 25. No doubt but many in after times made use of this place and it was the fault of the children of Israel that neer to this place they murmured for water Numb 20. not remembring hoc loco that in this place God had succoured Hagar in her affliction So then Moses doth in this description posteriorum negotium agere act the business of posterity as it was said of one of old He doth that which may be for the benefit of posterity Remarkeable mercies should be recorded and treasured up unto posterity Observ 3. Remarkable mercies are to be treasured up to al posterity and that with circumstances of place and time and person that posterity may be stirred up to thankfulness and expectation of the like mercy from God Jacob taketh one of the stones that he had laid his head upon and pitched it up for a pillar and called the name of the place Bethel and it retained that name Gen. 28. the pot of Manna must be kept Gen. 28. Exod. 16. to instruct posterity and Joshua set up 12 stones in the midst of Iordan and they are to this day saith the text Iosh 4.9 Josh 4.9 and at the 20. vers other 12 stones that they brought out of Iordan were erected in Gilgall that all ages after might take knowledg of the great work of God in dividing Iordan for his people Verse 20. the deliverance from Amaleck God would have Moses write Exod. 17.14 This shall be written for the generations to come and the people that shall be born shall praise the Lord Psal 102. The parents were commanded of God Psal 102.18 to teach their children what the passeover did signifie and other things that they might teach their children and so from age to age the memory of Gods mercy might be continued that the father to the children might make known Gods truth as Hezekiah speaketh Isai 38. And for the Use of it Isai 38.19 I wish this may be taken up into our practice Application God hath magnified his mercy to this land of ours in great deliverances and we have seen them with our eyes we should tell our children of these things and charge them to teach their children that in all succession of time God may be glorified and his people encouraged to serve that God that hath wrought such wonders for us that great deliverance in 88. but 54. years agoe it is almost buried one great occasion is the want of an anniversary That other as great deliverance from the gun-powder treason hath an anniversary yet it is but little thought of in this short time some of the popish side have had the bold front to say there was no such thing what will they be ready to say one hundred years hence nay some of our own I speak it with grief stick not to mince the matter and partly to excuse the actors and wish it were forgotten and so wonderfully extenuate the great mercy of God doth it not behove us then to take care as Moses did that posterity may know it let our children be informed of it in their confabulations that they may tell their children and they theirs that so in all succeeding ages they may be thankfull for the mercy may abhor such rebellion that bringeth forth such sower grapes and may love that truth which God did so miraculously defend and protect but you will say this is enough out of a circumstance Now we come to the next Verse which telleth us First how Hagar brought forth her son Ishmael Secondly how the name was given by Abraham For the former I have told you that this her bringing forth in Abrahams family necessarily supposeth 1. that she returneth thither 2. that she was received there She returned thither for that was it that the Angel gave her in charge Return to thy mistress and humble thy self under her hand No doubt she did both she came a penitent and reformed woman no more insolent against Sarah nor giving occasion of offence Where we may note Observ 4. Happie that Affliction which ends in Reformations Prov. 20.30 What a happie thing it is when after Affliction followeth Reformation Surely it is that which God intendeth God intendeth to open their ears whom he afflicteth unto discipline and that they should depart from inquity Job 36.10 And so Prov. 20. The blueness of the wound serveth to purge out evil And Isai 27.9 By this that is by afflictions formerly spoken of shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit the taking away sin Jer. 9.7 I will melt them and try them how shall I do for the daughter of my people I have tried other means I will now afflict her if by this means I may reclaim her I will go to my place till they acknowledge their offence Hos 5.10 Hos 5. in their affliction they will seek me early We see what Gods intention is in afflicting and this end he hath attained in divers that have been afflicted Psal 119.67 as we see in David Psa 119. he saith Before I was afflicted I went astray but now I have kept thy word And vers 79. It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes The like we see in Manasseh who was recalled by his affliction 2 Chron. 33. So it was with Paul who being unhorsed and smitten with blindness three days and in that time exercised with spiritual terrours Acts 16. he returned no more unto folly And so the Jaylor Acts 16. And the Prodigals penury brought him home to his fathers house and made him ever after an obedient son Now for the Use of this Application It meeteth with those against whom the hand of the Lord is gone out and hath been heavie upon them and yet when the affliction hath been removed they have not been