the keeping of their Soul to him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator Shall God display his glory before us under the character and Title of a Creator and shall we yet fear man shall he do this to us when we are under a suffering condition and that on purpose that we might commit our Souls to him in well doing and be quiet and shall we take no notice of this Who art thou that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die and of the Son of man that shall be made as grass and forgettest the Lord thy maker that hath stretched forth the Heavens and laid the foundations of the earth c. Isa. 51.12 13. Had God concealed himself as to his being a Creator yet since he presenteth himself unto us by his word under so many excellent Titles as are given to no other God besides methinks it should make us bold in our God but when for our relief he shall add to all other that he verily is a Creator this should make us rest in hope indeed Every Nation will have confidence for their own Gods though but Gods that are made with hands though but the work of the Smith and Carpenter And shall not we trust in the name of the Lord our God who is not only a God but a Creator and former of all things Mich. 4.5 Consequently the only living and true God and one that alone can sustain us We therefore are to be greatly blamed if we overlook the ground such ground of support and comfort as presenteth it self unto us under the Title of a Creator But then most of all if when we have heard believed and known that our God is such we shall yet be afraid of a man that shall die and forget the Lord our Maker We I say have heard seen known and believed that our God is the Creator The heavens declare his glory and the firmament sheweth his handy work and thus he has shewed unto us his eternal power and Godhead Rom. 1.20 Behold then thou fearful worm Jacob the Heavens the Sun the Moon the Stars behold the Earth the Sea the Air the fire and Vapors Behold all living things from Leviathan and Behemoth to the least that creepeth in the Earth and Waters Yea behold thy self thy Soul thy Body thy fashion thy building and consider thy God hath made even all these things and hath given to thee this being yea and all this also he made of that which doth not appear Heb. 11.1 2 3. This is that which thou art called to the consideration of by Peter in the Text when he letteth fall from his apostolical meditation that thy God is the Creator and commandeth that thou in thy suffering for him according to his will shouldest commit the keeping of thy Soul to him as unto a faithful Creator He that has the art thus to do and that can do it in his straights shall never be trodden down His God his faith his faith his God are able to make him stand For such a man will thus conclude that since the Creator of all is with him what but Creatures are there to be against him So then what is the Ax that it should boast it self against him that heweth therewith or the Saw that it should magnifie it self against him that shaketh it as if the rod should shake it self against him that lifteth it up or as if the staff should lift up it self as if it were no wood Isa. 10.15 Read also the 40th of Isaiah from the 12 to the last verse and then speak if God as Creator is not a sure confidence to all the ends of the earth that trust in and wait upon him As Creator he hath formed and upholdeth all things yea his hands have formed the crooked Serpent wherefore he also is at his bay and thou hast made the Dragon in the Sea And therefore it follows that he can cut and wound him and give him for meat to the Fowls and to the beasts inheriting the wilderness if he will seek to swallow up and destroy the Church and People of God Job 26.13 Ps. 74.13 14. Isa. 51.9 Ezek. 29.3 4. Ninthly A Creator is God the God unto whom they that suffer according to his will are to commit the keeping of their Souls the Creator and doth he take charge of them as a Creator Then this should teach us to be far off from being dismayed as the heathens are at his tokens for our God the Lord is the true God the living God the King of eternity Jer. 10.1 2 10. We should tremblingly glory and rejoyce when we see him in the World though upon those that are the most terrible of his dispensations God the Creator will sometimes mount himself and ride thorough the earth in such Majesty and glory that he will make all to stand in the Tent doors to behold him O how he rode in his chariots of Salvation when he went to save his people out of the land of Egypt how he shook the Nations Then his glory covered the heavens and the earth was full of his praise His brightness was as the light he had horns coming out of his hand and there was the hiding of his power Before him went the pestilence and burning coals went forth at his feet He stood and measured the earth he beheld and drove asunder the nations the everlasting mountains were scattered the perpetual hills did bow his way is everlasting Then saith the Prophet I saw the Tents of Cushan in affliction the Curtains in the land of Midian did tremble Was the Lord displeased against the rivers was thine anger against the rivers was thy wrath against the Sea that thou didst ride upon thy horses and thy chariots of salvation Habbak 3. So David The earth shook and trembled saith he the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken because he was wroth There went up a smoke out of his nostrils and fire out of his mouth devoured coals were kindled by it He bowed the heavens also and came down and darkness was under his feet And he rode upon a Cherub and did flie he did flie upon the wings of the wind He made darkness his secret place his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed hailstones and coals of fire The Lord also thundred in the heavens and the Highest gave his voice hail-stones and coals of fire Yea he sent out his arrows and scattered them and he shot out lightning and discomfited them Then the chanels of waters were seen and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke O Lord at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils Psal. 18. from verse 7. to verse 15. These are glorious things though shaking dispensations God is worthy to be seen in his dispensations as well as in his word though the nations tremble at his presence O that thou wouldest rend
serve him but the Kingdom This is the case Men when they persecute are for the stuff but the Devil is for the soul nor will any thing less than that satisfie him Let him then that is a sufferer commit the keeping of his soul to God lest stuff and soul and all be lost at once Secondly A second conclusion that followeth upon these words is this That sufferers if they have not a care may be too negligent as to the securing of their souls with God even when persecution is upon them For these words as they are an instruction so they are an awakening instruction they call as to people in danger as to people not so aware of the danger or as unto a people that forget too much that their souls and the ruin of them are sought after by Satan when trouble attends them for the Gospel sake As who should say when troubles are upon you for the Gospel sake then take heed that you forget not to commit your souls to the keeping of God We are naturally apt with that good man Gideon to be threshing out our Wheat that we may hide it from the Midianites Judge 6.11 but we are not so naturally apt to be busying our selves to secure our souls with God The reason is for that we are more flesh than spirit and because the voice of the world makes a bigger sound in our carnal mind than the word of God doth Wherefore Peter here calls upon us as upon men of forgetful minds saying Let them that suffer according to the will of God have a care of their souls and take heed that the fears of the loss of a little of this world do not make them forget the fear of the losing of their souls That Sufferers are subject to this may appear by the stir and bustle that at such a time they make to lock all up safe that the hand of man can reach while they are cold chill remiss and too indifferent about the committing of their soul to God to keep it This is seen also in that many in a time of trouble for their profession will study more to deceive themselves by a change of notions by labouring to perswade their consciences to admit them to walk more at large by harkening to opinions that please and gratifie the flesh by adhering to bad examples and taking evil Counsels than they will to make straight steps for their feet and to commit the keeping of their souls to God What shall I say have their not been many that so long as peace has lasted have been great swaggerers for Religion who yet so soon as the Sun has waxt warm have flaggâ—d have been discontented offended and turned away from him that speaketh from heaven All which is because men are naturally apt to be more concerned for their goods carnal peace and a temporal life than they are about securing of their souls with God Wherefore I say these words are spoken to awaken us to the consideration of soul-concerns and how that should be safely lodged under the care protection and mercy of God by our committing of it to him for that purpose by Jesus Christ our Lord. Thirdly Another conclusion that followeth upon this exhortation is this That persecution doth sometimes so hotly follow Gods people as to leave them nothing but a soul to care for They have had no House no Land no Money no Goods no Life no Liberty left them to care for All is gone but the soul. Goods have been confiscated liberty has been in Irons the life condemned the neck in a Halter or the body in the Fire So then all to such has been gone and they have had nothing left them to care for but their soul. Let them commit the keeping of their soul to God This conclusion I say doth naturally flow from the words For that the Apostle here doth make mention only of the soul as of that which is left as of that which yet remains to the sufferer of all that ever he had Thus they served Christ they left him nothing but his soul to care for Thus they served Stephen they left him nothing but his soul to care for and they both cared for that Father into thy hands I commend my spirit said Jesus And Lord Jesus receive my spirit said Stephen Luk. 23.46 Acts 7.59 As for all other things they were gone They parted the very cloaths of Christ among themselves before his face even while he did hang pouring out his life before them upon the Tree They parted my garments among them said he and upon my vesture did they cast lots Mat. 27.35 Mar. 15.24 Joh. 19.23 24. This also has oftentimes been the condition of later Christians all has been gone they have been stript of all nothing has been left them but soul to care for Job said that he had escaped with the skin of his teeth and that is but a little but he doth not escape with so much that loses all that he has life and all we now except the soul. But Fourthly Another thing that followeth from the words is this namely That when the Devil and wicked men have done what they could in their persecuting of the godly they have yet had their souls at their own dispose They have not been able to rob them of their souls they are not able to hurt their souls The soul is not in their power to touch without the leave of God and of him whose soul it is And fear not them saith Christ that kill the body but are not able to kill the soul. Mat. 10.28 This I say lies clear also in the Text for the exhortation supposes that what ever the sufferers there made mention of had lost They had yet their souls at their own dispose Let them that suffer even to the loss of goods liberty or life commit the keeping of their soul to God As who should say though the enemy hath reached them to their all and stripped them of their all yet I know that their soul is not among that all For their soul is yet free from them at liberty and may be disposed of even as the sufferer will Wherefore let him commit the keeping of his soul to God lest he also through his negligence or carelessness be also spoiled of that The sufferer therefore hath his soul at his own dispose he may give that away to God almighty in spight of all that the Devil and the world can do He may indeed see men parting his Land his Houshold stuff yea his very Rayment among themselves but they cannot so dispose of his soul. They have no more that they can do Luk. 12.5 Fifthly Another conclusion that followeth from these words is this That a man when he is a sufferer is not able to secure his own soul from the hand of hell by any other means but by the committing of the keeping thereof to God Do you suffer are you in affliction for your profession Then
keep not your soul in your own hand for fear of losing that with the rest For no man can keep alive his own soul Psal. 22.29 No not in the greatest calm no not when the Lyon is a sleep how then should he do it at such a time when the horrible blast of the terrible ones shall beaâ— against his wall The consideration of this was that that made holy Paul who was a man upon whom persecution continually attended commit his soul to God Acts 20.23 2 Tim. 1.12 God as I shall shew you by and by is he and he alone that is able to keep the soul and deliver it from danger Man is naturally a self deceiver and therefore is not to be trusted any farther than as the watchful eye of God is over him But as to hiâ— soul he is not be trusted with that at all that must be wholly committed to God left altogether with him laid at his feet and he also must take the charge thereof or else 't is gone will be lost and will perish for ever and ever Wherefore 't is a dangerous thing for a man that is a sufferer to be a senseless man as to the danger that his soul is in and a prayerless man as to the committing of the keeping of it to God For he that is such has yet his soul and the keeping thereof in his own deceitful hand And so has he also that stays himself upon his friends upon his knowledge the promise of men or the mercy of his enemies or that has set in his mind a bound to himself how far he will venture for Religion and where he will stop This is the man that makes not God his trust and that therefore will surely fall in the day of his temptation Satan who now hunteth for the precious soul to destroy it has Power as well as Policy beyond what man can think He has power to blind harden and to make insensible the heart He also can make truth in the eyes of the suffering man a poor little and insignificant thing Judas had not committed the keeping of his soul to God but abode in himself and was left in his Tabernacle And you by and by see what a worthy price he set upon himself his Christ and Heaven and all All to him was not now worth thirty pieces of Silver And as he can make truth in thy esteem to be little so he can make sufferings great and ten times more terrible than he that hath committed the keeping of his soul to God shall ever find them A Gaol shall look as black as Hell and the loss of a few Stools and Chairs as bad as the loss of so many baggs of Gold Death for the Saviour of the World shall seem to be a thing both unreasonable and intolerable Such will chuse to run the hazzard of the loss of a thousand souls in the way of the world rather than the loss of one poor sorry transitory life for the holy word of God But the reason as I said is they have not committed the keeping of their soul to God For he that indeed has committed the keeping of his soul to that great one has shaken his hands of all things here Has bid adieu to the world to friends and life and waiteth upon God in a way of close keeping to his truth and walking in his wayes having counted the cost and been perswaded to take what cup God shall suffer the world to give him for so doing Sixthly Another conclusion that followeth from these words is That God is very willing to take the charge and care of the soul that is committed unto him of them that suffer for his sake in the world If this were not true the exhortation would not answer the end What is intended by Let him commit the keeping of his soul to God but that the sufferer should indeed leave that great care with him but if God be not willing to be concerned with such a charge what bottom is there for the exhortation But the exhortation has this for its bottom therefore God is willing to take the charge and care of the soul of him that suffereth for his name in this world The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate 1 Sam. 25.28 29. Psal. 34.22 None not one that committeth his soul â—o Gods keeping in a way of well doing but shall find him willing to be concerned therewith Ay this saith the sufferer if I could believe this it would rid me of all my fears But I find my self ingaged for God for I have made a profession of his name and cannot arrive to this belief that God is willing to take the charge and care of my soul. Wherefore I fear that if Tryals come so high as that life as well as estate must go that both life and Estate and soul and all will be lost at once Well honest heart these are thy fears but let them fly away and consider the Text again Let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him as unto a faithful Creator These are Gods words Christs words and the invitation of the holy Ghost When therefore thou readest them be perswaded that thou hearest the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost all of them joyntly and severally speaking to thee and saying Poor sinner thou art ingaged for God in the world thou art suffering for his word leave thy soul with him as with one that is more willing to save it than thou art willing he should act faith trust God believe his word and go on in thy way of witness-bearing for him and thou shalt find all well and according to the desire of thy heart at last True Satan will make it his business to tempt thee to doubt of this that thy way may be made yet more hard and difficult to thee For he knows that unbelief is a soul-perplexing sin and makes that which would otherwise be light pleasant and easie unutterably heavy and burdensome to the sufferer Yea this he doth in hope to make thee at last to cast away thy profession thy Cause thy Faith thy Conscience thy soul and all But hear what the Holy Ghost saith again He shall spare the poor and needy and shall save the souls of the needy He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence and precious shall their blood be in his sight Psal. 72.13 14. These words also are spoken for the comfort of sufferers ver 12. For he shall delivor the needy when he crieth the poor also and him that hath no helper Wherefore let them that are Gods sufferers pluck up a good heart let them not be afraid to trust God with their souls and with their eternal concerns Let them cast all their care upon God for he careth for them 1 Pet. 5.7 But I am in the Dark I answer never stick at that
perishing for ever When the Jews went to stone Stephen they laid their clothes down at a distance from the place at a young mans feet whose name was Saul that they might not be a cumber or a trouble to them as to their intended work So we when we go about to drive sin out of the world in a way of suffering for Gods truth against it we should lay down our souls at the feet of God to care for that we may not be cumbered with the care of them our selves also that our care of Gods truth may not be weakned by such sudden and strong doubts as will cause us faintingly to say but what will become of my soul When Paul had told his Son Timothy that he had been before that Lyon Nero and that he was at present delivered out of his mouth he adds And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom He shall and will here is a man at liberty here are no cumbersome fears But how came the Apostle by this confidence of his well-being and of his share in another world Why he had committed the keeping of his soul to God compare 2 Tim. 1.12 with chap. 4.18 For to commit the keeping of the soul to God if it be done in faith and prayer it leaves or rather brings this holy boldness and confidence into the soul. Suppose a man in the Country were necessitated to go to London and had a great charge of money to pay in there Suppose also that the way thither was become exceeding dangerous because of the high-way-men that continually abide therein what now must this man do to go on his Journey chearfully Why let him pay in his money to such a one in the Country as will be sure to return it for him at London safely Why this is the case thou art bound for Heaven but the way thither is dangerous It is beset every where with evil Angels who would rob thee of thy Soul What now Why if thou wouldest go chearfully on in thy dangerous Journey commit thy treasure thy Soul to God to keep And then thou mayest say with comfort well that care is over For whatever I meet with in my way thither my Soul is safe enough the Thieves if they meet me can't come at that I know to whom I have committed my Soul and I am perswaded that he will keep that to my joy and everlasting comfort against the great day This therefore is one reason why we should that suffer for Christ commit the keeping of our Souls to God because a doubt about the well-being of that will be a clog a burden and an affliction to our spirit Yea the greatest of afflictions whilest we are taking up our Cross and bearing it after Christ. The joy of the Lord is our strength and the fear of perishing is that which will be weakning to us in the way Secondly we should commit the keeping of our Souls to God because the final conclusion that merciless men do sometimes make with the servants of God is all on a sudden They give no warning before they strike We shall not need here to call you to mind about the Massacres that were in Ireland Paris Piedmont and other places where the godly in the night before they were well awake had some of them their heart blood running on the ground The savage Monsters crying out kill kill from one end of a street or a place to the other This was sudden and he that had not committed his Soul to God to keep it was surely very hard put to it now but he that had done so was ready for such sudden work Sometimes indeed the Ax and Halter or the Faggot is shewed first but sometimes again it is without that warning Vp said Saul to Doeg the Edomite and slay the priests of the Lord 1 Sam. 22 11-19 Here was sudden work fall on said Saul and Doeg fell upon them and slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linnen Ephod Nob also the ciâ—y of the Priests he smote with the edge of the sword both men and women children and sucklings c. Here was but a word and a blow Thinkest thou not who readest these lines that all of these who had before committed their Soul to God to keep were the fittest folk to die And immedately the King sent an Executioner and commanded his head to be brought Mark 6.27 The story is concerning Herod and John the Baptist Herod's dancing girl had begged John Baptist's head and nothing but his head must serve her turn well girl thou shalt have it Have it I but it will be long first No thou shalt have it now just now immediately And immediately he sent an executioner and commanded his head to be brought Here is sudden work for sufferers here is no intimation before hand The executioner comes to John now whether he was at dinner or asleep or whatever he was about the bloody man bolts in upon him and the first word he salutes him with is Sir strip lay down your neck For I come to take away your head But hold stay wherefore pray let me commit my Soul to God No I must not stay I am in hast slap says his sword and off falls the good mans head This is sudden work work that stays for no man work that must be done by and by immediately or 't is not worth a rush I will said she that thou give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist. Yea she came in hast and as hastily the commandment went forth and immediately his head was brought Thirdly Unless a man commits the keeping of his Soul to God it is a question whether he can hold out and stand his ground and wrestle with all temptations This is the victory even your Faith and who is he that overcometh the world but he that believeth c. And what incouragement has a man to suffer for Christ whose heart cannot believe and whose Soul he cannot commit to God to keep it And our Lord Jesus intimates as much when he saith Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a Crown of life Wherefore saith he thus but to encourage those that suffer for his truth in the world to commit the keeping of their Souls to him and to believe that he hath taken the charge and care of them Paul's wisdom was that he was ready to die before his enemies were ready to kill him I am now ready saith he to be offered up and the time of my departure is at hand 2 Tim. 4.6 7 8. This is therefore a thing of high concern to wit the committing of the Soul to God to keep it 'T is I say of concern to do it now just now quickly whether thou art yet engaged or no for it is a good preparatory too as well as profitable in a time of persecution consider it
I say The Apostle Paul saith that he and his companions were hold in their God to profess and stand to the word of God 1 Thess. 2.2 but how could that be if they had the salvation of their Souls to seek and that to be sure they would have had had they not committed the keeping of their Souls to him in well-doing But what is committing of the Soul to God Answ. I have in general briefly spoken to that already and now for thy further help we will a little enlarge Wherefore First To commit is to deliver up to custody to be kept Hence prisoners when sent to the Gaol are said to be committed thither Thus Paul hated men and women comitting them to prison And thus Joseph's master committed all his prisoners to him to his custody to be kept there according to the Law Acts 8.3 Gen. 39.22 Secondly to commit is not only to deliver up to custody but to give in charge that that which is committed be kept safe and not suffered to be lost Thus Paul was committed to Prison the Gaoler being charged to keep him safely Acts 16.23 Luk. 16.11 Thirdly to commit is to leave the whole disposal sometimes of that which is committed to those to whom such thing is committed Thus were the Shields of the Temple committed to the Guard and Jeremiah to the hands of Gadaliah 1 Kings 14.27 Jer. 29.14 And thus thou must commit thy Soul to God and to his care and keeping It must be delivered up to his care and put under his custody Thou mayest also ' tho I would speak modestly give him a charge to take the care of it Concerning my sons and concerning my daughters and concerning the work of my hands command ye me Isai 45.11 Thou must also leave all the concerns of thy Soul and of thy being an inheritor of the next World wholly to the care of God He that doth this in the way that God has bid him is safe though the sky should fall The poor committeth himself unto thee thou art the helper of the fatherless Ps. 10.14 And for encouragement to do this the Lord has bidden us the Lord has commanded us the Lord expecteth that we should thus do Yea thou art also bidden to commit thy way unto him thy work unto him thy cause unto him thy Soul to him and he will take care of all Psal. 37.5 Pro. 16.3 Job 5.8 And if we do this as we should God will not only take care of us and of our Souls in the general but that our work and ways be so ordered that we may not fail in either I have trusted said David in the Lord therefore I shall not slide Psal. 26.1 Before I leave this I will speak something of the way in which this commitment of the Soul to God must be And that is in a way of well-doing Let them commit the keeping of their Souls to him in well-doing or in a way of well-doing That is therefore the course that a godly man should be found in at in and after he hath committed his Soul to God to keep And as the Apostle says in an other place This is but a reasonable service Rom. 12.1 For if God be so gracious as to take care of my Soul at my request why should not I also be so gracious as to be found in a way of well-doing at his bidding Take care Master of me for meat and wages and I will take care Master that thy work shall be faithfully done This is honest and thus should Christians say to God And he that heartily in this shall mean as he saith shall find that God's way shall be strength unto him A Christian is not to commit his Soul unto God to keep and so to grow remiss carnal negligent cold and worldly concluding as if he had now bound God to save him but set himself at liberty whether he will longer serve him in trying and troublesome times or no. He must commit the keeping of his Soul to him in well-doing He may not now relinquish Gods cause play the Apostate cast off the Cross and look for Heaven notwithstanding He that doth thus will find himself mistaken and be made to know at last that God takes the care of no such Souls If any man draws back saith he my Soul shall have no pleasure in him Wherefore he that committeth the keeping of his Soul to God must do it in that way which God has prescribed to him which is in a way of well-doing Alas alas there is never such a word in it it must be done in a way of well-doing You must think of this that would commit your Souls to God in suffering and troublesome times You must do it in well-doing In well-doing that is in persevering in ways of godliness both with respect to morals and also instituted worship Thou therefore that wouldest have God take care of thy Soul as thou believest so thou must do well that is do good to the poor to thy neighbour to all men specially to the houshold of Faith Benjamin must have a Benjamins mâ—ss and all others as thou art capable must feel and find the fruit of thy Godliness Thou must thus serve the Lord with much humility of mind tho' thorough many difficulties and much temptation Thou must also keep close to Gospel-worship publick and private doing of those things that thou hast warrant for from the Word and leaving of that or those things for others that will stick to them that have no stamp of God upon them Thou must be found doing of all with all thy heart and if thou sufferest for so doing thou must bear it patiently For what Peter saith to the women he spake to may be applied to all believers whose daughters you are saith he meaning Sarahs so long as you do well and are not afraid with any amazement 1 Pet. 3.6 So then the man that has committed his Soul to God to keep has not at all disingaged himself from his duty or took himself off from a perseverance in that good work that under a suffering condition he was bound to do before No his very committing of his Soul to God to keep it has laid an ingagement upon him to abide to God in that calling wherein he is called of God To commit my Soul to God supposes my sensibleness of hazzard and danger but there is none among men when the offence of the Cross is ceased To commit my Soul to God to keep concludes my resolution to go on in that good way of God that is so dangerous to my Soul if God taketh not the charge and care thereof For he that saith in his heart I will now commit my soul to God if he knows what he says says thus I am for holding on in a way of bearing of my Cross after Christ tho' I come to the same end for so doing as he came to before me This is committing the Soul to him in well-doing
thy self by his word and providence and as for this or that mans judgment refer thy case to the judgment of God 3. Obj. But if I be taken and suffer my cause is like to be clothed with scandals slanders reproaches and all manner of false and evil speakings what must I do Answ. Saul charged David with Rebellion 1 Sam. 22.8.13 Amos was charged with conspiring against the King Amos 7.10 Daniel was charged with despising the King and so also were the three children Dan. 6.13 chap. 3.12 Jesus Christ himself was accused of perverting the nation of forbidding to give tribute to Caesar and of saying that himself was Christ a King Luk. 23.2 These things therefore have been But 1. Canst thou after a due examination of thy self say that as to these things thou art innocent and clear I say will thy conscience justifie thee here Hast thou made it thy business to give unto God the things that are Gods and unto Caesar the things that are his according as God has commanded If so matter not what men shall say nor with what lies and reproaches they slander thee but for these things count thy self happy Blessed are you when men shall revile you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely lying for my name sake saith Christ. Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets that were before you Mat. 5.11 12. Comfort thy self therefore in the innocency of thy Soul and say I am counted a Rebel and yet am Loyal I am counted a deceiver and yet am true 1 Sam. 24.8 9 10 11 12. 2 Cor. 6.8 Also refer thy cause to the day of judgment for if thou canst rejoyce at the thoughts that thou shalt be cleared of all slanders and evil speakings then that will bear up thy heart as to what thou maiest suffer now The answer of a good conscience will carry a man thorough Hell to Heaven Count these slanders part of thy sufferings and those for which God will give thee a reward because thou art innocent and for that they are laid upon thee for thy professions sake But if thou be guilty look to thy self I am no comforter of such I come now to speak to the third and last part of the Text Namely of the good effect that will certainly follow to those that after a due manner shall take the advice afore given Let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their Souls to him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator Two things from the last clause of the Text lie yet before us And they are they by which will be shown what good effect will follow to those that suffer according to the will of God and that commit their Souls to his keeping 1. Such will find him to themselves a Creator 2. They will find him a faithful Creator Let them commit the keeping of their Souls to him as unto a faithful Creator In this phrase a faithful Creator behold the wisdom of the holy Ghost how fitly and to the purpose he speaketh King is a great Title and God is sometimes called a King but he is not set forth by this Title here but by the Title of a Creator for it is not always in the power of a King to succour and relieve his Subjects that are suffering for his Crown and Dignity Father is a sweet Title a Title that carrieth in it an intimation of a great deal of bowels and compassion and God is often set forth also by this Title in the holy Scriptures But so he is not here but rather as a Creator For a Father a compassionate Father cannot always help succour or relieve his Children though he knows they are under affliction Oh but a Creator can Wherefore I say he is set forth here under the Title of a Creator First a Creator nothing can die under a Creators hands A Creator can sustain all A Creator can as a Creator do what he pleases The Lord the everlasting God the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not nor is weary Isa. 40.28 The cause of God for which his people suffer had been dead and buried a thousand years a go had it not been in the hand of a Creator The people that have stood by his cause had been out of both as to persons name and remembrance had they not been in the hand of a Creator Who could have hoped when Israel was going in even into the mouth of the red Sea that ever his cause or that people should have revived again A huge host of the Egyptians were behind them and nothing but death before and on every hand of them but they lived they flourished they out-lived their enemies for they were in the hand of a Creator Who could have hoped that Israel should have returned again from the land from the hand and from under the Tyranny of the King of Babylon They could not deliver themselves from going thither they could not preserve themselves from being diminished when they came there their power was gone they were in captivity their distance from home was far their enemies possest their Land their City of defence was ruined and their houses burned down to the ground and yet they come home again there is nothing impossible to a Creator Who could have thought that the three Children could have lived in a fiery furnace that Daniel could have been safe among the Lyons that Jonah could have come home to his Countrey when he was in the Whales belly or that our Lord should have risen again from the dead but what is impossible to a Creator This therefore is a rare consideration for those to let their hearts be acquainted with that suffer according to the will of God and that have committed the keeping of their Souls to him in well doing They have a Creator to maintain and uphold their cause a Creator to oppose its opposers And hence it is said all that burden themselves with Jerusalem shall be cut in pieces though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it Zech. 12.3 Secondly A Creator A Creator can not only support a dying cause but also fainting spirits For as he fainteth not nor is is weary So he gives power to the faint and to those that have no might he increaseth strength Isa. 4.29 He is the God of the spirits of all flesh and has the life of the spirit of his people in his own hand Spirits have their being from him he is the Father of Spirits Spirits are made strong by him nor can any crush that spirit that God the Creator will uhpold Is it not a thing amazing to see one poor inconsiderable man in a Spirit of faith and patience overcome all the threatnings cruelties afflictions and sorrows that a whole World can lay upon him None can quail him none can crush him none can bend down his spirit None can make