Hagar was at a loss yet God was not though the ground was dry to her yet God can bring up springs of water through the secret veynes of the parched earth Oh! there is much support in this duely to improve the Omnipotency and All-sufficiency of God 2. That the Saints themselves sometimes have their eyes so shut up that they cannot see these springs of goodness Sometimes the heads of these springs lye so deep and low that they are not visible either in promises or in providences Nay when they are open and run yet in some cases the Saints eyes are closed that they cannot see them all seemeth to be dry ground to them Indeed these fountains are shut up to the unbeleeving world alwayes sealed to the wicked so great a stone is rolled by an Almighty arm upon the mouth of this Well that all the strength of nature cannot remove it to dip a bucket in it but to the faithful it is alwayes open they need no Jacob to roll it away See that Zach. 13. vers 1. A fountain opened to the house of David for sin and for uncleanness This great Gospel fountain the blood of Jesus is open to beleevers to them that dwell at Jerusalem in the Spirit not in the letter of profession Now if this great Fountain be open which feedeth all the lesser springs referring to the blood of the Lord Jesus then sure no lesser springs shall be shut up to them He is the fountain of Gardens the Well of living waters Cant. 4. vers 15. What a precious priviledge is this to have all Gospel-springs open unto us yet here is our misery and it is very great though the springs be open our eyes are sometimes shut now what is a spring of water to a thirsty traveller if he see it not But you will say How shall the Saints get their eyes opened 3 God alone openeth the eyes of his people that they may see these open Fountains that they may behold these streams from Lebanon Hagar saw not the fountain neither could she untill God opened her eyes He that opened the heart of Lydia Act. 16. vers 14. opened Hagars eyes Jesus Christ who hath the Key of David can onely open and shut eyes by his anointing Spirit Apoc. 3. vers 18. This is true in the first work of conversion Act. 26. vers 18. So also in the passage of after comforts 2 King 6.17 The Lord opened the eyes of the young man that he saw and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha The providences and protections of God do circumvallate and encompass the faithful His Angels encamp round about them yet the Lord must open their eyes else they cannot behold them A truth falling in with our own experience how many amongst us saw not that wall of fire which hath been round about us nor those Chariots of fire which have been so eminent a protection unto us in times of greatest danger But 4. God will open the eyes of his people to behold these springs of mercy when they stand in most need of them What had it been to Hagar if her eyes had been opened to have seen many Wells of water when she was in Abrahams family or if she had been in a land of fountains but to be in a wilderness in a land of drought to have the water in the bottle spent and knew not where to fill it nor how to keep her lad alive without supplies of water and then in this streight to have her eyes opened to see not a little water in a pitcher to fill her bottle once with and no more but to see a Well a spring of water where she might have constant supplies Oh! this was a seasonable and therefore a welcome mercy to her this was life to her self her son and to her hopes of after safety Oh this is marvellous sweet and an excellent means to get up the heart in sinking times and conditions 6. Her eyes are opened shee seeth the Well What doth she now do why she obeyeth the voyce of the Lord in filling her bottle with water and giving the lad drink this teacheth us That it is the duty of Gods people to lay hold â—n offers of mercy from the Lord to close in with to own and improve the providential dispensations of God for good unto themselves What is she in a wilderness her bottle-store spent a fountain opened and her eyes opened and doth she sit still is she sullen or is she pettish because supplies came not her own way or at her own time will she not dip her bottle in the fountain because it ariseth in this and not in that plat of ground doth she stand upon such niceties no no but presently she snatcheth up her bottle and goeth to fill it A commendable practice Oh! what we see her do do we likewise in all our streights let us haste to the Throne of grace and when mercy is offered help seasonably tendered let us imbrace it and improve it when Christ opened that fountain of grace shewing the wounds in his hands and in his side to Thomas presently he runneth to the fountain and dippeth his bucket in the Well acting faith by a personal application My Lord and my God Joh. 20. vers 28. So when the Lord openeth his Mercy-fountains to us and our eyes to see them let us not onely sip a little but fill our buckets yea brim our bottles drawing with joy and thankfulness of heart water out of those Wells of salvation Isa 12. vers 3. not quarrelling with men or means but owning the goodness of the Lord in the seasonableness and fulness of our distress What should I mention the Angels staying Abrahams hand when it was lifted up to slay his beloved Isaac What should I name Jacoh's Mahanaim the Host of God which appeared to him when he feared his brother Esau lest he should slay the mother with her children or Joseph in the pit or in the prison or Israel at the red Sea what should I say more the time would fail me if I should reckon up what the Holy Ghost hath recorded of this kinde How often may the saints and how many of them may truly speak the words of my Text Vnless the Lord had been my help my soul had almost dwelt in silence but God appeared relief came and deliverance was sent from the Lord in the very nick of time Oh! if God had deferred his help for one hour nay one minute nay less then one minute if time could be parcel'd out into a lesser moment I had been undone life and all had been lost But you will say what moveth the Lord to this full and seasonable appearance for his people in their greatest streights I answer Reason 1. Because God sometimes leadeth his people into streights therefore it is for his honour to fetch them out again Some Commanders have been very bold and forward to lead an Army on
it how good is a word of comfort spoken to a drooping soul in a day of mourning How good is a word of peace spoken by the Lord to a wounded spirit and then when its wounds are fresh and bleeding can any heart but the heart of Experiences conceive what healings those words of Christ brought to the poor woman Luke 7. v. 48. thy sinnes are forgiven thee being spake at that season when her heart was poured out under a deep sence of sinne Who can calculate what revivings of spirit the saint-thief felt from that seasonable Promise To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Luke 23. ver 43. being so rightly timed even in ipso articulo mortis in the very moment before his death and when his conscience was both awakened and wounded with sinne Oh! surely the timeing of love doth marvellously add to the beauty of it and when is it so seasonable as in a day of distress A cup of cold water with one morsel of bread given to a weary and thirsty Traveller is more then a full meal at another time How pleasantly did Iael's milk relish upon Siserah's pallate when he was thirsty Judg. 4 vers 19. A small piece of silver given to a poor man when he wanteth to buy bread for his family is more then a great sum given at a time when his cupboard is full of bread Abrother is born for adversity and sure kindness shewed to a brother in a day of adversity speaketh up love with the loudest accents Now God reserveth his paternal love to such a time and then he unbosometh himself unto his people and at such a time his people read the love of God in the most legible Characters some drops of love taste sweeter then and are owned more then full draughts of love at another time Good Asaph experienced and acknowledged this Psal 73. vers 25 26. Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee None in heaven none on earth No God is above all in this good mans esteem How cometh it to pass that God hath such a glorious high throne in Asaphs heart Oh saith he there is good reason for it and you will say so too when you know what love and good will God hath shewed unto me Oh! I was in such a sinking and dispairing condition That my flesh and my heart failed me heart and hope and help and all were gone I but then The Lord was the strength of my heart my heart stayed upon God as upon a firm rock the Lord was unto me as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land and he is my portion for ever he hath put in security for my everlasting safety Oh behold what manner of love is this and therefore he draweth up this conclusion It is good for me to draw nigh to God to rowle upon God in all my streights These appearances of God do make his love so visible and glorious that Angels and men may read it and say Behold how he loveth them Reason 4 4. Again God doth hereby more engage his people unto him he maketh them more his own getteth into their very hearts and setteth up his royal standard there There is nothing layeth stronger engagements upon an ingenious person then friendship in a day of adversity Jonathans interposures for David when Saul hunted for his life were so powerful upon Davids spirit that he wanted ways and words to express his sense of them his heart like a vessel of new wine sought for vent even when Jonathan was dead 2 Sam. 9.1 He putteth the question or rather maketh general proclamation Is their yet any left of the house of Saul What Is David afraid of a Corrival in the Kingdom Would he cut of the whole family of Saul to secure the crown upon his own head No this is not the ground of his enquiring but That I may shew him kindness not a word of revenge notwithstanding the haâ—red and hostility of Saul their father But why kindness Why he explaineth himself For Jonathan sake and again he reneweth his â—nquiry vers 3. To which Ziba replieth Jonathan hath yeâ—â—â— son who is lame of his feet A son of Jonathan that 's well but he is lame yea lame of his feet and so serviceable neither in Court nor Campe fit neither to stand before a Prince nor to march in the head of an Army No matter I will shew the kindness of God unto him and vers 7. when the lame son of Jâ—nathan is brought David said unto him Fear not it seemeth the remembrance of Sauls cruelty caused a trembling upon his Grand-sons spirit therefore David meets him with a cordial at the very door Fear not for I will surely shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy fathers sake Oh! Jonathan was my friend a dear friend he hazarded his own life to save mine and therefore I am obliged to shew kindness to him even in his posterity in like manner the hearts of Gods people are drawn out unto him under the sence of great deliverances See how Moses and Israel were up in their spirits unto the Lord when they were now brought off from Egypt and beheld their cruel Taskmasters quackened in the red Sea Exod. 15. ver 2. Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song c. The Lord is my strength and my song and he is become my salvation What then Oh! He is my God and I will prepare him an habitation God shall keep house in my heart there shall be the dwelling place of the Lord even of that God who is become my salvation and thus Psal 116. vers 1. I love the Lord my heart flameth out with hot affection to the Lord and why for vers 8. Thou hast delivered my soul from death mine eyes from tears and my feet from falling There 's nothing hears and heightens like unto a lively sense of the mercies of God in a day of distress The Saints are much wanting to themselves and more unto God in the neglect of this did we do this more God would have more of our hearts and hands too then he hath the love of Christ would constrain if we did often read over the stoâ—ry of it writ in his own blood Reason 5 Lastly The Lord cometh in seasonably and fully to his peoples relief in the day of their distress That he might blast the hope of their enemies and give their expectation the lye when they look for the down fall of Zion when adversity knocketh at the Saints door yea breaketh in forceably upon them then is the time come that the wicked looked for the day that they have longed after for surely the Serpents seed are true to their own principles they do really desire that the name of Israel was blotted out Cooperite cooperite diruite eximis sabvertite fundamentis Buchan and that their remembrance might perish from off the earth This was the language of Edom in the
thou not heard what a deaf people What keep no intelligence with heaven That the everlasting God the Lord the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not neither is weary his strength is Almighty therefore he cannot faile his care is everlasting therefore hee cannot be weary of helping afflicted ones how eminent and various was the Lords care in Jonah's preservation There is a storm at Sea Jonah is cast over-board but God prepareth a fish ready to receive him but how shall he do for light in that dark prison How shall life be preserved in those Chambers of death What food must he eat in his three days imprisonment How shall he be kept alive so long in the belly of a living fish and not become meat to the fish Who shall open the bars of the gates and let lose the prisoner And who shall waft him to the shore when set at liberty Why God is not weary he will carry him through all what a bundle of mâ—racles are wrapt up together in the preservation of this one Saint well might the Apostle perswade the faithful to be careful for nothing Phil. 4. vers 6. which as the Seraphims in Isa 6. is answered by Saint Peter 1 Epist chap. 5 vers 9. Cast all your care upon God under this assurance that God careth for you were we not ignorant of Gods care over us or low in faith that we dare not believe his word of promise to us we might free our selves from much vexing solicitude and anxiety of minde wherewith we are tormented It was a noble speech of John Careless in a letter to Mr. Philpot I will now sing care away for now my soul is turned to his old rest again and hath taken a sweet nap in the lap of Christ I have cast my care upon the Lord who careth for me and will be careless according to my name It is our work to cast care it is Gods work to take care let us not then by soul-dividing thoughts take the Lords work out of his hand If the care of all the Churches came upon Paul 2 Cor. 11. vers 28. that it was his every days work with an holy solicitude to care for them Oh much more may we affirm that the Lord careth for all his people and suiteth his care to all their conditions to which his eminent appearances for them in a day of distress give signal testimony 2. A second truth which this Doctrine commendeth unto us is this That the Saints are a people of Gods special love they lye in the very bosome of God his Banner over them is love and as holiness to the Lord was engraven upon the bells of the horses and upon every pot in Jerusalem Zech. 14. vers 20. So love to the Saints is engraven upon every-dispensation of God to his people even when he rebuketh them he loveth them because his affection is much toward them therefore he afflicteth them Hear ye the rod saith the Lord Mich. 6. verse 9. Oh it speaketh love many of the Saints have read much of the Lords love writ in letters of their own blood How doth the love of God shine forth in its full â—lustre when he appeareth as an healing God in a blee◠〈◊〉 hour Who can express the sweetness of this 〈…〉 What a relish of love do the Saints taste 〈…〉 hearts-ease which the Lord giveth them 〈…〉 of a storm The outgoings of God were remarkable 〈◊〉 even to astonishment in fetching Israel from the Iron Furnace there were miracles of mercy heaps upon heaps the wisdom and power of God were writ in such capital letters that they that runned might read not digitum onely but dexteram Dei not the finger but the right hand of God and what were the motives to all these mercies the Lord draweth up all these lines into the center of love Deut. 6. vers 3. Because the Lord loved thy fathers therefore he brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt So chap. 7. vers 8. Because the Lord loved you hath he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen from the hand of Pharach King of Egypt Love was the bottome which bore all these great burthens the spring which set all the wheels in going because the Lord loved you indeed sometimes the dark side of the cloud is toward the Saints his love is like the Sun muffled up in a thick mist or rather as a candle shut up in a dark Lanthorn that they see no out-shining of Gods favour as in cases of desertion or great affliction Isa 8.17 sometimes light and love break forth in some small beams through the thick cloud of apprehended displeasure that it is with the Saints as with a traveller in the duskish evening or star-light night when the moon sitteth That the light is neither clear nor dark Zech. 14. vers 6. the ship neither rideth upon high waters nor yet sticketh upon the shallows they neither feed high at a feast of fat things full of marrow nor yet are kept to the bread of mourners nor wine of astonishment their condition is a mixt and middle estate hope and fear sorrow and solace are interwoven as chastened yet not killed as sorrowful yet in some measure rejoycing as dying and yet alive though the air be duskish yet they can discover some lines of love drawn here and there in such a mercie such a favour such an act of goodness such a gracious providence Oh! saith a servant of the Lord if the Lord did not love me he would not have called me off from such vain and vicious courses he would not have made known the counsels of his grace by his spirit unto me he would not have accepted my poor services nor given such returns to my broken prayers nor hasted relief unto me in such or such an afflicted estate Oh! this is much the case of weak believers they are often at the turning of the scales one while hope up and fear down another while fear up and hope down and sometime the ballance hangeth in an even poise It is oftentimes thus in a spiritual sence and truly 't is many times such upon temporal accounts they are much at a loss in their own spirits But now when the Lord turneth again the captivity of his people when he cometh in signally and seasonably to their help in the time of their greatest streights when they could not tell what to do and thought all lost Oh then the bright side of the cloud is toward them the vail is taken away and they behold with open face the glorious love of God unto them It is said Gen. 45. vers 27. When Jacob saw the wagons which Joseph sent to carry him into Egypt his spirit revived it put a new life into his dead heart and dead hopes the old man gathered up his spirits which were sunk with grief for the death of Joseph and fear of Benjamin's
every method and turns every stone to keep his own ground to man his own forts maintain his own principality and withall to gain soules to himself to fetch them off from the embraces of Christ nay he is so bold and daring that though he sees the actings of godliness from the Saints and findes a work of grace in them which he doth find by those strong repulses the heart gives to his secret temptations which are his spies sent forth to search the land by whom he learns what frame the heart is in Though he sees his strong holds beat down and defaced by a conquering spirit though he observes the stream running in another channell and that the soul is now in armes against him believing repenting mourning praying watching hearing and all against him yet he will play an after game and not be wanting in skill or will to reduce the soul And he ploughs in hope and sowes in hope for he cannot read the Lambs book of life he knowes not the decrees of God they are Secret to him untill death brings forth a discovery and the soul is taken up to God and therefore though he fears such or such a Saint that is gone off from his quarters is under electing grace yet he hopes the contrary Yee see how busie he was with Joshua the High Priest Zech. 3. ver 1. and how hard he pressed upon him probably not without some hopes to have got him or the day against him until Christ rebuked him and told him he was a brand plucked out of the fire singled out by the purpose of the eternal Father to be a vessel of grace then he sleared away and left him Yet as our Saviour probably but for a time Luke 4.13 nay though he should read their names writ in heaven though he knowes the immutability of Christs love that whom he loves once he loves to the end John 13. ver 1. and of Gods counsel that his gifts and calling are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without repentance irreversible Rom. 11. ver 29. yet such is his malice and so great is his rage against the Saints that if he cannot keep them out of Canaan hee 'l sting them and scratch them in the wilderness before they get thither though he cannot put out their light hee 'l be a thief in their candle to swail away much of their comfort though he cannot reach them in heaven he will reckon with them on earth if they must to heaven he will send them cripples thither he will have a leg or an arm out of joint or broken or he will want of his will some way or other he will vex them buffet and disquiet them many long stories and sad ones too may be told of his exploits against the Saints my own experience can witness something of his trains and treacheries of his malice and the Lords mercy of his black designs and of the Lords gracious support and disappointments blessed be his holy name and adored for ever be his goodness O then in the name of the Lord lift up your banners buckle on your armour stand with your weapons in your hands ready to receive and charge your adversary and that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day gather up your experiences of God and meditate upon the great things God hath done for you in the day of your outward troubles what that power that wisdome that goodness of the Lord hath been which hath appeared unto you and engaged for you in the time of your greatest streights and what those streights and distresses how sharp and how pressing from which the Lord hath wrought your deliverance And then go to your spiritual Logick frame such an argument as this The Lord gives help to his distressed Saints in their outward troubles therefore also will he help them in their inward temptations now if Sathan shall argue that God doth not give in succours to the Saints in their outward troubles it 's true they and it may be ye had help and deliverance but it came not from God when ye were cast upon such and such sick-beds that ye despaired of life and your friends gave you up for dead then the Physician came and by his great skill administred such physick which wrought your recovery or when ye were in such streights the liberality of your friends relieved you or in such exigencies the wisdome and potency of your allies brought you off God was not seen in all your deliverances what will you do now why your business is to secure this fort by summoning your experiences and placing them upon the works saying that ye beheld the face of God in such deliverances that your help was onely from on high that men and means stood off and came not in no not for a reserve or though men and means were seen upon the wall yet God acted by the instrumentality of them though Christians were consulted with yet the blessing of God upon the means brought forth the cure be sure ye own God in every preservation how visible and potent soever creature-helps are or have been entrench your faith in this perswasion that whatsoever secondary causes contributed the chief agency was from God If Sathan beat you out of this trench he will soon take your standard and rout your whole army but if ye make good this ground if ye have the advantage of the hill ye are out of gunshot all his murthering pieces will not reach you ye may then quiet your spirits in any assault when ye can say in your greatest distresses as Paul 2 Tim. 4. ver 16 17. No man stood with me but all men forsook me notwithstanding the Lord stood with me and strengthened me Here 's a clear appearance of God Or with Daniel My God hath sent his Angel and stopped the mouthes of the Lions that they have not hurt me or with David in my distress I cried unto the Lord and he heard me Psal 120. ver 1. And surely some of the Saints deliverances have been such I can instance in mine own which were singly and signally wrought by God But now in other cases where instruments have been used as many such cases there have been be sure you give them even all created helps the name of instruments and own God as the principal Agent that his arm moved everey wheel and his hand guided and wrought with every tool do this and ye are well enough Psal 77. ver 20. Thou leddesi thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron to wit through the the red sea Moses struck the waters with his rod I but God divided the sea thou leddest is onely applicable to God and by Moses onely intimates an instrument so Psal 88. ver 65 66. Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep or like as a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine and he smote the enemies in the hinder parts he putteth them to a perpetuall shame However the
Proverbs 1.10 11. opened in some particulars 129 230 231 The 4Vse by way of comfort and encouragement in 4 cases 1. When Church-affairs do meet with a dark and gloomy day 232 233 234 2. When the Saints are under sufferings for the name and in the cause of Christ. 235 236 Some further grounds of comfort offered 237 1. That God will stand by you in the day of your suffering because your sufferings are upon you for God ibid. 2. That the spirits of all the faithfull will be up in prayer for you 238 239 3. That God doth many times so moderate and allay the fury of men that it extends not to the taking away of life 241 242 4. That your death will be life from the dead to others in a spirituall sense 243 244 245 246 5. That 't is an honourable advancement to be singled out by Christ to suffer for him 247 248 3. When you are under sore and sharp temptations from the wicked one 249 250 1 Cor. 1.30 opened 251 252 253 254 4. When you are under castings down from a fear of your eternall welfare 255 256 The last Vse of Reproof 1. The profane and carnal world are reproved in 3 Particulars 257 1. For their uncharitable censuring of suffering Saints ibid. 2. For their unjust charge of hypocrisie upon them 258 Job 8.6 7. opened 259 260 3. For that definitive sentence which they pass upon suffering Saints as though they were cast of by God 261 Isa 49.14 opened 262 Jer. 37.20 opened 263 2. This reproves those who strengthen themselves with the arme of flesh and lean upon the creature when afflictions overtake them 264 265 3. This reprooves those who will not wait the Lords time but discover Impaciency if helps come not at their own time 266 The evil fruits of impaciency 267 1. Vnbelief 268 2. Discontented murmurings ibid. 3. Vse of unlawfull means 269 Psalme 78.41 opened ibid. 4. This drawes up a charge against those that retain not a remembrance of the great mercies of God toward them neither give him the glory of them 270 Hosea 13.5 6. opened 271 5. Those are reproved who do not live up to the signal preservation they have received from the Lord. 272 273 274. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OLD JACOB's ALTAR newly Repaired OR THE SAINTS TRIANGLE of Dangers Deliverances and Duties Text PSALM 94. vers 17. Vnless the Lord had been my help my soul had almost or quickly dwelt in silence THis Book of the Psalmes hath been honoured and that deservedly with high Commendations by the Antients being termed The Soul's Anatomy The Law 's Epitomie The Gospel's Index a little Bible The Summary of both the Testaments being alledged or aliuded to eighty four times or thereabouts in the New Testament as one observeth A sweet Field and Rosary of Promises Precepts Predictions Praises Soliloquies c. A Physick Garden richly furnished with all sorts of healing plants and Medicinal herbs suited to all the Spiritual distempers frail man is incident unto The holy Pen-man being a person of choice spirit and of large experiences meeteth with all the conditions of all the Saints in their state of militancy so that out of them as out of a Storehouse every Saint may meet with rich supply suting his respective condition and his addresses to God still finding much of his own estate in some Psalme or other as though the spirit of God spake de se in re sua of him and in his particular case As Athanasius observeth containing the Characters and Representations of his thoughts meditations affections and workings of spirit towards God towards man towards himself throughout all the changes of his Pilgrimage An Epitomy of the Bible or a little Bible as Luther calls it in this present world The Apostle James Chap. 5. ver 13. gives this general advice Is any afflicted let him pray Is any merry let him sing Psalmes Lo here is the bread of mourners for sad spirits and here is the oyl of gladness for merry hearts here are healing potions for all heart distempers and cordial waters for all sinking spirits yea choice experiences to strengthen fainting soules in the day of their distress more pleasant then the pooles of Heshbon more glorious then the Tower of Lebanon more redolent then the oyl of Aaron and more fructifying then the dew of Hermon as one expresseth it and amongst many Psalmes though this hath not the Title Michtam of David affixed to it to wit A golden Psalme or David's precious jewel yet it is as the first borne among many brethren from a very small Parcel whereof viz. vers 17. we may consider a double acknowledgment 1. Of imminent danger set forth 1. By the nearness of it 2. By the greatness of it 2. Of eminent Deliverance in two considerable Circumstances 1. The reasonableness of Help 2. The sufficiencie of Help Which Considerations will appear to be very genuine and to be the plain meaning of the Prophet if we take the Text in pieces and examine each word apart 1. Except the Lord or if the Lord had not stood by me and appeared in the very nick of time this implieth the seasonableness of help the Lord usually reserving his hand for a dead lift as that passage Psal 124. vers 1 2 3. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side now may Israel say if it had not been the Lord who was on our side when men rose up against us then they had swallowed us up quick the word is used Psal 119. vers 92. Vnless thy Law had been my delight I should then have perished in my affliction which was the Lantgrave of Hessen's support Melancthon reporteth that he told him at Dresda That it had been impossible for him to have borne up under the manifold miseries of his so long imprisonment nisi habuisset consolationem ex verbo divino in corde suo If the Word of God had not brought in consolation into his heart Joh. Manl. loc comm pag. 139. alledged by Mr. Trap. in Psal 119.92 2. Had been my help the word signifieth not onely Help but summum plenum auxilium an helpfulness or full help the Hebrew hath a letter more then ordinarie to encrease the signification as learned Mr. Leigh observeth There is the sufficiency of help 3. My soul i. e. my life the word in the Heb. being often translated life of which the soul is the spring and fountain as Job 2. vers 6. The Lord saith unto Sathan Behold he is in thine hand but save his life I give thee full commission against the body of my righteous servant Job to fill it with diseases and distempers as he did it to purpose but not to take away his life This argueth the greatness of David's danger his Life had dwelt in silence that is his life had been gone and his dead corps had been laid in the grave as Psal 115. vers 17. The dead praise not thee neither
speeches and hard dealings as I meet withall Oh! this man that complaineth now on earth might ere now have cryed out in Hell He that weepeth on earth might long since have wailed in hell and he that gnasheth his teeth against God for his present sufferings might have had gnashing of teeth in endless and easless torments Oh then Wherefore doth living man complain Oh! this is a quieting Consideration to keep down all impatient risings of heart against God in a day of distress and will lead out the spirit to submit unto and trust God in the greatest streights For as it followes in the second head of Doctrine Doctrine 2 The Saints of God do sometimes meet with such distresses that cut off all hopes of deliverance from man Reason is at a stand heart and flesh fail carnal policy is at a loss all proud helpers stoop in vain yea Faith it self beginneth to flagge Thus Gen. 21. vers 14 15 16. Hagar with her sonne are cast out of Abraham's family and are now in a wilderness a place inhabited onely by wilde beasts their stock of provision spent and no supplies to be had What then what courss will Hagar take why she layeth down her beloved boy under a bush And what then she goeth a distance from him not being able to bear his dying groanes and cryes and having emptyed her bottle of water she seeketh to emptie her moaning heart by teares seeing nothing but the death of her Sonne as knowing no way to prevent it a great distress a sad streight but not her case alone Many of the Saints of God have come to the emptying of their bottles to cases of utmost extremitie a parralel case was that of the poor widow 1 Kings 17. vers 12. her whole store was spent and markets shut up as to new supplies a handfull of meal in the barrel and a little oyl in the cruse was her whole livelihood and she is now gathering a handfull of sticks to bake one cake for her self and her Sonne and what will she do when that cake is eaten did she see relief coming some other way no these were her thoughts she and her sonne would eat that cake and die It were easie to multiply presidencies of this kinde upon both accounts temporall and spirituall streights of bodie and pressures of spirit have been matter of the Saints complaint 1. Oh then thou that art a servant of the Lord who hast not been brought into these streights upon whom such a day of distress hath not been but findest the incomes of the spirit dost take in comfort from the promises walkest in the light of God's countenance and hast the candle of the Lord shining upon thy Tabernacle as 1 Kings 1.6 That hast been the Lords Adonijah Oh! charge it home by the way of thankfulness upon thy heart that the Lord should lead thee unto the land of rest and not by the way of the wilderness 2. Let thy bowels yearn toward the distressed of the Lord pity them pray for them and administer seasonable supplies of comfort to them considering thy self as being in the body especially let thy heart go out in tender compassions towards the afflicted in spirit to those who are brought into soul streights whose case runneth parallel with that of Heman Psal 88. ver 3. My soul is full of troubles Heb. is satiated with evills hath its fill is brimm'd up yea running over and these so pressing that my life draweth nigh to the grave and then vers 8. I am shut up I am a prisoner under restraint I but it is libera custodia he may go forth with his keeper no I cannot go forth Oh! t is a sad thing to be a close Prisoner to be so shut up that he cannot steppe one foot beyond the grate to take any contentment in the creature any delight in outward enjoyments or any comforts in relations Ah but Heman's case is far sadder he is so shut up that his spirit cannot go forth in prayer to fetch in comfort from the Promises nor healing from the Spirit nor life from Jesus Christ nor pardoning mercy from the God and Father of mercies nor evidence of Electing love nor assurance of Redeeming grace nor demonstrations of Adopting grace nay nor satisfying and soul-quieting conclusions of truth of grace but free amongst the dead like the slain in the grave whom God remembreth no more Dead to duty dead in duty dead from duty spirit dead and heart dead affections dead desires dead comforts dead hope dead faith dead yea all dead Oh! this is sad above what words can express onely the heart knoweth its own bitterness yet this day of distress hath been upon many precious Saints Oh! then draw forth the breasts of consolation to such sad souls Stay them with flaggons comfort them with apples And let this give you incouraging hopes of success in all your applications that the appearances of God are eminent and immediate in the day of his peoples greatest distress which is the main point I pitch upon as being the chief scope of the Text. Doct. 3 The Lord comes in often with seasonable and suitable mercies in times of greatest miseries He loveth to be seen on the Mount to be a present help in the needful time of trouble to help when none else can help when refuge faileth and hope is now at the giving up the ghost See that Gen. 21. vers 17 18. When Hagars fears were highest and her faith lowest as too oft is seen that when fear is up then faith is down when death was coming and life going when the water was spent her patience spent and all spent when she had received the sentence of death within her self for her self at least for her son whom she had given up for a dead childe Then then God heard the voyce of the lad and calleth unto her and biddeth her lift up the lad yea her own faith and hope and spirit for there was an universal sinking in her and telleth her he will make him a great Nation as if he had said Fear not the life of the lad for there are many lives bound up in his life if I should let him perish I should lose a Nation yea a great Nation and that distrustful thoughts might not arise in her heart God openeth her eyes and she saw a Well of water and gave the lad drink Let us pitch down a little upon this Quotation for it is a place of pleasant springs and draw these Observations 1. That the goodness of God is a springing fountain unto the Saints even in a wilderness Psal 107.35 There is alwayes water in this fountain Psal 36. vers 9. With thee is the fountain of life There are springs of providence and springs of promises both which do send forth refreshing streams unto the Saints There are alwayes supplies in the Lords store-house fresh cordials in the Lords closet yea he can and will create deliverances for his Jacobs though
when as many labouring under the said distempers are gone down to the chambers of death is this I. That you would own with thankfulness the healing mercies of God whereby you have been restored Let your thoughts often reflect upon your former weakness what pains and faintings seased upon you what the opinion of your Physicians and the fears of your Relations were when your pulses beat low and softly when you drew your breath short and painfully when paleness had covered your faces when the grashopper was a burden to you such was your weakness Job 16. vers 16. when the shadow of death was on your eye-lids and all the symptomes of death appeared in you and all this at such a time when graves were opened very many in most places when God himself was the preacher and that upon this text Isa 40. vers 6 7. All flesh is grass and the goodliness of it as the flower of the field the grass withereth and the flower fadeth because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it which was fully confirmed every passing bell being a proof of the point and every dead corps a reason of the doctrine so that if ever now it might safely be affirmed the people is grass and you as grass might have withered into dead hay and though flowers might have faded into loathsome Carcases if the Lord had not preserved a secret sap at the root Oh consider to receive a message of life from the Lord when you had received a message of death from man to be kept alive by his almighty power when you were within an hairs breadth of death is a mercy worth the owning at all times but calls for more abundant thankfulness at such a time as this was when so many some out of the same houses and many out of the same Towns have been carried forth unto the places of burial when many of those had the same advantages for life yea greater some from men and means then ye had yet they are dead and ye are alive Oh these considerations lay great ingagements of thankfulness upon you especially if you seriously take notice what your sickness was by which ye received an arrest from the Lord it was not an ordinary disease it hath been very much ludibrium medicorum few Physicians have found out the true cause and the right cure of it the distempers have so varied and the effects have been so different in several persons and places so that with the Egyptian Sorcerers all have been forced to confess it was no other then the finger of God The Lord having made good upon us that threatning Deut. 28. Verse 61. In bringing a sickness among us which is not written in the book of the Law a Scripture parralel whereof in every particular cannot be found I shall represent it to you under these Considerations 1. It was general no County no Town no Family scarcely escaped the rod nay almost all persons found some alterations in their bodies as tendencies to that disease having as large a Commission as to smiting as the destroying Angel had Ezek. 9. vers 5 6. Go ye through the City and smite let not your eye spare neither have ye pity slay utterly old and young both maids and little children and women 2. It was suddain Many Diseases have their Prodromio's their forerunners which bring news of their coming some dayes or weeks before they seize a man but when men were in their apprehensions perfectly well and at their labour perceiving no symptomes of a sickness they were suddenly surprised some in the Towns some in the fields and brought home sick As if a man should walk in a Corporation and suddenly should be snapt by the Sergeants and carried to the Jaile when he feared nothing less 1 Thes 5.3 3. It was violent It seized many strong men with that violence at the first onset as though it would strike but once many thinking at their first surprisall they had been dropping into the grave like that Job 16. v. 12 13 14. I was at ease Read Mr. Jakson's notes in loc but he hath broken me asunder he hath also taken me by the neck and shaken me to peices and set me up for his marke His archers compass me about he cleaveth my reins asunder and doth not spare he poureth out my gall upon the ground He breaketh me with breach upon breach he runneth upon me like a Giant 4. It was weakning the strength of the strong man was suddenly taken from him that he was either chained to his bed or like an old man walked with his staffe in his hand through age Zech. 8. ver 4. for Job 6. ver 4. the arrows of the Almighty are within me the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit And Psal 38.8 10. I am feeble and sore broken c. My heart panteth my strength faileth me by reason of inappetency Psal 107. ver 18. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat 5. It was languishing many diseases do their work in a few dayes either the distemper wears off and health returns or else sicknesse prevails and death comes In some cases the Malefactour is committed till the next Goal-delivery and then set free with a little scarre in his hand But in other cases a man is kept prisoner from Sessions to Assizes and from Assizes to Sessions and knows not when he shall have his freedome or whether his life will be spared at last So some diseases have their fixed periods of time after which health is restored but in this distemper many have been referred from Sessions to Assizes have had many hopefull intervalls and yet are detained bound over from the feaver to a quartan ague and after long detainment find little strength and as little hopes of life at the last See Job 13. ver 26 27 28. and chap. 16. ver 8. thou hast filled me with wrinkles which is a witnesse against me grief had made surrows in his face and his tears filled them 7. It was inevitable No way to avoid the stroke Vid. Trap. in loc no Antidote would prevent it no closet could secure against it as 1 King 22. ver 34. like that Psal 90. ver 5 6. Arrows fly swiftly and secretly though Ahab had disguised himself that he might not be known and armed himself that he might not be wounded yet a certain man drew a bow at a venture and smote him between the joynts of the harnesse 7. It was mortall to many persons in many places 1. In the present stroke some never came off from their sickbeds till they were carried to their death beds to wit their graves 2. In the effects and consequents of it though the disease it self kill'd not some presently yet it slipt them into Dropsies Consumptions and Quartans which have since been mortall to many Now then set home these considerations give God the glory of your lives in the words of the text ascribe your healing onely unto him in the words of
the world into nothing and blow down a great bubble with an easie breath that by drawing one nail can throw down the stateliest building and undress your soules by unpinning one pin c. I have read of a Persian Noble-man who lost his life by the loss of an hair plucked out of his bosome Mr. Vines Essex's Hearse in sport by his Minion 5. Get your hearts into an awfull frame get your spirits tinctured with an holy fear of God Rev. 15. vers 4. Surely they that have felt must needs fear him they that have found the power of his anger let out in soul terrours yea in breaking afflictions upon the body Read M. Jackson's Notes upon this place must needs fear him though indeed none but the damned in Hell experience the power of his anger Moses in Psalme 90. ver 11. put 's the question Who knoweth the power of thine anger implying that none knoweth it as none can take the dimensions of his love which passeth all knowledge so neither of his anger the reason is added because even according to thy fear so is thy wrath that is let a man fear thee never so much he is sure to feel thee much more if he fall into thy hands Paul knew this when he laid down this Position as a fence wall about Profession to keep men from starting out by Apostacy Heb. 10. vers 31. It is a fearfull thing to fall into the hands of the living God surely if the burnt childe dread's the fire much more men of age and discretion who have been cast into the furnace of affliction have had their moisture dried up their skin writhled their flesh rosted and their very bones burnt with the scorching flames thereof have cause to fear that fire which so farre resembles everlasting burning that though it be not unquenchable yet it is not quenchable but by the bloud of Christ and the melting bowels of God's tender mercie Oh then Dear friends take forth this lesson from your late afflictions to fear that glorious and fearfull name THE LORD THY GOD Deut. 28. vers 58. Fear to offend God fear to do any thing which may displease him in this sence Blessed is the man that feareth alwayes Prov. 28. ver 14. The Hebrew Midwives lost nothing by it Exod. 1. vers 17.21 1. From the consideration of Gods power he is able not onely to call you to an account 1 Cor. 10. vers 22. Do we provoke the Lord to anger Are we stronger then he As Caligula that dared his Jove to a duel Are we the Lord's match can we outstrengthen an Almighty God Who hath hardened himself against him and prospered Job 9. ver 4. Jer. 5. ver 22. 2. Fear to offend him from the consideration of his goodness not onely that goodness which the Lord extends unto you in common with other men nor that speciall goodness which is the peculiar portion of his Elect in Christ but also that particular goodness which the Lord hath vouchsafed you in restoring health unto you when ye lay at the brinks of the grave and many other tumbled in Hos 3. vers 5. Oh Fear the Lord for his goodness 3. Fear an offended God though not provoked by you A tender spirited childe feares and trembles when his father is angry with others though himself hath done no fault God likes this tenderness of spirit in his children Psal 119. vers 120. David saith my flesh trembleth for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy Judgments Samar horrâ—pilatio my hair stands upright as it doth sometimes in suddain and great frights Job 3. vers 15. The hair of my flesh stood up Amos 3. vers 8. The Lion hath roared Who will not fear Oh observe this Hab. 3. ver 16. When I heard my belly trembled c. Objection But why should the Saints fear the wrath of God who is in Covenant with them and hath promised to be a covering Cheâ—â— unto them Solution 1. They see 〈◊〉 provoking nature of sinne they consider that sinne is a thing of greatest abhorrency with God and therefore when they observe the growth of sinne in a place or nation they are afraid that God will ere long break out in wrath against them Hence that Numb 17.12 13. read Ezek. 7. from vers 1. to the 16. and apply it upon a national account 2. They see the dreadfulness of Gods wrath they know the English of that Isa 27. vers 4. Who would set the briars and thornes in battail against me I would go thorow them I would burn them together They know what briars and thornes are and what their end shall be They see that themselves are not exempted persons they are not sure to have their door-posts sprinkled with the blood of the Pascal lamb Exod. 12. that the marking Angel Exod. 9. shall give them a signature of safety in their foreheads How was the Church affected Acts 5. ver 11 Ezek. 14. ver 14. Oh then labour to preserve an holy fear of God upon your spirits think often of what Christ speaks Luke 12. ver 4 5. Be not afraid of them that kill the body and after that have nothing they can do But fear him who after he hath killed hath power to throw into Hell yea I say unto you fear him Lastly Labour to make sure of heaven lay out for an Interest in the Lord Jesus let this be the teaching ye have received from the late sickness Call to minde your sick-bed fears and tears what pangs of conscience and woundings of spirit ye then were under what faintings of heart ye had when you found your evidences for heaven writ with so pale a hand that ye could not read them at least by that weak and wan light which then shined in your soules what a loss ye were at for the Lord Jesus weeping with Mary because they had taken away your Lord and ye knew not where they had laid him nor how to lay hold on him for peace and pardon nay perhaps your cases weremore desperate your sins were writ in so deep a crimson your Atheisme igâ—â—â—â—nce Gospel enmity your former scoffings at Religion your flouts and flings at godliness your contempt of Gospel-Ordinances and your rejection of Gospel-grace did so fly in your faces grate and gnaw so upon your spirits and filled you with such a sence of divine vengeance that conscience that bird in the bosome like the night-raven croaked many a sad and dismal note unto you and so presented you with the black side of the cloud that ye verily thought if ye should die at that lare ye should drop into Hell Remember what then your thoughts were how then ye resolved that if ye recovered health again ye would not leave heaven under such uncertainties hereafter ye would give diligence to make your calling and Election sure ye would not for all the world be harassed again with those dreadfull fears and terrours like unto an unwary Traveller
exhortation to the Redeemed of the Lord to mention with thanksgiving the great things wrought by a great God for them Oh! bless our God ye people concerned in these mercies let your hearts silently breath forth his praises let your meditations be much and often taken up with thoughts of Gods goodness which is more I fear then most of us do but stay not here do not make this as the land-mark and boundary of your duty but make the voyce of his praise to be heard let it have an Eccho in the world by communicating and speaking over what and how deliverance came from the Lord unto you 3. He layes down the reason of this call to praise vers 9. because he holdeth our soul in life or puts our souls into life alas when a day of distress was upon us our hearts did even sinke within us life was gone joy was gone hope was gone and heart was gone too in some persons There is a strange recess and retirement of the soul under great and sudden calamities it lyes close like a poor debtor within doors the blood and spirits retire little of activity appears nay some in sudden surprizals have even dyed away into swooning through fear It was thus with Saul though a valiant Prince when he heard what evill was coming upon him 1 Sam. 28. vers 20. He fell streightway all along upon the earth and there was no strength in him And whence was this swouning fit why from fear he was fore afraid and why was he afraid because of the words of the Witches 2 Sam. 28.20 This was old Elies case when tidings were brought unto him that the Army of Israel was routed Hophni and Phinehas slain and the Ark of God taken 1 Sam. 4. vers 17 18. He fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate and his neck brake and he dyed I but here the Prophet saith God holdeth our souls in life or lives Be-chaiim and suffereth not our feet to be moved gives us a sure foot-hold and safe standing in our present peace and well-fare 4. He mentions the distress that were upon them in the nature and in the kind of them vers 10.11 Thou O God hast tryed us as silver is tryed How is that why in the fornace of affliction thou broughtest us into the net Thou layedst affliction upon our loins thou hast caused men to ride over our heads we went through fire and through water How fully doth the carriages of former times paraphrase upon these verses How have the sufferings of many Saints ran parallel with these expressions but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place well-watered as the word implies a place of springs and rivers by which he means a prosperous estate in that full plenty and security which he with the Church then enjoyed And therefore vers 13 14. He speaks his sence of these mercies and the resolvedness of his spirit to act in thankfulness suitable to these engagements 5. I will go into thy house with burnt-offerings and will pay thee my vows which I promised with my lips and spake with my mâ—uth when I was in trouble A good resolution of a gallant man Oh! that such a spirit in the power of it was upon us Did not I Did not others Did not Magistrates Did not Ministers protect promise covenant in the day of our distress Have we paid our vows Have we performed our promises The Lord help us to see and to humble our selves much before the Lord for our violations of promises and protestations both to God and man 6. He stands upon the mount of God and by way of proclamation calls in all the people of God that they may hear the stories of Gods mercies unto himself when he had mentioned the great things God had done for his Church he comes down to a particular narrative of what God had done for himself vers 16. Come and hear all ye that fear God and I will tell you what God hath done for my soul Le-myrheshi which word being of a doubtful signification and used for both soul and life in reference to things of a temporal and spiritual concernment we need not confine it to either 1. Ye have the holy summons Come a word of much use both in a good and in a bad sence there is in Scripture mentioned a religious come and a rebellious come the Saints have their come and the wicked have their come there 's too much of the last come in our days and too little of the first if there was more communion this come would be more used 2. The persons to whom the summon is directed exprest 1. By a particular Character they are such as fear God 2. By a note of universality they are all that fear God onely they that fear God and all they that fear God are summoned 3. Ye have the matter of the summons or the end wherefore the summons is sent forth and that is that he might in the audience of them all make a full and true report of what the great God hath done for his soul So that the words hold forth a double duty 1. To consider the mercies of God 2. To communicate the mercies of God You may see from hence That it is a duty by way of special incumbency upon the Lords people to commemmorate themselves and to communicate to others the vouchsafements of grace and mercy which they have had from the Lord as to fix the sense and remembrance of mercies received upon their own hearts so to give their hearts vent like full vessels in frequent mentioning their preservations unto others it is a commendable practice there is much of God in it It hath the seal of the best men it hath much in it that speaks men to be good and that makes good men much the better See the practice of the Lords people Psa 78.3 4. Which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us we will not hide them from their children shewing to the generation to come or as some translation reads it But to the generation to come we will shew the praâ—ses of the Lord his power also and the wonderful works that he hath done parallel to this is that Isa 63.7 I will mention the loving kindnesses of the Lord and the promises of the Lord according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us and the great goodness to the house of Israel Memorare faciam Azkir I will improve my care and interest that the mercies of the Lord may be kept up in the minds and memories of his people so the Apostle 2 Cor. 1.8 9 10. We would not brethren have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia that we were pressed out of measure above our strength insomuch that we dispaired even of life But we had the sentence of death in our selves that we should not trust in our selves but in God which raised the dead who delivered us
indeed But if thou beest in a state of Atheism and open prophaneness or notwithstanding thy carnal Gospelling or formal profession thy heart smites thee thy conscience condemns thee and thy daily practice bears witness against thee and all together tell thee to thy face that thou art not in a state of grace thou art not interested in the blood of Jesus and that Christ is not in thee the hope of glory Oh let these thoughts be often upon thy heart I have been sometimes in a way of mercy saved from drowning in the water Ah but what will this avail me If my foolish and hurtful lusts do after drown me in destruction and perdition 1 Tim. 6.9 I have been by a hand of mercy pluckt out of Sodoms burnings but ah what comfort will this administer if I be cast into everlasting burnings I have been fetcht by a signal mercy from a deep and dark dungeon but ah what will this advantage me If I be thrown into the bottomless pit I have been antidoted from the raging pestilence but ah How can I rejoyce in that If the plagve of my heart be not cured and so the second death have power over me what contentment can I take in all my former deliverances If I be delivered up to eternal wrath Let such thoughts prevail with thee and improve thy present deliverances as warnings and awakenings from the Lord to provide for thy eternal safety The Lord Jesus preached very often upon this subject to those that he cured Behold thou art made whole sin no more least a worse thing happen unto thee Oh the worm that never dyeth and the fire that never goeth out will be far worse then all the miseries that thou hast suffered here this is much the fin of many they do not heed the outgoings of God nor consider the hand of the Lord that hath been upon them or for them in a day of distress the sence of great deliverances soon wear off and so the fruit of all is lost but if men would often say had not the Lord helped us the sea had swallowed us up and if we go on in these courses it will not be long before hell swallow us up had not the Lord procured my enlargement I had rotted in a noisom prison and if I walk on in these ways of sin I shall be certainly thrown into that prison out of which I shall not come untill I have paid the utmost farthing certainly if such considerations were more upon our spirits there would not be that Atheism dissolutness and profaneness amongst the worst nor that luke-warmness formality and deadness of spirit amongst the best as there is Sabbaths would be more duly observed ordinances more carefully attended on the season of grace more prized the messengers of grace more honoured the ways of grace more walked in and men would minde the great business of salvation in more good earnest then the most men do Oh then try this course and improve this councel least after all thy temporal deliverances eternal wrath may be thy portion 2. If upon due tryal thou findest a work of grace wrought in thy soul Christ formed in thy heart put it to the question how and when was this good work begun in my soul in temporal dangers and deliverances men are apt to speak what hazards of life they have been in what days of distress have been upon them and aggravate all by relating the circumstances of time place company c. and then how and by what means the Lord brought them off above and beyond expectation when they least looked for it and had least ground to hope after it Oh what stories will some men tell of this nature how will they delight in it and account it their honor to do it O follow then this pattern in a spiritual way discourse over and often the passages of Gods mercy and thine own misery what thou wast how vain how ignorant what an enemy to God what a hater of good men what a despiser of the means of grace and how regardless of thine own eternal peace and welfare so that if the twine thread of thy life had been cut when thou wast in that estate thou hadst certainly dropt into hell and perished without all hope of recovery and that then when no eye pittied thee nor thou thy self when thou didst not look after Christ but braved it out against God and all Gospel tenders then even then the Lord came in graciously and seasonably unto thee And according to his mercy saved thee by the washing of regeneration and renewings of the holy Ghost which he shed on thee abundantly by Jesus Christ thy Saviour Saint Paul was much in the review of what he had been and done and in owning and admiring free grace He is not ashamed to tell the world what he was before conversion when and how the Lord came upon him and wrought that blessed change in him And indeed some ancient Christians tread in the Apostles steps and still retain this practice sure 't was well if it was more done provided it was well done not out of pride and vain glory but in humility and lowliness of minde that God alone may be acknowledged and adored for his rich grace and others may reap fruit by it to their comfort establishment and support but I do not lay this down as the general duty of all under profession I know there be some who play the hypocrites in Religion and these out of meer pride and ostenration that they might get a name and repute among believers and be counted somebody would be forward enough in this work speaking lies in hypocrisie and pretending to great things which they never expe rienced like that Amalekite 2 Sam. 1.6 7 8 9. who told David a fair tale how he stood upon Saul and slew him and took the crown that was upon his head and the bracelet that was upon his arm c. and all this that he might win credit with David and gain his favour by slaying his enemy who stood betwixt him and the crown when as the whole story was false this would be the case of some false-hearted hypocrites Again some of the servants of the Lord who are real converts would be at a loss within themselves not being able to give an account when and how the Lord first wrought upon them who can onely say with the blind man Joh. 9.25 This one thing I know that whereas I was born blinde I now do see the work of grace upon the hearts of some as to the quando and quomodo time and manner is undiscernable by them The Lord spiritualizeth their morals sanctifies their principles of education and drops down his spirit upon the seed and his blessing upon the off-spring so that they spring up as among the grass as Spring Flowers which lye buried under ground the Winter season and sprout forth as the year ariseth Isa 44.3 4. To this the Lord
Jesus speaketh Mark 4.26 27. So is the Kingdom of God as if a man should cast seed into the ground and should sleep and the seed grows up he knows not how God sows the seed by the hand of a godly Parent or Pastor and in due season when and how they know not neither Parent Pastor nor the Person himself it bringeth forth fruit the word works sometimes many years after as they say of the Elephant that she brings not forth till the thirteenth year after she hath conceived The first springs in the womb of grace are precious and carefully preserved by the spirit and when they put forth it may be without any noise For the Kingdom of heaven doth not always come with observation Thus Timothy knew the holy Scriptures from a child 2 Tim. 3.15 not onely the bare letter and form of words that 's but little but knew them so as to love them to read them with delight and look for salvation wisdom in them through faith which is in Christ Jesus and probably by the care of his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice sure gracious parents and godly education do contribute much though not infallibly to the seasoning of tender years and it was well if parents would make it much their care as blessed be God some do to furnish their children whilest children with Gospel-knowledge Mr. Trap. in 2 Tim. 3.15 It is reported That the Lady Wheatenhall so plyed her young Neece Mistris Elizabeth Wheatenhall that before she was nine years old she could say the New Testament by heart and was able to name the book and chapter where any word or passage was A singular president worthy of admiration Oh that Christian parents would take this hint The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul Psal 19.7 That 's the genuine and native fruit of it at least through the blessing power of the spirit conversion is in it and from it and who knows whether the word being engraffed by godly parents may not bring forth early conversion in their children Sure we are there have been and are young Saints in the world who have rellished the ways of God and walked in them before they have travailed many years journey from their mothers wombs now to these I do not direct this particular advice but to those whose conversion hath been visible their change so signal that the whole Town ye Country hath rang of it some such there are who are able to say that at such a time under such means by such a word in such a way the Lord was pleased first to work upon them they can circumstantiate their conversion in all the occurrences of it Paul could tell the errand he went upon which was bad enough the company with whom the time of the day the manner how and the plat of ground as it were upon which he fell when the Lord fell in with him by converting grace as he discourseth at large Act. 22.6 7 8. compared with Chap. 26.12 13 c. Now then to such in a more peculiar manner I speak as thou dost observe and discourse over the passages of Gods providence toward thee in helping thee out of great straights and tellest thy friends what they were and how nigh unto death thou wast and how the Lord came in at such a time in such a manner and by such means and brought thee off with safety so be much in observing and shewing forth what God hath done for thy soul what providential passages were antecedent to thy conversion what awakening teaching and leading providences were in order to thy conversion whether God did not first awaken thee by such an affliction give a check to thy spirit in the high careers of sin by such an humbling providence or made way for the entertainment of Christ and Gospel by disappointing thee in such a worldly design or won upon thee by some notable deliverance as was the Jailors case Act. 16.28 or how the Lord was pleased to bring thee into such a family or into acquaintance with such godly Christians or under such a powerful and soul-searching Ministery these all through grace have had a sub-serviency to the great end of God in bringing sinners home unto him Then again consider those ways of God which were concomitant and as means were instrumental to thy conversion in what method the Lord was pleased first to work upon thee what measure of the spirit of bondage to fear thou wast under what sin thou wast first convinced of how long thou wast under conviction before conversion was brought forth in the fruits and evidences of it what lust the spirit first struck down in thy flesh what repentance and godly sorrow for sin was wrought in thee what attempts the divel made upon thee how forceable they were and with what success and how long thou didst ly under the sence of sin and wrath before thou hadst any quieting apprehensions of pardoning and accepting grace through the blood of Jesus let these and things of like nature be observed by thee and reports thereof seasonably made to others Nay Lastly take notice of the after-visits of the spirit of God and grace to thy soul what sweet and suitable returns the Lord gave thee in to thy prayers what seasonable succours thou receivedst in an hour of temptation what power from the spirit of holiness came in in thy contesting with some Lady-lust what measure of consolation was cast in after thy days of mourning how far thou hast been sealed with the holy spirit of promise and hast taken earnest of thine inheritance since thou didst believe Oh be much and with much seriousness in all these particulars make a due collection of all and as thou carefully observest the great deliverances which God hath wrought for thee upon a temporal score so much more read over and ruminate upon that great redemption from wrath and condemnation and say with the Psalmist when envited to it by a seasonable opportunity Psal 66.16 Come and hear all yea that fear the Lord and I will tell you what God hath done for my soul of which this treatise will give the a further account with directions for the managing of it and the benefits which redound from it 2. Quicken up your selves unto duty in all your hard-heartednesse and damps of soul the best trees are subject unto mosse which stunts them in their growth and that stints them in their fruitfulnesse so the best Saints are liable to deadnesse of heart and damps of zeal the love of the world like mosse over-grows them or else there is some worm of pride security self-confidence c. at the root which drinks up the sap of life and blasteth the fruits of of faith and holinesse O how have I seen some fruitfull Christian grow as the lily cast forth their roots as Lebanon spread their branches and beauty as the Olive-tree and their sent as Lebanon Hos 14. ver 5 6. which afterwards
dropt with myrrhe and her fingers with sweet smelling mirrhe that is she had new tokens of Christs good-will refreshing consolations from a comforting spirit which being added to her former experiences of love had such a force upon her heart that she breaks off all delay runs to the door and opens and not finding her beloved there she fails poor heart she sinks down and swouns the sence of Christs dear affection to her and her disloyal carriage to him did so seize upon her that she sinks under it And being come to her self she seeks and enquires after him suffers for him breaths out her soul in strongest affection towards him breaks forth into highest Eulogies and commendations of him and through the whole Song you never finde her under any of this heart-deadness any more but full of love and full of life Thus it was with the Church of Israel Hos 2. The Lord brings her in vers 5. speaking forth such resolutions as these I will go after my lovers that give me my bread and my water my wooll and my flax mine oyle and my drink as if she had said I am resolved to stick close to mine Idols who have recompenced my service with such plenty and abundance The allusion is to a man and his wife betwixt whom before there is a final divorce and departure there is usually some decay of conjugal affection some neglect of conjugal duties some eminent failing in conjugal offices and thereupon follows a strangeness and at length a parting asunder So heart-deadness damps of zeal flatness of spirit freezings of affection neglect of communion in the Gospel-duties and appointments formality in profession earthly-mindedness and some kind of liberty and boldness to sin are usually precedaneous to an Apostacy and departure from God Thus it was with Ephraim But how doth she recover her self Why verse 7. she argues her spirit into a returning frame Mr. Ier. Burroughs in loc I will go and return unto my first husband for then was it better with me then now Hence it is the note of a late godly Divine That the sight and sence of this how much better it was when the heart did cleave to Christ then it is now since its departure from Christ is an effectual means to cause the heart to return unto him He brings in a repenting backslider under these reasonings of heart Heretofore I was able through Gods mercy to look upon the face of God with joy when my heart did cleave to him when I did walk close with him then the glory of God did shine upon me and caused my heart to spring within me every time I thought of him But now now God knows though the world takes little notice of it the very thoughts of God are a terrour unto me the most terrible object in all the world is to behold the face of God Oh it was better with me then it is now Before this my Apostacy I had free access unto the throne of grace I could come with humble and holy boldness unto God and pour out my soul before him such a chamber such a closet can witness it but now I have no heart to pray ye I must be haled to it merely conscience pulleth me to it yea every time I go by that very closet where I was wont to have that access to the throne of Grace it strikes a terrour to my heart I can never come into Gods presence but it is out of slavish fear Oh it was better with me then then it is now Before Oh the sweet communion my soul enjoyed with Jesus Christ one dayes communion with him how much better was it then the enjoyment of all the world but now Jesus Christ is a stranger to me and I a stranger unto him Before Oh those sweet enlargements that my soul had in the Ordinances of God! when I came to the word my soul was refreshed was warmed my heart was enlightened when I came to the Sacrament oh the sweetness that was there and to prayer with the people of God it was even an heaven upon earth unto me but it is otherwise now the Ordinances of God are dead and emptie things to me Oh it was better with me then then it is now Before Oh the gracious visitations of Gods spirit that I was wont to have yea when I awaken'd in the night season oh the glimpses of Gods face that were upon my soul what quickening and enlivenings and refreshings did I find in them I would give a world but for one nights comfort I sometimes have had by the visitations of Gods spirit but now they are gone Oh it was better with me then then it is now Before Oh what peace of Conscience I had within whatsoever the world said though they railed and accused yet my conscience spake peace to me and was as a thousand witnesses for me but now I have a grating conscience within me Oh the black bosome that is in me it flyeth in my face every day after I come from such and such company I could come before from the society of Saints and my conscience smiled upon me now I go to wicked company and when I come home and in the night Oh the gnawings of that worm It was better with me then then it is now Before The graces of Gods spirit how were they sparkling in me active and lively I could exercise faith humility patience and the like now I am as one bereft of all unfit for any thing even as a dead log before God made use of me and employed me in honorable services now I am unfit for any service at all Oh it was better with me then then it is now Before I could take hold upon Promises I could claim them as mine own I could look up to all those blessed sweet Promises that God had made in his word and look upon them as mine inheritance But now alas the Promises of God are little to me before I could look on the face of all troubles and upon the face of death I could look upon them with joy But now the thoughts of affliction and of death God knowes how terrible they are to mee Oh it was better with me then then it is now Before in all creatures I could enjoy God I tasted the sweetness and love of God even in my meat and drink I could sit with my wife and children and see God in them and look upon the mercies of God through them as a fruit of the Covenant of Grace Oh how sweet was it with me then But now the creature is as an empty thing unto me whether it come in love or hatred I do not know It was better with me before then now Before I was under the protection of God wherever I went but now I do not know what dangers and miseries I am subject to dayly what may befall me before night God onely knowes Before the Saints rejoyced in my company and communion now every
one is shie of me Before I was going on in the wayes of life now these wayes I am going in God knows and my conscience tells me are the wayes of death Oh it was better with me then then it is now I have been large in transcribing these excellent and precious passages because the times we are cast upon do much abound with backsliders and who knows whether God may not in a way of recovering mercy bring this Treatise and this particular passage under the serious view of some Apostate and bless it with a healing virtue to his soul who happily never read it nor should have opportunity of reading it in the large Volume of Reverend Mr. Burroughs And who knows what gracious effect this may have upon some unstable spirits to settle and fix them sure upon God that the evil heart of unbelief may never cause their departure from God However there is a suteableness in it to the head we are improving And sure the people of God will finde a serious reflection upon the goodness and good Providences of God as an excellent means to heal heart-distempers and damps of spirit as also to quicken up and enflame their zeal and affections more unto God that they will say with that holy man Psal 73. ver 28. It is good for us to draw nigh to God they will find that it is best with them when they are nearest to God and therefore will bring back their hearts upon any recess from God by a lively sense of the goodness of the Lord unto them 3. Be much in the sence and meditation of grace received keep up the consideration thereof vigorous and lively in your hearts pray much preach much hear much and act much in the sence of what you were compared with what through discriminating and renewing grace ye now are How that except the Lord had been your help your soules had not almost but altogether and for ever dwelt in silence Oh 't is of excellent use they that have tried have found the usefulness of it The Apostle Paul you know was much in this as many passages in his Epistles do fully speak to I shall onely instance in that 1 Tim. 1. vers 12 13 14 15 16. I thank Jesus Christ our Lord who hath enabled me for that he counted me worthy putting me into the Ministery There 's a great Emphasis in me that Jesus Christ should do this for me why Who was Paul or what was he that it should be owned by him as such a singular act of Grace to be put into the Ministery The next Verse tells you yea he himself tells you who was a Blasphemer and a Persecutor and Injurious bad enough and these words carry weight enough with them but I obtained mercy but how did he purchase mercy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oh the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus not onely Grace but exceeding grace not onely exceeding but exceeding abundant grace it is a pleonasme yea a superpleonasme and all little enough I had need of all I was a Blasphemer and so sinned against the first Table I was a persecuter and so sinned against the second Table and I was Injurious and so came near the sinne against the Holy Ghost and all these together do sadly speak me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gerson August at least in my own sence the chief of sinners primus quo nullus prior a file-leader one that marched in the Van and Front of the battel imo quo nullus pejor worse then the worst He strikes sail takes down all his Flags which he displayed Phil. 3. ver 4 5 6. sit's down in the dust and view's himself in his lowest abasement that so he might the more admire the riches of free grace and might bring his heart more under command for God the vouchsafements of whose goodwill had been so free and so full unto him neither doth he monopolize this and drive on a close trade betwixt God and his own soul as though he would engross all to himself and cared not how empty other mens coffers were so that his own were full like the Merchants of this world but he commends and by an Apostolick power command's this course unto others as Eph. 2. ver 11 12 13 14. When he had carried the Ephesian Saints up into the Paradise of God and displayed the mysteries and priviledges of grace even to the ravishment of their souls in the first Chapter and in the ten first Verses of this then he comes on with a Memento Remember that ye being in times past Gentiles in the flesh that at that time ye were without Christ being Aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel and strangers from the Covenants of Promise having no hope and without God in the world Ye were in as bad a condition as men could be in ye dwelt as nigh the borders of Abaddon as people could dwell no people were in worse trading for heaven then ye were in ye had nothing that brought you within the outward Court of the Temple or gave you the least advance toward happiness ye were like dogs without Apoc. 22. vers 15. and how could it be otherwise seeing your wants and withouts were so many 1. Without the Mark of an Israelite in your flesh as being uncircumcised 2. Without the Camp and Common-wealth of Israel as being neither Hebrews nor Proselites 3. Without the Covenants having no covenant right to any spirituall good thing no nor earthly neither as being neither of the Flesh nor of the Faith of Abraham with whom God entred Covenant 4. Without any hope from the Promise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not having the hope of the Promise or not having hope of peace and reconcilement with God as being ignorant of the promised seed in the first or any following Promise 5. Nay without Christ without any saving Interest in Christ or knowledge of Christ untill the Gospel came amongst you for what could your great Goddess Diana make known unto you of God manifested in the flesh yea 6. and Lastly Remember ye were without God in the world ye were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ye lived like and were Atheists in the world as 't is said of the poor brasileans at this day that they are sine fide sine Rege sine lege without common Faith or honesty without a King without a Law either to punish or protect them So was it with heathen Ephesus and thus also with our Pagan Predecessors Let me then be thy faithfull Remembrancer O England to put thee in minde what thy primitive and first estate was See thy face in this Ephesian glass what Ephesus was England was in each of these particulars but now how hath the Lord exalted thy horn and brought thy people near unto himself Psal 148. ver 14. nay may I not apply that of Israel to thee Deut. 4. ver 7. What Nation is there so great that
we are dasheth the rising flames of an holy affection in us to the Lord Jesus 3. You will live best unto God because You will live most in thankfulness unto God when you live in the sence of what God hath done for you it is the consideration of divine grace and mercie which drawes out the soul in praises unto God the thoughtfull Christian is the thankfull Christian he that pondereth most upon mercies prayeth God most for mercies Oh! when you take a serious review of that change which is upon your hearts of the drawings of your soules heaven-ward and holiness-ward and compare time with time state with state what you were with what you are how once you affected sinne but now abhor it how once you loathed Ordinances but now you love them how once the wayes and people of God were distastefull unto you but are now delightfull how little you had once to shew for heaven and how much you have now through grace to shew against Hell Oh! this will give the heart a notable vent and fill the cup of praise up to the brim Psal 103. ver 1 2 3. Bless the Lord O my soul sayes holy David but doth he stay here no and all that is within me bless his holy name every instrument must be put into tune every musical key must be touched every fret must be stopt and every string must be struck to sound forth the praises of God nay again Bless the Lord O my soul and why so what 's the reason of this thankfulness O soul thou hast great cause to be thankfull For 1. He forgiveth all thine iniquities thou hadest the the guilt of many and great sinnes upon thee which would have sunk thee down into Hell and Jehovah hath given thee pardon of them all nay farther 2. He healeth all thy diseases thou wast full of noisome and unclean distempers many running sores of filthy lusts and Jehovah hath vouchsafed healing grace unto thee Thou art now a justified and a sanctified person 3. Thou art now redeemed from Hell and destruction and wearest the loving-kindnesses and tender mercies of God as a royal Diadem upon thy head and therefore Oh my soul bless bless bless Jehovah Oh if ever we come to such a sence of pardoning healing redeeming crowning satisfying and renewing grace from the Lord as David we shall then take up David's harp and awake our glory to the praises of a good God could we but fasten this upon our spirits that distinguishing grace hath severed us from those heaps of rubbish that we were mingled with and cull'd us out from the rabble of the world that we were herded with our spirits would be turned to this evangelical duty and ditty and if so how like heaven it self would the Church look how would the militant resemble the triumphant Jerusalem and how would every nook of the Gospel-world ring with the praises of God Mr. Baxter Part 4 Saints Rest page 134. The liveliest embleme of heaven that I know upon earth is when the people of God in the deep sence of the excellency and bounty of God from hearts abounding with love and joy do joyn together both in hearts and voices in the cheerfull and melodious singing of his praises 4. You will live best unto God because You will live most to the glory of God sence of grace received will enflame you with a greater zeal for God and will put every wheel into motion We are naturally slow to action upon the best account the best drive on but heavily few drive at Jehâ—'s rate very few there be whose soules make them as the chariots of Aminadab that make haste in Gods work like the roe or young hart upon the mountains of spices If ever Christians drove heavily the Christians of this age do if ever the elementary constitution of the Church was earth and water now it is little of fire appears unless in unhappy contentions and animosities or else in love to the world and thus most are red hot their affections all on a flame the Lord quench them But Oh! where is their zeal for God where is the courage activity and resolvedness for God where 's the minding of the things of God and holy contendings for God which the Puritans of old that were Puritans of the good old way have discovered there is too much of the Laodicean spirit too many Gallio's amongst us men are high indeed to enthrone their own opinions and perswasions whilest Religion in the main duties of it is neglected they are exact in rything mint and commin and annise whilest judgement mercy and faith the weightier matters of the Law are neglected Math. 23. vers 23. The great Zealots of the times are for the most part men of corrupt and Heterodox Judgments who are violent enough to impose their Errours and false conceptions the Lord take them off from their speed least they out run the Constable as they have done the Covenant He 's a stranger in Israel that knows not these things and he 's no true son of Zion that doth not bewail them but now would we have the water run in the right channel would we have our spirits up in a right zeal for God let our meditations be often and serious upon what God hath done for our soules Oh when a Saint fetcheth oyl from experienced loving kindnesses it makes the wheels run glib when he argues Hath God done thus and thus for me hath he left others of my kindred of my contemporaries of my acquaintance who had the same advantages of Education Ordinances and Gospel-Opportunities with me in ignorance and unbelief and hath he enlightened me called me wrought faith in me appointed me to obtain salvation by Jesus Christ and shall not I be active for Christ shall I sit still brooding over a patch of this base world or drive on the interest of mine own honour or advantage when the name of God is blasphemed the honour of Christ is empeached Gospel-truths are corrupted Gospel-Ordinances reviled and the way of God evil spoken of did Croesus his dumb son cry out for the life of his father and shall I that can speak now be dumb Do I thus requite the Lord is this my kindeness to my friend Jesus Saint Paul had another spirit like that of Calebs 1 Cor. 15. ver 8. last of all he was seen of me also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the emphasis lies in Me there 's an accent upon that word of Me vile Me wretched Me sinful me unworthy Me who was a blasphemer a persecutour and an injurious person but by the grace of God I am what I am by the Grace free grace and rich grace of God I am a chosen vessel a servant of the Lord a believer an Apostle of Jesus Christ and what followes doth he lap up this talent in a napkin doth he sing a requiem to his soul and bid her take her case no saies he his grace which was bestowed upon me
who have cunningly drest up their opinions with such an Evangelical trimming that nothing of the Wolf appears even to them which hold him by the ears 7. That it is much blame-worthy in shepherds when they suffer their sheep to go astray and run themselves into danger the Lord chargeth high as a piece of great unfaithfulness in the over-seers of his flock when through their default his sheep do straggle and become a prey to the beast of the field you may hear him expressing himself in words of greatest distast Ezek. 34.10 Thus saith the Lord God Adonai Jehovah or Jehovah who is your Lord behold I am against the shepherds and I will require my flock at their hands and cause them to cease feeding my flock t is known to most that in Scripture-language Magistrates and Ministers are termed shepherds and have in their respective capacities a joint over-sight of the flock committed unto them by the chief shepherd but alas how have ye Magistrates shuffled off the care of the flock to the Ministers and how have the Ministers shifted back the over-sight of it to the Magistrates and betwixt them both many sheep have wandered and some have been worried Though most were desirous that the Foxes should be taken yet it came under dispute who should take them and though at all hands it was agreed that deceiving Jezebel should be dealt withal yet how and by whom hath hitherto been the question Ask the Magistrate and he will tell you Ministers must do it by the sword of the spirit and ask the Minister and he will tell you that the Magistrate must do it by the sword of his civil power And whilst we have been disputing what to do and who should do it errors have sadly spread and a considerable part of the flock hath straggled and is become a prey to the beasts of the field the blame whereof is laid by some at the Magistrates door upon account of his tenderness and gentleness of spirit and countenance to such as differed onely in disciplinary points refusing to establish by his civil sanction that way of discipline as universal and imposing upon all which they own and would enthrone as the government of the Lord Jesus as also for their remisness and too much indulgence to evil persons and opinions in not punishing the one nor suppressing the other which amounteth to a toleration And many charge the blame hereof upon the Ministry by reason of morose austere and rigid carriage toward those who differ from them in the way of discipline or onely in some lesser doctrines that are not fundamental or because they remit much of that care watchfulness and oversight which the duty of their places and the present necessity obliged them unto but the day will declare it and t is not good for either to plead not guilty the Lord help us to mourn that the folds are broken up and that the flocks are scattered The Lord teach us all our duty and by his own spirit in the word determine that great question what is to be done and by whom That the sick may be healed the broken bound up the lost may be sought up those that are driven away may be brought again and the residue secured against future scattering And the Lord give stability of spirit to his people that they may be kept from topling in these tottering times when so many backslide some in profession not in opinion some in opinion who yet retain a profession and some in opinion and profession both stepping into Religion without any precedaneous and inward change and so soon in soon out making that good 1 John 2.19 They went out from us because they were not of us And now you will finde upon due trial this an excellent means to fix your spirits when you read over those acts of grace which the Lord hath drawn out upon your hearts in the blood of his own Son How did this fix the Apostles Joh. 6.67 Many of the disciples went back and walked no more with the Lord Jesus upon which he puts the question to them will yee also forsake me there was need of such a question for Nemo errat sibi-ipsi sed dementiam spargit in proximos the heathen could say no man errs to himself but evil men and erring do spread their madness unto their neighbors as weeds endanger the good corn bad humors the good blood and an infected house the whole neighborhood Therefore the Lord Jesus tryes their pulses whether this great defection had not tainted them with some infection and behold the fixedness of their spirits in Peters reply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord to whom shall we go thou hast the words of eternal life and we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ the Son of the Living God we have certainly and experimentally known by those glorious works which thou hast wrought before us and by the saving communication of thy grace and light unto us when we were in a dark and dead estate that thou art Christ the Son of the living God and therefore we will not leave thee this cemented and knit their hearts unto Christ it was a brave speech of old Polycarpus when the Proconsul perswaded him to deny the Lord Jesus Eighty and six years have I served Christ and he never did me hurt but good and shall I now deny him Oh! absit God forbid Thus Saint Paul argues back the Galathians Gal. 3.1 2. O foolish Galathians who hath bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth See Mr. Baxter in loc crucified among you This onely would I learn of you received ye the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith c Oh did ye much and often read over the passages of divine love unto you and would be true to your own experiences it would antidote you against many errors of the times and keep your hearts close with God 3. This serious recognition and review of the Lords mercies brings most comfort unto the soul and sure he lives best to himself who lives most to his own comfort a life of comfort is the sweetness the desireableness and life of life What is life to the bitter in soul which long for death and dig for it more then for bid treasures which rejoyce exceedingly and are glad when they finde the grave Job 3.21 22 23. And what comfort have men in living upon a natural account when those dayes are come wherein they say we have no pleasure in them Eccl. 12. ver 1. and is it not so in a spirituall sense a wounded spirit who can bear but a good conscience is a continual feast and the Kingdome of God is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14. vers 17. Then do we come nearest heaven and live in the suburbs of it when we are filled with peace and joy in our soules
and of sound constitutions find savour and nourishment from their food they take when the dead find none and distempered persons but little so shall you finde food and growth in that ordinance when 't is mors in olla the favour of death unto death to the dead Formalist and gives forth little sweetness or savour to the sensless and sleepy Christian Oh then as Deborah bespake her self Judg. 5. ver 12. Awake Awake Deborah so say I Awake awake up your glory in thankfulness to the Lord stirre up your selves and graces lean by faith upon the blessed bosome of your Jesus cleave to his Cross and ye shall suck honey out of this rock yea oyl out of this flintie rock Deut. 32. ver 13. and thus commemorating the death of Christ by those lively resemblances of his death you may lift up your hearts with comfort to look for and love his appearing 4. This serious revisal of formal incomes and experiences from the God of all grace in wayes of grace to your souls will up-heap your hearts with lively and lasting consolations in every estate it is like the Woolf which will draw a threed of comfort through the whole warp of a Christians life as might be cleared in many instances to name a few 1. Are you under breaking afflictions from the Lord in your persons or families doth deep call unto deep and are the banks of custodient providence so broken down that all his waves and billows do flow over you why what comfort and reviving will the sense of grace received bring into your souls when you minde that witness within you that you are the children of God you may look upon all your afflictions as the rod of a Father and his end in all to be the taking away of sin Isa 27.9 not by satisfaction for that 's the peculiar fruit of your Redeemers blood but by sanctification 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 club it down 1 Cor. 9.27 wisely governing his corrections To beat down the body and bring it into subjection to the government of the Lord Jesus grace received will light a candle unto you whereby you may read the minde of God and the methods of his paternal discipline Heb. 12.6 Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth that son in whom he is well-pleased says Mercer in Prov. 3.12 the lower the ebbe the higher the tyde the lower you descend in humiliation 1 Chron. 4.9 10. The Holy Ghost says Jabez was more honourable then his brethren and his mother called his name Jabez because I bore him with sorrow Jabez signifies sorrow and wherein did his honor appear why in that Gâ—d granted him his requests viz. blessed him enlarged his coast strengthened him by his hand and kept him from evil thus in a spiritual sense an afflicted Saint is a Jabez not onely as a man of sorrow but as an honourable person the rod is a pledge of love and badge of honour hae sunt gemmae pretiosa ornamenta Dei says one pointing to his sores and ulcers These are the gems and jewels wherewith God decketh his best friends The Lord hath prepared me a neck-lace of pearl was the saying of a gracious woman when a sickness took hold upon her the Lily is sown in her own tears And Gods vines says one bear the better for bleeding there may be a plethory of blood as well as superfluous branches which may hinder fruitfulness these are the preludes of your everlasting triumphs and as your constancy in them doth witness your love to God so your support under them doth witness Gods love to you Omnis Christianus cruclanus Luther which begins with the cross here but shall end with the crown hereafter Jam. 1.12 Blessed is the man which endureth temptation from the Lord in ways of afflictions for when he is tryed he shall receive the crown of glory which the Lord hath promised to them that love him 2. Are you under the bufferings of Satan do his fiery darts fly about you and doth he fire his granado's upon you Mr. Gurnals exposition in Eph. 6.12 p. 306. 307. nay do principalities and powers worldly Governors and spiritual wickednesses draw up against you and that in heavenly places namely to take away your crown from you to plunder you of your joy and peace here and to block up your way to heaven hereafter Why follow the streams to the head of the fountain endeavor to work up your hearts to a serious apprehension of grace received in the life and sence thereof and you will receive much contribution from it as to your peace and safety though Satan may beat you from your out-works and seize upon some of your Artilery and thereby discourage yea much discompose you in your addresses to God yet the consideration of pardoning purging adopting and accepting grace will be as a Fort-Royal an impregnable Cittadel wherein you may secure the choicest of your heavenlies and from whence you may have reserves in the hottest onsets the experiences of the goodness and good pleasure of the grace of God in Jesus Christ unto you will be as chariots of fire and horses of fire round about you 2 King 6.17 to circumvallate and safe-guard your souls The Apostle 1 Pet. 5.10 tells you That Satan roareth after souls as an hungry lyon after his prey and gives in this by way of advice unto you vers 9. Whom resist stedfast in the faith that is keep your ground and lift up the shield of faith to receive and quench his fiery darts by considering 1. That the same afflictions that is temptations are accomplished in your brethren that dwell in the world you are not single in this temptation though that is much the thoughts of tempted ones Satan doth not fight you with a new weapon that lately past the forge 2. That you stand related to and are in covenant with that God who is the God of all grace who hath all weapons ready for war in his Armory and can supply a tempted Saint with those graces suddainly and fully which he stands in need of 3. That your relation to the God of all grace is founded upon Jesus Christ and evidenced by your effectual calling for you are called into his eternal glory by Jesus Christ not unto implying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that grace gives the soul an entrance into glory effectual vocation is a call from heaven into heaven the soul is taken up into heaven from the time of its new birth as to the certainty of it and safe keeping unto it 4. That your suffering condition will not be long it is the Lord not Satan who times your temptations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you shall suffer but a while sharpe they are and therefore termed sufferings yet but short therefore phrased awhile hence Rev. 2.10 You shall have tribulation ten dayes that is your imprisonment shall be short 5. That your temptations shall be in
order to your establishment the God of all grace will make you perfect establish strengthen settle you your sufferings shall be in order to your setling your temptation in order to your consolation parallel to that 2 Cor. 4.17 Our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory O then do but in the hour of temptation draw up the main body of your experiences and evidences of Gods love in Christ unto you and Satan cannot hurt you though his main battail be against you though he may pluck of some rath grapes he shall never destroy your Vintage though he may pick up some scattered ears he shall never carry away your harvest and though he may trouble you in your passage to heaven he shall never keep you out of heaven what a day of comfort is this unto the foul 3. Are you summoned by the King of terrors do his batteries play upon you are there breaches made in your mud-walls is there a mine sprung and your life in all likelihood to be blown up Why the lively sense and evidence of grace received will like a cordial water warm your hearts and stay up your spirits at such an hour as this is that light of life within you if heeded will clear up the counsels of God unto you as to your after and eternal well-being it will convince you of Gods soveraignty conquer your renitency and make you bow head and heart with much submission to the father of spirits this will ballance and ballast your souls too and poise them evenly between hope and fear that neither shall be inordinate and that in two particulars 1. Where grace sits at the helm of Government in the soul it brings the unruly passions into subjection to the divine pleasure and preserves the Saints from over-much hoping of life seeing their dayes are determined and their bounds set and antidotes them against overmuch fearing of death seeing the number of their mouths are with God Job 14.5 6. the indefinite is equivalent to an universal so that it was not Jobs single case but the common lot of all mankind and therefore you may safely argue that all the rare feasts which Paracelsus professed to do for the lengthening of mens lives the use of all remedies cannot make you out-live nor the missing of them cause you to fall short of those bounds which God in his secret and irreversible decrees hath set you This consideration will much quiet your hearts in God when you have the sentence of death within your selves it will excellently prevent that distemper which is an evil that I have seen even amongst the Saints of God viz. an over-eager desire of life and a greedy catching at any hopes thereof even to some neglect of that preparation and those precedaneous duties which the seriousness of death and eternity do call for at their hands not that I condemne a modest and humble desire of life or a sober use of means and medicines in order thereunto onely propound this as a cure of that heart-distemper mentioned and to perswade my self and others to say with David Here I am let the Lord do to me as seemeth good unto him 2 Sam. 15.26 2. Your gathering up your experiences of converting renewing adopting and accepting grace in Jesus Christ will fill your souls with ravishing comforts upon an everlasting account even then when your nearest friends fill your heads with weepings sighings and sad lamentings as seeing your dying breath draw faint and short and other symptomes of death report your change to be very near you will then gather up your spirits as old Jacob did his feet and not be afraid to speak with your enemy in the gate the gate of eternity Oh grace improved will shew you your names written in the Lambs book of life will give you some foretasts of those joys which are in the presence of God will lead you in a vision of the Spirit into your fathers house that you may see those mansion places of glory which are prepared for you and will open your eyes that you may see the Angels of God those blessed ministering spirits waiting at your pillows to waft your souls into the everlasting embraces of your dear Redeemer that you may say with the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.1 to still the sobbings of your sad relations We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building with God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens Dr. Kendall in his answer to Mr. John Goodwâ—n p. 53. That with Moses you may dye upon the mount of vision and with David full of riches and honor in a spiritual sense Oh this consideration will make death-tokens love-tokens and represent death as a messenger from your dear Jesus who brings the glad tidings of everlasting life if you fall by an arrow yet is that arrow shot by the hand of God in more love then Jonathans was to David if by a stroke of the pestilence yet that pestilence is no Plague but somewhat a harsher plaster of all miscries whatever be the fury of the disease it is but a chariot of fire to carry you to heaven None of the blessed Fathers ever complained of the untowardness of the way so happy are they in being seized of their inheritance among the Saints in light though they were hurried thither through the darkest valley of the shaddow of death Thus that learned Author O friends mind the annointings of the Spirit the sealings of the Spirit the witness of the spirit and draw up a fair Copy of all the gracious visits actings and workings of your blessed Redeemer by his Spirit unto and upon your hearts that your soules may often read therein that so when you come to die as needs you must and be as water spilt upon the ground which can be gathered up no more you may then be set down in the valley of Achor nay may finde the valley of the shadow of death as the valley of Baracha God hath pluckt out the sting of death and so death is given as a favour unto you O read your own blessedness in the light and print of the spirit Apoc. 14.13 Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord from * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 e vestigio amodo ab ipso mortis articulo Mr. Trap. in locum henceforth yea saith the spirit that they may rest from their labors and their works do follow them A Christian says one is here like quick-silver which hath in it a principle of motion not of rest never quiet like a ball upon the rackets a ship upon the waves but death brings him to his rest his body to the grave which is his bed of rest Isa 57.2 and his soul into Abrahams bosom That rest which remains to the people of God Heb. 4.9 And your works shall follow you mors privare potest â—pibus non operibus
death doth strip a Saint of his wealâ—h not of his works there shall be a resurrection of your prayers and piety yea honorable mention will be made of your charity to the poor Saints at the great day Mat. 25.35 I was an hungry and ye fed me c. Oh comfort your hearts with these considerations duly weighing what ye have read and you will find when you sive most in a lively sense of grace received and in the improvement of it you live best to your selves as to a greater freedom from sin a closer walking with God and living a life of greatest comfort 3. A sober and savourly collection of grace received will make you live best to others No man is born to himself says the heathen and no man liveth to himself says the holy Ghost Rom. 14.5 he is a monster in nature that centers onely upon himself and is fitter to dwell like an Anchâ—ret in a Cell or like a leper apart then in a community with men and Christians as there is a circulation of the blood in natural bodies that every part may receive warmth and spirits to supply its want and to render it serviceable to the whole So ought there to be a circulation of gifts and graces in the body mistical upon spiritual accounts therefore says the Apostle We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the wâ—ak either bear with them or bear up the infirm and weak Christians as pillars do the poise of the whole house or parents bear their babes in their armes and not to please our selves that is not to live onely in a way of self-pleasing as men acted by principles of self-love but vers 2. Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification for even Christ pleased not himself The end of Christs coming into the world was not to seek great things for himself upon a carnal and self-pleasing score nay though the cup and cross were displeasing unto him as man and he prayed against them yet when he considered that the will of his father was to bring many sons unto glory and that by making the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings he presently submitted and said not my will but thine be done Here 's our pattern in the pursuance of others good our lives should be as so many Sermons on the life of Christ as one saith this is to walk as Christ walked and this will give boldness in the day of Judgment Now we shall best seek our neighbours good to edification when we keep up a sence of our own wants and weaknesses supplies and succours we shall thereby be like the good Scribe Matth. 13. ver 52. which is instrutied to the kingdome of heaven who hath things new and old in his treasury to bring forth upon every occasion The Rabbins Proverb is Lilmed le-lammed Learn that ye may teach and the Scribe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 extrudit copiose alacriter freely and fully gives forth his store to the needy hearer Christians as well as Ministers must be like full paps Mr. Trap. in Mat. 13.52 which pain the nurse with their fulness and therefore draw them out to their babes that they may be drawn or like Aromatical trees which sweat out their soveraign gummes and oyls But alas how few such sweating trees grow upon English ground how many dry breasts have we every where and those that are full have sore nibbles that will not give suck because of the painfulness in drawing Truely when I observed this great evil amongst the Christians of our age and Nation I was pressed in spirit to provoke unto love and good works and to publish my thoughts by way of brotherly advice unto them that a wise and faithful improvement of our own cases and graces would excellently advantage the good of our neighbours I shall instance in some Particulars 1. Your own experiences faithfully communicated will maâ—veilously encourage young Converts they will be as a staff in the hand of the weak whereon to stay New beginners have many fears and pull-backs at their first setting forth for heaven many adversaries that do way-lay them and many enemies that do pursue them Egypt at the red sea and Amaleck in the wilderness Satan levies all his temptation to render the seed of grace abortive in their soules so that it would bring forth fruit to perfection at a slow rate if the Lord Jesus who planted it did not also water and preserve it and that every moment Isa 27. vers 3. Bendes when the Lord gives a converted sinner a vision of himself lets him see his own vileness the heaps of sin and lust the springs and falls of corruption in his nature how he lies under the guilt of black and horrid sins open to the wrath of an Almighty and sin-revenging God and ready to drop into the grave and hell out of which there is no recovery Oh the fears that are upon his spirit the dismal thoughts that roul up and down his mind the dreadfull sound that is in his ears but now if you that are Christians of some standing in the grace of God would impart your experiences and tell him what your fears and terrours and troubles were and how the Lord gave you in comfort and establishment sure this would mightily encourage a young convert and have a special influx to his peace quietness and consolation This was the Apostle Paul's way 1 Tim. 1. ver 15. This is a faithfull saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners That is the Doctrinal part which indeed flowes with much comfort into the heart of an humble believing sinner as Mr. Bilney Martyr found in a great conflict But now the Applicatory part gusheth out with streams of comfort and what 's that of whom I am chief howbeit I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-sâ—ffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting as if he had said One great reason next to the secret purpose of his own free grace why this grace of our Lord Jesus Christ was so exceeding abundant towards me even to a pleonasme of mercy was that I might be held forth as a pattern of free grace as a monument of pardoning and sparing mercy to all sin-laden and sin-loathing persons who are the true Penitents Oh how would a wounded spirit yet healing a broken heart binding and a drooping soul reviving from such discoveries of misery and mercy of guilt and grace sin and salvation there would no be such sinking of spirit neither would the wounds of many be so long raw and bleeding if experienced Christians would be free in communicating their conditions and comforts unto them and would like the good Samaritan pour in the wine and oyl of their experienced mercy 2. This would be a mighty support to weak believers the experiences of stronger
Christians rightly imparted and improoved will exceeding buttress up their faith alas when God first opens their eyes they see men walking afar off as trees they have but imperfect apprehensions of Gospel depths Godliness is so great a Mystery the work of Redemption in all its causalities concurrences and qualifications is so mysterious wrapt up so much in the glory of divine wisdome held forth under such seeming impossibilities to carnal reason and contradictions to corrupt nature that they are ready to cry out Nunquam natura mutabit sic sua â—ura ut virgo pâ—reret nec vâ—rginâ—tate careret as that Iew said How can these things be John 3. vers 4. And if these things be so who then can be saved Luke 18. vers 26. and are afraid to give assent unto those deep Mysteries as the truths of God but when the Lord hath helped them over these doubts and difficulties that they set their seal to the Gospel as spoken by the Lord and confirmed by them that heard him God also bearing them witness with signes and wonders and divers miracles and gifss of the Holy Ghost according to his own will Heb. 2.3 4. so that they do willingly embrace this so great salvation yet alas the greatest work of faith is behind and that is to live upon the promises to appropriate Jesus Christ to put on Christ to believe that he is made unto us of God wisdom righteousness holiness and redemptiâ—n 1 Cor. 1.30 Christus vivit Christ liveth was Luthers motto and Christ liveth in me loveth me and gave himself for me is the language of true faith Mr. Trap. in Gal. 2. v. 20. Gal. 2.20 true faith individuateth Christ and appropriateth him to a mans self this is the pith and power of particular faith But ah how long doth many a poor soul lye upon the bankes of Jordan before he can waft over to the land of Canaan Some of the Saints have many a hard pull for faith they are fain to tug hard with fears and doubtings sometimes faith is up and fear down sometimes fear is up and faith is down Why now if strong believers who have the work of faith fulfilled in their hearts with some power 2 Thess 1.11 who have passed through the several stages of fear and faith and have found those very fears and troubles in their own souls if such would receive the weak in faith affeciu charitatis into the bosome and embracement of Christian love not making them question-sick by doubtful disputations Rom. 14.1 but deal tenderly and gently with them and give them a free and full account of their former fears and present faith recounting their experiences how and in what methods the Lord hath given them an establishment in the faith sure it would much conduce through the grace and blessing of God to the quieting strengthening and confirming of weak believers suppose I should labor under a distemper which in its nature and to some is mortal and a friend tells me he hath had the same disease in the same height and accompanied with the same pains and that in the use of such and such means he had cure and now is a healthful man though I cannot be recovered by such a narrative yet I am perswaded to use those medicines and am raised up to an expectancy of cure in the right use of them So when a believer who hath been upon the rack of fears and diffidences comes to a doubting Christian that is torn in peices as it were with them and whose spirit even sinks within him and tells him that it was so with him that he wrestled long with discouragements and in a pet of unbelief was ready to throw up all crying out all men are lyars that notwithstanding what this Prophet and that Apostle this Preacher and that Preacher hath said I shall perish in my sins and be a cast-away to all Eternity and that then the Lord came in led him by the hand of his spirit to this and that Promise shewed him the sealed fountain open Zech. 13. vers 1. the bloud of Christ as a fountain therefore full and as open therefore free both to pardon sin and purge uncleanness and that now he is justified by faith and hath peace with God through Jesus Chrisâ— Rom. 5. vers 1. yea joy in God through Jesus Christ by whom he hath now received the attonement vers 10. Thou I say a believer cannot spare any oyl out of his own vessel to supply the want of another with nor work faith in his heart that being the peculiar work of the Lord Jesus Heb. 12. ver 2. yet such discoveries as these will mightily raise up the heart of a sinking Christian and beget in him a hopefull expectancy of faith in this evidence of it however he brings him up to the Conclusion To sear the Lord and obey the voice of his sâ—rvant yea though he walk in darkness and sees no light yet to trust in the Lord and stay upon his God Isa 50. vers 10. And thus is his soul quieted in this recumbent act of Faith untill the day dawn and the day star arise in his heart You will live best to others when in the sense and evidence of Grace received you communicate your experiences by way of comfort unto others in these 4 particular cases 1. In the black day of Persecution 2. In the sad hour of Temptation 3. In the dark night of spirituall desertion 4. In the bewailed want of the Spirits witness to Son-ship and salvation which cases the Saints of God do usually meet withal whilest they are at home in the body and in the Apostles sense absent from the Lord 2 Cor. 5. ver 6. 1. You that are experienced Christians may much underprop a timorous and faint-hearted Professour in dayes of Persecution when his fears are great his dangers many and his courage low Have you not heard a servant of the Lord sadly speaking this Language I expect every hour an Apparitour or Pursevaunt to fetch me to the Court or Counsel But I fear I shall wrong the cause and Gospel of Jesus Christ in that I shall not be able to give an answer to them that ask me a reason of the hope that is in me 1 Pet. 3. ver 15. nor repel the subtil arguments which will be drawn up against the Truth and thereby shall bring shame upon my self reproach upon Religion and dishonour to the Lord Jesus Now if an experienced Christian shall reply Is this thy fear do such thoughts as these sadden thy spirit come cheer up man this is a path that I have troden I have been called out to bear witness to the truth before as learned subtil Inquisitours as these be and was under much trouble what to say and how to answer being then low in knowledg and weak in judgment but I found that promise made good unto me Luke 21. ver 15. I will give you a mouth and wisdome which all your
Lord that which he wills with greatest pleasure and delight it notes the highest content that may be to wit delight which is the intention and strength of affection hence Isa 62. ver 4. the Church is called Hephzibah that is my pleasure in her the parables of the lost sheep and lost son do fully evidence this Luke 15. you cannot do a work that will find greater acceptation with God then acts of mercy Hos 6. ver 6. I desired mercy and not sacrifice the word in the Original is the same with that in Isaiah forementioned implying to will and desire a thing with a greatdelight and complacency Mr Eurroughs in Hos ver 6. pag. 599. so that a reverend Expositour upon the place brings in God speaking thus mercy is a thing so pleasing to me that I desire it at my heart nothing in the world is so pleasing to me as mercy shews that God had rather have it then all instituted ordinances and worships which by sacrifice are synechdochically meant and then instancing in cases of mercy His fourth case is the case of souls and that is in Christs case Mat. 9.13 Pag. 605. Go and learn what that meaneth I will have mercy and not sacrifice for I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance we are ready to think that all things must give way to instituted worship but certainly immortall souls are of more worth then ordinances O surely the greatest act of mercy which we receive from God is our reconcilement to him whereby we are translated from darknesse into the kingdome of his dear son that being justified by his grace we may be made heirs according to the hope of eternall life Tit. 3. ver 7. and so the highest piece of mercy which we can shew to sinners for God is to be instrumentall in the saving of them bowels of mercy in us evidence Gods electing grace unto us Col. 3. ver 12. Put on as the elect of God bowels of mercy and sure we cannot shew more bowells in any act of mercy to man then in endeavouring his salvation Consider Consid 2. There is a great honour to the Lord Jesus Christ when sinners are savingly brought in unto him it is a jewell added to the glorious diadem of King Jesus Psal 45.3 David speaking in the spirit unto ' King Jesus bids him gird his sword upon his thigh which was the Ensign of his prowesse and regal power and adds with thy glory and thy Majesty implying that when people fall under him i. e. are converted and submit unto him it tends to advance his glorious Majesty Prov. 14. ver 28. In the multitude of people is the kings honour Zion and Babylon are the two great Empires of the world that under Christ this under Belial now one great part of Christs honour as he is King of Zion consists in the multitude of converts who being brought over from the devils quarters become his subjects it is said 1 Sam. 31. ver 12. That all the valiant men of Jabesh-Gilead went all night and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his sons from the walls of Bethshan and came and brought them to Jabesh let me allude this how is the glory of Christ advanced when all the valiant men Ministers and Christians go forth in the strength of the spirit of Christ to fetch off not the bodies onely but the souls also of men and women from Bethshan and bring them to Jabesh from sin to sanctity from Beth-aven to Bethel Converted ones are as Trophees after victory living monuments of honour to a conquering Christ Phil. 1.20 2 Thes 1.11 12. in the places where they live how then should the sence of that honour which is gained for Christ in gaining sinners from Sathan unto Christ act and spirit the Saints in this great undertaking Consid 3. Consider that the providences of God which have gone over and through these Nations in the years last past do speak the Saints duty and their hope of successe in what is now proposed how many storms of warre have been upon the land how fierce and full of rage hath the enemy been how many plots and engines of policy have been contrived how have men of popish and prophane principles and spirits struck at the very root of profession how have they designed the extirpation of the godly Being confident and insolent they bear their noses high in the air uttering loud and lofty languages as Rabshekah did 2 King 18. to which times this Psalme is referred by some Mâ— Trap. in loc They that hate thee have lift up their heads I do not say nor think that all they which lifted up their heads in the late warres under the royall banner were haters of God nor of his people as such though they were lifted up very high in their mistaken zeal for Kingly interest and in conscience of the oath of God which they judged lay'd such obligations upon them yet certainly without any breach of charity we may boldly affirm that there were a company of men not inconsiderable for number who took crafty councel against the Lord's people and consulted against his hidden ones ver 3. and spake out doubtlesse their very hearts and desires come let us cut them off from being a nation or from having any place of residency in the nation that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance was not this attempted at least against the godly party as Schismaticks and rebells so I limit their attempt for we had many pittifull Parliamentarians who might have gone in the throng of the most ungodly Cayaliers and in likelyhood would have found favour both for life and estate if the issue of the warre had gone for the King and hath not the Lord broken them and their plots in pieces hath he not fastened his people as a nail in a sure place Isa 22. ver 23. what think you then are not these mercies obligations upon you from the Lord to pursue his honour are they not opportunities put into your hands to advise exhort and perswade your families friends and neighbours and help them to heaven O what a pattern of Gospel-charity is good Cornelius Act. 10. ver 24. He had called together his kinsfolks and near friends to partake with him in that word of salvation which Peter from the Lord was to bring unto him how desirous was he to take them all into the Gospel-wherry that they might all be wafted over to the Lord Jesus therefore ver 33. he tell 's Peter We are all here present before the Lord to hear all things that are commanded thee of God O that such a gaining spirit such a winning carriage was in all the Saints Indeed when Religion was under the hatches in the nation and the old Puritans were underlins in every town they might have feared Lot's return from the wicked Sodomites and that dogs would have snarled at them if they had given
which would attract all men to wit multitudes of men and women to believe in him The Spirit being to be sent forth and the Gospel being to be universally preached after his death O then ye believing ones look unto this Jesus and look unto this joy which in some measure will be given in unto you by the attractiveness of your deaths to draw soules to Christ and settle this upon your hearts that though your bloud may be spilt as water upon the ground yet by the wise appointment of a gracious God it may be as seed instrumentally not meri-toriously for in this sense onely the bloud of Jesus is of life and grace to poor sinners and be not so streiten-ed in your bowels to the Lord Jesus or to your poor brethren as to deny an handfull of seed if called unto it to encrease the greatharvest I shall subjoin but one Consideration more namely 5. That t is an honorable advancement to be called out by Christ to suffer for him a vouchsafement of grace Magna est huâ—us verbi Emphasis ex quo intellimus omnia deberi gratuitae Dei Electioni and that in a way of speciall favour to die a Martyr a right Martyr The Apostles Acts 5. ver 41. rejoyced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that in a way of grace they had this honour put upon them that they were reputed as persons worthy to wear an honourable scar in their flesh for Christ though they were onely scourged this made Paul and Silas so meray at midnight that they sung Psalmes probably of praise to God that they were counted worthy to be shut up in the inner prison and to have their feet made fast in the stocks for the testimony of Jesus Acts 16. v. 25. Hence he tells the Philippians Phil. 1. ver 29. to you it is given 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is a grant of grace of rich grace in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him though that be an high honour but also to suffer for his sake as if he had said the Lord hath granted you this honour that ye shall believe on him when as he leaves thousands of your acquaintance country-men yea Betters upon a worldly score in unbelief This is worth your acceptation our admiration this calls for full returnes of praise and thankfulness but this is not all that this grant of grace conferres by way of honour upon you for ye ye that are believers shall also be sufferers be Martyrs for Christ and sure the crown of Martyrdome is a glorius crown and every soul won over to God by a dying Martyr will be as an Orient pearl and precious Diamond in his crown of far more value then that Adamant found about Charles Duke of Burgundy slain by the Switzers at the battel of Nantz sold for twenty thousand Duckets and placed as it is said in the Popes tripple crown Oh what foretastes of glory what ravishments of soul have many of the blessed Martyrs had in their suffering for Christ Hold Lord stay thine hand I can bear no more like weak eyes that cannot bear too great a light and oh what thankfulness and joy of heart have many express'd Act. and Mon. Fol. 1553. It is the greatest promotion God gives in this world to suffer saies Father Latimer I thank God most heartily for this hour Mr. Glover wept for joy of his imprisonment God forgive me my unthankfulness for this great exceedingmercy that among so many thousands he chuseth me to be one in whom he will suffer Martyr â—tiam in catenâ— gaudet August Act. Mon. Fol. 136â— 1744 saies Mr. Bradford Martyr I am the unmeetest man for this high office that ever was appointed to it saies Mr. Sanders Such an honour is it saies John Carlisle Martyr as the greatest Angel in heaven is not permitted to have God forgive me my unthankfulness Oh then what the Apostle saies Heb. 12. ver 1. as the close and Epilogue of that Martyrology so say I Wherefore seing you are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily besets you and run with patience the race which is set before you Ye know not what times ye may be called unto what quaimes of fears may be upon your spirits and what temptations to self pitty from Sathan and the flesh may then seize upon you Therefore store up Provision afore hand lay up Promises lay up Presidences lay up Arguments and lay up these considerations by an unworthy hand offered unto you keep a fresh sense of former deliverances and improve them by way of comfort and support in persecuting times Argue with David Psal 9. ver 13. Have mercy on me O Lord consider my troubles which I suffer of them that hate me and probably in the cause of Religion thou that liftest me up from the gates of death ex praesentissimo en certissimo interitu from present and certain dangers which shewed me the grave gaping for me and therefore raise up your spirits and believingly say as vers 6 7 8 9. O thou enemy destructions are come to a perpetual end the date of thy commission against us is expired and shall never be renewed and thy destruction from the Lord is irrevocable and eternal but the Lord shall endure for ever vivit regnatque Christus Christ lives and raigns and shall judg the world in righteousness and will be a refuge for the oppressed a refuge in times of trouble Read and enlarge these and the following Verses in your own thoughts 3. Improve the consideration of temporal mercies by way of support under all your saddest and sorest temptations from the wicked one If the manchilde Christ Jesus in the spirit be formed in you and any actings of grace be brought forth by you the great red Dragon will wait to devour you He is your adversary an inveterate enemy he owes you an old grudg and will be revenged on the heel for the bruising of his head and that by your head It is his Interest to bestirre himself If Christ gaineth he looseth There 's a wedge loose with him when the word findes a welcome in a sinners heart There 's not a soul brought home to Christ but is fetch'd out of the Devils quarters not a convert gained but is wonne by Christ in a set battel Sathan sadly speaks those words of John the Baptist John 3. ver 30. he must increase but I must decrease The sea is in continual revolution when it is high water in one place its low water in some other so when it is high tide in such a nation country or town its low water with Sathan Christs gain is Sathans loss He knows how Christs and his own affairs go on in the world who gains and who looses and that his loss is Christs gain and therefore he tries all his tricks improves
miscariage Oh! saith he Joseph is yet alive So when the saints of God see the hand of God visibly appearing yea mightily out-stretched to fetch them off from a calamitous condition their dead hopes and dead hearts revive now their spirits which hang the head and were down under the sence of Gods displeasure get up gain are fresh and flourishing Joseph my son is yet alive The Lord hath given real testimony of love and good will unto us The arrows of the Lords deliverance like Jonathans warning arrows are arrows of love feathered and headed with choicest affections Object 1. But this Fort-royal of the Saints seemeth to be assaulted by the Preacher Eccles 9. vers 1. No man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before him therefore the reliefs God giveth in to his people when distressed though signal and eminent are no demonstrative Arguments of Gods love he may help and yet hate a people Answ I shall receive the charge and endeavour to secure the truth within some sconces and therefore do answer 1. It is confessed that the onely wise God doth dispence outward mercies with an equal hand to the good and to the bad to him that sweareth and to him that feareth an oath and this according to the ordinary course of providence prosperity doth not alwayes spring up upon the root of piety God doth not difference the precious and the vile by sun and rain yea many times the worst men live under the warmest Sun-shine David saith Psal 17. vers 14. God filleth their bellies with hid treasures they have full meals of the worlds delicates riches and honour by the belly as our phrase is and who are these who like Pharaoh's kine are so fat and well-favoured why they are the wicked who like dogs when their bellies are full are turned out of doors they have their portion in this life their Chelech their part and share the word is used 1. in a military sense for the souldiers pay or his part in the spoyles of a conquered enemy thus Abraham calleth it the portion of the men that went with him Gen. 14. vers 24.2 'T is used in a civil sense for the share or portion which children have in their parents Estate Rachel and Leah said Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our fathers house Gen. 31. vers 14. So that the wise man in this Verse confuteth the vain yet general opinion of worldlings who fondly and as falsly measure Gods love and their lot in the same Omer And in this he ballasteth the Saints who are apt to topple over in their own stormes and the wicked's calmes as Psal 73.2 2. The dispensations of God according to his ordinary rate of providence do not decisively conclude love or hatred a just man may have all his moisture drunk up with the arrows of the Almighty when the unjust may have his bones full of marrow the Saint may be poor with Job even to a Proverb and the sinner may abound with wealth even to the parable Good Josiah may dy the same death with wicked Aâ—ab both slain by the hands of their enemies God will not write his love in such legible characters that every pur-blind worldling may read this secret indeed Jerusalem had the honour to be baptised Jehovah-shammah the Lord is there Ezek. 48.35 but this engraving was not found upon Dives his palace It is the heart not the house which beareth this Inscription and that not in letters of Gold but of grace 3. No man can give a certain and infallible judgement of love or hatred towards another person by all that is before him indeed men may speak hopefully in the judgment of charity and draw up a hopeful conclusion of another man's standing in grace from what is visibly good when the exercise of faith is vigorous and the actings of the spirit of holiness are visible and uniform as 1 Thes 1. vers 3 4. The Apostle mentioneth their labour of love their work of faith and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ from which he deduceth this conclusion knowing Brethren beloved of God your election though the white stone with the new name written in it is known to no man certainly but to him that hath received it yet holy men D. Preston in some degree are known one to another to make the communion of saints the sweeter yet cannot such a conclusion be drawn from external acts of providence infallibly to determine love or hatred by his outward administrations how sadly would the men of that generation have miscaried if they had asserted Esau to have been a person dear to God and peculiarly in his favour because he prospered so farre and fast in worldly greatness and glory who had four hundred men at his heels and the father of so many Dukes and if they had concluded Jacob to have been a person of Gods hatred because he was a poor shepherd and met with such hard measure from his uncle Laban seing the Lord determined otherwise Rom. 9. vers 13. Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated It was much the sinne of Job's three friends in asserting Job's afflictions to be the fruits and evidences of Gods displeasure against a person hated by him when God himself giveth testimony to Job so fully at the beginning and end of this book 4. I do not assert that God's outward dispensations although in an extraordinary manifestation of his power and goodness do fully and alwayes speak forth his peculiar love to a person or people when their testimony is single and something else be not superadded to render it more authentick for wicked Cham had the same preservation in the ark from the deluge of waters as godly Sem had and Samariah's siege was raised in a way of miracle under wicked Jehoram as well as Jerusalem's was under good Hezekiah Compare 2 Kings 7. verse 6. with Chap. 19. vers 35. It was false Divinity that those Barbarians preached when the Viper fastened on Paul's hand No doubt this man is a murtherer whom though he hath escaped the Sea yet vengeance suffereth not to live Acts 28. vers 4. which our Saviour fully consulteth in the case of the Galileans and the eighteen persons on whom the tower fell in Siloe Luke 13. vers 1 2 3 4. 5. But the glorious and remarkable outgoings of God when falling in with the witness of grace and the spirit when they are the returns of the Saints prayers the fruits of their holy wrastlings and the issue of their hope conceived in the womb of Gods gracious promises are comfortable conclusions of divine favour and do very much seal to the peculiarity of God's love thus the Saints in their own cases can distinguish love from hatred by the things which are before them they know the voice of Christ and read the love of their father in the streight lines of his providencial favours toward them Psalm 87. vers 2. God loveth