make but such observations upon the care of thy God as follow and then tell me whether the world with all its pleasures and delights can give thee such an other entertainment 1. Reflect upon the constant sweet and suitable provisions that from time to time have been prepared for thee and thine by this care of thy God From whence soever thy wants did come I am sure from hence came thy supplies it hath enabled thee to return the same answer the disciples did to that question Luke 22. 35. Lacked ye any thing and they said nothing 2. Reflect with admiration upon the various difficulties of your lives wherein your thoughts have been entangled and out of which you have been extricated and delivered by the care of God over you How oft have your thoughts been like a ravelled skeyn of silk so entangled and perplexed with the difficulties and fears before you that you could find no end but the longer you thought the more you were puzled till you have left thinking and fell to praying and there you have found the right end to wind up all your thoughts upon the bottom of peace and sweet contentment according to that direction Psal. 37. 5. Commit thy way unto the Lord trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass 3. Observe with a melting heart how the care of thy God hath disposed and directed thy way to unforeseen advantages had he not ordered thy steps when and as he did thou hadst not been in possession of those Temporal and Spiritual mercies that sweeten thy life at this day Surely the steps of good men are ordered by the Lord and as for thee Christian what reason hast thou with an heart overflowing with love and thankfulness to look up and say My father thou art the guide of my youth It is sweet to live by faith upon Divine care Oh what a Serene life might we live careful for nothing but making known our request unto God in every thing Phil. 4. 6. casting all our care on him that careth for us 1 Pet. 5. 7. perplexing our thoughts about nothing but rolling every burthen upon godly Faith Thus lived holy Musculus when reduced to extreme poverty and danger at the same time then it was that he solaced his Soul with that comfortable Distich a good lesson for others Est Deus in coelis qui providus omnia curat Credentes nusquam deseruisse potest The Provident care of his heavenly father made his heart as quiet as the child at the breast Christian thou knowest not what distressful days are coming upon the earth nor what personal trials shall befal thee in this world but I advise thee as thou valuest the tranquility and comfort of thy life Shut up thy self by Faith in this Chamber of Divine Care it is thy best security in this world Reflect frequently and thankfully upon the manifold supports supplies and salvations thou hast already had from this fountain of mercies and be not discouraged at new difficulties When an eminent Christian was told of some that way-laid him to destroy him his answer was Si Deus mei curam non habet quid vivo In like manner thou mayest say if God had not taken care for thee how couldst thou have lived till now How couldest thou have overlived so many troubles fears and dangers as thou hast done CHAP. XI Opening the sixth and last Chamber viz. The Love of God as a resting place to believing Souls in evil times SECT I. THough all the Attributes in the name or Chambers of this house of God are glorious and excellent yet this of love is transcendently glorious Of this room it may be said as it was of Solomon's royal Chariot Cant. 3. 10. The midst thereof is paved with love In this Attribute the glory of God is signally and eminently manifested 1 Iohn 4. 9 10. And upon this foundation the hopes and comforts of all Believers are built and founded Rom. 8. 35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ Shall tribulation or distress 〈◊〉 persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword He defies and despises them all because neither of them alone nor all together by their united strength can unclasp the arms of Divine Love in which Believers are â—afely enfolded In this Attribute Gods people by Faith entrench themselves and of it a Believer saith Hic murus aâ—enus esto this shall be my strong hold and fortress in the day of trouble and well may we so esteem and reckon it if we consider 1. That wherever the special love of God goes there the special presence of God goes also Iohn 14. 23. He shall be loved of my father and we will come unto him and make our abode with him And O how secure and safe must those be however times govern with whom God himself maketh his abode For as the Psalmist speaks Psal. 91. 1. He that dwells in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty And he that is overshadowed by an Almighty power needs not fear how many mighty enemies combine against him 2. Wherever the special love of God is placed that person becomes precious and highly valuable in the eyes of God he appretiates and estimates such a man as his peculiar treasure which naturally and necessarily draws and spreads the wing of Divine care over him for his protection Deuteron 33. 12. The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him and the Lord shall cover him all the day long Things of greatest value are always kept in safest custody 3. Upon whosoever the special love of God is seâ— there all events and issues of troubles are sure to be over ruled to the eternal advantage of that Soul Rom. 8. 28. Which consideration alone is sufficient to unsting all the troubles in the world and make the beloved of the Lord shout and triumph in the midst of tribulations But let us enter yet further into this glorious Chamber of Divine love and more particularly view the admirable properties thereof though when all is done it will be found a love passing knowledge our thoughts may admire but can never measure it 1. And first you will find it an ancient love whose spring is in eternity it self Believer God is thine ancient friend who foresaw and loved thee before thou yea before this world was in being the fruits and effects thereof thou gatherest in time but the root that produces them was before all times Prov. 8. 22 23. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way before his works of old I was set up from everlasting from the beginning or ever the earth was Thus was the love of God contriving and providing the best of mercies in Christ for us while as yet there were no such creatures in the world nor a world prepared to receive us 2 The love of God to his people is a free and altogether undeserved love it must needs be
of his Nature 3. The Unchangeableness of God is fully proved by convincing arguments which Divines commonly draw from such Topicks as these viz. 1. The Perfection of his Goodness 2. The Purity of his Nature 3. The Glory of his Name 1. Arg. From the Perfection of his Goodness and Blessedness God is Optimus maximus the best and chiefest good and in that sense There is none good but one which is God Mark 10. 18. From whence it is thus argued If there be any change in God that change must either be for the better or for the worse or into a State equal with that he possessed before But not for the better for then he could not be the chief good nor for the worse for then he must cease to be God the perfection of whose Nature is perfectfectly exclusive of all defects nor into an equal state of goodness with that he possessed before that notion would involve Polytheism and suppose two First and equal Beings besides the vanity of such a change would be absolutely repugnant to the Wisdom of God Therefore with the Father of lights can be no variableness nor shadow of turning 2. Arg. The Unchangeableness of God may be evinced from the Purity sincerity and uncompoundedness of his Being in which there neither is nor can be the least mixture he being a pure act From whence it is thus argued If there be any change in God that change must be made either by something without himself or by something within himself or by both together But it cannot be by any thing without himself for in him all created dependent Beings live and move and enjoy the Beings they have and all the changes that are among them are from the pleasure of this unchangeable Being he changeth them but it is not possible for him upon whose pleasure they so intirely and absolutely depend both as to their Beings and workings to suffer any change himself from or by them Nor can any such change be made upon God by any thing within himself for that would suppose action and passion movens motum a mixture and composition in his Nature which is absolutely rejected and excluded by the simplicity and purity thereof seeing therefore it can neither be from any power without him nor any mixture within him there can be no change at all made on him 3. Arg. That is by no means to be ascribed to God which at once eclipses the glory of his name and overthrows the hopes and comforts of all his people But so would the supposition of mutability in God do this would level him with the vain changeable creature whereas it is a principal part of his glory that He is not as man that he should lie neither the son of man that he should repent Numb 23. 19. This also would overthrow the hopes and comforts of all his people which are built upon this Attribute as upon their stable and solid foundation Among divers other we find three principal priviledges of the people of God built upon his Immutability viz. 1. Their Perseverance in Grace 2. Their Comfort in the Promises 3. Their Hopes of Eternal life 1. Their Perseverance in Grace is built upon the foundation of Gods unchangeableness one main reason why Christians never repent of their choice of Christ and the ways of Godliness is because the gifts and calling of God are without repentance Rom. 11. 29. Should God but once repent of the gifts of grace he hath bestowed on us and alter in his love towards us how soon would our love to God and delight in God vanish as the image in the glass doth when the man that looked upon it hath once turned away his face 2. All their comfort in the promises is built upon Gods unchangeableness The promises are the springs of consolation should they fail and dry up the whole world could not afford them one drop of Spiritual comfort to refresh their thirsty Souls the strength of our consolation immediately results from the stability and firmness of the Scripture promises Heb. 6. 18. 3. Their hopes of eternal life depends upon the unchangeableness of God that hath promised Tit. 1. 2. In hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began Take away then the Immutability of God and you at once darken and eclipse his Glory and overturn the perseverance consolations and hopes of all his people but blessed be God these things are built upon firm foundations 1. His Nature is unchangeable Thou art the same for ever Ps. 102. 27. The Heavens though they be the purest and therefore the most durable and unchangeable part of the creation yet they shall perish and wax old and be changed as a vesture but our God is the same for ever 2. His power is unchangeable Isa. 59. 1. The Lords hand is not shortened Time will enfeeble the strongest creature and cut short the Power of the hands of the mighty they cannot do in their decrepit age as they were wont to do in their youthful and vigorous age but the Lords hand never is nor can be shortened 3. The counsels and purposes of his heart are unchangeable Psal. 33. 11. The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever the thoughts of his heart to all generations 4. The goodness truth and mercy of God are Unchangeable Psal. 100. 5. The Lord is good his mercy is everlasting and his truth endureth to all generations 5. The word of God is Unchangeable Though all flesh be as grass and the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field yet the word of our God shall stand for ever all the Promises contained therein are sure and stedfast Not yea and nay but yea and Amen for ever 2 Cor. 1. 20. 6. The love of God is an Unchangeable love Ier. 31. 3. Yea I have loved thee with an everlasting love 7. In a word all the gracious Pardons of God are unchangeable as they are full without exceptions so they are final Pardons without any revocation I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their iniquities and sins will I remember no more Heb. 8. 12. And thus much briefly of Gods unchangeableness absolutely considered in it self SECT II. LEt us next consider and believingly view the Unchangeableness of God in its respect and relation 1. To his Promises 2. To his Providences 1. The Immutability of God gives down its comforts to Believers through the Promises there is no other way by which they can have a comfortable admission into this Chamber or Attribute of God and there are six sorts of promises in the word by which it is highly improveable to their support and comfort in an evil day For 1. The unchangeable God hath engaged himself by Promise to be with his people in all times and in all streights Heb. 13. 5. I will never leave thee nor forsake thee The life joy and comfort of a Believer lies in the bosom of that Promise the conclusion of
Faith from thence is sweet and sure If I shall never be forsaken of my God let Hell and Earth do their worst I can never be miserable 2. The Unchangeable God hath promised to maintain their graces and thereby his interest in them for ever Ier. 32. 40. And I will make an everlasting Covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me Where the Lord undertakes for both parts in the Covenant his own and theirs I will not turn away from them O unexpressible mercy Yea but Lord may the poor Believer say that is not so much my fear as that my treacherous heart will turn away from thee No saith God I will take care for that also I will put my fear into thy heart and thou shalt never depart from me 3. The Unchangeable God hath promised to establish the Covenant with them for ever so that those who are 〈◊〉 taken into that gracious Covenant shall never be turned out of it again Isa. 54. 10. The mountains shall depart and the Hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee 4. The Unchangeable God hath secured his loving kindness to his people by Promise under all the trials and smarting rods of affliction with which he chastens them in this world he hath reserved to himself the liberty of afflicting them but bound himself by promise never to remove his favour from them Psal. 89. 33 34. I will visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with siripes nevertheless my loving kindness will I not take from them nor suffer my faithfulness to fail 5. The Promises of a joyful resurrection from the dead are grounded upon the Immutability of God Matth. 22. 32. I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead but the God of the living Death hath made a great change upon them but none upon their God though they be not he is still the same therefore they are not lost in death but shall assuredly be found again in the resurrection 6. To conclude the promises of the Saints eternal happiness with God in Heaven are founded in his Immutability 1 Cor. 1. 8 9. Tit. 1. 2. By all which you see what a pleasant lodging is prepared for the Saints in the unchangeable promises of God amidst all the changes and alterations here below 2. Once more let us view the unchangeableness of God in his Providences towards his people whatever changes it makes upon us or whatever changes we seem to discern in it nothing is more certain than this that it holds one and the samâ— tenor pursues one and the same design in all that it doth upon us or about us Providences indeed are very variable but the designs and ends of God in them all are invariable and the same for ever It is noted in Ezek. 1. 12. that The wheels went straight forward whither the spirit was to go they went and they turned not when they went As it is in Nature so in Providence you have one day fair halcyon and bright another dark and full of storm one season hâ—t another cold but all these serve to one and the same end and design to make the earth fruitful and the aim of all Providences is to make you holy and happy That is a sweet Promise Rom. 8. 28. All things shall work together for good to them that love God This is the compass by which all Proviâ—ences steer their course as a Ship at Sea doth by the Card but more particularly let us note the unchangeableness of God in his Providences of all kinds effective and permissive and see in them all his unchangeable righteousness and goodness 1. It must needs be so considering the unchangeableness of his decree 2 Tim. 2. 19. The foundation of God standeth sure Providences serve but never frustrate execute but cannot make void the decree so that you may say of the most afflicting Providences as David doth of the stormy winds Psal. 148. 8. they all fulfil his word 2. The Wisdom of God proves it he will not suffer his works or permissions to clash with his designs and purposes Divine Wisdom shews it self in the steddy direction of all things to the ultimate end To open this in some particulars consider 1. Doth the Lord permit wicked men to rage and insult persecute and vex his people Yet all this while Providence is in its right way it walks in as direct a line to your good as when it is in a more pleasant path of Peace Ier. 24. 5. Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel like these good figs so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldâ—ans for their good Israel was sent to Babylon for their good This improves your faith and patience Rev. 13. 10. Here is the patience and fâ—ith of the Saints So Râ—m 5. 2 3. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoyce in hope of the glory of God and not only so but we glory in tribulations also knowing that tribulatiâ—n worketh patience By this you are weaned from and mortified to this world 2. Doth the Lord in his Providence order many and frequent close and smarting afflictions for you Why lo here is the same design managing as effectually as if all the peace and prosperity in the World were ordered for you The face of Providence indeed is not the same but the love of God is still the the same he loves you as much when he smites as when he smiles on you for what are his ends in afflicting you and what the sanctified fruits of your afflictions Is it not 1. To purge your iniquities Isa. 27. 9. By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away his sin 2. To reduce your hearts to God Psal. 119. 67. Before I was afflicted I went astray but now have I kept thy word 3. To quicken you to your duties let the best man be without afflictions and he will quickly grow dull in the way of his duty 3. Doth God let loose the chain of Satan to tempt and buffet you Yet is he still the same God to you as before for do but observe his ends in that permission and you will find that by these things the Lord is leading you towards that desired assurance of his love which your Souls long after Few Christians attain to any considerable settlement of Soul but by such shakings and combates the end of these permissions is to put you to your knees and blow up a greater flame and fervour of Spirit in Prayer 2 Cor. 12. 8. So that eventually
chearful light of Gods countenance Isa. 57. 16. 10. That they are at last brought safe to Heaven through the innumerable hazards and dangers all along their way thither Heb. 11. 16. In all these things the care of their God eminently discovers it self for their Souls 3. Once more let us consider the Care of God for his people in the lovely properties thereof As 1. It is a Fatherly care than which none is more great or tender Matth. 6. 8. Your father knoweth that you have need of all these things And indeed the greatest and tenderest care of an earthly Father is but a fâ—int shadow of that tender care which is in the heart of God over his Children for to that end we find them compared Matth. 7. 11. If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your father which is in heaven give good things to them which ask him The care of Patents is carelesness it â—elf compared with that care which God takes of his 2. The care of God is a universal care watching over all his people in all ages places and dangers 2 Chron. 16. 9. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the whole earth to shew himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him This was applyed by way of reproof to Asa who out of a sinful distrust of the care of God relyed upon the help of Syria as if there had not been a God in Heaven to take care of him and the people 3. Gods care over his is assiduous and continual his mercies are new every morning great is his faithfulness Lam. 3. 22 23. He keeps his people night and day Isa. 27. 3. Could Satan or his instruments find such an hour wherein the seven eyes of Providence should be all asleep that would be the fatal hour to our Souls and Bodies but he that keepeth Israel slumbereth not 4. Gods care over his is exceeding tender far beyond the tenderness that the most affectionate mother ever felt in her heart towards the child that hanged on her breast Isa. 49. 15. Can a mother forget her sucking child c. they may yet will not I forget thee The birds of the air are not so tender of their young in the nest as God is of his people in the world Isa. 31. 5. Mercy fills the heart of God yea tender mercy yea multitudes of tender mercies Psal. 51. 1. 5. The care of God is a seasonable care which is always sure to nick the opportunity and proper season of relieving his people in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen The beauty of Providence is much seen in this thing wherever you feel a want this care finds a supply and thus much briefly of the care of God absolutely considered in it self SECT III. IT remains that we also consider the care of God in its twofold respect viz. 1. To his Promises 2. To his Providences 1. There are multitudes of Promises found in the Scriptures exactly fitted as so many keys to open the door of this comfortable Chamber to receive and secure all that fear God whatever their wants fears or distresses are These are reducible into two Classes or ranks viz. 1. More general and comprehensive 2. More particular Promises The general and more comprehensive Promises are found in the general expressures of the Covenant as that to Abraham Gen. 17. 1. I am God Almighty walk thou before me and be perfect q. d. Let it be thy care to walk exactly in the paths of obedience before me and I will take care to supply all thy wants from the never failing fountain of my al-sufficiency and of the same tenour is that 2 Cor. 6. 18. I will be to them a Father and they shall be my sons and daughters i. e. Expect your provisions and protections from my care as children do from their father More particularly there are six sorts of Promises wherein the care of God is particularly made over to his people in the greatest hazards and difficulties in this life viz. 1. It is assigned and made over to them to supply all their needs so far as the Glory of God and advancement of their Spiritual and eternal good shall require it Ps. 34. 9. They that fear the Lord shall not want any good thing All your livelihood is in that Promise thence comes your daily bread your own and your families meat is in that cupboard 2. It is made over to the Church and people of God for their defence against all dangers Isa. 54. 17. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper This promise wards off all the deadly blows and puts by all the mortal thrusts that are made at you here the care of God forms it self into a shield for your defence 3. The care of God is engaged by promise for the moderation and mitigation of your afflictions that they may not exceed your abilities to bear them Isa. 27. 8 9. in measure when it shooteth forth thou wilt debate with it he stayeth the rough wind in the day of the east-wind If the wind blow from a cold corner this Promise moderates it that it blow not a storm all the sparing mercies and sweetning circumstances which gracious Souls thankfully note in the sharpest trials come from this promise wherein the care of God is ingaged for that purpose 4. Divine care is put under the bond of a promise for the direction and guidance of all their troubles and trials to an happy issue Rom. 8. 28. All things shall work together for good From what quarter soever the wind bloweth God will take care that it shall be useful to drive you to your Port the very Providences that cast you down by vertue of this promise prove as serviceable and beneficial as those that lift you up 5. The care of God stands engaged in the promise for the help and aid of his people in all the extremities and exigencies of their lives Psal. 46. 1. God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble Never is the care of God more visible and conspicuous than in such times of need 6. Lastly the care of God is ingaged to carry his people safe through all the dangers of the way and bring them all home to glory at last Ioh. 10. 28. I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand This care of God thus engaged for you is your convoy to acompany and secure you till it see you safe into your harbour of eternal rest 2. You have heard how the â—are of God is engaged for you by promise now see how it actuates and exerts it self for the people of God in the various methods of Providence and here oh here is the sweetest pleasure of the Christians life a dâ—lâ—ght far transcending all the delights of this life Sit down Christian in this Chamber also and
relations they sustain to him of what account and value they are in his eyes and how well they are secured by his faithful promises and gracious presence they would not start and tremble at every noise and appearance of danger as they do God reckoned it enough to cure all Abraham's sinful fears when he told him how his God sâ—ood engaged for his defence Gen. 15. 1. Fear not Abraham I am thy shield And noble Nehemiah valued himself in times of danger and fear by his interest in God as his words import Nehem. 6. 11. the conspiracy against him was strong the danger he and the faithful with him at that time were in was extraordinary some therefore advised to flee to the Temple and Barracado themselves there against the Enemy but Nehemiâ— understood himself better Should such a man as I flee And who being as I am would flee saith he q. d. a maâ— so called of God to this service a man under such proâ—mises a man of such manifold and manifest experâ—â—ences should such a man flee Let others who havâ— no such encouragements flee 〈◊〉 they will for my part I will noâ— flee I remember it was an arguâ—ment used by Tertullian to quieâ— the fears and stay the flight 〈◊〉 Christians in those bloudy times Art thou afraid of a man O Christian when devils are afraid 〈◊〉 thee as a Prisoner is of his Judge 〈◊〉 whom the whole world ought 〈◊〉 fear as being one that shall judgâ— the world O that we could without pride and vanity but value our selves duly according to our Christian dignities and priviledges which if ever it be necessary to count over anâ— value it is in such times of danger and fear wheâ— the heart is so prone to dejection and sinking fears 4. Ignorance of our dangers and troubles cause our frights and terrours we mistake them and therefore fright at them we are ignorant of two thingâ— in our troubles among others viz. 1. The comforts that are in them 2. The outlets and escapes from them There is a vast odds betwixt the outward appearance and face of trouble and the inside of it 't is a Lion to the eye at a distance but open it and there is honey in its belly Paul and Silas met that in a prison that made them sing at midnight and so have many more since their day And as we are ignorant of the comforts that are sometimes found in our troubles so of the outlets and doors of escape God can and often doth open out of trouble To God the Lord belong the issues from death Psal. 68. 20. he knoweth how to deliver the Godly out of temptation 2 Pet. 2. 9. he can with every temptation make away to escape 1 Cor. 10. 13. the poor captive exile cast upon nothing but dying in the pit making their graves in the land of their captivity Isai. 51. 14. For they could think upon none but the usual methods of deliverance power or price and they had neither little did they dream of such immediate influences of God upon the Kings heart to make him dismiss them freely contrary to all rules of State policy Isai. 45. 13. 5. But especially the fears of good men arise out of their ignorance and inconsiderateness of the Covenant of Grace If we were better acquainted with the nature extent and stability of the Covenant our hearts would be much freed thereby from these tormenting passions this Covenant would be a Panacea a universal remedy against all our fears upon spiritual or temporal accounts as will be made evident hereafter in this discourse 2. Cause 2. Another cause and fountain of Sinful Fear is guilt upon the Conscience A servant of sin cannot but first or last be a slave of Fear and they that have done evil cannot chuse but expect evil no sooner had Adam defiled and wounded his Conscience with guilt but he presently trembles and hides himself so it is with his children God calls to him not in a threatning but gentle dialect not in a tempest but in the cool of the day yet it terrifies him there being in himself mens conscia facti a guilty and condemning Conscience Gen. 3. 8. 'T is Seneca's obserservation That a guilty Conscience is a terrible whip and torment to the Sinner perpetually lashing him with solicitous thoughts and fears that he knows not where to be secure nor dare he trust to any promises of protection but distrusts all doubts and jealouzeh all of such it is said Iob 15. 21. That a dreadful sound is in their ears noting not only the effects of real but also of imaginary dangers his own presaging mind and troubled fancy scares him where no real danger is suitable to that Pro. 28. 1. The wicked fleeth when none pursues but the righteous is bold as a Lion just as they say of sheep that they are affrighted by the clattering of their own feet when once they are set a running so is the guilty Sinner with the noise of his own Conscience which sounds nothing in his ears but misery wrath and hell we may say of all wicked men in their frights as Tacitus doth of Tyrants that if it were possible to open their inside their mind and conscience many terrible stripes and wounds would be found there and it 's said Isai. 33. 14. The sinners in Sion are afraid trembling taketh hold on the hypocrite fear and trembling as naturally ariseth out of guilt as the sparks do out of a fiery charcoal Histories abundantly furnish us with sad examples of the truth of this observation Catiline that monster of wickedness would start at any suddain noise being haunted with the furies of his own evil conscience Charles the IX after his bloudy and barbarous Massacre of the Protestants could neither sleep nor wake without musick to divert his thoughts And our Richard the Third after the murther of his two innocent Nephews saw divers images or shapes like Devils in his sleep pulling and haling him Mr. Ward tells of a Iesuit in Lancashire who being followed by one that had found his Glove out of no other design but to restore it to him but being pursued by his own guilty Conscience also he leaped over the next hedge and was drowned And remarkable is that which Mr. Fox relates of Cardinal Cresentius who fancied the devil walking in his chamber and sometimes couching under his Table as he was writing Letters to Rome against the Protestants Impius tantum metuit quantum nocuit so much mischief as Conscience tells them they have done so much it bids them expect Wolfius tells us of one Iohn Hofmeister who fell sick with the very terrours of his own Conscience in his Inn as he was travelling towards Auspurge in Germany and was frighted by his own Conscience to that degree that they were fain to bind him in his bed with chains and all that they could get from him was I am cast away for ever I have
dangers when the feet of them that carried out the dear servants of God in bloudy winding sheets to their graves stand at the door to carry us forth next if providence loose their chain and give them a permission so to do and our fears on this account are heightned by considering and revolving these four things in our thoughts which we are always more inclined to do than the things that should fortifie our faith and heighten our Christian courage as 1. We are very apt to consider that as the same race and kind of men that committed these outrages upon our brethren are still in being and that their rage and malice is not abated in the least degree but is as fierce and cruel as ever it was Gal. 4. 29. As then he that was born after the flesh perseouted him that was born after the Spirit even so it is now So it was then and just so it is still the old enmity is entailed upon all wicked men from generation to generation multi adhuc sunt qui clavum sanguine Abelis rubentem adhuc circumferunt Cain 's club is to this day carried up and down the world stained with the bloud of Abel as Bucholtzer speaks 't is a rooted antipathy and it runs in a bloud and will run as long as there are wicked men from whom and to whom it shall be propagated and a devil in hell by whom it will not fail to be exasperated and irritated 2. We know also that nothing hinders the execution of their wicked purposes against us but the restraints of providence should God loose the chain and give them leave to act forth the malice and rage that is in their hearts no pity would be shewen by them or could be rationally expected from them Psal. 124. 1 2 3 4 5 6. We live among Lions and them that are set on fire of hell Psal. 57. 4. the only reason of our safety is this that he who is the keeper of the Lions is also the shepherd of the sheep 3. We find that God hath many times let loose these Lions upon his people and given them leave to tear his lambs in pieces and suck the bloud of his Saints how well soever he loves them yet hath he often delivered them into the hands of his enemies and suffered them to perpetuate and act the greatest cruelties upon them the best men have suffered the worst things and the Histories of all ages have delivered down unto us the most tragical relations of their barbarous usage 4. We are also conscious to our selves how faâ— short we come in holiness innocency and spiritual excellency of those excellent persons who have suffered these things and therefore have no ground to expect more favour from providence than they found â— we know also there is no promise in the Scriptures tâ— which they had not as good a claim and title as ouâ—â—selves With us are found as great yea greater sin than in them and therefore have no reason to please our selves with the fond imaginations of extraordinary exemptions If we think these evils shall not come in our days 't is like many of them thought so too and yet they did and we may find it quite otherwise Lam. 4. 12. Who would have thought that the enemy should have entered in at the gates of Ierusalem The revolving of these and such like considerations in our thoughts and mixing our own unbelief with them creates a world of fears even in good men till by resignation of all to God and acting faith upon the promises that assure us of the sanctification of all our troubles as that Rom. 8. 28. Gods presence with us in our troubles as that Psal. 91. 15. his moderation of our troubles to that measure and degree in which they are supportable Isai. 27. 8. And the safe and comfortable outlet and final deliverance from them all at last according to that in Rev. 7. 17. We do at last recover our hearts out of the hands of our fears again and compose them to a quiet and sweet satisfaction in the wise and holy pleasure of our God 5. Cause 5. Our immoderate love of life and the comforts and conveniencies thereof may be assigned as a proper and real ground and cause of our sinful fears when the dangers of the times threaten the one or other did we love our lives less we should fear and tremble less than we do It is said of those renowned Saints Rev. 12. 11. They overcame by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their Testimony and they loved not their lives unto the Death They overcame not only the fury of their enemies without them but their sinful fears within them and this victory was atchieved by their mortification to the inordinate and immoderate love of life certainly their own fears had overcome them if they had not first overcome the love of life It was not therefore without very great reason that our Lord injoyned it upon all his disciples and followers to hate their own lives Luke 14. 26. not absolutely but in comparison and competition with him i. e. to love it in so remiss a degree as to slight and undervalue it as a poor low thing in such a comparison he foresaw what sharp tryals and sufferings were coming upon them and he knew if the fond and immoderate love of life were not overcome and mortified in them it would make them warp and bend under such temptations This was it that freed Paul from slavish fears and made him so magnanimous and undaunted indeed he had less fear upon his spirit though he was to suffer those hard and sharp things in his own person than his friends had who only Sympathized with him and were not farther concerned than by their own love and pity He spake like a man who was rather a spectator than a sufferer Acts 20. 24 25. none of these things move me saith he Great soul not moved with bonds and afflictions how did he attain so great courage and constancy of mind in such deep and dreadful sufferings It was enough to have moved the stoutest man in the world yea and to have removed the resolutions of any that had not loved Christ better than his own life but life was a trifle to him in comparison with Jesus Christ for so he tells us in the next words I count not my life dear unto me q. d. 'T is a low priz'd commodity in my eyes not worth the saving or regarding on such sinful terms O how many have parted with Christ peace and eternal life for fear of losing that which Paul regarded not And if we bring our thoughts closer to the matter we shall soon find that this is a fountain oâ— fears in times of danger and that from this excessive love of life we are rack'd and tortured with ten thousand terrors For 1. Life is the greatest and nearest interest men naturally have in this world and that which
death in this extremity it is now in The Mother answered I refer that to the will of God But said her friend if God would â—â—fer it to you what would you chuse then Why truly said she if God would refer it to me I would even refer it to God again This is the true committing of our selves and our troublesome concerns to the Lord. 4. The committing act of Faith implies our renouncing and disclaiming all confidence and trust in the arm of flesh and an expectation of relief from God only If we commit our selves to God we must cease from man Isai. 2. 22. To trust God in part and the Creature in part is to set one foot upon a Rock and the other in a Quick-sand Those acts of Faith that give the intire glory to God give real relief and comfort to us 2. Let us see what grounds and encouragements the people of God have to commit themselves and all the matters of their fear to God and so to enjoy the peace and comfort of a resigned will and there are two sorts of encouragements before you let the case be as difficult and frightful as it will you may find sufficient encouragements in God and somewhat from your selves viz. your relation to him and experiences of him 1. In God there is all that your hearts can desire to encourage you to trust him over all and commit all into his hands For 1. He is able to help and relieve you let the case be never so bad yet let Israel hope in the Lord for with the Lord is plenteous redemption Psal. 130. 7 8. Plenteous redemption i. e. all the stores of power choice of methods plenty of means abundance of ways to save his people when they can see no way out of their troubles Therefore hope Israel in Iehovah 2. As his Power is Almighty so his Wisdom is Infinite and unsearchable He is a God of judgment blessed are all they that wait for him Isa. 30. 18. When the Apostle Peter had related the wonderful preservations of Noah in the Deluge and of Lot in Sodom one in a general destruction of the world by Water and the other in the overthrow of those Cities by Fire He concludes and so should we The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation 2 Pet. 2. 9. Some men have much Power but little wisdom to manage it others are wise and prudent but want ability in God there is an infinite fulness of both 3. His love to and tenderness over his people is transcendent and unparallelled and this sets his wisdom and power both a work for their good hence it is that his eyes of providence run continually throughout the whole earth to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose hearts are perfect i. e. upright towards him 2 Chron. 16. 9. Thus you see how he is every way fitted as a proper object of your trust 2. Consider your selves and you shall find encouragements to commit all to God For 1. You are his children and to whom should children commit themselves in dangers and fears but to their own father Doubtless thou art our father saith the distressed Church Isai. 63. 15 16. Yea Christian Thy maker is thy husband Isai. 54. 5. Is not that a sufficient ground to cast thy self upon him What! a Child not trust its own Father A wife not commit her self to her own husband 2. You have trusted him with a far greater concern already than your estates liberties or lives you have committed your souls to him and your eâ—rnal interests 2 Tim. 1. 12. Shall we commit the â—ewel and dispute the Cabinet Trust him for heaven and doubt him for earth 3. You have ever found him faithful in all that you trusted him with all your experiences are so many good grounds of confidence Psal. 9. 10. Well then resolve to trust God over all and quietly leave the dispose of every thing to him he hath been with you in all former streights wants and fears hitherto he hath helped you and cannot he do so again except you tell him how O trust in his wisdom power and love and lean not to your own understandings The fruit of resignation will be peace 5. Rule If ever you well get rid of your fears and distractions get your affections mortified to the world and to the inordinate and immoderate love of every injoyment in the world The more you are mortified the less you will be terrified 't is not the dead but the living world that puts our hearts into such fears and tremblings If our hearts were once crucified they would soon be quieted 'T is the strength of our affections that puts so much strength into our afflictions It was not therefore without great reason that the Apostle compares the life of a Christian to the life of a Souldier who if he mean to follow the Camp and acquit himself bravely in fight must not intangle himself with the affairs of this life 2 Tim. 2. 4. Sure there is no following Christ's Camp but with a disintangled heart from the world for proportionable to the heat of our love will be the strength and height of our fears about these things more particularly if ever you will rid your selves of your uncomfortable and uncomely fears use all Gods means to mortifie your affections to the exorbitant esteem and love of 1. Your Estates 2. Your Liberty 3. Your Lives 1. Get mortified and cooled hearts to your Possessions and Estates in the world The poorest age afforded the richest Christians and noblest Martyrs Ships deepest laden are not best for encounters The believing Hebrews took joyfully the spoiling of their goods knowing in themselves that they had in heaven a better and induring substance Heb. 10. 34. They carried it rather like unconcerned Spectators than the true Proprietors They rejoyced when rude Souldiers carried out their goods as if so many friends had been bringing them in And whence was this But from an heart fixed upon Heaven and mortified to things on Earth Doubtless they esteemed and valued their Estates as the good providences of God for their more comfortable accommodation in this world but it seems they did and O that we could look upon them as mercies of the lowest and meanest rank and nature The substance laid up in Heaven was a better substance and as long as that was safe the loss of this did not afflict them They could bless God for these things which for a little time did minister refreshment to them but they knew them to be transitory enjoyments things that would make to themselves wings and flee away if their enemies had not toucht them but the substance laid up for them in Heaven that was an enduring substance So far as those earthly things might further them towards Heavenly things so far they prized and valued them but if Satan would turn them into snares and temptations to deprive them of their better substance in Heaven they could
the Romans how plainly did Christ foreâ—el them of it by his own mouth Luke 19. 43. 44. Thine enemies shall cast a Trench about thee and compass thee round and keep thee in on every side and shall lay thee even with the ground and thy children within thee and they shall not leave thee one stone upon another because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation Iosephus also tells us that a little before the execution of this judgment upon them a voice was heard in the temple Migremus hinc let us go hence which voice Tacitus also in his Annals mentions Audita major humana vox excedere Deos simul ingens motus excedentium It was more than an humane voice telling them God was departing from them and withal there was heard the rushing noise as of some that were going out of the Temple And as there were extraordinary premonitions of approaching judgments by revelation to the Prophets of old and signs from heaven so there still are standing and ordinary rules by which the world may be admonished of Gods judgments before they come upon them And the general rule by which men may discern the indignation of God before it comes is this ☞ When the same provocations and evils are found in one Nation which have brought down the wrath of God upon another nation this is an evident sign of Gods judgment at the door For God is unchangeably holy and just and will not favour that in one people which he hath punished in another nor bless that in one age which he hath cursed in another And therefore that which hath been a sign of Judgment to one must be so to all Here it is that the carcases of those sinners whose sins had cast them away are as it were cast up upon the Scripture shore for a warning to all others that they steer not the same ill course they did 1 Cor. 10. 6. Now these things were our examples The Israelites are made examples to us plainly intimating that if we tread the same path we must expect the same punishment Let us therefore consider what were the evils that provoked Gods judgments against his ancient people whom he was so loth to give up Hos. 11. 8. and so long ere he did give up Ier. 15. 6. and we shall find by the concurrent accounts that the Prophets give 1. That Gods worship among them was generally mixed and corrupted with their own inventions for so it is said Psal. 106. 40 41. they went a whoring with their own inventions And this so inflamed the wrath of God who is a jealous God and tender over his own honour that he abhorred his own inheritance yea he expresses himself as a man doth whose heart is broken by the unfaithfulness of his wife Ezek. 6. 9. Upon this account his professing people became the generation of his wrath Ier. 7. 29 30. 2. Incorrigible obstinacy under gentler correction Amos 4. 6 7 8 9 10 11 12. Scarcity Mildews Pestilence and Sword had been upon them and still these that remained though saved as a brand out of the fire in which their fellow sinners perished would not return to God and this hastened on the general ruine ver 12. This presages the ruine of Nations indeed 3. Stupidity and senselesness of Gods hand was a sad Omen and cause of that peoples ruine So Isa. 26. 10 11. Lord when thy hand is lifted up they will not see No nor yet when his hand is laid on Isa. 42. 24 25. It is not some small drop of Gods anger that passes without observation but the fury of his anger not some light skirmish of his judgments with them but the strength of battel Not in a corner upon some particular person or family but that which set him on fire round about yet all this could not awaken them He hath poured upon him the fury of his anger and the strength of battel and it hath set him on fire round about yet he knew it not and it burned him yet he laid it not to heart Prodigious stupidity to be in the midst of flames yea to be seized by them and destroyed sooner than awakened So you find again in Hos. 7. 9. Gray hairs were here and there upon Ephraim yet he knew it not Youth and Age are easily distinguished and gray hairs do plainly distinguish them being the plain tokens of a declining State yet they took no notice of them Such stupidity is ever more the forerunner of misery 4. Persecution of Gods faithful Ministers and people was another forerunning sign of their ruine 2 Chron. 36. 16. They mocked the messengers of God and despised his words and misused his Prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people till there was no remedy There were also a number of upright Souls among them that desired to worship God according to his own prescription but a snare was laid for them in Mizpah and a net spread upon Tabor and therefore was judgment towards that people Hos. 5. 1. Mizpah and Tabor were places in the way lying betwixt Samaria and Ierusalem where the true worship of God was and there were Informers or Spies set by the Priests to intercept such as would venture to serve God at Jerusalem according to his own prescription this also foreboded the judgments of God upon that nation 5. The decay of the life and power of Godliness among them plainly foreshewed their ruine at hand Hos. 4. 18. Their drink is sour where under the Metaphor of dead and sour drink which hath lost its spirit and is become flat their formal heartless and perfunctory duties are severely taxed and condemned 6. To conclude the mutual animosities and feuds among that professing people evidently shewed judgment to be at the door Hos. 9. 7. The days of visitation are come the days of recompence are come Israel shall know it the Prophet is a fool the spiritual man is mad for the multitude of thine iniquity and the great hatred This great hatred was one of the greatest sins and saddest signs upon them This Spirit of enmity sowed by the Devil among them hastened their calamity If Ephraim will envy Iudah and Iudah vex Ephraim the common enemy shall part the fray when the whole Nation was under water and the Roman Armies under the very walls of Ierusalem their own Historians tell us what bitter contentions and sharp conflicts continued among them to the very last These things must be looked upon by all Wise and considerate men no otherwise than we look upon Glazing Meteors and Blazing Comets portending judgment and ruine at the door We have had indeed terrible Signs in Heaven a dreadful rod of God shaken over us of late which all men ought to behold with trembling Yet I must say those Moral Signs of judgment forementioned are much more terrible and portentous According therefore to the evidence of these signs among us let all upright hearts be affected and awakened with
It is an allusion to workmen who going forth in the morning to their labour gird their loins or reinâ— with a girdle now there is no work wrought by God in this world But his faithfulness is as the Girdle of his Loins The consideration whereof should make the most despondent believer gird up the Loins of his mind that is encourage and strengthen his drooping and discouraged heart Those works of God which are wrought in Faithfulness and in pursuit of his eternal purposes and gracious promises should rather delight than affright us in beholding of them It pluckt out the Sting of David's affliction when he considered it was in very faithfulness that God had afflicted him Psal. 119. 89 90. But more particularly let us behold with delight the faithfulness of God making good six sorts of Promises to his People in the days of their affliction and trouble viz. 1. The Promises of Preservation 2. The Promises of Support 3. The Promises of Direction 4. The Promises of Provision 5. The Promises of Deliverance 6. The Promises of Ordering and Directing the Event to their Advantage 1. There are promises in the word for your preservation from ruine and what you read in those promises you dayly see the same fulfilled in your own experiences You have a promise in Psal. 57. 3. He shall send from Heaven and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up Selah God shall send forth his mercy and his truth Say now have you not found it so when Hell hath sent forth its Temptations to deâ—ile you The World its persecuâ—ions to destroy your own heart its unbelieving fears to distract and sink you hath not your God sent forth also his mercy and his truth to save you Hath not his truth been your shield and buckler Psal. 91. 4. May you not say with the Church it is of his mercy you are not consumed his mercies are new every morning and great is his faithfulness Lam. 3. 23. 2. As you have seen it actually fulfilling the promises for your preservation so you may see it making good all the promises in his word for your support in troubles That is a sweet promise Psal. 91. 15. I will be with him in trouble I will deliver him you have also a very supporting promise in Isa. 41. 10. Fear not thou for I am with thee be not dismayed for I am thy God I will strengthen thee yea I will help thee yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness O how evidently hath the faithfulness of God shone forth in the performance of his word to you in this respect you are his witnesses you would have sunk in the deep waters of trouble if it had not been so So speaks David Psal. 73. 26. My heart and my flesh faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever Have you not found it so with you as it is in 2 Cor. 12. 10. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persecutions in distresses for Christ's sake for when I am weak then am I strong God's strength hath been made perfect in your weakness by this you have been carried through all your troubles hitherto hath he helped you 3. As you have seen it faithfully fulfilling the promises for your preservation and support So you have seen it in the direction of your ways So â—uns that promise Psal. 32. 8. I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way that thou shalt go I will guide thee with mine eye Certain it is That the way of man is not in himself Jer. 10. 23. O how faithfully hath your God guided you and stood by you in all the difficult cases of your Life Is not that promise Heb. 13. 5. faithfully fulfilled to a tittle I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Surely you can set your seal to that in Ioh. 17. 17. Thy word is truth had you been left to your own counsels you had certainly perished as it is said of them in Psal. 81. 12. I gave them up unto their own hearts lusts and they walked in their own counsels 4. As there are promises in the word for your preservation support and direction So in the fourth place there are promises for your provisions as in Psal. 34. 9. the Lord hath promised that They that fear him shall not want When they are driven to extremity he will provide Isa. 41. 17. When the poor and needy seek water and there is none and their tongue faileth for thirst I the Lord will hear them I the God of Israel will not forsake them And is not this faithfully performed He hath given meat unto them that fear him he will ever be mindful of his Covenant Psal. 111. 5. In all the exigencies of your lives you have found him faithful to this day you are his witnesses that his providences never failed you his care hath been renewed every morning for you how great is his faithfulness 5. You also find in the word some reviving promises for your deliverances You have a very sweet promise in Psal. 91. 14. Because he hath set his love upon me therefore will I deliver him and again Psal. 50. 15. Call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee you have done so and he hath made a way to escape Our lives are so many monuments of mercy we have lived among Lyons yet preserved Psal. 57. 4. The burning Bush was an embleme of the Church miraculously preserved 6. There are promises in the word for the ordering and directing all the occurrences of providence to your great advantages so it is promised Rom. 8. 28. That all things shall work together for good to them that love God Fear not Christians however you find it now whilst you are tossing to and fro upon the unstable waves of this world you shall find to be sure when you come to heaven that all the troubles of your lives were guided as steddily by this promise as ever any Ship at Sea was directed to its Port by the Compass or North-Star And now what remains but that I press you as before 1. To enter into this Chamber of Divine Faithfulness 2. To shut the Door behind you 3. And then to live comfortably on it in evil days 1. Enter into this Chamber of God's faithfulness by faith and hide your selves there Every man is a Lye but God is True eternally and inchangeably faithful O exercise your faith upon it be at rest in it Now there are two great and weighty Arguments to press you to enter into this Chamber of divine faithfulness 1. Arg. Is fetched from the nature of God who cannot lye Tiâ—â—s 1. 2. He is not as man that he should â—ye Numb 23 19. Neither the son of man that the should repent hath he said and shall he â—ot do it Or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good Remember upon what everlasting steddy grounds
these permissions of Providence prove singular advantages and blessings to you SECT III. WHat remains then seeing God is Unchangeable in his love to his People pursuing the the great ends of all his gracious promises in a steddy course of Providence wherein he will never effect or permit any thing that is really repugnant to his own glory or their good but that we enter also into this Camber of Rest shut the doors about us and comfortably improve the unchangeableness of God while we see nothing but changes and troubles here below 1. Enter into Gods Unchangeableness by Faith take up your lodgings in this sweet Attribute also and to encourage your Faith thereunto seriously consider a few particulars 1. Consider how constant firm and unchangeable God hath been to his people in all times and streights not one among the many thousands of his people that are passed on before you but by frequent and certain experience have found him so What a singular encouragement should this be to our Faith in the case before us Psal. 9. 10. They that know thy name will put their trust in thee for thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek thee So Isa. 25. 4. Thou hast been a strength to the poor a strength to the needy in his distress a refuge from the storm a shaddow from the heat when the blast of the terrible ones is as the storm against the wall Neither is there any thing in your experience contradictory to the encouraging reports others have made of God you must acknowledge that notwithstanding your own changeableness who have hardly been able to maintain your hearts in any Spiritual frame towards God for one day together yet his mercies towards you have been new every morning and great hath been his Faithfulness You have often turned aside from the way of your duty and have not followed God in a steddy course of obedience and yet for all that his goodness and mercy have followed you all the days of your life as it is Psal. 23. 6. 2. Consider how often you have doubted and mistrusted the unchangeableness of God and been forced with shame and sorrow to retract your folly therein God hath many times convinced you that his love to you is an unchangeable love how many changes soever in the course of his Providence have passed over you consult Isa. 49. 14. and Psal. 77 78. and see how the cases parallel both in respect of Gods constancy to them and you and the inconstancy of his peoples Faith then and yours now your fears and doubts are the same with theirs though his goodness and love have been as unchangeable to you as ever it was towards them 3. Consider the Advocateship and intercession of Jesus Christ in Heaven for you by vertue whereof the favour and love of God becomes unalterable towards his people If any thing can be supposed to cool or quench the love of God towards you nothing in the world is more like to do it than your sin and this indeed is that which you fear will estrange and alienate the heart of your God from you But Reader if thou be one that sincerely mournest for all the grief and dishonour of God by thy sin appliest the bloud of sprinkling to thy Soul by Faith and makest mortification and watchfulness thy daily business comfort thy self against that fear from that singular encouragement given thee in this case 1 Iohn 2. 1 2. My little children these things write I unto you that ye sin not and if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins Look as the death of Christ healed the great breach betwixt God and thy Soul by thy reconciliation at first so the powerful Intercession of Christ in Heaven effectually prevents all new breaches betwixt God and thy Soul afterwards so that he will never totally and finally cast thee off again 2. Shut the door behind you against all objections scruples and questionings of Gods immutability and by a resolved and steddy Faith maintain the the honour of God in this point by thy constant adherence to it and dependence upon it and especially see that thou give him the glory of his unchangeableness 1. When thou shalt see the greatest alterations and changes made by his Providence in the World What though thou shouldest live to see all things turned upside down the foundations out of course all things drawing into a Sea of confusion and trouble Yet in the midst of those publick distractions and distress of Nations Encourage thou thy self in this thy God and his love to his people is the same for ever Psal. 46. 1 2 3 4 5. God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble Therefore will we not fear though the earth be moved and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea God is in the midst of her she shall not be moved 2. Live by Faith upon Gods unchangeableness under the greatest changes of your own condition in this world Providence may make great alterations upon all your outward conforts it may cast you down how dear soever you be to God from riches into poverty from health into sickness from honour into reproach from liberty into bondage thou mayest overlive thy comfortable relations and of a Naomi become a Marah Thou hast lifted me up and cast me down said as good a man as you Psal. 102. 10. Yet still it is your duty and will be your great priviledge in the midst of all these changes to act your faith upon the never changing God as that holy man did Hab. 3. 17. Although the Fig-tree shall not blossom neither fruit be in the vine the labour of the olive shall fail and the fields shall yield no meat the flocks shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls yet will I rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation q. d. Suppose a thousand disappointments of my earthly hopes yet will I maintain my hope in God O Christian with how many yets notwithstandings and neverthelesses must thy faith bear up in times of trouble or thou 'l sink 3. See thou live upon Gods unchangeableness when age and sickness shall inform thee that thy great change is at hand though thy heart and thy flesh fail comfort thy self with this thy God will never fail thee Psal. 73. 16. O God saith David thou hast taught me from my youth and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works now also when I am old and gray headed forsake me not Psal. 71 17 18. 4. Live upon the unchangeableness of God under the greatest and saddest changes of your Spiritual condition God may cloud the light of his countenance over thy Soul he may fill thee with fears and troubles and the comforter that should relieve thee may seem to be far off yet still maintain thy faith in